"Have a seat."
Entering the reception room, Drayden prepared a cup of tea for Ace and then poured himself a cup of strong, concentrated tea—more than half tea leaves and less than half water.
Sitting down, Drayden took a swig of the strong tea, forcefully trying to stay alert.
"Gym Leader Drayden, regarding the matter we discussed yesterday, what do you think?"
Ace took a sip of his tea. Setting the cup down, he said to Drayden, "I still hope you can entrust the Light Stone to me."
"The Light Stone is indeed in my possession, but..."
Drayden took another gulp of strong tea, staring into Ace's eyes. "I want to know how you knew the Light Stone was here."
"Because of it."
Ace took out a Great Ball, placed it on the coffee table, and explained to Drayden: "Zekrom and Kyurem have already been successfully captured and fused by me. The three Dragons are fundamentally one being; the remaining part strongly desires the return of Reshiram to become whole again."
Drayden nodded, then pointed to the Great Ball and asked, "May I see what the two fused Dragons look like?"
Ace nodded, agreeing to the request.
Next, the two went to the gym's battle arena. Ace pressed the button, the Great Ball opened, and Black Kyurem emerged, appearing virtually unchanged on the battleground.
While the surface was unchanged, the interior was not.
Black Kyurem took a deep breath. The two consciousnesses of Zekrom and Kyurem had merged. At this moment, it was the summation of both: Kyurem understood Zekrom's past, and Zekrom understood Kyurem's longing.
One was Zekrom, who willingly followed Ace, and the other was Kyurem, who had been subdued by Ace. Both Dragons were thoroughly convinced of Ace's capabilities.
So, upon its release, Black Kyurem lowered its head, bringing it close to Ace.
Ace stroked Black Kyurem, smiling as he said, "In a little while, I'll help you both completely merge. Then you will be a complete existence."
Hearing Ace's words, Black Kyurem's eyes lit up, displaying a look of profound yearning.
With the two consciousnesses merged, Black Kyurem finally sensed its own inherent flaw.
Born from one being splitting into three, they were fundamentally a single entity. Now, with a part missing, the entire body felt incomplete. They urgently needed the final fusion with Reshiram.
Drayden observed this and inwardly nodded. His purpose in asking Ace to release Black Kyurem was to gauge Black Kyurem's attitude towards Ace and its eagerness for the fusion.
Clearly, Ace was qualified at this moment.
"Roar!"
Just as Drayden was about to test Ace further, Black Kyurem, for no apparent reason, suddenly lifted its head and roared to the sky.
This sudden change instantly put Drayden on guard, unsure of what was happening.
He looked at Ace, but found Ace looked just as bewildered, completely confused as to why Black Kyurem would suddenly behave this way.
However, both Ace and Drayden soon understood.
As Black Kyurem's roar ended, a pure white orb, as if teleported, suddenly appeared right in front of Black Kyurem.
In the brief moment of shock for both Ace and Drayden, Black Kyurem suddenly opened its mouth and, with a gulp, swallowed the Light Stone whole.
"..."
"..."
Drayden looked at Ace with a grim expression, and Ace looked back at Drayden with a questioning face. The atmosphere became intensely silent for a moment.
"So noisy! What Pokémon is making that sound? Oh, big brother, you're here."
Black Kyurem's roar clearly attracted Iris, who was still sleeping in. Still in her pajamas, she greeted Ace after seeing him.
Then, Iris finally noticed the enormous Black Kyurem.
"What a huge Pokémon! Whose Pokémon is that?!"
Iris's mouth dropped open in shock as she questioned both Ace and Drayden.
"Never mind, never mind."
With Iris's interruption, Drayden sighed, saying helplessly, "The Light Stone is yours. It's been with me for so long without any change anyway. You must treat the Dragons of Truth and Ideals well, do you understand?"
"I know."
Ace nodded, then showed a wry smile: "I had originally planned to awaken Reshiram, defeat and capture it, and then proceed with the fusion. Now that the capture process has been skipped, I'm not sure if Reshiram's consciousness will accept me after being forcibly merged."
With that, Ace recalled the Black Kyurem, which had swallowed the Light Stone. He immediately spent five Task Points, and the perfect-grade Body Repair began to function.
"Repair initiated... Estimated completion in one hour."
Ace nodded with satisfaction. He was about to put the Great Ball away, but with a series of crisp cracking sounds, numerous cracks appeared on the Great Ball.
"This is bad! I knew that forcibly merging without capturing Reshiram would cause problems!"
Ace's expression darkened. He opened a Psychic Ball, and Gardevoir appeared before him.
Gardevoir put her hand on Ace, and the next moment, she Teleported with Ace to a desolate valley.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
The sound of the Great Ball shattering was constant. Ace looked at the rapidly splintering, almost unrecognizable Great Ball and, without hesitation, tossed it away.
The Great Ball spun quickly through the air in an arc, but before it could hit the ground, it could no longer resist the intense energy surge from the fusion of the three Dragons and exploded mid-air!
As the Great Ball exploded, Black Kyurem did not emerge. Instead, a cocoon of light, over two meters tall, appeared.
The cocoon of light floated in the air, slowly emanating rings of light. A powerful and abundant energy formed a repulsive force that acted upon Ace and Gardevoir, pushing their bodies backward.
"What's going on?"
Drayden, riding his Haxorus, flew over. As soon as he arrived in the valley, he saw the scene before him. Drayden quickly questioned Ace, a sense of unease growing in his heart.
"The three Dragons of Truth and Ideals are re-merging, and the resulting high-intensity energy destroyed my Great Ball," Ace explained to Drayden. "That's why I had to bring it to an uninhabited place. If this had happened in the Twin-Dragon Gym, Gym Leader Drayden, your gym would be completely ruined."
Drayden frowned slightly, watching the rings of light spread out and crush the surrounding fine stones into dust. This was enough evidence that Ace was not lying.
If he had allowed the cocoon of light to appear in the gym, he would have to apply to the League for funds to rebuild his gym once the matter was over.
"How long will the fusion take?"
Drayden asked Ace.
"One hour, at most."
Ace checked the fusion time and told Drayden.
"Alright, we'll wait here until the fusion of the three Dragons is complete."
Ace nodded. He was inwardly hoping that Zekrom and Kyurem would be able to suppress Reshiram.
Otherwise, if the fused Dragon of Truth and Ideals refused to obey orders and became something like Rayquaza, Ace felt like he would cry!
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