Darkness, an endless void of darkness...
Within this gloom, Zinnia was running frantically all alone. In front of her, a figure on a Noivern was flying farther and farther away.
"Shayna... Wait! Wait for me!"
Zinnia reached out, desperate to hold on to the receding figure, but her efforts were in vain.
"Wait for me!!!"
Zinnia sat up abruptly, drenched in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. She touched her body in disbelief, making sure she wasn't dreaming.
"You're awake."
At that moment, a familiar voice from the side made Zinnia turn her head. She saw Ace sitting in a chair, his feet propped up on a nearby table, half-reclining and reading a scroll by the light of a lamp.
"You were out cold. How long has it been since you had a good night's sleep?" Ace put down the scroll and looked at Zinnia.
Zinnia lowered her head, remaining silent. It seemed that Rayquaza's earlier attitude had left her feeling dejected.
Tap.
Ace stood up and walked over to Zinnia. He gently pinched her cheek, making her look up. Staring directly into her eyes, Ace said flatly, "Don't be so gloomy. You're half a successor now. Pull yourself together and work with me to make Rayquaza mega evolve."
"Wuh duh yuh seh?" (What did you say?) Zinnia asked, her words muffled by the pinch.
Ace released his grip, returned to the table, and picked up the scroll again.
After reading the contents of the scroll, Ace had a clearer understanding of Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent and its mega evolution. In the games, as long as Rayquaza learned Dragon Ascent, it could mega evolve without needing a Keystone or a Mega Stone. But in reality, it was different.
While Rayquaza didn't need a Mega Stone, it required a large number of Keystones. It was the type of Pokémon that would use as many as it could get its hands on. This was evident from the twelve Keystones that had been lost by Shayna.
For Rayquaza, Keystones were not only a way to stabilize its mega-evolved form and better unleash its power but also a form of protection for its successor. If Rayquaza's power became uncontrollable in its mega-evolved state, it could backlash onto the successor. The consequences of such a backlash? Just look at Ace's previous state.
"...To put it simply, it's a bit like my Chansey, unable to control its own power and lacking training. The successor is merely a support role; Rayquaza is the one in control." Ace thought to himself, clicking his tongue. "This won't do. Letting Rayquaza act on its own is too unstable. If we don't train properly, I feel like the Mewtwo that left could probably be evenly matched with Rayquaza right now."
Ace was stating a fact. From the perspective of the Draconid people's methods, Ace felt it was utter nonsense. Letting Rayquaza fight on its own with the successor as a mere passenger was a complete waste of Rayquaza's talent, in Ace's opinion. The consequences of this approach were clear from Shayna's death and Rayquaza's capture.
If Ace had been in command of Rayquaza at the time, the chance of Steven Stone and the others succeeding would have been virtually zero. Rayquaza was powerful to begin with, and even if Ace didn't know what that machine was for, he could have had Rayquaza use Extreme Speed to create distance and then destroy the machine. Without the machine to weaken Rayquaza, the plan to capture it would have been a joke. No matter how many Pokémon they brought, it wouldn't have been enough.
But there were no "what ifs." The successor was a passenger, and Rayquaza acted on instinct, getting stalled by the opposing Pokémon. Once the machine was activated, it was instantly rendered helpless.
"This must be corrected!"
Ace had already mentally planned a series of special training sessions for Rayquaza, but he was missing one crucial piece: Rayquaza currently didn't respect him.
In matters of great importance, Ace could command Rayquaza without issue, but to get it to battle in daily life was a pipe dream. After all, Rayquaza's capture by Ace was merely a temporary retreat into the Master Ball to rest and recover its strength.
Training? Without beating it into submission, Rayquaza wouldn't understand the benefits of training.
"Sigh, if only Mewtwo were here."
At this moment, Ace felt an intense pang of nostalgia for Mewtwo. With Mewtwo and the Keystones, Ace was eight-tenths confident he could defeat Rayquaza if he and Mewtwo worked together, with Mewtwo mega-evolving and Ace directing it.
As Ace was missing Mewtwo, Mewtwo had just arrived at Ace's cabin.
Mewtwo looked at the familiar cabin and then turned to the berry garden. The Exeggutor and Tentacruel in the garden recognized Mewtwo and didn't attack it. Or rather, they didn't have the courage to attack it. The current Mewtwo was even stronger than when it had left!
"He's not here?" Mewtwo looked back at the quiet cabin, then flashed into the garden. Using its psychic powers, it instantly uprooted a berry tree, which floated beside it. From the hole left behind, a few Diglett stared blankly at Mewtwo, unsure whether to attack it or not.
Mewtwo, however, had psychically retrieved a small, dry twig from somewhere and stuck it directly into the hole. The once-dry twig seemed to come alive the moment it touched the soil, rapidly absorbing nutrients and growing. In less than three minutes, the small twig had grown into a massive tree, six to seven meters tall, its huge canopy shading almost half of the berry garden.
"Protect this tree well," Mewtwo said to the Exeggutor and Tentacruel, then vanished from the spot.
The Exeggutor and Tentacruel stared at the tree in a daze. But soon, they noticed that the life force around them was becoming denser. The two Pokémon narrowed their eyes, finding the feeling incredibly comfortable. All the fatigue in their bodies vanished without a trace.
That's what they felt, but the biggest change was happening to the berry trees throughout the garden. The trees were growing wildly as if they had been given a growth hormone. In a short while, they shot up from a little over a meter tall to more than two meters. Even more astonishingly, the flowers that had been wilting were now blooming instantly.
In a single moment, the entire garden was filled with the scent of flowers, and a large amount of pollen scattered on the gentle breeze, floating in the air. The Exeggutor and Tentacruel looked at each other. They had a feeling that this berry garden was about to undergo a dramatic transformation!