186: Emergency Case

Nearly two weeks had passed since Hisoka assumed the role of gym leader in Komoda City, and he had settled into the city's fast-paced lifestyle. Now that people weren't as interested in him, his life at the gym was less hectic.

Right now he was coaching Yellow and Lily on how to best use their Pokemon in combat. Yellow was quite naive and acted very much like a child. Although she was a bit of a slow learner, she was quite promising thanks to the Viridian Forest's blessings.

On the other hand, Lily was the opposite of Yellow. She may have been shy and reserved, but she was a prodigy when it came to Pokemon battling. Principal Simon even compared her talent to Agatha's when she was younger.

Who was Agatha? The oldest member of Kanto Elite Four. The Ghost Master. Professor Oak's rival.

"Hisoka."

Hisoka turned to see Friday's holographic projection walking toward him.

"You have just received a call from the mayor," Friday said.

"Just a sec."

He returned to the ring and ended the spar between Yellow and Lily. After dismissing the two, he returned to Friday while grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler.

"Did the mayor say anything?" he asked, taking a sip from the bottle.

"He's asking you to come to the port ASAP. There is an emergency case," Friday replied.

"Tell him I'll be there in five minutes."

With that, he ran out of the gym while calling for his Pokemon.

While approaching the port on Aerodactyl, Hisoka noticed a large number of police cars and an ambulance parked nearby. Behind the lines set up by the police, there was a massive crowd.

He nudged his Aerodactyl to descend, then put her away after they landed. As he moved through the crowd, he overheard numerous whispered conversations.

"I heard that a dead body was found floating near the port by someone."

"Must be the Blackbeard Pirates again."

'Blackbeard Pirates?' He thought as he listened to the people around him. Wasn't that the one that was in the news recently.

He had almost made it into the port when a policeman stopped him.

"I'm sorry, sir. No one is allowed to enter right now," said the policeman.

"I'm the Komoda City gym leader. The mayor called me here." Hisoka stated his reason while pulling out his ID card.

The rookie cop, judging by his uniform, checked his ID card before stepping aside.

"I'm sorry Mr. Hisoka. You can come in." The policeman said respectfully while lifting the police warning lines.

Thanking the policeman for letting himself in, he then made his way into the port. The first thing that entered his sight was a man's frozen body embedded in a block of ice. In all likelihood, the man was already dead.

After seeing that, thoughts of the Blackbeard Pirates from earlier flooded his mind. Was it they who did this?

"Hisoka! Over here!"

Then, all of a sudden, he heard his name being called. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head quickly to see Yukimura waving his hand.

"Yukimura," he shook Yukimura's outstretched hand before turning to Mayor Bruce and Officer Jenny next to him.

"Mayor Bruce. Officer Jenny." He greeted them.

Mayor Bruce simply nodded and said, "It's good that you're here. I want you to come over because this also has something to do with your job as the gym leader in this city."

In fact, Hisoka didn't know that Bruce was using this chance to put him to the test.

"What happened to that guy?" Hisoka asked as he pointed at the police officers who were attempting to thaw the man out of the solid block of ice.

"Does it have to do with what I heard in the crowd just now?" He continued.

"You mean Blackbeard Pirates? Yeah. It's those bastards. They're back at it, again." Mayor Bruce replied, clenching his fist.

"Again?" He questioned.

"Oh, I totally forgot that you just moved here." Mayor Bruce said apologetically before continuing, "This is not the first time this has happened. The Blackbeard Pirates had been terrorising us for many, many years."

"The leader of Blackbeard Pirates is a man named Edward Thatch. He is a very cruel and greedy man. Sometimes he will kill the hostages even if he already receives the ransom. The man is a demon," Yukimura added somberly.

"Yesterday, we got a letter asking for a ransom. They want $100 million for the 25 people they are holding hostage. But just an hour ago, they changed what they wanted. Now, they want $500 million within two days. If we don't give them the money quickly, they'll start killing the hostages one by one."

After hearing what Officer Jenny said, everyone fell into silence.

"Sigh. We have already told the League about this matter. "They will send us a few men to help us," said Mayor Bruce.

"Are you going to…" Hisoka trailed off.

"Yes. We are going to rescue the hostages and kill the Blackbeard Pirates," Mayor Bruce said bluntly, turning to him.

"I hope you will join us too, Hisoka."

"Count me in. Besides, I don't think I can say no, do I?" He made a small joke. In fact, he had already known he wouldn't be able to refuse once he became the gym leader of this city. Not that he would do that, mind you. If he refused, then he would be facing dismissal soon. Heck, he might even get booted out of the gym today.

Since there was nothing else for him to do here, he excused himself and returned to the gym. After dealing with a couple of trainers, who came to challenge his gym, he decided to close his gym because it was already getting late.

Later that night, he prepared a lot of food, water and drugs since he wasn't sure how long the operation was going to take. After he finished packing, he started considering who he should take with him.

The first one was Gardevoir. She was his most trusted partner and he relied on her more than anyone else. Besides, she was getting better at using healing skills. Though not as good as Chansey, it was enough to heal light to mild injuries.

He also brought Rhyperior along, despite the fact that Rhyperior wouldn't fare well in the water, in case he needed some heavy firepower. Aerodactyl for air mobility, Misdreavus for scouting and Milotic and the Water-types Milotic and Lapras. He would be stupid not to bring them with their advantage in the sea.

The next day, he woke up at seven o'clock in the morning and quickly got prepared. After having a sumptuous breakfast that was prepared by Chansey, he hefted his bag and rode off on Aerodactyl.

Yesterday, he had already told the staff and his other Pokemon that he would be leaving for a few days. He wasn't concerned about leaving his other Pokemon behind because Friday would let him know if anything came up.

He noticed that no one had yet arrived at the port when he got there. Looking at his watch, he realised he had arrived a bit early, so he settled in to wait.

After waiting for only a few minutes, he saw a familiar red sports car pull up in front of him. He certainly wasn't expecting to see Ryoichi and Matthias, so you can imagine his shock when they stepped out of the car.

After a short reunion, Yukimura, Officer Jenny, and the others arrived one by one. Following Mayor Bruce's orders, everyone piled into the waiting speedboats and sped off.