After listening to Shaya's singing, Ninetales was utterly astonished, as if it had encountered something divine. Although it didn't understand what Shaya was singing about, just that voice alone was truly the sound of heaven itself. Not taking her to join the entertainment industry would be an absolute waste of talent!
"Amazing, absolutely amazing!" Ninetales looked at Shaya with eyes that sparkled brightly.
"Your name is Shaya, right?" When Ninetales had returned, it had already learned Shaya's name from others. "Do you want to come act with me?"
"Act?" Shaya looked completely confused.
Seeing this, Yuga explained, "The TV dramas you usually see on television, and the movies you watched in the cinema before—they're all performed by actors. Their job is acting."
"Wow!" Shaya exclaimed. At the moment, whether it was TV dramas or movies, she thought both were novel and fascinating. "That amazing? Can I really go?"
Ninetales quickly chimed in, "You can, you can. With me, your senior, around, you don't have to worry!"
"That's great, then I'll be an actor." Without even thinking, Shaya immediately agreed to Ninetales, then she suddenly asked, "Oh right, can acting make money?"
"It can, it can, it's especially profitable!" Ninetales answered casually.
"As long as it can make money, that's fine!" Shaya said happily, and then turned to Yuga. "It's okay if I become an actor, right?"
Yuga glanced at Ninetales. "It's okay, it's okay…" He thought for a moment and didn't stop her. "If you want to do it, then give it a try."
Shaya's qualifications were indeed excellent—she had good looks, and she could sing particularly well. The only unknown was whether she had talent for acting. But even if she wasn't good at acting, she could still completely succeed as a singer!
Hearing this, Ninetales quickly said, "Come on, I'll tell you all about acting…" As it spoke, it led Shaya away, the two chatting and laughing as they went.
Yuga shook his head, then turned around and headed toward the Ecopark, entering the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark.
He was going to visit the pregnant Charizard.
Ever since returning from Dragon Island, Charizard had been living together with Dragonite in the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark. This environment was even more beneficial for the gestation and growth of the fetus in her belly.
Dragonite's mother had been through it all before, so she took excellent care of her daughter-in-law.
Dragonite's mother had already learned from Yuga about her own origins. She had left Dragon Island when she was too young, and after so many years had passed, she had long forgotten about Dragon Island entirely.
However, regarding Dragon Island—and the very old ancestor there who had cared deeply for her—she still felt deeply moved. She had asked Yuga to take her to visit Dragon Island someday in the future, at the very least to pay her respects at the old ancestor's grave.
Right now, of course, that was impossible. Dragonite's mother valued the fetus in Charizard's belly even more than the soon-to-be father Dragonite himself, so there was no way she could leave in the short term.
When Yuga arrived at the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, he saw Dragonite's mother holding a Pokémon egg while looking up at the sky.
Following her gaze, Yuga saw Charizard and Dragonite playing together in the air as a pair, their joyful cries echoing endlessly, drawing many envious glances from the single Dragon-type Pokémon in the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark.
Proper exercise was beneficial for future childbirth—this was Dragonite's mother's experienced advice.
As for the Pokémon egg in Dragonite's mother's arms, it was the one Yuga had brought back from Dragon Island.
After learning that Charizard was pregnant, Dragonite's mother's maternal instincts had surged. But since her grandchild could not be born just yet, she could only pour the excess, overflowing love she had nowhere else to direct onto the Pokémon egg Yuga had brought back.
This Pokémon egg had been a gift from the old ancestor, so Dragonite's mother couldn't help but project some of her emotions onto it. She would often hold it all day long, dutifully and conscientiously incubating it.
Seeing Yuga approach, Dragonite's mother happily waved a claw at him. Yuga took the opportunity to sit beside her, glanced at the egg in her arms, and asked: "How is it? Is this little one doing well?"
"Dragonite~ Dragonite~"
Very well—shouldn't be long before it hatches.
Dragonite's mother said this while gently stroking the Pokémon egg.
"That's good, thank you for your hard work."
Yuga didn't have anything particularly important to do, so coming to the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark for a look had become something he did almost every day recently. After chatting with Dragonite's mother for a while, he took a casual stroll around the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, and then he left.
When he reached the main Ecopark, he suddenly heard a burst of noisy commotion. Following the sound, he saw Spoink arguing with Gothita, and the quarrel seemed to be quite intense. Meanwhile, Musharna was standing off to the side trying to mediate.
Spoink had come back? With doubt in his heart, Yuga walked over.
