After a long round of instructions, Grog didn't voice a single objection. He simply nodded and agreed with everything.
His current status and position were all thanks to Nathan. Meeting Mira was also because of Nathan.
If he hadn't gone through Nathan's files, he wouldn't have even known there was a woman living in Nathan's dorm.
After visiting the dorm, he immediately fell for Mira.
Having spent years in the underground Pokémon deathmatch circuit, Grog had seen plenty of women—but none of them could compare to Mira.
So pure and without a hint of ill intent. To him, meeting someone like her felt like a blessing earned over ten lifetimes.
But even now, he still hadn't dared to confess his feelings—
Because he was worried that Nathan might like her too.
But he was overthinking it.
Nathan had never been the type to pursue romance.
To him, women were just obstacles.
And with Lily already being a big enough obstacle to overcome, there was no way he'd look for a second one.
"Alright, we're already here. Head back now. I won't be returning to the dorm anymore, so help me pack up my stuff," Nathan said bluntly.
Grog froze for a moment at those words, then a look of pure joy spread across his face.
This was Nathan helping him out!
"Thank you, Boss!"
Grog hugged Nathan emotionally.
"Get lost! I don't swing that way!"
Nathan kicked Grog away, got into a taxi, and headed straight for the mystic realm.
Meanwhile, Grog stood there, gazing emotionally in the direction Nathan had left.
Spring had arrived!
…
After a long time, Nathan returned to the mystic realm—and its appearance hadn't changed much.
This time, though, he didn't search alone. Instead, he released all his Pokémon.
"You all listen up. If you see any stones like these, bring them back to me."
Nathan took out two Z-Crystals and a Mega Evolution Stone as examples.
Once everyone scattered, Nathan began a grid-style search.
Over an hour passed, and despite all his Pokémon helping, they hadn't found a single Z-Crystal or Mega Stone.
This confused Nathan greatly.
The last time he came here, while the crystals weren't exactly everywhere, they were at least findable.
But this time, even with his whole team helping, not one?
Could it be that someone discovered the use of these stones and, while he was away at the Pacific tournament, came and collected all of them?
But in all this time, he hadn't seen anyone actually use Z-Crystals or Mega Stones.
"Seriously, what's going on?"
Nathan was truly baffled.
He'd made the trip here with high hopes—was he really going to leave empty-handed?
Just then, he spotted an Electabuzz!
And in its hand—was a Z-Crystal!
"What the hell? Don't tell me…"
A bold guess formed in Nathan's mind.
He recalled all his Pokémon and flew after the Electabuzz on his Flygon.
Soon, the Electabuzz led him to the entrance of a cave on a small mountain, around 300-400 meters tall.
The cave was halfway up the mountain.
The Electabuzz walked into the cave holding the Z-Crystal—and came out empty-handed.
To confirm his suspicion, Nathan waited in the air for over half an hour.
During that time, he saw more than a dozen Pokémon carrying stones into the cave.
While not all the stones were valuable, this clearly confirmed his theory:
He was right.
Excited, Nathan landed at the cave entrance.
He recalled Flygon and sent out Volcarona, then entered the cave with it.
Inside, he was met with a massive pile of stones like a miniature mountain.
Scattered among them were Z-Crystals and Mega Stones.
At the back of the cave, lying down, was an Electivire.
Nathan remembered—he'd traded with this Electivire the last time he was here.
The deal was for Z-Crystals and Mega Stones.
What he didn't expect was that the Electivire had kept collecting stones since then!
No wonder he couldn't find a single one in the wild.
This guy had gathered them all.
That stone pile had to be close to 100,000 rocks.
Even if just 1% of them were valuable, that would still be over a thousand Z-Crystals and Mega Stones!
"I've struck gold…"
Nathan felt like he was on a rollercoaster of emotions.
What started as a seemingly fruitless trip had turned into an unexpected jackpot.
Though he spoke quietly, he wasn't alone in the cave—besides the sleeping Electivire, there were others.
Hearing his voice, an Electabuzz rushed over and began shouting when it saw him.
Startled awake by the noise, Electivire sat up, expecting an intruder.
When it saw Nathan, it was overjoyed.
It had been waiting nearly two months, hoping Nathan would return.
The pokeblocks from their last trade were long gone, so it had spent the whole time gathering stones in anticipation.
"Elec-tivire!"
Electivire called out excitedly, rushing over to Nathan in a few big steps.
Activating his Viridian Power, Nathan could understand its words.
"You're finally here! Got any pokeblocks?"
Electivire didn't waste time—it went straight to the point.
If it were human, it would probably get scammed left and right talking like that.
"Yeah, I brought some. Here, have a few to start with."
Nathan tossed a few pokeblocks to the Electivire with a smile, then walked toward the massive stone pile.
"You've been collecting these the whole time since I left?"
He asked, eyes gleaming.
"Yeah, but most of the stones around here have already been taken by us. It's getting hard to find more now."
Electivire replied between bites of the pokeblocks.
Nathan had to admit—Electivire was a beast, in every sense.
To scour a mystic realm this vast to the point of near depletion?
That kind of dedication and persistence would make anyone a genius in the human world.
It was a shame Electivire's persistence was driven by food.
Then again, wild Pokémon had no trainers to help them grow.
Aside from battling and slow evolution, they had no other path to strength.
Now that someone like Nathan was willing to trade resources for "useless" rocks, they had no reason to stop.
"I'll sort through these and see how many are valuable. I'll give you pokeblocks in exchange."
Nathan wasted no time and got to work.
But before he could identify the useful stones, he had to sort them all.
With roughly 100,000 stones, even just separating the Z-Crystals and Mega Stones was going to be a huge job.
And as Nathan's Pokémon, sometimes being a laborer was just part of the job—like now.
He released all his Pokémon again.
"You guys, carry the stones one by one and sort them based on my instructions."
As the Pokémon got to work, Nathan also began sorting.
"Left pile."
"Right pile."
…
At first, he was still shouting instructions one by one.
But eventually, his voice got hoarse, and he switched to just pointing with his fingers.
Even after working until nightfall, they hadn't even sorted one-fifth of the pile.
This really showed just how many stones Electivire's tribe had collected.
"Alright, let's stop for today. Go back and rest."
Looking at the barely-diminished pile, Nathan felt like his hands were cramping from counting—
Even though Z-Crystals and Mega Stones weren't literally money, they were definitely worth a fortune.
Of course, that value was conditional: only if he told the world how to use them.
But for now, Nathan had no intention of revealing that secret.
With the World Tournament about to begin, announcing it now would just empower his enemies.
(End of Chapter)