"Not here? Where did Grandpa go?" Gary asked.
"Professor Oak was invited by Professor Aurea Juniper of the Unova Region for work, and he decided to make a trip out of it. Ash and Aunt Delia both went along with him," Tracey said.
"Oh...!"
Gary was a little baffled.
He knew that Professor Oak and Delia were perfectly innocent, but why turn a business trip into a vacation — and more importantly, why bring Delia along?
When Gary had left for the Paldea Region, Ash had only just returned home. Counting the days, it had been barely half a month, and Ash was already off to travel the Unova Region. That was fast.
According to the plot, Ash and Delia had traveled to the Unova Region with Professor Oak. But once Ash saw how different the Pokémon there were, he'd decided to begin his own journey and challenge the Unova League.
"When did they leave?" Gary asked.
"About three days ago. From what Professor Oak told me, Ash is planning to challenge the Unova League and start traveling there directly," Tracey said.
"That guy moved fast this time," Gary complained.
Gary had also planned to head to the Unova Region a few days after getting back. He never expected Ash to beat him to it.
Normally, Gary was the one who took the initiative first, but this time Ash had gotten ahead of him.
Seeing Gary grumbling about Ash, Tracey asked curiously, "What? Are you going to the Unova Region too, Gary?"
"Yeah. I was planning to travel there as well," Gary admitted.
"So you'll be challenging the Unova League Conference this time?" Tracey had noticed that Gary had entered plenty of League Conferences across various regions. Since they were both heading to Unova, it seemed obvious he'd compete.
"Of course. Ash is always going on about how he's going to beat me. I never got to face him at the Lily of the Valley Conference last time, so I'll give him another shot," Gary said proudly.
"Haha... I think if Ash heard that, he'd probably be thrilled," Tracey said with an awkward smile.
Tracey could tell that Gary was being rather full of himself. He clearly wanted to compete for his own sake, yet he insisted on framing it as doing Ash a favor.
"I'll give you a hand."
Since Professor Oak wasn't home, Gary helped Tracey feed the Pokémon at the Laboratory.
Gary also took the opportunity to check on the Pokémon he'd recently caught.
[LV27 Drilbur / Champion]
"Not bad at all. Looks like you've been training hard lately," Gary said, looking at Drilbur. He remembered it had only been Level 24 when he'd left it at Professor Oak's Laboratory. In just half a month, it had gained three levels.
"Dril!"
Praised by Gary, Drilbur pounded its claws together happily.
Gary then used three Low-Level Rare Candies to raise Drilbur's level to 30.
"Dril!"
The surge in power made Drilbur's body tremble. It could clearly feel how much stronger it had become.
Gary then used two Gold Bottle Caps, raising Drilbur's potential to Legendary tier.
Since Gary had already invested in Drilbur, its potential had to be pushed all the way to Legendary.
He would be relying on Drilbur at the Vertress Conference, because Gary figured he wouldn't be catching that many Pokémon in the Unova Region. He'd have to sweep the Vertress Conference with only three or four Pokémon.
Considering Tobias had reached the finals using just one Pokémon, Gary figured three would be more than enough to do the same.
As for Pawniard, Gary intended to hold off on evolving it into Bisharp until after the Vertress Conference.
"I wonder if Caitlin's found a Bisharp yet."
He had made an arrangement with Caitlin, and Cynthia had promised him a Larvesta. Two months had passed without a single word from either of them.
Thinking about it, Gary decided to check in and see how Cynthia was doing. She had left her contact information back at the Battle Chateau, but Gary had never reached out to her on his own before.
After putting away all the feeding equipment, Gary called Cynthia directly.
The call connected quickly.
"Gary? What made you decide to call me?"
Cynthia was genuinely surprised when she saw the caller ID. She hadn't expected it to be Gary.
"Miss Cynthia, how have things been on your end lately?" Gary greeted her politely.
"Not bad. The Team Galactic situation has been fully resolved, so I'm relatively free these days," Cynthia said.
"Were Cyrus and Team Galactic's executives all sentenced to death?"
Whenever Team Galactic came up, Gary was curious about whether those people had lived or died.
"Cyrus and Saturn were sentenced to death. Mars and Jupiter each got fifteen years in prison, and Charon received a life sentence," Cynthia said.
Gary thought that sounded reasonable. The truly dangerous members of Team Galactic had been Cyrus, Saturn, and Charon. Mars and Jupiter were essentially just high-ranking employees.
As for why Charon hadn't received the death penalty, that was naturally due to his standing as a scientific researcher. Charon was genuinely talented, and executing him would have been a waste. Keeping him locked up where the League could still make use of him was the more practical option.
"That's a relief. Oh, right — Miss Cynthia, any news about the Larvesta you promised me?" Gary asked.
"About that... I haven't managed to find one yet. If you don't mind, I could compensate you with money instead. What do you think?" Cynthia asked.
Larvesta was an extremely rare Pokémon. Even in the Unova Region, they were scarce, and tracking one down was genuinely difficult.
Alder, the current Champion of the Unova League, owned a Volcarona, but unfortunately his was male and couldn't produce eggs. Otherwise, given Cynthia's relationship with Caitlin, she could have secured a Larvesta egg easily.
"That's fine. Then please just convert the reward into money for me, Miss Cynthia." Gary didn't press the issue, seeing that Cynthia was in a difficult position.
He could only conclude that he and Larvesta simply weren't fated to meet. In any case, Gary would be heading to the Unova Region soon, so he might get the chance to encounter a Larvesta himself.
"Alright, no problem."
"Then I'll let you go, Miss Cynthia."
Gary was about to hang up, but Cynthia stopped him.
"Don't hang up so fast. Tell me — what have you been up to lately?"
It was rare for Gary to call, and Cynthia was genuinely curious about his plans. She knew how strong he was, and she was certain he would shine on the World Coronation Series stage sooner or later.
"Nothing special. I'm planning to travel to the Unova Region," Gary said.
"Ah, so you're going to see your little girlfriend."
Cynthia's tone turned noticeably excited, her gossip instincts flaring to life. She knew Gary's girlfriend was Sabrina, currently one of the hottest celebrities around.
"I've got things to do. Goodbye!"
Gary had no time to trade gossip with Cynthia.
Still, speaking of girlfriends — Gary genuinely missed Sabrina. After all, it had been three years since they'd last seen each other.