188: Battle Blackbeard Pirates

Blackbeard Pirates' lair, Misty Island.

A man with deeply tanned skin sat in a large tent, counting the money he had just received from the League. The tall, hefty man had a black beard that reached his waist and was missing several teeth. This man was the notorious leader of the Blackbeard Pirates, Edward Thatch.

"Haha! All this money is mine," Edward laughed boisterously as he put the money into his safe.

"Captain Edward!"

Just as he was about to go out to celebrate with his crew, a man suddenly rushed into his tent.

"What's the matter," he asked the man in a cheerful tone.

"We caught three people trying to sneak onto the island. From their clothes and gear, it looks like they are Elite Special Forces from the League." The man replied.

"Special Forces?"

Edward's face grew solemn as he said, "Are there any people besides them?"

The man shook his head and said, "We haven't found that out yet. We tried to interrogate them but none of them would talk."

"Keep questioning them," Edward said. "I don't care if you use torture or anything, just make them spill out. I want to know what they are doing here and how many people are on this island right now."

The man responded, "Yes, captain!"

When the man left, Edward became lost in his thoughts. Was the League trying to catch him?

Suddenly, Edward's head snapped up. He got to his feet and inspected the bag his men had brought in earlier. He dug around in it and pulled out what appeared to be a miniature tracking device.

Face twisting in anger, he crushed the tracker in his hand. He threw it away and quickly walked out of his tent while calling out for his man.

Around this time, Matthias' group had joined up with the others near Blackbeard PIrates' hideout. At this point, all they had to do was wait for the last group to arrive. But an unexpected guest had everyone on edge at the moment.

Ryoichi looked at the woman with silver hair and black visor over her eyes in disbelief. "What are you doing here? Aren't you afraid that we'll catch you here?"

Hunter J snorted in disdain, "With what? Just the six of you? OK, then give it a shot. I'm not afraid of you at all."

"You-"

"Calm down, Ryoichi," Matthias said as he pulled Ryoichi back. "Just Ignore her and stay focused on the mission."

He then turned to Hunter J and said, "Yukimura told me you only want their treasures but if you try anything else, I'll chase you all over the world and put you in jail."

"Huh!" Hunter J merely huffed and turned her head away in annoyance.

Meanwhile, Hisoka stayed quiet during this entire. Given that he had previously stolen her egg from GIble, he was trying to avoid drawing her attention.

A few minutes later, Yukimura approached Matthias and quietly spoke in his ear. Matthias wrinkled his eyebrows and addressed everyone.

"Guys, I have some bad news to tell you. The last team had been captured by the Blackbeard Pirates. I believe they already know we're here," Matthias said.

"So are we going to proceed? Or should we withdraw first? I don't think we have enough men," Ryoichi said.

"We can't go back," Matthias sighed. "It'll be tough to find them once they've left this island."

While they were discussing how to deal with the pirates, Hunter J couldn't finally hold it any longer.

"You guys are just wasting time," Hunter J said.

After that, she released her signature Pokemon, Salamence, and flew off. The sounds of massive explosions could be heard coming from the direction of the pirates' lair a short while later.

"Hunter J..." Matthias shook his head as he heard Salamance's roar and pirates' shouts in the distance. He should have known that she wasn't going to cooperate with them.

"What should we do now, Matthias?" Yukimura asked hesitantly.

Matthias thought for a moment before saying, "Let's attack now while the pirates are busy with Hunter J."

Turning to the others, he said, "Take out your Pokemon. We are going to attack them now. Yukimura, Hisoka, you guys take the lead."

"Yes, sir!" Hisoka and Yukimura nodded and took out their Pokemon, a Rhyperior and a Nidoking, respectively.

The pirates who was busy fending of Hunter J's repeated blows, suddenly heard an intense rumbling. They widened their eyes in horror when they saw two Pokemon the size of mammoths coming toward them.

As Rhyperior and Nidoking pounced on the pirates' Pokemon, Hunter J yelled for her Salamence to pull back. At the same time, two of Matthias's Arbok unleashed a barrage of Poison Sting at the pirates.

Very quickly, a fierce battle broke out. Although Matthias' side was outnumbered by the pirates, their tacit cooperation helped even the odds.

Compared to the others, Hisoka and Yukimura had a much harder time dealing with the pirates. They both had to withstand the frontal attacks while also dealing with someone who tried to sneak up on them.

Thankfully, Gardevoir was on hand to help. While they were commanding their Pokemon to eliminate the pirates, Gardevoir put up a barrier around to keep them safe from stray attacks.

After a long, hard fight, they finally managed to put down all the pirates. With the pirates tied up and their Pokemon taken away, they set out to locate Edward, who strangely hadn't shown up in the battle.

A short time later, they saw Hunter J coming back with a big sack on her back.

"Are you trying to find Edward?" Hunter J asked them.

"Yes," Matthias said with a nod. "Do you know where he is?"

"Don't bother," Hunter J shook her head. "He had already escaped earlier. I just got back from his tent, and he wasn't there."

"What? Are you telling the truth?" Matthias asked nervously.

"Go check it out for yourself. I suppose this is the goodbye then. See ya!"

After that, Hunter J climbed on Salamence before they took off into the sky.

Watching Hunter J fly off into the distance, Ryoichi couldn't help but ask, "Matthias? Are we going to just let her go?"

"Let her be, our Pokemon are a bit tired from the battle," Matthias replied.