Beneath the azure sky, aboard Team Aqua's Airship.
In a cramped cabin hastily cleared out for them, Team Aqua's three executives and Archie sat in silence.
The exposed skin of one of Archie's arms was covered in bloody cuts. The Super Ship's Wheel at his waist had also been shattered in half, leaving only the Key Stone more or less intact.
Yet the sharpness in his eyes had not diminished at all. After all, facing Lance, the Champion of Kanto-Johto, head-on and escaping in one piece had already proven his strength.
"Boss... what next?"
Drip asked in a low voice. Of the three, Tide and Izumi followed Archie's lead without question, so neither would have asked.
"Turn the helm..."
Archie spoke out of habit... only after a brief pause did he remember that he was aboard an Airship now, not their old Deep-Sea Submarine. "Change course for the place we prepared earlier."
"Leader... there's been no word from Shinhara..."
Izumi trailed off.
"...Yes, I know..."
Archie closed his eyes, feeling a rare trace of helplessness.
...He had seen this coming, hadn't he?
Archie opened his eyes, his gaze utterly still. "Shinhara has defected. From this moment on, he is Team Aqua's..."
"Traitor!"
"Spread the word," he said coldly. "Anyone who sees him is to report immediately. Then..."
He left the rest unsaid, but everyone else surely understood.
"...How much do we have left in supplies?"
After a moment of silence, Archie quietly asked the crucial question.
"Supplies aren't the problem..."
Izumi gave a bitter smile. "The important thing is... the item we were going to trade with that person in the Hoenn League has been stolen... Shinhara probably did it..."
Crack!!
Unable to contain his rage any longer, Archie crushed the armrest of his chair.
"...Shinhara!!"
Meanwhile, Shinhara was retreating