Charizard being pregnant not only surprised Yuga, but even Charizard itself and Dragonite hadn't expected it.
Robert then continued, "It's probably just been conceived very recently, so the signs aren't obvious yet."
Yuga hurriedly stepped forward and carefully used his special ability to examine Charizard's belly. Sure enough, he felt a faint life fluctuation that was distinct from Charizard's own.
"It really is pregnant…" Yuga said.
Hearing this, Charizard couldn't help but gently touch its own belly, the movement carrying a trace of caution. It had never expected that it would actually be pregnant, so for a moment it still found it hard to believe.
Seeing this, Dragonite also moved its head closer, pressing its ear against Charizard's belly.
Yuga chuckled and patted it. "Charizard has only just gotten pregnant, you won't be able to hear anything."
Dragonite foolishly scratched its cheek with its claw, grinning at Yuga with a silly "hehe" laugh.
Yuga sighed emotionally, "Now you two are going to have a child… time really flies."
At this moment, Shaya's voice interrupted Yuga's thoughts. "So is this Charizard of yours really a descendant of Old Ancestor or not?"
"This…"
For a moment, Yuga didn't know how to answer. Was it or wasn't it?
Just then, Charizard's belly suddenly began to glow with golden light, as if emphasizing its own presence.
"The one reacting to the Dragon Pearl… seems to be the fetus inside Charizard's belly…" Steven suddenly said thoughtfully.
Sure enough, right after Steven finished speaking, Charizard's belly flashed again.
"It seems that's indeed the case," Robert also said.
"So this fetus is the descendant of Old Ancestor?" Shaya asked.
"If the fetus is, then one of its parents should be as well. But the Dragon Pearl didn't react to either Charizard or Dragonite," Robert said, frowning.
Yuga was also puzzled in his heart, but at this moment, the system gave him the answer.
It turned out that Dragonite's mother, and the fetus inside Charizard's belly were all descendants of Old Ancestor. The reason the Dragon Pearl had no reaction to Dragonite was because Dragonite's bloodline had been affected by the yellow orb within its body.
The reason the Dragon Pearl could react to Old Ancestor's descendants was due to the inheritance of Old Ancestor's bloodline. Although Yuga's Dragonite was a Dragonite, it had inherited more of its father Salamence's bloodline. The Old Ancestor's bloodline in it was not very obvious to begin with.
Later, it had obtained a divine object of the level of the yellow orb. In order to help Dragonite better control lightning, the golden orb had further altered Dragonite's bloodline. Because of this, the Dragon Pearl could no longer recognize it.
By coincidence, however, the fetus in Charizard's belly seemed to have undergone atavism, with a bloodline extremely close to that of Old Ancestor, and so it had attracted the Dragon Pearl over.
The Dragon Pearl regarded that fetus as its own master, so upon meeting it, it had immediately rushed into Charizard's belly.
After hearing the system's explanation, Yuga suddenly understood, and so he said to everyone, "I might know what's going on."
Shaya urged him impatiently, "Speak quickly."
Yuga then pretended that the explanation the system had given him was his own speculation and told everyone. After listening, Shaya became especially happy—the descendant of Old Ancestor had finally been found.
Steven and Robert, on the other hand, remarked with emotion, "We never thought your Dragonite would have such an orb inside its body."
Yuga said apologetically to the two of them, "I'm sorry to you both. Old Ancestor's Dragon Pearl was originally meant to be given to you as payment, but I didn't expect it to end up in Charizard's belly."
Robert waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing—just a Dragon Pearl. Is our friendship worth less than a single Dragon Pearl? Besides, I didn't even help much, so taking the payment would make me feel undeserving."
Steven also quickly expressed that he didn't mind either.
Although they said that…
Yuga silently kept this matter in his heart. That was no ordinary Dragon Pearl—it was the Dragon Pearl left behind by a level 100 Pokémon. Although incomplete, its value was immeasurable.
At this moment, Dragonite's feelings were somewhat complicated. It hadn't yet recovered from the joy of soon becoming a father, when it suddenly learned about the truth of its and its mother's lineage. Truly, the affairs of the world were unpredictable.
"No time should be wasted. Let's take Dragonite to pay respects to Old Ancestor," Shaya said impatiently. "If only Dragonite's mother could also be here." She had already learned of Dragonite's mother's existence from Yuga.
"We really should go," Yuga said. Although Dragonite had always been by his side, it had always stayed inside the Poké Ball and had never actually met Old Ancestor. "As for Dragonite's mother… there will be opportunities in the future."
