Gurgle, gurgle...
Excadrill was swallowed by the massive wave created by Surf.
It lost the ability to battle on the spot and could no longer continue. The Tera crystal above its head shattered as well.
"Excadrill!"
Seeing it go down, Lacey quickly recalled Excadrill with its Ball.
The shattered Terastal crystal meant Excadrill had lost the ability to fight.
In other words, she had lost this battle.
"I'm so frustrated..."
Lacey propped one hand against her cheek and complained, but her eyes brightened again the very next second. "But both Keldeo and Excadrill were so cute when they battled~!"
During the match, she felt that both Grey's Keldeo and her own Excadrill had shown off their own special kind of charm.
"Gym Leader Grey, did you see how cute they were just now?"
Her bright, lively eyes fixed on Grey as she waited for his answer.
"Yeah. No matter which one you mean, they were both adorable."
Grey crouched down and rubbed Keldeo's head.
"Hmph. What do you mean adorable? I was obviously cool!"
Keldeo considered himself a handsome young guy. How could "cute" possibly describe him?
"Gym Leader Grey, do Mythical Pokémon really not have genders? And if they do, is Keldeo a boy or a girl?"
Lacey crouched down too and looked at Keldeo along with Grey.
"She's asking you. Are you a boy or a girl?"
Grey rubbed Keldeo's back again, leaving Keldeo completely baffled.
What puzzled Keldeo even more was Lacey's question.
Why were humans so hung up on its gender in the first place?
Besides, when it had used telepathy earlier, hadn't it already sounded like a young guy? In the future, it was obviously going to grow into a handsome man.
Then again, if this had happened a little earlier, maybe Lacey wouldn't have asked whether Keldeo was a boy or a girl.
She would have asked what gender Keldeo even was.
Apparently, for a while, Unova had come up with ninety-seven genders. But once Alder heard about it, he immediately declared that Unova only had two.
Of course, that had just been a small incident, one that people from other regions still liked to joke about from time to time.
"I'm a guy. And I'm not some little kid."
Keldeo felt like it was already a man who could stand on his own. Being called a kid made it sound too young. That was the line it refused to let people cross.
"So Keldeo really is a boy~"
Lacey twirled two fingers in the air, then looked at Grey and asked, "Gym Leader Grey, can I pet Keldeo?"
"Don't ask me. Ask Keldeo himself."
Grey waved a hand. Whether it was taking photos with Pokémon or petting them, that kind of thing should always depend on whether the Pokémon itself agreed.
He rarely made those decisions for his partners.
"Keldeo, is it okay~?"
Lacey smiled sweetly. Keldeo wasn't a Fairy-type Pokémon, but it really was pretty adorable.
And after hearing what it had said just now, it felt like a little boy impatiently trying to grow up into an adult.
It was too cute.
"F-fine. I guess I can let you pet me."
Keldeo lifted its head proudly.
Then it felt a ticklish sensation spread over its body.
Even so, it stubbornly held back and refused to laugh.
By the time Lacey was done, even a being as mighty as Keldeo nearly staggered over. It could barely keep itself standing.
"Melo~" (Keldeo trying this hard not to make a sound is seriously adorable~)
Meloetta covered its mouth and giggled.
Don't let the small size fool you. It was actually the oldest of Unova's three Mythical Pokémon.
Victini was in the middle.
And Keldeo, despite looking the biggest, was actually the youngest.
"Hmph. You wouldn't get it even if I explained."
Keldeo didn't want to waste time with Meloetta. Once the strange lingering sensation on its body finally disappeared, it gave Lacey a slight bow and returned to Grey's Poké Ball.
"Whoa~ Meloetta is so cute too~!"
Lacey had absolutely no resistance to cute Pokémon.
The moment she saw Meloetta fly out of Caitlin's shoulder bag, she couldn't take her eyes off it.
It was way too adorable.
No wonder it was ranked among the top three cutest Pokémon in Unova.
