After spending nearly a day on the slow-moving green train, Lorze and his Pokémon wives finally arrived at the long-awaited Canalave City at dusk.
Canalave City's layout wasn't as monotonous as in the games; rather, just like in the anime, it was composed of a series of islands connected by bridges.
At this moment, the sun was slowly setting into the embrace of the distant horizon. The shimmering light reflected by the rolling waves shone together with the soft setting sun on Lorze and his wives, this aesthetic imagery carrying quite a romantic atmosphere.
As for the station where the train stopped, it was naturally the largest main island among the islands composing Canalave City.
The wives seemed to have never seen such a unique and beautiful island city before, and couldn't help but marvel at it in awe.
"The sunset is so beautiful!" "Wow, it's really amazing..."
The wives' endless praises made Lorze smile. It was a pity Latias wasn't here. After all, the layout of Canalave City could be said to bear a slight resemblance to Alto Mare, and he actually wanted to hear his dragon sister's thoughts.
"Everyone! How about we take a group photo over here?"
"Hehe, taking a picture! I want to stand on Lorze's shoulder❤!" "Then I want Lorze to hold me❤~" "Hey, hey. Jirachi is so mean!" "Hehe..."
"Hehe, don't fight over it. Let's all gather around together!"
Lorze and his wives stood at the bridgehead, leaving behind a beautiful photo of them hugging under the sunset, and then he sent it to the private family group chat where all the wives were present.
"Mew! It's so beautiful over there with Lorze!"
Mew's message was almost an instant reply, which made Lorze unable to hold back a chuckle: This little cat girl must really be staring at her phone screen the entire time!
"This sea looks like Alto Mare~"
"Hmph hmph, right? I knew Latias would say that~"
Following Mew and Latias, the rest of the wives, such as Absol, Gardevoir, Milotic, and so on, also expressed their envy one after another. Only Mewtwo added a line at the very end: "Pay attention to safety, honey, and make sure to protect the younger sisters well."
Should it be said that she is truly worthy of being the big sister? Mewtwo truly possessed the demeanor and magnanimity of a primary wife.
"Yes, Big Sister!"
Lorze replied as such, immediately curling up the corners of his mouth unconsciously; even he himself didn't notice his subconscious expression.
However, what he didn't know was that Mewtwo, far away across the horizon, also revealed a sweet smile identical to her husband's on her face. Even though they could only communicate using the PokéNavs in their hands, their long-term cohabitation had given them a deep tacit understanding.
Perhaps true love between each other cannot be severed by distance.
Just as Lorze was planning to lead his wives deeper into Canalave City, the Wishing Star sitting on his shoulder suddenly pleaded: "Woo, Lorze❤! Jirachi wants to eat a lollipop too❤!"
Looking in the direction of the Wishing Star, a child was savoring a lollipop handed to them by their mother.
Jirachi truly set a good example; after her, the rest of the wives also acted spoiled and wanted to buy all sorts of things.
Lorze wasn't averse to it. In fact, he was quite happy that they could make some requests. As a husband, he was naturally willing to satisfy his wives' small demands.
"Hehehe, I really can't say no to you girls. Then how about we go shopping directly?"
"Yay, meow❤~"
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since they visited such a bustling metropolis. Lorze simply took his wives for a long-overdue stroll through the prosperous commercial street.
There was a dazzling array of goods in the shop windows. Even without buying anything, the process of window shopping alone was very enjoyable, especially when strolling with so many wives.
After all, little beauties always like to spend and shop. Their home at the foot of the Tree of Beginning was practically a worldly paradise isolated from outside communication; they couldn't experience this kind of bustling, worldly atmosphere. So Lorze completely understood: he was very reassured because his wives were virtuous women; they merely wanted to relax their moods through healthy consumption.
Accompanying Florges to browse flower shops, taking Jirachi and Hatterene to gorge themselves on food and drinks, leading Meowstic and Rapidash to groom their hair and get some new styling or something. Occasionally changing tastes was quite nice too~
It was a pity that not all members were present. Lorze also carefully picked out gifts for the wives back at home, taking the opportunity to chat and exchange opinions with them in the group chat.
Children's toys for Mew, accessories for Gardevoir, and so on; basically catering to their individual preferences.
Meanwhile, Mewtwo and Delphox suggested buying some milk powder to feed the babies in combination with breast milk, in addition to diapers and all sorts of miscellaneous maternal and infant supplies...
Large and small bags of items were secretly stuffed into his inventory space by the young man. When walking out of the stores, Lorze looked exactly as if he hadn't bought anything—if it weren't for the numbers on his bank card account constantly taking small hits.
The expenses weren't much, but what he got in return was a soaring happiness index. It could be seen from his wives' grinning mouths. Lorze felt that he had finally made all his wives happy, and he was quite satisfied with this shopping trip.
Just as he was planning to take everyone to the inn, he happened to hear a rather familiar shouting voice.
