"That is the situation. I want to know what your plans are moving forward."
After dialing the number, Gu Yuan could not help but feel a bit nervous. After a moment, the voice of Shadow finally came from the other end of the line.
"Rest assured, our goals are aligned with the League's on this matter."
"Moving forward, I will collect information regarding the Hunter's Guild and cooperate with your actions from the shadows."
"After all, with your current identity and status, it wouldn't be surprising even if you possessed your own personal faction."
Fortunately, Shadow did not give the answer Gu Yuan least wanted to hear.
After being immersed in this world for so long, Gu Yuan could guess the general thoughts of Shadow—or rather, Team Rocket. They intended to swallow the power of the Hunter's Guild. As the saying goes, where there is light, there is darkness, and where there is justice, there is evil.
No matter how powerful the League's intelligence system was, it was difficult for them to discover Team Rocket, which had already grown strong within the shadows. Similarly, the League found it difficult to detect the even more deeply hidden Hunter's Guild. In this regard, the situation Team Rocket faced was extremely similar to the League's.
Coincidentally, Team Rocket was incredibly greedy for the Hunter's Guild's influence. With such a perfect opportunity before them, how could Team Rocket not cherish it? If operated well, Team Rocket might be able to use the Hunter's Guild's strength to spread its reach across every region. As for the other evil organizations already existing in those regions, Team Rocket did not take them seriously. To reach where they were today, Team Rocket relied not on opportunism, but on solid, hard-fought battles.
After discussing the specific details with Gu Yuan, Shadow hung up, preparing to report to Boss Giovanni before cooperating with Gu Yuan's movements.
At the same time, the League's forces also began to mobilize. Guided by the intelligence provided by the families, the Hunter's Guild launched its second attack. Much like the first time, they executed their strike with perfect speed and precision. However, the League and Team Rocket, both having prepared in advance, would not let the other party leave so easily.
Following the clues left by the Hunter's Guild, both the League and Team Rocket discovered some leads, but neither side was in a hurry to strike. They knew very well that acting now would only deal a superficial blow to the Hunter's Guild. If they wanted to inflict significant damage, patient waiting was essential.
While the League and Team Rocket waited patiently, Tatao Fukuda also received a special mission. There was no other way; as the number of operations increased, the Hunter's Guild naturally wouldn't bear the risks alone. Otherwise, if their relationship was leaked, the three great families could completely abandon them by claiming they knew nothing. Therefore, to ensure future cooperation, the families had to deepen their ties with the Hunter's Guild.
The best way to do this was to take action together and share the spoils of war. Consequently, the three great families each selected a suitable candidate from their subordinates to act as the first point of contact. Among them, the Kurata family's choice was the Fukuda family.
By now, Tatao Fukuda had successfully become a Champion Rank trainer. This reflected his personal talent and also gave him the qualifications to represent the Kurata family in contacting the Hunter's Guild. Most importantly, Toranosuke Kurata viewed this matter as a test to see if Tatao Fukuda would remain loyal to him.
After hanging up the phone, Tatao Fukuda's expression turned ugly as he sat alone in his study. Unlike the three great families, he didn't care who the final victor was. Ever since his secret cooperation with Gu Yuan, Tatao Fukuda had decided that once a suitable opportunity arose, he would lead the Fukuda family to another region to develop.
The most suitable options were the Johto region or the Hoenn region. Currently, Johto was still in a development phase; as long as he followed the League's footsteps closely, he didn't have to worry about the family's growth being affected. Meanwhile, Hoenn was an alliance formed by various families and companies. While it allowed internal competition, all companies and families worked hard to make the Hoenn League better. Compared to the decayed families of the Kanto League, it was far superior.
For the sake of his future, Tatao Fukuda could not possibly involve himself with the Hunter's Guild, which was targeted by every region. But if he didn't comply, the Kurata family would likely swallow him up before he could even finish transferring his family's strength. At that time, even the League wouldn't say much, at most carving up some of the interests that originally belonged to the Fukuda family.
"Since you are being unjust, don't blame me for being unfaithful."
At this moment, Tatao Fukuda had made up his mind. Since his initial goal of breaking through to the Champion Rank had been achieved, it was time to consider leaving the Kanto region for better prospects. Before that, he didn't mind sabotaging the Kurata family once more, while securing more resources for himself.
"Go find Gu Yuan. Once you find him, call me; I will contact him personally."
"Yes, sir!"
After hanging up, Hunter set out silently to track Gu Yuan's whereabouts. Leaning back in his chair, Tatao Fukuda began to ponder, wanting to construct a perfect plan.
The successive strikes by the Hunter's Guild had not affected Gu Yuan's training at all. However, a close observer would notice that the forests where Gu Yuan appeared were all very close to the locations targeted by the Hunter's Guild. With intelligence support from the League and Team Rocket, Gu Yuan could jump into battle the moment any action occurred.
Until then, working hard to improve his strength was Gu Yuan's top priority. By now, Moltres and Roaring Moon had both broken through, attaining Middle-tier Elite strength. After Mega Evolution, Alakazam could also possess Middle-tier Elite power for a short duration.
And that was just Charizard and the others; those like Ceruledge had also made immense progress and would likely be ready to break through to the Elite Rank soon, which would bring another surge to Gu Yuan's overall strength. Most importantly, Drakloak was getting closer and closer to the Leader Rank.
The moment Drakloak broke through to the Leader Rank would be the moment it evolved into Dragapult!
Just as Gu Yuan was filled with anticipation to continue his hard work, he noticed someone approaching him. Although Gu Yuan wasn't hiding his tracks much these days in order to attract the attention of the families or the Hunter's Guild, it didn't mean any random force could find him.
The fact that someone dared to send a force of this level after knowing his strength piqued Gu Yuan's curiosity.
"I didn't expect to see a familiar face."
Suddenly, Gu Yuan's voice rang out. In the next second, Hunter found himself completely surrounded by Charizard and the others.