章 1255: Master of the Plateau
After Yuga finished inspecting the entire underground Ecopark and found no further abnormalities, he decided to leave for now.
However, just as he stepped out of the gate, he bumped into someone walking in from the opposite direction.
"It's you!" Upon seeing the person's face clearly, Yuga was startled. Although it had been years since they last met, he recognized her immediately.
"It's you!" the person exclaimed in shock at the same time. She swiftly retreated, pulling out a Poké Ball from her waist and releasing an Ariados and a Drapion.
Serperior, who was beside Yuga, quickly coiled its body and, in the blink of an eye, positioned itself in front of Yuga. Its cold, piercing gaze locked onto the opposing Ariados and Drapion, sending a shiver down their spines.
Being stared down by a Pokémon at the Elite level placed immense pressure on Ariados and Drapion.
The person had long, silver hair and a tall, striking figure. Her face was bold and sharp—none other than Hunter J, whom Yuga had encountered before.
Compared to years ago, Hunter J's appearance had become more mature. Her once short and neat hair had grown into long, flowing locks.
Yuga had heard that Hunter J died in the conflict between the Pokémon League and Team Galactic, her aircraft crashing into Lake Valor and exploding. Yet, here she was, alive and well.
"What are you doing here?" Hunter J asked Yuga, her voice tense.
The Yuga standing before her was no longer the same as the one she had once pursued. Back then, if not for his Noctowl, Yuga's Florges would have been taken by her.
As one of the most notorious Pokémon hunters, Hunter J had a career of nearly flawless successes. The only failure she ever experienced at the beginning of her career was at Yuga's hands.
Afterward, she came to the Sinnoh region and made a name for herself. Although she hadn't encountered Yuga again, she'd always heard of him.
Even without directly battling Yuga or witnessing his strength, Hunter J knew that she would stand no chance against him now.
"So this place belongs to you. That makes sense!" Yuga remarked, suddenly understanding.
Over the years, Hunter J had built quite a reputation in Sinnoh. Even in Hoenn, Yuga frequently heard about her. The number of Pokémon she had stolen or captured was countless, so it wasn't surprising she could amass such wealth and resources.
Seeing Yuga, Hunter J wanted to flee but couldn't bring herself to leave. This was her last fallback. If she lost what was here, rebuilding her career would be nearly impossible.
In the moment of her hesitation, Yuga had already commanded Serperior to act.
Since the owner of this place was Hunter J, Yuga had no reason to hold back. For someone like Hunter J, whose crimes were unforgivable, there was no room for sympathy or hesitation.
Serperior moved swiftly, slithering right up to Drapion in an instant. With a single Dragon Tail, it sent Drapion flying.
Reacting quickly, Ariados shot silk from its mouth, trying to bind Serperior. However, Serperior raised its tail, which shimmered with a green glow, transforming into a blade that sliced through the web in an instant.
Ariados attempted another attack, but Serperior extended its head and unleashed a Dragon Pulse from its mouth. The energy blast struck Ariados, sending it flying.
Meanwhile, Drapion, which had landed in a nearby puddle, reappeared behind Serperior. Its pincers glowed purple with Cross Poison as it aimed for Serperior's neck.
Yet it was as if Serperior had eyes on the back of its head. It twisted its body with incredible agility, dodging Drapion's attack. In the same motion, it coiled its body tightly around Drapion.
Serperior wasn't a power-focused Pokémon and lacked the crushing strength of Pokémon like Arbok, Steelix, or Seviper. However, being an Elite level Pokémon, its sheer level dominance was overwhelming. Drapion twisted and struggled violently, but Serperior's lithe body coiled tighter and tighter around it.
Seeing both her Pokémon fail to defeat a single opponent, Hunter J gritted her teeth in frustration. If not for the fact that her Salamence had been sacrificed in a previous battle, she wouldn't be in such a disadvantageous position now.
Salamence had played an indispensable role in establishing Hunter J's reputation across Sinnoh.
Unable to break free from Serperior's grip, Drapion raised its fearsome scorpion tail and attempted to strike with Poison Sting.
At that moment, Ariados had also regained its footing. It swiftly crawled toward Serperior and Drapion, raising its two front legs to unleash Cross Poison at Serperior.
Seeing the situation, Serperior quickly slid its body over Drapion. Once most of its length had left Drapion, it wrapped its tail around Drapion's neck and used Slam to hurl it forcefully toward Ariados.
