RNP Chapter 353 Detoxification – The Mastermind
Chapter 353 Detoxification – The Mastermind
Chapter 355 Detoxification – The Mastermind
The sound of slender black leather shoes clicking on the floor pierced the silence of the ward. The vice president brushed aside the strands of hair that fell across his forehead.
Emerging from between the raised wings of a natural bird.
His silver-gray suit gleamed with a cold metallic sheen under the emergency lights. The high-ranking official of the alliance appeared before Douzi and Heilian with a poker face that revealed neither his emotions nor his anger.
"Both of you are highly skilled Pokémon trainers. In a formal battle, I would definitely admit defeat. However, the electronic control system of the Pokémon League Building is much more interesting than a simple Pokémon battle."
The vice president extended his gloved hand, and as his fingertips traced a line in the air, several bursts of electrical sparks suddenly erupted from the ceiling, and all power to the entire ward was simultaneously cut off.
As the power supply system collapsed, the fluorescent lights of the testing instruments went out one by one like candle flames, and everything was plunged into a thick darkness.
"Damn it! King Yanwu—"
Touko attempted to send out a Pokémon capable of summoning light, but the moment her fingertips touched Emboar's Poké Ball, her body was encased in a transparent, gel-like barrier—
The last thing she saw was the dark red stripe of the Cloaked Dragon that flickered as the "Immobilize" move was activated.
It was this move that caused Akroma to fall into an inescapable state of paralysis.
On the other side, Hei Lian noticed his childhood friend's predicament, but just as he was about to lend a helping hand, a strong gust of wind pressure was already approaching his face.
"Giant Rock Monster!"
In the critical moment, the young man summoned a giant rock Pokémon to block his way.
The next second, Nargacuga's "Air Blade" struck the thick rock wall, producing a deafening bang.
"Buzzing! Buzzing!" Hearing the intense explosions around him, Douzi let out a suppressed groan in his throat.
Unlike Akromma, Douzi's nerves, which had not yet been eroded by the "electromagnetic waves," were still frantically sending struggle signals to her muscles. The veins in the girl's neck bulged, and her joints, suppressed by an invisible force, emitted a mournful cry from within.
And the Serperior beside her did not disappoint its trainer's efforts. Before Douzi could give any command, its slender body shot out like an arrow.
The girl's desperate struggle forced the Kecleon to increase the power of its "Immobilize" spell, making it unable to perfectly conceal itself in the darkness—and the Serpent Lord did not miss this opportunity either!
Without a sound, three "magic leaves" with automatic tracking function quietly floated out. The leaves, surrounded by a ghostly light, cut through the darkness in a triangular shape and attacked the faintly visible serrated pattern in the distance.
"Cough—ha!"
The interference from the cloaked dragon was forced to stop. Like a drowning person taking their first breath after surfacing, Douzi braced herself on the ground and gasped for air. At the same time, the majestic figure of Yanwu King appeared beside her.
Flames ignited, and the firelight finally illuminated the dark hospital room once more.
Beneath the red curtain, Serperior and Kecleon faced off, while Blackbeard and his giant rock monster were held back by Natu. Meanwhile, the League Vice President, who had just cut off all the lights in the ward, vanished without a trace.
The moment the girl grasped the current situation, alarm bells rang in her mind: "Oh no, their target is still Akromma!"
"Don't worry, my Mongoose Cleaver is still there."
While directing Pangyan Monster to use rock energy to create sharp stones to suppress the Natural Bird, Heilian spoke to Douzi.
As expected, the vice president of the alliance appeared before Akromar's unconscious hospital bed.
Because the "immobilization spell" cast by the cloaked dragon on Akromar had failed, a trace of color finally returned to the patient's face.
Unfortunately, the shadow of death has once again loomed over this scientist.
"Whoosh!"
The Mongoose Slash roared furiously, and relying on the light source provided by the Flame King, it bravely lunged at the vice president's back, only to find itself playing right into the enemy's hands!
The person standing in front of the hospital bed seemed to have eyes in the back of their head. With light stomp of their leather shoes, they bent down just before the attack hit, nimbly dodging the attack from behind.
