Lillie ran down the stairs toward Bai Chen, with Lusamine following behind her.
│ "How did you two get to Galar so quickly?"
Lusamine smiled.
│ "You should thank Lillie. We waited for you at home last night, but you never came back. We worried something had happened."
Bai Chen nodded.
│ "Something DID happen. The space-time exit opened right in Galar."
│ "Lillie guessed you might've been teleported elsewhere," Lusamine continued.
│ "She thought: if you had no phone, how would you contact us? Aether Paradise was the only answer. She checked the booking logs, and there you were."
│ "I really thought it'd take you 3–4 days to find me. Didn't expect you to be this fast. Well done," Bai Chen praised.
│ "I just tried thinking as you would…" Lillie said, shy but proud.
At that moment, one of Bai Chen's Monster Balls popped open.
Nergigante bolted out and launched herself at Lillie.
Lillie caught her—then froze up instantly as her body locked into paralysis.
Nergigante happily licked her cheek.
│ "Alright, alright—don't jump on her. She still can't touch Pokémon," Bai Chen said, pulling her away.
│ "T-technically she CAN…!" Lillie protested weakly as the paralysis faded, cheeks flushed.
Bai Chen smiled without arguing. Fixing that problem was exactly why he returned.
Nergigante climbed onto his shoulder and greeted Lillie.
Lillie happily replied.
Lusamine examined Nergigante.
│ "She's grown a lot."
│ "She is. Much stronger too—you'll be shocked," Bai Chen said. Lusamine's gaze moved to the four other balls.
│ "Not going to introduce your new partners?"
│ "Not here. Inside the arena."
Inside, Bai Chen threw all the balls up.
│ "Come out."
The skilled blacksmith was familiar to them, but the other three weren't.
│ "This is Indeedee—my newest teammate. I caught her half an hour ago."
│ "Fuu~" Indeedee greeted them politely.
Next, Bai Chen pointed to Zinogre and the rock wyvern.
│ "Zinogre—Fanged Wyvern, also called the Peerless Hunter."
│ "This is a Rock Wyvern—still young."
Their mini forms made them look cute, rather than threatening. Lillie relaxed and crouched down.
│ "Nice to meet you. I'm Lillie."
Zinogre immediately cancelled his mini-form. His body expanded to full size. Lillie stumbled back several steps, staring up at the eight-meter giant.
│ "Mr. Bai fights monsters… THIS big?"
Zinogre coolly turned to walk away—
And Bai Chen stepped on his tail.
Zinogre froze. Nergigante glared at him.
│ "Greet her."
│ "R-really, it's okay!" Lillie tried to calm the tension.
Zinogre hesitated two seconds, then gave Lillie a stiff nod.
│ "P-please take care of me," Lillie said nervously.
Only then did Bai Chen release his tail. Zinogre retreated to sulk.
Lillie turned to greet the Basarios—only to see him already walking toward her. She tensed, gripping her skirt.
│ "D-did I do something wrong…?"
The little wyvern stopped, and a crystal tear formed in his eye—a Basarios Tear. He held it gently in his mouth and looked up at her.
│ "Is… is this for me?"
He nodded.
She held out her hand, and the gem dropped into her palm.
│ "It's beautiful… thank you!"
Her fear melted instantly.
│ "So only Zinogre is the cold one."
The wyvern's tiny bean-eyes curved joyfully. He had already mastered survival in this team:
A punching bag must know its place.
Recognize the hierarchy fast,
or get beaten without knowing why.
Bai Chen sensed his thoughts.
│ "…So he can produce tears WITHOUT getting hit? And I, the knight, had no idea."
He silently decided to have Nergigante train the "no-ambition reptile."
Lusamine was amazed by their intelligence—Zinogre's pride and reluctant compromise, and the Basarios exhibited cleverness and flattery..
No matter how you look at it, the intelligence of these monsters is no less than that of ordinary Pokémon
What Lusamina didn't know was that the intelligence of ordinary monsters might indeed be somewhat lacking.
However, after experiments, Bai Chen discovered that the closer a creature's bloodline was to an Elder Dragon, the higher its intelligence.
Don't let the monsters' constant roaring and seemingly foolish behavior deceive you; some monsters, especially those of high rarity, possess remarkable intelligence, some even far surpassing that of humans.
For example, the Ahtal-Ka, which can assemble its own Ahtal-Neset. possesses frighteningly high intelligence.
Note: (The Ahtal-Nesetis the colossal, temporary mechanized construct piloted by the Elder Dragon-level Neopteron, the Ahtal-Ka. It is less a factory-built machine and more an organic weapon forged from pure ingenuity and monstrous strength.)
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