"Oh? Everyone's here?"
Inside the hotel's private dining room, just as the dishes had been served and Steven's group was preparing to start eating, Chen Shi suddenly appeared while holding Jirachi in his arms.
Behind him followed a black Rayquaza over two meters long.
In the end, big Rayquaza still couldn't win against little Rayquaza's stubbornness. After stuffing a huge pile of Dragon-type resources into Chen Shi's hands, it had reluctantly allowed them to leave.
Before parting, however, Rayquaza had specifically warned Chen Shi that if he ever encountered danger, he could summon it at any time using the grass-green Orb.
Naturally, Chen Shi had agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Today's gains had honestly been ridiculous.
Not only had he satisfied countless curiosities, but he had also successfully abducted little Rayquaza and obtained a massive pile of legendary Dragon-type resources.
Most importantly—
He could now summon Rayquaza whenever he wanted.
At this moment, Chen Shi only wanted to say one thing:
Who else?!
As for Chen Shi suddenly appearing, Steven froze while holding his chopsticks before laughing.
"You really came back at the perfect time. Dinner just started."
"Tch."
Chen Shi casually glanced at him before turning toward little Rayquaza behind him.
"Come on. Eat whatever you want."
"Really?!"
The moment little Rayquaza entered the room, its eyes had already locked onto the dishes on the table.
Forget eating them—
Just looking at them already made them seem delicious.
"Of course. Why would I lie to you?"
"Eat as much as you want. Someone else is paying anyway."
"Good, good, good! Then I won't hold back!"
Little Rayquaza immediately became overjoyed.
It rushed over, grabbed an entire plate, and tossed both the dish and the plate itself directly into its mouth.
"…Huh?"
Everyone stared at the black Rayquaza in stunned confusion.
Wasn't everything perfectly normal when Chen Shi left earlier?
How had Rayquaza suddenly become smaller—
…and black?!
Honestly, they would rather believe Rayquaza could shrink or change color than believe another Rayquaza existed.
"Old Chen… what exactly is going on here?" Steven directly asked.
Everyone else also turned to look at him.
Chen Shi grinned widely.
"This is my new partner. Pretty decent, right?"
"It's just a tiny little black Shiny Rayquaza, that's all."
Even though his tone sounded casual, the smile on his face never disappeared for even a second.
He looked exactly like a child showing off a brand-new toy to his friends.
"A black Shiny Rayquaza?!"
Everyone exclaimed in shock while staring at the Rayquaza currently devouring food without restraint.
So according to Chen Shi—
This wasn't the same Rayquaza from before?
This one was actually Shiny?!
"A Legendary Pokémon as powerful as Rayquaza actually has a species group?" Cynthia's voice was filled with disbelief.
When she first saw this Rayquaza, she had also assumed it was the same one that fought Groudon and Kyogre earlier.
She never imagined it was another individual entirely.
"That's right. This is that Rayquaza's child. It asked me to take care of it for a while."
Chen Shi sat down in a chair, his face overflowing with smug satisfaction.
"For a while?" Lance asked curiously. "How long is that supposed to be? A week? A month?"
Hearing that question, Chen Shi's smile grew even brighter.
"Oh, not much."
"Just a mere hundred years."
Everyone: "..."
Good lord.
How is that "a while"?!
That's basically the same thing as capturing it!
Looking at their shocked and envious expressions, Chen Shi felt ridiculously pleased inside.
He couldn't help recalling how stubbornly prideful big Rayquaza had sounded before they left.
"You humans only live a little over a hundred years at most, even if your psychic powers let you live longer than ordinary humans."
"That amount of time is barely enough for me to finish a single sleep."
"So what if my child follows you for a while?"
"In the end, it'll still return."
Chen Shi hadn't argued against those words.
Because Rayquaza was telling the truth.
And more importantly—
That was basically its final bit of pride talking.
As long as he could successfully bring little Rayquaza away, Chen Shi honestly didn't care about anything else.
After all—
This was a black Shiny Rayquaza.
The dream Pokémon of countless people.
And now it had been successfully tricked away by him this easily.
What more could he possibly want?
...
"I'm seriously jealous, Old Chen. Rayquaza actually entrusted its child to you!"
Steven stared at the black Rayquaza with undisguised envy.
At the same time, he felt unbelievably bitter.
The classic situation of not wanting your brother to suffer—
…but also not wanting your brother to drive a luxury car.
This honestly hurt worse than death.
Chen Shi curled his lips.
"This isn't just luck."
"You guys have no idea. Little Rayquaza used to still be an Egg, and Rayquaza messed around with it for three thousand years without managing to hatch it."
"In the end, I was the one who solved the problem."
"That's right!"
Little Rayquaza immediately stopped eating and spoke with complete seriousness.
"Old Chen is a good person! He's my great benefactor!"
"Huh? You can talk too?" Lance asked in surprise.
Little Rayquaza snorted.
"What? You think you're the only one who can talk?"
Lance's mouth twitched.
For some reason, he increasingly felt like there was something very wrong with this Rayquaza's personality.
Chen Shi laughed.
"What's strange about that? A lot of Legendary and Mythical Pokémon can talk."
As he spoke, he rubbed Jirachi's little head.
"Right, Jirachi?"
Jirachi immediately nodded happily.
"Yep! Jirachi can talk too!"
"So Rayquaza called you away just because of little Rayquaza's issue?" Diantha asked curiously.
"That's right. That was the whole reason."
Chen Shi nodded directly without hiding anything.
There was no point concealing it anyway.
After all, there was no way little Rayquaza itself could stay hidden forever.
Besides—
With Jirachi beside him and the ability to summon Rayquaza at any time, Chen Shi could now practically ignore any danger.
If anyone actually dared target him now…
Chen Shi only had one thing to say:
Friend, next life, be more careful.
Just as everyone was about to continue chatting, Cynthia suddenly spoke in a faint voice:
"I think you all should hurry up and eat."
"Otherwise, there won't even be plates left soon."
Everyone froze briefly before turning toward the table.
The dishes that originally filled the table had mostly disappeared already.
Less than half remained.
Clearly—
Little Rayquaza had eaten almost everything.
"DAMN IT! Slow down! I haven't eaten anything all day either!"
Lance shouted before instantly snatching a dish and protecting it in front of himself.
The others quickly sprang into action as well, hurriedly rescuing the remaining dishes before little Rayquaza devoured those too.
Chen Shi didn't bother fighting them for food.
After casually eating a few bites, he suddenly seemed to remember something and tossed a box toward Phoebe.
"Here. Bring this back to your grandparents."
Phoebe froze.
A certain possibility instantly appeared in her heart.
After remaining silent for two seconds, she asked in a trembling voice:
"Th… this…"
"Is this what I think it is?"
She didn't even dare open the box.
She was afraid the contents might not match her hopes.
Chen Shi smiled lightly.
"You guessed correctly. It's exactly what you think it is."
"Bring it back to your grandparents."
"And help me pass along a message too."
"Tell them I fulfilled everything I promised."
"This time, they'd better guard them properly."
"Because I don't provide after-sales service."
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