Spoink had been training in the Kalos region, and during the time Yuga was away from home, it had also been training under Olympia. He hadn't expected it to return today.
"What's going on? What's going on? What are you two arguing about here!" Yuga strode over and shouted loudly.
Seeing Yuga come, Gothita immediately started complaining.
"Gothita~ Gothita~ Gothita~"
Very quickly, Yuga understood the reason for the quarrel between the two troublemakers.
It turned out that Spoink had just come back and had happened to run into Gothita, who was about to go out for some fun. Spoink had stared at Gothita for a moment, and then suddenly called out to stop her.
Gothita had thought it was something important, but unexpectedly, the first thing Spoink said was that Gothita was going to have bad luck today and that she shouldn't go out.
Spoink thought it was kindly giving advice, but Gothita felt like it was cursing her, and so the two of them began arguing.
The Musharna trying to mediate wasn't the one originally from the Ecopark, but rather Emboar's wife. She had long been interested in Spoink's ability to predict the future, so when she unintentionally heard from Chatot that it had come back, she decided to come over and take a look.
She hadn't expected to just happen to run into these two quarreling.
After hearing both Pokémon explain their side, Yuga chuckled helplessly, patted Gothita on the head, and said: "Don't you know Spoink has been training in prophecy? It's kindly reminding you!"
"Gothita~ Gothita~ Gothita~"
No way, absolutely no way! How could I have bad luck? Its predictions aren't accurate at all!
Gothita simply didn't believe it. She thought she was so amazing—how could she possibly have bad luck?
Yuga knew Spoink's predictions were often inaccurate, but still—better to believe it might be true than to dismiss it entirely. Seeing Gothita's unconcerned attitude, he could only turn to Spoink and ask quietly:
"Is there danger?"
Spoink shook its head.
So Yuga no longer worried. Looking back at Gothita, he said: "If you don't believe it and end up suffering for it, don't blame anyone else!"
"Gothita~"
Hmph, I won't!
The arrogant Gothita still didn't care in the slightest, and riding on Cubchoo's back, she wobbled her way out of the Ecopark.
Yuga shook his head helplessly, then looked down and gently pinched Spoink's soft, floppy ears, intending to comfort and encourage it. But his hand accidentally brushed against the pearl on top of Spoink's head.
At that moment, an intense light suddenly erupted from the pearl. Spoink instantly lost focus, and holding the pearl in its front hooves, it slowly floated up into the sky, its face showing not the slightest hint of expression.
The pearl shone with dazzling brilliance, and a projection appeared in the air.
What's going on?
Yuga was startled by the scene before his eyes. He stared blankly at the projection in the sky, only to see chaos within it—people screaming and running, explosions occurring all over the city, and the once common high-rise buildings had become piles of rubble.
The scene in the projection was so chaotic that Yuga couldn't even tell where it was.
Just as he was trying hard to gather more information from the projection, it suddenly stopped. Spoink abruptly fell from the air, already unconscious when it hit the ground. Its pearl rolled away to the side, spinning until it stopped at Yuga's feet.
"Spoink!"
Yuga rushed over to pick up Spoink, but Spoink kept its eyes tightly shut and showed no sign of waking. He checked its body and found there was nothing physically wrong.
So he called over the nearby Musharna and had it check Spoink's mental power.
Musharna told Yuga that Spoink had merely overused its psychic power, and there was no danger; once it had rested enough, it would wake up. Only then did Yuga finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Holding Spoink in his arms, he couldn't help but think of the projection that had just appeared in the sky. Needless to say, that must have been a prophecy Spoink had unintentionally activated.
Yuga had learned from Olympia that when a seer's abilities improve rapidly, there are times when they can't control their power and will unconsciously produce strange prophecies.
Clearly, Spoink was experiencing exactly that right now.
However, this prophecy from Spoink had come so suddenly and was so vague that Yuga simply couldn't extract any useful information from it.
Still, Yuga guessed that since this prophecy had been triggered by his own touch, it must have some connection to him.
From the scenes in the prophetic projection, whatever this matter connected to him was, it was clearly not a good thing—perhaps even a disaster.
Thinking of this, Yuga couldn't help but recall something Olympia had told him a long time ago.
She had said that she had once seen in a prophecy that Kalos would soon face a disaster, and within that disaster, she had seen Yuga's figure.
Was there a possibility… that these two prophecies were speaking of the same event?
