The bungalow was a high-tech anomaly against the rugged cliffs, huming with the low-frequency thrum of power stabilizers. Zeth stepped onto the porch, his hand resting briefly on the doorframe to steady himself. He needed to be "Kaelen"—the gifted student—but a student who saw the world for what it actually was.
He didn't need a "System" to tell him the air here was ionized. He could feel the static raising the hair on his arms, a clear sign of a localized Gate-signature.
He knocked. Twice. Firm.
The door hissed open, and the interior was a chaotic sprawl of monitors, holographic maps, and half-disassembled machinery. In the center of the room stood a tall, frantic-looking man with messy copper hair, currently wrestling with a diagnostic cable.
"Don't just stand there, lad! Grab the spectral dampener on the desk—the one glowing orange!"
Zeth didn't ask questions. He didn't hesitate. He saw the "dampener"—a lead-shielded rod—and noted the erratic pulse of the terminal it was meant for. He didn't just grab it; he timed his movement to the rhythm of the power surge. He slotted the rod into the manifold just as the terminal hit a peak.
The hum dropped an octave. The room stabilized.
Bill looked up, blinking behind thick glasses. "Seven seconds. Most people would have stared at the glow for ten before asking what it was. You've got eyes that actually process what they see, don't you?"
"I don't like waiting for things to break," Zeth said, his voice level. He stepped back, his Charmeleon and Houndour taking positions near the door, eyes scanning the room for exits. "I'm Kaelen. I heard you were the only one in Kanto who actually understood the Gate-leakage profiles."
Bill wiped his hands on a grease-stained rag, studying Zeth. "Kaelen. The boy with the 'Lunar' variant from the Gym report. Marina mentioned you. Said you beat her by treating the battlefield like a chessboard. Most kids your age are obsessed with 'power levels' and 'friendship.' You... you look like you're looking for the structural weak points in reality."
Zeth walked toward a holographic map of the Kanto region, his gaze settling on the clusters of Gate activity. He didn't show off. He just pointed to a specific cluster near the Seafoam Islands.
"The frequency in the south is drifting," Zeth noted, his tone observational. "If the leakage continues at that rate, the local water-types won't just get stronger. They'll start losing their biological anchors. They'll become variants, or worse."
Bill's eyebrows shot up. "Biological anchors? That's a sophisticated way to describe cellular degradation. Most researchers don't even use that term yet."
"It's common sense," Zeth replied, shrugging slightly to hide the wince from his ribs. "If you pour high-density energy into a low-density vessel, the vessel cracks. You don't need a PhD to see the pressure."
Bill let out a short, appreciative laugh. "Common sense is the rarest resource in this region, kid. Come here. I was working on a Teleportation Gate when you knocked. It's a clean-energy bridge, but the feedback loop is... temperamental."
Zeth followed Bill toward a pair of massive, arching gates. They weren't like the wild Gates in the mountains; these were manufactured, sleek, and terrifyingly complex.
While Bill explained the mechanics of "Matter Reconstruction," Zeth wasn't listening to the theory. He was looking at the power source. He saw a series of canisters labeled with a League-security seal—the same seal he had seen on the boat where he found the Bagon egg.
"The shipment wasn't a theft," Zeth realized, his mind piecing it together without the need for a calculation. "The League is supplying Bill with Gate-refined assets. The 'Siren's Watch' weren't mercenaries; they were his private couriers."
"You're quiet," Bill said, pausing his lecture. "Something bothering you about the Gate?"
"The power draw," Zeth said, keeping his face a neutral mask. "A bridge like this requires a catalyst. Something stable enough to hold the fold. I'm guessing that's why the Cape is so heavily patrolled lately. You're expecting a delivery."
Bill's smile faltered for a fraction of a second. "You're a bit too sharp for your own good, Kaelen. Most kids would be asking if they could try the teleporter. You're asking about the logistics of the fuel."
"I like to know how the floor stays under my feet," Zeth said.
He looked toward the corner of the room where a high-resolution scanner was active. He needed to get his Bagon scanned without Bill knowing what it was. He needed to know if the "Deep Purple" potential he had sensed was stable, or if the egg had been corrupted by the very energy Bill was trying to harness.