It was almost irresistible.
"Little Meloetta, can I hug you~?"
Lacey leaned in a little closer, wanting to admire Meloetta up close.
How wonderful would it be to stay with such a cute Pokémon all the time?
"Melo." (Sure. Go ahead and hug me~)
Meloetta also liked snuggling with pretty Trainers, and Lacey very obviously belonged in that category.
So Meloetta didn't refuse at all and went straight into Lacey's arms.
Once that was done, Lacey was completely satisfied.
It could be said that today had been the happiest day of her life so far.
"Gym Leader Grey, thank you so much!"
Lacey bowed deeply in gratitude. "How about this? I'll upgrade your room to the presidential suite for free."
"Wouldn't that be a bit inconvenient?"
Grey felt a little uneasy about it.
They were only staying in a standard room with a large bed. That was still a far cry from a presidential suite.
The price gap between those two types of rooms was enormous.
Grey felt like he really shouldn't take advantage of someone else's generosity.
He hadn't even done anything.
As for the battle?
That was just what he ought to do as a Gym Leader and a streamer.
It was part of his job. He shouldn't be taking so much as a single extra thread for it.
"It's fine. Nobody stays there most of the time anyway, and it gets cleaned every day whether anyone uses it or not. So please don't worry about wasting it, Gym Leader Grey."
Lacey kept smiling as she persuaded him, and after a good deal of insisting, she finally convinced Grey to accept the presidential suite.
"Then I'll be heading home now. Gym Leader Grey, Miss Caitlin, and that handsome guy whose name I still don't know, I hope we meet again sometime~"
Lacey left and went back home.
That left only three people behind.
Grey withdrew his gaze from her departing figure and slowly turned to N.
A question mark practically popped over Caitlin's head.
Wait. What were these two about to do now?
At this point, Caitlin was practically traumatized. Every time Grey looked at N, her mind automatically conjured up an image of Grey being whisked away by him.
The two of them would be riding a black dragon and a white dragon, laying waste to the world together.
And what about her?
She could only stand there in the distance, stupidly watching it happen.
But in the next moment, a warmth spread over her cool hands.
There was no need to say anything. She knew it was Grey's hand.
Caitlin relaxed at once.
At the very least, she still had a place in Grey's heart.
"It's getting late. Pack up your things. We're heading to Driftveil City tomorrow."
Grey glanced at the time. The hands of the clock were almost at twelve, meaning midnight was close.
There was still some distance between Driftveil City and Nimbasa City. If they set out after getting up tomorrow, they would probably reach Charizard Bridge around evening.
"Fine by me. I want to rest too."
N had no objections. He followed Grey's lead in everything.
"I don't mind either."
Caitlin was just as compliant with Grey.
Seeing the two of them like that, Grey couldn't help laughing a little.
You two are grown adults. Couldn't you have a little more independence...?
Granted, he really did want to sleep, but the way they phrased it made it sound like they were only going to bed because he wanted to.
That night, as it grew later and later, Caitlin lay on the large bed, but her mind kept replaying everything that had happened the day before.
The more she thought about it, the more restless she became.
A girl's pride made her pretend she didn't know anything.
But in truth...
"...Sigh."
Caitlin's gaze passed through the wall and settled on Grey, who was lying in bed in the next room.
As for this young man, Caitlin didn't even know when exactly she had fallen for him.
But there was one thing she could say for certain.
She was happy whenever she was with Grey.
And online, that feeling only grew even stronger.
A few voice messages from him were enough to make her happy for an entire day.
The same went for the time he praised her clothes.
In order to wear things Grey would like, Caitlin had even brought along all the outfits he had complimented before.
On top of that, she had carefully studied the kinds of clothes Grey had mentioned.
In the end, she came to the conclusion that Grey liked clean, refined, girl-next-door styles.
Until Grey officially gave her a clear answer, Caitlin intended to act according to the conclusion she had reached on her own.
"Grey..."
