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With the colorful Key Stone safely secured in his pocket, Roy couldn't wait to try Mega Evolution for the first time.
However, he held back his excitement, because there was still a 'Mega Stone' that he hadn't selected yet, and also because this powerful ability could not be exposed to the public for the time being.
Roy waited patiently on the spot for a while, and soon, the staff member wheeled over a cart containing sixteen different 'Mega Stones' and gestured for him to choose whichever one he wanted by himself.
Among the Mega Stones available for exchange at the Battle Tower, only one "Lucarionite" was immediately usable for his current team, while all the rest of the Mega Stones could only serve temporarily as valuable "collectibles" for now.
Although these collectible stones would definitely increase in value to a terrifying amount in the future, what Roy wanted more than anything was to find Mega Stones that corresponded to his own Pokémon. He walked over to the cart and carefully examined and identified each stone one by one.
The third Mega Stone that Roy inspected gave him a pleasant surprise.
"This is..."
The 'leaf' pattern in the center of this particular Mega Stone was amber in color with a distinctive white stripe running through it.
It was a Metagrossite...
Roy checked through the rest of the remaining Mega Stones on the cart. Unfortunately, some of them were duplicates of the types of Mega Stones that had been exchanged by previous winners, and he still couldn't find Blastoisinite among the available options.
There was nothing to regret about this outcome.
If he could find the corresponding Mega Stones in reality through other means, he could buy them with money or participate in other competitions to obtain them for free. Either way, it would be a profitable investment.
If he couldn't find them through conventional means, at worst he could exchange them using points through other systems.
This was also the main reason why Roy had chosen 'cash' as part of his competition prize rewards.
He had no shortage of technical manuals or training guides right now. Just mastering the 'sage technique' alone had already completely filled his Pokémon's training schedules, and he had no extra time or energy to cultivate new Pokémon for the immediate future.
Roy had already made plans to wait until the end of the competition before openly requesting to purchase additional Mega Stones from outside sources and collectors.
After selecting the 'Metagrossite', Roy was informed that the 'Euros' from his prize money would be credited to his reserved bank account within three business days.
"Yo, Roy, you're finally back."
As soon as he walked back toward the player-only entrance corridor, Roy heard a familiar voice calling out to him. He looked up, and it was Arlo, who had shown no good intentions toward him from their first meeting.
Arlo was standing guard at the entrance of the player-only passage, and it seemed like he had been waiting there for quite a long time.
He laughed with apparent friendliness:
"Were you just going to collect your prize rewards?"
"Yeah." Roy smiled slightly. When he had learned that 'Cole' was coming to France to protect him, Arlo's perceived threat level in his mind had dropped significantly. He didn't see any reason to make false claims or be deceptive with the other trainer. After his ally arrived, he would carefully investigate Arlo's real intentions and motivations.
"How was your harvest from the prizes?" Arlo asked with seemingly enthusiastic interest.
"Not bad," Roy replied.
Roy shrugged casually and asked in return:
"Is there anything specific that Senior Arlo wants me to help you with?"
"No, nothing like that." Arlo shook his head with a smile, speaking in what appeared to be a joking tone: "I'm here to scout out the enemy's situation, haha. I wanted to see how my next round opponent is preparing for our match."
Roy's opponent in the upcoming semifinals was indeed Arlo.
But the choice of the word 'enemy' instead of 'opponent'...
Ah.
How many uncomfortable truths were spoken in the form of casual jokes.
Just as Roy was about to exchange a few more polite words with Arlo, little Cosmog, who had been sitting contentedly on his shoulder, suddenly tensed up visibly. The small Nebula Pokémon stopped eating its berry and displayed a confused and deeply uneasy expression.
"Cos?"
"What's wrong, little one?"
Roy asked with concern, and Arlo also turned his gaze toward little Cosmog with interest.
"Cosmog!"
Little Cosmog became increasingly agitated and uneasy, trying to explain the situation through animated gestures and movements.
It feels very strange, as if something terrible is about to happen.
Hearing this warning, Roy immediately mobilized the power of his Aura abilities to carefully sense and analyze the surrounding situation.
Arlo also frowned deeply, looking around the area with obvious concern.
After quite a while of careful observation and sensing, Roy didn't detect anything unusual. Everything around them appeared calm and normal, but instead of feeling relaxed, he became even more tense and worried.
Although little Cosmog had always been regarded by most people as simply a "mascot," its true essence was actually that of a "baby of the gods," and it possessed extraordinary supernatural sensitivities that were beyond normal understanding.
The most important and telling sign was that little Cosmog had actually stopped eating its food!
This was genuinely terrifying behavior from the usually food-obsessed Pokémon.
If Cosmog didn't truly sense something 'abnormal' and dangerous, the little Nebula Pokémon would never be able to waste food, even as a joke or for attention.
"I don't sense anything unusual." After Arlo confirmed that there was no apparent abnormality in their immediate surroundings, he said with a dismissive smile: "It's probably just your Pokémon's imagination playing tricks. The competition is about to start soon, so let's head inside."