Bang!
Ariados's Cross Poison struck Drapion, and the incoming Drapion collided with Ariados. Both Pokémon tumbled together and were left unable to fight.
Hunter J turned around to flee, but Serperior was faster. In the blink of an eye, it slithered up to her and coiled its long body into a loop, trapping her within.
Surprisingly, after being captured, Hunter J calmed down. She turned her head to Yuga and asked coldly, "What do you want?"
Yuga approached her with a smile. "I'd like to ask you some questions about this place."
Hunter J narrowed her eyes slightly at his words. "Fine. I can even share this place with you, as long as you let me go and act like you never saw me."
Raising an eyebrow, Yuga replied, "Oh? Are you willing to part with it?"
Hunter J simply stared at him silently. Yuga smiled and said, "Alright, go ahead."
And so, Hunter J began recounting her experiences after the battle at Lake Valor.
Hunter J's hunter organization originally had only a cooperative relationship with Team Galactic. However, due to being implicated by Team Galactic, her entire group was destroyed by the League during the conflict at Lake Valor. Only a handful of low-ranking lackeys managed to escape.
Hunter J herself narrowly survived. Her aircraft crashed into Lake Valor and exploded, leading everyone to believe she was dead with no remains left. However, she miraculously survived, quietly clinging to life within the lake.
Most of her main Pokémon, including her strongest Salamence, had perished. All that remained were her Ariados and Drapion.
After escaping Lake Valor, Hunter J dragged her severely injured body to the vicinity of the Great Marsh. She was taken in by the people of a nearby village, Finewater Village, who assumed her injuries were sustained during an adventure in the Great Marsh. As a result, they didn't suspect her much.
Moreover, her appearance as a young woman made her seem less threatening, and her long hair had been grown to further conceal her identity.
Fortunately, Lake Valor wasn't far from the Great Marsh. Otherwise, in her severely injured state, she might not have made it.
And why did Hunter J come to the Great Marsh? The answer lay beneath Yuga's feet—on this very plateau.
This base had been secretly constructed by Hunter J years ago. She had kidnapped people to build the place and killed them afterward. Their corpses were scattered somewhere in the vast expanse of the Great Marsh, their locations now unknown.
No one except Hunter J herself knew of this base. It was a fallback she had meticulously prepared for herself.
Hunter J understood better than anyone how dangerous her line of work was, and she knew she needed an escape plan.
Her father, back in Hoenn, hadn't built a massive empire, but he did have a decent number of subordinates. In the end, his fall led to their dispersal. Without that, she wouldn't have had to leave her home and start anew in Sinnoh.
Over the years, Hunter J had secretly amassed rare Pokémon. While some had been sold, others were hidden away in this base, serving as her concealed assets.
If anything unexpected were to happen in the future, this base and its resources would be her greatest asset for making a comeback.
This location, deep within the Great Marsh, was fraught with danger, sparsely populated, and rarely visited by adventurers—a perfect hiding spot.
Even the shallow wetlands covered in Marshgrass that Yuga had discovered earlier were partly a result of Hunter J's handiwork.
Originally, the wetlands had no Qwilfish living there and were considered unclaimed territory. Though the area grew plenty of Marshgrass, the valuable Moonlight Pearls were exceedingly rare because any ripe fruit would immediately be plucked and eaten by wild Pokémon.
Hunter J, knowing the immense value of Moonlight Pearls, didn't want to let the wild Pokémon have them for free. So, she devised a plan.
She introduced a large number of Qwilfish into the wetlands, allowing them to thrive and multiply.
With no natural predators in the area and an incredibly rapid reproduction rate, the Qwilfish population exploded within a few short years, far surpassing even Hunter J's expectations.
This, however, worked in her favor. With the Qwilfish acting as guards, the number of wild Pokémon able to harvest Moonlight Pearls from the Great Marsh dwindled significantly.
Even if adventurers stumbled upon the wetlands, collecting Moonlight Pearls amidst the overwhelming number of Qwilfish was no easy task.
So far, apart from Yuga, no other adventurers had discovered the area—or if they had, they hadn't made it out of the Great Marsh alive.
Since this was her secret base, Hunter J wasn't in a position to exploit the area fully in the short term. She could only let the Moonlight Pearls grow undisturbed.
