Shalour City Harbor. Traveler Center.
Over a thousand passengers from the cruise ship had been temporarily relocated here.
Naoki sat with a blanket draped over his shoulders and a cup of hot drink in his hand.
"Damned Pokémon Hunters."
"It's Black Moon again! That's the fifth time in the past two months!"
"Are you sure?"
"Only that guy would blow up an entire cruise ship after robbing it of rare Pokémon!"
"Someone strike down these Pokémon Hunters already, isn't there anyone who can put them down?"
"I heard the International Police have already dispatched specialists to investigate. Apparently Black Moon has annoyed some pretty high-level people..."
Black Moon.
Naoki paused. That unfamiliar name did not sound like it belonged to a native of the Pokémon world. It sounded like a player's username.
Judging from what these two workers were saying, this was clearly not the first incident.
Something stirred in Naoki's mind. He stepped forward to ask.
"Excuse me. Could you tell me who Black Moon is?"
"Black Moon is the Pokémon Hunter who caused this incident!" The two workers clearly hated the name deeply.
Seeing Naoki's confusion, they filled him in.
"He's a rotten piece of work. In the last two months alone, he's been behind five separate cruise ship incidents. He specifically targets ships carrying wealthy passengers. He doesn't just take the rare Pokémon, he takes every last coin the passengers have on them too."
"And what makes it worse, every single time he's finished robbing everyone, he blows up the ship."
Naoki frowned slightly. "There's no security on these ships?"
"There is, but the guy has several very strong Pokémon on his side. Elite-level at minimum. He can use Hypnosis and Sleep Powder, and control people's minds too. There's genuinely no way to defend against something like that. You can't exactly force every passenger on a ship to wear a gas mask."
Naoki said nothing.
A player who had joined the Pokémon Hunters organization.
He was certain of one thing. Black Moon was not this person's real username. Just like Hunter J in the Sinnoh region, Black Moon was almost certainly a codename within the organization, not their actual game identity.
Milotic, Larvitar, Bagon, Goomy. This person's haul from tonight alone was substantial.
Naoki fell silent for a while.
He was going to have to be considerably more careful from now on.
This world was not a pure Pokémon world. Without the players it might have been, but with the fourth calamity involved, every location was becoming increasingly unpredictable.
People like Moon or Ultra Tyranitar Warrior, players with genuinely good instincts and character, were a rare kind. Among the players, however, there were many more who thrived on chaos and stirred it up wherever they went.
Naoki drew a slow breath.
At that moment, staff from the cruise ship company came to arrange refund and rebooking options for the passengers.
Faced with a staff member asking if he wanted to select an alternative sailing to Hoenn, Naoki fell into silence.
After a moment, he shook his head. "No."
Not a chance. After everything that had happened today, sitting on another boat was out of the question. He was flying to Hoenn instead.
After a series of arrangements, by the time Naoki boarded his plane, it was already seven in the evening on the second day.
He returned all three of his Pokémon to their Poké Balls, put on the eye mask the flight attendant had handed out, closed his eyes as though settling in to nap, and slipped into the guild territory instead.
Tonight was the weekly guild meeting.
Moon and Ultra Tyranitar Warrior were already there when he arrived.
Both of them lit up at the sight of him.
"Good evening, Larry!"
Naoki gave a small nod and returned the greeting briefly. Then the two of them began talking about recent events.
Moon's daily life was quiet and simple. Beyond attending class, reading, and training her Pokémon, most of her time was spent battling other players.
Ultra Tyranitar Warrior's routine was similar, since Geeta had him working like a mule. Setting aside how much the Paldea League members hated their workload, life over on that side had at least been peaceful. No criminal organizations. Not even any real Pokémon Hunter activity.
But Ultra Tyranitar Warrior brought up something that immediately caught Naoki's attention.
"Hey, Larry, have you two heard? Someone on the forum yesterday organized an auction. Everything up for bidding is extraordinarily rare Pokémon."
"An auction?" Naoki paused.
Ultra Tyranitar Warrior shared the forum post directly.
The post had been made by a player calling himself Lucas.
Rare Pokémon Auction. Real-world currency only.
Below that was a series of photos.
Milotic. The most beautiful Pokémon in the game, extraordinarily rare. Starting bid: five million yuan.
Larvitar. A pseudo-Legendary tier young Pokémon. Its final evolution is the one called Tyranitar, the desert tyrant. Starting bid: ten million yuan.
Goomy. Another pseudo-Legendary. Its final evolution is Goodra, near-Legendary in strength. Starting bid: ten million yuan.
The World Tournament is approaching. These rare, powerful Pokémon will play a decisive role. Don't hesitate. Head to the trading market's auction hall and start bidding!
Naoki's expression shifted the moment he saw the photos.
Moon did not notice. She stared wide-eyed at the images and could not hold back a sound of delight. "Wow, Milotic is so beautiful!"
"Right?" Ultra Tyranitar Warrior's eyes were shining too. "Not just Milotic. Larvitar and Goomy are pseudo-Legendary babies. Genuinely rare. If I could catch even one, my life would be made."
Unfortunately, one of them was a high schooler in real life and the other was a middle schooler. Neither of them had anywhere near enough money to bid.
Without needing to think about it, all of these Pokémon were going to end up with wealthy buyers.
The thought left Ultra Tyranitar Warrior slightly deflated.
Naoki's eyes moved slowly across the images on the screen.
Confirmed. These were the exact same Pokémon he had seen on the cruise ship yesterday.
The Pokémon Hunter who had attacked the cruise ship really was a player.
And judging from this listing, it seemed like this person was planning to enter the World Tournament in Galar as well.
Naoki narrowed his eyes and began quietly laying out a plan.
The meeting wrapped up shortly after. Naoki's consciousness returned to reality.
The plane cut through the night sky, heading for distant Hoenn.
At that exact moment, a system announcement rang out in the ears of every player worldwide.
System Notice: Tonight at 24:00, the game will officially enter maintenance for an update. Expected downtime is 14 in-game days. Once maintenance concludes, the game will officially launch the "Ascend to the Summit of the World" chapter.
The World Tournament phase will officially open. Every player may enter a dedicated ranked battle space to participate in matchmade battles once per day, with a maximum of 10 challenges per day.
Each win earns 1 point. Over 15 days, the top four players by total point ranking will represent their country in a national team competition against Trainers from every other country, held at the Galar region's championship stadium.
The winning country and individual will receive extraordinarily generous rewards, including but not limited to a 50% training efficiency boost for every Trainer in the winning nation (lasting one month) and a rare Pokémon egg.
The player who defeats the most opposing Pokémon (across matchmade battles and the World Tournament combined) will receive the MVP title. That title unlocks access to the special reward "God's Treasure." Opening God's Treasure has a chance to yield a pseudo-Legendary Pokémon egg of perfect quality, one random unique ability, or even a Legendary Pokémon.
Trainers, ascend to the summit of the world!