It turned out everything had to be traced back to five years ago.
Near the laboratory, there was a small town called Alamos Town. At that time, a great battle that shocked the Pokémon world had occurred.
The second-tier legendary Pokémon Darkrai. The legendary Dialga, the god of time who controlled time. The legendary Palkia, the god of space who controlled space.
The three legendary Pokémon had actually battled in Alamos Town. The detailed situation was only known to a few Pokémon trainers involved in the battle.
It was said that among these trainers, there was also one named Ash, the new champion of the Kalos League, whose strength was extraordinary.
As for Team Galactic... They suddenly appeared last month and, domineeringly, occupied Alamos Town as soon as they arrived in the area.
Poor Alamos Town didn't have any powerful Pokémon trainers—like a little girl—to resist. Team Galactic could do whatever they wanted, without any opposition.
Originally, Professor Rowan didn't want to interfere in such matters, nor could he. There were indeed many forces in the Pokémon world, and some even carried the banner of justice while doing dirty deeds—just like Team Rocket, whose slogan was to maintain world peace. Maintain peace, my ass! They were the ones who caused the most severe damage to the Pokémon world.
But last week, a hazy gray fog suddenly appeared in Alamos Town, enveloping the entire town. Many residents had been forced to move elsewhere, and several hotels near the laboratory were now full of Alamos Town evacuees.
Seeing this phenomenon, Professor Rowan immediately searched the records. He discovered that this fog was almost identical to what happened five years ago.
The problem was that the one who created this fog back then was the second-tier legendary Pokémon Darkrai. Rumor had it that Darkrai had disappeared during the great battle five years ago, and finding another Darkrai capable of ascending to second-tier legendary level should be unlikely.
Not to mention, Darkrai was a very unpredictable Pokémon. It had its own principles and would never ally with or be captured by Team Galactic.
Therefore, Professor Rowan, not knowing the full truth, felt both anxious and uneasy. He issued a request and found Cynthia, the Champion of the Sinnoh region.
Only a Champion-level or Elite Four-level trainer had the strength to carry out this mission.
"Riku."
As he spoke, Professor Rowan suddenly turned and handed a Pokédex to Riku.
"This is a Pokédex that hasn't been registered with an identity yet. It's yours."
"Is this alright?" Riku was taken aback, but his hand didn't slow down. He took the Pokédex that Professor Rowan handed him.
It felt really comfortable to the touch. Smooth, silky...
Riku didn't know if it was because he wanted a Pokédex so badly, but anyway, he was really happy to have it in his hands.
Cynthia frowned slightly. "Professor, isn't this a bit inappropriate? After all, it hasn't been approved by the Pokémon World League yet. You're violating the rules by doing this."
Professor Rowan waved his hand. "It's alright. I still have some standing in the World League. When the approval comes through, I'll just report Riku's name then. Let him use it for now. Otherwise, without a Pokédex, the mission probably won't go smoothly."
"That's right," Riku laughed. "Thank you, Professor Rowan. If there's anything you need in the future, just let me know..."
"Alright, alright." Professor Rowan finally showed a hint of a smile. "The Pokédex is a small matter. The main thing now is to figure out what Team Galactic is up to. Sinnoh, even the entire Pokémon world... I'm counting on the two of you!"
Professor Rowan actually bowed slightly. Riku and Cynthia exchanged a glance and also bowed back with serious expressions.
Suddenly, Riku felt some pressure on his shoulders.
Judging by Professor Rowan's appearance, this matter was definitely not simple and might even change the structure of the Pokémon world.
Regarding investigation and combat, Professor Rowan didn't have much to advise.
After all, one was the Champion of the Sinnoh League, and Riku was a genius trainer who could defeat the veteran Elite Four member Bruno.
So after telling them to be careful, Professor Rowan left the space to Riku and Cynthia.
Although they were in a private space, alone together, Riku and Cynthia didn't think about romantic relationships for even a second.
After all, the mission was imminent, and there might even be legendary Pokémon involved later, so Cynthia and Riku didn't dare to be careless in the slightest.
After discussing for nearly an hour, both revealed the strengths of their Pokémon to let the other understand their capabilities.
Cynthia was a bit shocked by Riku's strength.
It wasn't that she was shocked by how strong Riku was, but rather that she felt he had surprisingly few Pokémon.
