"What? You're not convinced?"
Seeing Hoopa Unbound's attitude, Grey understood that Hoopa Unbound clearly was not very interested in being caught by him.
For Hoopa Unbound, after being sealed away for so long by an old geezer with the Arceus Force, how could it possibly be willing to be caught by a human?
"That's right. Your body is certainly powerful, and you know an absurd number of Legendary Pokémon, but Hoopa is an ambitious Pokémon too. What benefit would there be in being caught by you?"
Hoopa Unbound pointed at Grey.
It was a Mythical Pokémon that could casually summon first-tier Legendaries over to fight for it.
On top of that, its own strength was also at the first-tier Legendary level. Under those circumstances, even if Grey knew a lot of Legendary Pokémon, that only meant he had a wide network.
Compared to Hoopa, he was still far behind!
Hoopa raised its head and snorted two streams of white air from its nose. It felt that even if Grey wanted to catch it, it would only reluctantly follow Grey if it generously chose to show him mercy.
"So, in other words, you'd rather go back inside the Prison Bottle and not know how long it'll take before you're released again?"
Grey narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "I was just thinking of trying out what kind of effect a Prison Bottle made from both the Arceus Force and Aura would have. Oh, right. There's also a group of Legendary Pokémon here. They can all enchant it."
As he said this, Groudon and Kyogre wiggled their eyebrows at Hoopa Unbound.
That would be a Prison Bottle made with their Ground and Water energy for the bottle's body, then reinforced by Reshiram's Blue Flare.
It would absolutely be much stronger than ordinary mud, water, and mortal fire.
Not to mention, there was a whole group of first-tier Legendaries eyeing it, all thinking of contributing their share to sealing away Hoopa Unbound.
"You're all bullying me too much!"
Hoopa Unbound stomped its foot in anger.
Who caught Pokémon like this?
However, when catching Pokémon normally, after beating them, didn't one just throw a Poké Ball and call it a day?
Compared to that, Grey, who was trying to persuade it, was actually being rather fair.
Otherwise, if he directly knocked it unconscious, then casually threw hundreds or thousands of Poké Balls at it, there was no guarantee it would not really end up caught by Grey.
For a moment, Hoopa Unbound actually felt a tiny trace of…
Gratitude?
No!
Hoopa Unbound slapped its cheeks and only then realized something was wrong.
Did the young man in front of it have some kind of strange charm?
He had actually managed to subtly make its subconscious start developing in another direction.
Good grief. This Aura user really had something going on. He was an old master of psychological manipulation.
"Well, anyway, I'll put it plainly. Either come with me, and you'll still have freedom, or go back into the Prison Bottle. And this time, it'll be a Prison Bottle jointly made by a group of first-tier Legendaries."
"I have one condition."
Hoopa Unbound knew Grey did not sound like he was joking, so it had no choice but to put forward a condition.
Grey nodded lightly, signaling for Hoopa Unbound to continue. "Go ahead. As long as it's within my ability, I'll definitely agree."
"I want a certain degree of freedom. Even if I'm caught by you, I can't spend every day inside a Poké Ball. Unless it's necessary, I have to be able to breathe fresh air at all times."
A free Pokémon could not be locked away.
Hoopa Unbound wanted freedom.
It did not want to spend every day trapped inside a Poké Ball, unable to do anything.
How would that be any different from being sealed inside the Prison Bottle?
So, on this point, freedom was a must.
"No problem. My Saffron City is pretty big. If you don't mind, you can patrol the city every day.
"Of course, you can't scare the local residents. Otherwise…"
Grey made a cutting gesture.
"Fine. Deal."
Hoopa Unbound could only let itself be caught by Grey.
However, this "catching" was only verbal.
Grey did not actually take out a Poké Ball and truly catch it.
"All right. Send away the first-tier Legendaries you brought here. Remember to apologize to them and clean up the mess too. Understand?"
Since Hoopa Unbound was willing to follow him, Grey had to help it deal with the aftermath.
Besides that, there were still the matters in Paldea to handle.
Hoopa Unbound had six golden rings, so the remaining six Gym Leader inspections could be carried out at the same time.
After finishing those, he could go and deal with the Titans too.
Then, it would be about time to return.
"Mr. Grey, are you from Saffron City?"
Mm.
Ash, who was not far away, had heard the conversation between Grey and Hoopa Unbound.
When he heard the words Saffron City from Grey's mouth, Ash was rather surprised.