After pondering for a while, Yuga entrusted Spoink to Musharna, instructing it to take good care of Spoink, and then left the Ecopark himself, dialing the phone number for Anistar Gym.
Meanwhile, Gothita, fuming with anger, left with Cubchoo. She had originally wanted to go shopping with Clefable, but Clefable was busy helping Doudou with housework and had no time to go out, so Gothita had no choice but to go with Cubchoo instead.
Before long, Gothita had completely forgotten Spoink's prophecy. Holding the pocket money she had recently snatched from Yuga, she bought two lollipops, one for herself and one for Cubchoo, and the two of them ate as they walked.
The two Pokémon were enjoying their treats blissfully when, all of a sudden, an unpleasant, grating cawing sounded from overhead. A Honchkrow plummeted from the sky, landing right beside them.
For some unknown reason, Honchkrow's body was tangled all over with threads, so that when it hit the ground, it kept struggling wildly. In its erratic thrashing, it crashed into Gothita and Cubchoo, knocking them both away.
Just as Spoink had said, Gothita's bad luck had begun. Not far away, a manhole cover had been removed for construction work, and it hadn't yet been replaced—only a simple temporary barrier had been set up around it.
Gothita, being small in stature, was sent rolling across the ground by Honchkrow's impact, spinning dizzily into the barrier. Already feeling faint, she tumbled into the open manhole, leaving only a broken lollipop on the ground.
Cubchoo, at that moment, was still busy dealing with Honchkrow. By the time it came to its senses, Gothita had vanished without a trace.
Gothita fell straight into the sewer, bounced twice on the ground, and with a splash, landed in the water.
Her head spinning, she was completely unable to save herself, and after swallowing several mouthfuls of water, she was swept along helplessly by the rushing current.
Fortunately, this water wasn't sewage—it was purified water that was being discharged from this sewer into the Green Jade River.
After being carried by the water for quite some time, Gothita finally regained her senses. By then, she had already been washed out of the sewer and into the Green Jade River.
Struggling with all her might, Gothita poked her little head above the water and looked left, then right: Where is this?
The water was clear, the sky was a bright blue, and the scenery outside was actually quite pleasant, but Gothita had no idea where she was at that moment.
She paddled a couple of times and decided to head for the shore first.
However, what Gothita didn't notice was that as she swam toward the bank, a huge dark shadow had appeared beneath her.
Gothita finally managed to swim to the riverbank and was just about to climb ashore when a dark shadow suddenly shot out of the water, opening a pitch-black, gaping maw that lunged toward her.
Gothita had never seen such a thing before; she was scared out of her wits. In the instant the enormous mouth came at her, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
Just before losing consciousness, Gothita once again recalled Spoink's prophecy: today she was not suited to go out.
So that guy's prophecies could actually be accurate sometimes!
The big mouth hadn't truly intended to bite Gothita—it wouldn't dare to, after all. It had simply acted on a whim to play a prank, but it hadn't expected its target to faint so easily, which made it feel utterly bored.
In an instant, the massive dark shadow suddenly dispersed, transforming into countless small fish, each about the length of a chopstick, surrounding a strange, fanged fish.
The one that had frightened Gothita was none other than the Bruxish and the Wishiwashi school that Yuga had released into the Green Jade River.
Bruxish called out to the Wishiwashi a few times, and immediately several of them swam over, dragging Gothita and tossing her onto the shore.
At that moment, a Flygon happened to be patrolling overhead and, upon passing by, spotted Gothita lying on the riverbank. It descended and asked the Bruxish in the water about the situation, then extended a foot far larger than Gothita's entire body and tapped Gothita's small belly with its toes.
Puh… puh…
The water inside Gothita's belly spurted out like a fountain.
Gothita groggily opened her eyes, only to be met with Flygon's enormous, crimson dragon eyes. Her own eyes rolled back again, and she fainted once more.
(_|||)
Flygon reached out its claws, picked her up, and with a casual flick, tossed her onto its back. It then carried her as it flew away.
Meanwhile, Yuga had just finished his call with Olympia. She hadn't been able to gather much information from the prophecy either, and could only urge Yuga to remain alert.
No sooner had he hung up than Cubchoo came running over in a panic.
"Something's wrong! Gothita is missing..."
But before Cubchoo could finish its rambling, incoherent explanation, Flygon landed at the front gate, flapping its wings. It gave its body a shake—
Thud!
Gothita dropped to the ground. Amid a wave of sharp pain, she slowly opened her eyes.
(ó﹏ò) Sob… sob…