"Your presence is too obvious. Although this is probably not the reason why open flames are prohibited in the operating room, since you have already made an exception, I might as well follow suit."
The "random grab" that was supposed to hit the enemy not only failed to hit the vice president, but also coincidentally severed a wall-mounted oxygen pipeline connected to the hospital bed.
"This was originally a gas supply line for the oxygen masks, and I just adjusted its flow valve to allow it to output a sufficient concentration of flammable gas. To be honest, I didn't want to make such a commotion, but judging from your posture, I guess you two have no other choice now."
The vice president shook his head regretfully, offering a superfluous and useless explanation of his criminal methods to the enemy. The hissing sound of the billowing gas was as cold as the breath drawn out from the mouth of the bucket.
Then, a bolt of lightning struck down from the ceiling, and a tiny gear flew out from the crack created by the current—this must be another Pokémon that the vice president had hidden, and it was this very Pokémon that had previously cut off the lights in the ward.
The electric spark ignited in the high concentration of oxygen, instantly setting the white sheets beneath Akromma ablaze.
"Don't underestimate us!" the girl shouted sharply. "Flame Martial King, 'Hot Water'!"
Upon receiving the order, King Yanwu raised his black eyebrows, and scalding steam rose from his body, as if boiling "hot water" was about to gush out.
"Natural bird, block it!"
The Alliance Leader issued a cold command. The green bird, which was fighting the giant rock monster, suddenly folded its wings and used "Teleport" despite the "Rock Blast" summoned by the giant rock monster.
When it appeared in front of Yanwu King, its once magnificent feathers were now covered with bloodstains from the cracked rocks.
The hot water hit its face, and the bird cried out in distress, its wings showing obvious burn marks. However, its trainer was not angry but delighted. "Now! 'Mental Shift'!"
A red glow appeared in the bird's eyes as it met the gaze of the Zangoose Slash, which was right next to it. In an instant, the burn status ailment transferred from the bird to the Zangoose Slash's forepaws, causing the latter's attack to falter.
The bedsheet beside Akromar burned brighter and brighter, and the fire extinguishing device that should have automatically sprayed water when the fire broke out did not work at all—it seemed that it had also been damaged beforehand by that gear.
"Vice President, you should know more about combat. Don't forget, the power of 'Endure' is doubled when you're burned."
As the situation unfolded, Hei Lian's gaze swept over the escalating fire in front of the hospital bed, but he showed no panic. Just like countless times during their journeys, Douzi's childhood friend made the calmest and most prudent decision of all: "Mongoose Slash, head-on breakthrough, use 'Hardcore' to finish off Natu. Giant Rock Monster, 'Smash Mud' to extinguish the flames!"
In another battle, the Kecleon had already been stunned by the Serperior. The girl promptly moved her Grass-type partner to the battlefield near the bedside—"Serperior, use Vine Whip to restrain Gear. Don't let it hinder the firefighting! Vice President, stop trying to resist, you have no way out!"
"No, quite the opposite, I have already achieved my self-realization."
Before the sickbed, the flames were extinguished by the falling mud, releasing a white mist. However, having removed the flames that had stood in their way, the reality before them left Douzi and Heilian speechless—
It turns out that during the battle, the vice president of the alliance not only failed to avoid the raging flames, but also used the firelight as cover to jump directly onto the charred bed sheet.
The high-ranking official in a suit ignored his Pokémon partners who were lying unconscious all around him, and with a grim expression, he grabbed the slender neck of the Team Plasma scientist—"I'm not going to barge into a secret room like this guy did without any precautions."
In a daze, it seemed as if some kind of tremor came from beneath the ward—the next moment, a moss-green rock hand grew out of the ground without warning.
Ignoring the chaos at the scene, amidst the teeth-grinding sound of rocks grinding together, the giant hand instantly subdued the entire hospital bed and Akroma and the others who were on the bed.
It's the Clay Golem's "Sneak Attack"!
"Please allow me to take my leave now, and I hope we will never meet again."
As the intruder bid farewell in the palm of his hand, the rocky hand that carried the conspiracy retreated back into the ground. The hospital bed vanished into thin air, leaving only a blank, clean patch of ground in its place, swaying incessantly in the flames released by the Flame King.