Roy didn't respond immediately to Arlo's suggestion.
He was going to trust his instincts and inner choice, and leave this area first before anything dangerous could happen.
It was better to be cautious and overly careful than to ignore a legitimate warning.
His biggest goal in participating in the European Youth Championship had been to obtain the 'Key Stone', so his obsession with continuing to participate in the tournament wasn't overwhelmingly deep or important.
However, at that very moment, Roy and Arlo... No, to be more precise, all the humans in the Kalos Battle Tower and the entire city of Paris suddenly felt an overwhelming and suffocating sense of oppression pressing down on them.
Among all these people, those who were currently inside the Kalos Battle Tower felt the oppressive sensation most extremely and intensely.
Immediately afterward, the surrounding space itself suddenly began to tremble and vibrate.
The magnitude of the vibration wasn't particularly large—even a small child wouldn't be knocked over by it, and it wasn't even close to the level of a magnitude 1 earthquake.
However, this feeling of spatial trembling was very strange and otherworldly, making people feel as though the very fabric of reality around them was being rewritten and altered.
"This is..."
Arlo's pupils contracted in shock and apparent recognition.
"A Spirit Realm is manifesting—"
These words immediately triggered Roy's memory of his educational training.
Students in this world had a very different curriculum in the "Natural Disaster Emergency Drills" that were conducted regularly by schools.
Specifically, they practiced "Spacequake Emergency Drills."
The so-called spacequake was a natural disaster phenomenon that would inevitably be triggered whenever a new Spirit Realm began to manifest and descend into the physical world.
Fortunately, the process of a Spirit Realm's manifestation was relatively 'gentle' and gradual in its initial stages.
The magnitude of the spacequake was typically small at first, then gradually deepened and intensified over the following period of time, eventually causing disaster damage on the scale of at least a magnitude 8 earthquake.
After the spacequake phenomenon concluded, several 'dimensional nodes' would appear at the manifestation site, serving as the entrances and access points to the newly formed Spirit Realm.
As time progressed, the Spirit Realm and the physical Earth would slowly merge and integrate together. The dimensional nodes would gradually expand their influence, completely rewriting and transforming the surrounding environment. When the two separate spaces were completely merged and unified, a safe zone similar to the famous 'White Mountains' region would be permanently established.
Compared to a sudden earthquake that struck without any warning whatsoever, the 'symptoms' and preliminary signs of spacequakes provided much more time for people to recognize the danger and react appropriately. As long as people didn't panic and maintained their composure, they would have sufficient time to evacuate safely.
In every recorded spacequake disaster throughout history, only those in the hardest-hit area where the "dimensional node" actually manifested would potentially become victims who failed to evacuate in time.
Roy extended his aura sensing abilities, and he clearly detected that the 'magnitude' and intensity in the area where they were currently located was far higher than in other surrounding areas. The tremors were rising and intensifying at the fastest rate compared to anywhere else.
"The Kalos Battle Tower is located in the hardest hit area," Arlo said slowly and deliberately.
Compared to Roy, who was making his judgment with the assistance of his Aura abilities, Arlo was basing his assessment on his extensive experience as a professional-level trainer who had encountered similar situations before.
"Here, an intermediate dimensional node leading to an unknown Spirit Realm will manifest very soon."
The moment he fully realized and understood this situation, the corners of Arlo's mouth began to curve wider and wider, and he became completely unable to contain his obvious excitement and anticipation.
"The heavens are truly helping me accomplish my goals."
Suddenly, Roy sensed unmistakable killing intent.
For the first time, Roy clearly detected undisguised and pure killing intent emanating from Arlo's direction.
No, to be more precise, the killing intent that had grown so intense and powerful had finally broken through the limits of Arlo's original 'disguise methods,' and he could no longer hide his creeping and raging malice toward Roy.
There was no longer any need for him to hide his true intentions.
The Poké Ball attached to Roy's belt opened automatically in response to the detected danger.
Light flashed brilliantly, and Lucario's figure appeared at the fastest possible speed. The Fighting/Steel-type grabbed Roy's shoulder firmly and immediately used Teleport to escape the immediate threat.
In the exact moment that the two disappeared from their original location, a razor-sharp blade flashed through the air where they had been standing.
In the direction of the blade's trajectory, there was a steel load-bearing column about ten meters away. A perfectly smooth cut suddenly appeared across its surface, and the massive column broke cleanly in half.
The Pokémon that had made this astonishing and devastating slash was a humanoid creature covered in red and black armor that resembled a Japanese samurai warrior. Sharp steel blades grew naturally from its limbs like deadly weapons.
It was a Bisharp.
There was no longer any trace of a friendly smile on Arlo's face, and he stared in the direction where Roy had vanished with cold, calculating eyes.
"You managed to save your life this time," he said quietly to himself.
The spacequake continued to intensify around them, but Arlo showed no concern for his own safety, only frustration that his target had successfully escaped his ambush.