Heroes Return

At the same time, in the Alola Region.

It was March, yet tropical Alola showed not the slightest trace of early spring chill.

Warm sea breezes drifted gently with the currents, brushing away the weariness in the hearts of the humans and Pokémon striving to rebuild their homes on the islands.

More than a month had passed since the Ultra Beast invasion that had nearly destroyed Alola.

With the aid of several Legendary Pokémon and numerous Champion- or Elite Four-level Trainers, the disaster had passed without catastrophe.

The appearance of Rayquaza, Zapdos, Moltres, and the four island guardian deities had not been much of a surprise.

After all, the first three had appeared before, while the island guardians were beings mentioned in Alolan mythology.

What no one had expected were the other two Legendary Pokémon: Heatran and Cresselia.

They were the Pokémon of Sinnoh Champion Cynthia and Unova Champion Caitlin, as countless onlookers had clearly seen through the live broadcasts of battlefield reporter Rotom.

The revelation immediately caused an uproar in public opinion.

Although humans capturing Legendary Pokémon—or rather, forming contracts with them—was not unprecedented, as with Koraidon, Deoxys, Zeraora, and the like.

But they all had one thing in common: their Trainer was the same person, Xia Chen.

Even Tobias's Darkrai did not count, since Tobias had long clarified that they were friends rather than having a capture-and-captured relationship.

Pryce and Articuno counted as half an example.

But Heatran and Cresselia had been properly captured.

That was what drove people into a frenzy of discussion—did these two cases of top Trainers capturing Legendary Pokémon mean that the relationship between humans and Pokémon had entered a new stage?

From the invention of primitive Poké Balls in the Hisui era to the emergence and rise of the Trainer profession in modern