Nova had his Corviknight fly low over the surface of the clear lake. The biting wind that blew in from every direction was warmed slightly by the lake water beneath it, so that by the time it reached him, it carried just a touch of warmth, keeping the worst of the cold away.
He held his Growlithe close in his arms, while his back was pressed against the equally furry Meowscarada, who kept watch behind him. Between the two of them, it was almost like wearing an expensive fur coat, one that shielded him well from the freezing air.
From atop the Corviknight, Nova scanned the lake, hoping to spot some unusual Pokemon beneath the water.
And he did.
In truth, it was precisely because this kind of Pokemon tended to appear in ancient environments that he had chosen to check the lake first, hoping to find some sign of them.
It was a shoal of Basculin, but not the ordinary kind. Their stripes were white.
Normally, this fierce Water-type Pokemon only came in two varieties, blue-striped or red-striped. But in ancient, untouched habitats like those found in the Hisui region, a white-striped form of Basculin could also be found.
Under such conditions, white-striped Basculin were even capable of evolving into a new form once certain requirements were met, something the red and blue Basculin could never do.
Because of this, some modern researchers argued that white-striped Basculin might actually be a separate species altogether, not only due to the difference in evolution, but also because their behavior and way of living diverged so much from the other two varieties.
Nova, however, still believed the white-striped Basculin were simply the ancestral form of the red and blue ones. In his view, drastic shifts in the environment over time had changed the Pokemon's habits, gradually giving rise to the red and blue stripes, and along the way, causing them to lose the ability to evolve into Basculegion.
Still, that was a matter for scholars to sort out, not something Nova could weigh in on properly. Right now, only one thing mattered to him: he, Nova, was on the verge of striking it rich.
The presence of white-striped Basculin all but confirmed what he had suspected. Even if this wasn't the already-documented Hisui Secret Realm, the ecosystem here was so similar that it had to be another ancient secret realm in its own right.
Whether this was a brand-new spatial rift born from some massive ancient secret realm, or an entirely separate one, it meant the same thing: if Layered Peaks Gym stepped in and developed the area properly, Nova's share alone would be enormous.
This was the kind of project that could bring in hundreds of millions every single month.
The thought alone was enough to chase away the cold. His back no longer ached, his legs no longer felt heavy, and even the exhaustion from driving through the night before seemed to vanish completely.
Now that he had confirmed the state of the ecosystem, he had no intention of wasting more time. He immediately had the Corviknight turn back toward the cave entrance where the spatial rift was located.
He wanted to report what he had found to his Master and his Uncle-Master as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Nidoking and Rotom, who had been left behind to guard the oasis, stood watch as though braced for a great enemy, ready at any moment to drive off anything that dared approach.
But before long, before their guard could be tested for much longer, the spatial rift twisted and rippled once more, and Nova came flying back out of it on his Corviknight.
He hadn't even been gone for an hour. Why was he already back?
Before either of them could ask, Nova ignored the confusion on their faces and turned straight to Rotom with an order.
"Little Love, activate quantum communication right now. I need to speak with Layered Peaks Gym."
Far away, back at Layered Peaks Gym, Mort had barely left the operations room of the quantum information department in days.
Ever since he and Gilbert had sent Nova into the Tamar Desert, the old man hadn't been able to shake a nagging unease.
Unlike Gilbert, who trusted Nova's strength completely and believed that nothing in the depths of the desert could truly put him in danger, Mort knew the Tamar Desert far better than Gilbert did, and he also understood Nova's temperament better than anyone.
He knew that the deeper one traveled into the Tamar Desert, the stranger things became, and he knew that his disciple's curiosity and drive to act were far stronger than those of an average young Trainer.
That meant if Nova ever found himself in a situation where danger and opportunity were tangled together, he wouldn't be the type to back down. He would charge straight into it.
So, whenever he had a spare moment these past few days, Mort had made a habit of coming to keep watch over the quantum communication room maintained by several Rotom, worried that if Nova ever ran into trouble he couldn't handle and tried to call the Gym for help, he wanted to be the one to catch the signal the instant it came in.
With the flying speed of his old partner Garchomp, as long as Nova could hold out for two hours in a crisis, Mort could reach him from the sky.
He had just finished lunch and was about to settle in for a short nap in the communication room when one of the wandering Rotom suddenly stiffened, as if catching a signal, and dove straight into the nearest video phone.
At once, the phone let out a sharp, urgent alarm.
Someone was trying to reach Layered Peaks Gym through quantum communication.
Mort's drowsiness vanished instantly. He slammed the answer button in under a second.
The moment Nova's face appeared on the screen, Mort burst out, "Don't panic! Hold on! I'm coming right now! Have your Rotom send me your location!"
Nova froze.
Wait a minute. I know I care a lot about making money, but why are you more worked up than I am? I haven't even said a word yet, so why do you already look like you know I found an ancient secret realm?
Then it clicked. This was a misunderstanding.
Mort clearly thought he had run into some crisis he couldn't handle out in the desert, and that this call was a cry for help.
Realizing the old man had picked up in under a second told Nova everything: Mort had probably been sitting by the communication room for days, just waiting in case he called.
It was a strange, warm feeling, being looked after like that.
So the old man wasn't always the carefree, unserious type he seemed to be. Deep down, he genuinely worried about his safety.
For that alone, Nova decided that calling him Master had never been a waste.
With a Master who cared this much for his disciple, Nova thought he might actually be willing to take over the family business at Layered Peaks Gym one day.
Quickly, he tried to calm Mort down before the old man worked himself into a full panic, assuring him that there was no danger at all.
Mort said, "If there's no danger, then why are you calling me out of nowhere? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Nova replied, "Just try not to get too excited when you hear what I'm about to tell you."
Mort answered, "I've weathered plenty of storms in my time. What could possibly be that exciting?"