"Ugh! I don't want to go shopping anymore. Brock, take me to the Canalave City Gym!"
"No way, Ash, window shopping is so nice!"
"Dawn, Ash, you two stop arguing..."
Masaka, these long-lost voices are!?
With an excited mood, Lorze led his Pokémon wives, jogging a few steps before charging fiercely towards where the voices came from!
Unfortunately, at that time, Ash and Brock had their backs to him. Only the cute Dawn wearing a hat was facing Lorze directly, and she was startled by Lorze's running speed, hurriedly extending her arms straight out in a blocking gesture!
"Wah, wah, mister, if you don't stop, you're going to crash!!"
Hearing Dawn yelling, Brock and Ash subconsciously turned around. Upon seeing that the person approaching was Lorze, they both paused, then were similarly submerged in joy. Instead of dodging, they ran toward Lorze to meet him!
Thus, the three brothers shared a hearty hug.
Lorze noticed that to say Ash truly hadn't changed a bit after traveling for so long didn't seem entirely accurate.
At least in his eyes, Ash had grown a bit taller than this time last year. Although his face still looked boyishly innocent, he wasn't quite the little shota he used to be.
"Long time no see, Big Bro Lorze!" "Long time no see, Mr. Lorze."
"Yeah... counting the days, it's been a whole year since we last saw each other."
"Sigh, Mr. Lorze, I failed again at the Ever Grande Conference... But I won't give up, so I'm traveling in Sinnoh now, and I will definitely win the Lily of the Valley Conference!"
"Pika!"
To this, Lorze raised an eyebrow slightly: He hadn't even opened his mouth to ask, yet Ash spilled the beans himself. He truly is a thick-nerved, big-hearted contestant.
However, he just patted Ash's shoulder to show encouragement: "You're full of energy, huh? Just keep cheering on with this momentum!"
The classic nature of the Diamond and Pearl storyline was something no subsequent generation could surpass, and more than half the credit for this classic must go to the characterization of the rival, Paul.
In the Sinnoh region, Ash encountered a rival who was both a teacher and a friend, Paul. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a contest between the "true love" faction and the "meta strength" faction.
Growing mutually through their rivalry, Ash also experienced a low point and eventually matured. His battling style completely changed from his previous recklessness to become highly organized, and finally, he presented everyone with a spectacular, fated battle at the Lily of the Valley Conference.
If it hadn't been for the sudden appearance of the Mythical Pokémon user, Tobias, Diamond and Pearl probably would have been Ash's nearly perfect concluding battle.
However, while they were exchanging pleasantries here, Dawn, realizing she was being ignored, walked over puffing her cheeks while holding Piplup in her arms. She was immediately so stunned by Lorze's handsome face and elegant demeanor that she gulped, even stumbling over her words!
Before Ash and Brock could even introduce them, Dawn proactively struck up a conversation with Lorze, her face blushing red.
"H-Hello! My name is Dawn. Are you a friend of Ash and Brock's?"
"Hello Dawn, my name is Lorze~"
Shaking hands amicably with Dawn, the young girl almost passed out from happiness.
For Lorze, Her Highness Dawn was indeed one of the very cute female Pokémon protagonists, so he had a very good impression of her.
But it stopped exactly there. When it came to humans... he truly had no interest whatsoever~
Lorze then strolled through the commercial street with the trio, simultaneously listening to Ash endlessly recount what kind of travels and adventures he had experienced since they parted ways at the Tree of Beginning.
The young man merely listened with a smile, because he was already intimately familiar with these stories. And what was gratifying was that Ash didn't embellish anything; he could be said to be quite an honest, good kid.
At the same time, inside the Canalave City Library, the Team Rocket trio, disguised as ordinary citizens, were secretly plotting something.
Just a few days ago, they had also sneaked into Canalave City tailing Ash's group, up to their usual tricks: capturing Pikachu, catching other Pokémon, and earning funding.
However, they inadvertently overheard a secret concerning Canalave City—it was said that in this city, at a certain time every year, Cresselia and Darkrai would simultaneously arrive in Canalave City to battle each other.
If the Lunar Pokémon won, people could often enjoy successive days of sweet dreams and sound sleep. But if the Pitch-Black Pokémon won... it would always lead to insomnia caused by consecutive days of nightmares.
"Ohohoho, the Lunar Pokémon, Cresselia! Just hearing the name sounds like an incredible Pokémon! If we could catch her... we'd be able to sleep to our heart's content every single day!"
"And meow, if we offer such a fantastic Pokémon to Boss Giovanni, meow..."
In the trio's fantasy, words came from that unfathomable, mysterious back silhouette—
"Jessie, James, Meowth. You three caught the Lunar Pokémon Cresselia. Your performance is outstanding. You are hereby promoted to Team Rocket Executives!"
Although the voiceover was an impromptu performance by James lowering his voice, a fluttering stream of imagination still surfaced on all three of their faces together.
"What an amazing feeling (meow)!"
