<h4>Chapter 1124: The Boy and the ck Leader’s Death</h4>


    Six Aegish formed a ring around the Primordial Suicune, notunching any attacks but purely using their shield form to defense. No matter how hard Suicune tried, it couldn''t break through their defense.


    The Aegish were originally master-level Pokémon, and although their abilities had diminished somewhat after being cloned, they remained formidable. Even though Suicune was a legendary beast, defeating them in a short amount of time would be no easy feat.


    Watching Suicune trapped within the Aegish''s encirclement, the ck Leader hesitated. He knew it was only a matter of time before Suicune broke through their defenses, especially given the short lifespan of the cloned Aegish.


    But should he flee? And what about the mission to the Temple of the Sea if he ran away?


    The ck Leader nced at the bounded Shep family and May, then at the unconscious Manaphy in his hands. Gritting his teeth, he thought, I''ll just take Manaphy and the girl. Forget the others!


    After monitoring the Marina Group for so long, the ck Leader already knew everything he needed. Since he couldn''t take everyone, he would focus on the key targets.


    With that in mind, the ck Leader approached May, reaching out to grab her.


    "What are you doing?"


    May backed away in fear, but the ck Leader yanked her toward him. Jack tried to intervene, but the ck Leader kicked him aside, and the tied-up Shep family could do nothing to help.


    After grabbing May, the ck Leader released a Skarmory and, with both May and the unconscious Manaphy in tow, mounted the bird. After Walrein had been defeated by Jack, Skarmory was the only usable Pokémon he had left.


    "Where are you taking me? Let me go!" May struggled, refusing to get on the bird. Annoyed, the ck Leader grew frustrated.


    "Shut up!"


    Without patience, he knocked her out with a sharp blow, and May slumped weakly onto Skarmory''s back.


    "Sis! Sis! You bad guy, what did you do to my sister?" Max sobbed as he watched May copse.


    "Without us, you won''t find the Temple of the Sea, even if you take May and Manaphy!" Shep called out, trying to stop the ck Leader.


    "Hmph!" The ck Leader scoffed,pletely disregarding Shep''s words. To be safe, he also confiscated Jack''s Capture Styler. With few Pokémon left at his disposal, a tool to control wild Pokémon would be invaluable out at sea.


    As Skarmory took flight with the ck Leader and May, Gon, riding on Suicune, observed the scene and alerted Suicune. "Suicune, I''ll use Teleport with kazam to help you break through the encirclement. You stop that man from escaping with the hostages!"


    As soon as Gon finished speaking, Suicune, kazam, and Gon vanished, reappearing in front of the ck Leader. Without hesitation, Suicune unleashed a Hydro Pump toward Skarmory.


    Skarmory narrowly dodged the attack, and just as Suicune prepared to strike again, the ck Leader grabbed the unconscious May and shouted, "One more move, and I''ll snap this girl''s neck!"


    Hearing this, Suicune hesitated, the attack it had been charging dissipating. It had no qualms about striking down evildoers, but it couldn''t bring itself to risk the life of an innocent human.


    "Despicable!" Gon growled in anger.


    The ck Leader wasn''t fazed by Gon''s insult. He eyed Gon and kazam with hostility, feeling they were the ones preventing his escape. If not for them, he''d be long gone by now.


    In just a few moments, the six Aegish closed in again, trapping Suicune within their circle once more. Seeing this, the ck Leader was about to order Skarmory to leave.


    Just at that moment, the ck Leader suddenly felt himself bound by an invisible force. Skarmory pped its wings but couldn''t manage to fly away.


    Turning around, he saw that Gon and kazam''s eyes were glowing with intense purple light—it was their psychic powers holding him in ce!


    "You again, kid!"


    The ck Leader, enraged, pulled out a ck Poké Ball, releasing his final ace: the cloned Suicune. He had been reluctant to use it, knowing how difficult it would be to clone another, but now he had no choice.


    As soon as the cloned Suicune appeared, it joined the battle between the original Suicune and the Aegish. The Aegish handled defense while the cloned Suicune focused on offense.


    "Suicune, I suggest you stop resisting, or I''ll really have to harm this girl! And you, brat, let go of me right now!" The ck Leader tightened his grip on May''s neck, threatening the original Suicune.


    Hearing this, Gon and kazam reluctantly withdrew their psychic powers. A hint of fury flickered in Suicune''s normally calm eyes.


