Porygon materialized in a flash of digital light.
"Pory-g-o-n!"
"What kind of Pokémon is that?" Iris asked, tilting her head with the same confused look everyone gave when meeting this virtual space Pokémon for the first time.
Kashiwagi opened his mouth to explain, then a mischievous thought crossed his mind. He grinned. "This is Porygon. It used to be called '3D-Dragon'—a special virtual Pokémon created by Dr. Akihabara in Kanto."
Since he was technically improvising the "Dragon" part of the name by mashing together the Dragon part on the fly, the dialect sounded a bit clunky.
But it worked.
"Dragon? It's a Dragon-type?!"
"It can't be."
"EEEEE!!"
The Dragon-fanatic girl lunged at Porygon, eyes sparkling with delight. "Dragon-types really are so diverse! He's so cute! He looks like he's made of toy blocks!"
"Pory?!"
Porygon looked at Iris, who was vigorously rubbing its angular head, and then turned a helpless, pixelated gaze toward its trainer.
What is happening? And what is a "3D-Dragon"? Since when was that my name? This feels factually incorrect!
"Hahaha..."
Kashiwagi couldn't help but laugh at Porygon's existential crisis.
However, before Iris's misconceptions could become permanent, he took pity on his Pokémon and explained the real situation.
Iris pouted, giving him an unimpressed look.
"You're so childish!"
"Ahem. Anyway, back to business."
He cleared his throat and straightened his expression.
"Since we've figured out the mechanics, there's no need to go head-to-head with those stone statues. We'll have Porygon use Teleport to grab the bag. Then, we'll use the pitfall traps to drop back to the first floor, and finally run out the door Steelix opens with her sandstorm. Simple, right?"
"Ohhh!"
Iris nodded along with Fraxure, finally following the logic.
Due to various technical constraints, Porygon's Teleport couldn't cross massive distances or reach places it couldn't see, otherwise Kashiwagi and Iris would just wait at the exit.
Even so, this plan was essentially "Adventuring for Dummies."
But the real question was: would there be any annoying variables? And could they actually execute it without a hitch?
Kashiwagi scrutinized Iris and Fraxure. The two looked back at him with blank stares, literal question marks practically floating over their heads.
"What's wrong?" Iris asked.
"Nothing."
He decided to add a few more layers of insurance. "Let's prepare."
"We still need to prepare?"
"Of course. Route maps, signal timing, the opening window for the door... everything needs to be synced. If you fail to prepare, you're preparing to fail."
The string of technical terms made Iris's head spin. While she wasn't as impulsive as Ash, she rarely bothered with meticulous planning.
Her usual strategy was to pick a goal and charge toward it.
Want to see Rayquaza? Run to Hoenn.
Want to get stronger? Challenge every Dragon Master in sight.
This was her first time experiencing a "planned operation" from start to finish.
It's not so bad... she thought. Just a little annoying. I'd definitely never do this myself.
...
The Dry Run
Kashiwagi pulled out a sketchbook and began outlining the plan in detail.
He had already agreed with Steelix to use a phone call as the signal.
To ensure she opened the door exactly when they needed it, he planned to place the call the moment Porygon made its move.
By the time they dropped to the bottom and circled to the entrance, the timing should be perfect.
"This is the route. Got it?" Kashiwagi showed the sketch to Iris.
She glanced down at the book, looking very serious. "Got it!"
"...You're looking at it upside down. And you only looked for half a second because you were busy playing with Porygon."
"I—I'm not an idiot! One glance is enough! I have a great sense of direction!"
"Didn't you walk the exact opposite way earlier?"
"That was a minor error! Are you really going to keep bringing that up? Who's the child now, Mr. Adult?"
"Fine, my mistake."
He wasn't about to get into a debate with a twelve-year-old.
"Let's do a practice run. Just to be safe."
Iris huffed but agreed.
Seriously, why does he just assume I'll get lost?
(Truth be told, she actually had forgotten the route already, but she blamed it on the arguing. She definitely remembered it before he started talking!)
They returned to the fourth-floor stairs and began the rehearsal.
And then...
Then Iris immediately sprinted toward a dead-end, nearly triggering a stone statue.
"..."
Luckily, Fraxure had more common sense; seeing Kashiwagi standing still, he grabbed Iris's cloak and yanked her back just in time.
"Whoa!"
Iris lost her balance and landed hard on her bum. She turned around to find Kashiwagi looking down at her with a look of supreme "I told you so."
"Another thirty centimeters and you would've triggered the trap. Congratulations."
He gave her a slow, mock applause.
"...Ugh." Iris slumped, defeated. "I'm sorry~"
Kashiwagi decided not to rub it in any further.
"Since the map isn't sticking, just stay glued to me. Don't run off on your own."
She nodded vigorously.
...
It was time for the real deal.
