League Calendar Year 139, November 11.
This was the day after Silas received Yezo's invitation.
He was seated on the dedicated bus from Viridian City to Mint Town.
Yesterday afternoon, he had already challenged the Crimson Gym and earned the Crimson Badge—a yellow, maple leaf–shaped emblem that looked quite pretty.
As for the match itself, it was, frankly, unremarkable.
With Gigalith and Servine paired together, exploiting type advantages and innate talent, a standard official Gym battle posed no pressure at all.
Silas sat by the window, taking in a sight exceedingly rare in Kanto—white upon white.
Snow.
Most of Kanto enjoys a temperate, springlike climate year-round. Even now, in the south near Crimson Forest, there was only the faintest chill of autumn in the air.
But the farther north you go—especially where the region borders a spur of Sinnoh's Mt. Coronet—the weather turns truly cold.
Northwest of Viridian Forest lie a number of snowy peaks, and Mint Town sits at the foot of one of them: Snowview Mountain.
Silas couldn't help but wonder what sort of tournament would be held up here of all places. The area wasn't famous by any means.
Sure, sightseeing in the snow is nice—but people in Kanto are practically allergic to the cold. Asking them to trek into the mountains is torture.
And if you really want to see snow, why not just go straight to Sinnoh?
One look at the bus said enough: aside from the driver, only a handful of passengers were scattered about. The load factor was abysmally low.
Silas even doubted whether this route could break even.
"Arriving at Mint Town. Please disembark, and have a pleasant stay," droned the electronic announcement.
Silas got off through the rear door.
His first impression was simple: cold. The exposed skin of his face and hands stung as if slashed by icy knives.
Fortunately, he wore an expedition suit with built-in temperature regulation. The rest of his body felt fine.
The weather in this world is ridiculously extreme, Silas grumbled inwardly. It was the first time in over a decade he'd truly felt what "cold" meant.
"Blaziken!"
He flicked a Luxury Ball—and one mustn't forget, this world has Pokémon.
The moment Blaziken emerged, it instinctively stoked the Fire-type energy within, raising the temperature around them and, most importantly, blocking the cutting wind.
Silas rubbed his cheeks—after only a short time, they already felt stiff.
Of course, that was an illusion. With his physical conditioning, he wouldn't be at risk unless he decided to strip down and fast in this weather for half a day.
"Hey? I'm here. Where are you?" Silas snapped as he dialed Yezo.
"At the bus stop, right? Wait there—I'll send someone to pick you up," Yezo replied.
It wasn't that Silas hadn't warned him in advance; it was that this bus had no fixed timetable, and the speed depended entirely on the driver's mood.
A short while after the call ended, a stretched, luxury off-road SUV rolled to a stop at the curb in front of Silas.
"Good day, Master Silas. Young Master Yezo asked me to fetch you."
A middle-aged man in a butler's suit greeted him with a polite smile, stepped out from the driver's seat, and opened the passenger door for Silas.
"Mm. Thanks," Silas said, climbing in with Blaziken.
The SUV glided along smoothly and soon pulled up before a very large inn with a distinctly old-fashioned exterior.
"Bertha Inn"
The signboard hung in the most prominent place.
Bertha? Silas's eyes flicked. Sinnoh's Ground-type Elite Four member? The only Ground specialist among the Elite Four.
She and Kanto's Elite Four Agatha resembled each other in both looks and name, which had spawned plenty of rumors that they were actually sisters.
The first person to spread that idea was Unova's Ghost-type Elite Four member, Shauntal.
She's a bestselling novelist in Unova, after all.
As for the real origin of the rumor—it started when Shauntal and her two girlfriends were gossiping during a summer beach vacation.
They called it "discussing novel details."
How did Silas know? Because those two girlfriends were Caitlin—Unova's Psychic Elite Four—and Cynthia.
He'd drifted into the topic by accident the last time he chatted with Cynthia.
Suffice it to say, although Cynthia appears to care only about history, Pokémon, and maybe ice cream, in private she can gossip for hours.
"Lady Agatha and Lady Bertha are not related by blood," the butler said as he led Silas inside. "But perhaps because they're so similar, they're very close—call it fate, if you will."
He continued, perfectly aware of what Silas had been thinking. "This inn is indeed owned by Elite Four Bertha. She occasionally comes to stay, as she's not fond of Kanto's climate."
