Under attack, the White Leader looked up and saw a giant black sailboat filled with an ominous aura that had appeared in the sky at some point. Standing at the bow of the ship was a young man accompanied by a Florges.
"Yuga Shimizu!" The White Leader frowned as he recognized Yuga's identity.
"Heaven Organization!" Yuga naturally recognized the two figures in the Heaven Organization known for their black and white masks, and it was clear that the man in the white mask before him was the White Leader!
"Brother Yuga!" The arrival of Yuga brought May to tears of joy; just moments ago, her heart had been racing.
As soon as May's words fell, several ghost-type Pokémon suddenly appeared around her, lifting her, Gon, Marlin, and Manaphy onto the ship.
Seeing this, the White Leader attempted to intervene, ordering his Magnezone to use Volt Tackle against the ghost-type Pokémon. However, before the Volt Tackle could reach them, it was intercepted by Florges's Moonlight.
With Manaphy and Marlin intercepted, the White Leader was undeterred and continued commanding his Magnezone to attack. Unfortunately, this Magnezone was typically used as a means of transportation, lacking in combat strength, and was quickly taken care of by Florges.
Retrieving his incapacitated Magnezone, the White Leader said in a deep voice, "Shimizu Yuga, hand over that boy on the ship to me, and I'll leave right now. How does that sound?"
Yuga turned his head to glance back at the unfamiliar Marlin behind him, realizing that the boy that the White Leader was referring to was him. He was puzzled as to why the White Leader had singled him out.
Just then, May, who was supporting Gon, hurriedly said, "Brother Yuga, Marlin saved us; you must not listen to that person!"
Yuga nodded at her words, then looked down at the White Leader, saying, "I think you might be mistaken about something. It's not about whether you want to leave; it's about whether I'm willing to let you to leave!"
They were, after all, a Gym Leader of the League and the leader of a dark organization. Since they had encountered each other, it was impossible to act as if nothing had happened.
"You… you're truly arrogant!" The White Leader was furious, "Then don't blame me for being rude!"
Saying this, he took out two Poké Balls, and soon, a Cacturne and a Zangoose appeared on the beach.
"Cacturne, Energy Ball! Zangoose, Crush Claw!"
Before Yuga could even use his Insight ability to check the data on the opposing Pokémon, the attacks from Cacturne and Zangoose were already coming.
Zangoose moved with incredible speed; it was a melee-type Pokémon. It first crouched on all fours, and then with a powerful push from its sturdy hind legs, it created several deep impressions in the soft sand beneath it.
Then, Zangoose charged toward the ghost ship like a speeding cannonball. The ship wasn't docked too high above the ground, so Zangoose easily leaped onto the ship's side. Using the ship's railing for leverage, it lunged toward Yuga, aiming its claws straight for his neck.
Close behind Zangoose's attack was an Energy Ball controlled by Cacturne, targeting Yuga as weel.
As Zangoose's claws were about to reach Yuga, Florges's vine suddenly grabbed it, flinging it away and sweeping away the incoming Energy Balls with it body.
Boom!!!
Zangoose crashed onto the beach, leaving a deep pit in the sand. However, the sand was soft, so Zangoose wasn't hurt by the fall.
Zangoose rose again from the deep pit, ignoring the injuries caused by the Energy Balls. Its cold expression showed no trace of emotion, as if it weren't the one who had been injured.
No wonder Zangoose had another nickname—Killer Rabbit. At that moment, Zangoose truly resembled a battle-hardened cold-blooded killer.
Without needing to use his Insight skill, Yuga could tell that, in terms of speed, attack power, and explosive force, Zangoose had clearly reached the champion level.
This forced Yuga to reassess the man before him; the League's intelligence reports did not indicate that the White Leader of the Heaven Organization was a champion-level trainer.
According to the League's information, the main figure of the Heaven Organization was the Black Leader, while the White Leader had rarely appeared in public, and his strength was presumed not to exceed that of the Black Leader.
Yuga had dealt with the Black Leader before and was well aware that, aside from his expertise in cloning Pokémon, his true abilities were rather limited. It now seemed that the League's assumptions were evidently incorrect.
The White Leader was not just a little stronger than the Black Leader!