She murmured his name, then pulled the blanket up and covered her head.
On Grey's side, he still hadn't fallen asleep.
He was lying in bed scrolling through his phone.
[Dojo Annihilape: Bumiao, how's the gym? How's everyone doing?]
[Bumiao: Everything's fine. They just went out because it was too stuffy. With me here, don't worry.]
[Dojo Annihilape: Good. So they didn't really run away from home. I guess things really have been a little stifling lately. I should let them blow off steam once in a while.]
When Grey saw the message Bumiao sent back, the worry he had been carrying finally settled.
So it hadn't really been them running away after all. They'd just felt pent up.
That made sense.
Ever since the Fighting Dojo had introduced a badge requirement, the number of Trainers coming to challenge it had dropped sharply.
Most of the ones who still showed up were only at the level of people who had lucked into that many badges. Grey's Pokémon usually didn't even get a chance to properly start throwing punches and kicks before the other side had already been beaten.
And that led to a whole crowd of people cursing him out.
Grey had never expected things to turn out like this. Originally, he had just wanted to keep ordinary challengers from getting tilted.
Instead, the ones who got tilted and started swearing were those half-capable Trainers who had lucked their way this far.
But the problem was that every time Grey battled them, he sent out the weakest Pokémon on his team.
And they still got stomped.
Getting stomped was one thing, but then they had the nerve to curse him out on top of that.
Come on.
That wasn't even ordinary trash talk anymore.
That was shameless slander.
The whole mess made Grey want to start a blacklist, but there were simply too many people for that. All he could do was wait and see whether he could adjust the challenge rules later on.
Unfortunately, there was no changing it now.
He could only wait a while longer and see whether he'd get the chance to make major changes to the dojo's challenge rules.
Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Saffron City in the Kanto region, Grey's side of the world was nearing midnight.
Over there, it was close to noon.
Grey's Pokémon had gathered once again to discuss who would participate in the upcoming tournament.
"Zap." (Say, do any of you get that feeling? The kind where no matter how strong the original Trainer is supposed to be, they always end up losing to the one who rose up later in a short period of time?)
Zapdos could clearly feel its strength increasing at a rapid pace.
No matter how powerful its opponents had been in the past, they had all ended up as defeated foes beneath it.
Had Grey put some kind of buff on it or something?
"Champ." (That's true. Ever since I started following the boss, my strength has improved really fast.)
Machamp definitely had the right to speak on that subject.
Back then, it had been an utterly ordinary Machop, the kind Team Rocket could capture almost as an afterthought.
Then it started following Grey.
And after that, its strength had changed so drastically it was almost like a different world.
It wasn't just Zapdos and Machamp, either.
Grey's other Pokémon had all improved tremendously under the effects of his system.
And by now, aside from his main team, Genesect, and Zapdos, Grey seemed to have rather a lot of Pokémon at Elite Four level.
That was Grey for you.
"Zap?" (Wait. Did any of you feel some kind of unknown power just arrive?)
Zapdos flapped its wings. Every feather on its body had stood on end from that strange power.
But the feeling came and went quickly, vanishing as suddenly as it had appeared.
It lasted only an instant, and the unpleasant sensation disappeared right away.
Still, Zapdos had experienced something it hadn't felt in a long time.
How strange. It was one of the legendary bird Pokémon, and it possessed strength on the level of an Elite Four Pokémon.
What kind of existence could make every feather on its body stand upright in alarm?
"Poli?" (What happened?)
Poliwhirl hadn't noticed anything unusual.
But judging from what had just happened, Zapdos had definitely been frightened all of a sudden.
That made Poliwhirl worry.
So just what kind of power could scare Zapdos like that?
Poliwhirl thought it over carefully, but still couldn't come up with an answer.
"Zap." (Nothing much. I just got startled.)
Zapdos shrugged and didn't seem to think it was a big deal.
"Poli." (In that case... Metagross, I'd like to ask you to check whether there's anything hidden around here.)
