"You recognize me?"
Drayden sized up Ace and his Pokémon, frowning slightly. "You must be a traveler."
"Ace is my name."
Ace stood up and said to Drayden, "I'm a Trainer from the Kanto Region, and I have a certain purpose for coming to the Unova Region, which is why I've come to visit you, Gym Leader Drayden."
Hearing Ace state his intentions, Drayden's furrowed brow relaxed slightly. He asked Ace, "What is your business?"
"I want the Light Stone. I ask you, Gym Leader Drayden, to part with it."
Ace said with a smile, but his words instantly stunned Drayden. He then asked Ace in confusion, "The Light Stone? What Light Stone?"
"Gym Leader Drayden, please don't play dumb."
Ace smiled and shook his head. "Zekrom and Kyurem have already been captured by me. Currently, only Reshiram remains. I need the power of the three dragons to help me prevent a catastrophe."
"Who exactly are you?"
Drayden's frown deepened. As a Gym Leader, he could clearly sense that the man before him was very strong. If he were to fight him, the outcome would be hard to guarantee.
"The new generation successor appointed by the Draconid Tribe."
Ace said with a smile, "By the way, the Meteor Village where the Draconid Tribe lives is the Village of Dragons."
"Wrong, wrong! Blackthorn City is clearly the Village of Dragons!"
Iris, who was gnawing on a pork hock, immediately corrected him upon hearing Ace's words: "My Grandma once said that only Trainers who come from Blackthorn City can truly be called Trainers of the Village of Dragons."
Ace simply smiled, not correcting Iris, and quietly watched Drayden.
As the Gym Leader of Opelucid City, and given his age, Drayden had a certain amount of experience.
Seeing that Drayden was still hesitant, Ace pulled back the collar of his trench coat, revealing the Dragon Scale Armor underneath.
Drayden's vision was sharp. As soon as he saw Ace pull open his collar, he immediately noticed the Dragon Scale Armor.
Drayden remained silent for a moment, then said, "Please allow me to think about it. Come to my Opelucid Gym tomorrow, and we can discuss it in detail."
Ace nodded, choosing not to press the matter further.
Drayden nodded to Ace, then pulled Iris, who had finished her braised pork hock, and headed back.
"Bye-bye, big brother!"
Iris waved at Ace. She held a good impression of the big brother who had given her food.
Ace waved back at Iris. Once Iris turned away, Ace let out a breath and muttered, "Gengar, it's up to you."
He glanced back at his Pokémon, which had finished their meal. Gengar was nowhere to be seen.
Drayden brought Iris back to the Opelucid Gym. After telling Iris to wash up and rest, Drayden went alone to his study.
He walked to a bookshelf, pulled out a book, and opened it. Inside were records related to the Tao Trio of the Unova Region.
"Zekrom... Kyurem..."
Drayden frowned as he looked at the records. However, the Tao Trio had been dormant for a very long time, and the information about them was extremely scarce. It was impossible to find much useful intelligence.
The fact that they transform into orbs when dormant was a piece of information Drayden had only learned after half a lifetime of searching.
Other than that, there were only legendary stories.
"That man named Ace said he has already captured Zekrom and Kyurem. Since he has already captured two dragons, why does he still need to search for the Light Stone and Reshiram?"
Drayden murmured to himself, instinctively flipping the book to the legend about the dragons.
"The Tao Trio were originally one... one... one?!"
Drayden suddenly jumped to his feet, crying out in disbelief: "That guy wants the Tao Trio to fuse back into one!"
But Drayden immediately reconsidered. The Tao Trio had been separate entities for so long. To fuse them back into one would mean facing resistance from three different dragons.
"That's impossible!"
Drayden stated seriously. "No independent entity would willingly allow itself to dissipate and merge into someone else's consciousness!"
Drayden sat back down, lit his lamp, and focused intensely on studying the information about the Tao Trio late into the night.
Gengar, lurking in Drayden's shadow, suppressed its power while yawning boredly.
"Is this old man not going to sleep? Should I go look myself?"
Gengar was the second contingency Ace had prepared.
If the Light Stone could be acquired through negotiation, it would be a happy outcome, and Gengar wouldn't need to act.
But if Drayden refused to hand over the Light Stone, then Gengar would search for it, and Ace would figure out a way to take it.
Gengar's purpose in shadowing Drayden was to see if Drayden would check on the Light Stone, or to search once Drayden fell asleep.
Gengar was familiar with this kind of work, so Ace felt relatively confident in it.
But the current situation was that Drayden was prepared to read all night, likely not sleeping anytime soon. Gengar could only stay up late with him.
After all, negotiations were scheduled for tomorrow. If Gengar acted tonight and was discovered, it would cut off the first path entirely.
Gengar sighed, abandoning the idea of searching for the Light Stone itself, and silently waited in Drayden's shadow for the old man to fall asleep.
The next morning, Ace washed up, checked out of his hotel, bought some breakfast, and casually ate as he walked, following directions from passersby until he reached the location of the Opelucid Gym.
The Gym doors were tightly shut, indicating that Drayden and Iris hadn't woken up yet.
Ace quickly finished his breakfast and reached out to press the doorbell on the Gym's door.
"Ding-dong!"
The doorbell rang, and the door slowly opened shortly after.
Ace walked into the Gym and was immediately met by Drayden, who was yawning and sporting a pair of dark circles under his eyes.
"Gym Leader Drayden, did you not sleep all night?"
Ace couldn't help but ask, noticing Drayden's appearance.
"Mm. Let's talk inside."
Drayden nodded and led Ace toward the reception room.
Ace followed Drayden, his foot landing on Drayden's shadow. Gengar used the instant their shadows overlapped to move from Drayden's shadow to Ace's shadow.
Gengar immediately complained to Ace about how the old man had truly stayed up all night, making Gengar's covert infiltration useless.
Ace couldn't help but be amused by Gengar's complaints.
However, through the information Gengar had relayed, Ace knew that Drayden had spent the entire night reading about the Tao Trio.
Ace raised an eyebrow, roughly guessing Drayden's intention.
The request for the Light Stone likely wouldn't go smoothly...
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