"I have a specimen," Zeth said, shifting the conversation. "Not the Charmeleon. A hatchling I found in the deep caves during the storm. It's... dense. I want to know if it's been affected by the local leakage."
Bill gestured to the scanner. "Set it on the plate. Let's see what the mountain coughed up."
Zeth reached for the Poké Ball on his belt. This was the gamble. If Bill recognized the Bagon as a "Source" asset, the "Kaelen" identity was dead. If he didn't, Zeth would have the data he needed to start the real training.
Zeth placed the Poké Ball on the glass scanning plate. He didn't look nervous. He didn't look excited. He stood with the detached curiosity of a student, but his hand was less than a second away from the Houndour's ball if things went south.
"Release it," Bill said, his fingers hovering over a holographic keyboard. "Let's see what the mountain coughed up."
A flash of red light filled the small alcove. The Bagon materialized, its silver scales catching the sterile LED lights of the lab. It didn't screech or lunge; it simply sat there, its white eyes scanning the room with a cold, predatory intelligence that seemed far too advanced for a Level 6 hatchling.
Bill stopped breathing for a second. "A Shiny Hoenn-native... in a Kanto sea cave? That's statistically impossible."
"The impossible happens every day near a Gate," Zeth said, leaning back. "Scan it."
The scanner hummed, a ring of violet light passing over the Bagon from head to tail. On the main monitor, a series of complex double-helixes and energy wave-forms began to scroll at a dizzying speed.
Bill's eyes widened behind his glasses. He started typing frantically. "Wait... look at the cellular walls. The carbon-bonding is... it's reinforced with a metamorphic isotope. Kaelen, do you know what this is?"
"It's dense," Zeth noted, keeping his voice flat. "Heavier than it looks."
"Heavy? It's practically a gravitational anomaly!" Bill pointed to a spiking graph. "This isn't just a Shiny. This Bagon was incubated in a high-leakage environment. It has absorbed Gate-Residue into its very marrow. Its potential isn't just 'Purple'... it's compressed."
[Target: Shiny Bagon (Gate-Born)] [Current Potential: Deep Purple (Solidified)] [Biological Note: High-Density Bone Structure. Internal heat-sink capability increased by 40%.]
"Is it stable?" Zeth asked. That was the only question that mattered to a survivalist.
"Stable? Yes," Bill said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "But it's hungry. Not for berries, boy. It's hungry for the energy it was born in. If you want this thing to grow, standard training won't work. It'll hit a wall before it ever reaches its second evolution because its body is literally too heavy for its own muscles to move."
Zeth walked up to the monitor, his eyes memorizing the energy peaks. He didn't need the System to explain it. He could see the "Math" of the Bagon's body. It was a masterpiece, but it was a masterpiece that required a specialized "Fuel" to function.
"So, I need to find high-density mineral zones," Zeth concluded. "Places where the Gate-leakage is controlled but present."
Bill turned to him, his expression serious. "You're talking about Gate-Training. That's restricted League territory, Kaelen. Only Elite-tier specialists are allowed to expose their Pokémon to those levels. If you try to do it on your own, you could trigger a mutation that neither of you will survive."
"I've survived enough already," Zeth said, recalling the Bagon. He looked Bill in the eye—not as a student, but as an equal. "Thanks for the data, Bill. It confirms what I already felt."
Bill watched him for a long moment. "You're a strange one. You found a 'Source' asset—and that's what this is, a Source—and you aren't asking me how much it's worth or how to make it 'Godly.' You're asking how to keep it from breaking itself."
"A broken tool is useless," Zeth said, heading for the door. "And a dead partner is a failure. I'll stay on the main trails, Researcher. Don't worry."
As Zeth stepped out into the salt air, he knew he had what he came for. He knew why the League was moving the eggs. They were trying to create "Gate-Born" weapons. And he had just stolen their most successful prototype.
He looked at the Charmeleon and the Houndour.
"We aren't going back to the city," Zeth whispered. "We're going to find the source of that leakage. If the Bagon needs 'Heavy' energy to grow, then we'll go where the air is thickest."