Chapter 799 793: The Secrets of the Dark League

"Zzzt!"

Melmetal nodded, while electric arcs began to wrap around its body.

Immediately afterward, an intense electric light began to concentrate in the nut on its head.

With a rumble, a beam of current suddenly shot out!

After evolving into Melmetal, the former electric ray now seemed like a true energy cannon, terrifying to behold!

Facing it, Naganadel responded at the same time, firing poison from the toxic needle on its tail.

Boom!

With a great rumble, both attacks collided with each other.

However, the electric ray directly devoured the poison and ended up swallowing Naganadel as well.

In the air, the smoke from the explosion dispersed in all directions.

Naganadel's figure fell directly from the smoke cloud and crashed miserably against the ground.

In that first exchange, Melmetal had overwhelmingly suppressed Naganadel, causing the Dark League member's eyes to open wide.

He knew better than anyone the strength of his own Naganadel.

Thanks to its enormous innate racial advantage, Naganadel's strength was among the highest even within the Quasi-Elite level.

And yet, it had been knocked down by a single move. The strength of that Pokémon on the other side was exaggerated!

"Good work, Melmetal."

"Sandslash, all of you go too."

"Sandstorm!"

Taking advantage of the lead, Sandslash's figure rushed onto the field and directly raised a sandstorm.

In an instant, an immense cloud of sand enveloped the entire field, completely swallowing the vision of both sides.

At the same time, Kommo-o and Garchomp also moved.

One possessed the Ability Overcoat and the other the Ability Sand Veil, so both could move freely under sandstorm weather.

"Aaah!"

Suddenly, a heart-rending scream resounded in the middle of the field.

And, little by little, the sandstorm began to disperse.

Then it could be seen that Naganadel and the five Gengar were already lying fallen on the sand.

In front, Kommo-o was holding the Dark League member up with one hand.

Kommo-o's terrifying strength squeezed him until it tore screams of pain from him.

"Done."

Ethan lightly shook his hands.

He quickly searched the Dark League member, took away the Poké Balls, and returned Naganadel and the Gengar to their respective Poké Balls.

"Lucario, hypnotize him."

After saying that, Ethan looked at the Dark League member.

Once everything was done, he released Charizard and, together with his Pokémon, flew away at high speed toward the Secret Kingdom passage.

After all, they were still in enemy territory. When the Dark League reacted and discovered that one of their own had disappeared, it was not impossible that they would start a large-scale search.

Although, because he was in a different Secret Kingdom, the place where Ethan was located was relatively safe.

But, if the Dark League decided to block off that entire sea area of the real world, then he would truly be trapped inside the Secret Kingdoms without any possibility of leaving.

In addition, he also could not guarantee that the Secret Kingdom he was in would not end up being tracked by the Dark League, so the sooner he left, the better.

Mounted on Charizard, Ethan crossed the different Secret Kingdoms at full speed, while Melmetal opened fracture passages between them again and again.

Very soon, Ethan returned to the Vast Poni Canyon Secret Kingdom and, from there, went back to the real world.

Although the whole journey had been quite tense, fortunately, everything had gone well. The Dark League seemed not to have reacted yet, which had given him more than enough time to escape.

...

Several days later.

San Francisco Pokémon Trainers Guild, Federal League.

"Where am I?"

Inside a cell, the Dark League member slowly opened his eyes.

"You finally woke up."

In front of the cell, a military officer of the Federal League stood with his arms crossed.

At that moment, while looking at the Dark League member before him, he also showed a certain strangeness in his eyes.

To tell the truth, they had not managed to clarify where that guy had come from either.

Just the day before, when the guards opened the doors in the morning, they discovered that this man had simply been thrown at the entrance of the Pokémon Trainers Guild.

And at that moment, the guy was deeply asleep, evidently under the effect of some Pokémon's move Hypnosis.

Fortunately, they recognized the Dark League symbol he carried on him and immediately imprisoned him, while at the same time notifying the higher Pokémon Trainers Guild to start an investigation.

"You are... the Pokémon Trainers Guild of the Federal League!"

"So you sent people to discover our base!"

Seeing the officer planted in front of him with crossed arms, the Dark League member gritted his teeth.

"The Dark League's base?"

Upon hearing those words come out of the Dark League member's mouth, the officer's heart trembled.

Without showing anything on his face, the officer began to draw information out of the Dark League member...

Vaguely, one could begin to feel a storm approaching.

...

Meanwhile, in another place in the Federal League.

After handing over the Dark League member to the Federal League, Ethan did not leave.

After all, in addition to helping Sandslash master the Totem aura, one of the objectives of this trip to the Federal League was precisely his training.

Now, inside an inn, Ethan continued reflecting on everything related to the Dark League.

Handing that Dark League member over to the Federal League had been a very carefully thought-out decision.

If he had brought him along himself, it would have been very difficult to avoid exposing himself and, furthermore, to transport him all the way to the Daleron League.

On the other hand, the Dark League base was clearly within the territory of the Federal League, so leaving the matter in the latter's hands was undoubtedly the best option.

Within the Daleron League, although Dark League members also appeared from time to time, they had not yet done anything especially serious.

In contrast, the Federal League and the Tavaria League were much more hostile toward the Dark League; the enmity between the two sides was very clear.

Under those circumstances, handing the Dark League to the Federal League was the most specific and effective way to strike that organization.

"This time, the Federal League owes me a favor. Although I wore a mask, in the end, because of the characteristics of Melmetal and the others, they will end up discovering that it was me... but it doesn't matter."

"During this time, I will first stay in the Federal League, training while studying the Sparkling Stone and the Totem aura."

"When the training ends, I will return to the Daleron League, and then I will deepen the research on the Sparkling Stone and the Totem aura."

Ethan organized in his mind the plan for what would come next.

This time, his exploration of the Secret Kingdoms could be said to have been a true gold mine.

The Sparkling Stone, Totem Raticate, and the Ultra Beast.

The three elements that Ethan considered essential for researching the Totem aura were already in his hands.

From now on, he only had to research the relationship between those three elements and, perhaps, in that way, he could unravel the secret of the Totem aura.

When that time came and he combined it with Sandslash's Totem aura, he would probably be able to make Sandslash finally master a complete Totem aura.

In addition, the study of the Totem aura had only just begun, so he first planned to carry out some basic research.

And, later, he would write in his research report everything he knew from his past life about the Sparkling Stone, the Totem aura, and the Ultra Beasts. Thus, a preliminary exploration article would be born!

Following the clues that he himself left within that report, the later research would be much simpler.