Night fell.
Zekrom, Reshiram, and Giratina lay sprawled on the grass of Michina Town, gazing up at the starry sky with satisfied expressions.
To be honest, this should be the most satisfying meal they'd had since their birth. Not only was it delicious, but it was also filling!
Giratina glanced at the black and white brothers beside it, and suddenly a rather bold idea formed in its mind.
Giratina: How about... the three of us form a team?
Reshiram & Zekrom: ?
Giratina: The three of us have worked together before, and not just once...
In the Unova region, after Kyurem devoured and fused with Zekrom, Giratina was called by Johan to help. At that time, they joined forces only to be beaten down by Kyurem, who was known as the "strongest dragon on Earth's surface."
This time, during the Arceus incident, the three of them cooperated again - Giratina took the hits while Zekrom and Reshiram handled the offense. Perfect!
Giratina: Look, you two still have Kyurem bothering you in Unova, and I have Dialga and Palkia interfering in Sinnoh. How about the three of us form a... New Three Dragons!
New Three Dragons?
Reshiram and Zekrom exchanged glances, then shuffled their butts to distance themselves from Giratina.
This guy... hadn't been beaten enough yet?
New Three Dragons indeed. Did it really think Arceus had gone to sleep?
After eating and drinking their fill, Reshiram planned to go back and sleep well, waiting for Johan's next summons, while Zekrom still had to continue helping N realize his ideals.
Elsewhere, Darkrai and Gengar sat shoulder to shoulder on a bare tree branch, gazing at the bright moon.
At this moment, Darkrai was in high spirits. Having beaten even Arceus, what other legendary Pokémon was there to fear?
Just go for it!
"Gengar, do you think I'm brave?"
"Ka-kaah ka-kaah~~" Gengar reached out and touched Darkrai's forehead.
Brave, brave, brave - wait, shouldn't I be the one asking that question?
Also, did you take the wrong medicine or drink too much? No wait, we were drinking milk - could you get drunk on milk?
"Gengar, they're all in groups of three. How about... we form one too? With a catchy name, like the Darkrai Special Forces!"
"Ka-kaah?"
Why not call it the "Gengar Trio"?
Besides, there are only two of us - how can we form a trio?
"Isn't there still that guy?" Darkrai tilted its head slightly, glancing at Mewtwo, who still had soot on its face and was diligently grilling.
"I think it's pretty good."
Gengar gave Darkrai a sideways look.
You sure know how to pick! After crushing Arceus, Mewtwo had certainly made an impression among all the legendary and mythical Pokémon, letting everyone know of its existence.
"Ka-kaah?" Gengar rubbed its chin. So how would we rank the three of us?
Gengar held up its hand and counted on its fingers.
By strength: Mewtwo, Darkrai, Gengar. By age: Gengar, Darkrai, Mewtwo. By size: Gengar, Darkrai, Mewtwo. By tongue: Gengar, Darkrai, Mewtwo. By color: Mewtwo, Darkrai, Gengar.
"..."
"So I'm forever second place?" Darkrai discovered the "secret" of Gengar's rankings.
Darkrai the Second?
Gengar nodded thoughtfully. Not bad, not bad.
"Wait, but in terms of strength, Mewtwo is strong, but as a Dark-type Pokémon, I should completely counter it, right?"
Gengar indicated: Have you heard of a move called "Miracle Eye"?
"Well, by age, logically—"
Darkrai stopped mid-sentence because Gengar was also a thousand-year-old ghost, and one whose current age was unknown.
"Ranking by color is really going too far..."
Gengar stuck out its tongue, revealing the fragment of Arceus's Spooky Plate, playing with it on its tongue while also showing its attitude to Darkrai.
Blehhh~~
Darkrai: "..."
"Togekiss~~"
Cynthia's Togepi waddled along on tiny steps, following closely behind Larvitar, while Victini floated nearby, looking ready to catch it if it fell.
"Yoji!"
Larvitar suddenly stopped and put its hands on its hips.
Bang—
Togepi couldn't stop in time and bumped head-first into Larvitar, wobbling before falling backward onto the ground.
