"What do you mean?"
Anabel stared, bewildered by Lucas's sudden urgency.
The monitors showed nothing—no unknown tech or vehicles anywhere on the mountain.
Lucas didn't answer. With Hunter J so close, now was the moment to strike.
Fully equipped, he climbed onto the steaming, supercharged Dragonite, who surged out of the cave and rocketed into the sky.
Back in the cave, Snover woke up confused by the commotion and peered outside behind Luxray.
"Maybe he's spotted Hunter J," Tront tried to sound serious, but couldn't hide his smile at Lucas's bold tactics.
He'd once worried Lucas would insist on honorable one-on-one Pokémon battles with Hunter J. He never expected this level of creativity—powering up Dragonite pre-battle. Brilliant!
Grabbing his capture styler, Tront considered which wild Pokémon to recruit, shouting to Anabel, "Just trust him!"
Anabel, jolted into professional calm, immediately contacted her team across the mountain, ordering everyone to level-one alert. Prepare for a crashed airship—don't let a single criminal escape!
She'd worked with strong trainers before—including a certain red-headed Dragonmaster from Kanto—whose Dragonite dominated ocean smugglers like a force of nature.
Perhaps, as Paldea's rare Champion-level trainer, Lucas had his own ways of tracking Hunter J.
Anabel glanced at her monitors—no response except for the chaos after Lucas and Dragonite left. She tried to reassure herself.
…
In the howling blizzard, a mighty dragon shadow soared, its energy vaporizing the wind and snow itself.
[Isn't this a bit too flashy? Won't you expose yourself? What comes next is—]
Lucas's face didn't change, eyes locked on the blizzard.
"As long as you're strong enough, no matter how unreasonable your actions, you don't need to explain. People will just make up reasons that fit your strength."
[...]
"As long as the results are good, no one will care about the process. Where's Hunter J's ship?"
[Arriving at the mountain peak. Ready to act.]
"Mark it. Before they react, let's bring their ship down in one blow!"
[Understood.]
…
Inside the ship—
"Target locked: Frigibax, Arctibax, and Baxcalibur distribution points on Glaseado Mountain marked!"
On the shrinking holographic map, red dots lit up all over the vast mountain. Hunter J smiled coldly.
Not bad. This expensive new tech, custom-built by that scientist, was worth it.
There were flaws—only one evolution line could be tracked at a time, and nothing else—but with this, even Legendary Pokémon weren't out of reach.
She picked the nearest target. "Team A, prepare to deploy!"
Her fully armed squad rushed out.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting alarm blared. The red warning lights bathed the cabin.
"Report! High-energy signal detected below—Pokémon approaching fast, heading straight for us!"
The monitoring crew panicked.
"Exposed already?" Hunter J bit her lip, replaying every step—how had they been ambushed here?
Still, finding the traitor could wait. The attacker was the top priority.
Hunter J's gaze, hard as steel behind her visor, was ice-cold. "Regret your arrogance. Anti-air energy cannon—charge up!"
Hidden panels on the ship slid open as weapons powered up, gathering blinding energy.
"Charged and ready!" came the reply.
"Lock on and fire—take them down!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
But they couldn't.
On the screens, the operator cried out, "Can't lock on! Their speed—already supersonic and still increasing! Energy spike incoming—they're almost here!"
Hunter J's face changed.
And then—a deafening sonic boom exploded all around. Not even the blizzard could block the blast. All across the mountain, Anabel, Tront, Grusha, Tyme, Lyme, and Rika looked up in shock.
"Wow. No matter how many times I see it, that sonic boom is incredible."
Riding Dragonite, wrapped in protective energy, Lucas looked back.
Dragonite was now surrounded by a conical cloud from its supersonic flight, rocketing straight for the massive—yet invisible—airship.
Dragonite sensed a faint threat and flew even more erratically.
Logically, Lucas should have been suffering severe side effects from the speed and cold. In reality, he felt fine—the mystical energy surrounding Dragonite kept him safe.
With the system marking the ship's floatation drive, Lucas gave the order: "Aim there—Dragon Rush!"
"Bwooom!"
Dragon energy surged, and in a blink, a massive spectral dragon appeared amid the storm, Dragonite roaring as it smashed into the ship's weak point!
A huge explosion lit up the sky. The floating and cloaking systems went down, and the powerless vessel plummeted—right into view of Anabel and Tront, ready below.
Inside the ship, alarms wailed:
[Floatation system damaged. Cloaking system damaged. Irreparable. Warning: ship will crash.]
[Repeat: Ship will crash.]
[Repeat: Ship will crash.]