While Blackstar was waiting for Scizor, the satellite phone he carried suddenly rang.
"Have you found Togekiss yet?" the voice on the other end asked.
"We've found it, and I've got Scizor tailing it."
Blackstar replied softly as he stepped aside.
"The Trainer Association has officially handed over the task of capturing your group to Imperial University."
"Oh? Which professor from Imperial University is coming?"
As an Elite trainer himself, Blackstar knew that if Imperial University was sending someone after him, it had to be at least an Elite professor.
Students wouldn't be a threat. Even if they were strong, they wouldn't be capable of dealing with someone as dangerous as him.
"It's not a professor—it's Julian from the Walker family."
"Ah, I almost forgot that Imperial University had someone like him, but can he even find me?" Blackstar sneered.
He had carefully erased all traces of his scent along the way, covering their tracks and obscuring their path. In such a vast wilderness reserve, even the best trackers would struggle to locate them.
"He'd better not run into me, the Pokémon on him are all rare treasures," Blackstar said, his eyes glinting with greed.
Just thinking about Julian's Pokémon—the silver Metagross, the Totem Aggron, and the mythical Melmetal—made Blackstar's eyes light up with excitement.
The Pokémon on Julian's team were the kind that every poacher dreamed of capturing. Stealing just one would be enough for a massive payday.
"Don't get careless."
The voice on the phone warned.
"Yeah, yeah. If I was careless, the Trainer Association would've caught me long ago, even with your help in the shadows," Blackstar replied with a smirk.
"Watch yourself, I'm hanging up."
"Got it."
After the call ended, the first vice-leader walked over. "Boss, was that Big Boss on the phone?"
"Yeah."
The Blackstar Poaching Group had been on the Trainer Association's most-wanted list for over a decade, yet their leader, Blackstar, had always managed to evade capture.
Besides being cunning and strong enough, Blackstar also had a powerful backer. His boss always provided him with early warnings and information.
There were at least a dozen poaching groups of Blackstar's scale in Drakoria, and most of them had ties to powerful families.
After all, the profit from poaching Pokémon was immense.
With legitimate business becoming harder and harder to sustain, some families had turned to shadier ventures to survive.
The Blackstar Poaching Group was clearly one of those operations, backed by an aristocratic family.
Only Blackstar and his three vice-leaders knew about their secret benefactor. However, the identity of the family was a secret Blackstar kept to himself.
After waiting for most of the day, Scizor finally returned.
"How did it go? Did you find the Togekiss nest?" Blackstar asked hastily.
Scizor nodded.
"Alright, lead us there now," Blackstar said.
Scizor had spent most of the day traveling back and forth, and with the group's walking speed, they wouldn't be able to reach the Togekiss nest before nightfall.
However, Blackstar wasn't in a hurry. Now that he knew the exact location, he was confident they could reach it by tomorrow.
As long as the Togekiss didn't sense any danger, it was unlikely they would abandon their nest.
The next afternoon, the Blackstar Poaching Group, led by Scizor, arrived near the Togekiss nest.
Scizor pointed toward a massive tree canopy ahead. They could see a flock of Pidgey circling above it, and even a Pidgeotto patrolling nearby.
This was clearly Pidgeotto's territory.
Togekiss, being a peaceful Pokémon often regarded as a symbol of harmony, was generally welcomed by most Pokémon.
It wasn't surprising that Pidgeotto allowed the Togekiss to build their nest within its territory.
"Pii!"
The Pidgeotto quickly spotted the poachers and let out sharp cries of alarm. Many Pidgey soon flocked above the group, filling the sky with flapping wings.
"Boss, should I blast them down?"
One of the poachers asked, holding a weapon that resembled an RPG launcher. Once fired, it would release a massive electric discharge.
Although Pokémon were considered the most powerful force in the world, weapons still posed a significant threat to those below Elite level.
If they released their own Pokémon, the Pidgeotto would immediately see it as a challenge.
But since the poachers hadn't released any Pokémon, these Pidgey only saw a human holding something strange, so they weren't very vigilant.
Having never encountered human weapons before, these Pidgey had no idea how dangerous they could be.
"Don't alert the Togekiss," Blackstar shook his head.
The Pidgey were just a minor nuisance—they could easily be dealt with. However, if the Togekiss were startled, their speed in the air would make it difficult to capture them. If they decided to flee, there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to stop them.
"Boss, look over there! There's another Pokémon with the Pidgeotto, and why does it look like a Celebi to me?"
The second vice-leader rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be seeing things. It had to be an illusion.
Blackstar narrowed his eyes, staring hard. He looked once, then twice, and then a third time.
"It really is Celebi..."
After confirming it again and again, Blackstar's face flushed with excitement, and his hands trembled slightly.
"A mythical Pokémon... I can't believe I'm running into one here!"
Just as Blackstar's mind went blank with excitement, Celebi suddenly flew toward them. However, it stopped about a few dozen meters away.
Scizor immediately tensed up, keeping a wary eye on the mythical Pokémon.
"Hey... doesn't this Celebi look different from the pictures? It seems... chubbier," the first vice-leader muttered.
"Must've a good diet."
The third vice-leader replied dryly.
"Boss, what do we do now? Should we catch it?" the second vice-leader asked.
Blackstar, now calm, didn't answer right away. Instead, he wore a thoughtful look on his face.
Of course, he wanted to catch Celebi, but whether they could was another matter entirely.
Every year, people claimed to spot Celebi deep in the forests, but no one had ever successfully captured one.
Even a few years ago, a Champion from Celestria had unexpectedly encountered a Celebi. Despite being an incredibly powerful trainer, they still failed to catch it—and nearly got killed by Celebi instead.
One could imagine how difficult and dangerous it was to try catching Celebi.
However...
As Blackstar stared at the Celebi floating not far from him, he couldn't help but feel that there was something... off about it.
It seemed somewhat... stupid.
'Maybe... this is a dimwitted Celebi?'
After all, even among humans, there were geniuses, ordinary people, and fools. Pokémon were no different.
There was a chance that he had stumbled upon the slowpoke of the Celebi species.
With that thought, Blackstar gestured his subordinates not to act rashly.
He then reached into his coat and took out a small box containing Pokéblocks laced with a special lure agent.
As he opened the box, a rich and enticing aroma wafted through the air.
The Pidgey were the first to react—their eyes lit up as they hungrily stared at the Pokéblocks in his hand.
*****
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