Even Hilona was actually itching to have a match with Natsuhiko.
Last time the two of them finally got paired up, but they never fought in the end because Natsuhiko forfeited.
Natsuhiko stood up and swept his eyes over the few people.
He'd just said none of these people had good intentions—every single one of them wanted to battle him.
Like all these scheming subjects just want to harm their emperor.
He rolled his eyes and snapped, "The host is probably going to ramble on for a while longer, I'm going out for a walk."
With that.
He left the lounge and walked into the corridor leading to the arena.
Even in the lounge you could hear the noisy cheering from outside; once he stepped out, it felt even more intense.
Fortunately, everyone's attention was on the host and that massive screen right now, so no one noticed Natsuhiko appearing in the corridor.
"Battling Flint… is rough. I've got no clear advantage, and it's hard to specifically counter him." Natsuhiko rubbed his head.
To be honest.
Compared to Flint, Natsuhiko actually prefers fighting Lance.
At the very least.
Lance's weaknesses are pretty obvious.
Flint's burst power might not be as insane as Lance's, but he's got way fewer weak points.
He sighed.
He walked to a corner, took out his phone, and hit the answer button.
The main reason he'd stepped out was because he'd gotten a call.
"Inspector Natsuhiko!"
A slightly rushed voice came from the other end of the line.
Hearing the voice, Natsuhiko froze for a moment.
"Handsome Guy?"
He glanced at the phone—it was an unregistered number.
Even if the International Criminal Police had business, the one who should be contacting him ought to be Lira.
On top of that, with Handsome Guy sounding this flustered, an uneasy feeling rose in Natsuhiko's chest.
"Inspector Natsuhiko, we've got trouble, Inspector Lila, she…"
"Cut the crap! Get to the point!"
Beside him, Lira's voice came through the phone, and Natsuhiko could faintly hear fighting sounds in the background.
Natsuhiko's heart sank.
Looks like something really has gone wrong.
And the ones informing him are Lira and Handsome Guy of the International Criminal Police, from the UB Countermeasures Department—then there's only one possibility.
Natsuhiko asked in a low voice, "Is it an Ultimate Beast?"
"Yeah!"
After Lira's scolding, Handsome Guy's answer suddenly became a lot more decisive.
He immediately added, "It's almost at Manaro Arena, the Ultimate Beast is about to get there!"
Manaro Arena?
Natsuhiko's heart jolted.
Did the baiting plan go off the rails?
He instantly tossed out a Pokeball and summoned Latios.
He climbed onto its back and shot up into the sky.
He looked into the distance.
Sure enough.
Out over the ocean he saw a "tiny" figure closing in on Manaro Arena.
And around it were more "tiny" human silhouettes, seemingly commanding their Pokémon to fight against it.
Seeing this, Natsuhiko almost burst out swearing on the spot.
If you want to deal with an Ultimate Beast, with no standard countermeasures available right now, the only option is to wait for an Ultimate Cave to open and send it back.
Ultimate Beasts all have the trait "Exotic Beast Enhancement"—numbers don't mean much in front of them.
One misstep.
Not only will you fail to take down the Ultimate Beast, you'll just become fodder for its Exotic Beast Enhancement trait, massively powering the Ultimate Beast up.
"And also!"
Maybe thinking Handsome Guy's explanation still wasn't clear enough, Lira grabbed the phone and panted as she said:
"Also, Barnett detected abnormal fluctuations in the Ultimate Aura inside Manaro Arena. She suspects an Ultimate Cave is very likely to open inside the venue!"
"Fuck!"
At that, Natsuhiko finally couldn't hold back and swore.
Manaro Arena?
Do you have any idea how many civilians and how many Trainers are in Manaro Arena right now?
If an Ultimate Cave opens and a few Ultimate Beasts come crawling out, then all those people are the perfect nutrients!
Natsuhiko has fought Guzzlord and Buzzwole before. They might not have seemed that terrifying.
But that's only because they hadn't managed to get enough "feed" to ramp up their power.
Try letting Guzzlord or Buzzwole harvest a big enough pile of bodies and see what happens.
"Natsuhiko! You have to get everyone out of Manaro Arena as fast as possible. We really didn't want this to affect the tournament, but with Ultimate Beasts attacking, it's out of our hands."
"Got it." Natsuhiko answered quickly, and still didn't forget to add a reminder, "Inspector Lila, don't let people charge in to fight the Ultimate Beast blindly anymore. Ultimate Beasts can absorb other Pokémon's power to strengthen themselves!"
"..."
There was a brief silence on the line.
After Natsuhiko's reminder, Lira must have realized why the Ultimate Beast in front of her was getting harder and harder to deal with.
She didn't ask Natsuhiko how he knew; she just said, "I understand."
He hung up.
Natsuhiko took a deep breath.
His thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind.
Slowly, he pieced together where this whole mess started.
There's no doubt Lira is a "Fall."
To ensure Manaro Arena's safety, the International Criminal Police had also been deployed for a period of time beforehand to maintain order in the arena and prevent tricky emergencies.
With her stationed at Manaro Arena for so long, she must have left plenty of her "Fall" aura inside the arena.
That alone would've been bad enough.
But now!
There isn't just one "Fall" inside Manaro Arena.
Natsuhiko looked toward the direction of the organizing committee's office.
Over there were not only members of the committee, but also Gladio and Lillie, Natsuhiko's two students.
Among them.
Lillie had once been attacked by the Ultimate Beast Nihilego.
That means Lillie must also, like Lira, be carrying traces of Ultimate Aura on her body.