"A Spar with Rayquaza?"
Hearing his grandfather's words, Auron Vale blinked, then said with a grin, "Well, what if I really did catch a Legendary and showed you?"
"Pssh\!"
Lu Xingguo waved his hand dismissively. "If you really caught a Legendary and showed me, I'll give you whatever you want."
"Deal. You said it."
Auron Vale clapped his hands together excitedly.
Now Lu Xingguo got nervous. He quickly turned to Auron Vale. "Wait — you actually caught a Legendary?"
Auron Vale folded his hands behind his back, smiling. "Can't say, can't say. You'll find out soon enough."
Auron Vale brushed past Lu Xingguo and kept walking — he'd spotted Uncle Cyrus's silhouette ahead.
"Hey, give me a straight answer here\!"
"Ah, just hold on. You'll know soon enough."
Auron Vale showed no intention of elaborating. If he explained it now, he'd ruin all the fun.
"Xiaozé, over here\! Li Shuqing's call is coming through\!"
Cyrus spotted Auron Vale and waved him over excitedly.
He'd gotten Li Shuqing's number just now and dialed it immediately. But the moment Cyrus mentioned the Silver Feather, Li Shuqing hung up.
He tried again — temporarily out of service.
Cyrus swapped to a different number and called again. Same result — hung up the instant he started talking.
So Cyrus switched numbers again and had someone else dial. This time, the moment the words "Black Mystery Zone" came up, the line went dead.
Even after explaining they were Dragon Kingdom officials, Li Shuqing simply didn't believe them. With no other option, Cyrus had to call Auron Vale over.
At the very least, the two were classmates. There had to be some basis for trust. At least… hopefully.
Cyrus finished speaking, and Auron Vale scratched his head helplessly. "Honestly, he and I aren't really that close."
"But he knows you, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then that's enough."
Cyrus handed over Li Shuqing's number. "Call him. Tell him we don't need his Silver Feather — we just need him to help identify people. He's probably the only one who knows the full sequence of events."
"Alright, I'll try."
Auron Vale pulled out his phone and dialed the number. He wasn't sure he'd succeed either — he'd only crossed paths with Li Shuqing a few times in battle. Not exactly close.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Auron Vale."
"Auron Vale? For real?"
"For real. If you don't believe me, add me on WeChat — same number."
"Alright, hold on."
The call ended.
"…That's it?"
Cyrus, the officers, and everyone nearby watched in stunned silence.
That's… such a simple way to verify your identity, and they hadn't even thought of it?
*Ding ding ding ding ding~*
Before they could recover from their shock, Li Shuqing's video call came through.
Auron Vale shrugged at them, then picked up.
"Hey, it's really you — are you okay?"
The moment the call connected, Li Shuqing's excited face filled the screen.
"I'm fine. Where are you?"
"I'm in a taxi right now."
"Can you come back?"
Li Shuqing instantly tensed. "Why?"
"Get here and walk us through everything that happened."
Auron Vale flipped the camera around, giving Li Shuqing a clear view of Cyrus and the military officers.
"See? Officials and military are all here. We won't touch your Silver Feather — relax."
"…"
A pause.
"…Alright. Wait for me, driver — turn the car around, go back to where you picked me up."
"Gotcha."
The taxi driver did a quick U-turn and headed back.
"So… will the fare be reimbursed?"
"Reimbursed\!" Auron Vale said flatly. "Give me that Silver Feather and I'll pay you whatever you want."
"Heh." Li Shuqing rolled his eyes. "Nice try. That thing was hard enough to get as it is…"
Li Shuqing paused, then added, "Honestly, if it weren't for you, I probably couldn't have gotten the Silver Feather out at all. So half of it belongs to you."
Auron Vale stared at the earnest expression on the screen and slightly raised one corner of his mouth. "Just get back here. Everyone's waiting."
He hung up the video call.
"Will he come?"
Auron Vale let out a breath. "Not sure. Probably, yeah."
"Good."
Cyrus nodded, and the scene fell back into silence.
Cyrus was currently lost in thought. Just now, he'd gotten an important piece of information from one of the people who'd exited the zone.
There were apparently people from the island nation inside.
Though the source wasn't certain — they'd only overheard them speaking Japanese once.
Still — island nation nationals, Church members, and the Silver Feather. What was the connection?
The more Cyrus thought about it, the more his head hurt.
Once international elements got involved, even simple matters turned complicated.
Unless they could actually find hard evidence of hostile intent on Dragon Kingdom soil.
"Uncle Cyrus… I heard you and Rayquaza are pretty close. Could you take me to meet it?"
Right when Cyrus was deep in thought, Auron Vale slipped beside him while his grandfather wasn't paying attention and quietly whispered in Cyrus's ear.
Cyrus gave him a puzzled look. "You want to meet Rayquaza?"
Auron Vale's eyes lit up. "Yeah. Not just meet — I want to battle it."
Cyrus nearly choked.
"You want to battle Rayquaza?"
"Yes\!"
Cyrus stared at Auron Vale's firm expression, feeling utterly at a loss. "Do you have any idea how strong Rayquaza is?"
"Of course."
Auron Vale already knew — perhaps even better than Cyrus did.
The current Rayquaza was strong, yes, but it hadn't reached its peak yet.
After all, even during that stretch where Rayquaza had gone around defeating the various nations' Legendaries, it still hadn't performed a Mega Evolution.
Which gave Auron Vale good reason to suspect that this Rayquaza might actually be stronger than the one from the Hoopa movie.
Seeing Auron Vale clearly understood, Cyrus's expression grew even stranger. "You know… do you know about your grandfather's Electabuzz?"
"Yeah, I know it."
"How strong is it?"
"Strong\!"
"And that Electabuzz — the one that can sweep your entire team — wouldn't last more than a few moves against Rayquaza. You think you can handle that?"
"Wait — what?"
It was only now that Auron Vale realized Cyrus must have misunderstood.
"I wasn't talking about me. I meant another Legendary."
—
Brothers, I didn't have time in the morning, so here's another chapter this afternoon.
———
Please give me Power Stones!
Support me on Patreon @ patreon(dot)com/SorenEclipse
Read 15 Chapters Ahead on Patreon!