"Togekiss... (︿)"
"Vii..."
Victini watching from the side looked helpless - who would have thought it would fall like that without being caught?
"Yoji!"
Larvitar turned around, looking at its two current "little brothers," nodding with satisfaction.
Either way, I'm now someone who's a big brother! I'll look after you guys from now on!
"Togekiss~(≧≦)"
Togepi sitting on the ground showed an expression of complete admiration.
"Garrr—!"
Cynthia's Garchomp suddenly walked over, picked up Togepi from the ground, and bared its teeth at Larvitar.
Don't corrupt our little egg!
"Yoji!"
Larvitar hurried to follow. Little egg! My little egg! You have to teach me a move before you can take the little egg away—
On yet another side.
"Oowoo~~" "Bui~~"
Ninetales and Glaceon sat together, with Ninetales's tails spread out covering Glaceon, while Glaceon carefully groomed the bristled fur on Ninetales's tails from their recent battle.
Nearby, Flint's Houndoom watched this scene with longing eyes, tongue hanging out and tail wagging rapidly. But it didn't dare approach.
"Be brave, Houndoom!" Flint, sitting in a chair not far away, cheered on his Houndoom while gripping his fist, a piece of grilled meat in his mouth and fire in his eyes.
Go bravely pursue your ideal type! Whether it's Teacher Johan's Ninetales or Big Sister's Glaceon, if you can win over either one, we're set!
"Hound..."
Encouraged by its trainer, Houndoom finally mustered its courage, took a deep breath, and strode toward Ninetales and Glaceon with determination.
Its expression was resolute, its attitude serious, and it wore what it thought was a very friendly smile.
"Oowoo?"
Ninetales keenly sensed "danger" - there was fire approaching, and it had "ill intentions."
Almost instinctively, Ninetales turned its head and fired an unreasonable Ice Beam at Houndoom.
Crack crack crack—
Houndoom was instantly covered in snow-white transparent ice crystals, all its expressions frozen on its face.
"Bui?"
Only then did Glaceon look toward Houndoom, with some confusion. What did it want to do?
Ninetales shook its head. Don't know, but somehow... it felt unsafe, a Fire-type Pokémon sneaking up like that...
Bang—
The ice crystals on Houndoom shattered, its eyes filled with the crystalline tears of "heartbreak" as it turned and ran toward the nearby grove.
Though it couldn't really be called "heartbreak" since it never even began.
"Hound..." Flint opened his mouth but didn't know how to comfort it, since he had no experience in this area either.
Could it be that Fire-type and Ice-type Pokémon really weren't compatible?
"Bui~~"
Glaceon, having discovered his ulterior motives, mercilessly breathed out a puff of cold air, and Flint followed Houndoom's fate, becoming an ice sculpture.
Clang clang clang—
"Cha!"
Finished!
Tinkaton clapped its hands with satisfaction, looking at Ceruledge's newly repaired armor and nodding contentedly.
This was its most prideful masterpiece to date.
But after finishing Ceruledge's armor, Tinkaton once again immersed itself in the joy of metalworking.
Although Tinkaton seemed to have gained the least from this Arceus incident - after all, Larvitar, Urshifu, and Gengar had all obtained or repaired Plate fragments - in reality, Tinkaton's gains were no less than theirs, because Team Galactic had sent another airship!
Thanks to Team Galactic's bosses for the rocket donation!
Even though Team Galactic's airship wasn't as big as Team Plasma's destroyer, Team Galactic's airship was made of better materials!
And Team Plasma's destroyer was more like a ship, using a lot of wooden structures, but Team Galactic's airship was mostly metal, which made Tinkaton extremely happy.
As for Dragonite... with so many Dragon-type legendary Pokémon present, scraping a scale from each one was a great tonic for Dragonite.
The one with truly smaller gains was actually Ninetales and Ceruledge.
Ninetales couldn't help it - as an Ice and Fairy-type Pokémon, even Arceus acknowledged its extraordinary potential in Ice-type abilities, not needing the power of the Ice Plate.
And in Fairy-type aspects... even Arceus itself was lacking in Fairy-type, not even having the Fairy Plate - whether it hadn't found it or had lost it was unknown.
