Coming slow, leaving in a rush.
The road back is always faster than the way out. In no time at all, Auron and the others were home, and Tim Wynn made the rounds to drop everyone off one by one. No one suggested a dinner gathering that night; after playing around for days, rest sounded better. Besides, a new journey was waiting for them tomorrow.
The moment Auron stepped through the door, he saw Dax Jonas sitting in the living room with a stormy face.
Auron blinked and looked toward his dad. Ashen Vale's face was just as dark.
"Dad?"
"Tell him about Victini already. I'm sick of this."
Ashen's scowl deepened; the last two days had pushed his patience to the limit. Ever since Auron had sent him a photo of Victini, Dax had been in a panic. He'd gotten off one plane just to turn right around and get on another back home. When he arrived, he couldn't find Auron—the hotel had changed. And when he tried calling Auron, he couldn't get through—his number had been blocked.
With no choice, Dax had come to see Ashen first. When Ashen saw the Victini photo Auron had sent to Dax, he got excited too. So Ashen did exactly what Dax had done at the start: he called Auron like a madman.
But at that time, Auron was playing with Victini. His backpack was with Serena Elm, so when the phone rang, Serena picked up.
The moment she answered, Auron's mom—listening in—lit up, snatched the phone from Ashen's hand, and said in a rush:
"Oh? No worries, no worries. You two just have fun, okay?"
Then she hung up and sternly ordered both Ashen and Dax not to disturb Auron and Serena's trip.
What could Ashen do? He couldn't argue his way out of that in the moment.
And so Dax ended up staying at Auron's house—two whole days of it—driving Ashen up the wall. By the time Auron finally came home, Ashen didn't even feel like hearing another word about Victini.
Dax's black mood, for his part, was simple: Auron had toyed with him. He'd stoked Dax's curiosity and then vanished. He'd even blocked his calls.
"Uh… Uncle Dax, you're here too."
Auron felt a little awkward. Sure, he was bold enough to be all kinds of cheeky over text, but face-to-face? He backed down fast.
Dax shot to his feet, stalked up to Auron, grabbed him by the collar, and roared:
"Arghhh! You little… Why'd you dangle it in front of me and then cut me off? That's just cruel!"
Auron swayed helplessly with Dax's shaking.
"Uncle Dax, if you rattle my brains out, I won't be able to say anything about Victini."
Dax froze, then forced a smile and dragged Auron to the sofa.
"Don't. Talk. Talk."
Ashen came out of the bedroom, his expression returning to neutral as he sat beside Auron. However annoyed he was at Dax, what researcher could turn down information on a Mythical Pokémon?
Auron set his backpack aside and, at his leisure, took a sip of tea.
He didn't see Ashen's expression darken. A sharp smack landed on the back of Auron's head.
"Speed it up!"
Ashen was already fuming, and now Auron had to go and poke the bear? Not happening.
"Ahem, no, I mean—okay, okay, right away."
Auron exhaled, gave a wry smile, and asked:
"What do you want to know?"
"Vic—"
"Where did you encounter Victini? Is its special power to raise other Pokémon's chance of winning? Is there any possibility of capturing it? If not, is it at least friendly toward people?"
Ashen had just started when Dax bulldozed over him. Ashen let it go; after all, these were exactly the questions "upstairs" had instructed Dax to ask.
Auron processed that and shot back:
"This is from the officials, then?"
"Yeah."
Dax nodded. If it weren't official business, would he be this frantic? Sure, he was curious about Legendary Pokémon, but a Fire/Psychic-type Mythical wasn't within his capture plans, so there wasn't any personal rush to grill Auron about Victini.
Auron nodded. "Okay. I'll answer them one by one. First: its special ability isn't 'increasing another Pokémon's chance of winning.' From what I've observed the last couple of days, it boosts certain stats for other Pokémon. Exactly which stats, I'm not entirely sure, but an increase in accuracy is definite."
"Second—"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. Hold on."
Dax hadn't expected Auron to rattle it off so fast—so fast he hadn't even taken out a video recorder yet.
A moment later, under Auron's helpless gaze, Dax had a camcorder set up and pointed at him.
"Okay. Start from the top."
Now Dax finally relaxed, sprawling on the sofa with an old-god-at-ease air as he addressed Auron.
With a sigh, Auron gave a concise rundown of Victini's traits again, then continued:
"As for capture, it probably isn't possible—but I can't say for sure. It feels like it's waiting for someone, somewhere. Mm, best not to bother it too much."
Given the country's resources and brainpower, Auron figured they'd already pinpointed Victini's location by now.
But Longguo had no shortage of Legendary Pokémon living within its borders. Even if they'd found Victini, they wouldn't disturb it right off the bat. They'd first consult people who had interacted with it.
"As for people, it's pretty friendly. We spent several days playing together. Its personality's good—well-behaved, cheerful—but a little shy around strangers."
"That's it?"
Dax, who had just snuggled comfortably into the sofa, went blank. That was it? Two sentences and done?
"Yup. That's it."
Auron's certainty didn't waver.
Dax squinted, still not convinced.
"Really nothing else?"
"Really nothing else."
Auron was just as firm.
Buddy, you asked exactly three questions. I answered exactly those three. What more do you want?
Dax sat up.
"You do realize? Information on Victini is worth a full key to a national vault."
"Then keep asking. I'll tell you everything I know."
Now Auron perked up. Figures—Mythical Pokémon occupied a different tier altogether.
Dax scratched his head. Problem was, he didn't actually have anything else to ask. The officials had given him precisely three questions. Left to his own devices, he genuinely didn't know what to add.
"Uh… Let's bank this for now. We can follow up later, okay?"
"Sure. Then where's my reward?"
Auron's eyes shone as he stared at Dax.
Dax's gaze slid away. He coughed, voice going small.
"What you just said… that probably qualifies for a fragment of a national vault key."
"And what qualifies for a full one?"
"Mm… I don't know either. But if you could capture Victini, the reward would be even better than that."
"…Excuse me?"
Auron's mouth twisted. If catching a Mythical were that easy, he'd have done it already.
Poké Balls aren't a cure-all. With power on that level, who's to say it wouldn't just stroll right out of the ball? (Looking at you, Suicune.)
Dax: righteously-unapologetic.jpg
"That's not up to me. I don't issue rewards. But the higher-ups did say: if you can deliver complete information on Victini, a full vault key is guaranteed."
"Your dad knows this, but I'll put it plain: whether it's our country or anyone else's, data on Legendary and Mythical Pokémon is incredibly rare and incredibly valuable. So a reward that generous isn't unreasonable."
Auron grinned. If we're talking information, that's easy. He might not be able to catch a Mythical on a whim, but when it came to learning a Pokémon's particulars, he had a knack.
"Tell them to hold that reward for me. I'll have a complete dossier on a Mythical for you soon."
(End of Chapter)