Wyndon, Rose Tower.
At the very top floor, inside the private office of Rose—the President of the Macro Cosmos and Chairman of the Galar Pokémon League.
With the Gym Challenge drawing near, everything across the region had to be arranged properly. That included cleaning and preparing the major cities and official League-approved routes, setting up the Gyms for the challengers, and organizing the live broadcast schedules.
Busy as ever, Rose leaned over his desk, brows furrowed as he flipped through several thick stacks of documents. Because each Gym Leader had different levels of control over their cities and vastly different working styles, it was nearly impossible to enforce a unified system. Some were wealthy and arrogant, submitting reports filled with unnecessary fluff, pretending to follow orders while clearly disregarding them.
Buzz—
The office door opened softly. Wearing her usual white secretary uniform, Oleana stepped in quietly, then gently closed the door behind her and walked straight to Rose's desk.
"What is it this time, Oleana?" Rose asked without looking up, his pen moving slowly across a report from Hammerlocke. He was hoping to find something he could use to annoy the Dragon family.
Expressionless as always, Oleana placed a file on his desk and calmly said, "The special unit completed the mission and successfully rescued seventeen B5 members who were trapped inside the ruins. Leon also managed to stop the rampaging wild Pokémon. The sandstorm in Stow-on-Side has been completely stopped."
"Isn't that all good news?" Rose looked up with a puzzled expression. "Is there something else that needs reporting?"
Oleana paused, then picked up the file she'd placed on the desk and slid it over to cover the one he had been reading.
"The researchers involved in the ruins exploration ran into some unexpected issues, and it's related to that Shiro in the special unit. Almost all of the researchers have signed a petition against him."
"Oh?" Rose raised an eyebrow, intrigued. He skimmed through the file quickly and grasped the situation. "Violent interrogation for intel, unauthorized confinement, even getting the researchers captured by Pokémon hunters..."
A grin slowly spread across his face as he twirled a strand of his black hair with his fingers. "That's quite something."
As far as he was concerned, as long as none of the researchers involved in the Sword and Shield ruins had died or gone missing, it didn't matter. Harsh methods were expected from trainers during critical missions. Besides…
"Didn't Shiro manage to get everyone back unharmed?" Rose mused, tapping the file with his fingers. "And the ransom was... one million Pokédollars?" He nearly laughed out loud, tugging lightly at his hair as he handed the file back to Oleana.
One million Pokédollars. It sounded like a lot, but to the wealthy president of the Macro Cosmos, it was nothing more than a pile of scrap paper. The real value of those researchers lay in their own abilities—be it their scientific talent or their knowledge of the company's secrets. There was no way they'd be worth just that amount.
Rose couldn't even describe what kind of fools those Pokémon hunters were. He just chuckled and said, "Give Shiro an extra ten million in spending allowance. We're short on capable people anyway. And considering there was a Gym-level trainer among the enemy, the fact that he got everyone back unharmed counts as a big win."
Oleana opened her mouth to say something more but was cut off by Rose's raised hand. "I know some of those researchers were trained by you, but they were uncooperative and arrogant. This was a good wake-up call. Let them learn something from it. After that, find a reason and I'll approve another ten million in research funding for them. Sound good?"
"Alright." Oleana nodded and took the file with her as she turned and walked out of the office.
Left alone, Rose twirled a strand of his hair around his finger again and pulled out the report on the ruins exploration.
"Saw a decayed wooden sword and shield... but the awakened B5 members and special squad all claimed they never saw anything. Vanished without a trace?" Rose muttered to himself, tapping a small black circular device at the corner of his desk. A red light quickly flickered to life on it. It was a direct line to the heads of the company's trainer units.
Bzzz—
The call connected. Rose's voice was low, calm, but laced with restrained fury. "Keep searching. Monitor every person who was there. We must recover the weapons tied to the Sword and Shield heroes. Especially check those listed as dead in the reports. Keep digging. See if someone faked their death and ran off with the artifacts. The company will cooperate with your team."
"Understood," came the response from several voices in unison before the line went silent.
This exploration was both a success and a failure. They'd uncovered valuable truths about the legends, but the most critical items had gone missing.
Just thinking about the theft lit a fire in Rose's chest. It could jeopardize everything—the experiment, the plan, especially the work tied to Eternatus…
His eyes narrowed as he gripped the hair near his temple.
'The sword and shield... no matter the cost, the experiment must continue.'
...
Meanwhile, on the first floor of Rose Tower. Shiro and his group had just stepped out of the Corviknight taxi and walked inside the building.
As they were about to enter the elevator, Granny Shae suddenly raised her metal cane and called out, "You four... I have some questions for you."
Shiro and the others stopped and stepped closer to her. Old man Edgar stood off to the side with his arms crossed, silently scanning the four of them.
"You guys." Shae's gaze was sharp as needles, stabbing into their faces like she could pierce through any lie and see the truth. "Have you seen a wooden sword or a wooden shield? Both old and rotting."
"Huh? What wooden sword and shield? Didn't we already talk about this," Marvin said, sounding annoyed as he scratched the back of his head. "We had just gotten there when something knocked us out. Didn't even see what the place looked like inside. We woke up at the same time as the B5 team."
"Marvin! I'm not accusing you!" Shae snapped, slamming her cane on the floor. "What I'm asking is whether you saw any B5 members acting strangely—leaving the group, sneaking around?"
"Umm..." Nessa frowned, thinking for a moment before shaking her head.
Allister, however, stood silently, like a puppet, not saying a word. Under the hollow white mask, his gaze shifted towards Shiro.
Dusclops had already told him that Shiro was actually the first one to fall unconscious. And when everyone woke up and found him, his position had clearly changed significantly. Even the sleeping Gastly and Dreepy that had been asleep inside had been collected by Shiro.
The one with the most suspicion was him.
In Allister's gaze, Shiro looked calm and composed, occasionally nodding along.
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