After everything was finally over, David let out a long breath of relief. The assassins who had come after him had clearly pulled back. For now, at least, he should be safe.
"We can't let those people get away with this!"
David's hands curled into fists. Those killers deserved to die. Not only had they launched an open terrorist attack to kill him, but the methods they had used to do it were reason enough.
Modified Pokémon. Living bombs. Simply killing people like that would be far too kind an end for them. David had already made up his mind — once this was over, he would use his family's influence to hunt every one of them down.
Besides, the Alliance would never let this go either. An attack of this scale couldn't have been carried out without leaving some kind of trail, not against an organization as powerful as the Cloudspire Alliance.
"But… what exactly happened back there?"
David rubbed his forehead. His head still felt a little foggy as he tried to piece together what had happened.
At the moment of the attack, his mind had sunk into that strange, dark space, so he had barely any memory of the actual event.
Still, from what Zorua and the others had told him afterward, David learned that his body had been wrapped in green flames.
Putting that together with the pure white figure he remembered seeing chained up in that dark space, David didn't need to be told twice to understand what it meant. He was far from a fool.
"Reshiram… the white Dragon Pokémon from the founding legend of Unova. Was I really chosen as the Hero of Truth?"
David breathed slowly, telling himself again and again to stay calm.
But the excitement building in his chest was hard to hold back. He had already been carrying the Light Stone for some time, after all.
Still, there was a huge difference between simply holding the Light Stone and being recognized by Reshiram itself as its chosen Trainer. The former usually meant nothing more than being the unlucky courier who eventually hands the stone over to whoever the real hero turns out to be, gaining nothing in return.
The latter meant something far greater — actually having a Legendary Pokémon as your partner. Just think of the leader of Team Plasma from the games and the manga, and the difference becomes obvious. The two situations weren't even close.
If Reshiram truly accepted him, David's achievement would instantly place him as the second-greatest Trainer in the thousand-year history of the Moore family. A true Legendary Pokémon — and a Dragon-type Legendary at that — held enormous weight for a family like his.
Second only to one person.
The Moore family's very first patriarch, the founding Emperor of the ancient Eastern Splendor Empire: the Dragon Emperor, Nicholas.
Nicholas, the ancestor who had built his family's thousand-year legacy, had partnered with a black Rayquaza, and multiple records confirmed the two of them had defeated other Legendary Pokémon together. That was a feat David — at least the David of today — couldn't hope to match.
Even so, once word got out that David had earned Reshiram's recognition and the title of Hero of Truth, it would send shockwaves through the Alliance.
In the real Pokémon world, Legendary Pokémon weren't like the ones in the games, where a Trainer could simply catch or raise them at will.
Their power and their pride made that impossible. Across more than a thousand years of history, both under the Alliance and the ancient Eastern Splendor Empire before it, only a small handful of people in all of Cloudspire had ever partnered with a Legendary Pokémon.
David's excitement made perfect sense. Anyone else in his shoes would probably be as overjoyed as a scholar who had just passed the imperial examination. Managing to stay this composed already took real effort.
If the situation weren't so serious, David probably would have laughed out loud right there.
"But Reshiram doesn't look like it's doing well at all…"
He thought back to the image of Reshiram bound in chains of dark energy, thick and heavy like wet clay, and couldn't help but frown.
What could possibly happen to trap a Legendary Pokémon as powerful as Reshiram in a state like that?
It seemed that if he and Zorua hadn't spent the last six months quietly absorbing the negative energy leaking from the Light Stone, slowing its corruption, then Reshiram might have already…
"Zorua!"
Noticing David had gone quiet, his expression unreadable, Zorua assumed her Trainer was still shaken from what had just happened. She nuzzled gently against his side.
"It's alright, I'm okay, Zorua. Let's get out of here first."
David gave Zorua's head a light pat and turned to leave.
Whether or not it had been part of the assassins' plan, more explosions had gone off elsewhere in the water park and the surrounding area right around the time of the attack on him.
David decided to head out and check on the situation. Everyone had come to the water park together today, and it would be a disaster if any of his friends had gotten caught up in the chaos.
"Let's move, Dragapult."
He recalled Lucario and Kirlia into their Poké Balls for the moment. Zorua climbed up onto David's shoulder without needing to be told, settling into her usual spot.
Even though the attack itself seemed to be over, David still moved quickly, staying close to Dragapult for protection just to be safe.
As it turned out, that caution ended up saving him from something far worse.
Because he chose to retreat carefully rather than linger, David and the others avoided the real terrorist strike carried out by The End Church only a few minutes later. By the time he had made his way away from the coastline, David found that the entire water park — including the area he was now in — had descended into chaos.
Between the assassination attempt, the self-destructing Pokémon, and the noise from Dragapult's battle against several modified Pokémon, most tourists near the coast had already begun evacuating before the second wave even started.
Then, once the explosions went off simultaneously throughout the park and the surrounding streets, the crowd completely panicked.
The area was already a well-known tourist destination packed with visitors, so once the blasts hit, the entire park fell into disorder.
Fortunately, the Alliance's personnel weren't sitting idle. An advance team made up of several Superior Trainers, along with a squad from a special security unit, had already reached the scene.
Thanks to their efforts to calm the crowd, a full-blown stampede was avoided — small comfort, but comfort all the same.
"David, are you hurt?"
"David! Are you okay?"
The moment David arrived, two familiar faces rushed toward him.
"I'm fine, Miles. Is everyone else alright? Anyone hurt? And Uncle Ming — why are you here?"
"Everyone should be fine. Once the explosions started, most people gathered together quickly. Luke had Emma stay behind to watch over them."
"Then he and I went out to search for anyone still missing. I ran into Uncle Ming on the way and stuck with him. When you didn't show up for so long, I got worried something had happened to you. You didn't run into those cultists, did you? Thank goodness you're okay."
Miles explained, an Infernape standing at his side. Judging by the soot covering him, he'd clearly had a rough time of it.
David glanced at the Infernape beside him.
[Name: Infernape] [Type: Fire / Fighting] [Energy Level: 60 (Elite)] [Aptitude: Deep Purple]
It looked like Infernape had also been caught up in one of the other blasts, but thanks to its protection, Miles had come through unharmed.
That was part of why David wasn't overly worried in the first place — things hadn't exactly been peaceful lately. Most of his friends, himself included, had been given a Pokémon by their elders for exactly this kind of situation.
Under normal circumstances, as long as nothing too unexpected happened, their safety was more or less guaranteed.
"What else would it be? It's those End Church cultists you spotted earlier. The Security Bureau's been tracking their movements here in Cloudspire, and that's why I came — to deal with them. This attack is most likely their work."
"Aria called me, or I wouldn't have even known you were here. I came straight over to check on you."
Presley spoke up at that point, and it was clear both he and Miles believed this was simply another attack by the cult's fanatics.
But David, having gathered his thoughts, wasn't so sure.
The attack on him had been far too deliberate — it had clearly been aimed at him specifically. The other explosions felt more like a distraction than anything else.
Whoever had planned the assassination, David doubted they were cultists. Their methods had been ruthless, sure, but they lacked the desperate, fanatical edge that End Church terrorists usually carried.
The way they had struck fast and pulled back immediately felt far more like the work of professional killers doing a job for pay.
"Could this be the Jackals, from the Hunter Guild?"
David was turning the thought over, about to share his suspicion with his uncle, when—
BOOM!
A violent explosion rang out, and the tourists nearby — who had only just begun evacuating in an orderly manner after being calmed down — cried out in alarm once again.
David turned toward the sound and saw something he never wanted to see again as long as he lived.