"Just as I expected, someone with his background wouldn't be without backup protection. Lucky for me, I wasn't foolish enough to let Inteleon strike directly. That would have caused real trouble."
Seeing that David had survived the explosion, Yade glanced at the Dragapult standing guard beside him. A flicker of unease crossed his face, though he quietly let out a breath of relief.
He paid little attention to David's other Pokémon. Perhaps someday, Zorua and the others would grow into Elite-level, Champion-level, or even Legendary Pokémon — powerful enough that he could never hope to match them. But that day was still far off. For now, Zorua and the rest were merely ordinary Pokémon, not even Professional-level, so he saw no threat in them.
Dragapult, however, was another matter entirely. With his experience, Yade could tell at a glance that this Dragapult was a true Elite-level Pokémon, and no ordinary one at that.
After learning of David's true identity from An, Yade had already prepared for this possibility when planning the assassination. That was precisely why he had used the bomb as a test first. Things had gone exactly as predicted, and a trace of relief passed through him. Had he faced this Dragapult directly, he doubted he could have taken David down with him — more likely, he himself would have been the one finished.
"An Elite-level Dragapult as a personal guardian — how enviable. But for the sake of our future, I'm afraid you'll have to die here!"
Yade's voice carried a note of envy as he pressed his attack once more.
The small Pokémon he had planted around the area earlier, each rigged with explosives, sprang into motion. They slipped into the panicked crowd fleeing the water park, blending among the frightened Pokémon still reeling from the first blast, and began closing in on David.
Back at David's side, his three Pokémon had noticed the blood at the corner of their Trainer's mouth. Ignoring their own wounds, they rushed to him at once. Kirlia was the most anxious of all, casting Heal Pulse and Life Dew on David one after another without pause.
"I'm fine, Kirlia…"
David tried to reassure her. He had only taken the force of the explosion, and thanks to his excellent physical conditioning, the injury wasn't severe. Under Kirlia's steady stream of healing moves, he was already more than halfway recovered.
But before he could finish speaking, his expression darkened. Through his Aura sense, he felt the same signature of Aura energy as the earlier living bombs — except this time, there were far more of them, closing in fast.
"These bastards…"
David clenched his teeth. Once today was over, he had no intention of letting these people go unpunished.
How had so many bombs been smuggled into Cloudspire? There was only one explanation — these people had turned Pokémon into living bombs from the very start, and the unusual nature of the bomb's energy signature had let them slip past inspection undetected.
Worse still, to strike at him, they hadn't hesitated to act in a crowded public area. Just from what he could see, the number of injured people and Pokémon had already climbed into the double digits.
He would not let these lunatics walk away from this. But for now, getting everyone to safety came first.
"Dragapult, don't let those Pokémon get close!"
"Everyone, spread out — don't run toward me!"
David gave the order to Dragapult while also shouting a warning to the crowd. Though the people around him were frightened, they weren't foolish. One look at the Dragapult hovering beside David told them enough, and they scattered without needing to be told twice.
At once, the disguised Pokémon rigged as bombs were left exposed, with nowhere left to hide.
"Dragapult!"
Hearing David's command, Dragapult let out a cry and nodded. As a Ghost-type Pokémon nearing Champion-level, it had already sensed the unnatural life force radiating from those Pokémon. Seeing David injured had clearly put it in a foul mood — a cold glint flashed in its eyes, and in an instant, it unleashed a volley of compressed Shadow Sneak strikes.
The scattered bursts of Shadow Sneak moved with the precision of guided missiles, striking down the bomb-rigged Pokémon one after another before they could get close.
Boom— boom, boom, boom…
A string of explosions rang out in quick succession. Not one of the rigged Pokémon managed to reach David before Dragapult cut them down.
Still, the dark energy scattering from each blast proved troublesome, even for Dragapult, forcing it to keep guiding David and the others out of harm's way as it dodged the debris. While David was still caught up in this deadly game of dodging explosions, the whole of Magic City had already descended into chaos over the "terrorist attack."
About eight minutes had passed since the first explosion.
"What?! A massive explosion at the water park on Liuli Coast!"
"Repeated energy readings at Gym-level intensity detected near Liuli Coast!"
"Multiple explosions and gunfire reported near Liuli Coast!"
Inside the Magic City Public Security Bureau, phones rang nonstop. Wave after wave of bad news poured in, leaving the senior officers stunned.
"Move, move! Seal off the roads along Liuli Coast and send in armed units and special operations teams immediately!"
"Get the treatment center to send medical personnel there right away!"
"And contact the Special Security Bureau — find out if this is connected to the people they arrested, and get their help handling this!"
"Yes, sir!"
In moments, the entire bureau was thrown into a frenzy of activity. It had been a long time since Cloudspire had seen an incident this serious, and this one had escalated fast. Call after call went out from the bureau, and a large number of personnel began moving toward Liuli Coast.
Meanwhile, at the Special Security Bureau's temporary command center, several officers were equally baffled.
"Could this be the cultists from The End Church?"
"No way. Their main forces have already been pushed out into the wilderness. There's no trace of them within thirty kilometers of Magic City — I'd stake my word on it."
"A new group, then? Slipped in without us noticing?"
"You're telling me they went through all that trouble just to blow up a water park?"
Ring…
While everyone was still puzzling over the situation, a phone on the desk suddenly rang. The commander seated there tensed immediately. A call at a time like this was never good news — only a handful of approved numbers had access to this line, which meant something had gone wrong somewhere.
He snatched up the phone at once. A woman's voice came through.
"Uncle, something might have happened to David."
"There's been a terrorist attack at the resort on Liuli Coast, and David and his classmates are there right now…"
Her words made his chest tighten, but he kept his voice steady.
"It's all right. Uncle is on his way right now. Don't worry — that clever little rascal David has the Pokémon your father gave him. He'll be fine."
"There's no time to waste. Get everyone organized — I'm heading there first!"
With that, he hung up the phone, said something to the officers nearby, then walked straight to the window, kicked it open, and leapt out.
A moment later, his figure appeared in the sky, a powerful Salamence rising beneath him. Man and dragon streaked across the sky like a shooting star before vanishing from sight.
The officers left behind stared at the broken window for a moment, exchanging stunned glances, before quickly snapping back to their duties and organizing the response.
The woman who had called was David's older sister, Aria. She knew David had traveled to Magic City, and the two siblings had mentioned visiting Liuli Coast together in their messages. So the moment news of the explosion broke, she sensed something was wrong and immediately began calling for help.
The commander she had reached was her chosen contact for exactly this kind of emergency — a man surnamed Moore, called Presley Moore.
Within ten minutes of the first explosion, nearly all of Magic City's rescue forces had been mobilized. But distant help could not ease an urgent need, and for now, the danger still had to be faced by David alone.