Indigo Plateau, on the outskirts of Celadon City.
It was already late at night.
A red-haired man riding on a mighty dragon's back wore a piercing expression, his icy gaze fixed on several black figures fleeing frantically below.
"Dragonite, Blizzard."
Lance's voice brimmed with disgust.
At his command, Dragonite's wings began beating rapidly, soon whipping up a bone-chilling current of air.
By the time the nearby police arrived, the temperature within a radius of over a hundred meters had dropped below freezing.
Apart from the Dragon Tamer in his red-and-black cape, the surrounding poachers had all become ice sculptures, their faces twisted in pain.
"Then I'll leave the cleanup to you."
Seeing them arrive, Lance nodded politely, then swiftly flew away on Dragonite under the officers' admiring gazes.
"That's Mr. Lance for you. He dealt with an entire squad of poachers single-handedly in no time..."
Looking at the lackeys beside him, their faces contorted as they lay trapped and motionless in the ice, a young officer couldn't help shivering.
"But wasn't he a little too heavy-handed?"
Sure, getting burned, frozen, and shocked was normal for Trainers...
But if they weren't thawed out promptly, they might suffer serious lasting damage.
The veterans exchanged smiles at the rookie's words.
"You're seriously underestimating how tough humans are. We might not compare to Pokémon, but even being frozen for a day or two won't hurt us."
"Besides, Mr. Lance only looks like a cold-blooded killer. He actually controls his strength perfectly every time, so there's no need to worry about him going too far."
People meeting this member of the Kanto Elite Four for the first time always thought he seemed cold to the point of being unapproachable.
But after getting to know him over time, they would discover-
Mr. Lance was actually a