"So you're the archaeologist who discovered the Psychic Spoon?"
Red looked curiously at the man who had been tightly bound and "escorted" over by the residents of Mossdeep City.
Meanwhile, the archaeologist in question looked nervously at Red and stammered:
"I-I haven't done anything illegal…"
"Gym Leader Red, why did you bring me here?"
"Oh really?"
"Then where did this come from?"
Red took out a replica of the Psychic Spoon and placed it in front of him.
"As far as I remember, the League strictly prohibits the sale of ancient relics like these."
"You realize that's illegal, right?"
Hearing Red's accusation, the archaeologist's expression changed instantly.
Then he sighed helplessly.
"I didn't want to either!"
"But it's all because the investor backing me had absolutely no vision!"
As he spoke, an incredibly fervent light erupted from his eyes.
"According to my research—and the murals on the walls—three gods should be slumbering within that ancient ruin!"
"And whenever conflict broke out between two gods, a third god would appear to mediate the war!"
"With that kind of setting, plus the existence of gods—"
"Gym Leader Red!"
"What's the first thing that comes to mind?!"
Red stroked his chin.
"The Weather Trio of Hoenn?"
"Or perhaps Zygarde from the distant Kalos region?"
"What's Zygarde?"
The man looked confused for a moment before continuing excitedly:
"Exactly! The Hoenn gods!"
"That ruin is connected to the legendary Weather Trio!"
"But nobody believed me!"
"They all thought I'd gone insane!"
"They claimed the ruin was full of nothing but worthless junk!"
"But I refused to accept that!"
"So I stayed there alone and kept excavating!"
"I was determined to uncover traces of the Weather Trio!"
"So in order to continue your research…"
"You sold those 'pieces of junk' from the ruins?"
Hearing Red's words, the archaeologist scratched his head awkwardly.
"I couldn't help it."
"I ran out of money."
"And those items weren't exactly rare inside the ruins, so I figured I'd sell them temporarily."
"Once I make money later, I'll buy them back."
Listening to his explanation, Red genuinely didn't know what to say.
Because technically—
The man's translation and interpretation of the ruins had been quite accurate.
Unfortunately, he had vastly overestimated the knowledge of the ancient people.
The "gods" they worshipped were not the Hoenn Weather Trio at all.
They were merely Gigantamax-like Pokémon sustained permanently by Dynamax energy—
Gengar, Jigglypuff, and Alakazam.
Nothing more than unusually large Pokémon mistakenly worshipped as deities.
Yet this man, while searching for nonexistent legendary gods, had sold away the most valuable artifacts in the entire ruin for dirt cheap.
Even Red found that somewhat painful to watch.
Looking at the archaeologist, Red asked:
"What's your name?"
"Shi Ze."
"Shi Ze, huh?"
"I'm going to tell you something unfortunate."
"That ruin has absolutely nothing to do with the Hoenn gods."
"The figures depicted in the murals are merely unusual Pokémon that ancient people referred to as gods."
"W-What?!"
Hearing Red's words, Shi Ze froze completely.
His eyes turned blank as he stared into space.
"T-That's impossible…"
"Why would I lie to you?"
"And after spending so long excavating those ruins…"
"Did you ever actually find any evidence related to the Hoenn gods?"
"You know the answer better than anyone."
Red's words struck like a hammer, instantly shattering the fantasy Shi Ze had immersed himself in.
A despairing smile appeared on Shi Ze's face.
"Gym Leader Red…"
"Your words are really sharp."
"…Sigh."
"I suppose I've just been deceiving myself all this time."
Shi Ze slowly raised both hands.
"Thank you, Gym Leader Red."
"You've finally awakened me from my delusion."
"So next comes prison, right?"
Looking at Shi Ze's raised hands, Red waved dismissively.
"Relax."
"I didn't bring you here to arrest you."
"Since you understand the ruins so well, you're going to take me there and help recover all the artifacts inside."
"Even if the Pokémon in those ruins aren't true gods…"
"Their destructive power is absolutely comparable to legendary Pokémon."
"So your research wasn't meaningless."
"R-Really?!"
"Gym Leader Red! That's wonderful! Truly wonderful!"
Watching Shi Ze excitedly dance around in celebration, Red couldn't help reminding him:
"It's time to move."
"The longer we wait, the more trouble we might run into."
"Right away! I'll guide you to the ruins immediately!"
With Shi Ze leading the way, Red, Shinji, and Ninetales quickly arrived at the excavation site.
Of course, whenever Ninetales appeared, it inevitably attracted extra attention.
But Red had long since become accustomed to those gazes.
Taking a deep breath, Red said:
"Alright."
"Let's move."
The reason Red dared so confidently to let Shi Ze guide them to the ruins was entirely because of the Poké Ball hanging from his waist.
[Poké Ball (White)]
An utterly ordinary Poké Ball on the surface, but it contains Mewtwo's psychic power.
Red had already tested it before.
As long as he activated the psychic barrier inside the Poké Ball, Mewtwo would instantly sense the coordinates and teleport directly over.
Average arrival time: three minutes.
Although Mewtwo had scolded him for quite a while after the test—
Before leaving, Mewtwo still replenished the psychic coordinates inside the Poké Ball.
That was the true reason Red dared to bring Shi Ze and Shinji here.
You'd better obediently stay as batteries, Red thought silently.
Because if you really break loose…
I'll show you what true divine power looks like.
Just as Shi Ze led them to the entrance of the ruins—
His expression suddenly changed dramatically.
He looked at Red in panic.
"Gym Leader Red!"
"Someone else entered the ruins!"
"Every time I leave, I place a strand of spider silk at the entrance as a marker!"
"But now the silk is gone!"
"And there are strange footprints on the ground!"
Hearing Shi Ze's words, Shinji instantly became tense.
Looking at the pitch-black entrance, he felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Red, however, remained perfectly calm.
"I don't care who went inside."
"The ancient Pokémon in these ruins are mine."
"That thief had better pray they aren't too strong."
"Otherwise…"
"What greets them won't merely be my Pokémon."
Meanwhile—
Deep within the ruins—
Cynthia stared at the murals on the wall and couldn't help exclaiming:
"These murals are incredible!"
"And they're preserved so well…"
"Although they don't seem connected to legendary Pokémon…"
"They do provide detailed records of ancient—no, perhaps super-ancient—religious beliefs and deities."
"What fascinating murals."
"These are definitely worth studying carefully."
Clearly, Cynthia had become deeply interested in the ruins.
Interested enough that the ruins had temporarily surpassed even Red—the fiancé she had supposedly come to meet.
Just as Cynthia was admiring the murals with complete fascination—
Beside her, Garchomp suddenly opened its eyes sharply.
As longtime partners, Cynthia instantly understood what Garchomp meant.
"Someone else entered?"
"These murals are extremely valuable, but according to the League report, the ruins weren't fully excavated and development here had already stopped."
"So…"
"Are the newcomers grave robbers?"
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