"Sword and shield…"
"The ancient heroes' sword and shield!"
Marvin and Allister's eyes widened.
It was the sword and shield from Galar's ancient legend, the weapons of the Hero of Sword and the Hero of Shield!
Were those the same decayed relics they had once seen in the ruins? Could those rusted weapons truly be the legendary arms of the ancient heroes?
Marvin's jaw dropped. He slapped the table and stood up in shock, but under Shae's piercing gaze, he quickly sank back into his seat.
Allister turned to his teacher, still puzzled. He couldn't understand. Were those relics really so important? Even if they were once mighty weapons, they had long since rotted away. Could they still be of any use?
At most, the company might study what materials they were made of. But was it really worth putting so much effort into watching Shiro?
Edgar just shook his head in silence. He and Shae had known all along that Shiro possessed the sword and shield, so their reaction was calm.
"I may have to leave soon," Shiro said with a smile to Marvin and Allister. Rising to his feet, he cast a look around, then walked toward the nearby street.
Ryan and the others at the back table hurriedly stood and followed.
Marvin half-rose, ready to chase after him, but when he saw that neither Shae nor Edgar moved, he froze, confused.
Edgar kept eating, murmuring softly, "Don't worry. That boy is just looking for an inn."
"…I thought Shiro was leaving Galar right now," Marvin muttered as he sat back down.
Edgar added, "He'll probably leave tomorrow… if he's fully prepared."
"What?"
Marvin shot to his feet again, but Shiro and Ryan's group had already vanished down the street.
* * *
Meanwhile, in front of Hulbury Gym.
On the pale marble steps, Nessa pounded her hand against the massive orange-and-gray doors. The alloy boomed with each strike, but no one answered from within.
Her impatience grew. She gripped the Poké Ball at her waist, debating whether to blast the door open with a Pokémon.
Just as she wavered, a sharp, familiar voice rang out from behind.
"Move aside!"
Lina marched up with three subordinates, her face twisted with rage and humiliation. She wished she could go back and overturn Shiro's entire table for making a fool of her.
Today, not only had that bastard mocked her, but those two old fools as well. They had all humiliated her in front of so many people!
Her steps thundered against the marble as she ascended. She barked again from behind Nessa. "What are you doing here? Get lost!"
Nessa turned, her blue eyes locking on Lina's, unmoving.
'This bitch Nessa… Still clinging to that wild Pokémon?' Lina thought, her cold mask slipping as her lips contorted in disgust. She raised a hand to shove Nessa aside, but when her gaze fell on the girl's dark-toned skin, she stopped. Scowling, she stepped back two paces and signaled for her subordinates to do it instead.
The three men hesitated for only a moment before leaping forward.
"Go, Golisopod!"
Nessa's sharp voice cut through the air as her Poké Ball cracked open.
"Goliiisooo!"
A towering armored insect emerged, standing tall like a warrior in gleaming white plating. Its claws and spikes gleamed with menace.
"A Pokémon!"
"It's a Gym-level…!"
"What the hell?!"
The three uniformed Gym Trainer halted. Fear gripped them, and they scrambled back down the marble steps. Their strongest Pokémon were at Advanced-level, and those had been purchased and conditioned, not trained from scratch. The ones they had raised themselves only reached Intermediate-level. None of them had the courage to face a Gym-level Golisopod.
"Nessa!" Lina's voice broke into a shriek.
It wasn't even time for the roadblock challenge yet! And she was just a filthy fisher girl!
It was one thing to be a dog for Macro Cosmos, but to dare cause trouble right at her doorstep?
She hadn't released her own Pokémon, but she glared at Nessa without an ounce of fear. If not for Golisopod standing between them, she might have already lunged in to claw and wrestle her rival barehanded. In fact, half a year ago, they had done exactly that.
And she had been overpowered; held under the water, nearly drowning. If not for her father's timely arrival…
The memory alone made her temples throb with rage.
But Nessa ignored her emotions and asked directly, "Where are my parents?"
"How would I kno—" Lina stopped mid-sentence. She vaguely recalled her father mentioning… something about driving away a troublesome couple.
Her frown deepened as she snapped, "I don't know. Go home and look yourself!"
Nessa's eyes did not waver. Her voice grew sharper. "When I returned home, another family had already taken over the house. They told me my parents went to Hulbury Gym… and never came back."
"Heh… You ran away, didn't you? Maybe your parents went looking for you. Daddy said he gave them something and sent them off. How would I know where they went?" Lina sneered as she brushed past Nessa and her Golisopod toward the gym doors.
Tomorrow was the Gym Challenge. This was Hulbury, and this was her turf. There was no way this fisher girl could do anything to her.
Nessa fell silent. She recalled her Golisopod and stepped aside to give space.
Half a year ago, after clashing with Lina over a wild Pokémon, her life in Hulbury had turned hostile. Everyone seemed to be against her, and then she had run into the company's recruiters. The situation had been too urgent to explain, so she left without saying proper goodbye.
She had actually entrusted someone to pass a message to her parents, but she had no idea if it ever reached them. If it hadn't... then knowing them, they would have gone to the gym to demand answers. They would even have set out to look for her.
"Hmph…" Lina knocked rhythmically on the gym doors. With a heavy rumble, they swung open.
She leaned close to Nessa's ear and hissed, "A Gym-level Golisopod? Just a bug. Too weak. Haven't you begged Macro Cosmos for a few better Pokémon yet? Don't lose too fast tomorrow. Otherwise, you won't get another chance to charge in here like some wild savage and disgust people."
With that, she strode inside, her anger only half-quenched.
Her three aides slipped in after her, and the heavy doors slammed shut.
Nessa slowly descended the steps, gazing at the familiar townscape that now felt painfully foreign. Worry and unease gnawed at her chest. She thought of her parents, but at the same time, she had no confidence about tomorrow's match.
She had faced Lina twice before, and both times her Pokémon had lost.
With a Gym Leader father backing her, Lina surely had more hidden aces... maybe even Pokémon personally trained by Nathan himself.
Nessa looked toward the shoreline. Beyond the streets lay the blue-white horizon of sea and sand. She lingered on it for a few moments, then wandered aimlessly forward.
There was no one familiar in this town. Her life had always been in the fishermen's hamlet below, and in the dark, bottomless fishing caves.
But there wasn't much worth missing there either. Only desperate people who would do anything just to survive.
As she walked, a chilling thought crossed her mind.
Perhaps that family had lied. Maybe her parents really had returned from the Gym…only to be…
**
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