Hunter J held her proud chin high, savoring the icy currents in the sky as she breathed, yet inside, she churned like magma.
She did indeed seem to care only about money, because money was all she trusted.
But that did not mean she had no personal feelings.
In the Sinnoh Region, Champion Cynthia had shown her "consideration in so many ways." She had never forgotten it and was always ready to repay a little of that kindness.
"That fellow must be planning something, but it doesn't matter. I just have to be ready to retreat at any moment... Sub-Elite..."
In a voice even more bone-chilling than the cold currents, Hunter J murmured, "Caitlin, do you know what makes me stronger than you people? I—"
"—have nothing worth protecting, and nothing I cannot afford to lose..."
Her indifferent gaze swept down over the town below. She knew it held countless innocent, pitiful souls.
And yet...
"In this land, in this world, who isn't pitiful...?"
Were Pokémon pitiful? Then weren't all the people sacrificed throughout history pitiful too?
Were those sacrificed people pitiful? Then weren't the Pokémon subjected to human manipulation and experiments pitiful too?
She closed her eyes, and countless images flashed through her mind...
In the darkness... in the sewers... in the mire... weeping through gritted teeth... the pitiful gazes within cages... until at last they became the indifference she wore today.
"If everyone in this world is pitiful, then everyone is equal, and no one is pitiful... No matter the time, staying alive is always both the simplest and the hardest thing."
"But I, Hunter J—"
"—am never to be pitied!!"
Hunter J delivered her verdict calmly. Even she had forgotten her true name.
But none of that mattered.
Suddenly, she broke into a mocking laugh. "In the