As for Ceruledge, it had been learning "flame explosion" techniques from Victini all along. While the progress wasn't immediately obvious, it was constantly improving.
Moreover, when it switched to Armarouge form, it could also learn some psychic techniques from Mewtwo, so it wouldn't stagnate.
"Honestly, there's really a lack in Fairy-type aspects."
Johan had also noticed the deficiencies in some aspects of his Pokémon team.
Not having certain types was one thing - like Grass, Bug, and Normal types that none of his Pokémon possessed, so there wasn't much to say about those. But in Fairy-type... his team had two Fairy-type Pokémon!
Ninetales and Tinkaton.
However, both Ninetales and Tinkaton were lacking in developing their Fairy-type abilities.
On one hand, Fairy-type resources were relatively hard to find, being rare and precious.
On the other hand, their Fairy-type deficiency was also because, compared to their other types, ordinary materials and resources really didn't help them much.
Of course, in Johan's view, it was actually because there was no Fairy-type before Generation VI! The patch wasn't comprehensive enough.
"Fairy-type, huh?"
Cynthia, sitting nearby, heard Johan's muttering and said softly, "Perhaps you could ask Valerie about it."
"Valerie?"
The Gym Leader of Laverre Gym in the Kalos region, an expert specializing in Fairy-types, and one of the few top trainers in the Pokémon world who specialized in Fairy-types.
"You know her?"
"Mm, of course." Cynthia nodded. "Many of my performance outfits were designed with Valerie's help."
Contest outfits?
Johan's eyes lit up. He remembered that Cynthia had quite a few contest outfits, including not only Garchomp and Altaria contest outfits, but even Arceus and Giratina contest outfits.
Each contest outfit brought obvious changes to Cynthia. The Garchomp outfit showed wildness and boldness, the Altaria outfit showed efficiency and nobility, the Arceus outfit showed holiness and radiance, and the Giratina outfit...
Undoubtedly, Johan's favorite was still Cynthia in the Giratina contest outfit. It not only had a dark wedding dress style but was also an unprecedented combination of Cynthia + black stockings... cough cough.
"What are you thinking about?"
Cynthia waved her hand in front of Johan, vaguely sensing he was thinking about something inappropriate.
"Cough, no, nothing." Johan regained his composure and said seriously, "Actually, I have a little bit of talent in fashion design."
"Oh?" Cynthia showed a somewhat suspicious expression.
Johan maintained his "upright" appearance and said earnestly:
"Maybe I could even give Valerie some suggestions to help her design very suitable uniforms - no, outfits for you."
No, if he could get involved in Cynthia's fashion design, who needed contest outfits?
JK, maid, cat girl...
Damn.
Johan quickly shook his head, driving some impractical thoughts from his mind.
If he really did that, he'd be treated as a pervert, right? He might wake up at night with Garchomp's scythe at his throat.
But some contest outfits could indeed be worth trying.
Cynthia naturally didn't know what Johan was thinking, but hearing that Johan could help design clothes for her, she curved her eyes and smiled:
"Alright then, you can try. I can wear them for the next performance battle."
"Anything goes?" Johan asked tentatively.
"Mm-hmm."
Target: Laverre City in the Kalos region!
Speaking of which, Arceus had also suggested that if he had time, he could visit the Kalos region...
But Johan felt that any place Arceus suggested definitely had problems!
Did it really think he couldn't understand Arceus's final "prophecy"?
"The awakening and collision of life and destruction" most likely referred to the revival event of Xerneas, the God of Life, and Yveltal, the God of Destruction or Death.
But honestly, to quote Darkrai: having beaten even Arceus, what other legendary Pokémon was there to fear?
Of course, fear was still there - after all, when legendary Pokémon erupted, many things were truly unpredictable.
Unlike this time, Johan had prepared various countermeasures for Arceus's awakening well in advance, with three different Plans, which allowed him to get through it safely.
But the Kalos region was the "birthplace" of Fairy-type, so it was indeed a good place to improve Fairy-type abilities.
