Inside a certain room in East Africa, Julian's old acquaintance, the Master, was watching footage on her phone.
The video showed Julian summoning Rayquaza to battle Kyurem, and ultimately succeeding in capturing Kyurem.
"Julian, we'll be meeting again very soon. It won't be long before Great Demon God breaks the seal," the Master murmured to herself.
As her words fell, a wisp of black energy flickered from her hand, and the phone crumbled into powder.
Behind her stood an immensely large and ferocious Dragonite. From the looks of it, this was the very same one that had vanished years ago after its battle with Metagross.
"My Lady, the new batch of sacrifices has already been prepared."
Just then, a man dressed in white walked in and spoke respectfully.
"How is the preparation for the remaining sacrifices going?" the Master asked softly.
The man's body stiffened slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he answered, "Over the past few years, we've captured too many Pokémon, causing a noticeable decline in the Pokémon populations within many secret realms across East Africa."
"I'm afraid that if we continue capturing them, it will attract the attention of the other countries."
Due to years of constant warfare and ever-changing regimes in East Africa, the major foreign powers had been unable to truly gain control over the region.
However, there were plenty of spies from various nations stationed here.
Especially after it had been confirmed that the headquarters of Organization Y was located in East Africa, the countries led by Drakoria had greatly intensified their searches here.
There were already many spies here to begin with, and with the Demon God yet to fully awaken, Organization Y could only continue hiding.
So if they continued capturing Pokémon from the Secret Realms on such a large scale, not only would they attract the attention of foreign spies, but even the countries responsible for managing those Secret Realms would realize something was wrong.
Although many East African nations had been secretly brought under Organization Y's control in recent years, that didn't mean every high-ranking official in those countries answered to the organization.
In every country, a handful of heroes dedicated to their nation and its people always emerged, and while the impact of these heroes was minimal, they were more than troublesome enough.
"Don't worry about that anymore. The Great Demon God is about to emerge. Continue the large-scale harvesting of the secret realms," the Master said coldly.
Hearing that, the man in white's face flushed with fervor. "Yes! Everything for the Demon God!"
"Everything for the Demon God," the Master nodded.
After the man in white left, he went straight to another location and found his subordinate.
"My lord," his subordinate greeted him respectfully.
"The Master has issued the order—carry out large destructive captures in those secret realms. There's no need to worry about being discovered."
The subordinate hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "But if we do that—"
"I know what you're worried about. But all I can say is, you don't need to worry about any of that. Just carry out the order."
If this subordinate weren't his trusted confidant, the mere act of questioning just now would have earned him a severe reprimand.
"Yes," the subordinate nodded before quickly leaving.
The man in white also turned and departed. He still had many matters to attend to.
After leaving, the subordinate took out a communication device and sent a string of code.
At the Steel Guards headquarters in Lake City, the Second-in-Command, Metang, suddenly received a coded message.
Upon seeing the code, he immediately got up and left.
Meanwhile, Julian had already ridden Kyurem back home.
"From now on, this is your home."
He jumped off Kyurem's back and patted its body. He had to admit, it was a bit cold—after riding it the whole way, his crotch still felt chilly.
In the future, he'd better stick to riding the Twin Dragons. This guy wasn't exactly friendly to his little brother down there, Julian grumbled to himself.
'Home?'
Since birth, Kyurem had never had a concept of home, nor did it know what it signified.
But it figured it probably wasn't a bad thing. Seeing that Zekrom and Reshiram had already found their own spots to lie down, it lay down too, not far from them.
"Dee~"
Hearing the commotion in the backyard, Love immediately came out.
Seeing that it was Julian who had returned, a smile spread across its face.
Love: "How are you back so soon?"
Julian had told it earlier that he was leaving, and even both Zekrom and Reshiram had gone with him. So Love had assumed something major had happened.
It hadn't expected him to come back so quickly—and with a new companion, no less.
Its gaze fell upon Kyurem.
Kyurem was also looking at Love, its eyes carrying a trace of disdain. 'This little thing is so weak.'
"Mm, the matter was settled, so I came back quickly."
"Love, what's for dinner?" Julian asked.
"Dee~"
Love: "Beef curry stew, stir-fried pork liver, braised pig's trotters, and stir-fried mushrooms with greens."
"Is there anything else you'd like to eat?"
Love asked after listing the dishes.
"As long as Love is the one cooking, I love everything," Julian said, delivering a subtle bit of flattery without batting an eye.
"Dee~"
Hearing that, Love's eyes happily narrowed into crescents before it turned around and left.
Kyurem was somewhat baffled.
Why had it just seen a flattering expression on that human's face—no, on its Trainer's face?
Did someone really need to flatter such a weak Pokémon?
Could that weak-looking Pokémon actually be some hidden powerhouse?
"You'll understand eventually," Reshiram said calmly.
But when it saw Kyurem's still-perplexed expression, it generously decided to give it a quick primer on the most unprovokable members of this household.
Otherwise, if Kyurem offended them later, it might end up dragging everyone else down with it.
After all, there had once been a time when Zekrom had angered Slowking. And as a result, even Reshiram had been punished by having its exclusive Pokéblocks withheld for three days.
So to prevent something like that from happening again, Reshiram gave Kyurem a thorough explanation of Slowking's and Love's status in this family.
It especially emphasized that provoking Julian was no big deal, but provoking those two was a very serious matter.
However, the effect didn't seem to be great. Seeing Kyurem's dismissive expression, Reshiram stopped talking.
It began wondering whether it should distance itself from Kyurem now to avoid being implicated later.
It thought about consulting Zekrom, only to find that Zekrom was no longer there.
Reshiram: 'That guy must've already distanced himself. No, I should leave too.'
As long as it didn't sleep too close to Kyurem, that should count as keeping its distance... right?
Julian had no idea what Reshiram and Zekrom were thinking. He had already walked over to Kyurem to chat with it and improve their relationship.
At this moment, the passive ability Unown's Blessing finally began to show its effects.
Previously, because Kyurem had been hostile toward Julian, the passive ability hadn't been able to demonstrate much of its power.
But now that Kyurem had become his Pokémon, that hostility had naturally disappeared. Under this premise, Unown's Blessing immediately operated at its maximum effectiveness.
Now, when Kyurem looked at Julian, its gaze had become much warmer.
It also found the feeling rather strange—they had clearly only just met and spent less than half a day together, yet it felt as if they had been together for decades, even centuries.
And this sense of closeness toward Julian came straight from the heart.
Especially after Julian gave it a candy that increased its strength as soon as it ate it, Kyurem became so emotional that it declared, "I have wandered adrift for half my life, lamenting only that I had never met a worthy master. If you will not scorn me, then I wish to acknowledge you as my honorary father."
Julian: -_-
*****
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