Heatran, after freeing itself from the seal immediately afterward, turned its gaze toward the Grand Sorcerers standing at the edge of the volcano crater in the distance, and a ferocious aura swept toward them like a raging tide!
"The mission has failed!" The Brown-Robed Grand Sorcerer clenched his fist tightly.
At this moment, a Capture Ring had already appeared in his hand, black energy waves constantly radiating from it.
The Blue-Robed Grand Sorcerer and the Green-Robed Grand Sorcerer exchanged a glance. With a flick of their wrists, they raised their Super Capture Rings, and intense spatial fluctuations suddenly emerged as a Ghost World passage rapidly opened.
They cast a deep look at Aven before their figures, wrapped in the power of the Super Capture Rings, swiftly entered the Ghost World passage!
As the three Grand Sorcerers vanished, the three Forces of Nature in the sky likewise each retreated into the Ghost World passage, disappearing one after another. The Guardian Deity–level energy fluctuations lingering in the air slowly faded away.
"They sure run fast." Aven snorted coldly.
His gaze then shifted toward the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer frozen in ice in the distance. This time, the Grand Sorcerer who had opposed him time and again was finally left behind.
At the same time, Aven now held four Poké Balls in his hand—belonging to Gengar, Tyranitar, Manectric, and Pidgeot. Not only had these four Pokémon each reached King-level strength, they also possessed ability to Mega Evolve!
With the Mega Stones inside their bodies and the Key Stone held by the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer, the required items for Mega Evolution were now complete. From here on, he could begin researching Mega Evolution himself.
And with the loss of both the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer and his ace Pokémon, the Sorcerer Organization had once again suffered a devastating blow. Now, only three Grand Sorcerers remained—and all the Sorcerers they had brought here were completely unable to escape!
Of course, none of that was the most important thing. Aven's gaze fell upon the golden ring lying beside Heatran. This ring clearly belonged to the Demon God, and now one Super Capture Ring had been seized by him!
Every Capture Ring possessed incredibly terrifying power. In and of itself, it was a legendary-tier item.
Moreover, Super Capture Rings had the ability to control Legendary Pokémon. In a sense, a single Super Capture Ring could represent an entire Legendary Pokémon.
Now that he had taken one Super Capture Ring, it was an enormous blow to the Sorcerer Organization. From now on, they would be left with only five Super Magic Rings.
"HEEEAAAAT! RAAAN!"
Watching the Grand Sorcerers flee, Heatran let out two unwilling roars.
Retracting its gaze, it turned its attention to the Rhyperior beside it, as well as Aven and the group of Pokémon in the distance.
Then, under the tense gazes of Aven and the others, the ferocity in Heatran's eyes gradually softened. Clearly, it had realized that Aven and his Pokémon were here to help it.
While bound by the Capture Ring earlier, it had seen everything clearly. If not for the humans and Pokémon before it, it would surely have been completely controlled by now!
Especially Rhyperior—it had personally witnessed how Rhyperior fought with everything it had for its sake. At this moment, its heart was deeply moved.
At the same time, it could sense the presence of the Volcanic Keystone within Rhyperior's body. Perhaps because Rhyperior had evolved through the Volcanic Keystone, the stone had already fused with it.
This caused Heatran to develop an extremely special feeling toward Rhyperior. In a sense, it could no longer be separated from Rhyperior, because the Volcanic Keystone now resided within Rhyperior's body!
Just as the Black Crystal could control Darkrai, the Volcanic Keystone could likewise control Heatran. This was precisely why the Sorcerer Organization sought to seize the Volcanic Keystone in the first place.
"Phew… it seems this Heatran doesn't harbor any hostility." Watching this scene, Aven finally let out a sigh of relief.
At the same time, multicolored light flickered beside him as the figures of Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie appeared together.
They looked at Aven with expressions of admiration. Although they had remained high above earlier, they had seen the entire battle below with perfect clarity, fully witnessing Aven's power.
"Aven, I truly didn't misjudge you." Pride colored Azelf's voice.
Not only did Aven possess a kind heart, his strength was equally formidable—defeating the enemy through his own power!
"Indeed, impressive. I can clearly sense the bond between you and your Magical Beasts'." Mesprit exclaimed sensing the bond between Aven and his Pokémon.
