At the crossroads between Treasure Town and the Wigglytuff Guild, Dante and his team idly stood while chatting about some inane topics. When suddenly, a sound from the distance made them simultaneously turn their heads.
"WHOOOSHHH!!"
A long stream of water was heading in their direction. It briefly passed over them, before it slowed and dissipated to reveal Azumarill inside.
He flipped forward multiple times and landed on the grassy ground feet first, stopping all his momentum in the process.
"Sorry, everyone! I-I got caught up talking with Sunflora and forgot the time."
"Yeah, sure you did~"
Dante gave Azumarill a knowing smirk and a wink. It caused the Shiny Pokemon's body to turn a bright shade of orange.
Dante chuckled and decided not to talk more about it. There are still many innocent Pokemon here. At a later date, maybe he can impart some love knowledge to Azumarill. It'll be like a bro time between the two of them.
"So now that everyone's here, let's head out. We're going to Beach Cave for the usual task. However, in addition to collecting the Gummies, we'd also test our recent gains."
"Eh? In Beach Cave? Against the weak Pokemon there?"
"No. We'll just use the private nature of the place as a testing ground."
Dante chuckled. He conjured a platform under their feet, lifting and heading towards their destination.
It didn't take much time. And the process of clearing the dungeon is also similar. If it weren't for the need to collect every Gummies in each floor, they'd only need less than 20 minutes to go from the entrance to the deepest part.
But as it stood, they took an hour before they reached the depths of the dungeon- though their leisurely pace also contributed to that.
The deepest part of Beach Cave was the same as usual. Soft, white sand beneath their feet and rocky walls that enclosed every direction except for a small hole connected to a body of water stretching towards the distance.
"Alright, this should do."
Dante muttered and took out four Pokeballs. Then, with a flash of red light, Regirock, Registeel, Regice, and Regidrago emerged.
"BEEP! CONTROL UNIT DETECTED! AWAITING ORDERS."
The four of them turned to Dante, who was holding a pulsating, orange, stone sphere. This is the Regis' remote control he got from Cofagrigus. As long as he holds this, he can issue commands to any of the Regis.
Right now, the only two commands he'd given is: Forget all previous orders, and stand-by for now.
"Ohh! Are we going to test ourselves against them?"
Eevee asked with excitement. In the fight against the Regis, she could only take potshots from a distance. And that was only against Regidrago- the only one whose defenses she could breach.
However, while its speed is not as fast as Regieleki, the Dragon Golem managed to dodge most of her attacks. It had left her feeling very useless.
"That's right. Also, I already picked the Legendary Items suitable for everyone to absorb. These are for you, Mawile, Riolu."
Dante took out two small items and handed them to the siblings. He gave Mawile a tuft of blue fur, while Riolu got a garnet-colored scale.
Zacian's Fur: a tuft of hair from Zacian that contains a remnant of their power. When held by a Fairy or Steel-type Pokemon, the potential within their body is stimulated.
Zamazenta's Scale: A piece of scale from Zamazenta that contains a remnant of their power. When held by a Fighting or Steel-type Pokemon, the potential within their body is stimulated.
Dante was about to give the rest to the others, when he noticed a certain Pokemon staring at Mawile and Riolu's direction.
"Ah, sorry Victini! Are you…uncomfortable with us doing this?"
Dante almost facepalmed. Victini's energy had been constantly absorbed for the past three thousand years. Doing this in front of him is just plain insensitive.
"Ah! Nonono! I was only wondering about Zacian and Zamazenta. Are they still alive today?"
Victini sighed. In the middle of their fight with Eternatus, he saw them get ambushed from behind before he was knocked unconscious. Only later, through Cofagrigus' monologue, he learned their group was the one behind it.
"So…you're alright with us continuing this?"
"Yes. In fact, most Legendaries encourage it. Lugia and Ho-oh even shed some of their feathers while flying to bless those who can find it."
