Colress followed Mewtwo's gaze and looked out across the sea.
The salty sea breeze was still rolling up waves and slapping them against the reefs, and under the clear sky, there did not seem to be anything strange at all.
But when he adjusted the monitoring device that had been blown crooked by the wind, he suddenly realized that the energy readings on the screen were unusually calm.
And yet, just looking at this sea breeze, anyone could tell it was anything but calm.
Why would it display something like this?
An impossible scene appeared before him, making Colress think carefully about why this was happening.
"Colress, as a human, your naked eyes cannot see it."
Mewtwo's tail lightly swept across the deck, yet the words it spoke left Colress especially puzzled.
"However, every Wingull dancing with the wind has heard the heartbeat of a new era."
"?"
Colress fell silent. His fingertips lightly tapped the railing as he stared at the rolling surface of the sea.
The eyes behind his lenses narrowed slightly.
Mewtwo's words were like stones thrown into the deep sea, creating layer after layer of ripples within Colress's precise, calculation-based way of thinking.
The stream of data on the monitoring device was still jumping in a steady rhythm, but after spending these days with Mewtwo, Colress's thoughts had already begun to change.
And those words just now had given him a small bit of inspiration.
He felt that he had always been using the ruler of human understanding to measure changes in the domain of gods, like trying to use a thermometer to measure the wavelength of light.
So…
Could it be possible…
That he, Colress, a dark scientist…
Could actually stand from the perspective of a "god" and think about things?
"The direction of the wind, huh…"
As he spoke, Colress loosened his fingers, which had gone pale from clenching too tightly, and let the sea breeze roll up the hem of his lab coat.
"I think I know what to do now!"
Colress's expression turned deranged, and seeing that, Mewtwo could not help shifting half a step away.
...
...
Kanto region, Saffron City, Fighting Dojo.
"Welcome home, Sabrina! Sabrina, you have no idea! While you were away, my days were so miserable, so miserable!"
The moment Sabrina returned to the dojo, Green immediately pounced over and told her everything Grey had done to her over the past few days.
"Waaah! Sabrina! That guy Grey pinches my face every day! Every time he does it, he keeps pinching for ten whole minutes. Hurry up and scold him!"
As she spoke, Green pointed at her own cheeks in grievance.
Her originally fair skin had been pinched by Grey until it showed a rosy red hue, and the faint swelling was clearly visible, like a ripe peach with a pitiful little shine to it.
Sabrina raised an eyebrow.
Her cool fingertips suddenly reached out too and gently pinched Green's warm cheek.
Green's eyes immediately went wide. Tears gathered in her eyes as she whimpered and protested vaguely, "Why are you bullying me too, Sabrina…"
The way she covered her cheeks, looking like she wanted to cry but could not, made her look just like a Clefairy whose fluff had been rubbed into a mess.
This was too hard!
"Oh my, people who love tattling have to pay a price, you know~"
Grey lazily kept both hands in his pockets and slowly approached with a half-smile.
Tap, tap, tap…
Green panicked and backed away again and again, her heels making a series of tiny sounds against the floor.
Whenever he took one step forward, she took two steps back, until her whole body was almost shrinking into the corner.
Sabrina silently stepped forward. The crisp sound of her high heels tapping the floor matched Grey's movements, forming a perfect pincer attack.
"???"
Trapped beneath the shadows cast by the two of them, Green's eyes quickly filled with tears. Her lips trembled slightly. "D-Don't come any closer… I'll scream…"
"All right, we'll stop teasing you."
Grey merely patted Green on the shoulder.
Then, in an earnest and sincere tone, he said, "There are a lot of strong opponents in this Indigo Plateau Conference. You have to be careful, extra careful, got it?"
"Huh? Why don't you believe I can win the championship?"
Green put her hands on her hips. She felt that her training over the past few days had been very effective. Maybe she could sweep her way to victory in one go!
"If this were before, I really would've thought you could win the championship."
Grey was not surprised by Green's confidence. He did not want to discourage her either, but he felt that he should make the Masked Royal situation clear in advance so she would not suffer an unnecessary blow later.
"A Masked Royal from the Alola region has come here. Many people have only heard that someone like him exists. In reality, that guy's strength is nowhere near as simple as it looks on the surface."