"Oh, right—almost forgot. The term 'magical beasts' has already been changed to 'Pokémon.' Honestly, I really like this name."
Azelf spoke with a smile, its gaze falling upon the Pokémon gathering around Aven. The emotional energy flowing between them was simply dazzling.
Even after experiencing countless ages, it was rare for Azelf to feel such a special emotional connection between humans and Pokémon. Within that emotion resided an extraordinarily powerful force!
Suddenly, images of Tyranitar, Gengar, Manectric, and Pidgeot's transformations surfaced in its mind. Their evolutions seemed to be related to this emotional energy.
As these thoughts formed, its gaze shifted toward Lilligant in the distance. With the battle over, Lilligant's figure gradually shrank, the energy around her dissipating as she withdrew from the state of unity with nature.
Although Lilligant's state was not Mega Evolution, it was similar to Primal Reversion. Such a special state could not be maintained indefinitely.
"The bond between humans and Pokémon truly is a mysterious and wondrous power."
"Among them, humans and Pokémon can generate a special kind of energy called 'friendship.'"
"Some moves can transform friendship into tremendous power, and some Pokémon can even evolve through friendship."
Aven smiled as he explained this special energy of friendship. "What you saw earlier, Mega Evolution, also requires the bond between Pokémon and humans to activate the power of the Mega Stone and Key Stone!"
"Friendship… and bonds…" Mesprit pondered deeply. This emotional connection between humans and Pokémon was a power it had never previously considered.
Unconsciously, curiosity arose within it. What kind of power was this, truly? If it could master this new emotional energy, its strength would undoubtedly increase even further!
"Aven, you really know so much…" At that moment, Uxie's voice sounded.
Not only Mesprit—even Uxie, the God of Knowledge, had never heard of this special power called friendship, let alone Mega Evolution.
"Well, I read about these things in ancient texts from the Kalos region," Aven replied with a smile and a nod.
Uxie froze slightly. Although it was the God of Knowledge, it only possessed knowledge of the Sinnoh region and indeed knew very little about other continents.
It gazed deeply at Aven. From him, it had already encountered far too much knowledge it could not fully comprehend—such as Rhyperior's evolution, and Aven's Pokémon themselves.
"Lilligant… what… did you do to her?" Uxie's gaze shifted to Lilligant.
Floating beside her, it found it difficult to believe that such immense power could exist within a Lilligant.
Her control over grass, natural and life energy nearly made Uxie believe it was facing another Guardian Deity. Lilligant, having become an embodiment of nature, clearly possessed the potential to ascend to that level!
"I simply designed training plans suited to each Pokémon's individual traits," Aven replied with a slight smile. "Lilligant has strong talent in grass, natural and life energy, so I focused on developing that."
Hearing this, Uxie was stunned. From Aven's words, it could tell that Lilligant's current power was primarily the result of his training.
"Oh, right—I forgot to mention, I'm a Pokémon Breeder," Aven added with a smile.
Uxie was once again taken aback. Pokémon Breeder, despite being the God of Knowledge, it had never heard of such a profession.
Aven merely smiled and said no more. Naturally, even a God of Knowledge could not know of a profession that would only appear in the future.
"Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon Breeders—our main responsibilities are training and nurturing Pokémon," Aven offered a brief explanation.
Then, he suddenly took out two books from behind his back. One was a Pokédex Handbook, and the other was the Pokémon Breeder's Handbook.
"I'll remember Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon Breeders," Uxie said.
Taking the two books from Aven, its figure slowly faded from the real world, clearly returning to its own dimension to begin studying the books.
"Aven, I'm heading off as well. If anything happens, call for me again," Azelf said, weariness evident on its face as it waved before vanishing from the spot.
"Human, I have a very good feeling about you. A world where humans and Pokémon coexist in harmony… I truly look forward to seeing you change this world and fill it with love."
With that, Mesprit's figure also disappeared.
Watching the place where the Lake Guardian Trio vanished, Aven shook his head slightly and smiled. "I've heard that those who gain the recognition of the Lake Guardians can become the King of Sinnoh. I wonder… do I stand a chance of earning their recognition?"
(End of Chapter)
TN: Guys, I think I mess up in the earlier chapters because I think I changed Mesprit to Azelf because I thought Azelf was the one in charge of Emotions.