35: Chapter 35 Justice from Above? Trouble from Above

Sector B-4 had turned into ruins.

Thick smoke pressed down from mid-air, charred iron frames lay twisted on the ground, and chemical fluids flowed down through the cracks. The corpses of Beedrill curled into black clumps, their tail stingers still flashing with blue light. Archer's men wailed in the rubble; some had their legs pinned, others clutched their necks in spasms.

Lynn, wearing a gas mask, stood on a partially collapsed metal corridor.

Behind him, the men in black from the Special Operations Department had dispersed. Their gun barrels were nominally aimed at the ruins, but in reality, they were fixed on the surviving subordinates of Archer.

"Clean up the scene," Lynn said, his voice muffled by the mask. "General Archer's experiment went out of control, causing a serious accident. We are here to help our colleagues clean up the mess."

The men in black acted immediately.

A blood-covered squad leader under Archer crawled out from under a stone slab, staring at Lynn's back, his eyes full of suspicion.

Too coincidental.

Defense paralyzed, the swarm rushed out, explosions followed, and the Ghost was the first to arrive.

Just as he was about to speak, the highest-level alarm suddenly blared above the base.

The sound was as shrill as a knife scraping against an eardrum.

"Heavy impact from directly above! The dome is cracking!"

Porygon-Z screamed in the earpiece.

"Above! Dragon-type attack! Dodge!"

Lynn's pupils constricted, and his body lunged toward the generator set nearby a step ahead of his thoughts.

Boom!

The ten-meter-thick reinforced dome was shattered from the outside. Huge concrete blocks, complete with steel rebar, crashed down; over a dozen Team Rocket soldiers didn't even have time to look up before being crushed into bloody pulp. The squad leader from earlier was also struck by the rocks, his question forever stuck in his throat.

Dust billowed up.

Above the hole, two searchlight beams pierced into the underground.

A dragon's roar blew away the dust.

A massive Dragonite landed in the center of the ruins, its orange scales shimmering with a metallic luster under the lights. Behind it, two Dragonair hovered in mid-air, kicking up a wall of wind to push away the smoke.

A red-haired man stood on the Dragonite's back.

Lance.

The head of the Kanto Elite Four, Acting Champion.

His cape fluttered violently, his gaze sweeping over the Team Rocket uniforms littering the ground before finally locking onto Lynn.

At this moment, Lynn stood in the middle of the men in black, wearing a high-ranking officer's uniform, with corpses all around his feet. Anyone who saw this would only come to one conclusion: the central figure of the Team Rocket infighting was right here.

Lance raised his hand and pointed at him.

"Lynn."

The voice drowned out the alarm.

"The Viridian Forest fire, the missing search party, and now infighting within the Team Rocket base. How many lives have you used as stepping stones to climb higher?"

Lynn stood up and brushed the dust off his sleeves.

"You've arrived at such an opportune time."

"I arrived too late," Lance's eyes were cold and hard. "Late enough for you to kill another batch of people."

Explanations were meaningless.

In Lance's eyes, the scene, the uniforms, and the corpses were enough. Once Justice finds its target, it hates nothing more than hearing the target speak.

Lance gave a low command.

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam. Maximum power."

Dragonite opened its mouth, and an orange sphere of light lit up. The surrounding air was scorched until it distorted, and rubble trembled off the ground.

Lynn roared.

"Scatter!"

The beam of light swept across.

The metal corridor was sliced open, and the walls curled up like cardboard. A few Team Rocket soldiers had only managed to run two steps before being swallowed by the white light, their very ashes scattered into the heatwave.

Archer's remaining troops were driven mad with fear.

"It was Lynn who lured Lance here!"

"He's a mole!"

"Kill Lynn first!"

Gun barrels turned toward him in unison.

Above was Lance's Dragonite, and on the ground were Team Rocket's remnants. Lynn suddenly became the person both sides wanted to kill.

Bullets struck the cover, sparks exploding. Another Dragon Breath grazed overhead, roasting a generator into red-hot iron.

Lynn hid behind the generator set, a low chuckle coming from beneath his gas mask.

The situation was chaotic enough.

Chaotic enough to be very useful.

Porygon-Z said urgently, "The escape route is thirty meters to the rear left. Recommend immediate withdrawal."

"Don't withdraw yet."

"Dragonite is charging the second shot."

"Then let him help tear this place down completely."

Lynn looked at the load-bearing pillars all around. The explosions had already covered them in cracks; if Lance fired a few more shots, this entire area would sink.

Archer's witnesses, the remnants of his private goods, and traces of the swarm would all be buried underground.

"Detonate the remaining load-bearing bolts in Sector B-4."

Porygon-Z panicked.

"The whole floor will collapse, and you'll be inside it too!"

"I have Gengar."

Lynn threw out a Heavy Ball; Pupitar landed, its black shell bracing in front to block a volley of bullets. Gengar reached out from the shadow and grabbed Lynn's ankle.

Lance's second Hyper Beam was forming.

Lynn looked up at the man standing on the dragon's back.

"You think you've brought judgment."

He smiled coldly.

