"This is Gengar, the vault's guardian."
Janine kept her introduction brief. "Gengar, open the way to the vault."
"Geng-gar."
Gengar nodded and slowly opened its mouth, revealing a pitch-black tunnel.
The tunnel seemed to link two points together. Dian nodded thoughtfully. Apparently, he wasn't the only one with designs on the Spirit World.
"Elite Lorelei, Mr. Yingyue, please."
Janine led the way inside. The three of them arrived in a metal Secret Room that gave off a faint glow from every direction.
A purple stone pedestal stood in the center of the room, topped by a round, deep-purple orb.
Unlike a Poison-type Gem, which gave off a searing, poisonous aura, this Toxic Orb showed nothing unusual at all.
That only made it more dangerous.
Just like that pure-white Star Grass.
Dian knew what to do as soon as he saw the Toxic Orb. "Misdreavus."
He signaled for Misdreavus to absorb the crystallized poison within the Toxic Orb.
More importantly, Misdreavus needed to grasp the knowledge of Toxic contained inside it.
As Dian watched Misdreavus, he explained the key points of changing a Pokémon's type and Ability through move learning to Janine.
He didn't have much time. His scheduled meeting with Professor Suzuki was coming up.
He had to make sure Janine understood everything before then, lest she tried something recklessly and caused a serious problem.
Changing types and exchanging Abilities both carried enormous risks. Those risks could affect a Pokémon in ways that were impossible to measure, now and in the future. They had to be careful—extremely careful.
Dian had run his experiments in Dream Space, so he hadn't needed to worry about the consequences. The outside world was another matter.
"...Once you're ready, come to the Dream Research Institute in Striaton City. Remember, you must never attempt anything involving