Chen Shi had thought the old man was about to offer him another round of heartfelt thanks.
Instead, the old man turned around and slapped him with a Good Guy Card.
Chen Shi had no interest in wasting words with him.
"Alright. I already told you, whether this works out depends on your own efforts. I'm only providing a little help, so there's no need for all this."
Nio opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something.
In the end, however, he merely engraved Chen Shi's kindness in his heart and remained silent.
Seeing Chen Shi rise to leave, Shate hurriedly spoke up.
"Lord Qiu, are you leaving? I'll walk you back!"
"No need. It's only a few steps away. What's there to escort me for? I'll head back myself."
With that, Chen Shi pushed open the cabin door and walked straight outside.
"This..."
After Chen Shi left, Shate stood there blankly, unsure what to do.
Nio looked up at him.
"You should go back too. Do everything according to Qiu's instructions."
"I trust you understand how important this matter is."
Shate nodded heavily.
"Don't worry. I understand."
"..."
"Xiaoshi, is this the tribe?"
Seeing the humans around them looking at them with respectful expressions, Jirachi glanced left and right like an endlessly curious child.
"That's right. This is the tribe."
Chen Shi smiled.
"I lived here for a few days before."
"There are several mischievous kids around here too. You can play with them later."
"Really? Will they play with Jirachi?"
"Of course. Jirachi is so cute, they'll definitely want to play with you."
"Yay!"
Jirachi excitedly waved its tiny arms.
As long as someone was willing to play with it, Jirachi was always happy.
Of course, deep down, it still preferred playing with Xiaoshi and Togekiss.
Chen Shi smiled and carried Jirachi toward the outskirts of the tribe.
Normally, those little brats were always playing somewhere around the settlement. They should be easy enough to find once he went outside.
But the moment they stepped beyond the tribe—
BOOM!
A massive object suddenly plummeted from the sky and smashed directly into the ground, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
The sudden commotion immediately drew the attention of the entire Meteor Tribe.
Doors opened one after another as people came outside to see what had happened.
"What the heck was that?"
Chen Shi stared blankly ahead.
What had just fallen out of the sky?
"Lord Qiu, you're here too?"
"What happened?"
At that moment, Shate's younger brother Aji came running over, panting heavily.
Clearly, he had heard the commotion and rushed over because he feared something bad had happened.
But the moment he saw Qiu standing there, he immediately relaxed.
No matter what happened, as long as Lord Qiu was here, surely the people of the tribe would be safe.
As they spoke, the dust in the distance gradually cleared.
A battered and wounded Salamence lay weakly on the ground.
"Ah! Isn't that Xiaolan's mother?!"
Aji cried out in surprise.
Salamence had been visiting frequently lately. Although Shate was usually the one interacting with her, Aji had seen her several times and naturally recognized her.
Chen Shi frowned slightly.
Without saying a word, he walked toward Salamence.
Only after getting closer did he notice the numerous claw marks covering her body.
There were traces of Dragon-type energy lingering around the wounds as well.
They had most likely been inflicted by a Dragon-type Pokémon.
"What happened to you?"
"Who injured you like this?"
Salamence panted heavily and struggled to raise her head.
She tried to open her mouth and speak, but no sound came out.
All she could do was look at Chen Shi pleadingly.
Helpless, Chen Shi took out a Poké Ball from his waist and released Florges.
He instructed her to treat Salamence.
Upon receiving the order, Florges skillfully used Grassy Terrain and Wish to begin healing Salamence.
Quite some time later, Salamence finally felt much better as she lay within the Grassy Terrain.
Chen Shi immediately asked,
"Can you talk now?"
"What exactly happened?"
"Judging by your injuries, they were caused by a Dragon-type Pokémon, right?"
Hearing this, Salamence's eyes filled with grievance as she began explaining what had happened.
Ever since her child Bagon had evolved into Shelgon yesterday, she had been extremely happy.
She had wanted to return to the dragon den deep within Meteor Falls and bring back some resources so that Shelgon could evolve into Salamence sooner.
However, she never expected that when she returned, a massive battle had already erupted deep within Meteor Falls.
One of the Dragonite from their dragon den had accidentally discovered an enormous rainbow-colored stone.
Just a tiny amount of aura leaking from the rainbow stone had allowed the Dragonite that discovered it to advance by an entire level.
Dragonite immediately realized how important the stone was and tried to bring it back to the dragon den.
But on the way back, the aura leaking from the giant rainbow stone attracted numerous powerful Pokémon.
They went berserk trying to seize it.
At first, the fighting had only consisted of small skirmishes.
But as time passed, the conflict became increasingly intense.
Eventually, it escalated into an all-out war between the Pokémon of the dragon den and the Pokémon throughout the depths of Meteor Falls.
Salamence had returned at exactly the wrong time—the battle was at its fiercest.
Without hesitation, she joined the fight.
In the end, however, a wild Flygon severely injured her.
To avoid being caught up any further in the massive battle, Salamence fled Meteor Falls and returned to the tribe, intending to recover from her wounds here.
After that, because her injuries were simply too severe, she had fallen from the sky.
And by pure coincidence, she had landed right in front of Chen Shi, who had just returned.
After hearing the whole story, Chen Shi's expression became strange.
"You're saying... everyone is fighting over a gigantic rainbow-colored stone?"
"Roar!"
(That's right!)
After receiving confirmation, Chen Shi blinked.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
If he remembered correctly, there was only one enormous rainbow-colored stone of significance in the Pokémon world.
The Giant Energy Stone that the three legendary Pokémon of Hoenn had once fought over.
As for exactly what this stone was or where it had come from, Chen Shi wasn't entirely sure.
However, there was one theory that suggested this giant stone might have been connected to the origin of Mega Evolution and contained enough power to devastate the world.
Whether that theory was true or not, Chen Shi didn't know.
The important thing was—
This thing was incredibly important.
And incredibly powerful.
What gave Chen Shi a headache was that it could have appeared at any other time.
Yet it just had to appear now.
Wasn't this practically waving a giant sign around and inviting Groudon and Kyogre to come steal it?
"Crap!"
The instant Groudon and Kyogre crossed his mind, Chen Shi's heart jolted.
A terrible premonition suddenly rose within him.
The Giant Energy Stone was currently inside Meteor Falls.
And the Pokémon living deep within Meteor Falls were already fighting over it.
If Groudon and Kyogre really were attracted here, an enormous battle would inevitably erupt.
When that happened, the entirety of Meteor Falls might be destroyed in the fighting.
And none of the tribes living nearby would survive either.
"Quick!"
Chen Shi urgently shouted at Salamence.
"Take me to the depths of Meteor Falls!"
...
Pikachu and Poipole
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