"Nobody look at that light! Otherwise your souls will be drawn toward it, and your lives will be in danger!" Matsuba shouted.
Those who had been staring at the light quickly regained their senses. Rubbing their eyes, they turned their heads away and forced themselves not to look at it. Once they had fully recovered, they could not help but gasp.
They had nearly lost their lives!
Matsuba's Dusknoir were doing everything they could to open a passage to the Ghost World.
At that moment, blue flames erupted throughout Shadow Team's castle, and a scorched stench drifted out. Everything about the scene was incredibly eerie, especially those blue flames…
"Something must have happened inside!"
Everyone sensed that something was wrong, and their anxiety only grew stronger.
"Matsuba, hurry!"
Pryce urged him. By then, nearly everyone had gathered around Matsuba, watching him with hopeful eyes.
---◓---
"It's done! Ghost-types, move!" Matsuba finally shouted. The weight on his shoulders was instantly lifted, and he staggered before collapsing onto the ground. Pryce and Giovanni personally stepped forward to help him back to his feet.
At that moment, more than a hundred Ghost-type Pokémon entered the Ghost World portal and disappeared into the darkness of the night, including Tetsuya's Golurk.
Another agonizing wait began. Everyone's eyes were fixed upon the gates of the castle. Ryosuke and the others were already pacing anxiously because the blue flames inside the castle were burning ever more fiercely, while the scorched "stench" had become so overwhelming that it made people nauseous.
As everyone waited anxiously, the castle gates finally emitted a creaking sound…
The massive gates slowly swung open to either side, the gap widening little by little. Tetsuya's Golurk was the first to come into view.
"""""Chaaaaaarge!""""
Several of the leaders and captaons shouted almost simultaneously. Naturally, the defensive Pokémon took the lead, with the assault Pokémon close behind.
A massive number of Pokémon surged into the castle!
After two days and two nights of stalemate, the castle gates had finally opened. Everyone had been powering up with anticipation, preparing for a great battle against Shadow Team.
Once the Pokémon charged in, the Trainers followed immediately behind.
"I-It just can't be…"
"Quick! Look, what is that!?"
"W-What in the…"
The moment they entered the castle, everyone was stunned. Every Shadow was dead, their bodies engulfed in ghostly blue flames, their appearances burned beyond recognition.
"Quick! Quiiiick! Put out the fire!"
Ryosuke shouted. If they wanted to uncover any clues, they first had to recover the bodies. If the corpses were completely burned away, then every trace would be destroyed, leaving absolutely no clues behind.
"It's useless…" Matsuba shook his head before saying, "Those are Will-O-Wisps flames. They won't go out until the bodies have been completely burned to ashes."
"…"
"Everyone, spread out and search! See if there are any intact bodies or any survivors left," Giovanni ordered.
Everyone immediately dispersed throughout Shadow Team's castle to begin searching.
By now, most of the bodies had already been completely burned away. Even the few that had not been entirely consumed had been reduced to skeletal remains. The flames still could not be extinguished, making everything they tried completely futile.
Tetsuya also searched everywhere, hoping to discover something. He was the first to rush into the central hall. Eight corpses lay on the floor, their bodies likewise engulfed in blue flames. However, these eight had only recently begun burning, and their skeletons were still clearly distinguishable.
Taking a closer look, Tetsuya's suspicions immediately deepened. These eight figures were emaciated to the point of being skin and bones, their deaths identical to those of people whose vitality had been completely drained by his Gengar…
Tetsuya simply could not accept it. His mind began racing with countless possibilities!
'Could it be…'
He had always believed that he was the only person in the world who knew that the Gastly variant could drain vitality from humans and Pokémon. What kind of organization was Shadow Team, and what hidden secrets were they masking?
Judging by the clothing of these eight people, they appeared to hold a higher status than Yamamoto. They were all Shadow Team "Admins".
Even they had not escaped this fate!? The reason they had not yet been burned too badly was probably because of their extraordinary willpower, which had prevented their vitality from being drained quite as quickly.
Tetsuya looked around and confirmed that no one else was nearby. Under no circumstances could anyone discover the unusual condition of these corpses!
"Gengar, use Will-O-Wisp and give them a little push."
Tetsuya gave the order in his mind while keeping his eyes fixed on the entrance. After Gengar made its move, streams of ghostly blue flames once again engulfed the eight bodies. Once the bodies had become completely unrecognizable, Tetsuya calmly walked out of the main hall as though nothing had happened.
"Did you find anything?" When Tetsuya returned to Pryce and Matsuba, they immediately asked him.
Tetsuya shook his head and let out a sigh. By the time all of the Investigators and Trainers assembled once again, every corpse had already turned to ash. There was not a single living person left anywhere within the castle.
Everything about the place radiated an eerie atmosphere that defied explanation, even in this wolrd.
Tetsuya could only forcibly suppress his thoughts so that Giovanni and the others would not notice anything unusual about him.
Afterward, Ryosuke, Giovanni, and the others thoroughly searched every corner of Shadow Team's castle, but they found nothing suspicious. Every document and record had already been burned.
Seeing this outcome, Ryosuke, Tōkichi, and the others who had ties to Shadow Team secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
---◓---
After working throughout the entire night, they had discovered absolutely nothing, leaving everyone deeply disappointed. However, Shadow Team had finally been destroyed. Although no one knew how it had been "wiped out", the identity of Shadow Team's leader had also become impossible to uncover.
Giovanni, Bruno, and Ryosuke each reported the situation to their respective Leagues. The only thing left to do was seal off the information and publicly announce that Shadow Team had been eradicated.
As for how the two Leagues would handle the aftermath, that was no longer something they needed to concern themselves with.
After all, this was still Johto's territory.
The Johto League Council sent people to seal off the entire castle. Under the pressure, the Indigo League had no choice but to temporarily withdraw from Johto. However, many Investigators and Researchers remained behind in Johto to investigate unexplored mountains and forests. Perhaps they would discover some valuable resources.
Giovanni, on the other hand, had barely used Team Rocket's own forces. While both Leagues had focused all of their attention on Shadow Team, the Rockets he had brought with him, under Aoi Maiko's leadership, had already gone into hiding throughout Johto's cities and towns, searching for locations to establish bases and businesses willing to cooperate.
As for the companies Giovanni had already negotiated with… they only needed to move in directly. Overnight, a wave of Team Rocket expansion swept across the Johto Region.
Before leaving, Tetsuya thoroughly searched both the inside and outside of Shadow Team's castle. Even Gengar could no longer sense the slightest trace of vitality.
However, he was all too familiar with the appearance of those Shadows who had died inside the main hall. Again, it was unmistakably the appearance of people whose vitality had been completely drained.
Every Shadow had died, a thought that sent chills down his spine. What kind of power was capable of such a thing? And who could possibly control such ability?
A powerful organization like Shadow Team, numbering more than a thousand members, had mysteriously died, and every one of their bodies had turned to ashes. For Tetsuya, everything is too anticlimactic.
Every secret, every mystery, sank forever into oblivion along with the deaths of every Shadow…