After hanging up the phone, Ace no longer paid attention to the bodies scattered on the ground. A Crobat landed on his shoulder.
"Master, there's another biological signal over there."
A Kirlia pointed in another direction. Ace nodded and patted the Kirlia's head. Following the Kirlia's lead, Ace quickly walked toward the source of the signal. After passing through a few tunnels, Ace arrived at an entryway filled with smoke.
Ace frowned slightly. The Crobat immediately flew out, its two pairs of wings flapping rapidly. A gust of air rushed into the tunnel, and the dense smoke began to disperse.
"Wait! We surrender!"
As the smoke cleared, a voice came from inside. Two people, looking disheveled, crawled out of the tunnel.
Whoosh!
A whoosh sounded as the tip of the Crobat's wing aimed for their throats. A hint of purplish-black liquid seeped from the tip. If Ace gave the order, these two would not survive another second.
"Name and origin."
Ace stared coldly at the two and the Cyndaquil behind them. He could already guess their identities.
"I'm Bugsy, the gym leader of the Azalea Town Gym!"
Bugsy quickly stated his identity, hoping that Ace wasn't a member of Team Rocket.
"And you?"
Ace glanced at Bugsy, then turned to the other boy.
"My name is Gold. I'm the handsomest guy in New Bark Town."
Gold ran a hand through the hair on his forehead. For him, his head could be broken and his blood could flow, but his hairstyle must never be messy.
"Do you have anything to prove your identities?"
Ace pretended not to believe them and asked for more proof.
Seeing this, Bugsy immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He took a Bug Badge from his pocket. Gold scratched his head and pulled out his Pokédex.
When Ace saw these two items, he snapped his fingers. The Crobat moved its wings away and quickly returned to Ace's shoulder.
"Be careful. There are still some Team Rocket remnants here."
Ace said indifferently before turning to leave. Since the main characters of the story were here, he no longer needed to worry about anything. He could focus on his own matters.
"Wait!"
Bugsy quickly called out to Ace. "There are Team Rocket members here. Let's act together. It's safer that way."
"I've already dealt with them."
Ace said without turning back. "Besides, you two are too weak."
Bugsy and Gold both froze. After a long moment, Gold said stubbornly, "What? What a jerk. One-on-one, I definitely won't lose!"
"Just give up, Gold."
Bugsy knew what Gold's hot temper wanted to do and quickly held him back. "He's not a friendly person. If you rush over, you might suffer a great loss. The most important thing now is to find my teammates."
"Ugh, fine. I'll let him go this time."
Gold said stubbornly. He knew he couldn't beat Ace, but he wasn't going to lose face!
After calming Gold down, the two of them hurried off to find Bugsy's teammates.
Meanwhile, Ace passed through the maze-like area and arrived at a large hall. Looking at the signs of age on the walls, Ace walked toward a mural. It was a tattered mural with traces of many Unown.
"I don't know much about the ancient Unown language, but I can at least understand some of it," Ace said with a sigh. In the past two years, he had prepared thoroughly for this.
His fingertips traced the Unown characters on the mural. Ace gradually translated them, and the general meaning was a legend about Ho-Oh. This was not what Ace was looking for.
"As expected... It seems that only Arceus can open the path to the God-Emperor Ruins."
Ace sighed. His main purpose in coming to the Ruins of Alph was to see if he could use them to explore the God-Emperor Ruins. But it was clear that without Arceus leading the way, it would be very difficult to get to the God-Emperor Ruins.
"Let's go."
Ace patted the Kirlia's head. The group returned the way they came, went back to the secret door, took the two unconscious Team Rocket grunts with them, and walked out of the Ruins of Alph.
Not long after Ace left, a team of ten people arrived at the Ruins of Alph and began their handover with Ace. First, a team member took the two living Team Rocket grunts away. Then, the rest of the team put on rubber gloves and gas masks and began to deal with the remaining bodies. By the time Gold and Bugsy rescued their friends, the team had already finished cleaning up.
The team leader shook hands with Ace, then waved a hand, and the team quickly left.
"Those were members of the Pokémon Alliance, right?"
Bugsy walked over with his bug-catching net and asked Ace, "Who exactly are you?"
"A trainer whose interest has been piqued."
Ace said indifferently, then turned to leave. But just then, Gold rushed over, bowed deeply to Ace, and said, "Hello, senior! I asked the old man, Professor Oak, and he said you're also a Pokédex holder. As a fellow Pokédex holder, I hope you can teach me how to battle Pokémon!"
The Cyndaquil by Gold's side also lowered its head to Ace, its attitude extremely sincere.
"Not interested, don't have time."
Ace looked at Gold and said, "If you really want a master, go find Ash on Mt. Silver. Maybe he'll take you in."
After speaking, Ace didn't stay any longer. He returned the Kirlia to its Poké Ball. The Crobat grabbed his shoulder and flew toward the sky, heading for the nearby Azalea Town.
"Senior, wait... Damn it! What a jerk!"
Gold watched as Ace completely ignored him and cursed out loud.
Bugsy couldn't stand it and said to Gold, "Gold, you need to change your impulsive temper. Nobody will selflessly give their skills to others. You have neither sincerity nor patience. If I were him, I wouldn't take you on either."
"Am I really that bad?"
Gold felt a little down after hearing Bugsy's advice. He took out a comb to fix his bangs, then regained his spirit and said to the Cyndaquil beside him, "Let's go, Cyndaquil, we'll get stronger even without his guidance! We'll definitely save your friend!"
The Cyndaquil nodded at Gold. Its fighting spirit would not be defeated by such a small setback!
Gold said goodbye to Bugsy, got on his skateboard, and continued to chase his goal. No matter what, he was going to catch up to that guy and rescue his Totodile!
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