Kashiwagi stood at the edge of the staircase, thumb hovering over the call button on his phone.
Beside him, Iris and Fraxure held their breath, tense and ready.
Porygon floated near the center of the top floor, its digital eyes locked onto the abandoned luggage. It scanned the room one last time, then looked back at its trainer.
Their eyes met.
"Start!"
Kashiwagi barked the command and slammed his thumb onto the call button.
Beep!
Porygon lunged forward, snagging the bag in its beak. Its blocky body blurred with a sudden, jagged jitter—Teleport!
In a blink, it vanished from the pedestal and reappeared right next to Iris.
She snatched the bag instantly, but the tower wasn't about to let them go quietly.
The ground beneath the fourth floor began to groan and heave. From every corner of the walls, stone statues of Armaldo and Cradily came surging out—dozens of them, eyes glowing a menacing crimson!
But by then, Kashiwagi and Iris were already a blur of motion, racing toward the pre-planned pitfall trap.
"Sharpen!" Kashiwagi yelled.
Porygon's body shifted, its edges becoming razor-sharp as it transformed into a heavy, digital hammer.
It slammed into the cracked floor with a resounding CRACK, shattering the weakened stone and sending the two trainers plummeting downward.
A four or five-meter drop? To a normal person, that might be a problem. But to the sturdy humans of the Pokémon world, it was just a shortcut.
They repeated the process on the second floor with practiced precision.
In less than two minutes, they were standing before the "Main Gate."
The exit hadn't opened yet, but the eerie silence of the tower was replaced by the muffled, rhythmic howling of the desert wind outside.
"Phew... looks like those statues are still stuck on the fourth floor," Iris exhaled, glancing nervously at the ceiling.
She hadn't fully grasped the brilliance of the plan while they were drawing it in the sketchbook, but seeing it in action was a total shock to her system.
If she had tried to get her bag back alone, she'd currently be in a desperate brawl against a literal army of stone monsters.
Instead, they had completely outmaneuvered the guardians and were already at the finish line.
He's so cool! She looked at Kashiwagi with eyes full of genuine admiration.
If Kashiwagi knew what she was thinking, he'd probably just wonder what kind of unreliable disaster-magnets she usually hung out with if a simple "look before you leap" plan impressed her this much.
"The door's opening!" Kashiwagi's shout snapped her back to reality.
The solid earthen wall before them suddenly disintegrated into fine grains of sand, revealing a gateway of blinding white light.
The exit was clear. The stone statues were nowhere to be found.
The two took one last look at the mysterious Mirage Tower and stepped out into the light.
...
As the white glare faded, the familiar sight of the swirling yellow desert greeted them.
Up on a nearby ridge, their "sandstorm generator," Steelix, saw them emerge. She immediately stopped her horizontal rotation and began slithering toward them with a rhythmic clink-clink-clink of her massive frame.
Iris waved happily. "Steeeee—"
Suddenly, her razor-sharp sixth sense screamed a warning.
She whipped her head around to see the massive Mirage Tower literally fracturing from the top down. The ancient sandstone was collapsing, and a wall of debris was coming down right on top of them!
RUMBLE!
"Look out!"
Iris's body moved before her brain could even process the fear.
She lunged forward, reaching out to grab Kashiwagi's hand, but even with her lightning-fast reflexes, they were too close to the impact zone to outrun the falling stone on foot.
"Hold on tight! Agility! Gyro Ball!"
Kashiwagi's voice cut through the chaos. Iris felt a sudden, forceful tug on her arm as she was hoisted onto something smooth and metallic.
A split second later, a massive force yanked her away from the danger zone. A flash of silver light streaked past her eyes, followed by a bone-shaking roar of impact.
CLANG!!
Iris looked up to see the gargantuan Steelix using her own spinning body to smash through the falling boulders like a wrecking ball.
Looking down, Iris realized she was clinging for dear life to Porygon's tail.
Kashiwagi was hanging onto Porygon's leg with one hand, while his other hand gripped the tusk-like teeth of a very bewildered Fraxure.
A heartbeat later, they reached the safe zone outside the collapse.
Porygon executed a perfect high-speed drift, coming to a halt on the ridge and letting the two trainers and the Pokémon slide safely to the ground.
A massive cloud of dust billowed into the sky, but through the haze, the giant silver silhouette of Steelix was still visible, standing strong.
Both Kashiwagi and Iris let out long, shaky breaths of relief.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine! Thank you!"
They quickly checked each other for scrapes. The collapse had been incredibly sudden.
Kashiwagi had assumed the tower would simply vanish into thin air like in the games once the fossils were gone—he hadn't expected it to literally self-destruct.
Thank goodness for Steelix and Porygon.
"Your driving skills are getting better and better, huh?" Kashiwagi patted the dust off his hands and gave Porygon a thumbs-up.
"Pory-g-o-n~!"