"It can only be that way…" Shaya sighed.
After that, the group brought Dragonite and Charizard to Old Ancestor's grave and formally held a memorial.
However, just as they finished paying their respects, they suddenly heard a rumbling sound from not far away. Shaya's expression changed instantly, and she immediately rode her Hydreigon toward the source of the commotion. Yuga and the other two thought for a moment and followed.
When they arrived at the scene, Shaya was furious. It turned out that the Latios leader had brought several Latios and Latias here and gotten into a conflict with some Dragon-type Pokémon in the area.
Without hesitation, Shaya rode her Hydreigon straight at the Latios leader to attack. After knocking her back, the Latios leader said coldly: "Shaya, this is an internal matter of Dragon Island. It's not your place to interfere!"
Shaya said in disbelief, "Am I not a member of Dragon Island?"
The Latios leader said meaningfully, "You are human…"
Although it did not finish speaking, the meaning it intended to convey was clear as day. Shaya stared wide-eyed at the Latios leader, unable to believe it had said such words.
She turned to look at the other Dragon-type Pokémon. Some were as angry as she was, clearly showing they stood on her side, but others turned their heads away guiltily, obviously agreeing with the Latios leader's words.
Shaya was deeply shaken. She had never thought that after living on Dragon Island for so many years, as soon as Old Ancestor was gone, there would be Pokémon who no longer regarded her as a member of Dragon Island.
Kommo-o slowly stepped forward, showing its stance, and told Shaya to go back—today's matter was not her concern.
In the end, Shaya left with her head hanging in dejection.
Seeing her looking so lost and dispirited, Yuga and the other two were worried about her, so they followed her all the way back to her home.
After returning from Shaya's place, Yuga had Gengar go invisibly and secretly meet with the Latios and Latias siblings.
Originally, he just wanted to gather some information, but from the two siblings, he instead learned a piece of shocking news.
It turned out that the reason Dragonite's mother had disappeared from Dragon Island in the past was because the Latios leader had sent her away. The purpose was to throw Old Ancestor into disarray so that it would have no energy to deal with the internal rebellion.
Fortunately, that fellow had still harbored a trace of guilt at the time and did not kill the young Dragonite's mother outright. Instead, it merely threw her far away from Dragon Island. Otherwise, there would be no Dragonite's mother now.
Even so, the young Dragonite's mother must have endured countless hardships in order to survive in the harsh environment outside Dragon Island.
The Latios and Latias siblings had only learned this secret by accident.
After hearing this news, Yuga was furious, tossing and turning the entire night, completely unable to sleep.
Just as Yuga was hesitating over whether or not to tell Shaya about this, he, Steven, and Robert received another piece of news from other Pokémon.
It turned out that yesterday, the Dragon-type Pokémon had already reached a consensus with the Latios and Latias group. Both sides had reconciled, and the most powerful Latios leader was to serve as the new ruler of Dragon Island.
Although there were Pokémon who opposed it, the minority obeyed the majority, and those who disagreed were suppressed.
There were also members within the Latios and Latias group who did not agree, but because Yuga's Latios and Latias had joined and supported the Latios leader, those few who didn't know their place were of no real consequence.
Sure enough, not long after, Shaya came storming over to where they were.
Because there were Dragon-type Pokémon who, under the Latios leader's subtle influence, rejected Shaya's identity, she had been living quite stifled on her side of the island. The only ones she could confide in were Yuga and his group.
When she learned that the Latios leader was about to rule over the entire Dragon Island, Shaya, despite her age, burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably for Old Ancestor and feeling it was undeserved.
But the matter was already settled. Yuga and the others were outsiders—they could not interfere in Dragon Island's internal affairs. Besides, they had no way to oppose the entire Dragon Island.
After much hesitation, Yuga finally decided to tell Shaya the news he had obtained from the Latios and Latias siblings.
As expected, Shaya exploded upon hearing it and immediately wanted to confront the Latios leader to settle accounts. But Yuga and the other two stopped her.
"You can't beat him anyway!"
Shaya, fuming, plopped herself down opposite Yuga and said fiercely, "No matter what, I will never allow that guy to become the ruler of Dragon Island!"
But what could be done? Expose him? There was no proof! Who would believe it?
At that moment, Yuga spoke up: "If all you want is to prevent the Latios leader from taking the position, then I have a way."
"What way?" Shaya asked urgently.
Steven and Robert also looked toward Yuga with curiosity.
