By the time the sky was just beginning to lighten, Auron and Jace finally made it back to Auron's apartment at Skyspire.
"Good work~"
After landing, Auron fed each Talonflame an Energy Cube. The Talonflame happily nuzzled him before flying back to their trainer.
Watching the Talonflame disappear into the distance, Jace let out a long breath. "Whew, gotta admit—Talonflame really are fast. If we'd ridden Charizard back, we probably still wouldn't be home by now."
"Mmm~ haaa~ Don't go back to your dorm. It's probably locked by now. Just crash here." Auron yawned, patted Jace's shoulder to tell him to sleep over, and went straight inside. He was too exhausted to deal with Jace anymore.
"You think the school's gonna pocket our first and second place rewards?"
"No way. Though it's a good thing Hoopa grabbed me after we'd finished our matches."
"Wonder when we can pick them up."
"..."
Auron ignored Jace entirely and headed upstairs to sleep.
...
Meanwhile, the administrator had also returned to the capital, but he didn't go home right away. Instead, he headed to Rayquaza's dwelling first.
When he arrived and stepped inside, he found that Rayquaza hadn't been sleeping at all. The dragon was bright-eyed and gazing up at the sky, looking excited.
The administrator's mouth twitched. He knew exactly what that look meant.
"Roar?"
When the administrator entered, Rayquaza looked at him with some confusion.
The administrator looked up at Rayquaza but said nothing. He just pursed his lips and shook his head.
Rayquaza immediately became agitated, rearing upright.
"ROAR!"
"Hoopa reverted to Confined form. He's lost most of his combat power, and he's grounded—can't come out. So..."
"Hmph!"
Hearing this, Rayquaza understood at once. He gave a cold snort and flopped back down. But this time his head wasn't facing the administrator—he'd turned it to the other side, out of view.
"However, even though I couldn't fulfill your wish, I brought back some good food. Want to try some?"
"Hmph!"
Rayquaza's head turned back slightly, but he snorted again and made no move to respond.
The administrator didn't mind. He glanced at Rayquaza and deliberately said, "Hoopa quite liked eating them. Victini and Mew enjoyed them too. They probably aren't bad."
The moment he finished speaking, Rayquaza's head shifted back a bit more. Still not facing the administrator directly, but oddly enough, his mouth seemed to have opened slightly. Under the moonlight, something inside appeared to glisten.
"Hmm, not interested? Then I'll just take these to Latios and Latias to try."
As he spoke, the administrator glanced at Rayquaza once more and made to turn away.
"ROAR!"
"Ah!"
Hearing the commotion behind him, the administrator turned around. Rayquaza had his mouth wide open, glaring fiercely. The administrator smiled slightly—enough teasing—and placed the snacks he'd gotten from Auron directly into Rayquaza's mouth.
"Well? Good, right?"
Seeing Rayquaza's eyes brighten faintly, the administrator couldn't help but laugh.
Rayquaza dropped all pretense. He extended his tail toward the administrator in a shooing gesture—leave the food, you can go.
The administrator chuckled at Rayquaza's expression. "You... Fine, I'll leave it all here. None for those two. Happy now?"
He set down all the snacks he'd taken from Auron, then shook his head with a smile and left.
Only after the administrator was gone did Rayquaza finally drop his haughty act. He carefully glanced at the doorway, and only once satisfied he was alone did he settle lazily on the ground. He reached out, grabbed a slice of cake, and tossed it into his mouth.
(So good~)
Hearing the sounds of Rayquaza eating from inside the palace, the administrator smiled happily too.
"I don't know how that kid does it—making so many things they all love to eat. Rayquaza hasn't eaten this happily in a long time."
Then the administrator shook his head with a wry smile and tossed out Braviary's Poké Ball. "Sigh, such is the life of a workhorse. If Rayquaza likes them, the others probably will too."
He vaulted onto Braviary's back in a single leap. "Let's go. Home first."
"Brav!"
"I gave Rayquaza everything this time. I'll need to visit Auron tomorrow and have him make more. Let's see... Latios and Latias, Heatran, Ho-Oh, Marshadow... not sure if Suicune and the others are even in the country. Forget it, I'll prepare some for them too. And the Himalayan range—wonder if Kyurem would like them. And then..."
The administrator counted on his fingers, then shook his head. "Never mind. Tomorrow's problem. Home and sleep first."
...
Early the next morning, Jace was woken by knocking at the door.
"Who is it? It's so early!" He paused. "Huh?"
"Why are you here? Where's Auron?"
Jace had barely opened the door, eyes still bleary, when Serena burst in and started looking around.
Jace collapsed back onto the couch. "He's upstairs. Nothing happened. But we only got home this morning—hasn't even been three hours yet. He's still sleeping."
"Phew, good. Nothing happened..." Serena let out a breath of relief, then launched into her interrogation. "So where did you two go yesterday? How did Auron just vanish? Why did you end up going too? What happened?"
"Please, let me sleep a bit. I'm dead tired. I literally don't have the brain cells to answer your questions right now." Jace slapped a throw pillow over his face and gave up on life.
"Uh, you're just gonna sleep like that?"
Serena stared at Jace sprawled on the couch.
Jace blinked, then launched himself off the couch like a zombie. He shuffled toward the downstairs bedroom. "I'm sleeping for a bit. Remember to let everyone know."
SLAM.
"Tsk tsk." Hearing the door shut, Serena glanced upstairs with a grin, then pulled out her phone and started messaging the group.
Serena: Auron's back. He's sleeping right now.
Lucas: What happened to him? Why did he just disappear?
Simon: He's back? Is he at Skyspire?
Serena: Don't know the details. They're both sleeping. Said they only got home this morning, so I couldn't get anything out of them.
Serena: He's at Skyspire. I'm here too.
Tim: Got it. On my way.
Simon: Okay, be there soon.
Lena: Okay, be there soon.
(End of Chapter)