An excited Steven

"What, don't you usually have many friends?"

Steven's eyes dimmed at the question. "As you know, I'm the heir to the Stone family."

"Ever since I was little, everyone around me has just been trying to flatter me for their own benefit. Where would I find friends?"

At that point, Steven asked, "What about you?"

"Your grandparents are both Top-level Breeders. You should be in pretty much the same boat."

Chen Shi thought it over carefully, then suddenly fell silent.

Damn, that really did seem to be the case.

With a mature soul from childhood, he had naturally understood that those people only approached him for their own benefit.

He really didn't seem to have many friends.

Except for a certain person in Sinnoh who suffered from severe indecisiveness.

Seeing his silence, Steven immediately understood.

The two exchanged a glance and sighed softly, then somehow burst out laughing.

"Meta~"

Beside them, Metagross was happy for Steven too.

As Steven's first partner, Metagross naturally understood his loneliness.

Now that he had finally made his first friend, Metagross gave a relieved smile too.

It felt a little like watching a silly child finally grow up.

"Oh, right," Chen Shi suddenly said. "Would you mind telling me how far your fossil revival research has gotten?"

"If it involves trade secrets, just pretend I didn't ask."

Steven waved a hand casually. "It's not really a secret."

"We're not the only ones researching fossil revival technology. Unfortunately, everyone's gotten stuck on life energy."

"We all think the revivals might be failing because there isn't enough life energy."

"I see." Chen Shi fell silent for a moment, then smiled. "Then, as your friend, let me give you a tip."

Steven looked puzzled. "What kind of tip?"

"Is there another Big Root Valley?"

Chen Shi rolled his eyes. "There's only one Big Root Valley. What are you thinking?"

"What I want to tell you is that your research is heading in the wrong direction."

"To truly revive fossils, you need to use Munna's dream energy to turn the unreal into reality."

"Forcing life energy into them won't work."

"Even the Life God from the Kalos Region couldn't do it."

Steven was stunned. He hadn't expected Chen Shi to reveal something so earth-shattering.

Countless researchers working for his family had spent all this time studying that technology day and night.

Now Chen Shi was telling him that their research had been headed in the wrong direction from the very beginning.

No matter how deeply they researched it, they would never successfully revive Fossil Pokémon.

All their work up to this point had been dismissed in one fell swoop. How could Steven not be stunned?

"Is that really true?" Steven asked, his voice trembling.

"Why would I make it up?"

"I don't know the exact steps, though. I only know that you need Munna's power to succeed."

"You'll have to research the rest yourselves."

Steven paced back and forth excitedly. "That's enough. That's more than enough."

"As long as the direction you've given us is right, we'll definitely be able to revive Fossil Pokémon soon."

It never occurred to him that Chen Shi might be lying, because there was simply no reason to.

Chen Shi wasn't a researcher, nor did he like fossils. Why would he lie to him?

Not only would there be nothing to gain, he would also offend the Devon Corporation. Chen Shi had no reason to lie.

"Fossil Pokémon!" Steven pumped his fist.

Just imagining Fossil Pokémon being successfully revived made him want to jump up and down on the spot.

For Steven, who had loved all kinds of stones since childhood, this news was incredibly important.

Although Big Root Valley also contained plenty of Fossil Pokémon, they hadn't actually been revived.

That made all the difference.

Watching the excited Steven, Chen Shi shook his head helplessly.

He had his own reasons for sharing this information with Steven.

Steven and his father both liked collecting all kinds of stones, so they must have collected quite a few Mega Stones.

After all, in the anime from his previous life, Steven had been famously generous, giving a stone to any talented trainer he met.

Clearly, they must have had plenty of Mega Stones.

By doing them a favor now, he might be able to work with them on Mega Evolution in the future.

After all, Mega Evolution was a major matter. Chen Shi and his grandparents wouldn't be able to withstand pressure from the League.

If the League came up with some excuse and told him to hand over his Mega Stones, would he hand them over or not?

That was why Chen Shi wanted to bring the Devon Corporation onto his side. They could work together and share the rewards!

Most importantly, Chen Shi trusted Steven's character, as well as his father's.

But now certainly wasn't the time. Once Chen Shi had reached Elite Four Level and had the strength to protect himself, it would be time to introduce Mega Evolution to the world.

Just then, Drakloak returned with a Space Backpack and a Luxury Ball.

Chen Shi took the Luxury Ball and opened it.

"Flor~"

A flash of red light swept past, and Florges appeared before him.

"Florges, sorry for the trouble, but could you use Grassy Terrain to heal these big fellows?"

"Flor~"

Florges gladly agreed. With a wave of both hands, grass kept sprouting across the ground, healing Aggron's injuries.

Chen Shi also took out a healing spray and treated Aggron and the Lairon.

Soon, the big fellows woke up.

With their leader Aggron keeping them in line, they all settled down and stopped causing destruction.

Finally, after a wait of more than half an hour, an Officer Jenny descended from the sky on a Swellow.

Without wasting any words, she tipped more than thirty Poké Balls out of her shoulder bag and opened them, revealing Aron one after another.

One Aron, larger than the others, cried out excitedly and ran over to the leader Aggron.

"Aron~"

The worry in Aggron's eyes finally faded, and Aggron gave Chen Shi a grateful look.

"You need to protect these little ones properly from now on," Chen Shi said solemnly.

"It'll be awful if bad people catch them again. You won't always be lucky enough to find them and bring them back."

Aggron nodded firmly in agreement.

"Ag~gron~"

With a loud roar from Aggron, the other big fellows followed their leader, slowly retreating into Rusturf Tunnel.

With the matter settled, Chen Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Mayor Nakajima and the others had stopped them in time. The big fellows hadn't caused too much damage, and no one had been hurt or killed.

This was already the best possible outcome.

Mr. Rime