After signing the agreement with Elesa, Wave Wind and the Bourgeois Family took the first step in their clothing expansion plan. As their collaboration began, the outfits Mier's design team had created exclusively for Elesa made their stage debut and immediately drew an enthusiastic response across the Unova Region. Sales climbed steadily, but as their profits rose, rival powers in the same industry could no longer sit still. By day, commercial competition was jointly managed by the Namikaze Family's business professionals and the Bourgeois Family's commercial elite; by night, Liu Qing and Meyer organized and led their combat personnel in battles between Pokémon Trainers. Both fronts were fierce and relentless, but there was one difference: the daytime battles killed without spilling blood, while the nighttime battles left rivers of it. As though the legends of Chandelure consuming the souls of the dead were true, the Chandelure accompanying Liu Qing grew ever stronger. Even the flames burning inside his body blazed more fiercely, taking on a chilling, vivid blue.
Undella Town lay in the eastern Unova Region, nestled between mountains and water. Besides being one of Unova's principal ports, it also boasted thriving forestry and livestock industries. On its outskirts, where the land met the mouth of the harbor, stood a private estate covering several dozen acres, its many buildings arranged in magnificent rows.
At that moment, where the estate met the outlet to the sea, a man well into middle age stood ramrod straight in a purple tailcoat, his graying hair meticulously combed. As he watched a figure gradually emerge from the waves, warmth softened his otherwise unruffled eyes.
Surrounded by the waves, a tall, slender young man gradually emerged. His skin was fair, his muscles smoothly defined, and he wore swimming trunks that reached below his knees. As he