In the Kanto region, at Indigo Plateau, inside the League headquarters.
After a whole morning of work, Lance was slumped in his office chair, just about to close his eyes and grab a quick nap.
"Wuu~" (Lance, someone's looking for you.)
His plump Dragonite waddled over, balancing a tray in its hands, and set the plate down on Lance's desk.
A steaming cup of tea sent its aroma curling into Lance's nose. He half-opened his eyes and let out a yawn.
He took the phone Dragonite was also holding out to him and saw a missed call from the Sinnoh region—
—along with a few new messages in his LINE DMs.
[Cynthia: Mr. Lance, do you know this person?]
[Cynthia: photo.jpg]
Seeing the message from Cynthia, Lance sat up straight and tapped the picture open.
The image, of course, was a screenshot of Grey pretending to be "Lance" and bantering with Cynthia.
Not even ten lines of chat in total… ending with a red exclamation mark.
[Lance the Dragon Master: I do. He's a Gym Leader from our Kanto region. He's shown pretty impressive results recently in operations against Team Rocket.]
[Cynthia: Since when did Kanto have a Gym Leader like that? surprised.jpg]
[Lance the Dragon Master: He's only been a Gym Leader for less than half a month. Even before getting the Gym, he was already helping arrest Team Rocket members. Miss Cynthia, what business do you have with Grey?]
Outside the small glow of the phone screen, Lance blew on his tea, took a light sip, and mentally prepared himself for the worst.
If Cynthia was looking for an explanation over this, he was going to have to be ready to argue his case.
[Cynthia: It's nothing, I just wanted to ask. But since he's a bit of a local celebrity for you Kanto folks, you'd better be ready on your end.]
[Lance the Dragon Master: ?]
[Cynthia: I have a friend named Caitlin. She's… a little similar to your Saffron Gym Leader, Sabrina.]
[Lance the Dragon Master: I understand. We'll make the proper arrangements.]
[Cynthia: Then I'll leave Caitlin in your care once she arrives in Kanto.]
[Lance the Dragon Master: No problem.]
Once he sent that last message, Lance the Dragon Master sighed.
"Similar to Sabrina, huh? Sounds like another gifted one who doesn't quite have full control over her own power."
He might not know every single detail, but Lance had more than enough information on his own Gym Leaders.
Besides, Sabrina's situation was already common knowledge across Kanto. If it weren't for Grey's involvement, Saffron City's visitor numbers would probably be dropping lower and lower every year.
"But seriously… why is everyone suddenly connected to Grey somehow?"
Lance rested his hand on his chin, still puzzled about why Caitlin wanted to come to Kanto specifically to see Grey.
"Looks like I'll have to find some time to go take a look at him. And while I'm there, I might as well see how he's raising Dragons—and whether he needs any pointers from me."
——
Saffron City, Fighting Dojo.
By the time lunch was over, Ash and his friends had temporarily left the dojo.
Grey was in the middle of drawing up a training plan for the Pokémon he'd recently caught.
"Dratini, your main focus right now is speed training—especially burst speed. For that, you've got to use Extreme Speed as often as possible."
The first one on the schedule was the newest member of the team, Dratini. It had learned Extreme Speed, and Grey planned to have it train together with Riolu.
Once Riolu evolved into Lucario, it would be able to learn Extreme Speed as well.
Even though it couldn't learn the move before evolving, building the foundations for it now would definitely be a good thing.
"Riolu, for the next few days I want you to use your Quick Attack technique to teach Dratini how to explode into speed. Once it's got that down, it can teach you Extreme Speed in return. How about it—any objections?"
"Mio!" (I've got objections!)
As Grey was speaking, Little Riolu suddenly cracked one eye open from where it was lying in the pile of snacks, then shot over to him with ridiculous speed, waving its paws and pointing this way and that.
"Mio, mio!" (Look, honestly, I could teach both of them! See, I'm the strongest one in this whole bunch of Pokémon, and I'm really good at Quick Attack too. Wouldn't it be perfect to have me be the instructor?)
Little Riolu was extra enthusiastic, even grabbing both Riolu and Dratini by the paws. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were all siblings separated at birth or something.
"Nobody gets this helpful for no reason. You're up to something. Out with it—what do you want?"
After spending so many days together, Grey didn't need to think hard to know Little Riolu had an ulterior motive.
Normally, if you wanted it to lift a paw, you needed some "payment" ready.
This guy would even haggle on the spot—if you wanted anything done, you'd better hand over some Berries.
So now, with Little Riolu volunteering for work, Grey was sure it needed a favor.
What favor, though—that he didn't know.
"Mio, mio~ mio!" (Well, um, it's like this~ Let's say that, someday, I run into something I have to do. Would you go with me?)
Little Riolu scooted closer, carefully tugging on Grey's jacket hem. Its voice dropped without meaning to, the usual playful tone fading away.
"Mm? Did something happen?"
Sensing something off in Little Riolu's aura, Grey dropped the teasing and grew serious.
He might act laid-back most of the time, but when something was wrong, he showed up for real.
"Mio." (It's nothing. I just suddenly got a feeling that there's something I'll have no choice but to do later. I don't want to leave without saying anything… If it's not convenient for you when the time comes, I'll go by myself.)
Little Riolu walked over to the window, pressing both paws against the glass and gazing silently into the distance.
It lifted its head, as if trying to see through the cloud cover to whatever lay beyond it.
After a long while, it turned away from the window and came back to Grey.
"Mio." (Thank you for taking care of me all this time. If I disappear someday, please don't come looking for me. I'll come back when everything is over.)
It bowed slightly, giving a little knight's salute, its voice clearly different from before.
Much lower. Much heavier.
Listening to all of this, Grey felt like he wasn't looking at Little Riolu at all, but at some old general with his back bristling with banners.
You've planted every death flag in existence, haven't you?!
"So you eat your fill and think you can just pat your butt and walk off, huh?"
Hearing Little Riolu madly stacking flags, Grey walked over, planted a hand on its head, and pulled it into his arms, rubbing it roughly.
"Miooo~" (Nooo, stop rubbing meee~ I know I was wrong, I swear I won't raise any more flags~)
Little Riolu whimpered in his arms and finally managed to struggle free.
"Zzrt-zzrt." (Honestly, staying here this long… living in a human city isn't actually that bad.)
Zapdos swooped down and landed beside Grey, its sharp beak opening, a ringing cry trailing behind.
"Zzrt-zzrt." (But hey, when's that incredible Electric-type Trainer you mentioned supposed to show up?)
"About that… I'd say soon."
Grey waved and gave an awkward little laugh, selling Zapdos another big dream.
High above Saffron City, above the clouds—
A humanoid Pokémon was quietly watching the Fighting Dojo below, its tail flicking faster and faster.
"Mew…"
"We will fight one day."
In the next instant, Mewtwo vanished from the sky, leaving nothing but faint ripples of Psychic power behind.
As if nothing at all had appeared there, everything fell silent again.
Inside the Fighting Dojo, Grey was just about to open the door when his phone's notification sound cut him off.
[Daisy: Emergency emergency emergency, Dojo Master Grey, read this and reply ASAP!]
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