Porygon wagged its digital legs happily. Who knew that all those hours of practicing Agility would turn it into the ultimate get-away car?
Steelix emerged from the dust cloud shortly after, looking completely unfazed.
As the haze cleared, the two of them looked back at the spot where the tower had stood. It was now nothing more than a giant, shapeless mound of yellow sand. It felt a bit surreal, considering they were just inside it moments ago.
"Oh! The fossils!"
Iris suddenly remembered the whole reason for their high-stakes heist.
She tore open her backpack and pulled out two ancient stones.
"As promised, one is yours! You pick!"
Kashiwagi looked down and, sure enough, just like in the games, they were the Claw Fossil and the Root Fossil. Both were impeccably preserved, with the primary structures showing almost no signs of erosion or damage.
He pulled out his phone. "Mind if I ask a professional for their opinion?"
"A professional?" Iris tilted her head.
"Yeah, I'm planning on giving it away as a gift."
Kashiwagi nodded. Once Iris gave her okay, he snapped photos of both fossils and sent them to Lyra, all the way back in Rustboro City.
There was no doubt about it: he intended to give the fossil to Steven.
Steven had looked after him quite a bit, and so far, Kashiwagi hadn't been able to offer much in return besides letting him study the Wishing Star.
It felt wrong to leave it at that.
As they say, courtesy is a two-way street.
Even if he wasn't scheming for something specific from Steven, sending the man something he genuinely loved during the holidays—or just because—was a great way to maintain and deepen their relationship.
Reciprocity is the best policy, as the saying goes.
As for keeping it for himself... honestly, rather than reviving a fossil Pokémon and starting from scratch, it's better to use the Pokémon clues he's accumulated sooner.
Those were the ones he felt "destined" to partner with. Of course there were exceptions, Feebas was Shiny✨ and Porygon was well "unique".
His phone buzzed. It was a reply from Lyra.
...
Lyra: "...Don't tell me you just 'found' these."
Kashiwagi: "Technically, someone else found them, but they're letting me take one. Which one do you think is better for Steven-san? I want to send it to him as a gift."
Lyra: "Ah—Arceus above! How does one person have such explosive luck?! It's been what, a week? Two weeks? How many amazing things have you run into already?!"
The researcher seemed to have been driven to the brink of madness by his "humblebragging".
She started spamming emojis of bloody knives.
She sounded exactly like a gacha game player who had just spent their entire life savings without getting a 5-star, only to receive a message from a "newbie" asking, "Hey, I just got this on my first single pull, is it any good?"
Kashiwagi: "Ahem, Lyra-san?"
Lyra: "Don't call me Lyra-san! I'm not worthy! I don't deserve to even have your Line ID, I'm deleting you right now..."
Kashiwagi: "Wait wait wait... next time I find a cool stone, I'll send it to you, okay?"
She had been identifying things for him for free for a long time and always replied within a minute. It was only right to send her a little something eventually.
Raisa: "Really?"
Kashiwagi: "Truthfully."
Lyra: "Fine... WAIT! You're doing it again! 'Next time I find one'?! You think rare stones are just pebbles on the side of the road?!"
Kashiwagi: "I really didn't mean it like that. Let's talk business—which one is high-grade?"
Lyra: "...The Root Fossil. The one on the left. The structure is complete, the luster is perfect, and the shape is excellent. If a specialized fossil collector saw this, they'd easily offer tens of millions of Yen for it. Once revived, it becomes a Lileep—a Pokémon Steven is very fond of."
Kashiwagi: "Got it. Thanks. I'll make it up to you next time."
Lyra: "If 'making it up to me' involves showing off another stone, I will actually hunt you down. I'm serious."
Terrifying.
...
He tucked his phone away and looked up to see Iris interacting with Porygon and Steelix.
Even though she now knew Porygon wasn't a Dragon-type, she hadn't lost interest; in fact, seeing Porygon's strange powers had only made her more curious.
"I'll take this one." Kashiwagi picked up the Root Fossil and gave it a little wave.
"Sure~" Iris didn't hesitate, grabbing the other fossil and stuffing it into her bag.
The day was getting late. They had spent nearly two hours dealing with the Mirage Tower.
If they didn't hurry, they'd be forced to camp out in the middle of the desert, which was definitely not part of Kashiwagi's plan.
"I'm heading to the Pokémon Center to the south. What about you? Where are you headed next?" he asked.
Iris looked left, then right, before letting out an embarrassed, sheepish laugh.
"I was trying to get to Meteor Falls... but to be honest, I got so lost chasing that Flygon that I have no idea where I am anymore."
"You have a phone and you're still lost..."
Kashiwagi was speechless at the sheer power of her "directionally challenged" trait.
"Fine. Let's head to the Pokémon Center for the night. We can figure the rest out tomorrow."
"Yes, please!" Iris nodded frantically.