The people inside had heard Nova casually drop Taylor's name, yet no one rolled up the shutter to welcome him in, nor did anyone call his bluff.
Instead, an uneasy silence settled over the place.
That caught Nova off guard. He had been fully prepared to fight. He had no interest in coming up with a clever excuse — once he confirmed Taylor was inside, he was going to send Nidoking charging straight through the door. But the lack of any response was strange. Why weren't these grunts saying anything?
Should I just tear the shutter off and be done with it?
With that thought, Nova reached for Nidoking's Poké Ball and released it. The man who had been guiding Nova — Safest — was still trying to process the situation. The moment he saw the kid gearing up for a fight, he spun on his heel and bolted down the street without a second glance.
There was no way he was sticking around for this. It was obvious that Nova had come here for Taylor, and that he had no fear of picking a fight with a group of terrorists like Original Team. Whether Nova won or lost, any bystander nearby was going to get hurt. The smartest move was to get far away before the first move was even called.
The guide fee had been set at two thousand coins, and Nova had only paid half upfront. Safest made his peace with never collecting the rest, which Nova found genuinely disappointing.
If Safest had lingered even a moment longer, Nova had been planning to take his money back once he was finished with Original Team. A thousand coins was not a small amount, and making someone return it would have been satisfying.
Inside the building, the Original Team grunts had no idea what a peculiar little scene was playing out right beyond their door. Their silence came from a simple reason: Taylor — the very man Nova had named — was not at the base. He had left on business, and he had not mentioned anything about hiring someone to make poison.
So the grunts were huddled together inside, whispering frantically and trying to figure out what to do.
"Big Bro Taylor went out on business. He's not here right now."
"Not here? Then where is he?"
"That's internal Original Team business. Why would we tell you anything?"
By now, Nova had fully settled into his role, and he played the part of the villain without any effort at all.
"Taylor asked me to come and cook poison for him, and now he's not even here? And you won't tell me where he went? Does Original Team think it can just jerk me around like this?"
Silence again.
"Fine. If you won't tell me where Taylor is, then at least open the door and let me wait inside."
The grunts decided that refusing any further would be pushing their luck. After a brief hesitation, they rolled the shutter up.
It was then Nova's turn to forget his manners entirely.
"Nidoking, use Sludge Bomb!"
The moment the shutter began to rise, globs of thick, dark sludge shot through the widening gap. Each one exploded violently on contact with the floor and walls. The liquid vaporized quickly, and the purple haze that rose in its place was far worse — toxic fumes made even deadlier by Nidoking's Poison Point ability saturating the air.
Within seconds, the abandoned market was blanketed in a pale violet gas. Some grunts scrambled to grab their Poké Balls, but even a single breath was enough to leave their limbs heavy and their heads spinning. They could barely stand, let alone fight back.
A few sentries near the edges of the building, upwind from the worst of it, managed to dodge the initial Sludge Bomb barrage. One of them shouted out in anger, "Who do you think you are? Do you have any idea what Original Team does to people who cross us?"
Nova almost smiled. Sure. Original Team — global terrorists. Very frightening.
Truthfully, Nova had no interest in wasting time on these small fry, but Taylor's trail had gone cold. He could not go home empty-handed.
Since we're already here, might as well grab a few of them for questioning.
"Flamethrower. Psybeam. Thunderbolt. Surf."
The commands came in quick succession, and a storm of long-range moves poured through the entrance. Fire, psychic energy, crackling electricity, and crashing water tore through the ruined building. In less than a minute, Nidoking had brought half the long-abandoned structure down around itself — and that was Nova deliberately holding back to make sure there were still living captives to interrogate.
Had Nidoking been allowed to use its STAB moves freely — Earthquake or Earth Power — the entire building would have been reduced to rubble in two hits.
Most of the grunts who had been shouting earlier were now barely breathing.
Nova reached into his bag and pulled out a gas mask, sliding it over his face. It kept the toxic fog out of his lungs and served as a useful disguise at the same time.
He released Corvisquire from its Poké Ball, and the blue bird spread its wings and circled silently overhead, keeping watch. Then Nova walked Nidoking into the wrecked market.
The inside was in complete chaos. Broken machinery lay in twisted heaps. Lab equipment was shattered across the floor. Scattered components, puddles of water, frost-covered shelves, patches of smoldering cloth, and unconscious bodies filled every corner. Nova grabbed the nearest prone grunt and tried to rouse him with a few sharp slaps. But Nova was no medic — someone knocked out by poison sleep does not wake up from a slap.
No way to revive him here. Move on.
He tried the next. And the one after that. Four attempts, all failures.
Then a gunshot rang out.
Corvisquire's reflexes are not superhuman, but the bird had been on edge since the moment it left its Poké Ball. It had been using Protect around Nova in a continuous cycle, burning through its stamina without complaint.
This clever and sharp-eyed Pokémon understood its role in a fight perfectly: nothing was allowed to touch its Trainer. Nothing.
A grunt who had been playing dead fired from roughly twenty meters away. The bullet struck the shimmering barrier of Corvisquire's Protect with a sharp crack and fell harmlessly to the floor.
Original Team is upgrading. They're using firearms now.
Guns and gunpowder are not advanced technology; in a world as developed as this one, firearms certainly exist. But that does not mean they are common.
The reason is simple: when it comes to dealing damage, a bullet is simply not more efficient than a Pokémon move. People throw Psychic attacks, ice blasts, and walls of fire at each other. What is one small pistol supposed to accomplish against any of that? A move like Protect, which can hold back the earth-shaking force of a Pokémon's strongest attacks, stops a few bullets without any effort at all.
Nidoking raised its arm and charged a Thunderbolt, ready to finish the last grunt off. Nova waved it down.
Electrocute him and I lose my only interrogation subject.
The grunt instantly regretted his decision. The pay from Original Team was not nearly good enough to justify making himself a target like this.
Nova stepped forward calmly, Nidoking and Corvisquire on either side of him. Corvisquire used Defog, and a gentle wave of wind swept the grunt's weapon and the nearby debris aside, clearing the air between them.
A soft breeze followed, carrying away the last of the toxic fog — and with it came a clear view of Nova's face: a wide, almost cheerful smile.
Nova crouched down and grabbed a fistful of the grunt's hair, tilting his head up. His expression was perfectly pleasant.
"Let's have a little chat, shall we?"