We'll see... Kanaz Pokémon Academy was also entering the final sprint stage for finals. During summer vacation, he'd see whether to take the little ones on a trip to the Kalos region.
After all, the Hoenn and Kalos regions had an unclear relationship.
Similar abilities like Mega Evolution had two theories of origin: meteors from Hoenn and the "Ultimate Weapon" from the Kalos region.
And Steven had recently been quite obsessed with going to Kalos to dig for stones. In the games, Steven liked to give Mega Stones in the Kalos region.
"I'm planning to..." Cynthia rested her chin on her hand, looking at the stars in the sky, and said softly, "train for a while longer, then try to challenge for Champion."
Whether it was this incident or previous events, they all made Cynthia realize one thing... she had the heart to protect a region - that was the responsibility of a Champion.
Johan wasn't surprised to hear her words. In his impression, Cynthia and Champion were two words that naturally went together.
"Good." Johan nodded. "And I think you can definitely do it."
A Champion's heart?
Steven's determination to single-handedly battle Groudon and Kyogre for 22 days, Leon's confidence to face Eternatus head-on...
"However, once you become Champion, many things won't be up to you anymore," Johan said.
Unova's Alder was the best example.
Cynthia smiled gently and said, "Isn't there still Lucian?"
"Eh, that's true."
After the incident ended, Lucian, the only official Elite Four member, was busy representing the League in handling the aftermath.
This included but wasn't limited to cleaning up Michina's mess, reporting and explaining the general course of events, approving Teacher Johan's reimbursement form, and transporting various ingredients and materials to Michina Town...
The ingredients for treating Giratina and the others to a meal couldn't come out of Johan's own pocket, right? Besides, Johan didn't have that many materials.
The Sinnoh League had to provide the materials themselves.
After solving such a big problem for the Sinnoh region, what was wrong with providing a little bit of materials?
"Achoo—"
Lucian, busy in his office, looked miserable as he sneezed and glanced at the night outside the window.
"They're probably having a great time eating right now..."
Lucian felt bitter but didn't know who to complain to.
Looking at the reimbursement form in his hand, his eye twitched.
"Is this... is this the legendary 'Reimbursement King'?"
"Need a sparring partner?" Johan blinked and asked.
"You want to be a sparring partner?" Cynthia tilted her head and asked back.
Johan glanced at Garchomp not far away and shrank his neck.
Never mind, never mind...
"I mean Flint would be a good sparring partner," Johan laughed awkwardly.
"Achoo—"
Flint nearby sneezed, rubbing his arms and shivering from the cold.
"Oh no, oh no, I hope I'm not catching a cold..."
Cynthia gave Johan a slightly reproachful glance and said:
"Actually, it's not necessary. I already understand the remaining direction with Garchomp and the others."
Cynthia's direction?
When in doubt, let Garchomp sweep the team?
If Cynthia was going to take the Champion route... Garchomp alone probably had a good chance of sweeping through three Elite Four members, right?
Johan silently mourned for Lucian, Flint, and the others for three seconds.
"By the way, when did you catch an Eevee?" Cynthia brought up the Eevee that Johan had shown during the performance battle at Blueberry Academy.
Why wasn't that Eevee seen this time?
Hearing this, Johan's smile gradually became strange. He lowered his voice, leaned close to Cynthia's ear, and whispered a couple of sentences.
After hearing his explanation, Cynthia first looked enlightened, then couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.
"Shh, this matter - heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know..."
That "Eevee" was an ace card.
"You..."
July 4th, Kanto region, Viridian City, Team Rocket base.
"So many legendary Pokémon?"
Giovanni sat at his office desk, picked up a slightly charred cookie and put it in his mouth, showing a rather pleased smile.
"Truly worthy of Johan."
He actually wanted to pat himself on the shoulder and say, "Truly worthy of my judgment."
Buzz—
Psychic waves suddenly appeared in Giovanni's office.
As the psychic light faded, Mewtwo had appeared before Giovanni, its eyes directly meeting this man who had orchestrated its creation.
Facing Mewtwo, Giovanni put away his previous smile and assumed an expressionless demeanor.
