"Haunter?"
As Shiro called out, the Pokémon immediately floated over, proudly presenting the hunter it was holding in its claw like showing off a prize.
Thump!
Seeing the confusion on Shiro's face, Haunter let go. The hunter landed with a thud on the grass.
The guy looked like a zombie, his head tilted and posture slack, but he didn't move much.
'Haunter went off to play near the Stony Wilderness earlier... and caught someone sneaking around,' Unown A jumped out and explained.
Shiro understood. Judging by the man's dazed state, he had probably been hit with Hypnosis before he could react and got dragged over here.
"Well..." he glanced at Haunter, who was practically bouncing with excitement, waiting to be praised, then toward the Stony Wilderness as an idea formed in his mind.
Right now, Macro Cosmos' hunter-capturing operation should already be underway. And those hunters, unfamiliar with the area, might still be lingering near the Stony Wilderness.
He could take advantage of these next few days to catch some more and maybe get info out of them about the Unown. See how much they really knew.
With that thought, he stepped forward, narrowed his eyes at the hunter, and asked, "What's your name?"
Under the influence of psychic control, the man sluggishly moved his lips and mumbled, "I... my name is Higashi..."
"Kanto native?"
"Y-yes."
Another one from Kanto...
Including that guy named Renji, there were already quite a few hunters from that region. Though Shiro still didn't know much about Hunter G's background, if he turned out to be from there too… things might get interesting.
He continued, "What was your team's mission in Galar?"
"It was..." Higashi paused for a moment, then stammered, "I don't know... Lord G... didn't tell us..."
Nodding slightly, Shiro motioned for Haunter to search him.
"Hauun!"
The Ghost-type turned into a swirl of dark purple mist, spun around Higashi, and swiftly pulled out all the Poké Balls from him. But aside from those, there was nothing else.
Shiro accepted the five Poké Balls. Three of them contained Advanced-level Pokémon, and the other two were Intermediate-level.
They were all Pokémon commonly found around the Stony Wilderness, like Binacle and Boldore.
Feeling a little disappointed, he asked again, "How many of you came here?"
"Fifty-one..." Higashi replied slowly.
Shiro gave a nod, pulled out his communicator, scanned and recorded the hunter's data, then waved for Haunter to hide him in the nearby woods.
"Fifty-one people... who knows how many died in the Dynamax Den. I've got to move faster than the company's task force."
After muttering to himself, he called out sharply, "Corviknight!"
In no time, he recalled his Pokémon and took to the sky on the steel bird's back, flying toward the Stony Wilderness.
* * *
Macro Cosmos had stationed eight units around the outer regions of Galar, their focus being the port at Hulbury.
The remaining two strongest teams, A5 and B5, had been dispatched to the northern Wild Area. Their task was to take down the Dynamaxed Golem still entrenched in the region, and to capture the remaining scattered hunters.
The main force in the capture mission was a large number of Psychic-type Pokémon trained by the company, used for precise target tracking.
* * *
Five days later, in the northern Wild Area.
At the center of the Stony Wilderness, within the Dynamax Den.
The Dynamaxed Golem was crouched in a huge crater, covered in injuries. Its once thick, solid shell and rocky plates were now riddled with cracks, and the spiderweb-like patterns on its body were still spreading.
Atop a jagged peak on the right side of the plains, an elderly woman with silver hair leaned on a cane, observing silently. It was Granny Shae, here for the mission. She grunted softly, "That Golem is finally near its limit."
"Yeah, the two of us taking turns to wear it down, plus the company's tech... it wasn't easy." Old man Edgar squatted beside her, eyes locked on the barely breathing Golem. He shook his head and said, "Even like this, it can't even stand, yet the Dynamax Den hasn't hit its breaking point."
"Who knows how much Dynamax energy those hunters pumped into it," Shae muttered. Just then, the communication device in her hand vibrated.
Buzz!
She answered, and Shiro's voice came through.
"Granny Shae, the thirty-fourth hunter has been caught. Along with the ones who died in the den, that makes fifty-one in total."
"Good." A rare smile crossed Shae's face. With the scattered hunters all dealt with, the only thing left was to finish draining this Golem.
She let out a sigh of relief and praised him, "Well done, Shiro. This mission went smoothly thanks to you."
"Hehe, just doing my part. I won't disturb you anymore."
With that, he ended the call.
* * *
On the other side.
"Corrrv!"
Corviknight soared up into the air, clutching a lifeless body in its talons.
Shiro was now in the northeastern sand dunes of the Stony Wilderness. The area was mostly dusty-yellow sand with sparse, half-withered trees.
This last hunter had really known how to hide. Three days ago, after Macro Cosmos fully secured the northern Wild Area, the man went underground, literally. He holed up in a Pokémon burrow beneath the sand, surviving until Shiro finally located him using Unown A's psychic abilities.
If not for it, even with the company's two Gym-level Psychic Pokémon, they might not have found the guy.
Five minutes ago, when Shiro spotted him, the man was curled up with a group of Sandshrew pups.
At first glance, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. The guy was wrapped in a sand-colored cloak, surrounded by the baby Pokémon. If he hadn't screamed in fear and begged for mercy, Shiro might have missed the man completely.
"So tiring..." he muttered as he guided Corviknight toward the center of the Stony Wilderness.
Of the fifty-one hunters in total, he had captured thirty-four himself relying on Unown A's powerful psychic abilities.
Seven more had died inside the Dynamax Den, confirmed by Psychic-type Pokémon sent to inspect the area.
The last ten had flying Pokémon and maps of Galar and the Wild Area. They tried to escape to Hulbury but were intercepted by the company before they got far.
Thankfully, none of the hunters knew the full mission details. Each one was assigned to a smaller squad by Hunter G, and every squad had a different job—reconnaissance, ambush, installing devices...
Turns out what Felix said was true. The only two people who could operate the devices had already been killed by Draklaok.
That meant the secret of the two Unown had been kept safe.
Now, the only remaining problem was that Golem.
As he pondered, Corviknight flew into the Stony Wilderness.
At the heart of the plains, a red pillar of light stretched into the sky, covering the crater and nearby mountains. But it was far smaller than it had been at the beginning and was still shrinking.
The barrier at the edge of the Dynamax Den had been completely destroyed. The whole space was now wide open.
Corviknight dove straight in from above. Shiro's vision blurred slightly as they crossed the threshold, and then he was inside the eerie zone once again.
In the dim, red-tinged light, Golem, now like a cracked, giant stone sphere, lay curled in the crater, its arms wrapped around itself. Only its crimson eyes remained open.
It had grown far too weak to maintain its former ferocity.
**
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