Tracking

"Roy, you have to come visit me at Petalburg Gym sometime!"

May bade farewell to Roy, who was sitting on his Roadster Bicycle.

After Roy said goodbye to the three of them, Erika's butler, Uncle Xuan, arrived to pick her up.

Erika also said goodbye to May. After spending time together, the two little girls had become close friends. May had even been appointed vice president of the Litwick Fan Club by Erika.

Norman, however, felt that the butler following Erika looked familiar, as though he had seen him somewhere before.

GOOGLE SEARCH TWKAN

Roy rode his Roadster Bicycle along the road back to Rustboro Academy.

"Lit!"

Litwick on his shoulder gave him a warning.

Was someone following him?

Roy gripped the handlebars and stopped his bicycle. He crouched down and pretended to inspect the rear tire, catching sight of a man in a baseball cap lingering ten or so meters behind him from the corner of his eye.

The moment the man noticed Roy stop, he immediately lowered his head and casually pretended to tie his shoelaces.

Roy did not know the man. Thinking it over, aside from attracting a little attention lately, he had neither flaunted his wealth nor done anything likely to make enemies.

Was it because of the Leaf Stone he had just received?

Thinking about it, that seemed to be the only possibility. Sure enough, money stirred people's greed.

Yet Wallace's reward, as well as the reward given to Umbreon's trainer, had not been any less valuable than his. The man must have simply taken him for an easy target.

But that depended on whether he had the ability to pull it off.

After fixing the rear tire, Roy casually began whistling and rode his Roadster Bicycle one-handed toward the dense woods outside the city.

The man sighed inwardly in relief, having thought he had been discovered.

He had indeed come for the Leaf Stone. It was a mid-grade Leaf Stone worth a hundred thousand Pokémon Dollars. Otherwise, he would not have wanted to provoke the bad luck of a Ghost-type trainer.

There were also the other two Evolution Stones, but Adam was beside Wallace, and Umbreon's trainer had a bodyguard as well.

Only Roy was alone.

Just as he was wondering how to make his move, Roy actually headed into the woods himself. Then he could not be blamed for taking advantage of the opportunity.

After checking that there were no other trainers nearby, the man tugged down his baseball cap and headed toward the woods as well.

After he left, a purple figure emerged from the shadow beside the tree where he had just been standing. It gave a strange "hee hee hee" laugh before slipping into the shadow of another tree.

The man followed the bicycle tracks into the woods.

Yet after entering the woods, the tracks suddenly vanished completely ahead of him.

The man raised his head and looked around, but he could not find Roy anywhere nearby.

Damn it! Had he lost him?

The man stopped pretending and removed his baseball cap, revealing a vicious-looking face. Just as he was about to curse aloud—

He suddenly sensed that something was wrong. It felt as though something was watching him, and his hand instinctively reached for the Poké Ball at his waist.

Before he could take out a Poké Ball, a skull suddenly appeared before him. The red glow in its eye sockets turned black as it stared at him without blinking.

"Night Shade!"

The sudden fright sent the man spinning around to flee, only to discover that his entire body had gone rigid and no longer obeyed his control.

The Poké Balls at his waist had become completely useless decorations.

Roy emerged leisurely from the grass at the edge of the woods, his hands behind his head.

The man knew he had been exposed. This kid had discovered him long ago—but when had he given himself away?

But the situation no longer allowed him to dwell on it.

"Mister, what are you looking for? Don't tell me you're looking for me?"

Roy wore a sunny smile, his tone utterly calm.

"Little brother, it's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! I was just passing through here, and I never expected to run into you."

The man immediately forced a smile.

"So it was a misunderstanding? I thought you wanted to kill me and steal the treasures on me."

Roy's words completely exposed what the man had truly been thinking.

"How could that be? Do I look like that kind of person? Besides, you earned that Leaf Stone through your hard work in the competition..."

"How did you know the treasure I was talking about was the Leaf Stone?"

Roy's single sentence made the man's heart sink halfway into an abyss, but his desire to survive still drove him to come up with another explanation.

The man's expression changed, and he put on a fervent look.

"Little brother, I actually came here specifically to follow you!"

He actually admitted it. Roy was somewhat surprised.

The man continued.

"But I mean you no harm. I watched the Rookie Cup before, and your Litwick's performance left a deep impression on me.

"I'm your fan, so I only followed you because I wanted an autograph. I never expected things to turn out like this. What a misunderstanding, right?"

Roy put on a look of sudden realization.

"So that's what it was. I was being too cautious and misunderstood you, mister. I'll release you now."

Roy slowly walked over.

Seeing that Roy actually believed him, the man smiled on the surface while sneering inwardly. Someone like this had actually placed in a competition?

Pokémon League trainers these days were really easy to fool. Once the control on him was lifted, at this distance, he would not even need to send out his Pokémon. All it would take was one stab...

The man's plan was beautiful, but reality did not go as he imagined. What entered his vision was a hand wrapped in dark violet energy.

"Wait... you... what are you doing?!"