The sunlight was still blazing when Grey arrived in Unova.
After stepping off the plane and walking out of Castelia Airport, he felt as though he had been away for an entire lifetime.
Unova no longer had any major criminal organizations. Aside from a few street thugs, there were no genuine villains left in the region.
N was currently working under Alder as a Champion-in-training. Ever since Grey had called him over to Hoenn to help out, only to be knocked into a parallel world by Rayquaza and Deoxys, Grey had not contacted N again.
Now that he had finally set foot on Unova's solid ground again, Grey decided that he needed to repay N properly.
[Dojo Annihilape: I've arrived in Unova. Are you free right now, or should we find another time to talk?]
[Nature's Black: I really don't have time at the moment. How about tomorrow?]
[Dojo Annihilape: Sure. I need to make a trip into the desert anyway.]
Since N was unavailable, Grey decided to take care of another matter first.
He had previously promised that Larvesta would evolve at Relic Castle. Grey also wondered how the Volcarona living there was doing.
When he had last visited, he did not seem to sense Volcarona's aura at all.
Considering the lifespans of Bug-type Pokémon...
Grey sucked in a sharp breath.
Surely it had not already passed away, had it?
He shuddered and hurriedly pushed the thought from his mind.
Meanwhile, at the Unova League headquarters, N put down his phone. The black dragon Zekrom stood beside him.
"See? I told you Grey was fine. He didn't contact us earlier because he had too many things to deal with. You can finally stop worrying."
Zekrom smiled at N.
It had already told him that Grey had successfully returned to their world with the help of several Legendary Pokémon. Grey had simply been too busy to respond immediately.
"Yes. As long as Grey is safe."
N nodded gently. The weight that had been hanging over his heart finally disappeared.
"N!"
A cheerful, energetic voice suddenly rang out beside him.
N turned and saw a dark-skinned girl with long hair entering the room. She held both hands behind her back and gazed at him with lively eyes.
"Iris. What brings you here?"
N smiled slightly when he saw the other Champion candidate.
Iris had a pure heart, and her affection for Pokémon was completely sincere. Because of that, N was always willing to spend time with her.
Even Zekrom liked the girl quite a bit.
"Hehe, I came here to play with Zekrom!"
Iris blinked excitedly.
Ever since she had met Zekrom, she had wanted to pester N every day.
After all, Zekrom was unbelievably cool!
Reshiram was certainly beautiful, but Iris thought that an imposing Pokémon like Zekrom suited her tastes far better.
It was simply awesome.
"Go ahead, Zekrom. Have fun."
Still seated, N patted Zekrom's leg and indicated that it could leave the room.
"All right."
Zekrom followed Iris outside to play.
As for what they would be doing, even Zekrom did not know.
It would probably be another Pokémon battle.
It seemed Zekrom would have to hold back again today.
Iris led Zekrom through the League headquarters. On the way, she encountered Caitlin heading to work.
"Good morning, Caitlin!"
"Good morning, Iris."
Caitlin smiled and waved at her.
The simple gesture left Iris completely dumbfounded.
"Caitlin, did something wonderful happen today?"
Whenever Iris greeted Caitlin in the past, Caitlin would only give her a slight nod.
But today she had actually returned the greeting!
She had even waved!
Had hell frozen over?
The normally aloof Caitlin had enthusiastically greeted her. This was nothing less than a historic breakthrough!
Hearing Iris's astonishment, Caitlin stopped walking. A faint blush appeared on her face.
"I thought I was hiding it so well. You still noticed?"
Zekrom covered its face.
This Psychic-type specialist's emotions were painfully easy to read.
Every trace of joy, anger, sorrow, and fear was written plainly across Caitlin's face, yet she was still asking how Iris had noticed.
Still, what could possibly make the usually reserved Psychic-type Elite Four member behave like this?
Zekrom quickly thought of one possibility.
At the same time, Iris made her own guess.
"Is one of your close friends coming to Unova?"
"Hmm..."
Since Iris had more or less guessed the truth, Caitlin covered her face, but the corners of her lips continued rising.
This was so embarrassing.
"Wow, it really is one of your close friends! Let me guess again. Is Cynthia coming?"
It was no secret that Caitlin and Cynthia were close friends. That was also the only relationship Iris knew about.
