When he reached the lakeshore, Elias used psychokinesis to carefully search for Delphox's presence.
Earlier he'd only gotten a rough sense of it—he still hadn't pinned down her exact location.
Xerosic stood quietly behind him with Alain.
The former kept his mouth firmly shut, not daring to make a sound.
The latter leaned against Charizard with his arms crossed, clearly waiting to see what Elias could possibly pull off.
A moment later, Elias opened his eyes.
Found her.
His right hand closed slightly, and a pale blue glow surfaced across his palm.
At the same time, one corner of the lake began to churn, as if it were boiling.
Under the pull of psychokinesis, something heavy rose from the lakebed.
In an instant—
SPLASH!
The surface exploded as a human-sized statue was yanked up.
THUD!
Elias guided it down with psychokinesis, setting it steadily at his side.
Seeing this, Xerosic already had a suspicion.
Alain, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes.
A stone Delphox?
The craftsmanship was excellent—every detail vivid, the whole fox lifelike. Still, he had no idea what Mr. Elias was trying to do.
Soaked through, the statue had darkened all over.
Looking at the Delphox's confused—almost panicked—expression, Elias hesitated.
The feeling was strange, like being thrown back into that Simulation from years ago.
Longing welled up from somewhere deep in his chest.
"You've suffered, Delphox."
Elias reached out and gently rubbed her cheek.
But it was useless. His fingers met nothing but cold, unyielding stone.
Missing the softness of her face more by the second, Elias didn't wait any longer.
A deep green light spilled from his outstretched hand.
The moment it flared, the grass, flowers, and trees around them surged into frantic growth, as if responding to the energy in his palm.
Without hesitation, Elias pressed Life Energy into Delphox's chest.
Tap.
Two seconds after the energy sank in, the stone coating her body began to change.
As if the color were being washed away, the gray started to fade at speed.
And then—
From the tips of her ears, a faint red began to show.
Her true color.
Like a chain reaction had been triggered, the stone on Delphox's body began to flake away—vanishing piece by piece.
When even the stone over her eyes was eaten away by the Life Energy, slowly restoring what lay beneath—Delphox's gaze regained its light, as though she'd been born from rock.
The sudden brightness seemed to make her uncomfortable; her pupils unfocused for a moment.
But the instant her vision cleared, her eyes jolted.
Delphox felt like she'd been asleep for a very, very long time.
In her memories, Elias had wanted to do something dangerous—something reckless—and he hadn't planned on taking her with him.
He'd even been preparing to send her somewhere safe.
She'd been heartbroken and helpless, praying he'd change his mind—begging him to let her go with him, even if it meant dying together.
And then… she'd turned to stone.
Even as stone, she'd kept the barest shred of awareness.
She couldn't think. She couldn't feel time passing. She didn't even feel lonely.
All she knew was that she was asleep—and it was comfortable.
But more than sleeping soundly, Delphox wanted to find her Trainer.
She wanted to stop him. She wanted to follow him into danger.
After that, she didn't know how much time passed.
But just when even her subconscious had given up, the stone on her began to crumble.
She could feel her body again. She could feel warm sunlight again.
And most important of all...
When the stone over her eyes fell away and she adjusted to the sudden glare…
She saw the figure she hadn't even realized she'd been missing for so long.
Had she slept too long… and ended up dreaming?
If it was a dream, then doing the things she wasn't usually allowed to do was perfectly reasonable, right?
"Delphox… Delphox?"
Elias leaned close, watching her with worry.
Her body had fully recovered, yet she still wasn't reacting at all.
It made his stomach tighten.
Had being petrified for so long left some side effect he didn't know about?
He lifted a hand, about to wave it in front of her eyes when—
Suddenly the Delphox that hadn't moved once lunged straight at him.
She hit like a fox pouncing on prey—so fast even Elias didn't have time to react.
"H—!"
He sucked in a sharp breath, but by the time it registered, he'd already been knocked flat.
The grass by the lake was soft, so it didn't really hurt.
But the moment he raised his head, he met Delphox's ferocious glare.
"Delphox?"
"Wait—hold on… don't tug my clothes."
"Biting is not okay… and you definitely can't bite my neck!"
Delphox was like a wild beast that hadn't eaten in who-knew-how-many meals.
If Elias didn't fight her off with everything he had, his clothes would've been shredded into strips.
Even so, her wet tongue and sharp little canine teeth kept brushing his neck again and again.
Elias regretted it.
Before she'd turned to stone, she hadn't been like this at all!
"What is… this?" Alain asked blankly, staring at the scene.
His mind wasn't running in any weird direction.
He was frozen for one reason only—the Delphox that had appeared out of nowhere.
If his eyes weren't lying…
This Pokémon was terrifyingly strong.
Stronger than almost any Pokémon he'd ever seen.
In his memory, only Kalos's Champion's Gardevoir and Hoenn's Champion's Metagross came close.
But…
Those were the ace Pokémon of two regional Champions.
And now some random Delphox had popped up and reached that level?
"Xerosic—was that Mr. Elias's Pokémon?" Alain turned sharply and demanded, voice tight.
It was obvious the answer mattered.
Xerosic glanced at Alain's urgency, then gave a calm nod.
"She was his back when she was still a Fennekin."
Crack—
With that one sentence, Alain felt something inside him snap.
Since she'd been a Fennekin… that meant Elias had raised this Delphox with his own hands.
The man himself was overwhelming, and his Pokémon was a monster on top of it.
In an instant, Alain felt stupid.
---
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