Yet, Yuga couldn't understand why a seemingly champion-level trainer had remained obscure until now. Additionally, how could such a powerful trainer have fallen to the point of becoming the leader of a dark organization?
With these doubts in mind, Yuga took out the Poké Ball for his Lapras.
Lapras slowly descended from the ghost ship and opened its mouth, firing a Water Gun toward Zangoose. However, nearby, Cacturne swiftly stepped in front of Zangoose to block the attack.
The Water Gun engulfed Cacturne's small body, yet it remained unscathed.
The White Leader's Cacturne had the ability Water Absorb, which meant that water-type moves not only didn't damage it but also restored its health.
After the Water Gun was blocked, Lapras immediately gave up on using any more water-type moves. An icy chill erupted from its body, and it attempted to unleash an ice-type one-hit knockout move—Absolute Zero!
Crack… Crack…
Blue ice spread across the beach, and in the blink of an eye, a large area centered around Lapras was frozen.
Unfortunately, Absolute Zero had a low hit rate, and with Zangoose and Cacturne's quick reflexes, Lapras completely missed its mark. Even the White Leader had to be helped out of the attack range of Absolute Zero by Zangoose.
However, just as Zangoose and Cacturne were breathing a sigh of relief for narrowly escaping, they suddenly realized that the sand beneath their feet had transformed into a patch of lush green grass without them noticing.
The vibrant green grass suddenly sprang to life, crawling up their feet, shins, and then thighs...
Snap!
Zangoose's claw-like paws quickly severed the grass that had wrapped around it, cutting through the thick strands while also protecting the White Leader closely.
Meanwhile, Cacturne utilized Spiky Shield, releasing sharp thorns from its body that instantly shredded the grass entangling it.
Just as the two Pokémon were caught up by Florges's grassy terrain, Lapras launched another attack, firing two freezing beams of light toward Cacturne and Zangoose.
Zangoose waved its paw to use Crush Claw to deflect Lapras's freezing beams, but Cacturne was not so fortunate; it was encased in ice along with all its sharp thorns.
As a grass-type Pokémon, Cacturne was weak to ice-type moves, and given its already inferior strength compared to Lapras, a single freezing beam was enough to render it immobile.
Seeing Cacturne's condition, Zangoose knew that victory was impossible today. It picked up the White Leader, clamping him at its waist, ready to flee. Although the White Leader initially opposed the retreat, unwilling to leave without taking Marlin with him, the situation was beyond his control.
He had no choice but to bow to the circumstances!
But how could Florges allow them to leave? The grass grew wildly, and before Zangoose could take two steps, its feet were bound.
Zangoose glanced at Lapras, who was once again preparing a ice beam, and, gritting its teeth, threw the White Leader towards the sea.
The ice beam arrived on schedule, and like Cacturne, Zangoose was encased in ice.
As the White Leader fell towards the ocean, Yuga was just about to command his ghost-type Pokémon to retrieve him when an unexpected turn of events occurred: a colossal Wailord suddenly leaped out of the sea, opening its massive jaws and swallowing the White Leader whole.
What's going on? Yuga was stunned!
"Quickly search!" Yuga commanded his ghost-type Pokémon to search the surface of the water.
At that moment, the ice encasing Zangoose unexpectedly cracked open, and as Zangoose broke free from the ice, countless vines ensnared it. It struggled to break free, but Florges would bind it again; it broke free once more, and she bound it again... until Zangoose was exhausted and collapsed on the ground.
Seeing this scene, Yuga couldn't help but exclaim: "As expected of a champion-level Pokémon!"
The ghost-type Pokémon had no success searching the sea; the suddenly appearing Wailord seemed to have vanished just as quickly.
Just then, Dusknoir returned with some of his subordinates. It turned out that Yuga had long since sent him to deal with the members of the Heaven Organization searching the deserted island, including those guarding the aircraft.
When Dusknoir returned, he also brought back a stretcher.
When Yuga clearly saw the face of the corpse on the stretcher, his eyes widened in surprise.
This is... Gillruta Rite?
But wasn't he supposed to have died during the Legendary Birds incident in the Orange Archipelago? His body was even found!
This was reported in the news, and the Rite family suffered greatly because of it. So who is this corpse?
