With Lucario's arrival, the battle around Bisharp ended almost instantly.
Lucario charged straight in, his aura staff sweeping one opponent aside, an Aura Sphere blasting another off his feet, then a sharp High Jump Kick dropping the third. Only one enemy remained—and that one collapsed into a daze under Bisharp's brutal Brick Break.
Without lingering, Lucario sprinted off toward another skirmish.
From his vantage point at the doorway, Auron slapped his forehead in frustration.
"Idiot! Protect Bisharp, not the others! What's the point of being this little sun that shines on everyone? Girls want special treatment, not warmth for the whole world. How can you not get that?"
He felt his Riolu drifting further and further from him. If only he could crawl inside Lucario's body and teach him how to handle it himself…
With Lucario joining the fray, the battle was quickly suppressed by Aegislash, Magnezone, Metagross, Ferrothorn, and Lucario working together.
As for Aggron, its heavy movements caused such chaos in combat that it was relegated to standing off to the side, dangling the unconscious Feiyan in its claws.
Soon, the police had sealed off the site. The Church's members were dragged away one by one, and the logistics teams poured in.
Dax Jonas came over and asked, "Well?"
Auron subtly flashed him an "OK" gesture.
"Relax. All good."
"Alright, then head back first. I'll drop by the precinct, make a statement, and catch up later."
"No problem."
Auron pulled on his hat and mask, blending into the crowd of support staff as they bustled in and out. He slipped outside, mingled among the onlookers for a bit to play the part, then finally boarded the subway to head home.
This had been the plan from the start—Dax had told him beforehand: he only needed to help in the early stage of the operation. Once things kicked off, his role ended.
When it was all over, only Dax and his higher-ups would know Auron had even been involved. To the police, he simply didn't exist.
As Dax put it: "You're still a student. Help us set the trap, that's enough. No need to get dragged down into the Church's pit."
But though his name wouldn't be recorded anywhere, his rewards would not be lacking.
—
Back at the breeding house, Auron greeted the reception girls out front as usual, then slipped into the back.
His mother wasn't there. Last night, she'd mentioned that the main branch had received a batch of new Pokémon Eggs, so she'd gone to pick through the rarer ones.
"Dad, I'm back."
Auron pushed open the door to the research lab and spotted his father's back.
"You still not done writing?"
Ashen Vale didn't even turn his head.
"Not yet. Sit tight a while."
Not "not yet" at all—he hadn't written a single coherent line.
He'd insisted at home that he wasn't worried, but once he got here, he realized he couldn't focus at all. Only after hearing Auron's voice did his mind finally settle, and the words began to flow.
Before long, he had finished his paper: On the Evolutionary Conditions and Requirements of Feebas into Milotic. It wasn't much left to complete anyway.
Standing, he refilled his teacup, then sat down across from Auron. His eyes widened as Gengar began pulling item after item from its shadowy belly.
"Whoa, that much?"
Even Auron was startled. He hadn't expected the haul to be this massive.
While his father had told him to sit and wait, he'd obeyed at first—but boredom soon won out, and he set Gengar to unloading their spoils.
Gengar wasn't quick—taking each item out one by one—but five minutes later, the pile still hadn't ended.
They had all overlooked a crucial point.
The Secret Realm had only opened yesterday. The first wave of entrants always gained the most loot. And this time, it hadn't been just a handful—there'd been at least a hundred White-Robe members in the hall alone, not to mention the higher-ranked Instructors and Teachers who had also gone in.
The higher their rank, the stronger their power, and the more they brought out of the realm. That was why Gengar seemed to have no end to its haul.
Putting items in was easy—just shove them into the shadow. But taking them out had to be done one by one.
Soon, one workbench was buried beneath a mountain of goods, and Gengar had to shuffle over to another table to keep unloading.
Father and son ignored Gengar's effort for now, focusing on the first overfilled bench.
The first thing that caught their eyes were Berries—piles and piles of them.
After all, in the Church, even a single Berry was worth points. The rarer the Berry, the higher the reward.
Auron glanced at his father with a wry smile.
"Maybe… we should sort these first?"
Ashen raised an eyebrow.
"Why us? Don't we have staff for this?"
Auron slapped his forehead. "Right, I'll call them."
He quickly summoned most of the outer staff, leaving only a handful to watch the store.
"Wait outside the door. I'll bring the stuff out."
His father's lab was strictly off-limits. Everything would need to be wheeled out before sorting.
He fetched several carts. One he parked by the workbench, where his father helped shovel the Berries in. The others he rolled next to Gengar.
"Here, put them in here."
Gengar waddled over and began dropping items into the carts.
Watching the seemingly bottomless pit of his ghost's stomach, Auron couldn't help but mutter,
"Damn. That's deep."
He and his father quickly filled the carts with Berries, and Lucario pushed them outside to the waiting staff. Soon the courtyard buzzed with the sounds of sorting.
With the opening act settled, the rest flowed smoothly.
Gengar unloaded, father and son roughly divided—Berries into carts for the staff, while held items and evolution stones went onto workbenches for closer inspection. Fire Stones, Leaf Stones, and the like were stacked together.
As for items like Quick Claws and Everstones, those were carefully grouped one by one.
By the time they were partway through, Dax Jonas arrived.
He stopped short at the sight of boxes of Berries outside and tables piled high with evolution stones and held items.
"Good grief, why's there so much?"
Ashen's mind worked fast—he'd already guessed the reason.
He didn't stop moving, but explained,
"Must be because the realm just opened yesterday. That's why there are so many Berries."
The words clicked instantly.
"No wonder," Dax said. "They must've exchanged them for points yesterday, but before they could ship them out today—we wiped them all out."
He and Auron shared a sly grin, like a pair of foxes caught in the same henhouse.
"Alright, less talking, more sorting. Look at this—there are almost enough Fire Stones to fill a whole cart."
Ashen grumbled, but kept stacking.
Time ticked by. The Berry piles thinned, but Gengar's arms were still moving. And then, suddenly, what he drew out wasn't an item at all.
It was a Pokémon Egg.
Everyone froze.
Auron bolted to the storeroom, returning with Egg pedestals as fast as his legs could carry him.
By then, Ashen, Dax, Lucario, and Gengar each already held one in their hands.
(End of Chapter)