Sergey wandered off to the side to contact Ye Fan, while Terrence casually pulled a beach chair from his inventory, plopped down, and crossed his legs.
Jeroen watched this with a twitching eye and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid?"
Terrence glanced at him, shrugged, and said, "What good would being scared do? Besides, this whole Instance is just a game. There are no penalties if we fail. Haven't you heard the saying?"
Jeroen was momentarily speechless, then asked, "What saying?"
Terrence lazily lifted an eyelid and said calmly, "If it's meant to be yours, it'll be yours. If it's not, no amount of effort will make a difference."
Jeroen: "..."
Just then, Sergey walked back over, his eyes locked onto Terrence.
"Fine," he said, "But we need to verify the intel first."
"Sure thing," Terrence replied cheerfully. He then theatrically opened his map panel, glanced at it for half a second, and blurted out a random coordinate: "(205.1756)."
Sergey jotted it down and turned to Jeroen, "Let's hold position here while we wait for Ye Fan to confirm the location."
Then the two of them found a shady spot and sat down on the ground.
Terrence quietly slipped into the private chat and typed:
{Terrence: How much longer?}
Caleb replied instantly:
{Caleb: Eleven minutes.}
Since they had nothing better to do, Terrence filled his teammates in on what had just happened.
The three of them chatted idly for a bit, and before they knew it, time had flown by...
...
{Caleb: We're here.}
And just like that, the entire Diglett Basin changed...
One moment, the sun was shining brightly. The next, it vanished. In the distance, a swarm of Pokémon surged toward them like a mass of dark clouds.
Sergey sensed something was wrong and immediately sat up alert, looking toward the darkened sky.
Jeroen muttered in awe, "Whoa… That's one huge storm cloud. How did the weather change so fast?"
Sergey, however, had 20/20 vision, so he clearly saw what was really coming.
That wasn't a storm cloud at all. It was a terrifying army of Salamences! The scale was massive, they were easily over 200 000 strong!
Realization hit Sergey like a ton of bricks. He whipped his head toward Terrence, who'd somehow stood up without anyone noticing, and narrowed his eyes, "It was you, wasn't it?"
Terrence grinned. His bro was truly impressive. He'd sent over 500 000 max-level elite troops just as he'd promised!
Jeroen was completely lost. He looked frantically between the sky and his cryptic teammates, "What are you guys talking about?! What's that thing up there?!"
Sergey didn't answer. He just stared daggers at Terrence.
Terrence chuckled and answered for him, "That's your one-way ticket back home!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Salamence army arrived above the territory.
At the front of the swarm, a single Dragonite shot down like a meteor and landed right in front of Terrence.
The shiny Dragonite's sharp eyes fixed on the two stunned opponents: "Wuuu!"
Terrence instantly recognized the Dragonite. He loved this Pokémon species, but had never had the chance to catch one. During the Transformation and Substitution Instance, he had spent his days playing with Caleb's Dragonite.
Seeing the chonky dragon now, he waved cheerfully, "Hey! Long time no see!"
Dragonite sniffed the familiar dog scent and quickly recalled the Smeargle.
"Wuu!"
Dragonite responded, then opened his mouth and unleashed a Twister.
Jeroen and Sergey went flying.
Sergey was quick on the uptake and instantly realized this Dragonite's identity. Realizing he'd been played, he barely managed to steady himself mid-air as he furiously barked orders for his six Pokémon to attack.
Just then, the Salamence army moved...
The overwhelming force of the dragons filled the air with a savage, violent aura. The oppressive pressure was like a suffocating wall, nearly crushing those on the ground.
Outside the base, the low-level Pokémon soldiers Jeroen and Sergey had brought with them whimpered and collapsed to the ground. Completely outmatched in both numbers and power, they were swallowed whole by the 500k strong Salamence horde.
In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was completely overturned.
Sergey and Jeroen watched in horror as their hard-earned army of 20 000 Lv3 troops, which they bought with precious resources, vanished into thin air!
Sergey clenched his teeth so hard, he nearly drew blood and snarled through gritted teeth, "Caleb!!!"
Hearing someone shout his Trainer's name in that tone got Dragonite pissed. With two swift punches, he sent both annoyances straight back to the respawn point.
Riding the wave of borrowed power, Terrence watched the scene with excitement. Seeing Dragonite's soft, chubby face, he couldn't resist the urge to reach out.
But Dragonite sensed his sneaky intentions instantly. He backed up a few steps and let out a warning growl. He didn't like physical contact from anyone other than his trainer.
Besides, Dragonite was only here to deliver the Salamence army. Having done that, the chonky dragon planned on leaving now.
Disappointed he couldn't pet Dragonite, Terrence muttered a few grumbles into the private chat, then smoothly took command of the 500k Salamence troops. He watched as Dragonite soared off into the distance.
Once Dragonite's silhouette disappeared over the horizon, Terrence turned around, surveyed his utterly wrecked territory, and let out a cold laugh.
He lifted his gaze toward the sun-drenched Diglett Basin in the distance, "From now on, this entire region is mine!"
…
At the same time, Hatsumi's reinforcements had also arrived...
...
Caleb watched his two allies charge headfirst into their grand unification plan… while he himself sat back in his own territory, leisurely fishing.
Though there were no fish in the territory, that didn't stop him from pulling live fish from his inventory and tossing them into the water-filled pit Lucario had just dug.
Celebi, Mimikyu, and the rest of his Pokémon sat in a neat row by the pond, each holding a fishing rod suited perfectly to their stature.
The Pokémon were used to Caleb pulling things out of thin air. But Giratina, who hadn't seen this often, was quite puzzled.
The Renegade Pokémon tilted its intimidating head and stared at the swimming fish, then asked: >..Where did you get these little things?..<
"Uh…" Caleb didn't know how to answer at first. After a moment, he said, "From my inventory."
Giratina blinked its big, innocent eyes: >..But I don't see any inventory..<
Caleb thought for a second. "Think of it like… an invisible pocket dimension. Kind of like your Distortion World. All my stuff is stored in there, and I can pull it out whenever I need to."
Giratina only half-understood, but it did catch the part about the Distortion World. That was Giratina's home. Caleb had visited its world before… but Giratina had never been to his. And Caleb hadn't even invited it to visit either.
Thinking about this, Giratina felt a mix of sadness and annoyance, then asked quietly: >..Can I… go see it?..<
That question left Caleb completely baffled.
How would that even work? Let it enter his inventory? But living Pokémon couldn't be stored in the inventory, unless they were inside Poké Balls...