Inside the interrogation room, Officer Jenny looked at Gary with a tired expression and rubbed her temple.
"Gary, walk me through exactly how you blocked Team Galactic tonight."
"Officer Jenny, you've already kept me here for a while," Gary said. "You should have gotten the whole story from Team Galactic's members and from Ash. Do I really need to repeat it?"
"Procedure requires your own statement," Jenny said. "Just tell me quickly, and you can go back and rest."
Gary sighed and went through it from the beginning.
The process itself was simple. He'd noticed something wrong at Meteorite Park and gone over to check. When he got there, he found Team Galactic trying to take the meteorite away, so he stepped in to stop them. During the confrontation, the meteorite had been accidentally broken.
"You really do like making my job harder," Jenny said with a headache. "You do realize that meteorite has been in Veilstone City for hundreds of years? It's a historical relic."
"But if we hadn't done anything, Team Galactic would have walked off with both meteorites," Gary said. "It's better to accidentally damage one than to let Team Galactic take them."
Jenny went quiet.
He wasn't wrong. Losing one meteorite was better than handing them all over to Team Galactic. What she couldn't figure out was why Team Galactic had come all the way here to steal it in the first place. Even if the meteorite had some value, it wasn't the kind of thing that would sell for a fortune.
"Leave your phone number," Jenny said.
Gary obediently wrote it down on the form, signed his name, and asked, "Can I go?"
"Keep your phone on at all times. You can leave."
"About that… I'm not going to be held responsible for the meteorite, am I?" Gary asked.
"That's not up to me. It depends on whether the higher-ups decide to pursue it. Keep your phone available. And one more thing—you're not allowed to leave the Sinnoh Region."
"I only damaged the meteorite because of Team Galactic. That mess is their responsibility, so why am I the one being restricted?" Gary said.
"There's nothing I can do about it," Jenny said, waving her hand. "Your statement supports your innocence, but there's no surveillance footage to back it up. Until the investigation is finished, you can't leave the Sinnoh Region. Those are the rules."
Gary was quietly annoyed. He'd been the one to step in and clean up the mess, and now he was the one being restricted. Even without a formal punishment, being confined like this didn't sit well with him.
"So if the investigation drags on, I just can't leave?" Gary asked.
"Don't worry, the restriction has a limit of one hundred and eighty days," Jenny said. "Once those 180 days are up, you're free to leave the Sinnoh Region, investigation or not."
"Alright. Then I'll be going."
Half a year wasn't a problem. Team Galactic would be disbanded long before then anyway, so the restriction order wouldn't really matter one way or the other.
As soon as Gary stepped out of the interrogation room and into the station's main hall, he saw Ash and the others waiting for him, along with Reggie and Maylene.
"Gary, are you okay?" Ash asked.
Officer Jenny had already questioned Ash and the rest earlier, and they'd been worried something might happen to him.
"I'm fine. I just got a travel restriction—I can't leave the Sinnoh Region for the next six months," Gary said.
"Ah, that's rough luck," Ash said.
"It's not so bad," Brock said. "You're just restricted from leaving the region. Nothing serious."
"And Gary's Professor Oak's grandson," Dawn added. "Even if he has to pay compensation, he can afford it."
"Dawn's right," Ash said, nodding. At worst, it would just cost some money.
Gary really is a good person, Ash thought.
Inwardly, Gary wasn't so pleased. It wasn't that he couldn't afford the money—it was that he didn't like being squeezed for it. There was still room to work around this, so why should he just eat the loss?
He didn't know exactly how much the meteorite was worth, but it couldn't be more than a million or two. That was enough to buy a Pokémon with strong potential.
If he could find something inside the meteorite, then even paying compensation would be worth it. But if there was nothing inside, then the loss would sting a lot more.
Gary let the topic drop and headed outside, releasing Cyclizar from its Poké Ball.
The moment Ash saw it, he immediately asked, "Gary, can you finally tell me what kind of Pokémon this is?"
Brock, Reggie, and the others gathered around too, curious. None of them had ever seen a Cyclizar before—this was their first time.
"This Pokémon is called Cyclizar. It's a Normal-type," Gary explained. "It moves like a motorcycle and enjoys carrying people on its back."
"Huh. So which region is it from?" Ash continued.
"It's native to the Paldea Region. Almost every household there has one—they use them for getting around."
Everyone looked impressed. It was the first time they'd seen a Pokémon quite like this.
"Gary, you said Cyclizar likes carrying people. Can I try riding it?" Ash asked, his eyes lighting up.
"Go ahead."
Gary didn't mind. He'd basically brought it out for Ash to play with anyway.
"Great!"
Ash hurried over to Cyclizar.
Cyclizar understood immediately that Ash wanted to ride it, and didn't resist at all. It tucked in its neck and lowered its belly, dropping down to make it easier for Ash to climb on.
"Whoa, it's really well-behaved!" Ash said in surprise.
"Cyclizar are very friendly toward humans. They especially like the warmth of the human body, so they're happy to let people ride them," Gary explained.
While he was still explaining, Ash had already mounted Cyclizar, and the Pokémon was carrying him down the street.
"Gary, can I try too?" Dawn asked, watching Ash have so much fun.
"If it's alright, I'd like to give it a try as well," Maylene added.
"I wouldn't mind a turn either," Brock said.
"Same here," Reggie chimed in.
Gary broke into a cold sweat.
Cyclizar was apparently more appealing than he'd expected. It seemed everyone had a bit of a wild streak in them after all.
After giving Ash and the others rides for a while, they didn't stop until late into the night.
Back at the Pokémon Center, Gary returned to his room and opened the door—only to find Annihilape already waiting inside.
"Well? Did you find anything?" Gary asked.
"Anni."
Annihilape nodded and reached into its carrying space, producing a blue crystal.
The moment Gary saw it, he stepped forward.
Annihilape held out the crystal, and Gary took it into his hand.
He turned it over, studying it closely, then frowned.
"Why can't I see its name?"
The crystal in his palm looked exactly like the core of Deoxys—but for some reason, no name appeared.
And the crystal core, after all, was Deoxys itself.