"That would be for the best!"
Hearing that, Shiko's eyes lit up as well.
Compared to something as crude as openly barging into the Lighthouse Alliance and seizing everything by force, participating in the tournament, winning the championship, and then taking those hundred Dark-type gems as the prize was clearly the better option.
A hundred Dark-type gems.
That was more or less enough to completely fill in all the remaining Dark-type law he still needed.
When that happened,
he would be able to master the brand-new form of BlackWarGreymon.
And even his final evolution into Omegamon would no longer be out of reach.
But then,
as soon as that thought crossed his mind,
Shiko's brows suddenly furrowed again.
He did not believe there could be such a coincidence in this world.
Just when he was in desperate need of a large amount of Dark-type items, the other side happened to deliver them right to his doorstep.
No matter how he looked at it,
he felt there was some deeper plot hidden inside all of this.
Just as he lowered his head and began thinking it through carefully,
Himeko spoke again, practically beaming.
"I think I finally understand why they refused to trade with us before."
"So it turns out they wanted to use all the Dark-type items excavated from the ruins as prizes for this competition."
The moment she finished saying that,
it was as if a bolt of lightning had flashed through Shiko's mind, and he suddenly caught hold of a crucial thread.
In an instant, he understood why the Lighthouse Alliance was doing this.
And what kind of conspiracy might be lurking behind it.
"I'm afraid that may not be the case."
Taking a deep breath,
Shiko's tone turned cold.
Under Himeko's puzzled gaze, he continued.
"The fact that they can take out this many Dark-type items as prizes already proves that they have a surplus of them."
"In that situation, for them to still reject the Military's high-priced trade offer becomes very unreasonable."
Himeko fell silent and carefully thought over what Shiko had said. The more she considered it, the more sense it made.
She looked at Shiko.
And only felt that the Shiko before her was becoming deeper and harder to read with every passing moment.
She could not understand why, despite having lived through two lifetimes,
her thinking and judgment in matters like this were still inferior to Shiko's, a Pokémon who had existed for less than a year since birth.
Even though she knew
that once a being stepped into the level of a Legendary Pokémon, it would develop intelligence no less than that of a human,
the intelligence Shiko displayed had already far surpassed that of ordinary people.
It made Himeko feel as though the one standing before her was some old and calculating statesman,
someone before whom every scheme and trick would be seen through at a glance.
"Then what kind of ulterior motive are they hiding?"
Himeko came back to herself and looked at Shiko as she pressed for an answer.
So what exactly was the reason the Lighthouse Alliance was holding this League Tournament and using such a huge number of type items as prizes?
"Think about it. With this many Dark-type items on the table, what kind of people would they attract to participate?"
As soon as Shiko threw out that question, Himeko immediately reacted.
"Obviously Trainers who have Dark-type Pokémon!"
"Exactly."
Shiko nodded and continued.
"And on top of that, those items were most likely obtained from Yveltal's ruins."
"So the purpose of this tournament is, nine times out of ten, related to Yveltal."
Shiko began carefully peeling back the layers and laying out his analysis step by step.
As Himeko listened, she nodded again and again.
Even though there was no concrete evidence for any of it and it was all purely Shiko's own deduction,
she still felt it was completely correct, as though it were the truth itself.
"Don't forget. Ever since the news about me and Mew was released,"
"the other Alliances all took the initiative to show goodwill toward the Great Axia Alliance and expressed a strong desire to cooperate."
"Only the Lighthouse Alliance showed no reaction at all."
"You have to understand, the existence of two Second-tier Legendaries is enough to overturn an entire Alliance."
"The fact that they still dared to act like this means they absolutely have confidence."
"And that confidence most likely comes from something related to Yveltal that they obtained from the ruins."
Shiko narrowed his eyes. After piecing all the information together, he was already certain of his own guess.
Himeko remained silent.
A moment later, she lifted her head, looked at Shiko, and asked the final question.
"Then... if this really is related to Yveltal, are we still going to take part in this tournament?"
(End of Chapter)
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