"So, the first thing that made me realize something was wrong with Akromah's poisoning symptoms was his posture when he was unconscious."
When the vice president opened his eyes again, what appeared before him was not the window that he had originally planned to open to the outside of the alliance, but another unfamiliar and closed room.
"Before losing consciousness, a poisoned person usually appears in a painful, curled-up position. Even if they are just peacefully falling into a coma, the body will instinctively seek a stable point of support—after all, even when sleeping on a table, people wouldn't be like Akroma when he was found, supporting his head with his palm, resting his elbow on the armrest of the chair, and completely leaning towards his arm while asleep, right? That center of gravity is too unstable. This deliberate maintenance of balance is just like a suddenly frozen state—why would he maintain that posture, alone and unconscious at the crime scene?"
Influenced by the words in his ear, the vice president realized that Akromah, whom he had been holding in his hand, had disappeared. Before him stood a black-haired man in a white coat. He recognized him; it seemed to be during the last discussion about the championship title succession… Wait, so this person is…?
"I truly discovered your 'poisoning method' when I learned about the doctors' treatment of Akromma. Regarding this matter,
I am truly grateful to your colleague, Ms. Gloria, the vice president in charge of the League's security, medical, and logistics departments. The investigation report she provided was incredibly detailed, so detailed that even I might have overlooked some aspects. Thanks to it, I not only learned that Akromar's condition was significantly alleviated after using the "Healing Bell" technique, but also learned about other treatments the doctors had tried without success—such as the psychic-type healing technique "Healing Pulse."
The League Vice President looked towards the distance behind the person opposite him. There, his secret ace, Claydol, lay unconscious on the ground like a broken rag doll, its body covered in scorch marks and teeth marks, half of its body almost completely shattered into pieces. The two Elite Four members who had committed this atrocity stood with their arms crossed on either side of the only door in the room, watching him from afar. This was the situation he was now in, truly a hopeless predicament. "The 'Healing Pulse' move couldn't work, indicating that, at least from the perspective of Pokémon energy, Acromima hadn't actually suffered any particularly serious damage—ignoring special circumstances, this proved that the toxin the doctors initially suspected was actually nonexistent. The 'Healing Bell' still worked, indicating that Acromima had been affected by some abnormal status beforehand. Excluding the potentially harmful poison, burns, and the obviously inconsistent sleep and freeze states, the only remaining explanation was the paralysis caused by the 'Thunder Wave' move."
The Unicron Champion's grey eyes stared at the League Vice President, leaving him feeling utterly hopeless.
"Only Pokémon use moves. Since a Pokémon had used the 'Thunder Wave' move on Acromima, how did this Pokémon enter the room, deceive everyone, and launch a surprise attack while Acromima was engrossed in formulas and calculations? Ghost-type Pokémon like Claydol, which can pass through walls, could certainly do this. Psychic-type Pokémon with telekinesis or 'Teleport' abilities might also be able to, but later type energy investigations refuted this hypothesis. We could have investigated the footprints left at the scene to determine if such an unfamiliar Pokémon existed, but the chaos after the incident completely confused the footprints, breaking this lead. This forced me to consider this question from the perspective of the perpetrator: how can a Pokémon appear like a ghost and disappear like morning mist?"
The criminal closed his eyes, awaiting his fate—"If I were the criminal who wanted to murder Acromima, perhaps by investigating his meeting request to the League, I could predict the room he would go to—that way, by placing the Pokémon there beforehand, I could avoid everyone's sight and let the killer Pokémon appear at the crime scene. After 'poisoning' him, I could also deliberately create chaos, guiding a large number of people to the crime scene immediately, allowing the Pokémon to disappear into the crowd. But there are two risks: Acromima might sense something amiss before the murder, and the police investigators rushing to the scene won't all be blind; they might catch clues about the scheme. I need to find a good way to let the Pokémon appear quietly, commit the murder quietly, and then quietly disappear without triggering psychic powers or ghost energy. Heh, flipping through the entire Pokédex, excluding those almost omnipotent legendary Pokémon, there are very few Pokémon that can do this."