"Mio~" (It's Meloetta~)
Little Riolu blurted out Meloetta's name on the spot, making Grey raise an eyebrow.
Well then. They had only just arrived in Unova, and already they were about to do an in-person meetup with Meloetta?
"Mio..." (But I can feel a lot of malicious aura signatures closing in too...)
Little Riolu frowned slightly, closed its eyes, and used its aura to sense what was happening across Castelia City.
Clearly, Castelia City had already been infiltrated by the local evil organization.
"I see... then I think I get the picture."
The moment he heard "malicious aura," Grey immediately thought of Team Plasma.
Fortunately, Team Plasma in Unova wasn't that strong. Little Riolu could solo them easily enough.
At the very least, there was no need to worry about someone on the level of Team Rocket's big boss showing up.
Of course, that was assuming Unova's Tao trio didn't appear.
If they did, then even Little Riolu would have to avoid a direct clash.
It wasn't that Little Riolu couldn't win. It was that if it went all out, the collateral damage would be too severe, and there was a real chance of causing widespread devastation.
"Mio." (Once we put the luggage away, let's head to that alley over there. Meloetta is there.)
Little Riolu urged Grey onward. It really did not want to see its friend being taken away by someone else.
There were differences even among Mythical Pokémon, and most of Unova's Mythical Pokémon were, frankly, weaklings.
The kind where even three of them together still couldn't shake one of Little Riolu's toes.
Among them, Meloetta was especially weak.
The weak among the weak. So weak that it might not even be able to beat Grey's Conkeldurr.
As a side note, all of Grey's Pokémon had now reached level 45, and the Fighting Dojo had already limited badge challengers to Trainers with at least five badges.
Among them, Conkeldurr was the weakest, sitting right at level 45.
And after entering the ranks of the eight major Gyms, the system had upgraded.
Now, when Pokémon below Champion level trained with the Sleeping Arhat Fist, the rate at which their strength improved would get a further boost.
Previously, that bonus had only applied to Pokémon below Elite Four level.
Now it applied to everything below Champion level, which meant Grey would soon have a Champion-level Pokémon of his own.
Genesect didn't count, of course, since that one had basically been picked up from Colress.
Right now, Annihilape's strength was increasing rapidly, and it would probably reach Champion level before long.
When that time came, Grey would have much more confidence participating in the Gym tournament jointly hosted by Kanto and Johto.
As long as he didn't run into something absurd like Giovanni's Beedrill or Pryce's Swinub, Grey felt like he had a real shot.
Even if he lost, at least he wouldn't lose badly.
Thinking of that, Grey let out a long breath.
Strength was the source of confidence.
With strength, there was nowhere he had to fear going.
With that thought in mind, Grey turned to Sabrina and Caitlin and said, "Let's go. We'll check into the hotel first, and after that I'll take you around Castelia City for some fun."
"Mm-hm!"
"How many rooms?"
"Huh?"
Sabrina's question left not only Caitlin stunned, but Grey too.
"Three, obviously. What else?"
Grey blinked, then showed Sabrina the number of rooms Shauntal had arranged for him on his phone.
"It's nothing. I... was just asking."
Sabrina's tone was cool, but Grey could still hear the faint trace of disappointment in it.
That made Grey lift a brow.
Was she hoping to share a room with Caitlin or something?
"It's fine. Sabrina, if you want to stay with Caitlin, you can share a room. They're king rooms anyway, so two people sleeping there wouldn't be a problem."
Grey took a look at the hotel specs. A 1.8-meter bed was more than enough for two people.
Sabrina: "..."
Caitlin: "?"
Grey, meanwhile, didn't notice either of their expressions at all and simply walked ahead to lead the way.
Once they had checked in, Little Riolu took the lead and brought them toward the alley where Meloetta was supposed to be.
Castelia City, in an unnamed alley.
Separated from Castelia's glamorous main streets by little more than a wall, this nameless alley felt like a forgotten corner of the world.
Fluorescent graffiti crawled across the peeling walls, and tattered pages from expired magazines floated through the drainage ditch.
Anyone who didn't know better might have thought this was a place Castelia had simply forgotten to finish building.
Like every glittering metropolis, there was always an urban slum somewhere.
And this alley looked exactly like one.
"So Meloetta is here?"
Grey rubbed his chin. He had already expected something like this, but actually standing here gave it a very different feel.
Being led here by Little Riolu made him think back to the days before he inherited the Gym, when he fought in underground matches at the battle club.
"This place reeks. Grey, why did you bring Sabrina and me here?"
Caitlin lowered her voice as she used her psychic powers to float herself up beside Grey and ask him the question.
The dark alley and dim atmosphere gave her a strange feeling.
"I'm taking you to meet a friend of Little Riolu's."
Grey set Little Riolu on his shoulder. Riolu had said Meloetta was in the alley, but after walking for so long, they still hadn't run into her.
"Mio." (Don't rush. Young people who get too impatient will only work themselves up.)
Little Riolu sensed Grey's mood and tried to calm him down, its eyes sweeping over the surroundings.
According to its perception, its long-unseen friend Meloetta was currently inside one of the nearby buildings.
It just didn't know exactly where.
All it could do was search for her through aura.
But the deeper they went, the more chaotic the aura signatures became, until they started drowning out Meloetta's aura altogether.
Little Riolu had no choice but to slow down and search more carefully, picking Meloetta's presence out from the mess of overlapping auras.
"Shh."
Grey suddenly raised a hand for silence.
Sabrina and Caitlin both froze, then followed him behind a nearby stack of cardboard boxes.
"What is it?"
Caitlin pressed close to Grey's ear and lowered her voice.
"There. Team Plasma members."
Grey pointed outside. The two girls exchanged a look, then quietly peeked out as well.
Deep in the alley, several figures in gray robes stood motionless like statues.
Their hoods covered half their faces, and the distinctive Team Plasma insignia was pinned to their chests, making them look like ascetics who had stepped out of some religious mural.
Behind them, more than a dozen search operatives wrapped up from head to toe were scanning every inch of the walls with their instruments.
The Colress scanners in their hands emitted steady beeping sounds, and beams from their lamps swept across the damp brick cracks from time to time, startling a few Patrat into scurrying away.
"What are they doing?"
Sabrina frowned. Something about Team Plasma's behavior made her deeply uncomfortable.
"No idea. They're probably looking for Little Riolu's friend."
Grey rubbed his chin, then asked, "How about on three, we rush them and take them all out together?"
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