After heading downstairs and preparing food for the Pokémon, Dratini finally stirred awake.
"Nii~"
Auron smiled at the groggy Dratini in his arms. "Awake now? Come on, time to eat."
"Nii~"
Dratini lifted her head, licked Auron's cheek, then slithered out of his arms.
Auron wiped his face helplessly. "I still don't know where you picked up that habit."
"Nii~"
Dratini chirped happily, eyes crinkling into crescents.
"Alright, alright. Go eat."
Auron smiled, stroked Dratini's tail, and set her prepared meal on the other dining table.
Just then, Crobat returned from outside, with Charizard huffing and puffing as he flew in after her.
"Welcome back. Eat up."
"RAWR!"
Charizard bellowed and lumbered over to the table, digging into the Pokémon food Auron had prepared.
Crobat didn't rush to eat. She flew to Auron's side first, nuzzled him affectionately, then fluttered off to the table with happy, squinting eyes.
"Their food smells so good."
Deino froze at that comment, then looked up and saw the envious gaze of his own trainer. He silently turned around, presenting Tim with his rear end.
Tim sighed. "I was just saying. I'm not actually going to fight you for your food."
Everyone burst out laughing. But honestly, they'd been here since morning and had eaten nothing but snacks. If the delivery didn't arrive soon, Tim genuinely might have been tempted to compete with Deino for a bite.
Speak of the devil—just as the laughter died down, the doorbell rang.
"Hello, is this your delivery?"
"Yes, yes it is. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Enjoy your meal~"
"Food's here! Time to eat~" Auron walked in carrying a massive bag of takeout. Everyone cleared the dining table and took the containers from his hands.
"Let's dig in."
"Hurry, hurry. I'm starving."
Lucas and Jace each grabbed a box of rice and started eating with the dishes before anyone else could blink.
Auron and the others laughed, then dug in as well.
"So tell us. How did you just vanish yesterday?"
After eating in silence for a while, Tim's curiosity finally overwhelmed him. He asked Auron directly.
"Oh, Hoopa pulled me over."
"HOOPA?!"
"Cough cough cough—water, water!"
Everyone was stunned. How was Hoopa involved again?
But that could wait. The priority was getting Lucas a glass of water before he choked to death.
"Man—Hoopa? What happened?" After gulping some water and forcing down the rice stuck in his throat, Lucas immediately pressed for details.
Auron shrugged, then began explaining between bites. By the time they finished eating, he'd covered everything that happened the previous day.
"So you disappeared because of Victini? Hoopa pulled you over because of Victini?" Lucas asked, face full of shock.
Tim waved dismissively. "Victini isn't the important part. The important part is why so many legendaries showed up yesterday."
"Victini isn't important? As if you've actually seen one." Lucas was instantly indignant. Victini! A legendary! And that wasn't important?
The moment those words left Lucas's mouth, the room went quiet.
After a beat, under Lucas's bewildered stare, everyone nodded. "We've all seen Victini."
"ALL of you?!"
Lucas's jaw dropped. "When? How? Why haven't I seen one?"
Auron smiled. "During summer break. And we didn't just see Victini—we saw Manaphy too."
"Manaphy..."
Lucas was completely lost. How had everyone seen legendaries behind his back? He hadn't seen a single one.
Seeing Lucas's dazed expression, Jace leaned in to add: "Yep. Not only did we see Manaphy—Auron caught Manaphy in a Poké Ball."
"Caught... a legendary??"
Lucas kept staring into space. The sheer volume of information in this moment had fried his CPU.
Jace's words didn't just freeze Lucas. Even Auron went still.
Right. He'd put Manaphy in a Poké Ball. So where was that Poké Ball now?
After a moment's hesitation, Auron pulled out his phone and called his father.
"Hey, Dad. After Manaphy was sent over, what happened to the Poké Ball?"
"The Poké Ball? It's at home. Why?"
"It wasn't destroyed?"
"Destroyed? Why would it be destroyed? Oh, by the way—you saw Hoopa and Darkrai yesterday. Do you have their data?"
Auron didn't respond. He hung up directly. His mind had gone blank too. If Manaphy's Poké Ball hadn't been destroyed, that meant Manaphy was technically a captured Pokémon with a registered trainer. And that trainer... was apparently him.
"Uh, quick question. Has anyone ever captured a legendary? As in, with a Poké Ball?"
"What are you talking about? No Poké Ball can withstand a legend—" Tim started to scoff, then trailed off. "...Holy shit."
Tim had begun his dismissive response out of reflex, but mid-sentence, the implications hit him.
Auron really had put Manaphy in a Poké Ball. And now a very specific possibility was dawning on him.
"The Poké Ball you used to catch Manaphy... wasn't destroyed by Manaphy?"
The moment Tim said this, every pair of eyes in the room locked onto Auron.
"No. It wasn't."
Auron nodded with a helpless laugh. They'd all fallen into the same blind spot.
In their understanding, no Poké Ball could withstand a legendary's power. But the newest Luxury Ball model apparently could.
None of them had considered this because they'd all made the same assumption—Auron included. They all figured that after Ashen delivered Manaphy, the Poké Ball would've been broken.
What none of them accounted for was this: Auron's mother had been curious about Manaphy's appearance, and Ashen had wanted to collect Manaphy's data. So when they received Manaphy, Ashen had released it from the ball right away. The entire trip, Ashen and his wife had carried Manaphy in their arms.
When they arrived at the destination, Manaphy was overjoyed to see its companions, and Ashen and his wife were thrilled with the research data they'd gathered. In all the excitement, everyone simply forgot the Poké Ball existed.
(End of Chapter)