Yuga cleared his throat. "Ahem… actually, it's very simple—just make him disappear from Dragon Island."
When Shaya heard this, she thought Yuga meant to eliminate the Latios leader, so she said with some difficulty, "That wouldn't be good, would it?"
Although she hated the Latios leader, she hadn't reached the point of needing him dead.
Seeing Shaya's misunderstanding, Yuga smiled and said, "What are you thinking?"
Then he turned to Steven and Robert and asked, "Do your families want to capture a legendary Pokémon?"
Since his Charizard had accidentally swallowed the two of their Dragon Pearls, Yuga thought, he might as well repay them with a legendary Pokémon.
He also had his own personal motive—because of his ambition, the Latios leader had made Dragonite's mother suffer so much. This grudge had to be avenged.
Since killing him wasn't an option, Yuga felt uncomfortable keeping the Latios leader for himself, so he might as well give him to Steven and Robert, and let him work for the League to atone for his crimes.
"You mean…"
Steven and Robert instantly understood Yuga's intention, and Shaya gradually caught on as well. She fully agreed, saying:
"This is a good idea. But how will you deal with him? That guy is always surrounded by so many Pokémon. The moment you make a move, the others will never agree!"
Yuga smiled mysteriously and said, "Leave that to me."
Although Steven and Robert didn't know what Yuga's plan was, they knew he wasn't one to make empty boasts, so they confidently entrusted the matter to him.
After the group "plotted" for a while, once night fell, they quietly left Dragon Island under the cover of darkness, without anyone knowing.
At the same time, in the middle of the night, Yuga's Latios and Latias went to find the Latios leader and quietly said to him:
"Leader, do you want to know where Old Ancestor's Dragon Pearl is?"
The Latios leader immediately became interested upon hearing this and quickly asked: "You know?"
In fact, the Latios leader had been secretly investigating the whereabouts of Old Ancestor's Dragon Pearl for some time, but had never found any clues. At first, he suspected that it was with Shaya, and he had even secretly gone into her quarters to search for it, but had found nothing.
Latios looked around, then finally said in a low voice: "Actually, Old Ancestor has already found the descendant who was lost all those years ago, and the Dragon Pearl was given to that descendant."
Sure enough, the guilty Latios leader's expression changed instantly upon hearing this. Originally, he had wanted to ask the siblings how they knew the Dragon Pearl's whereabouts, but at this moment he couldn't be bothered—he just asked in a trembling voice:
"Really? Where is it?"
Latios said in a deliberately mysterious tone: "It's hidden by Old Ancestor outside the island…"
"You know where? Take me there quickly!"
And so, the siblings led the Latios leader quietly away from Dragon Island. Along with them was the Latios leader's wife, another Latias.
This Latias had always been a loyal supporter of the Latios leader, and she knew and had been involved in almost everything he did.
Because the Latios leader was flustered, he didn't take the time to think about whether the siblings' words were true or not. But he still didn't completely trust them, so he brought his wife along.
Even if the siblings played some trick, he was confident that together with his wife, they had the strength to handle it.
No one knew how long they flew, but by now the two pairs of Latios and Latias had completely left Dragon Island far behind. At this point, the Latios leader's rationality finally began to return, and he asked warily: "We're not there yet?"
Seeing that they were far enough from Dragon Island, the siblings took the opportunity to stop and said, "We've arrived!"
The Latios leader looked around and saw nothing but an endless expanse of open ocean. Realizing that he had been deceived and was about to fly into a rage, at that moment Yuga appeared riding on Dragonite, Shaya appeared riding on Hydreigon, Steven appeared riding on Metagross, and Robert appeared riding on Volcarona, one after another.
Robert's Volcarona shone like a blazing sun, illuminating the surroundings as brightly as daytime—worthy of its title as "the embodiment of the sun" among Pokémon.
The Latios leader and his wife, seeing themselves surrounded, demanded: "You've plotted against me? What grudge, what hatred do we have between us?"
Shaya was furious: "No grudge, no hatred? If it hadn't been for you throwing Old Ancestor's descendant out of Dragon Island back then, would Old Ancestor have died with such regret?"
The Latios leader hadn't expected Shaya to actually know about this matter. Knowing that things could not end peacefully today, he decided to run away with his wife. As long as they could return to Dragon Island, no one would be able to do anything to him!
He was confident he could deal with Yuga and the others alone, but if those siblings were involved as well, he and his wife might not be able to come out unscathed.
So, it was much wiser to flee directly!
As for settling accounts with those two siblings for tricking him—he would deal with that later!