Raikou? Thunder Cat! (Triple-Length Chapter!)

The Crystal System.

Dr. Zager of Team Rocket had built it and handed it to Buson and Basho, who used it to torment Electric-type Pokémon and lure out Raikou.

Their plot had once been foiled by Kenta, Ethan's animated counterpart; Marina, Kris's animated counterpart; Junichi; and Eusine, a Ho-Oh Guard researcher who pursued Suicune.

Baimu had never expected to see the thing again in Hoenn.

Worse, poor Raikou had fallen victim to it a second time. These Pokémon hunters had skipped right past Normal Mode, which passively drew in electricity, and switched on Black Hole Mode, which actively sucked it away. Already injured, Raikou was being forced to lose the electricity within its body.

Baimu remembered what Basho had said: once they drained all the electricity from Raikou and put him into a deathlike state, they could do whatever they wanted with him.

"Roar—"

Lightning flashed as Raikou, the saber-toothed tiger, struggled desperately. Electricity kept streaming from his body into the black crystal.

As Baimu drew closer, he took a deep breath. Rather than charge in, he turned his attention to the robot farther from the Crystal System.

Its main body resembled an enormous jet ski mounted on unusually long, slender legs. If he was right, it controlled the Crystal System. But dismantling the robot would not stop the system.

The animated account had made it clear that the two systems could operate independently. Destroying the controls could even send the Crystal System into Black Hole Mode.

Who knew whether this latest version had an Abyss Mode? Smashing it the usual way was out of the question.

He edged a little closer.

More details came into view.

The two Pokémon hunters who had abandoned their mountain bike stood in the robot's partly open cockpit, smug smiles plastered across their faces.