The next day, Aven sat up in bed while holding his head.
He looked around his room, fragments missing from his memory—he had no idea how he had returned to his room.
"Lilli, lilli~"
Seeing Aven wake up, Lilligant finally let out a sigh of relief. The way Aven had gotten drunk last night had truly frightened her.
She thoughtfully brought over a cup of flower tea infused with life and grass energy. After taking a sip, Aven immediately felt much better.
"Sorry for worrying you, Lilligant," Aven said, gently patting her head.
At the same time, Froslass and Gardevoir walked in from outside, each carrying several plates.
Normally, Aven would prepare food for them once he woke up. But this time, since he had slept in unusually late, Froslass and Gardevoir had taken it upon themselves to prepare breakfast.
Although neither Pokémon had ever cooked personally before, after watching Aven cook for so long, and relying on their strong learning abilities, they had long since mastered the process.
Seeing Aven awake, both Pokémon happily gathered around him and urged him to eat the breakfast they had prepared.
"It tastes great. Looks like you both have real potential as chefs," Aven praised generously.
"Lass~"
Hearing the compliment, Froslass immediately became smug.
Gardevoir, on the other hand, remained much calmer. She adjusted the apron around her waist, seemingly planning to make breakfast for Aven more often in the future.
After praising the Pokémon around him, Aven stood up and stretched his body. After last night's banquet, all the officials had already returned to their posts, and he couldn't afford to relax either.
There were still many matters within the Pokémon League that required his attention. Even with the help of numerous officials, many decisions still needed his personal approval.
Inside the study, because Aven had been away from the Pokémon Domain for quite some time, financial documents had piled up high. Most of them were reports detailing recent construction and development.
"The construction of Pokémon Gyms and Pokémon Battle Clubs seems to be progressing quite well."
Aven picked up one of the documents on his desk, which reported on the development of the Pokémon Gyms and Battle Clubs.
The Pokémon Gyms and Battle Clubs had been officially open for some time now. During this period, a large number of trainers had gone to the Battle Clubs to hone their skills.
As a result, the Pokémon Battle Clubs had become another major money-making engine for the Pokémon Domain, second only to the Pokémon Breeding House. The two complemented each other, continuously improving the overall strength of trainers within the territory.
As for the Pokémon Gyms, since only official trainers were eligible to challenge them, there weren't many challengers during this period. Moreover, no one had yet managed to obtain a single Gym Badge.
After all, the current acting Gym Leader was Peter, the captain of the patrol team. Unless one possessed the strength of an elite trainer, meaning at least one intermediate-level Pokémon—it was extremely difficult to pass the Gym challenge.
This made Aven sigh. It seemed that holding a Pokémon League tournament was impossible in the short term. However, as the number of trainers increased and training continued, more elite trainers would inevitably emerge.
He tentatively set the goal of holding the world's first League Tournament next summer. After a full year of training, a large number of official trainers should be able to reach elite level.
Next came the construction status of the Pokémon Centers. After targeted training over this period, the Chansey that had arrived in the Pokémon Domain had all preliminarily mastered the move Heal Pulse, while Bellossom's Grassy Terrain training had also progressed smoothly.
At present, a considerable number of Chansey and Bellossom had successfully graduated from the Pokémon Center and gone to the borders to participate in healing Pokémon or in training and battle areas, continuously accumulating experience.
However, plans to build Pokémon Centers in other territories had not yet officially begun. It was still somewhat difficult for them to fully handle all Pokémon Center responsibilities, and Pokémon doctors and nurses would also need to be trained.
"Hm? The road between the Pokémon Domain and Marina City is finally about to be completed?"
Suddenly, Aven noticed a construction progress report.
With the involvement of the Construction Department, along with careful planning and the excavation work of Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon, a road had finally been carved through the Coastal Mountains, directly connecting the two locations.
Next, all that remained was to level the road according to his requirements, lay down stone paving, and then use Pokémon power to compress and flatten it completely. Once finished, the road would be complete, removing all obstacles to exchange between the two regions.
Now, both sea routes and land routes could directly connect to Marina City. Trade between the two sides would become extremely convenient, and management over Marina City could be further strengthened as well!