"So that's why there are so many copies of their feathers."
Dante huffed in amusement. Even in Zapdos' treasure room, he found many duplicates of those two's feathers, along with Articuno and Moltres'.
"By the way, how about you, Victini? Would absorbing one help recover your energy?"
"Thanks for the offer, Dan. But it isn't of much help to me."
Victini said with a wan smile. The reason these items are so useful for ordinary Pokemon is because Legendaries have a higher quality energy. By absorbing a small amount, an ordinary Pokemon's body would remember and try to emulate it.
But as a Legendary himself, Victini's body already produced the same quality of energy. Absorbing the remnant items of other Legendaries would just recover a similar amount of energy that he can naturally produce in a single breath.
"That's a pity. Well, we'd proceed ahead then."
Since Victini had no problems, Dante continued to give the others their share.
Pikachu got a battery filled with Regieleki's energy, Azumarill had a piece of diamond from Diancie, and Ninetales a piece of Ice from Regice.
This only left him, Ursaring, and Eevee.
Dante took out a lump of steel and hesitated. This was a piece of Regigigas' body. One of the strongest Normal-type Pokemon whose status is arguably on par with Uxie and the others.
However, the cause of his hesitation had nothing to do with the preciousness of this item. He had five copies of it in the bag- more than enough for the three of them.
No, the real reason is because of another item he only had a single copy of. One that came from a Pokemon even more powerful than Regigigas.
Arceus' hair: A single hair from the God of Pokemon. It contains a very small remnant of their power. When held by a Normal-type Pokemon, the potential within their body is stimulated.
He was really curious how Cofagrigus and their organization could obtain this. Did Arceus fight against someone and they took advantage of the situation? Or had Cofagrigus simply found this thing by sheer luck?
Unfortunately, he couldn't obtain an answer for that now. What he can do instead is decide which among the three of them will use it.
Firstly, Dante ruled himself out. He doesn't use his Normal moves much and instead rely more on his Ghost-type ones and Illusions.
Eevee will likely evolve into other types, so the boost in Normal-type moves will likely also become useless. That leaves Ursaring.
He gazed at the large bear Pokemon. When he evolves into Ursaluna, he'll still retain his Normal typing. At the same time, Facade, his most powerful Normal-type move, would also benefit from this.
Well, that's what he thought at the beginning. But after some careful thinking, wouldn't taking the fragment from Regigigas achieve the same result for Ursaring?
Thus, it's now between him and Eevee again. And in the end, he decided to let his naughty daughter have it. Eevee is known as the mini-Arceus in his previous world. Maybe she'd get a surprising result after absorbing this?
Having made this decision, Dante handed out Arceus' hair to Eevee, while he and Ursaring both got a remnant of Regigigas.
"How can I use this, Dad?"
Eevee stared in wonder at the single piece of white hair her Dad gave. Her body instinctively trembled just at the sight of it. How powerful was the Pokemon who possessed this? In the future, could a piece of her hair achieve the same result?
"Hmm, I'm not sure. For the Spectral Mist and Primordial Seawater, Azumarill and I just ingested it. But for this…"
Dante stared wryly at the lump of steel before him. It's almost the same size as his head!
"You need to wrap the items with your energy, then guide the remnant energy inside of them towards your body."
Victini interjected from the side. As he gazed at the piece of white hair floating in front of Eevee, a brief look of pain flashed across his pupils.
"Huh, just like this…?"
"Yes. Like that."
Victini watched as everyone began the absorption process. Their faces scrunched at the beginning, before slowly shifting to a more relaxed one. However, in the middle, an unbidden thought suddenly appeared in Victini's mind.
One day…would they try absorbing his energy the same way too?
Victini shuddered and shook his head. No. That was just his trauma talking. Dante and the others wouldn't do that to him…they wouldn't, right?
As he stared at the look of joy on their faces, Victini became more and more unsure.