Of course, how could such a scene lack our God of Wobbuffet? Accompanied by the Poké Ball automatically opening and the flying red and white light, that highly spiritual voice also put a perfect period to the trio's fantasy.
"Sooo~nans!"
So these past few days, the trio had been fine-tuning a newly invented machine—a device that could make people have nightmares while sleeping!
To fabricate the hoax that the Pitch-Black Pokémon had arrived in Canalave City, lure Cresselia out, and then carry out the capture.
At the very least, they could devastate the sleep quality of Canalave City's residents, which would equally provide convenience for them to capture Pokémon.
However, the process of inventing the machine was extremely painful. Because to verify the machine's efficacy, one of them had to sleep, and then they had to see if this person would have nightmares...
No matter who it was, they made a complete fool of themselves in their dreams. This way, the three people's embarrassments all became each other's leverage, yet it formed a very delicate balance...
It would be better to say that the Team Rocket trio themselves existed in exactly this kind of delicate balance, and they also reached a delicate balance with the protagonist group of Ash's party. There's a reason why they, being morally ambiguous, could become the most popular villains.
This was the reason why the trio holed up in the Canalave City Library. Because the equipment still needed fine-tuning, they were consulting reference materials.
Finally, they seemed to have found clues related to the adjustments, preparing to start the final stage of fine-tuning the equipment. It was about to be truly put into use!
However, on the other side, Lorze was completely unaware of this. It would be more accurate to say that a slight deviation had occurred in the timeline, making him somewhat relaxed.
After taking the fully reluctant Ash along to accompany Dawn in finishing their stroll through the commercial street, they conveniently found a restaurant to settle dinner as well.
—It was still Lorze and his wives at one table, and Ash's trio at another table.
This situation made Lorze deeply emotional. Recalling the time of the Seven Nights' Wishing Star, it was also similar. It was just that whether it was the personnel and Pokémon on Ash's side, or the wives accompanying him, things were somewhat different. Things change and people change.
Only one thing hadn't changed, and that was Jirachi secretly eating his cock under the table!
No, if we're really talking about what hadn't changed, little Jirachi's sexual skills, whether in blowjobs or handjobs, had improved way too much compared to before.
Under the cover of his wives' bodies, Lorze still feasted casually as if nothing was happening, while completely unable to extricate himself from enjoying the feeling of soaking his meat rod in liquid metal.
So amazing, Jirachi❤! Lorze praised inwardly, unable to help but slowly thrust in and out of Jirachi's small mouth...
This meal... everyone ate their fill, and Jirachi was also "fed full." Other than that, no earth-shattering events occurred.
After that, Lorze and Ash's trio were to part ways and return to their respective accommodations.
Ash and the others were still staying in the cheap dorms of the Pokémon Center, while Lorze was in a rather classy hotel—after all, he didn't want to wrong his wives too much, so spending a bit more money was fine.
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Lorze!"
"Pika~"
"Hehe, see you tomorrow~"
Returning to the inn, Lorze also took turns fucking his wives while taking a bath. Only then did he lie in bed with everyone to play on his phone, such as chatting with his wives far away at the Tree of Beginning...
After that, lights out, sleep; it was no different from usual.
However... as the lights in Canalave City went out household by household, it was exactly the perfect opportunity for Team Rocket to come out and cause trouble under the cover of a dark, windy night.
Though they say "a dark and windy night," tonight's moon was actually big and round. It was just that for some unknown reason, this full, round moon didn't display its rightful brightness in the slightest, instead emitting a somewhat severe, bleak, and ghastly white light.
The trio grinned hideously as they activated the machine that could induce nightmares in people, quietly waiting for the good show to descend.
"Cresselia~ Cresselia~ Come quickly, hehe~"
Jessie's fiery red lips were curving into crescents almost matching her eyes. This look was also severely mocked by James and Meowth.
Suddenly, they sensed some powerful force approaching here, so they hurriedly hid to observe. Could it be that they had lured Cresselia over!?
But the newcomer had a body like a black cloud and flowing, wispy white hair, a far cry from the rumored appearance of Cresselia!
Could this be...
The Pitch-Black Pokémon, Darkrai!?
The Team Rocket trio also didn't know why Darkrai appeared a step earlier, but they still perfectly concealed themselves to quietly observe the situation. Darkrai didn't discover them.
As for why Darkrai descended on Canalave City ahead of schedule, it was because it sensed large swaths of humans in Canalave City having nightmares, and nightmares are natural food for the Pitch-Black Pokémon.
So Darkrai simply followed the scent and came.
However, Darkrai was very puzzled: because only upon truly arriving at the scene did it discover, why was the power plunging these humans into nightmares... so similar to its own!?
Could it be a member of its own kind?
But that shouldn't be the case either.
Although Darkrai also have a species population, they prefer to live solitary lives and wouldn't rashly encroach on another's territory...
Darkrai cautiously located the source of that power, only to find that it was actually a machine.
"What... is this!?"