"My apologies—how rude of me," Silas said, realizing his expression must have given him away. He shifted the subject at once. "Do you know why Yezo asked me to come?"
He quickly shifted the topic.
"Most young masters and ladies who visit are curious about the relationship between those two great Trainers—you're hardly the first," the butler replied with a smile. "As for why Young Master Yezo invited you, I'll leave that to him to explain."
He stopped at the door of a room and knocked. "Young Master Yezo, Master Silas has arrived."
"Coming, coming!" came Yezo's voice along with approaching footsteps, and the door swung open.
"Let's go, let's go," Yezo said without any greeting, grabbing Silas by the arm and dragging him inside. "Uncle Teruji, thanks for your hard work. Please close the door for us."
Butler Teruji bowed slightly and pulled the door shut.
"Hey, hold on. What's the deal? Explain it properly. I came all this way just for some doubles match, and you're not even going to thank me?"
Silas shook free of Yezo's grip, shoved his hands into his pockets, and followed lazily behind.
They entered the living room, where a huge floor-to-ceiling window filled the space with light.
On the table, two cups of hot tea sent up gentle curls of steam.
They sat down and began to drink.
"About a decade ago, someone in my family discovered a very special ruin here."
Yezo's first words immediately piqued Silas's interest.
"Hm?" Silas grunted through his nose, gesturing for him to continue.
Yezo ignored his tone. "Inside, there lived a group of Ghost-type Pokémon, led by a Gengar and accompanied by a swarm of Golbat. Aside from the Gengar, though, none of them were particularly strong.
"So we cleared out the ruin without much difficulty.
"At first, the place seemed ordinary. Nothing special—resources were actually rather scarce.
"But one thing stood out: a stone tablet that intrigued the investigators.
"The tablet itself had no writing. But at the base were markings—an 'O' and an 'X.'
"When one of the team touched it, a hidden mechanism activated, and ancient characters suddenly appeared on the tablet. The message was roughly: 'Does Omastar have five spikes on its back?'
"With the O and X markings, the team realized it was a question-and-answer test. Not hard.
"After choosing the right answer, a Chimecho appeared above the tablet.
"Research suggested it used some kind of unknown spatial transfer technology. As long as you answered correctly, you received a reward.
"But the tablet only worked six times per year. After that, it simply stopped responding.
"So my grandmother created a rule: every year, the family holds an internal doubles tournament. The top three pairs—the six Trainers—earn the right to attempt the questions and claim rewards.
"That's the gist of it."
He looked over at Silas.
Silas rubbed his temples and muttered, "Not gonna lie, you really don't know how to tell a story."
Still, the idea was simple enough: a puzzle with prizes. Quite interesting, actually.
Chimecho was an excellent supplement for many Ghost-type Pokémon—rare and valuable.
As for the so-called "spatial transfer technology"? Hardly unusual.
The Pokémon world was bizarre in many ways—especially in its science.
Apart from cutting-edge tech directly tied to Pokémon, most scientific advances came from breaking down artifacts or data unearthed in ancient ruins.
In fact, in some areas of technology, modern society still lagged behind the ancients.
Take the ruin Silas had explored before, between Vermilion City and Lavender Town—the energy shielding at its entrance had been completely unheard of.
If modern Pokémon society possessed such a device, Trainers could give commands from the sidelines without worrying about being struck by stray attacks.
Even with today's battle platforms, every year, plenty of unlucky Trainers still got hit.
After all, when you direct your Pokémon to dodge and succeed, sometimes the attack ends up aimed straight at the Trainer standing behind their Pokémon.
"Alright, I've got no problem with it," Silas said. "But why me? Why not ask your classmates?"
Yezo grimaced. "Don't even bring it up. The school assigned us all different tasks. They're swamped. I only managed to get here because I pulled three all-nighters to finish early."
The pained look on his face said it all—the task must have been grueling.
As for friends outside of school—well, with Yezo's status and personality, he didn't have many.
Plenty of people wanted to be his friend, but whether Yezo accepted them was another matter entirely.
Potential and strength aside, anyone approaching him just because he was Agatha's grandson? He shot them down immediately.
"So, what's the ruin called?" Silas asked curiously.
Yezo dipped a finger in his tea and wrote a few characters on the table.
"Truth?" Silas sounded out awkwardly.
"More precisely," Yezo corrected, "Revelation."
.....
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