"Ron, is it? We've finally met."
As soon as the video call connected, an unfamiliar face appeared on the screen. The only notable feature was its sheer ordinariness—so unremarkable that one could lose him in a crowd instantly.
"Who are you!?"
Upon realizing that the person on the screen wasn't Lily, Ron immediately suspected she had been captured. Still, he forced himself to remain calm.
"That's not something you need to know. All you need to know is that Lily is in our hands. I'll send you the location shortly—you are to come alone."
"Otherwise, the lovely lady who you so heroically rescued, and even took for a tour around the Vermilion City Ranger Headquarters, might end up in a rather unfortunate situation."
As he spoke, Franz briefly allowed Lily to appear on the screen.
"I understand."
After hearing Ron's response, Franz ended the call.
From the moment Franz mentioned the incident of Ron and Lily reuniting, Ron knew that the ones pulling the strings were none other than the Five Great Families within the League.
Bruno had warned Ron before—there was no way the League would deploy an Elite Four-level trainer against him. Such powerful trainers, capable of shifting the tides of battle, were under intense scrutiny from both factions.
Similarly, if Bruno and his allies wanted to assist Ron, the Five Great Families would learn of it immediately and alert their associates.
In that scenario, Lily's fate would be sealed.
What truly shocked Ron was just how far the Five Great Families' influence extended—even infiltrating the Vermilion City Ranger Division.
Initially, Ron believed that even if someone noticed his close relationship with Lily, they wouldn't stoop so low as to use her against him. Unfortunately, he had underestimated their ruthlessness.
The safest course of action was to inform Bruno and let him handle the matter.
Ron could already foresee the outcome: Lily would most likely be killed, the Five Great Families would suffer losses, and at best, Bruno would hunt down her murderers with all his might.
The upside? Ron wouldn't have to put himself in danger or face an opponent who was almost certainly at the Elite Four level.
But that was a path Ron would never take.
After surviving the attack from the Psychic trainer, Ron's thoughts had changed. If he once harbored hopes of reforming the League, now his goal was to overthrow it entirely.
Even if, one day, Bruno and his allies dismantled the Five Great Families, who could guarantee that another similar power wouldn't rise to take their place?
As fate would have it, Ron wasn't the only one with this mindset. Though their ultimate goals differed, their immediate objectives aligned.
"Hey, Shadow, I need a favor."
...
After hanging up, Franz immediately destroyed the phone and led his men to the designated meeting point he had sent to Ron.
Just as Ron had expected, with Klaus Nyland supporting them, Franz and his group had no fear of being ambushed by an Elite Four trainer from the League. They only needed to pick a suitable burial site for Ron.
As Franz set his plan in motion, the assassins Klaus Nyland had hired also began their hunt.
Assassins capable of reaching the Elite Four level were exceedingly rare in the entire Kanto region, and naturally, their services didn't come cheap—well beyond what most families or corporations could afford.
But for the Nyland Family, this was merely a contingency. There was a high chance they wouldn't even need the assassin's intervention, a testament to the family's overwhelming power.
Upon arriving at the rendezvous point, Franz didn't bother setting up traps. He simply waited patiently for Ron to walk into his doom.
Given Franz's strength, Ron, who was only at the quasi-Elite Four level, stood no chance against him. Even if Ron had miraculously broken through to the Elite Four tier in the past two months, Franz still doubted he could pose a threat.
After all, Franz's Scyther was just a step away from reaching mid-Elite Four level—an insurmountable gap for Ron's Machamp.
It took some time, but Ron finally arrived near the designated location. As per his usual habit, he had Gardevoir use psychic abilities to scout the area, but, as expected, the enemy had employed materials that blocked psychic detection.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Ron stepped into the forest.
Before proceeding further, he released his Persian and Bellossom. With both Pokémon at quasi-Elite Four strength, they would at least give him a chance to react if Franz decided to strike first.
Walking unimpeded to the agreed location, Ron found eight people waiting for him, their eyes filled with hatred.
A single glance was enough—Ron immediately recognized them. These were the same people who had once ambushed him using an Auraberry Tree.
Among them, the one he had fought before, designated as 'Number Two,' had already released Pinsir and the rest of his Pokémon, forming a defensive perimeter around Lily.
"Go, Scyther! Slaughter all of his Pokémon!"
No unnecessary words, no foolish talk of telling Ron to take his own life—true revenge meant systematically destroying everything and everyone the enemy held dear, plunging them into endless agony before delivering the final, fatal blow.
Right now, Franz's objective was clear: slaughter all of Ron's Pokémon, one by one, before slowly torturing Lily to death right before his eyes.
"Machamp, Finger Pistol: Morning Peacock!"
A flash of white light erupted as Machamp, already prepared for battle, materialized and unleashed a flurry of fiery blasts, fanning out like a peacock's tail as they surged toward Scyther.
The moment Machamp appeared, both Franz and his subordinate, No. 2, were struck with shock—not because of the technique itself, but because of something far more alarming.
Machamp had broken through to Elite Four level.
Just two months ago, it had only been at the quasi-Elite Four stage. And now? It had already reached the pinnacle of power.
A wave of panic passed through Franz before giving way to relief. Given Ron's terrifying rate of improvement, Franz figured that if they had waited just a few more months, they might have been the ones on the run.
But now? Even if Machamp had advanced to the Elite Four level, it wouldn't escape death.
"Scyther, Air Slash!"
Regaining his composure, Franz issued the command.
Scyther's razor-sharp blades sliced through the air, sending out a thin, near-invisible blade of wind. It effortlessly cut through the fiery assault of Morning Peacock, heading straight for Machamp.
"Machamp, Finger Pistol: Daytime Tiger!"
A fierce white tiger materialized from Machamp's strike, intercepting the attack just in time. Though it barely held back Scyther's assault, Machamp used the moment to land safely, avoiding becoming an easy target midair.
The instant it touched the ground, Scyther was already closing in.
"Machamp, Secret Art: Six King Pistol!"
For a Pokémon that had mastered all six techniques of Six Powers, even the ultimate technique, Six King Pistol, posed no challenge.
Machamp clenched all four fists together and launched a devastating shockwave in Scyther's direction.
Like a dragon diving from the sky, the force of the impact left a deep trench in the ground, forcing Scyther to halt its assault and brace itself.
Yet, even against Machamp's all-out offensive, Scyther—whose strength far surpassed its opponent—only experienced mild inconvenience. The tide of battle remained unchanged.
But Ron refused to give up.
Because what if a miracle happened?
-----
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