Grey pondered slightly. "To be honest, even among the eight Gym Leaders of the Kanto region, only Gym Leader Giovanni and I have absolute confidence in defeating the Masked Royal. Among the other Gym Leaders, at most Blaine and Koga would be able to put up a fight."
Green: ???
"No way. I thought you guys were joking! There really is a smurf coming here?"
Green immediately panicked.
She had originally thought that everything those internet users said online was all fake information spread to trick the contestants and cause unnecessary panic.
But now that those words came from Grey's mouth, it meant this matter was basically set in stone.
Grey had no reason to deceive her.
There was no benefit to tricking her at all.
"That's right. That Masked Royal can definitely be called a smurf. And well, even putting the Masked Royal aside, there are still quite a few powerful Trainers among this year's contestants."
Ash and Gary, whose strength was close to Green's, surfaced in Grey's mind.
Those two were not as naive as they were in the original work.
Their older brothers were the only two battle-legend tier Trainers in the Kanto region, Red and Blue.
With those two powerhouses around, their rate of improvement was actually faster than in the original work.
On top of that, with Grey adding fuel to the fire, Ash's current strength could already crush his animated counterpart from the same period.
There was no question about it. Grey and Red's training was just that good.
"Aaah! I'm doomed, I'm doomed! Grey! What am I supposed to do? That Masked Royal is a real Champion-level Trainer!"
Green only heard Grey confirm that the Masked Royal was a smurf, and she grew so anxious that she jumped in place. Her fingers grabbed Grey's sleeve and shook it back and forth. "If I run into him in the first round, won't I end up performing a first-round knockout on the spot? Help!"
"Don't panic. If you run into him in the first round, that just means this trial was written into your life, and there's absolutely no avoiding it."
Grey's tone was still so earnest, as if Green truly could not escape this curse.
But…
It seemed like it really was just as Grey said.
No matter what, as long as Green participated in the Indigo Plateau Conference, she would have to run into the Masked Royal.
Unless Green got eliminated halfway, or the Masked Royal ran away halfway.
"Besides, I know two Trainers whose strength is close to yours. Aren't you afraid you'll run into them halfway and get swept by one of them?"
Grey habitually poked Green's cheek.
"Mmph… That's still better than getting knocked out in the first round!"
Green's thinking immediately changed.
Originally, she had been thinking about winning the championship.
Now, not getting eliminated by the Masked Royal in the first round would be a victory!
"If you can think that way, then that's a good thing too."
Grey wore a faint smile as his gaze shifted into the distance. "It's time to pack. Tomorrow, we set sail for the Indigo Plateau."
"That soon? I'm not ready yet!"
"Of course it's soon. Besides, Sabrina and I are the ones who have to compete first when we get there. Don't you still have a week on your side?"
Grey looked at Green in annoyance.
Even he was not anxious, so what was Green getting anxious for?
"Grey, you don't understand! We girls usually need to plan half a month in advance! It's just that I didn't expect time to pass this quickly! I thought there was still plenty of time to prepare!"
Green felt that time had gone by so fast.
Clearly, not long ago, there had still been half a month left. In the blink of an eye, only this much time remained.
She could only see whether she could improve her strength a bit more once they reached the Indigo Plateau.
"Hey, I never prepare before going out. It's pure forced marching for me. Since it's come to this, just grab whatever and bring it along. That'll be enough."
Grey waved his hand, then pulled Sabrina along, impatiently returning to his room.
"What are they going to do?"
I still wanted to ask Gym Leader Grey some things.
Silver shook out his red hair. Recently, he had run into a bottleneck and had not had the nerve to ask Grey about it. He had just been planning to ask, only for Grey to turn around and leave with Sabrina.
"I don't know. I think Gym Leader Sabrina must be tired after sitting on a plane for so long, right?"
Lillie gently tapped her chin with one finger. She also wanted to ask Grey some things, but they left too quickly, so Lillie had no chance to speak.
"It's fine. You can ask them tomorrow. Grey probably still needs to discuss the Gym reconstruction and merger with Gym Leader Sabrina."
Bumiao dragged her feet over, heavy dark circles hanging beneath her eyes.
She had worked as a designer in her earlier years, and now the engineering blueprints for the merger and remodeling of the Fighting Dojo and the Saffron Gym had all been drawn by her own hand.
"I see. Then let's not disturb the two of them!"
Lillie held Cosmog and left the dojo.