The moment Cynthia's name was mentioned, Caitlin's expression stiffened.
She would certainly be happy if Cynthia came to visit, but she would not be this happy.
"It isn't Cynthia? Then who's coming?"
Whenever Iris did not understand something, she asked directly.
Caitlin did not answer immediately. She was still considering how she should describe her relationship with Grey.
Was she his long-distance girlfriend living in Unova?
His number-one supporter and potential sugar mommy?
Or perhaps...
His future wife?
Just thinking about saying it aloud was unbearably embarrassing.
"It's obviously Grey," Zekrom said quietly.
"Grey? Oh, I know him! He's the Trainer of Reshiram, the Dragon of Truth, right? He may be an outsider, but he's the Hero of Truth acknowledged by Reshiram! I had no idea you were friends with him!"
Iris's eyes lit up.
"But since you're this happy, does that mean the two of you are extremely close?"
"We're... fairly close. It isn't quite as serious as you're making it sound."
That was what Caitlin said aloud, but she was already celebrating inside.
Iris, please keep going!
Caitlin suddenly felt that every word coming out of Iris's mouth was sweeter than honey. Hearing them left her absolutely delighted.
In the past, she might have ordered Darach to reward Iris handsomely for cheering her up.
For now, however, she needed to show some restraint.
"I'm going to play with Zekrom now! I hope you and Grey have a wonderful day together!"
With that, Iris pulled Zekrom away.
Still in an excellent mood, Caitlin continued toward her office.
Inside, Rosa was already handling League affairs.
Recently, she had become known as Caitlin's Elite Four assistant and was responsible for helping Caitlin with most of her work.
At the same time, Rosa's strength had improved at an astonishing speed. Every Pokémon on her team had already reached Gym Leader level.
Her next goal was Elite Four level.
Once Rosa reached that standard, Caitlin intended to step down and allow Rosa to become the newest member of Unova's Elite Four.
As for Rosa's specialty, she would be a Grass-type specialist.
Caitlin had deliberately gathered a large amount of training information related to Grass-type Pokémon. She had also provided Rosa with plenty of resources according to her personal preferences.
Rosa's current team could only be described as terrifying.
She had a Serperior with Contrary, a Whimsicott with Prankster, an Amoonguss with Regenerator, a Ferrothorn with Iron Barbs, a Breloom with Poison Heal, and finally, a Rillaboom with Grassy Surge!
Caitlin had helped her obtain the last two Pokémon.
Grey had been the one to design the team.
It was easy to use, and battling with it was so obnoxiously effective that Rosa often found herself laughing aloud.
Among Trainers at the same level, Rosa was practically unbeatable.
If she were not so cute, her opponents probably would have dragged her into a cage match long ago.
Overall, everything was going wonderfully.
Rosa would soon become a member of the Elite Four, while Caitlin was about to see Grey and return to Kanto with him.
Just thinking about it made her feel incredibly happy.
Caitlin wondered where Grey was now.
She desperately wanted to send him a message, but after thinking it over, she worried that he had only just gotten off the plane and would be unable to answer conveniently.
In the end, Caitlin decided not to disturb him.
While Caitlin remained lost in her happy thoughts, Grey had already returned to Relic Castle.
"Cough, cough. This place hasn't changed at all. Dust is still flying everywhere."
Grey used his aura to clear the dust from his surroundings. Larvesta sat on his shoulder as they ventured deeper into Relic Castle.
Scrafty walked beside him.
Both Pokémon had originally been caught in this desert, so Grey had decided to bring them along.
"Scrafty?"
Scrafty looked around curiously.
Honestly, after living in Saffron City for so long, it had nearly forgotten what its homeland looked like.
Living in the city was far more comfortable than surviving in the desert.
Back then, Scrafty had never known when it would find its next meal. Sometimes it ate, and sometimes it went hungry.
After being caught by Grey, however, all it needed to do was fight someone every day. In exchange, it could enjoy chicken for one meal and burgers for the next.
Its life was carefree and comfortable.
One word described it perfectly.
Awesome.
"Do you want to return to your Poké Ball?"
Noticing Scrafty's unusual mood, Grey asked for its opinion.
"Scrafty."
Scrafty shook its head.