…
In the rear garden of the Pokémon Domain's castle.
Aven sat upright at his desk, upon which a large number of interrogation records were spread out.
Naturally, all of these had been obtained from the mouths of those sorcerers, carefully filtered and sorted before being delivered to him.
He picked them up one by one and read through them. There was nothing particularly noteworthy among the contents—most of the information had already been extracted earlier from the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer.
After confirming that he had obtained all the information he wanted from their testimonies, the next step would be to put these sorcerers on trial.
At present, the Pokémon Domain already possessed its own complete judicial system, so Aven was not worried in the slightest. He simply needed to hand the matter over to the Public Security Court to handle.
Placing all the interrogation records aside, his gaze shifted toward the garden. At this moment, Lilligant, Froslass, and Gardevoir were all engaged in training.
As for Heatran, it was sprawled leisurely on the ground, basking in the sunlight. It was already late spring, and the temperature had risen significantly; the warmth soaking into its body felt thoroughly comfortable.
"What matters most next is still strengthening our power."
"Both my own strength and the overall strength of the territory must continue to grow."
Aven pondered silently. Although the Pokémon Domain already appeared extremely powerful on the surface, the enemies it faced were becoming increasingly formidable as well.
Especially after this recent operation, whether it was to capture the Lake Guardians or to reclaim the Golden Capture Ring that had fallen into his hands, the Sorcerer Organization would certainly launch another attack on Aspiration City.
Although the Sorcerer Organization had suffered heavy losses this time, it was, after all, a massive force spanning multiple Regions. Moreover, they still controlled legendary Pokémon as powerful as the Forces of Nature, making them an enormous threat.
In fact, in order to reclaim the Capture Ring and unseal their Demon God, the Sorcerer Organization would very likely dispatch reinforcements again. Judging by the fact that Hoopa possessed six Golden Rings, there should still be two Grand Sorcerers who had yet to reveal themselves.
These two Grand Sorcerers were extremely mysterious. Even within the Black-Robed Grand Sorcerer's memories, there was no information about them. However, they had existed long before he joined the Sorcerer Organization and held exceptionally high status within it.
Therefore, in order to respond to the Sorcerer Organization's next wave of attacks, Aven had to further strengthen his own power—and awakening Darkrai was one of the most critical steps.
Beyond that, when guardian deity-level forces were relatively equal, the strength of the other Pokémon would become the decisive factor in victory or defeat. Just like this time, Lilligant's breakthrough alone had directly determined the outcome of the battle.
"Lilli~"
In the field, Lilligant stood quietly in a patch of grass, an Energy Ball condensing steadily in the palm of its hand.
Ever since it had successfully merged with the natural life energy of the environment during the previous battle, it had continued training to fuse natural energy with life energy.
After returning, Aven had also studied Lilligant's state at the time and ultimately named it "Natural Reversion," considering it an alternative form of Mega Evolution.
However, when Lilligant entered Natural Reversion, it was largely because it had comprehended the circulation rules of life energy within the Mega Evolution process, thereby simulating that form of life energy.
This realization also reminded him of the legendary Primal Reversion—special forms seen in Kyogre and Groudon. Once they entered Primal Reversion, Kyogre and Groudon were essentially undergoing a form of Mega Evolution.
"At present, the only way to train Natural Reversion is through fusion training of grass energy, natural energy and life energy," Aven reflected. Energy fusion training allowed Lilligant to better grasp that unique state.
As he thought this, his gaze shifted unconsciously to the wooden box on the desk. Inside lay four Mega Stones and one Key Stone. In addition to these were four Poké Balls.
Contained within those Poké Balls were Gengar, Tyranitar, Manectric, and Pidgeot—four Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution.
However, to achieve Mega Evolution, the prerequisite was an exceptionally deep bond between Pokémon and Trainer. Despite his efforts, Aven had been unable to truly subdue these Pokémon.
Thus, his only option was to extract the Mega Stones from their bodies and then find the corresponding Pokémon to allow them to master Mega Evolution as well.
(End of Chapter)