Watching the three Poké Balls stop bouncing in midair as Axel used his psychic power to pull them back into his hand, Cyrus and Saturn both widened their eyes and stared at Axel in disbelief.
"This…this…"
"What's wrong?", Axel grinned at the stunned Cyrus and Saturn, smiling cheerfully.
Cyrus's eye twitch jumped a few times before he finally managed to form words.
"Sir Axel, are Legendary Pokémon this easy to capture?"
"Otherwise?", Axel acted as if it were obvious, "I told you they were already scared silly by the Galactic Bomb, just throw the balls and catch them. You wouldn't believe me."
Cyrus: "..."
'Damn it, who knew you were telling the truth? If I'd known legendaries were this easy to catch, I'd have thrown a ball earlier too!'
Inside Axel's Poké Ball, seeing Cyrus's dumbfounded look, the Lake Trio couldn't hold it in any longer and one by one slapped the bed and burst out laughing.
"Mesprit, you and this human Axel are too much. Look at this Cyrus, he's completely stunned."
Mesprit's mouth lifted at the corner, "Well, that's because you were willing to cooperate. Otherwise this plan would've been hard to pull off."
Uxie said indifferently, "How could we distrust you? You said you wouldn't take us away, so you won't. Put it another way, if this guy didn't have other legendaries around him, we might've been wary. But with so many around him, there's no need to trick us, just cooperate."
Azelf, who was calmer by nature, waited until the other two had finished joking before clearing his throat softly.
"Now is not the time to celebrate. Everyone, gather your strength and wait to forge the Red Chain. Only when the Red Chain is in our hands will we truly have cause to celebrate."
"All right!"
"No problem, let's start gathering power now!"
———
That night, Axel returned to a building in Veilstone City.
"Turns out Team Galactic's main base really is here," Axel stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking toward Maylene's gym, feeling a little strange.
When he'd challenged the gym in Veilstone City, Maylene had half-jokingly said this place wasn't the villain organization's lair. Who would've thought it actually was.
This kind of scent rivals the Lycia Gym in the Kanto region.
Axel snorted a bit, stopped thinking about it, and put the little tree-shaped pendant from his neck down on the table.
That little tree was Xerneas, which he'd snatched from Vlada.
Legend said once that Pokémon entered tree form, it would sleep for a thousand years.
But when the Galactic Bomb detonated, Axel had clearly felt Xerneas's spiritual fluctuation.
He lightly patted the tree's crown, nothing happened.
He tried leaving some of Gardevoir's favorite fairy rations nearby, still no reaction.
"Conscious… but unwilling to wake up?", Axel shook his head, rethreaded the pendant's cord, and put it back on the bedside table.
His need for legendaries wasn't as urgent as before, and there wasn't anyone around in immediate need of a life blessing; Xerneas could be studied later.
Right now the priority was getting some rest so he could snatch the Red Chain from Cyrus tomorrow.
"Don't know what other tricks he has… but with Gardevoir, Rayquaza, and Mewtwo here, they shouldn't be able to stir up much trouble. Wash up and sleep."
Axel tidied a bit, made a late-night snack for his Pokémon, and went to the bathroom to freshen up.
Suddenly, a red shadow flashed across the mirror, making Axel jolt.
"Who's there!"
Axel instinctively stepped back half a pace, holding a Poké Ball in his hand.
Only then did he clearly see the person in the mirror.
"Jessie? How did you get into my mirror?"
"Abababa~", Seeing Axel, Jessie's eyes brightened and her mouth opened and closed quickly.
Clearly she was speaking, but no sound came out.
Axel: "..."
'How the hell do you communicate like that?'
Even if he released Gardevoir, it would be hard to read the mind of the person in the mirror, right?
Axel thought for a moment and released Wobbuffet.
"WOBBUFF!"
As expected, Wobbuffet brightened at seeing Jessie; his round eyes bounced like little beads.
["Master, I missed you!"]
Jessie: "Abba abba~"
"WOBB?", Wobbuffet scratched his head in surprise, two of them were actually chatting through the mirror.
Axel's mouth twitched. The concept Pokémon really are somewhat miraculous.
With Gardevoir translating, Axel finally understood what Jessie was saying.
["Axel, someone is going to destroy this world!"]
["Although you're no saint, you also don't want this world destroyed, right?"]
["You already have so many legendaries, you can easily reach the pinnacle of life, so I hope you'll save the world…"]
Through Jessie's series of excited words, Axel quickly grasped the gist.
When they detonated the Galactic Bomb the other day, it had drawn the attention of Sinnoh's third god, Giratina.
Giratina was different from the other third gods; its destructive power was enormous, so the Time Gods banished it to the Reverse World.
Now that the Time Gods were fighting, the Ghost Dragon wanted to take the chance to return to the present world and take revenge.
And Jessie, James, and Meowth were the first batch of henchmen Giratina had developed.
Hearing this, Axel almost burst out laughing.
Making the trio assistants to destroy the world? Giratina is something else. If it even made a dog, Axel might worry it'd actually be useful and draw some attention. But the trio...
There's no way these three would follow Giratina to destroy the world.
They'd be better suited as spies taking advantage of the Reverse World's convenience.
"Wobbuffet, tell Jessie to keep an eye on Giratina's movements. Once Giratina leaves the Reverse World, I'll come with you and take Giratina down to rescue your masters."
"WOBB!", Wobbuffet's eyes filled with tears and he hugged Axel's leg.
'Good person!'
"If possible," Axel looked at Jessie, "Have any of you contacted Alamos Town?"
"I heard from Mesprit that the time-space there is severely affected; before the Red Chain appears, it's hard for us to get intel."
"But I guess Giratina's world might not be affected by the Time Gods' clash."
"If you can, go to Alamos Townand tell them we'll be able to arrive and support them tomorrow."
After Wobbuffet made a few sounds, Jessie's eyes in the mirror hardened with determination.
Never thought Axel would be a good person? Since that's the case, let's save that little town together.
"James, you hurry up and get over to Alamos Town!"
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