    Under the ck Leader''s hostage threat, Suicune found itself increasingly hampered in the fight. Eventually, it was gravely injured by a Psychic attack reflected back by the cloned Suicune''s Mirror Coat.


    Mirror Coat reflects special attacks with double the force, meaning Suicune had been struck by its own full-power attack at twice the strength.


    "Suicune! Are you alright?"


    Seeing Suicune injured, Gon anxiously asked.


    Suicune gave Gon a reassuring look before continuing to fight against the six Aegish and the cloned Suicune, despite its severe injuries.


    Watching Suicune wounded, the ck Leader sensed it was time to make his escape. If he waited until the cloned Suicune and Aegish''s lifespans ran out, he wasn''t sure if he could flee with just his Skarmory.


    Due to the ck Leader''s threats, Gon couldn''t make a move against him. He could only assist Suicune with kazam in fending off the cloned Suicune''s attacks. However, with limited strength, their efforts had little effect on the oue of the battle.


    Seeing the ck Leader preparing to leave again, Suicune shot a nce at Gon, signaling him to stop worrying about it and escape with kazam.


    But Gon misinterpreted Suicune''s intent, thinking it wanted him to track the ck Leader. So, he and kazam used Teleport to break free from the encirclement and pursued the ck Leader as he fled.


    Due to repeatedly using Teleport and assisting Suicune in its battle with the cloned Suicune, Gon and kazam''s psychic powers were severely drained. Unlike before, they couldn''t mask their presence as they tracked Suicune, and they were quickly spotted by the ck Leader.


    "You little brat! I may not be able to handle Suicune, but I can certainly take care of you!" The ck Leader ordered Skarmory to attack Gon, truly enraged by him.


    Fully aware of the ck Leader''s strength, Gon knew that even though the man only had Skarmory left, he couldn''t afford to be careless. He released all of his Pokémon: kazam, Xatu, Raichu, Gade, Metagross, and Espeon. Together, they surrounded the ck Leader and Skarmory.


    With Gon''s psychic powers enhancing his six Psychic-type Pokémon, theirbined mental pressure weighed heavily on the ck Leader and Skarmory, as if they had been caught in a swamp.


    "Skarmory... Skarmory..."


    Skarmory let out an unpleasant screech, struggling violently. Its excessive movements flung both the ck Leader and May off its back and into the sea.


    Now free from the burden of the ck Leader and May, Skarmory began to counterattack, pushing back against Gon and the six Psychic-type Pokémon''s mental pressure.


    "Skarmory Skarmory ... Skarmory..."


    With all its strength, Skarmory pped its wings, releasing beams of silver light that shot toward the six Psychic-type Pokémon surrounding it. Skarmory, being at a higher level than Gon''s Pokémon and resistant to Psychic-type moves, sessfully broke free from their mental restraints using sh Cannon.


    Already mentally exhausted, Gon felt an intense headache from Skarmory''s counterattack. The strain of linking his mind with six Pokémon at once was already overwhelming, and now, suffering bacsh, his psychic power spiraled out of control, sending him plummeting from the sky toward the ocean.


    As luck would have it, Gonnded directly on the ck Leader''s head, who was already struggling in the water. The impact knocked the ck Leader out, causing his ck mask to fall off his face.


    The psychic bacsh rendered Gon unconscious as well.


    However, in the moment before he passed out, a red me mark suddenly appeared on Gon''s once unmarked forehead. It was identical to the one Ho-oh had left there long ago.


    Back then, the me mark had vanished after Ho-oh restored Gon''s psychic abilities, but now it had reappeared!


    Due to the psychic bacsh, the six Pokémon linked to Gon were also affected, causing them to falter under Skarmory''s assault. The strongest among them, Gade, took the brunt of the attack.


    One by one, Gon''s six Pokémon were defeated by Skarmory. But Skarmory didn''t escape unscathed either—its steel body was covered in wounds.


    Fortunately for Skarmory, it wasn''t a cloned Pokémon, or it would have suffered the same fate as the cloned Aegish from before.


    Exhausted, Skarmory picked up the unconscious May, ck Leader, and Manaphy, then decided to grab Gon as well. With them all secured on its back, it flew away, leaving the unconscious Pokémon floating on the ocean surface.


    The six Pokémon drifted along, with Metagross slowly sinking into the depths. Just then, a passing Wailord came by and, out of kindness, lifted them onto its back, even rescuing the sinking Metagross.