Saffron City was located in the Kanto region.
They were both from Kanto!
"That's right, but I'm actually not from your world."
Grey roughly explained the matter of crossing over from a parallel world.
"I see! So Mr. Grey is from another parallel world! Then what am I like in that other world?"
Ash of the Kalos region had encountered parallel-world incidents before. Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena had also met Ash from another world back then, so their acceptance of this matter was unusually high.
Baraz and Meray possessed the Arceus Force and knew things related to the great Sinnoh deities as well, so they did not react too strongly either.
No wonder none of them had heard of this young man named Grey.
So he had come from another world.
Though in a certain sense, should this world also have someone named Grey?
In truth, probably not.
After all, Grey had been trucked into this world.
And physically transported, at that.
As for his identity, the Silph Pokémon Battle Club had helped him obtain a legal identity back then.
He counted as a proper law-abiding citizen.
In response to Ash's question, Grey pondered for a moment. "Mm. Ash from the other world reached the Top 4 at the Indigo Plateau Conference and is currently traveling through the Orange Islands."
"Whoa! Top 4!"
Ash blinked.
He remembered that he himself had reached the Top 16 at the Indigo Plateau Conference.
He had not expected another version of himself to actually be a Top 4 powerhouse!
"Then did he catch the same Pokémon I did back then?"
Ash named several Pokémon in a row.
They matched the original story.
"More or less, but with a few differences. At the point in time I came from, your main team was Pikachu, Charizard, Annihilape, Aerodactyl, Gengar, and Pidgeot."
That Indigo Plateau Conference had originally been the year Ash had the best chance of winning the championship.
But no one had expected the Masked Royal to show up.
With just one Incineroar, he had shattered Ash's championship dream.
"Annihilape? What kind of Pokémon is that?"
Ash could understand Aerodactyl and Gengar.
But this Pokémon called Annihilape was different.
"Oh, this one. It's the evolved form of Primeape. This is it."
Grey sent out Annihilape.
"Whoa!"
When he saw Annihilape, Ash could clearly sense a vast surge of energy coming from it.
It was strong!
"Ash, you should have a Primeape too, right? Its evolution method is actually very simple. After using a move called Rage Fist twenty times, Primeape can evolve into Annihilape. It's very strong."
Grey was truly speaking honestly.
Rage Fist was basically a bug-level move.
After it stacked up fully, its power was close to two and a half Z-Moves.
It was an undeniable trump-card technique for explosive comebacks.
The kind of flashy finisher no shonen battle-manga protagonist could go without!
"I do have one, but I don't know how Primeape is doing right now."
Ash remembered that Primeape had gone off to box. He would occasionally call over and ask how it was doing.
"Then you should ask Primeape whether it wants to keep traveling with you. I think Primeape will definitely choose you."
Grey gave Ash his suggestion.
After hearing this, Ash nodded. "All right. I'll listen to your advice, Mr. Grey! Thank you!"
"No need to be so polite. After all, in my original world, you're half my disciple too."
Grey waved his hand.
After roughly explaining things to Ash, Grey brought the group of first-tier Legendaries along to help rebuild Dahara City.
During this period, Grey also inspected all the remaining Gym Leaders in one go.
He also swept through the Titan Pokémon and helped Arven's Mabosstiff recover its health.
Time passed in a rush.
In the blink of an eye, the time for him to return to his original world had arrived.
"Oh, right. I need to bring back some local souvenirs."
Before leaving, Grey suddenly remembered that there was something important he had not done.
He called over Hoopa Unbound and Ash, then told them that he wanted Diancie's pink diamonds.
If there were only Hoopa, Diancie might resist and refuse to give the pink diamonds to Hoopa.
But with Ash there, things were different.
Borrowing Ash's reputation would make things much more convenient.
Over the past few days, Grey had been teaching Ash the Flame Mantra, greatly increasing his strength.
It was only lending Grey his reputation. Ash agreed immediately.
"No problem!"
Original world, Hoenn region, Ever Grande City, League headquarters.
Grey had already been gone for three days.
Steven and Wallace had spent the entire time distracted and restless.
In their eyes, if they had not called Grey over for help, Grey would never have ended up in that situation.
It had almost left Sabrina and Caitlin widowed.
Back then, Reshiram had said Grey was fine and had only gone to another world.
That had nearly scared the two of them into fainting on the spot.