Poliwhirl felt this was a good time to let Metagross handle it.
After all, Metagross had Psychic typing, and its brain rivaled a supercomputer.
If Metagross looked into it, maybe it would find something.
Poliwhirl placed all its hopes on Metagross.
That caused Metagross's pressure to skyrocket.
If it failed to find anything, would Poliwhirl be disappointed in it?
Metagross tended to overthink things. It hadn't even started yet, and it was already imagining what it would look like if it failed.
Forget it.
Success only. Failure wasn't an option.
In an instant, Metagross closed its eyes and began searching.
A few seconds later, it found a place that clearly wasn't right.
It was a forest made up of a dense cluster of trees.
It distinctly remembered there being no such place there yesterday.
So why had it suddenly appeared today?
Still, it counted as a lead.
Metagross went inside.
Then it saw a blue spatial rift slowly closing.
Before it could rush over, the rift had already sealed shut.
As for whatever "Pokémon" had been inside it, it seemed to have vanished as well.
Metagross was about to turn and leave when it noticed a girl collapsed on the ground, along with a gaseous Pokémon that looked uncannily like a little nebula.
The next day was the day they were supposed to head for Driftveil City.
Grey got out of bed, finished washing up, and only then had time to check his phone.
The screen lit up with a pile of unread messages.
[Bumiao: Grey, this is bad! Your Pokémon brought home a whole human being!]
Grey: ???
Wait, what kind of nonsense was that?
What kind of sentence even was "your Pokémon brought home a whole human being"?
How were those words supposed to go together?
He'd only just gotten back, and now this was happening?
[Dojo Annihilape: Explain. I just woke up, so my brain's still not fully online.]
Grey's head throbbed.
Seeing a message this explosive first thing in the morning was enough to blow anyone's mind. The fact that he hadn't passed out already was impressive enough.
[Bumiao: Here's what happened... Zapdos... Poliwhirl... Metagross... and that's basically it.]
Bumiao described the general situation.
Once Grey learned that what had appeared in the suburbs was a blue spatial rift, the first thing that came to mind was Palkia.
This rift clearly had nothing to do with him, though.
[Dojo Annihilape: So what about the girl who's temporarily staying at the dojo?]
[Bumiao: She's already asleep. I'll call you in the morning after I get up!]
[Dojo Annihilape: Then it's fine. We'll talk later.]
Grey put down his phone and finished getting ready.
After meeting up with the other two, they successfully arrived in Driftveil City around dusk.
The moment Grey stepped off Charizard Bridge and into Driftveil City, a weirdly catchy tune started playing in his head.
It almost felt like a black dragon and a white dragon were dancing around him.
That said, there really wasn't much to do in Driftveil City.
Grey took Caitlin to pay Clay a visit, and after that the three of them simply wandered around.
"Grey, is there anywhere else you want to visit?" N asked on the way.
"I'm fine either way. We should see what Caitlin wants."
Grey didn't really mind.
"I don't have anywhere else I want to go either. Let's just head to Dragonspiral Tower."
Caitlin felt it would be better to go straight there.
Besides, Dragonspiral Tower counted as one of Unova's classic landmarks.
It was practically a must-see.
Who knew? Maybe one of the Tao dragons might acknowledge them there.
"Works for me. Let's go."
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Standing before Dragonspiral Tower, Grey stared at the enormous gap in it and clicked his tongue. "I wonder which villain did that. Whoever it was packed a serious punch."
N immediately blushed a little.
"What's wrong?"
Caitlin turned her head, only to see N fix his expression at once.
Since he didn't answer, she decided not to bother with it.
"Hero... you've finally come!"
Before Grey even set foot inside Dragonspiral Tower, Reshiram's voice suddenly rang out in his head.
"Come, Hero of Truth. If you want to take me with you, you'll need to climb one hundred floors!"
"Wait... why is the Hero of Ideals here too?"
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