Hearing Su Wen's words, the bck-cd figure trembled slightly, his lips parting as if to protest. But seeing the certainty in Su Wen's eyes, he let out a soft chuckle and removed his mask.

  "How did you know it was me?" Qiu Kun tossed the mask aside casually, though his calm facade belied the turmoil within.

  If his identity had remained hidden, Qiu Kun could have continued lurking at Yungao High after this mission, enjoying elite treatment and resources.

  Su Wen had considered exposing Qiu Kun ter at school, but time was of the essence now—every second deyed meant more time for the League to mobilize.

  Chen You and Zhou Wan's pupils constricted in shock. They never imagined their cssmate, someone they saw daily, could be a member of Dawn.

  Su Wen's deduction wasn't purely coincidental. The Dawn Organization had acted too swiftly—Zhou Wan had barely left school before they struck. Only someone inside could have had such precise intel.

  Zhou Wan, in the girls' dorm, and Su Wen and Chen You, in the boys', meant the only person privy to both was Qiu Kun, who trained with Su Wen weekly.

  Zhou Wan wasn't foolish. If she'd left without contacting them, it meant she'd trusted someone. Su Wen guessed Qiu Kun must have shown some personal item of Zhou Li's to manipute her.

  But the clincher was the ?Murkow perched atop the factory earlier, detected by Su Wen's Aura—Qiu Kun's signature Pokémon.

  Yet curiosity wouldn't make Qiu Kun reckless. A knife fshed to Zhou Wan's throat as he snarled, "I know you're stalling. Hand over the ?Z-Crystal."

  He'd already decided to kill all three after securing it, ensuring his clean return to Yungao.

  Su Wen took a deep breath, producing the ?Z-Crystal between his fingers. "Here it is. But untie Zhou Wan and send her over first."

  The sight of the crystal electrified both Qiu Kun and the trench-coated man. A gnce passed between them—why negotiate when they could just take it?

  But Su Wen was faster. With a tap to Chen You, he hurled the ?Z-Crystal into a nearby water tank.

  "Su Wen!" Qiu Kun's roar was raw with fury. This crystal was his ticket to promotion in Dawn.

  The trench-coated man and his ?Cloyster plunged after it. The tank's calm surface hid treacherous currents where the coin-sized crystal could vanish forever.

  "Thunder Shock!" Chen You didn't miss a beat. The moment Su Wen acted, his ?Rotom?-possessed phone unleashed a jolt at Qiu Kun.

  The hit sent Qiu Kun crashing down, limbs seizing, hair standing on end, mouth spewing bck smoke.

  "Go, go!" Su Wen and Chen You rushed to free Zhou Wan, slicing her bonds with Qiu Kun's knife.

  Zhou Wan flexed her numb wrists, retrieving her Poké Balls from Qiu Kun's pocket. "Move! The other one's still in the water—"

  A shriek cut her off. Qiu Kun's ?Murkow dove like a shadow, talons aimed at Chen You.

  "Thunder Shock!"

  Rotom's attack struck true, but the enraged ?Murkow kept coming.

  Yet the dey was enough. Su Wen and Zhou Wan's counterattacks nded in tandem.

  "Dragon Breath!"

  "Ssh!"

  Charmander's violet-tinged fmes engulfed ?Murkow, followed by Farfetch'd's leek-bde fshing white. The dark bird dropped mid-air.

  No time to celebrate. Water erupted as the trench-coated man and ?Cloyster resurfaced, empty-handed.

  Both sides tensed, Pokémon squaring off across the distance.

  The man's face darkened. In the brief time he'd spent underwater, Qiu Kun had been neutralized. Useless, he seethed.

  But despite securing the ?Z-Crystal, abandoning Qiu Kun wasn't an option—the boy's high-ranking father would have him executed. Only Qiu Kun's faint breathing stopped him from defecting on the spot.

  "Hand Qiu Kun over, and I'll let you leave,?" the man growled.

  Zhou Wan's retort was instant: "Not unless you tell me where my father is. Otherwise, the Z-Crystal stays."

  The man grimaced. A mere Elite-level grunt, he'd sneaked into Xia with ?Cloyster under orders. Zhou Li's whereabouts? Far above his clearance.

  Seeing his hesitation, Su Wen bargained: "Take Qiu Kun. Leave the Z-Crystal."

  For a moment, the man wavered. But returning with a wounded Qiu Kun and no crystal? Suicide.

  Gambling they wouldn't kill Qiu Kun, he made his choice.

  "Cloyster—Icicle Spear!"

  The attack was nothing like Wang Momo's ?Snorunt's feeble ?Ice Shard. Dozens of gcial spikes materialized, rotating lethally before ncing forward.

  Frigid air preceded the barrage—enough to impale them all.

  Yet Su Wen stood unfazed, his Aura already synced with Charmander.

  A single ember flickered between them, dwarfed by the oncoming storm.

  But one spark? No.

  A hundred erupted like blooming fireworks, weaving a fiery shield mid-air.