This time, Riku had only brought three Pokémon with him.
The Shiny Metagross naturally went without saying. Cynthia's Mega Garchomp had already fought it once, and to put it nicely, it was a draw. But Cynthia knew that her Garchomp had lost that time.
As for the Elite Four-level Lapras, Cynthia had also gathered some information from Grandma Ukai. It seemed to be much stronger than an ordinary Elite Four-level Lapras, but Cynthia still needed to judge its exact strength herself.
What surprised Cynthia the most was that Riku also had a Milotic, just like her.
This was a rare Pokémon that Cynthia had spent a lot of effort, manpower, and resources to evolve from a Feebas by relying on luck.
The hardships involved still gave Cynthia lingering fears whenever she thought about it.
Yet, she hadn't expected that a young man like Riku, on an unknown small island, could also possess a Milotic like hers.
This was the most beautiful Pokémon in the world. Besides Riku, Cynthia had only seen a trainer use a Milotic once in a Contest.
As for Riku, he was even more shocked by Cynthia's strength.
As expected of the Champion of the Sinnoh region, none of Cynthia's Pokémon were weak!
Similarly, Riku also found it unbelievable that Cynthia had a Milotic.
May had previously told Riku that for a Feebas to evolve into a Milotic, besides its Beauty stat, it also needed to obtain the legendary Prism Scale.
If it weren't for the fact that the system shop had it for sale and it only cost 100,000 points, the Milotic currently in its Poké Ball would probably still be a Feebas.
As for other Pokémon, Riku had only seen Lucario.
During the last duel with Bruno, Lucario had been defeated by Metagross.
But Metagross was a pseudo-legendary, and a quite powerful one at that, so overall, Lucario was still very strong.
After the two frankly explained their Pokémon, they had a meal and went directly to Alamos Town.
Before they even arrived, from a great distance, Riku and Cynthia noticed that Alamos Town was indeed enveloped in a thick gray fog, just as Professor Rowan had said.
They couldn't see who was inside or what they were doing at all.
However, Cynthia, as the Champion of the Sinnoh region, was bold and skilled.
She planned to directly charge into Alamos Town.
No matter what schemes or tricks Team Galactic had, she would defeat them all, find out the whole story, and the mission would naturally be completed smoothly.
"Halt, who are you?"
Just as Riku and Cynthia were about to swagger into Alamos Town, as expected, they were stopped at the town entrance.
A man and a woman wearing silver-gray uniforms and long white rubber boots, upon seeing Riku and Cynthia daring to walk towards the town gate, immediately issued a warning:
"Do you know what this place is? Get lost now!"
"Isn't this Alamos Town?" Cynthia sneered. "When did it become your Team Galactic's base?"
"Also, how dare you two gatekeepers speak to me like this? Tell your Team Galactic leader Cyrus to come out. How dare he take advantage of my absence..."
"What do you think you are!" the male gatekeeper roared immediately. "You even want to see Master Cyrus? I think you're crazy!"
"Don't waste words with her!" the female gatekeeper had already taken out a Poké Ball and then threw it directly onto the ground. "Come out, Zubat."
The male gatekeeper followed closely, immediately throwing out his Poké Ball. "Come out, Murkrow."
"Drive away the man and woman in front of me." "If they dare to resist, cripple them for me!!"
"So fierce?" Cynthia sneered. "You want to cripple people at the slightest disagreement. Your Team Galactic is really quite overbearing."
With a sneer, Cynthia also took out a Poké Ball.
As expected of the rich woman Cynthia who said "it's just money," Riku hadn't noticed before, but now he realized that the Poké Ball in Cynthia's hand was actually the Ultra Ball worth over three hundred thousand that they had seen in the Poké Ball shop earlier.
Earlier in the Poké Ball shop, the clerk either didn't tell the truth or was trying to trick Riku.
Anyway, the clerk had said that Ultra Balls not only increased the success rate of catching wild Pokémon, but the space inside and the various equipment and decorations were also worlds apart from ordinary Poké Balls.
Riku hadn't believed it at first.
But thinking about reality, if he were trying to pick up girls, and one lived in a bungalow while the other lived in a luxurious villa, the answer to which girl he would choose as his girlfriend would be obvious.