It still had many things it wanted to report to Grey. Since it had finally been brought outside, this was the perfect chance to explain everything it had done recently.
Scrafty proceeded to tell Grey how it had brought Saffron City's black market under control and described the current situation in detail.
In simple terms, Scrafty had become the king of Saffron City's criminal underworld.
It was responsible for managing the wild Pokémon operating within the city's illegal businesses.
Even Team Rocket had been forced to pay tribute to it.
In return, Scrafty pretended not to notice some of their activities.
Then, under cover of night, it joined forces with the Fighting Dojo's most powerful Pokémon and Saffron City's Officer Jenny to capture the entire group of Team Rocket members in one sweep.
Scrafty had secretly left several of its own agents behind.
When Team Rocket sent replacements into the city, those agents would infiltrate their ranks and gather intelligence.
In the past, Scrafty could never have accomplished all of this so smoothly.
Most of Team Rocket's forces had now been transferred to Alola, giving Scrafty the perfect opportunity.
It had unified Saffron City's criminal enterprises and become the undisputed king of the local hoodlums.
"You did well."
Grey praised Scrafty without hesitation.
He had originally believed that dealing with Saffron City's entire criminal underworld would require another two or three months.
He never expected Scrafty to unify everything in just over half a month.
That performance absolutely deserved praise.
"Scrafty." I'm not that impressive. The real reason everything worked was because the Pokémon at the dojo are so powerful. I once encountered a Gym Leader-level Pokémon that I couldn't defeat, so I called the Three Generals over. We only won because they helped me.
Scrafty scratched its head in embarrassment.
Although it had been throwing its weight around throughout Saffron City's underworld, it had only recently gained enough power to command genuine respect.
Before that, Scrafty had been relying entirely on borrowed muscle. It could only maintain its position because the Three Generals and the dojo's other Pokémon supported it.
That problem disappeared once Scrafty reached Gym Leader level.
From now on, it should be strong enough to continue advancing through its own power.
Scrafty then took out a glass bead.
It explained that it had taken the object from someone in the black market. Scrafty could sense that the bead would be useful to it, but it had been unable to discover its purpose.
Grey accepted the glass bead from Scrafty.
Well, well!
It was a Scraftinite.
Grey smiled.
"You really found a treasure. When we have time, I'll help you Mega Evolve."
"Scrafty!" It's actually a Mega Stone?!
Scrafty was well aware of the appeal of Mega Evolution.
It had never imagined that it would also be capable of Mega Evolving!
"That's right. This Scraftinite is your Mega Stone."
Grey rubbed Scrafty's head.
"Larvesta." We're here.
Larvesta suddenly spoke from his shoulder.
"Scrafty, return for now."
Grey stopped and looked at the quicksand ahead before recalling Scrafty into its Poké Ball.
During his previous visit, he had watched Larvesta use the quicksand to descend into the castle's depths.
The quicksand pit was considerably larger now.
Grey was not worried about getting trapped.
Without giving it much thought, he jumped in.
The flowing sand swallowed both Grey and Larvesta.
Less than three minutes later, the human and Bug-type Pokémon reached the deeper chambers of Relic Castle.
The sight before him left Grey silent.
Volcarona was lying motionless on the ground with its eyes tightly closed.
The aura remaining inside its body was incredibly faint.
It seemed Grey's earlier fears had been correct. Larvesta's father had truly passed away, returning to the heavens and becoming one with the desert sands.
Grey sighed.
It was unfortunate that he had failed to bring Larvesta back in time to see Volcarona one final time.
"Larvesta..."
Larvesta's eyes filled with tears.
It had not been gone for long, yet its father had already left this world.
Father!
I will inherit the will of our Volcarona lineage and ensure that the name of the "sun" shines forever!
"Larvesta!"
The moment Larvesta formed that resolution, a strange radiance erupted from its body.
Intense heat filled the chamber. Larvesta leaped from Grey's shoulder and landed at the center of the altar.
Surrounded by the ancient murals, its glowing body resembled a sun slowly rising over the horizon.
"Volcarona." Well, well. I didn't expect that troublesome kid Larvesta to evolve too.
The supposedly dead Volcarona suddenly opened its eyes and watched Larvesta's evolution with great interest.
Grey stared at it.
Dude, did you just come back from the dead?!
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