"So the World Tree really is that important?"
Chen Shi asked curiously.
Rayquaza looked at him as though staring at an idiot.
"If it weren't important, would it still be called the World Tree?"
"Explaining it properly is troublesome. You only need to understand one thing—if something happens to the World Tree, then something will happen to this world as well."
Chen Shi's expression changed immediately, and he hurriedly nodded.
Then he suddenly remembered something and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Uh… the grass-green Orb in my possession actually belongs to the Draconid people. I still need to return it to them afterward, so…"
Rayquaza snorted coldly.
With a casual wave of its claw, another grass-green Orb condensed out of thin air before being tossed toward Chen Shi.
"Take it."
"If you have anything else to ask, hurry up and say it."
It was merely a tool for summoning itself. Rayquaza could casually create one at any time, so it didn't care in the slightest.
"No, no, no. Nothing else!"
Chen Shi grinned happily as he stored the Orb away.
"Then I'll head out first."
Turning toward Jirachi, he said:
"Jirachi, sorry to trouble you again. Please take me back to that city that almost got swallowed by the tsunami earlier."
"Mmm~~"
Jirachi yawned and nodded softly.
"Okay~~"
As soon as the words fell, Jirachi wrapped Chen Shi in psychic power, preparing to teleport him away.
But at that moment—
Little Rayquaza suddenly refused to cooperate.
It hurriedly floated in front of Chen Shi.
"Benefactor! Wherever you're going, I'm coming too!"
Chen Shi: ???
Rayquaza: ???
"Why are you following me? Your father's right over there!"
Although Chen Shi absolutely wanted to take little Rayquaza with him, big Rayquaza was literally standing beside them.
He genuinely didn't dare entertain the idea too openly.
So he could only say the opposite of what he truly felt.
"I don't care! I'm going with you!"
Little Rayquaza shook its head wildly before tightly wrapping itself around Chen Shi's waist in circles.
Seeing this scene, big Rayquaza immediately panicked.
"Child, why would you follow him?"
"Only by staying beside me can you grow stronger as quickly as possible."
Little Rayquaza fiercely glared at it.
"Stay with you?"
"I'm afraid you'll end up killing me!"
Rayquaza: "..."
This time, Rayquaza genuinely couldn't refute it.
After all, it really had caused little Rayquaza quite a bit of suffering before.
But little Rayquaza was its child!
It had spent more than three thousand years nurturing this Egg, and now that the child had finally hatched—
It immediately wanted to run off with someone else?!
To Rayquaza, this felt exactly like carefully tending and raising a beautiful flower with endless effort…
Only for some random bastard to suddenly show up one day and steal both the flower and the flowerpot together.
How could Rayquaza possibly accept that?
Looking at little Rayquaza's determined expression, Chen Shi nearly burst out laughing.
Then, with perfect seriousness, he said:
"Little Rayquaza, you should really stay here with your father."
"Look at how wonderful this place is. Completely barren and empty."
"When you're hungry, you can eat those dirty, hard, tasteless meteorites."
"And when you're thirsty… uh…"
"…Actually, there doesn't seem to be anything to drink either."
"Every day, you can just sleep after eating and eat after sleeping. What a happy life."
"But if you follow me…"
"You'll only get to eat all kinds of Pokéblocks every day."
"Sweet Combee honey."
"Delicious hotpot."
"Fragrant barbecue."
"And all kinds of snacks."
"You'll also have to play and run around with lots of companions, see all kinds of scenery across the world, and experience all sorts of different cultures."
"How exhausting would that be?"
As he spoke, Chen Shi shook his head heavily and let out a dramatic sigh.
Rayquaza: "..."
Good lord.
Your intentions are practically slapping me in the face at this point.
Meanwhile, little Rayquaza's eyes only grew brighter and brighter the more it listened.
It glanced at the meteorites on the ground, then recalled the taste of the Pokéblocks from earlier, along with all the delicious-sounding foods Chen Shi described.
Immediately, it wanted nothing more than to follow Chen Shi right away.
The strength with which it wrapped around Chen Shi's waist increased several times over.
...
Sootopolis City — Alliance Hotel
Steven and the others had gone hungry the entire day and were currently waiting for the hotel staff to serve dinner.
"Hey, what do you think Rayquaza called Old Chen away for?" Steven asked curiously.
"No idea," Lance replied with a smile, "but I don't think it's anything bad."
Diantha nodded in agreement from the side.
"Exactly. Rayquaza was obviously summoned by Chen Shi in the first place. Now that everything's over, it probably just has something it wants to discuss with him."
The others all nodded as well.
Even Cynthia thought the same.
After all, at the very beginning, they had personally witnessed Chen Shi take out that green Orb and summon Rayquaza.
Afterward, he had even helped Rayquaza Mega Evolve.
If someone claimed Chen Shi had no relationship with Rayquaza whatsoever, none of them would believe it even if beaten to death.
So nobody was truly worried about Chen Shi's safety.
What they felt was simply envy.
However—
Phoebe, who was usually one of the most talkative among them, had remained completely silent this entire time.
She sat quietly in her chair, staring blankly into space.
Cynthia quickly noticed something was wrong.
"Phoebe, what are you thinking about?"
Phoebe seemed not to hear her at all, her gaze unfocused as though lost somewhere far away.
Cynthia called out again before Phoebe finally snapped back to reality.
"Ah! Sister Cynthia, what is it?"
"What were you thinking about just now? You've been spacing out this whole time," Cynthia asked gently with concern.
Phoebe looked dejected.
She shook her head silently without saying anything.
Ever since leaving Mt. Pyre this time, she had already made up her mind.
No matter what happened, she wanted to bring the two Orbs back to her grandparents.
But things had taken one twist after another.
After following Brother Chen Shi into the hidden realm, she originally believed that as long as they found Maxie and Archie, they would have a very high chance of reclaiming the Orbs with Jirachi's help.
Yet unexpectedly, Maxie and Archie had used the Orbs to awaken Groudon and Kyogre.
As a result, the Orbs ended up in the hands of the two Legendary Pokémon.
At that point, Phoebe had already given up completely.
After all, there was no way she could steal the Orbs back from two Legendary Pokémon.
But then—
The situation suddenly changed again.
After Groudon and Kyogre were defeated, Phoebe personally witnessed them hand the Orbs over to Rayquaza.
And Brother Chen Shi…
…seemed to have a rather special relationship with Rayquaza.
That reignited a tiny spark of hope inside her heart.
Would Brother Chen Shi mention the Orbs to Rayquaza?
And if he did…
Would Rayquaza agree?
Probably not…
Just like Cynthia and the others said, simply meeting a Legendary Pokémon and being able to communicate with one was already unbelievably rare.
How could Brother Chen Shi possibly ask Rayquaza to hand over the Orbs?
What if Rayquaza became angry?
Wouldn't Brother Chen Shi be placed in danger then?
Besides…
These Orbs were Rayquaza's spoils of war now.
Just like a thousand years ago.
In the first place, today's disaster only happened because the Mt. Pyre lineage failed to safeguard the Orbs properly.
The fact that Rayquaza didn't blame them already felt merciful enough.
So what right did they even have to ask for the Orbs back?
Even so…
Phoebe still couldn't completely extinguish that faint hope in her heart.
What if?
What if Brother Chen Shi really did ask Rayquaza for the Orbs…
…and Rayquaza actually agreed?
After all—
This was something Brother Chen Shi had promised her personally.
And he had never once broken a promise before.
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