Although the League's blockade meant that detailed information about Teacher Johan VS Arceus hadn't been made public, Team Rocket had still obtained some information.
This included... Mewtwo had Mega Evolved with Johan, and then Mega Mewtwo Y had shattered Arceus's avatar with one punch.
Mewtwo had displayed strength far beyond what Giovanni had originally expected.
And with such strength, plus Mewtwo's awakened self-awareness, Team Rocket actually had little ability to restrict Mewtwo anymore.
Even if Mewtwo wanted to, it could destroy Team Rocket's secret base under Viridian City at any time.
One human and one Pokémon stared at each other, neither speaking.
After a while, Mewtwo finally spoke.
"Your bloodline is currently in New Bark Town, the town of beginnings, in the Johto region."
Crack—
Giovanni's wrist trembled slightly, and the charred cookie in his hand immediately crumbled into pieces. He also rarely showed a loss of composure.
His bloodline! Silver!
Originally, Giovanni had strongly supported the creation of the genetic Pokémon Mewtwo partly to give Team Rocket absolute combat power, but more importantly, he wanted to use the genetic Pokémon's abilities to find his child.
For this, Giovanni had even relaxed restrictions on Mewtwo, which was almost equivalent to giving up control over Mewtwo.
After waiting so long, he had finally heard the answer he wanted from Mewtwo.
Johto region, New Bark Town!
Giovanni took a deep breath, trying to calm the waves in his heart.
Usually, he was the leader of Team Rocket, the sole head of the largest dark organization in the Pokémon world, the leader of a force that could confront the League to a certain extent.
But at this moment, he was just a father. A father who had lost his child for years and wanted to find his lost child, nothing more.
But before Giovanni could act, Mewtwo spoke again.
"Johan asked me to ask you: are you ready? Or rather, do you think he's ready?"
Hearing this, Giovanni froze in place.
Was he ready? Was Silver ready?
No.
Giovanni knew his answer clearly.
Team Rocket hadn't completed its transformation yet, and he was still the Team Rocket leader wanted by the League, that "unforgivable" person.
Would Silver be willing to acknowledge such a person as his father?
Not to mention what state Silver was in, whether he was on the right or wrong path - Giovanni couldn't afford to gamble...
Giovanni's lips trembled slightly, his voice somewhat hoarse as he asked:
"What's Johan's suggestion?"
Mewtwo, sensing Giovanni's inner turmoil, nodded secretly while saying:
"He said: Why not observe first, don't make contact, and see what he wants."
"Observe first, no contact?"
Giovanni took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and nodded slightly:
"It seems that's the only way for now."
At least... he had found his child, and this time he would definitely keep a close watch!
Mewtwo nodded and turned to head toward the laboratory, but just as it turned around, it stopped again.
Looking deeply at Giovanni, it said slowly:
"Your time seems limited."
Giovanni looked at Mewtwo, not surprised that Mewtwo could see through him - after all, this was someone who could even find Silver, so how could it not see his problems?
But Giovanni just laughed heartily.
"It's enough."
Enough for him to understand what Silver wanted, to recognize Silver.
And enough for him to entrust Team Rocket to the person he had high hopes for.
Seeing Giovanni say this, Mewtwo said nothing more and turned to leave.
Watching Mewtwo's departing figure, Giovanni loosened his collar and chuckled:
"This guy is becoming more and more 'human.'"
Unova region, N's castle.
"Back?"
N gently wiped the sweat from his forehead, straightened up from the tilled field, and smiled at Zekrom flying back from the distance.
Zekrom nodded and slowly landed beside N.
Although only a few days had passed, the wasteland in front of N's castle had undergone considerable changes. Green plants had sprouted, and former Team Plasma members and Pokémon were working diligently on them.
Ideals were distant, but N was working toward his ideals step by step, bit by bit. Each day's changes were N's motivation to move forward.
As the Dragon of Ideals that recognized N's ideals, Zekrom could clearly feel this.
N sat on a nearby ridge, half-tilting his head. "Can you tell me about it?"
Zekrom didn't refuse and briefly recounted the general course of events.