It sounded like he had died.
"Woo-hoo, I'm back."
Inside the Champion's office at the Hoenn League headquarters, a voice suddenly rang out, one that was extremely familiar to both of them.
Steven and Wallace looked up and discovered that Grey had returned!
The two of them instantly teared up.
"Grey, I thought we'd never see you again!"
"Yeah. This time, it really was our fault. You can kill us or cut us up however you want!"
"Ahem, it's not as serious as you two are making it sound. To be honest, ever since I became Reshiram's hero, even the moves of first-tier Legendaries can't easily hurt me."
Grey said this with a sincere expression, telling the truth.
Steven and Wallace: "???"
"Then what about that powerful energy wave in space back then?"
"Oh, you mean when Deoxys and Rayquaza's ultimate moves collided?"
Grey recalled the situation from not long ago and said solemnly, "Honestly, I didn't expect those two moves to be that terrifying either. They actually shattered my phone."
Grey's phone was not a Rotom Phone.
Its protection was not that strong.
As for the clothes he was wearing now, they had been made using the unique high-tech materials of the Pokémon world. Several layers of Protect had been stacked into them, making them strong enough to resist the damage of many moves.
That was also why Grey's clothes had still been intact when he crossed worlds.
"All right, let's not talk about that. It's already over. Look, I even caught some new Pokémon.
"And I brought you some local souvenirs."
Grey pulled two plastic bags out of his pocket.
Then, he handed the pink diamonds Diancie had created to the two of them.
"I left in a hurry and couldn't find any good boxes, so I just used plastic bags. Don't mind it."
"???"
Wallace glanced indifferently at the pink diamond, only feeling that its color and luster were decent. Steven, however, suddenly held his breath.
His entire body almost pressed against the pink diamond. His gaze burned hot, and his breathing became rapid.
"Grey! Are you really giving this pink diamond to me?!"
As he spoke, Steven's hand unconsciously grasped the pink diamond.
Such an exquisitely crafted pink diamond could absolutely be placed in the central display spot of a collection case!
"That's right."
Grey nodded lightly.
He had specifically asked Diancie to make two pink diamonds.
He simply did not know what Wallace liked, so he had decided to give him a pink diamond as a gift too.
It was a local souvenir, after all. Perfectly reasonable.
"Grey, I won't accept your pink diamond for free. How about this? Pick any city in the Hoenn region you like. No, pick a location you like in every city in Hoenn, and I'll give you a complete house in each one. Tax-free!"
Steven generously allowed Grey to choose any type of property he wanted.
Whether it was a grand seaside villa or a large luxury flat in the city center, it was simply a matter of Steven saying the word.
"That doesn't seem too appropriate…"
Grey felt a little embarrassed too.
If it were one or two houses, he would accept them.
But…
A house in every city?
Grey swallowed.
Suddenly, he felt that staying in Hoenn might not be such a bad thing.
No, no!
How could one house compare to an entire city?
Right now, in Saffron City, he was basically the local emperor, living comfortably and happily. It was better not to move casually.
Occasionally staying in Hoenn would be fine.
But when it came to permanent residence, it had to be the Kanto region.
"It's fine. I'll send you the contracts later. You just need to sign them."
Steven waved his hand grandly, then continued, "This time, Brother Grey, you really helped the Hoenn region a great deal. So, over these past two days, I called a meeting with the higher-ups of the Hoenn League. We unanimously agreed to appoint you as our Hoenn region's Honorary Friend."
Honorary Friend was different from Honorary Elite Four.
As long as Grey came to the Hoenn region, all normal expenses he incurred would be reimbursed by the Hoenn League.
Rounded up, it was about the same as Grey's treatment in the Kanto region.
Calling Hoenn Grey's region now would not be an exaggeration.
Grey gladly accepted.
In the future, if he wanted to hide from Sabrina, he could come to the Hoenn region.
Speaking of Sabrina…
Hiss!
Grey hurriedly asked Wallace whether he knew how to do makeup.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing that Grey wanted makeup, Wallace asked.
"Nothing. I just want to try battle-damage makeup. If possible, it'd be best to make it look like my face is covered in blood. Something that won't be easily seen through by a Psychic would be ideal."
When Grey thought about what was about to happen after he returned, he urgently needed a way to survive the coming crisis.
Look, he could say that while helping in the Hoenn region, he had accidentally suffered heavy injuries.
Mm. Very reasonable!
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