Meanwhile, far away in the ocean, a giant Wailord swam freely. Inside its belly, in a room, the White Leader slowly opened his eyes, his signature white mask no longer on his face.
If Yuga were here, he would certainly recognize that the person before him was the second young master of the Rite family, Milolovide, whom he had met before.
"You're awake!"
A voice rang in Milolovide's ear. He turned around to see Archie.
"It's you!" Milolovide replied indifferently, "When were you there?"
You saved me, but you don't even say thank you! Archie thought to himself, but his face was filled with a smile: "I just happened to pass by and saved you by chance."
It was true that he was just passing by, but he had been there for a long time, watching the battle between Yuga and Milolovide. Until the end, he hesitated about whether to intervene and save him.
This Wailord had been developed in collaboration between Team Aqua and Team Rocket after their merger. The skin of the Wailord had been implanted with a special biological material, making it difficult to be detected when it submerged.
A special space similar to that of a submarine had also been constructed inside its belly for people to move around.
Considering Milolovide's status in Team Rocket and fearing punishment from Giovanni, Archie reluctantly chose to intervene.
That's right; Milolovide was actually a member of Team Rocket as well. Now he had brought the entire Heaven Organization to join Team Rocket.
Milolovide had joined Team Rocket a long time ago, but the Heaven Organization had previously been under the control of the Rite family. It took him over ten years to take full control of the organization himself.
The previous exposure of the Heaven Organization and Gillruta's reckless behavior in the Orange Archipelago were all intentional actions by Milolovide. His goal was to use the League's power to weaken the Rite family's influence and eliminate their supporters within the Heaven Organization.
With the League's cleanup, the Heaven Organization was now completely under his control, while the Rite family remained completely unaware. In fact, fearing that the League might trace back to the Heaven Organization and its ties to them, they chose to abandon the organization altogether.
This perfectly aligned with Milolovide's intentions!
The members of the Rite family would never suspect that their second young master had personally uprooted their family's minions Even the current leaders of the Rite family were secretly supported by Milolovide.
Milolovide was an adopted son; he didn't even carry the Rite surname! This was something Milolovide would always remember.
Thinking about the memory chip and the waves left behind on the island, Milolovide's mood soured. With a blank expression, he said to Archie, "You can leave now; I want to be alone!"
"Alright, I'll head out then. Take care!"
Archie said nothing more and walked out of the room. He actually didn't want to take care of Milolovide and had no fondness for him at all.
Very few people knew about Milolovide's affiliation with Team Rocket; only he from Team Aqua was aware. He knew this was not someone to be trifled with.
After Archie left, Milolovide sat alone on the bed, lost in thought. The thought of the missing memory chip made him extremely irritable, as if there was a surge of anger inside him that he couldn't release.
Gradually, Milolovide couldn't help but fall into memories.
When did he join the Rite family? Probably when he was five or six years old.
Just as the rumors outside suggested, Milolovide was the adopted son of the head of the Rite family. He was adopted by Gillruta's parent since he was child. He was originally the child of Gillruta's parent subordinate, but after they passed away, he was taken in by the Rite family.
Gillruta's parents had always treated him "well," almost no differently than their biological son, Gillruta. To outsiders, Gillruta, who was nearly ten years older than him, seemed to treat him like a younger brother.
Perhaps to outsiders, he should have been grateful to the Rite family!
Back then, Gillruta was only a teenager, quite different from the lively Black Leader now. The real Gillruta was born weak, unable to even walk, spending his days in a wheelchair.
Because of his physical condition, Gillruta's parents spoiled him greatly. Soon after Milolovide arrived in the Rite family, he even discovered that Gillruta had been abusing small Pokémon.
The Rite couple not only failed to discourage him but even condoned his behavior. Eventually, Gillruta's bad habits intensified, and he began to physically assault the family servants.
Looking back now, Milolovide thought that if it weren't for someone like Gillruta, he might not have encountered the leader of Team Rocket at that time, who was Giovanni's mother.
Milolovide joined Team Rocket a long time ago, even earlier than anyone assumed—back when Giovanni's mother was still alive.
This was a secret that only Giovanni knew within Team Rocket.