"In reality, you've come to close the coffin for me."

"Porygon-Z, detonate."

A series of muffled thuds echoed from underground.

The safety locks on the load-bearing pillars popped open one by one, and cracks crawled from the ground to the walls. The Team Rocket soldiers finally realized the ground beneath them was sinking and ran out, screaming.

Lance frowned, realizing that Lynn intended to drag the entire area into a collapse.

"Dragonite, stop him!"

The white light crashed down.

The shadow beneath Lynn's feet opened, and Gengar dragged him downward. Pupitar spewed fire to push back two rushing remnants and rolled into the edge of the shadow.

The next moment, the Hyper Beam struck the ground.

The ruins collapsed with a boom, flames and dust swirling upward.

Lance stood on Dragonite's back, looking at the sinking black hole, his eyes even colder.

Lance's sudden appearance had completely rewritten the situation.

Minutes ago, Lynn was still cleaning up the fire he had started; minutes later, the League's strongest Dragon-type trainer had smashed the dome to pieces. Anyone else would have been crushed by this unexpected turn of events.

But Lynn saw a second opportunity amidst the chaos.

Every one of Lance's attacks cleared away a batch of witnesses for him. The heatwave kicked up by Dragonite burned the Beedrill carcasses to ash, scorched the corridor cameras into black spots, and also directed all the fury of Archer's subordinates toward the "traitor Lynn."

This blame was too big, too dark, and perfect for pinning on the heads of the dead.

A Team Rocket machine gunner hid behind a pillar and pulled the trigger on Lynn. Pupitar shifted half a step sideways, its black shell blocking the bullets. The warheads struck the shell, pinging and bouncing off.

Lynn leaned out from behind Pupitar and fired a shot.

The bullet pierced the machine gunner's shoulder, pinning him back against the wall.

"Don't kill them all," Lynn said in a low voice. "There still need to be people to make things even more chaotic."

Gengar emerged from the shadow, laughing, grabbed two remnants trying to flee, and threw them toward Lance's feet. The two fell, bloodied, and screamed, "Lynn is a mole!" Their voices were picked up perfectly by the League's surveillance device above the searchlight.

Lance's brow furrowed even tighter.

"You're still manipulating them into killing each other."

Lynn spread his hands.

"They chose their own path; I just borrowed the way."

"Villains will always find excuses for themselves."

Dragonite swooped down, its Dragon Claw pressing down. Pupitar spewed flames to deflect it, the black shell and dragon claw striking sparks. After just one collision, Pupitar was slammed into the ground, plowing a deep trench several meters long.

Lynn's eyes darkened.

The strength of a Champion-level Dragonite was greater than he had estimated. If he fought head-on, he would surely die tonight.

So he only needed to leave alive.

The ground cracks widened, and the load-bearing pillars groaned one after another. Porygon-Z had pried open the detonators, and the entire Sector B-4 began to tilt.

Lance finally realized Lynn's true purpose.

"You're going to bury this place?"

"It was meant to be buried anyway," Lynn replied. "It's just that you arrived at the right time and saved me the explosives."

Dragonite's sphere of light had pressed down over his head.

Lynn kicked away a rushing remnant and reached back to recall Pupitar.

"Gengar."

The shadow opened.

Before the white light descended, Lynn took one last look at Lance.

That look made Lance's heart sink.

There was no fear in it, only the composure of someone who had finished their calculations.

Then, the entire ruin collapsed.

Dust obscured the view, and Dragonite shielded Lance as they ascended. Below, the Team Rocket remnants, evidence fragments, and the wreckage of Archer's warehouse were all buried deeper in the roar.

The collapse was still expanding.

An armored vehicle was swallowed by a fissure, the soldiers inside pounding on the glass for help. The next second, a heatwave erupted from below, the windows shattered completely, and the sounds ceased abruptly.

Lance tried to save them, but Dragonite forcibly pulled him away from the sinking zone.

"The space below is empty!" a League pilot shouted on the channel. "If we keep approaching, we'll be sucked in!"

Lance gritted his teeth.

His gaze pierced through the dust and smoke, as if he could still see Lynn's smiling face.

This was the first time he had encountered such an enemy. The opponent's frontal combat power was far inferior to his, yet he could borrow the chaos of Team Rocket, borrow the firepower of the League, and borrow everything he could use to turn a disadvantage into an escape route.

He waved for Dragonite to ascend, his voice extremely low.

"I want to see him alive or dead. Block all exits from Viridian City."

But he knew in his heart.

That evil spirit had already slipped away through the cracks.

Lance clenched his fists.

He had sliced open a Team Rocket nest, but in doing so, he had personally helped Lynn erase part of the traces.

This feeling was worse than being provoked head-on by an enemy.

Lynn had disappeared.

The League pilot continued to drop searchlights, the beams sweeping back and forth in the ruins, only illuminating rolling smoke and collapsed steel beams.

The traces Lynn left behind were being swallowed by fire. The more Lance pursued, the more the ruins shattered; the more the ruins shattered, the harder it was to piece the truth back together.

But he could be certain that the evil spirit was still alive.