Time rolled over into the next day.
"Yo~ Caitlin, Cynthia, morning."
At ten a.m., Damian strolled into the downstairs dining room.
He stretched lazily and greeted them, looking completely relaxed.
His mood was great, and his energy was through the roof.
Yeah, after that big "battle" with Elesa last night, Damian was feeling thoroughly satisfied.
Elesa really was top‑tier. Way too good.
"Morning."
Cynthia answered.
"Morning~ Breakfast is already set aside for you, Damian. It's in the warmer."
Caitlin gave him a small, reserved smile as she replied.
"Got it."
Damian headed into the kitchen.
"You really don't care, Caitlin?"
Seeing Damian disappear into the kitchen, Cynthia couldn't help asking Caitlin.
She'd slept here last night too, so she knew perfectly well that Elesa had spent the entire night in Damian's room.
"Nothing to care about."
Caitlin's tone stayed as elegant as ever.
"Just an overconfident little homewrecker. Outside of giving Damian some… practice, she's not much of a threat."
"???"
Cynthia stared, then fell into thought.
Because she could tell—Caitlin genuinely believed that.
Sis, are you seriously this confident?
Sure, Elesa and Damian weren't exactly "well‑matched" in status. The gap between them was huge.
But that still wasn't a reason to be this smug, right? And if you like Damian that much, you're really just going to watch him mess around with other women?
"Why don't you just go after Damian yourself?"
Cynthia really couldn't get her head around it.
"Damian already has a girlfriend."
Caitlin replied lightly.
"…"
Cynthia's mind went into a total tailspin.
After breakfast, Damian and the two of them headed toward Snowpoint City.
As for Elesa, after how hard they'd gone yesterday, she clearly needed a good day of rest.
Besides, Elesa had come with Rosa and Hilda.
It's not like she could just run off with Damian.
By two in the afternoon, Damian and the other two had already reached Snowpoint City.
Snowpoint City, revered as "the wintry city of glittering ice."
It sat at the northernmost tip of the Sinnoh Region, buried in snow all year round.
Snow blowing down from the peak of Mount Coronet kept the temperature here constantly low.
After arriving in Snowpoint City, Damian didn't stop there.
He just kept heading north.
Along the way, though, they did see a lot of passersby rushing by with anxious faces, like something big had happened.
They kept moving toward the north side until they reached a crossroads.
Only then did Damian more or less get the picture.
A group of officers were locked in battle with a squad of hunters, and it looked like no small conflict.
"Damn it! These bastards!"
A black‑haired girl who still looked fairly young, dressed almost like a schoolgirl in uniform, was glaring at the hunter organization's people ahead, teeth gritted.
This was Snowpoint City's Gym Leader, Candice, the one they called "The Diamond Dust Girl," an Ice‑type specialist.
"Something's off about these hunters, Gym Leader Candice. We've got to beat them quickly and push through."
Officer Jenny's voice was low and serious as she spoke to Candice.
Under normal circumstances, a small hunting crew like this would bolt faster than a pack of wild Buneary the moment they spotted League personnel.
But today these guys were dug in at the crossroads and flat‑out refusing to move.
Something about this place clearly wasn't right.
Officer Jenny could smell a conspiracy.
"Got it!"
Candice clenched her small fists, her delicate face turning solemn.
Her will was great, but these hunters weren't pushovers.
One after another, they sent out Metang, Skarmory, Crobat—no‑joke Pokémon.
Each hunter had real strength, and their teamwork was tight.
Breaking through them in a short span wouldn't be easy.
"Looks like you could use a little help."
"You are? Huh? Champion Cynthia!"
Candice and Officer Jenny both turned at the unfamiliar voice, puzzled.
But the moment their eyes landed on Cynthia behind Damian, they recognized her.
Even in different clothes than usual, Cynthia was way too recognizable.
"Candice, long time no see."
Cynthia greeted her with a faint smile.
"It's been four months since I last saw you, Champion Cynthia!"
Candice's excitement overflowed.
She was still young, and clearly idolized Cynthia.
Which made sense.
In Sinnoh, anyone normal basically liked Cynthia—intellectual, elegant, and absurdly strong as Champion.
"Looks like you've hit a bit of trouble."
Cynthia glanced over at the hunter squad.
"Yeah. We've got no idea where these Pokémon hunters crawled out from. They've locked down this crossroads and aren't letting anyone through. I'm betting they're up to something nasty inside."
Candice's face hardened as she spoke about the serious part.
"Damian?"
Cynthia nodded slightly and looked toward Damian.
"Yeah, that's gotta be Hunter J's people. There aren't many hunter groups in Sinnoh with her team's level of polish."
Damian sized up the hunters and chuckled.
So he'd been right—Hunter J had taken a contract.
Honestly, Damian almost had to respect her.
She really would take any contract.
Taking a mission to capture Regigigas?
He couldn't decide whether she was just too confident in herself or if a door had slammed her head one too many times.
No self‑awareness at all. Hunter J had clearly let her own success go to her head.
And it wasn't just Regigigas.
In the anime, Hunter J later took a Team Galactic contract too, helping them capture the Lake guardians.
And yeah, key point: she actually pulled it off.
But she got careless once the job was over—and that's when she crashed and burned.
Hunter J, huh.
Say what you want, the woman had skills.
Her personal strength and her black‑tech gear were legit. No wonder she'd made such a name for herself.
"Hunter J, huh? Definitely a tricky enemy."
Officer Jenny frowned.
But when she saw Cynthia standing there, she relaxed again.
With Champion Cynthia around, Hunter J or whoever—none of them were worth fearing.
"Champion Cynthia, these two are…?"
Candice glanced curiously at Damian and Caitlin.
"Damian and Caitlin. They're… friends of mine."
