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The moment the cry rang out and that overwhelming draconic pressure washed over them, the poachers and their Pokémon all went deathly pale, fear flooding their eyes.
Altaria leapt into the air in a single bound. She fixed her gaze on the location of the Pokémon Egg. Only after confirming that it was completely unharmed did she viciously turn her eyes on the sickly old man and the other poachers—Sato included.
In the next instant, massive dragon-shaped shockwaves burst from her mouth and shot downward like lightning toward the poachers' Pokémon.
Under Altaria's rapid and ferocious Dragon Pulse barrage, the poachers' Pokémon barely had time to evade. One after another, they were struck and collapsed to the ground, completely losing their ability to fight.
Altaria unleashed more than a dozen immensely powerful Dragon Pulses in one breath, directly wiping out over half of the poachers' Pokémon on the battlefield.
Every one of those Pokémon was at least level fifty or above—yet they were still instantly defeated. This alone was enough to show just how terrifying her strength truly was.
Although Altaria had awakened, Sato felt no joy at all. Instead, he was rather annoyed.
During her assault, several Dragon Pulses had actually been fired in his direction as well. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough and ordered his Pokémon to evade, the battered Pokémon around him would already be lying on the ground.
"She even attacks someone who helped her… figures. Trying to reason with an overwhelmingly dominant Dragon-type Pokémon is pointless. Without sufficient strength, I'm not even worth acknowledging to her—gratitude is even more laughable."
Sato coldly watched Altaria wreak vengeance upon the poachers from the sky, sneering inwardly. The faint sympathy he'd felt for the misfortune of Altaria and her child vanished without a trace.
At the same time, Roserade—the Pokémon who had asked Sato to help Altaria—felt deeply awkward.
She had already told Altaria that Sato was not an enemy, yet Altaria had still refused to listen. This disappointed Roserade immensely and filled her with guilt toward Sato.
"This isn't your fault, Roserade. I've fulfilled what I promised. Let's go."
Seeing Roserade's dejected expression, Sato comforted her via telepathy.
As he finished speaking, he took out his PokeBalls and recalled all the surrounding Pokémon one by one. Immediately after, a blue glow flashed in his eyes, and his entire body vanished from where he stood.
Altaria's act of repaying kindness with hostility left Sato feeling extremely displeased—but he also knew how terrifying an Elite Four Dragon-type Pokémon, with most of her combat power restored, truly was. Moreover, he had already taken quite a few valuable items from her. He decided to consider the matter settled between them.
On his way in, Sato had left psychic coordinates at regular intervals. Using these, he moved swiftly through the Dragon's Den via teleportation.
Before long, he arrived at the cave entrance.
What surprised him was that outside, League police officers in uniform and many League Trainers had already completely surrounded the entire isolated cliff.
Thankfully, Sato didn't foolishly stroll straight out. After carefully scouting the situation with psychic detection, he teleported directly into an unoccupied patch of bushes outside.
"Having manpower really makes things easier. This move by the League—catching them like turtles in a jar—is beautifully done. No need to risk entering the Dragon's Den at all. Just block the entrance: one comes out, arrest one; two come out, arrest a pair."
"Even if the poachers really did manage to steal the Pokémon Egg, without special means to break through, they'd end up nothing more than high-level errand runners."
A few minutes later, having reverted to his identity as Tyler, Sato leaned against a tree branch. Watching the League Trainers sealing off the cliff and the poachers already brought to justice, he couldn't help but marvel at the League's overwhelming strength.
At the same time, the battle within the Crystal Cavern finally drew to a close.
However, the outcome was completely different from what Sato had expected.
The poachers hadn't been completely wiped out. Altaria—who had been so awe-inspiring and unstoppable—had once again turned into an ice sculpture.
Cradily, Druddigon, Onix, and Sableye had also been frozen solid.
As for the poachers, only the sickly old man and three of his subordinates were still standing. They weren't holding the Pokémon Egg—instead, they were respectfully facing a man dressed entirely in black.
Standing before the frozen Altaria was a masked man clad in a black robe, staring coldly at her icy form. Beside him stood a Walrein radiating Elite Four level pressure and a pseudo Elite-Four level Claydol.
"Useless trash. After all this time, you still couldn't capture it—and in the end, I had to step in myself. Do you have any idea how tightly the League has sealed off the entire cliff outside? It's not easy for me to move around."
The black-clad man looked at the Pokémon Egg in his hand, its surface covered in dragon-like patterns, and scolded the sickly old man and the others without turning around.
"This subordinate had no choice, sir. There were far too many unexpected variables in this operation—especially that kid. He actually revived Altaria. That's why I had no choice but to request your intervention."
Cold sweat instantly drenched the old man's face. He quickly lowered his head and replied respectfully.
"Hmph. If not for that, you'd all be ice sculptures yourselves by now. We can't stay here long. Clean up the traces and retreat southwest."
The black-clad man turned abruptly and slapped the old man hard across the face, his gaze icy.
"Yes, sir! Your subordinate accepts the lesson. I'll handle everything flawlessly and leave absolutely no trace of you behind."
The old man didn't dare dodge. After taking the slap, he bowed his head even lower and answered with exaggerated respect.
Seeing this, the black-clad man said nothing more. He recalled Walrein into a PokeBall, gave a brief instruction to Claydol, and then vanished together with it from the Crystal Cavern.
Once the man in black was gone, the sickly old man immediately straightened up. Touching his still-burning cheek, a fierce resentment flashed through his eyes.
After glaring darkly at the spot where the black-clad man had stood for a moment, he ordered his three subordinates to use PokeBalls to retrieve Altaria and the other Pokémon, then directed the remaining Pokémon still able to move to begin erasing all traces left on the battlefield.