The Pikachu mask

Gongping's Ninetales unleashed a ferocious Moonblast. The sweeping moonlight, amplified by a giant silver moon, left Weavile no room to dodge. Swallowed by the powerful light, Weavile was completely knocked out.

Lu silently recalled Weavile, saying nothing, seeming rather withdrawn. Seeing Beansprout like this, Gongping clenched his fists. He wanted to say something but could not find the words, so he could only wait quietly for the match to end.

Lu's last Pokémon was the Alolan Ninetales she had switched out earlier. When it reappeared on the field and saw its father opposite it, its expression brightened. It tried to approach him affectionately, only to receive a few low reprimands from its father.

After being scolded by its father, Lu's Ninetales very reluctantly backed away a few steps, then assumed a fighting stance.

"Ice Shard!"

With a light sweep of its tails, countless grains of ice and snow turned into icy blades and shot out. Seeing this, Gongping's Ninetales whipped up the surrounding snowstorm into a powerful defensive net, blocking the attack with effortless ease.

The two Ninetales were far too different in level!

Although Lu's Ninetales had performed well in the earlier regional tournament, now that she faced a genuine King-level Trainer, some of her Ninetales' shortcomings became apparent. At the very least, her Ninetales had yet to master Aurora Veil.

A violent surge of energy crashed out with a boom. Gongping's Ninetales was in no hurry to end the battle, instead putting Lu's Ninetales to the test. Countless mirrors crisscrossed the field. No matter how Lu's Ninetales dodged, it seemed to remain under its father's control on the icy, snowy battlefield before him.

In the lounge of Cinnabar Island's Pokémon Center, Yin was looking through the test paper in his hands, a trace of exhaustion in his eyes. These questions seemed far too difficult. Much of the material was knowledge he had never even heard of. Without even a standard answer key, how was he supposed to work it out?

"This is incredible! They're both Ninetales from the Alola Region, but judging by the proficiency King Gongping's Ninetales has shown in controlling this icy battlefield, he hardly seems like a Sandstorm King at all-more like an Ice-type King! No wonder there are rumors online that he's always had a secret crush on the Ice-type King, Lorelei."

Since when had this match commentator become such a gossip?

Just as Yin was about to call the television station to complain about the commentator's irresponsible reporting, all the lights in the Pokémon Center went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Starting from Cinnabar Island's Pokémon Center, the blackout instantly spread across the entire island. Countless pieces of electrical equipment were destroyed almost simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, the brightly lit Cinnabar Island sank into darkness.

Both the Pokémon Center's power supply system and its backup system had been destroyed, showing that this blackout on Cinnabar Island had been deliberately caused.

Unease filled Yin. Although he was Giovanni's son, he was also a ranger who had undergone short-term Pokémon League training. He therefore reacted quickly to the incident and immediately sent out Houndour.

"Let's head to the power supply area first."

Dressed in his uniform, Yin arrived at the Pokémon Center's underground power supply area with Houndour. The pungent smell of char made him frown. Seeing a ranger in a Pokémon League uniform, Nurse Joy breathed a sigh of relief and explained what had happened before and after the blackout.

Chaos engulfed Cinnabar Island. In its eastern area stood a large research institute, the fossil research institute belonging to Silph Co. Like Gongping's school, it was situated on the plateau, no more than three kilometers away from the school.

Team Rocket had attacked this place once before, when Ash arrived in Vermilion City. To prevent a similar incident, the institute had strengthened its security measures and even installed multiple backup systems for its power generation equipment.

"King Gongping is still competing in the Indigo League. We have to find a way to notify the Pokémon League!"

Dr. Fuji, the head of the institute, stepped forward to inspect the situation, then shook his head. "No good. The communications facilities and power supply have both been cut off. We can't contact the outside world at all."

Dr. Fuji was one of the prominent scholars Giovanni had sent to support Gongping. As the former head of the Mewtwo Project, Dr. Fuji possessed theoretical knowledge and abilities that ranked among the best in this world. This institute on Cinnabar Island was itself just one of his many research institutes.

In the darkness, the institute's main entrance was destroyed. A woman dressed in black strolled leisurely inside. Holding a long black umbrella and wearing an adorable Pikachu mask, she moved as though taking a casual walk, her every gesture exuding allure. Yet Dr. Fuji felt an intense sense of danger.

The pungent smell of blood suddenly made Dr. Fuji realize that, on her way in, this woman had already slaughtered all the staff and Pokémon outside the institute.

"Who are you?!"

"No! Stay away from her!"

A cold, deathly flash of bloody light flickered, and a streak of crimson swept past. Before several staff members could react, bright red cuts opened across their throats. Their bodies went limp and collapsed, all signs of life gone.

With his life threatened, Dr. Fuji retreated several steps. Beneath her Pikachu mask, the woman exuded unimaginable bloodthirstiness and ruthlessness. At the same time, a Dark-type Pokémon, Greninja, appeared beside her.

Just as she continued forward, a vast torrent of raging sand suddenly crashed down from above. Greninja reacted swiftly, gathering a huge mass of water around its entire body to block the invading sandstorm. The woman in the Pikachu mask giggled. "No wonder all the Pokémon he used just now were Ice-types. So the Sandstorm members are all here."

Amid the engulfing sand, Tyranitar landed with a crash. With a furious roar, the four Pokémon-Tyranitar, Scizor, Lucario, and Swampert-appeared together, surrounding Dr. Fuji to protect him.

Facing Gongping's four main Pokémon, the woman in the Pikachu mask chuckled. "The Sandstorm Team. How frightening."

With a boom, Lucario directed an Aura Sphere behind Greninja. Just as the powerful beam of energy was about to strike, an eerie dark flame ignited in one of Greninja's hands, while its figure turned strangely dark.

The Aura Sphere passed through Greninja's body, but its figure did not budge, as though the Aura Sphere had done no damage whatsoever. Burning dark flames filled the entire area. At that moment, Greninja seemed to merge into them like a ghost in the darkness.

What was going on?

Dr. Fuji could not understand. Wasn't Greninja a Water- and Dark-type? Why could it ignore an attack from Aura Sphere?

At the Indigo League venue, Gongping's expression suddenly shifted slightly. A message came through from the Dream System: something had happened at the Cinnabar Island research institute.

Gongping had stationed four Pokémon on Cinnabar Island as a precaution against unexpected circumstances, but he had not imagined that someone really would strike while he was away from the island.

The compact intelligent system inside his VR glasses began searching and analyzing. It finally identified the wearer of the Pikachu mask as an extremely vicious criminal registered in the Pokémon League's records, with an exceptionally high bounty on her wanted notice.

Using its unique virtual data network, the Dream VR System allowed Gongping to briefly receive information about the situation on Cinnabar Island.

Sixteen staff members and more than thirty Fighting-type Pokémon raised by the institute and stationed outside had already met with disaster. Meanwhile, the air around Cinnabar Island had fallen into strange magnetic turbulence. It would take some time before flights could operate normally.

"Beansprout, did you have anything to do with this?"

Gongping stepped forward and looked straight at Lu opposite him, his gaze turning extremely stern. Someone had precisely timed his absence from Cinnabar Island. One of the key people capable of creating such an opportunity was probably none other than Lu, who knew she would be challenging him tonight.

Seeing Gongping look at her like this for the first time, Lu gritted her teeth and answered stubbornly, "That's right! That big sister said she would help me gather evidence, so she wanted me to keep you here!"

"Do you know what you're doing?!"