The Dragon's Den.
There was still some time before sunset.
After Kashiwagi and Elder Aoyagi finished discussing "Kindergarten Student" Hydreigon's stellar performance for the day, they didn't leave immediately.
Instead, Kashiwagi reached into his bag and pulled out the newly crafted harness.
"Hydrei-g-on! ✨"
The moment Hydreigon saw the harness, his six eyes lit up in unison. Unlike his somewhat dense Trainer, the dragon recognized exactly what this was at a single glance.
"Want to take it for a test drive? Do you still have the energy?"
Kashiwagi asked with a chuckle.
Hydreigon's three heads nodded frantically. He couldn't wait, twisting his massive body around to face his Trainer, his tail wagging like a high-speed propeller and his back hunching slightly to make mounting easier. "Hydrei! Hydrei! 🐉"
Come on! Get on!
"Don't rush me." Kashiwagi studied the straps and the head loops, quickly figuring out the proper way to secure it.
The harness was made from a durable synthetic leather and reinforced fabric—tough enough to withstand extreme tension. For safety, it even featured specialized seatbelts. The only metal component was a horizontal bar designed to act as a sturdy handrail.
It was remarkably similar to the Ride Pokémon gear used in Alola, but far more portable and foldable—perfect for a traveler like him.
He climbed on. It felt stable, and his seat was surprisingly comfortable.
Though, long-distance might be another story, he noted.
"Does it feel tight anywhere?"
Kashiwagi leaned forward, bringing his head close to Hydreigon's central neck to check for any discomfort or pinching.
None. Only pure, unadulterated hype.
"HYDREI-G-O-N!!!"
Hydreigon let out a long, triumphant roar. Like a massive husky off its leash, he ignored the gazes of the surrounding dragons and vigorously beat his six wing-flaps, soaring into the sky.
He had wanted to carry his Trainer for ages.
Because of his unique anatomy, safe riding had always been a struggle, forcing him to watch other Pokémon ferry Kashiwagi around.
Now that his dream had finally come true, he started spinning in mid-air with pure joy.
He looked exactly like a giant, flying spinning top.
At first, Kashiwagi enjoyed the roller-coaster-like rush—a level of maneuverability he never got with Flygon or Steelix.
However, as the spinning speed increased and Hydreigon showed no signs of stopping, the exhilaration quickly turned into nausea.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Kashiwagi screamed at the top of his lungs. Seeing that Hydreigon was still in "spin-to-win" mode, he reached out and grabbed the flower-like fur ruff around the dragon's neck, forcing the center head to tilt back.
"Stop it right now!"
Hydreigon finally ceased his rotation, his own faces looking slightly distorted from the G-force.
"You idiot! Are you trying to kill me so you can inherit my items and move back to the Dragon's Den?"
Kashiwagi gave the center head a sharp (but loving) smack. Only when he heard a repentant whimper did he let go of the fur.
Some Pokémon just do stupid things if you don't keep a short leash on them, Kashiwagi sighed, and Hydreigon is definitely at the top of that list.
Looking around, Kashiwagi realized they had climbed incredibly high. Another few dozen meters and they might actually touch the clouds.
Looking down, the Dragon's Den had transformed from a rugged basin into a tiny, irregular circular bonsai.
The mountain range housing Meteor Falls looked miniature, and various impact craters dotted the landscape.
Even the Draconid ancestral lands were clearly visible in the distance.
"The view up here... you can see everything," he whispered.
A flock of Swablu zoomed past them, and even higher up, several Hoppip drifted by on the wind, effectively "overtaking" them.
It was obvious that Hydreigon was flying at a snail's pace on purpose, just to savor the moment.
"How about we pick up the pace a little?"
"Hydrei... g-on~" 🎶
Hydreigon gave a soft, melodic chirp in response, but his speed didn't increase by even a single kilometer per hour.
Kashiwagi: "..."
Fine.