Later, seeing the Qwilfish population growing excessively, she introduced some Skarmory into the ecosystem. These Skarmory not only served as guards for her base but also helped reduce the Qwilfish numbers.
The Skarmory's diet mainly consisted of Qwilfish and Moonlight Pearls.
During her time hiding in Finewater Village, Hunter J would routinely visit her secret base. The villagers assumed she was simply venturing into the Great Marsh for adventure and didn't pry further.
Since the events at Lake Valor were still relatively recent, Hunter J had yet to rebuild her team of main Pokémon, even though she still had a substantial collection of rare Pokémon.
Fortunately, Ariados and Drapion, while not her strongest Pokémon, were more than sufficient for self-defense—at least until she encountered Yuga.
After hearing Hunter J's story, Yuga wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. However, it didn't really matter to him.
"How do you get in and out of this place?" he asked.
Given the sheer number of Shellos and Gastrodon guarding the area, Yuga doubted Hunter J flew in directly each time. There had to be another passage.
He also didn't believe she could control the Shellos and Gastrodon, especially since she couldn't even manage the Qwilfish she had introduced herself, let alone the much stronger Gastrodon and Shellos.
Under pressure, Hunter J had no choice but to comply with Yuga's demand, though she was clearly reluctant.
Leading him to the edge of the plateau, she lifted a rock, revealing a hidden passageway.
The passage was sealed with a metal door equipped with a keypad lock.
"What's the code?" Yuga asked.
Reluctantly, Hunter J provided him with the code.
After the metal door opened, Yuga ordered Hunter J to lead the way. The two entered the passage.
The passage was long, and Yuga couldn't figure out how Hunter J had constructed it. At the end of the passage, there was another metal door.
This metal door also required a code for entry, which turned out to be the same as the one before.
Once they passed through the metal door, Yuga realized they were now outside the plateau.
This metal door was also well-concealed, hidden under a cover of thick weeds, making it very difficult to spot.
Noticing Yuga's curious gaze at the metal door, Hunter J voluntarily explained, "This passage is built directly beneath the Great Marsh."
So that's how it is! Yuga nodded in realization.
"How about this: we split this place evenly, and you let me go. After all, we don't have any deep-seated grudges," Hunter J proposed again.
However, just as she finished speaking, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking down, she saw her chest was drenched in blood, with a green tail piercing straight through it.
It was the work of Serperior's Leaf Blade.
"You… you went back on your word…"
Hunter J coughed up a large amount of blood, her strength rapidly draining from her body. She collapsed to her knees.
Yuga smiled and said, "When did I ever agree to your terms?"
"You…" At that moment, Hunter J finally realized she had been deceived. She glared at Yuga with such intensity that her eyes seemed to blaze with hatred, as if she wished to burn him to ashes.
Yuga continued, "Don't look at me like that. You've killed so many people—did you never consider that one day, someone might do the same to you? This is simply karma coming full circle."
By now, Hunter J was barely breathing, sprawled on the ground, glaring fiercely at Yuga.
This wasn't Yuga's first time taking a life. Although he still wasn't entirely used to it, he wasn't afraid of Hunter J's glaring eyes.
"Now that you're dead, this place is all mine. And getting rid of a menace to the world at the same time—why wouldn't I do it?" Yuga added.
The blood pouring from Hunter J's chest flowed faster and faster. Finally, she succumbed to her injuries, dying with a look of deep resentment.
After thoroughly inspecting Hunter J's body and confirming that she was indeed dead, Yuga turned to Serperior and said, "I didn't expect you to be so clean and efficient in your attack."
Serperior rolled its eyes at Yuga: Wasn't it your order?
"Alright, alright, now go find a place to wash your tail. It looks disgusting with all that blood," Yuga said, pointing at Serperior's bloodied tail.
Feeling insulted by Yuga's disdain, Serperior slithered off in annoyance.
Water was plentiful in the Great Marsh, so Serperior quickly returned with its tail cleaned.
After Serperior returned, Yuga and the Pokémon found a secluded spot to bury Hunter J. Although she had been a wicked person in life, Yuga didn't intend to leave her corpse to rot in the wild.
Since the outside world already believed Hunter J to be dead, Yuga decided to let that misconception persist indefinitely.
Once Hunter J was buried, Yuga returned to the plateau via the passage and erased all traces of Hunter J's presence in the underground ecological garden. From now on, the place would belong solely to him.
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