Gary didn't explain anything further to Raikou.
He waited until the healing light on the two Heal Balls faded, then opened them and released Entei and Suicune.
The two Legendary Beasts had been defeated. Even though their injuries had been healed, they were still unconscious for the moment. However, they were Legendary Pokémon. It wouldn't take long for them to wake up.
Raikou immediately ran to Entei and Suicune and stood in front of them, clearly trying to protect its companions.
Tyranitar did not stop it.
"Raikou, I have no ill will," Gary said. "I only stepped in to stop you from bullying a mother and child. Can we talk properly now?"
Gary knew Raikou could understand him, so he waited for its response.
"Entei…"
"Suicune…"
At that moment, Entei and Suicune also began to wake up. Seeing Raikou standing guard over them, they quickly got to their feet and looked at Gary with hostility.
"Don't look at me like that," Gary said coldly. "You started the fight. If you still can't recognize your mistake, I don't mind defeating you ten more times."
Entei and Suicune both fell silent.
They had clearly come here to punish a villain, so how had they ended up being treated like the villains instead?
"You were deceived," Gary continued. "Zoroark is not your enemy. The real culprit is someone else, and that person is currently inside Crown City. I can take you to him."
"Entei, Suicune, Raikou, this young man is telling the truth," Joe said as he stepped forward.
"Zoroark is innocent," Tammy added. "Please believe him."
The three Legendary Beasts looked at each other. After a moment, they seemed to realize there really might have been a misunderstanding. One after another, they nodded toward Gary, showing that they were willing to believe him for now.
"Good. Then come with me."
Now that the Legendary Beasts had calmed down, the rest would be much easier to handle.
After dealing with them, the only remaining problem was Grings Kodai.
Kodai himself had no real combat ability. Although the Pokémon he used were mostly Ghost-types, they weren't very strong. His subordinate Goone was somewhat more troublesome, but Goone mainly used Bug-type Pokémon—two Scizor and a Ninjask.
Those Pokémon were fairly strong, but judging from their actual combat performance, they weren't strong enough to beat Zoroark. At most, they were around Gym level.
"We need to move quickly," Gary said. "Kodai's goal is the Time Ripple. If he succeeds, the disaster that happened in Crown City twenty years ago will happen again."
"What? Twenty years ago?"
"Kodai caused that?"
Joe and Tammy were both shocked. They had lived in Crown City twenty years ago and had personally experienced that disaster, but they had never imagined that it had been caused by a human.
"That's right," Gary said. "Twenty years ago, Kodai came into contact with the Time Ripple and gained the ability to see the future. But that energy is about to disappear, so he planned all of this in order to obtain the Time Ripple again."
There was no need to hide this from them. Joe's grandson, Karl, already knew about Kodai's plan and would tell Joe sooner or later.
"Entei, Suicune, Raikou," Gary said, turning to the three Legendary Beasts. "If you see Ninjask or Scizor in the city, attack them directly. They are Kodai's Pokémon."
The three Legendary Beasts nodded.
They naturally knew what Celebi represented, and after realizing they had been tricked by Kodai, their mood became extremely bad. Especially since they had also been beaten up by Gary because of this misunderstanding, all of the new and old grudges now fell on Kodai.
"Then let's move. Find Kodai and stop him before he reaches Celebi."
As soon as Gary finished speaking, the three Legendary Beasts rushed into the city to search.
Gary recalled Tyranitar and Blastoise, then rode Zapdos into Crown City from above.
The old district of Crown City was quite large. Gary remembered that the Time Ripple was located inside a garden, but there were too many gardens in the city. Finding the right one in a short time would not be easy.
Fortunately, the old city was not overwhelmingly huge, and the three Legendary Beasts had extremely strong tracking abilities. Even though they had never met Zoroark before today, they were still able to pick up its scent.
This was probably related to Zoroark being a fox-like Pokémon. Its unique scent was easy to distinguish.
Before long, the three Legendary Beasts found Zoroark's location.
Neither Gary nor the Legendary Beasts acted rashly.
Zoroark had already found Zorua, but Zorua was currently in Kodai's hands. Because of that, Zoroark did not dare to make a move.
Kodai saw Zoroark being held back and calmly ordered, "Shuppet, use Thunderbolt."
Shuppet immediately released a bolt of electricity.
Because Zorua was in Kodai's hand, Zoroark did not dare to resist. It let the Thunderbolt strike it directly.
The three Legendary Beasts all looked toward Gary, clearly not understanding why he still hadn't taken action.
Gary's gaze remained on Kodai.
Kodai was holding the unconscious Zorua in one hand while slowly moving in a certain direction. Ahead of him, the Time Ripple shimmered with purple waves of light.
"Entei…"
Entei let out a low growl, urging Gary to act quickly. If Kodai succeeded again, the same disaster would repeat.
Gary, however, was not worried.
He had the Eye of Insight. Even if he was caught in Zoroark's illusion, he could still see the true names and levels of Pokémon. The "Zorua" Kodai was holding had barely moved, but Kodai was already being guided step by step toward the Time Ripple. That alone showed that Zoroark had begun using its Illusion.
"Don't worry," Gary said quietly. "What you're seeing right now is an illusion. Wait until the illusion is broken before taking action."
The three Legendary Beasts: "..."
All three were shocked.
They were Legendary Pokémon, yet they had been affected by Zoroark's illusion without noticing.
Gary did not continue paying attention to their reaction. His eyes stayed on Kodai, who was already half-mad with obsession.
"Stop!" Ash shouted desperately. "If you do this, the forest will be destroyed!"
"What does that have to do with me?" Kodai replied coldly. "As long as I obtain the future, nothing else matters."
Kodai released his hold on Zorua, and the mechanical claw hidden in his sleeve reached into the Time Ripple. Purple time energy immediately began flowing into his body.
"Gengar, go save Zorua," Gary said quietly.
"Gengar."
A shadow slipped out from Gary's own shadow and rushed silently toward Zorua. Without attracting attention, Gengar took Zorua away.
Ash and Kodai did not notice at all that Zorua had already been rescued.
"You bastard!" Ash shouted. "Do you really think it doesn't matter what happens to this city?"
By this time, Kodai had completely absorbed the Time Ripple into his body. A dark purple aura spread around him.
Wrapped in purple time energy, Kodai laughed proudly.
"Exactly. Twenty years ago, it was because I encountered the Time Ripple that the plants in this city withered. But no one knew. No one ever knew it was me."
He looked toward Zoroark with a twisted smile.
"And this time will be the same. No one will know I did it. They will all think it was Zoroark."