"Arceus?" N looked shocked.
But what shocked him even more was that Teacher Johan had summoned nearly ten legendary and mythical Pokémon at once!
Then... "Beat Arceus down and even defeated it?" N swallowed.
Even as the Black Hero recognized by the Dragon of Ideals, N couldn't help but be deeply shaken when hearing about such a battle.
Was this... his teacher's true strength?
"Really amazing." N said admiringly.
Zekrom neither agreed nor disagreed, smacking its lips.
"Speaking of which... Zekrom, have you gained weight?" N tilted his head.
[Where? Where have I? Burp~]
Zekrom's old face turned red.
Fortunately, it was completely black, so it wasn't very noticeable.
"Hahaha—"
"What's so funny?"
Suddenly, a hearty voice came.
Hearing this voice, N quickly stood up, dusted off his clothes, and formally greeted the newcomer.
"Mr. Alder."
What came was a jeep.
Besides Officer Jenny, who looked helpless and even a bit disgusted, there was the Champion of the Unova region, Mr. Alder.
Through Johan's connection, N and Alder had established contact, and under their joint efforts, Team Plasma in the Unova region had been almost completely eliminated.
What remained, besides N's loyal supporters who were willing to support him in completing his great ideal, were those hiding in certain corners of the Unova region, unable to cause much trouble anymore.
During this process, Alder had gradually come to know, understand, and recognize N's existence and ideals.
The fact that this castle, originally Team Plasma's headquarters, could be preserved was largely due to Alder's efforts.
"You look in good spirits, N."
"So do you."
N was quite respectful toward Alder, this Champion who had devoted himself to Unova.
"How are you considering my last proposal, N?" Alder got straight to the point.
Last time, having recognized N's abilities, Alder had recommended him to join the Unova League. Whether he could become Champion remained to be seen, but taking on an Elite Four position - just based on Zekrom's existence alone - would be absolutely no problem.
If it had been before, N would most likely have refused.
After all, he didn't have much pursuit regarding being a trainer, and he wouldn't catch Pokémon either.
However, after learning about Teacher Johan's incident with Arceus, N had slightly changed some of his views.
Perhaps when Teacher Johan needed help in the future, he and Zekrom could rush over together?
As for catching Pokémon... with N's abilities, whether or not he used Poké Balls to catch them really didn't matter much.
Of course, before that, N would need to train some Pokémon first, and even if he joined the Unova League, his main energy would still be focused on building his "ideal nation."
"I—"
"ZzZ"
N had just started to speak when he noticed Alder had fallen asleep, not only snoring but even hanging a snot bubble from his nose.
Seeing this, N didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Officer Jenny nearby took this opportunity to "clang" punch Alder on the back of his head.
"Old man! Cough, well, Champion Alder, someone's talking to you!"
N: "..."
Hoenn, Rustboro City, Devon Corporation building.
"Teacher is really amazing..."
Steven looked at the brief internal League intelligence report and couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
Nearly ten legendary and mythical Pokémon? Defeating the Creator God Arceus?
Were these things that an ordinary trainer could accomplish?
Even Joseph Stone, Steven's experienced father and Devon's president, couldn't help but be amazed by such news.
The old man was very grateful.
As a father, he was grateful that his son could have such a teacher.
As a company executive, he was also grateful that Devon had established friendly relations with Teacher Johan long ago, and that Teacher Johan was also Devon's special consultant.
With such an existence, while there was still opportunity, Devon should seize the time to increase their "investment."
It's just... he wondered what Teacher Johan still lacked...
"Father." Steven suddenly said, "After the academy exams are over, I'm planning to go to Kalos again."
"Looking for stones?"
The old man not only didn't object to his son's hobby but was very supportive.
"Partly." Steven smiled. "I heard that the Battle Chateau in the Kalos region sometimes has Elite Four members or even Champions appear. It should be a good place."
Mr. Stone understood. So there was also training involved.
"Very well."
The old man waved his hand. "Go ahead."
After a pause, he added:
"By the way, when you have time, go to Petalburg City. We have a batch of orders from Devon there."
"Alright."
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Powerstones?
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