Cynthia hesitated, but that was the introduction she went with.
She obviously couldn't just say they were both from Team Rocket.
And she really hadn't expected to run into Candice and Officer Jenny out here of all places.
Honestly, it was a bit of a headache.
Damian and Caitlin?
Officer Jenny felt like those names rang a bell somewhere.
But for the moment, she just couldn't place where she'd heard them before.
"Hi, I'm Candice, the Gym Leader of Snowpoint Gym."
Candice greeted Damian and Caitlin with bright enthusiasm.
She might be an Ice‑type specialist, but her personality was sunshine itself—energetic and full of life.
And then—
"Hey, in weather this cold, you're not freezing dressed like that?"
Damian asked Candice, genuinely curious.
Candice's outfit really did look like a girl's school uniform—and her bottom half was a short skirt that left her thighs exposed.
And the area around Snowpoint City was seriously cold.
"Ha~ Honestly, it's not that bad. Once you're used to it, you don't really feel it."
Candice's smile was infectious.
"Impressive constitution. Let's take these hunters down first. No idea what Hunter J's trying to pull."
Damian tossed her a compliment.
Maybe spending years around Ice‑types had made Candice more cold‑resistant.
Though truth be told, people in Pokémon World were built tough to begin with.
Meanwhile, beneath Snowpoint Temple—
"Where are you hiding… legendary Regigigas?"
A woman with long silver‑gray hair, striking and cold‑edged features, and a heavy coat sat astride her Salamence, scanning her surroundings.
Hunter J.
Right now, she was inside Snowpoint Temple.
But no matter how much she searched, she couldn't find Regigigas's exact location.
It was starting to grate on her nerves.
"In that case, Salamence."
Hunter J's patience had run dry.
Her gaze fell on the three strange stone pillars below.
Her eye for detail was sharp, and she'd already noticed something off about those three pillars.
From her investigations, Regigigas was supposed to be slumbering somewhere inside this Temple.
To awaken Regigigas, there probably had to be some special requirement.
But Hunter J had no desire to waste time figuring it out.
A more… direct method should work fine.
All she needed to do was flush Regigigas out and grab it.
The client on this contract was paying a ridiculous fee.
Just this one job alone would be worth ten normal ones.
"Dragon Pulse."
Hunter J snapped the command to Salamence.
Salamence let out a low roar, gathering a concentrated mass of dragon energy in its jaws.
Then it fired straight at one of the pillars.
Boom!
Dragon Pulse slammed home, and the stone pillar shattered apart.
For an instant, faint, mysterious markings flickered into view—then quickly sank back out of sight.
So it did something.
Hunter J's eyes narrowed.
Looked like her approach wasn't wrong.
She had Salamence blast the other two pillars as well.
This time, the strange sigil fully flared to life—and stayed there.
"Re‑gi…!"
A low, impossibly deep sound rolled up from underground, and a heavy, suffocating pressure flooded the entire underground space.
Boom!
The ground shook violently as a gigantic hand thrust up through the pattern and slammed down onto the stone.
The entire cavern quaked.
Hunter J's expression finally shifted.
The hand alone was enormous.
Just that arm was already much larger than Salamence.
It was hard to even imagine how massive the legendary Regigigas must be in full.
"Re‑gi!!"
The deep, rumbling bellow grew even more intense—and the anger in it was unmistakable.
With its palm braced on the ground, Regigigas's colossal body slowly heaved itself out of the earth.
Its crushing aura poured through the chamber like a flood.
"Salamence! Dragon Pulse!"
Hunter J immediately issued the order.
She knew something was off.
This Regigigas's presence was way too overwhelming.
Was this really a Pokémon that humans could capture?
But either way, she had to at least try.
Salamence opened its bloody maw wide and fired another spear of pure dragon light.
It slammed straight into Regigigas's torso.
Another deafening blast.
But Regigigas didn't seem to feel a thing.
It didn't even pause its movements.
"Move!"
At that, Hunter J finally understood.
This monster was absolutely not something she could handle.
She ordered Salamence to retreat at once.
Salamence wheeled around and rocketed away with Hunter J on its back.
"Re‑gi!!"
Regigigas's enraged roar shook the air again.
Snowpoint Temple trembled to its foundations.
Salamence flew fast.
In no time, it had already shot out of the Temple with Hunter J and into the open air.
From above, Hunter J looked down at Snowpoint Temple.
Before her eyes, the ground in front of the Temple cracked apart, and a towering "giant" with a massive white body rose up out of the earth.
Eyeballing it, it had to be at least twenty or thirty meters tall.
Its bulk was like a moving mountain, a straight punch to the senses.
This was the legendary Regigigas.
"A Legendary Pokémon…"
Hunter J's brows knit tight.
She could feel its blazing fury directly from here—the sheer rage pouring off Regigigas.
It was obvious her rough destruction of those three pillars had shattered its slumber.
Now this Legendary Pokémon was utterly furious.
Of course, for a cold‑blooded Pokémon hunter like Hunter J, self‑reflection wasn't in the vocabulary.
She was just… shocked.
The legendary Regigigas really was this strong?
As a dyed‑in‑the‑wool egoist, Hunter J had always believed legends were just that—legends.
Stories people in the old days exaggerated into myths.
But seeing this now, Legendary Pokémon really were terrifying.
Looked like this contract was a lost cause.
Hunter J wanted that payoff badly.
But she wanted her life more.
Money could always be earned again.
Lose your life, and what use was the fee?
As for what this enraged Regigigas would do next?
That wasn't Hunter J's problem.
She patted Salamence's side.
Time to bolt.
Regigigas didn't have wings.
No Flying‑type ability at a glance.
What, was it going to outrun her Salamence?
~~
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