    After some time, the six Pokémon woke up on Wailord''s back, realizing that it had saved them. They expressed their gratitude to Wailord.


    After some discussion, the Pokémon decided that kazam would return to Lilycove City to seek help from Hill, while the other five stayed behind to search for the ck Leader and Gon.


    Meanwhile, the badly injured original Suicune had managed to oust the six Aegish and the cloned Suicune, eventually defeating them and rescuing the tied-up Shep''s family and Jack.


    However, just after saving them, Suicune copsed, and Jack hurried to administer first aid.


    As Skarmory flew over the ocean with the ck Leader, May, Gon, and Manaphy, it grew increasingly weary. It flew for an unknown amount of time before finally spotting a small ind. The moment itnded on the ind, Skarmory passed out.


    On the t sandy beach, a Skarmory, a middle-aged man, a young monk, a girl, and a Manaphyy silently as the wavespped at the shore, wetting their bodies.


    The ind was deste, with no signs of life except for the asional Krabby scuttling across the sand.


    After some time, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes, followed by the appearance of a young boy, shirtless and wearing nothing but a grass skirt around his waist, apanied by a Croagunk.


    Seeing the people and Pokémon lying on the beach, the boy and Croagunk were both shocked. After exchanging nces, they dragged everyone to shore.


    Before this, the ind had only been home to the boy and Croagunk, with no other living beings. The boy himself hadn''t been on the ind for long.


    The boy didn''t know who he was or where he came from. asionally, strange images shed in his mind, but he wasn''t sure if they were his memories or not.


    He had washed ashore on the ind atop some unknown object, and it was Croagunk who woke him up. Croagunk had lived alone on the ind, longing forpanionship, so it quickly became friends with the boy.


    After dragging the three people and two Pokémon to the shelter he shared with Croagunk, the boy sat down on the ground, panting. He looked at the unconscious middle-aged man nearby and felt like he should know him because the man''s face sometimes appeared in the shes of memory in his head.


    Croagunk also examined the middle-aged man, noting how strikingly simr he looked to the boy—one youthful, the other aged.


    At that moment, the unconscious ck Leader suddenly opened his eyes. His expression was confused at first, but as soon as he got a clear look at the boy''s face, terror filled his eyes.


    He pointed at the boy in disbelief and asked, "Who... who are you?" Why do you look exactly like me when I was young?


    Before he could finish thest part of his question, the ck Leader clutched his head in agony, howling in pain. The sight of the boy''s face had caused his memories to spiral into chaos.


    The ck Leader''s memories all stemmed from a chip imnted in his brain. The boy''s appearance had thrown the chip into disarray, triggering memories that the White Leader had once erased.


    "Ahhh..."


    The ck Leader writhed on the ground, clutching his head in pain.


    "Who am I? Who are you? This can''t be... this can''t be happening!"


    The ck Leader''s wails grew louder and louder, frightening the boy, who instinctively stepped back. But just as the boy tried to retreat, the ck Leader suddenly fixed him with a murderous re.


    Ceasing his wailing, the ck Leader lunged at the boy, gripping his throat and shouting, "You shouldn''t exist! You must die! ... No, no, I shouldn''t exist either..."


    The boy''s face turned blue fromck of oxygen as the ck Leader squeezed his neck.


    To save his friend, Croagunk came up behind the ck Leader and struck him on the back of the head with a chop.


    Unbeknownst to Croagunk, its chopnded precisely where the memory chip had been imnted in the ck Leader''s brain. Already malfunctioning, the chip waspletely disconnected by the blow, and the ck Leader died instantly.


    He was dead!


    "Cough cough... Is he... is he dead?" the boy asked, gasping for air, his voice filled with fear.


    Croagunk didn''t know what had happened either. It hadn''t even used much force—so how could this person be dead?


    At the moment of the ck Leader''s death, far away at the headquarters of the Heaven Organization, the White Leader''s face suddenly changed dramatically. On the instrument panel in front of him, the light representing the ck Leader abruptly dimmed.


    Thirteen was dead?


    The White Leader didn''t really care whether Thirteen lived or died. If necessary, he could always activate Fourteen. But the memory chip inside Thirteen couldn''t be lost. Without it, wouldn''t his brother be lost forever?


    He could clone his brother''s body, but there was only one set of his memories!