The expedition members were still shouting at the top of their lungs.
Their relief at surviving had quickly mixed with anger. The Alolan Sandslash had already killed several members of the Rivergate team, and for the people who had served and fought alongside them, those deaths were personal.
If they had possessed the strength to do it themselves, they would have torn Sandslash apart without hesitation.
Ryan had already recalled Vileplume, Exeggutor, and Breloom. With his defeated Pokémon safely back inside their Poké Balls, he walked over to Grant, still watching Aaron and Greninja on the ridge.
"Grant... did you know Aaron was this strong from the beginning?"
Grant glanced at him.
"Otherwise, why would you have brought him into an unexplored secret zone with us?"
Grant nodded at first, then gave a slight shake of his head.
"I knew he was strong. I didn't know exactly how strong."
His gaze settled on Greninja, still surrounded by that golden cloak of energy.
"There's something you probably haven't heard yet, Ryan. Aaron recently cleared the ninth floor of the Hidden Dragon Tower in Crown City."
Ryan turned toward him.
Grant continued.
"He took first place on the Hidden Dragon Rankings and broke a record that had stood for thousands of years. No one in Hualis had ever cleared that floor before him."
Ryan stared.
Grant looked toward Aaron again.
"Unless one of Hualis's old reclusive families suddenly produces someone we don't know about, Aaron is almost certainly the strongest Trainer of his generation in the country."
The wind swept across the ridge above them.
Aaron stood straight against it, his white insulated coat snapping behind him while he watched the battlefield below.
Ryan needed a few seconds to process what he had just heard.
"You're serious?"
"Completely."
Ryan looked back toward Aaron, then toward Greninja.
He had thought the honorary rank was already the most extraordinary thing about the young Trainer.
Apparently, it was only one part of the story.
Aaron had never acted like someone carrying that kind of reputation. He did not throw his rank around, demand special treatment, or carry himself with the arrogance Ryan would have expected from someone hailed as the best young Trainer in Hualis.
Most of the time, he came across as an easygoing eighteen-year-old.
That made the contrast almost absurd.
The friendly student he had met that morning was also the Trainer sitting at the top of the Hidden Dragon Rankings.
Ryan suddenly turned back to Grant.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me any of this earlier?"
Grant raised an eyebrow.
"I thought he'd gotten here through connections."
"Yes, I noticed."
"I had no idea his record was that ridiculous."
Ryan's expression suddenly changed as another thought occurred to him.
"Wait. Then why did you bring him here?"
Grant blinked.
"This is an unexplored secret zone. We've already lost people, and we're barely into the expedition. What happens if something even worse is deeper inside?"
Ryan lowered his voice, but his urgency only grew.
"Once this fight is over, we should turn around and get Aaron out of here. If someone with his potential dies on an expedition we brought him into, we'll never hear the end of it."
Grant stared at him for a moment.
Then he sighed.
"Relax. Aaron's harder to kill than you think."
"That is not reassuring."
"And keeping him wrapped in bubble wrap isn't going to make him stronger."
Ryan frowned.
Grant's expression became more serious.
"He needs real battles. Real danger. If he's going to become the kind of Trainer Hualis may need in the future, he can't spend his life fighting only when everything is safe."
What Ryan did not know was that Grant had not invited Aaron into the secret zone on a whim.
Before the expedition, he had discussed the matter with his father, Champion Marcus. Marcus, in turn, had contacted Edward, and Aaron's participation had been approved.
There were two reasons.
The first was surprisingly practical.
Aaron had attracted far too much attention.
After everything he had done recently, his name had spread well beyond Hualis. Intelligence reports suggested that foreign powers and hostile organizations had already begun sending agents into the country, and some of them had only one objective: eliminate Aaron before he could grow any stronger.
For a while, disappearing into an unexplored secret zone was actually one of the better ways to keep him out of sight.
The second reason was exactly what Grant had told Ryan.
Aaron needed experience.
The international situation had been deteriorating for some time. Border clashes had become more frequent, and hostile forces that had remained quiet for years were beginning to move again.
To most ordinary people, Hualis still looked stable.
Those with access to higher-level information knew better.
The pressure surrounding the country was steadily building.
A century earlier, one overwhelmingly powerful Trainer had elevated Hualis above every rival and established it as the strongest nation in the world. Other countries and organizations had learned to treat Hualis with extreme caution simply because that person existed.
Hualis had never used that advantage to force the rest of the world into submission, but fear did not necessarily create friendship.
For decades, resentment had accumulated beneath the surface.
The only thing preventing many of those powers from acting openly had been the existence of that one Trainer.
Now a hundred years had passed.
That person had vanished.
And the countries that had spent generations waiting for an opportunity were beginning to test how much strength Hualis still had without its greatest deterrent.
Of course, Hualis still had friendly relations with countries such as Rostovia and Auroria. But far more nations were watching Hualis for any sign of weakness.
But there were plenty of others watching closely, waiting for weakness.
To Grant, that was exactly why Aaron could not be protected from every dangerous situation.
If things continued moving in the direction they were heading, Hualis might eventually need Trainers capable of standing at the very top.
Aaron had the potential to become one of them.
...
On the battlefield, Greninja and Alolan Sandslash faced each other across the snow.
The golden Tailed Beast Cloak still surrounded Greninja, shifting quietly in the wind. His cross-shaped pupils remained calm and unreadable as he watched Sandslash without the slightest sign of impatience.
Across from him, Sandslash looked anything but calm.
Its fist was still bleeding from the earlier collision.
"SLASH!"
It bared its teeth and roared.
Silver Steel-type energy surged across its body and concentrated around its armored head.
Then Sandslash launched itself forward.
Its Slush Rush-enhanced speed turned it into an ice-blue streak across the mountainside.
Iron Head!
And not just an ordinary one.
The move had reached Perfect proficiency.
"Frog Boss, dodge with Quick Attack."
Aaron's voice remained calm.
"Grenin."
Greninja disappeared in a flash of gold.
Sandslash tore through the spot where he had been standing an instant earlier.
BOOM!
Unable to stop its momentum, Sandslash slammed headfirst into the snowy ridge.
The impact blasted apart ice and stone, leaving a massive crater in the mountainside.
Aaron watched the debris fall.
Then a faint smile appeared on his face.
"That's enough."
Sandslash pulled itself free and spun toward Greninja.
Aaron raised his hand.
"Frog Boss—Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Grenin!"
Dozens of Greninja appeared across the snowy battlefield in bursts of white smoke, each surrounded by the same golden cloak.
Sandslash froze for half a second.
Aaron gave the next command.
"Flying Raijin: Water Shuriken Formation!"
The clones moved.
Golden figures scattered across the battlefield at impossible speed, surrounding Sandslash from every direction.
Aaron's eyes remained fixed on the center of the formation.
"And finish it with—"
Greninja and every clone moved as one.
"Sage Art: Rasenshuriken!"
...