Slow and steady it is. It was actually a good time to discuss something important.
The cold high-altitude air whistled in his ears like a giant fan; flying too fast really wasn't conducive to a "heart-to-heart."
He carefully chose his words, simplifying them so Hydreigon could understand. He gave a stern warning: Under no circumstances was Hydreigon to go into dark caves with any female Dragon-type Pokémon—or anything in the Dragon Egg Group—to do "weird things."
Going into groves and bushes is also forbidden!
"If you don't listen, I'm going to be very, very angry."
Hearing his Trainer's dead-serious tone, Hydreigon—who was already annoyed by the clingy females earlier—nodded all three heads with such force it was a miracle he didn't get whiplash.
He vowed to keep a strictly "professional" distance from any strange female dragons.
"Good. You're still way too young for that kind of stuff."
Kashiwagi nodded, satisfied.
He never thought he'd have to worry about his Pokémon's "love life" while he himself was still single.
Piplup? No, that bird was purely there for the comedy.
Besides, with Mawile's personality, finding a partner was a tall order.
But Hydreigon was young and still growing; even if he wasn't interested now, he'd eventually hit "that age." Pokémon in this world were living creatures with natural instincts, after all.
He didn't want his partner becoming a "Stud Dragon".
Though, it was quite a mystery why Hydreigon was so popular. Was he actually handsome by dragon standards? He was clingy and had terrible breath.
Then again, did Ash's Charizard deal with this in the Charicific Valley?
"Laying eggs, huh..."
Kashiwagi watched the horizon as the silhouette of Meteor Village appeared, lost in thought.
...
...
Several more uneventful days passed.
Meteor Falls remained peaceful and quiet. The fact that Team Rocket hadn't shown their faces was starting to make Kashiwagi anxious.
If he didn't have such absolute faith in Raikou's intuition, he might have already gone to apologize to Steven and the Elder for wasting so much of their time. Honestly, while it was technically better if Team Rocket didn't show up at all, part of him just wanted them to get it over with.
As that ridiculous thought crossed his mind, he quickly shook it off.
He noticed the alertness of Jinya and the rest of the village was inevitably beginning to wane. He wanted to remind them to stay sharp, but the words felt stuck in his throat.
If they asked him when Team Rocket was coming, he had no answer.
Should I just act like it's not happening?
The Elder doesn't seem to blame me at all...
This creeping irritability inevitably rubbed off on his Pokémon.
The coordination between Blissey and Mawile began to slip.
Under the intensive training from the local Altaria, Blissey's singing had certainly improved—she'd even successfully created "Leaping Notes" that weakened hypnotic effects while supercharging visual light effects.
Even Mawile and Kashiwagi's sense of rhythm had leveled up.
The tension in the air was undeniable.
But the real problem was the timing between the tune and the dance.
Blissey had this subconscious habit of coddling Mawile.
The second Mawile sped up her footwork, Blissey would pick up the tempo of her singing to match. This, in turn, made Mawile think she needed to dance even faster to keep up with the song.
The result?
A frantic, spiraling loop of "accidental turbo-mode" until both of them were a blur of pink and steel.
The most hilarious part was Kashiwagi's attempt to fix it.
He'd grab his guitar, hoping to act as the rhythmic anchor, only to get swallowed whole by the "clash of the titans" between Blissey and Mawile. He completely failed his duty as the conductor.
It turned out that inheriting a musician's memories of how to hold a guitar didn't exactly mean inheriting their god-tier sense of timing.
...
Kashiwagi had briefly considered cutting Mawile's dance routine entirely. He thought they could stick to a "Vocal and Special Effects" show to make the coordination easier.
However, he was promptly rejected by Mawile, who used her signature "threatening foot-stomp" to shut that idea down.
Thinking it through, the root cause was simple: Blissey had always played a supporting role to Mawile. Asking her to suddenly take the lead and dictate the pace to Mawile was a huge mental leap.
Even though she knew better, her nurturing instincts kept forcing her to follow Mawile's lead.
Should I just have her close her eyes while singing?
No, that was missing the point. The singing and dancing were supposed to work together to create something beautiful, not just be performed in isolation.
It was a massive headache for everyone involved. After practice, the three of them would often sit in a row and just... sigh.
Meanwhile, the date for the Pokémon Contest was looming closer.
Three days left.
Kashiwagi was already doing the math on how many extra days he could procrastinate.
...
Thankfully, it wasn't all gloom and doom.
Shiny Feebas was making incredible strides. Her jumping height was increasing daily; she was now just a tiny hair's breadth away from reaching the very top of the Dragon's Gate.
Compared to a few days ago, her progress was staggering.
It looked like her legendary ascent would happen any day now.
Kashiwagi never expected that the Pokémon who once worried him the most would turn out to be the most motivated "star student" of the bunch.
Then there was Porygon.
At first, it couldn't even keep its balance while transformed. Now? It was clocking 40 mph on bumpy dirt roads.
The local Bagon couldn't even touch its tail anymore—only the flying Swablu and Vibrava could keep up.
At this rate, turning into a fully functional mini-motorcycle was only a matter of time.
Essentially, the Pokémon working on their own were doing great. It was only the ones Kashiwagi was directly "helping"—Blissey and Mawile—who were stuck in a rut.
"When is this stalemate finally going to end?" Kashiwagi wondered.
...
...
Several kilometers away, high in the clouds and hidden within an invisible, massive airship, another group was thinking the exact same thing.
"I can't take this anymore! Get me out of here!" one Team Rocket grunt wailed, face-planting onto a console.
The other agents in the control room offered nothing but looks of weary solidarity.
They were exhausted.
They had been hovering over Meteor Falls for nearly two weeks.
The reason for delay was two-fold:
First, the wild Pokémon in the Dragon's Den were far too alert, leaving zero openings for a stealthy capture.
Second, Lately, there had been a suspicious increase in "unidentified individuals" wandering around Meteor Falls.
Technically, Team Rocket was the most suspicious group there, but the sheer number of unknown variables made even them hesitate to pull the trigger.
Had word leaked out?
Theoretically, no. And yet, over the last two days, elite Draconid trainers with powerful Dragon-types had been patrolling the deep recesses of the falls with increasing frequency.
It made them hesitate.
If possible, they didn't want to turn this into a full-scale war.
Besides, the "Mega Stone Mine" those bumbling scientists had promised was starting to look like a fantasy—they hadn't found a single trace of it.
The Mt. Chimney branch had claimed to detect "massive Mega Energy" six months ago, yet they'd produced zero results, got hunted down by Raikou, and were eventually wiped out by some mysterious woman.
Team Rocket's investment in the Hoenn region was currently a massive hole in their wallet.
Their last desperate gamble was to move against the Draconids.
Or more accurately... to steal from them.
According to a team scientist's research into Hoenn's ancient history, the Draconids were the first to master Mega Evolution and had an extremely close connection with it.
"Stop complaining. I also want to be back on solid ground having fun too, but the mission comes first," a deep voice rumbled from the command chair.
A blonde man with bulging muscles and dark sunglasses sat with his boots on the console, hands behind his head. It was Attila (Hun/Attila duo style). He wasn't nearly as calm as he looked.
"Yes, sir..." the grunts replied weakly.
Suddenly, a silver-haired man walked in from the corridor. It was his partner, Hun (often referred to as Basho).
"Attila! It's time to change targets!"
"Huh?" Attila stood up immediately, looking at his old partner.
"Change targets? What do you mean? Weren't you out scanning for the Mega Stone mine?"
The silver-haired man didn't answer immediately. He tapped a few keys on the computer, bringing up a map on the reinforced glass windshield.
"Look at this village to the southeast of Meteor Falls."