Green did not fully understand, but still felt it sounded impressive. She stared at the door for a long time, but eventually left too.
Silver scratched his head and stopped caring about it as well.
...
...
Time came to the next day.
"Grey, what's wrong? Did you not rest well last night? Why are your dark circles so heavy?"
Early in the morning, Lillie looked at Grey, who was sitting at the dining table and almost falling asleep, and could not help worrying.
"I'm fine. I just spent last night settling down the Psychic-type Pokémon we recently found, and they were way too noisy. Yawn… Later, when I'm on Reshiram's back, I'm going to get a good nap."
Grey was telling the truth.
The reason he was exhausted was because of those new Psychic-type Pokémon that Gallade had persuaded.
After Gallade persuaded them, they seemed to have become enlightened and stuck to him like glue.
They were the kind that could not be shaken off no matter what!
"Ralu~"
Ralts lay across Sabrina's shoulder, obviously fond of Sabrina.
"Gallade." (If you're going to eat, then eat properly. After you finish eating, then you can lie on someone else's head, understand?)
Gallade grabbed Ralts and pulled her down.
"Ralu." (I know, I won't do it next time~)
Ralts used Teleport and returned to the floor.
Only then did Gallade nod, watching over this group of Pokémon as they ate like a kindergarten teacher.
"Pig!" (Delicious! Delicious! I want another bowl!)
Pignite had a huge appetite.
It wiped its mouth. It had already eaten enough for most Pokémon's two meals.
"Mio?!" (How are you still asking for more?! No, no, no. If this keeps up, my share is going to shrink!)
When little Riolu saw Pignite ask for another serving, it immediately grew anxious.
It also began eating the food in its bowl in big mouthfuls, then fought Pignite for the dishes.
The amount of food made every day was more than enough. It could even be described as overflowing.
As for the leftover food, it was all given to the Pokémon that could eat more.
Originally, little Riolu had taken full responsibility for handling it.
But now things were different.
Pignite had a huge appetite, and even Victini could not compete with it.
Under these circumstances, if Pignite ate more, little Riolu would eat less.
Rounding that up, little Riolu felt that it had suffered a loss!
A huge loss!
"Pig." (Little Riolu, my brother, I just have a big appetite. Don't worry. Fortune can turn at any time. Give me this meal, and once I return to my peak, I'll make you commander of my hundred-thousand-strong hype army!)
Pignite had learned the trick of selling empty promises from Grey.
If he had said this to other Pokémon, they might have given up the meal for Reshiram's sake.
But little Riolu was different.
It was an old acquaintance of Reshiram's.
It would already be good enough if it did not make Reshiram give up a meal for it.
"Mio!" (No, no, no, no. How about this? You give me this meal, and later I'll let you learn Fusion Flare. How's that? Or I can let you learn your master's finishing move, Blue Flare!)
Little Riolu would stop at nothing for food.
It even wanted to "magic" a Pignite that could use Blue Flare and Fusion Flare into existence.
"Pig?" (Y-You're sure?)
Pignite had always wanted to learn those two signature moves of its master.
It had also asked Reshiram when it would be able to learn those two moves.
But…
Reshiram's answer had basically made Pignite give up on that dream.
"Pignite, dragons and pigs are different. Some moves can't be learned, and that's that. Don't worry too much about it. Even if you can't use those two moves, it won't affect you."
That was what Reshiram had said to Pignite back then.
And now, little Riolu was telling Pignite that it could teach those two moves.
That made Pignite wonder if little Riolu had some kind of secret technique.
"Mio?" (You really want to learn? Then how about this? Take me as your master, and I'll teach you how to use those two moves. What do you think?)
Little Riolu put one hand on its waist, while its other hand took advantage of the moment Pignite froze and quickly grabbed more food.
"Pig." (Forget it. I'll only acknowledge one Trainer and one master in my whole life. If you want me to take you as my master, you might as well give up on that idea.)
Pignite shook its head.
If it were something else, it could have agreed to little Riolu's request.
But only when it came to taking a master, Pignite could not agree.
That was Pignite's limit.
When it had been down and out, it was Grey and Reshiram who had given it hope.
So, for the rest of its life, it would only acknowledge one Trainer and one master!
"Mio." (Such resolve. Not bad, not bad. But well, I'm full now~ Hehe!)
Little Riolu patted its belly, completely satisfied.
Pignite: ???
"Pig!"
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