So Riku decided that if he had money in the future, he would definitely replace all his Pokémon's Poké Balls with Ultra Balls...
While Riku was thinking about other things, Cynthia had already thrown out the Ultra Ball.
"Come out, Lucario."
Bang—
A well-built Lucario as tall as a human burst out of the Ultra Ball.
This Lucario was different from Bruno's.
Its eyes didn't carry the wild fanaticism that had marked the other Lucario. Instead, Riku sensed something deeper—composure. A calm, unwavering spirit.
"You…"
"Who exactly are you?"
"Lucario… That Lucario… You're the Champion of Sinnoh…!"
The male and female gatekeepers, who had been arrogant and condescending just moments before, now froze in place. The sight of Lucario had struck fear into their hearts—and recognition lit up in their eyes.
The woman before them wasn't just any Trainer.
They realized, too late, who she truly was.
"Only realizing it now?"
Cynthia gave a cold smirk. "Lucario, Quick Attack. Take them out."
"Awoo!"
Lucario vanished in a blur, leaving only a ripple in the air behind.
The two Pokémon—barely Ace Trainer-level—were no match for Cynthia's Lucario, who had long since reached the Elite Four threshold. They didn't even have time to react.
In under two seconds, both Pokémon were down.
The Team Galactic grunts backed away in a panic, their legs trembling as they fell to the ground. Cynthia's expression remained unmoved.
"Lucario, knock them out. We can't afford to let them warn the others. The mission takes priority."
Against an Elite Four-tier Pokémon, ordinary humans stood no chance.
With surgical precision, Lucario rendered both gatekeepers unconscious.
Riku stepped up beside Cynthia and quietly gestured toward a nearby surveillance camera.
"I'm pretty sure we've been spotted by now."
"Let's move—before Team Galactic has time to react."
Cynthia gave a firm nod, stepping forward to enter Alamos Town. But Riku paused, then turned to her with a sudden thought.
"Miss Cynthia… if we run into more Team Galactic members inside, could you leave them to me?"
"I want to give my Milotic some real combat training."
Training Milotic was secondary for Riku.
His main goal was to farm points.
The battle with Bruno had shown him that winning against Pokémon trainers yielded a terrifying amount of points.
"Is that so..." Cynthia pondered for a moment.
"Since we're here to carry out a mission, as long as we can quickly deal with the enemies, I'm fine with whatever you want."
"No problem!" Riku quickly agreed, and then the two of them swiftly sneaked into Alamos Town.
Originally, they had thought they would face a constant stream of battles next.
Who knew that after walking for nearly half an hour, not a single Team Galactic member appeared.
"Miss Cynthia, could it be that your strength is too great and scared Team Galactic away?" Riku asked doubtfully.
"That shouldn't be possible," Cynthia frowned.
"The strength of Team Galactic's leader Cyrus should be close to that of an Elite Four member. Coupled with the Team Galactic executives, they wouldn't necessarily be afraid of me."
"Then what's with this situation..." Riku said speechlessly.
"Alamos Town is still a town after all. We two could walk for a whole day and probably still not find Team Galactic's temporary headquarters..."
"Come out, Spiritomb."
Seeing Cynthia suddenly summon a Pokémon he had never seen before, Riku paused and picked up his Pokédex.
Beep...
"Spiritomb, a Dark/Ghost-type Pokémon."
"Spiritomb's usual appearance is a keystone with a pattern, on which there is a gaseous mysterious substance with parts resembling a mouth and eyes.
There are also many circular patterns of varying sizes around the substance inside Spiritomb. Normally, this mysterious substance does not appear, but when Spiritomb wants to move, this substance will manifest."
Note: Spiritomb is a Pokémon formed by the gathering of 108 spirits.
It was sealed in a stone 500 years ago for doing evil deeds.
...
Cynthia ignored Riku's actions and directly gave an order.
"Spiritomb, now you sneak into the fog and see if there are any Team Galactic members inside. Report back immediately if you find anything."
"Ha—"
Spiritomb responded and, without Riku knowing how, suddenly disappeared.
Riku planned to let Cynthia rest for a while and wait for Spiritomb's report.
Who knew that a somewhat familiar voice would suddenly ring in his mind:
"Great being, I didn't expect to see you again here..."
-----------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter