"Hohoho, I don't really want to know what happened out there. But the smell of blood on him was too strong. Not hard to guess."
Fujin laughed heartily. Beneath his unremarkable appearance, there was no shortage of wisdom.
Seeing this, Sato and Cynthia both felt relieved. And with that, a glimmer of hope rose again in their hearts as they began thinking seriously about when would be the right time to ask for guidance.
But in the very next moment…
"Alright then. We've had Tea, we've had dinner, and thanks for listening to this old man ramble for so long…
But this isn't a place you should linger. Go back to your own world now."
The two froze, their mood crashing like a rollercoaster in freefall.
What kind of old man shoos people away just like that?
After a long silence, Cynthia was the first to rise. She bowed deeply to Fujin.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Fujin-ojisan. Sorry for the uninvited visit, we'll be taking our leave."
Sato followed suit, silently standing.
"…Thank you for the meal."
Then, under the silent gaze of the man and his three Pokémon, Sato and Cynthia quietly left the cabin, bringing Hunter X with them.
Clack…
The door closed. Fujin stood silently in the dim room, unmoving for a long time.
"Wea…?"
"Let it go. We shouldn't get in the way of those two kids' bright futures."
Fujin shook his head at his old partner, but in that moment, his vitality seemed to drain away.
"Serp~"
Serperior gently flicked its tail, and a faint aroma of fresh grass filled the air. Fujin's condition visibly improved.
"I'm fine, Serperior."
"Rior!" 'Tch!'
Serperior turned its head to the side, clearly unhappy with Fujin's soft-heartedness. Yet it still couldn't resist channeling its Grass-type energy to help restore his spirit.
As for the ever-elusive Froslass… it was already nowhere to be seen.
---◓---
Outside the cabin, Sato and Cynthia walked in silence for a while. As they exchanged glances, the doubt in their eyes was clear.
Where had they gone wrong for Fujin, the hidden boss, to suddenly send them away?
"Maybe he saw through our intent. That's why he told us to leave. He's a Champion Trainer after all… he doesn't need to care about what we think," Sato reasoned aloud.
Cynthia looked at him, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, then kept her head down and continued walking.
Ten minutes later, Cynthia suddenly stopped and turned toward Sato…
"Let's go back and try again!" Sato said firmly without hesitation.
Cynthia blinked, then smiled brightly. "Alright!"
And with that, the two turned back and doubled their pace toward the cabin.
Maybe it had been the pressure of facing a Champion level powerhouse that stopped them from shamelessly asking for guidance.
But now that they thought about it, they couldn't just give up like that!
Just as the two of them eagerly headed back, the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed without warning.
Sato's heart skipped a beat. He immediately reached for Cynthia to leap away!
But she stopped him instead.
"Don't panic. It's Heatran!"
"Hea-Tran!"
Hearing Cynthia call out to it, Heatran poked its head out from a patch of earth nearby and excitedly began waddling toward them.
"Alright, alright. You suddenly dragged us down… what's the matter?"
Cynthia scratched under Heatran's chin. Only when it began to purr in contentment did she finally ask her question slowly.
"Hea-Heat!"
Heatran immediately stood up, spun anxiously in place once, then swiftly carried Sato and Cynthia away, manipulating the sand and ground beneath them.
Seeing how anxious it looked, Cynthia couldn't help but ask, "Heatran, what's going on?"
"Hea-Heat! Heat! Hea-Tran~!"
Heatran kept muttering rapidly as it moved, and Cynthia nodded from time to time while listening… but her frown kept getting deeper.
Before Cynthia could even explain to Sato what was going on, Heatran had already brought them back up to the surface.
What met their eyes was a dark silhouette, both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.
'Fujin's… Weavile?'
If this forest didn't have a second Champion Weavile, then-
"Froslass, Blizzard!"
"Frosfrosfros~"
With a chilling giggle echoing from nowhere, a Blizzard burst forth and swept across the field in an instant.
"Heaaat!"
Heatran activated its flame shield[1], proactively blocking the overflowing Blizzard.
Thankfully, they weren't the target of the attack. Otherwise, even for a Legendary Pokémon like Heatran, it might not have held up.
So this… was the strength of a Champion Pokémon?
Froslass's casual hand wave unleashing a storm that could freeze the world… perhaps that was the most direct example.
And then, Sato finally spotted Fujin.
Unlike the kind and easygoing figure he was in the cabin, Fujin now sat calmly atop a Serperior nearly ten times its usual size, commanding Weavile and Froslass with complete composure.
At last, the Blizzard faded, and Sato and Cynthia could finally see what kind of threat required Champion level force to contain.
"…Huh?"
Cynthia blinked. It seemed… she really… couldn't see anything.
On the other side, Sato was trying hard to use his Dark Energy to sense the surroundings, but he too found nothing. No hidden Pokémon, no presence at all.
Just then, Fujin's voice rang out again.
"Weavile, Ice Punch!"
"Weaaa!"
Weavile's voice still echoed in the air, but its body had already become a black blur, lunging sharply toward a specific point.
Then, it struck -seemingly at thin air- with a crushing Ice Punch.
As Sato and Cynthia watched in confusion, a black rift suddenly appeared right along Weavile's attack path.
Clang!
The Ice Punch collided with the rift, and the sheer intensity of the Ice-type energy froze even the rift itself.
It was only then that Sato suddenly realized what this was…
A Spacial Rift!
Weavile and Froslass… had actually frozen a Spacial Rift!
'T-This…' This was the true power of Champion Pokémon?
For a moment, Sato found himself doubting everything. The strength of that Champion level Weavile had exceeded anything he had ever imagined… or could have imagined.
Soon, the frozen Spacial Rift began to mend itself, and Weavile had already flashed back to Fujin's side, silently awaiting orders.
Then it was Froslass's turn. Fujin sent it out next. It opened with a powerful Ice Beam, which mid-flight collided with another invisible Spacial Rift.
Gradually, the rifts stopped appearing. The frequency of Weavile and Froslass's attacks also began to decrease.
At that moment, Serperior finally carried Fujin over to where Sato and Cynthia were.
"Fujin-ojisan, we meet again!" Cynthia looked up and greeted him first.
"Yes… I should've figured it out sooner. The 'friends' Heatran mentioned were probably you two all along!"
[1] wiki