Chapter 89: Double Murder

"What kind of scorpion? Sinnoh region? In the Sinnoh region, the only Pokémon with 'scorpion' in their name are Skorupi and Gliscor, right?" While listening to their conversation, Cain reflected silently.

However, Gliscor isn't exclusive to Sinnoh; it can also be found in the Johto region, so it was most likely a Skorupi.

When Cain guessed that the stolen Pokémon egg might be a Skorupi, he felt a spark of interest, as he was very familiar with that Pokémon. In his past life, he had one, but due to its low quality, he abandoned it.

But Skorupi is an exceptional Pokémon. Its Poison and Bug typing evolves into Poison and Dark types when it becomes Drapion. This type combination is truly perfect.

Why? Because the Dark type covers the weaknesses of the Poison type, and vice versa. With this combination, Drapion is only vulnerable to Ground-type moves, taking double damage, while moves of all other types inflict only normal damage.

Moreover, it is resistant to Poison, Ghost, Grass, and Dark-type moves and is immune to Psychic-type moves. In other words, Drapion can face any type of Pokémon in direct combat.

Additionally, its base stats are impressive, excelling in speed, defense, and attack, making it the perfect tank and attacker. And due to its speed, it isn't easy to evade in battle.

But it's not just its types and stats that make it stand out; its abilities are also very valuable. If it has the Battle Armor ability, it's perfect as a standing tank; if it has the Sniper ability, it can be a high-damage fighter in close combat; and if it has the hidden ability Keen Eye, it becomes a continuous damage attacker for the team.

In short, Drapion can perfectly play the role of a tank, warrior, or continuous attacker in a team, depending on its ability.

Drapion is truly an all-rounder!

From the thieves' conversation, Cain deduced that the Skorupi egg they had was stolen, though he didn't know how they managed it.

Also, it seemed that the Pokémon's quality had to be exceptional; otherwise, they wouldn't have brought it from Sinnoh to Saffron City's black market to sell it.

So, there are two possibilities: one, the original owner doesn't know their egg was stolen, so the thieves are waiting to sell it without issue; or two, the egg already had a dubious origin, and even though the owner knows it was stolen, they can't report it, swallowing their suffering in silence.

Cain leaned more toward the second possibility. If the egg were legitimate, it would be more profitable to sell it in Sinnoh, where people are more familiar with this Pokémon, rather than in Kanto, where many might not even recognize it.

If it really was the second option, then the egg's quality had to be exceptional, which would explain why its original owner guarded it so carefully and decided to sell it in a distant region like Kanto.

The true owner probably had considerable power in Sinnoh, forcing these thieves to sell it far from their reach.

To be honest, Cain was tempted. Not just because of Drapion's excellent characteristics but also because of the quality of this egg that had unexpectedly appeared before him.

The two thieves continued chatting, but now the topic had shifted from Pokémon to women, and the talk grew more and more trivial.

Cain peeked slightly and saw that the two had their backs to him, watching the entrance to the alley.

It made sense: they had chosen a dead-end alley to ensure their rear was secure. In such circumstances, who would worry about what might be behind them?

What they didn't expect was that the alley had a gap large enough to hide a person, and that Cain was concealed there.

Perhaps to be more discreet, the two hadn't released their Pokémon, or maybe they didn't even have any Pokémon, being just some thugs from the black market.

Cain placed his hand back on Slowpoke's Pokéball at his waist and signaled Murkrow with a look to prepare for attack. Gastly, hidden in the shadows, also floated out from the ground at the right moment.

Although the black market had rules against fighting, those who died there each year were countless.

As long as you weren't caught, nothing would happen.

This place was full of criminals; expecting them to be model citizens would be absurd.

Team Rocket only took care of security on the surface. What happened behind the scenes depended on each individual's strength.

While the two thieves chatted about how to spend the money they were going to get, laughing carefree and vulgar, their guard was at its lowest.

"Gastly, get close and use Hypnosis. Slowpoke, control their movements with Confusion; don't let them take out their Pokéballs or make noise. Murkrow, use Wing Attack and kill them."

Seizing that fleeting moment, Cain released Slowpoke from his Pokéball and issued a series of attack orders.

"Yadon~" Slowpoke, already prepared, unleashed all its psychic power as soon as it appeared, focusing on controlling their mouths and hands.

"U...". The deep-voiced thief, a burly man, tried to scream upon noticing, but found he couldn't move his mouth.

Instinctively, he reached for his Pokéball, but was frightened when Gastly suddenly appeared, using Hypnosis to put them to sleep.

Then, Murkrow, like a lightning bolt, swept over them, its wings glowing with a white sheen, striking them and slamming them against the wall with a dull thud.

Human bodies, fragile compared to Pokémon, couldn't withstand the attack, and due to the intense pain, both thieves were knocked unconscious.

At the moment the thieves were struck, the incubator holding the Pokémon egg flew out of their hands, but Slowpoke held it in the air with its Confusion move.

Cain looked at the two men unconscious on the ground, showing no emotion. He drew a knife from his waist, the same one he had used on the Trial Island.

As the saying goes: "The centipede catches the cicada, but the sparrow is behind." These thieves never would have imagined that, instead of being caught by the egg's owner, they would be preyed on by a sparrow from the shadows.

Wiping the blood from the knife on their clothes, Cain sent them to the afterlife.

Both had two Pokéballs on their waists, but before they could release their Pokémon, Cain had already taken them out.

This was why Cain always kept Gastly hidden in the shadows, ready to react to any threat. And with the move Protect, Gastly could block most attacks as long as they weren't too powerful.

When facing Pokémon, human bodies are indeed fragile.

(End of Chapter)