189: Return, Treasure Hunting
Under the morning sun, a large ship and five smaller boats could be seen making their way toward the port of Komoda City. The Pokemon League flag, which featured a Pokeball against a blue background, was proudly displayed on the ship.
"We're finally back!" Ryoichi exclaimed in elation.
"It's good to be back," Hisoka said with a broad grin stretching across his face before looking over his shoulder. "It's a pity we didn't manage to catch Edward."
Two dozen pirates sat on the floor behind them, their hands bound behind their backs. All of them had downcast expressions. The Elite Special Forces from the League were keeping a close eye on them in case they attempted to escape.
After they raided the Blackbeard Pirates' lair, they spent two days at the sea looking for their missing captain, Edward. Unfortunately, their effort was all for a naught. They couldn't find any trace of him at all.
"Well, although Edward slipped away, at least we wiped out the Blackbeard Pirates. Didn't we also get a lot of spoils? I think that's a plus for me," said Ryoichi.
As they got closer to the port, they could see that the port was already full of people. Mayor Bruce was there, and so was the press.
"My work here is done, right? Tell Matthias that I'm leaving, " Hisoka said to Ryoichi.
He didn't feel like dealing with the reporters at this moment so he released his Aerodactyl and flew away. Matthias could take care of the rest for him.
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"Sigh. When are you going to hatch?"
After completing her homework, Yellow carefully wiped the egg in her arms before putting it back in the incubator.
This Pokemon egg was too important to her. Hisoka had warned her that he would kick her from the gym if she did not take good care of the egg, and she was determined not to let that happen.
She didn't want to leave this place. The people here are nice and very friendly. They had plenty to eat every day, a comfortable place to sleep and didn't need to fight over food with the other kids in the orphanage.
"Yellow! Hisoka is back and he's looking for us!" Lily, who was wearing her academy uniform, ran over, panting.
"Huh? Hisoka is back?" Yellow was taken aback. Why is he looking for us? Is he going to check on my progress? Oh no! She still hadn't memorized all 18 types of Pokemon yet, she thought.
Nervously, Yellow quickly followed Lily into the gym. The moment they stepped foot inside the gym, they spotted Hisoka talking to the staff.
"Good, you guys can take a day off today," Hisoka nodded before sending the staff on their way.
Hisoka then turned to the two people who were peeking around the corner and said, "What are you doing standing there, come here."
Hearing that, Yellow and Lily walked out of the corner and over to Hisoka.
They bowed slightly and said, "Welcome back, Hisoka."
"How's your Pokemon egg?" Hisoka asked them as he looked at the egg incubator Yellow was holding.
"It's doing well. Emily said that if nothing goes wrong, the egg should hatch in about a week," Yellow nervously replied.
Likewise, Lily gave the same reply.
"All right, you guys can go outside and play. There's no training today," Hisoka said while yawning slightly. He was a little tired after being out on the sea for three days.
"Thank you, Hisoka." They replied happily and then turned around.
"Wait a minute." Just as they were about to leave the gym, Hisoka's voice came again.
"Is there anything else, Hisoka?" Slowly, Yellow turned around, fearing that Hisoka would ask how her studies were coming along.
"I heard you mentioned that your Raticate has a keen sense of smell, right? Can he detect anything underground?" Hisoka asked.
She heaved a sigh of relief when she realized that it wasn't what she thought about. But then her face grew confused.
"Yes. Why are you asking that?" She asked, curious. She had no idea why Hisoka was interested in her Raticate.
"Can I borrow him later?"
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"Unless something unexpected comes up, I will be back tomorrow morning. Make sure you've memorized all the 18 types of Pokemon by the time I return, especially you Yellow."
At the gym, Hisoka was talking to his two apprentices in a stern tone.
"We will, Hisoka. Have a nice trip," said the girls in unison.
After that, he slung his bag over his shoulder and waved goodbye to them as he left the gym.
A full two days had passed since his return. At this point, word of the Blackbeard Pirates' defeat had spread throughout all of Komoda City. When Mayor Bruce announced that the Blackbeard Pirates were finally put behind bars, the city rejoiced. For two years, Blackbeard PIrates had been harassing them.
Outside of his gym, he grabbed a few parchments from his bag. These were treasure maps that he got from the pirates a few days earlier. Some of them he bought in the city as well.
Although he knew most of them might be fake, he just wanted to try out his luck. He picked a map at random and compared it to the real map. After confirming the route on his phone, he set off on Aerodactyl.
About an hour later, he arrived at a ring-shaped island with a lagoon in the center. On the shore, he discovered the wrecks of numerous ships. No Pokemon were visible to his eyes. Seemed like nobody was on this island.
Then he put away his Aerodactyl and took out a Raticate and his Gardevoir.
"Hello, Raticate."
Hisoka held up a handful of Pokeblocks in front of Yellow's Raticate and said, "If you find any treasure around here, I will give this to you."
Raticate's mouth drooled at the sight of the Pokeblocks. He immediately patted his chest as if to say, "I've got this."
Not long after, Raticate began to dig into the ground.
"Come on, Gardevoir. There's a few more spots on this island we need to check." Hisoka beckoned Gardevoir to follow him.
They were halfway around the island when they heard a few people talking ahead of them.
"It's empty again. This is the third time."
"Sigh. Most of the treasures had probably already been found by other people."
"Damn, I knew this would be a waste of time. They wouldn't sell the treasure maps for so cheap if they were real."