Chapter Summaries

Sama Tetsuya told Cheng Tian and Su Han how his betrayal ended his relationship with Tsuyuko, whom he had loved since their university days. Though he accepted that she hated him and had no reason to see him, he hoped to catch a glimpse of her from afar.

• Su Han and Cheng Tian asked Sama Tetsuya about his relationship with Nalu, and he admitted that they had once been in love.
• Sama Tetsuya asked whether Tsuyuko had married, and Cheng Tian said she had not and would soon be away on an important mission for over a year.
• Sama Tetsuya recalled meeting Tsuyuko while studying archaeology and fossils in China, joining her Battle Club, and becoming her partner.
• After Sama Tetsuya's mother died and his father was injured in a car accident, Tsuyuko gave up a graduate opportunity to move with him to Japan.
• Sama Tetsuya explained that he got drunk at a banquet and made a mistake that Tsuyuko witnessed, leading her to end their relationship and return to her country.
• Sama Tetsuya accepted that Tsuyuko hated him and said he only wanted to see her once from a distance.

Cheng Tian and Su Han asked Sama Tetsuya to help clean and examine their fossil, and he brought them to his fossil Pokémon facility to begin the process. They gave him the fossil, which Gengar retrieved from its shadow, and Sama Tetsuya prepared to clean it and sequence its genes.

• Cheng Tian and Su Han agreed to exchange contact information with Sama Tetsuya and asked him to help clean their fossil.
• Sama Tetsuya offered to revive the fossil immediately, explaining that his advanced equipment let him work alone.
• Sama Tetsuya showed Cheng Tian and Su Han the facility’s twenty-three reconstructed habitats and its fossil-revival workshop.
• Sama Tetsuya explained that his auctioned fossil might contain a new species, but deciphering and recombining its genes would take years.
• Cheng Tian summoned Gengar, who spat out the fossil so Sama Tetsuya could begin cleaning it and sequencing its genes.

Cheng Tian and Su Han brought their fossil to Sama Tetsuya for cleaning, but the machine overloaded and wrecked itself, apparently because a Mega Stone was hidden inside the fossil. Sama Tetsuya discovered the red-and-black stone among the cleaned bones and realized it was a Mega Stone.

• Sama Tetsuya examined the fossil and said it might contain an ancient birdlike dinosaur that lived alongside Archen.
• Cheng Tian and Su Han asked Sama Tetsuya about humans in the fossil era, and he said evidence of early humans existed but human civilization was unlikely.
• The fossil-cleaning machine began overloading, spewing liquid and screws as Cheng Tian and Su Han sought cover and Sama Tetsuya was struck in the forehead.
• Cheng Tian and Su Han helped drain the liquid until the machine fell silent, leaving the workshop wrecked.
• Sama Tetsuya cleared the broken bones from the machine and found a red-and-black stone, which he identified as a Mega Stone.

Cheng Tian and Su Han uncovered a Scizor Mega Stone inside a fossil, prompting Sama Tetsuya to discuss Mega Evolution and give them Z-Wristbands. Sama pointed them toward reports of a Legendary Pokémon near Mount Yoshino, leaving them with a possible destination for their search.

• Cheng Tian and Su Han pretended to be surprised when they found a Mega Stone in a fossil, and Sama Tetsuya believed them.
• Sama Tetsuya speculated that fossil Pokémon might have Mega Evolutions, while Su Han questioned when Mega Stones first appeared and how ancient Pokémon could have Mega Evolved.
• Cheng Tian identified the stone as a Scizor Mega Stone, but none of the Mega-Evolving Pokémon at Sama Tetsuya's institute reacted to it.
• Cheng Tian asked Sama Tetsuya to look for a Mega Stone for Gengar, and Sama agreed to keep an eye out.
• Sama Tetsuya gave Cheng Tian and Su Han two Z-Wristbands and suggested they search for Z-Crystals in the United States.
• Sama Tetsuya warned them that Japan's guardian Legendary Pokémon on Mount Fuji was inaccessible and told them about old reports of a Legendary Pokémon near Mount Yoshino.

Cheng Tian and Su Han traveled to Mount Yoshino to investigate reports of cherry blossoms blooming out of season and tourists fainting. After finding a safe wild hot spring beside an abandoned cabin, they spotted the unusual pink grove near the summit and planned to climb there the next day.

• Rotom told Cheng Tian, Su Han, and Cheng Tian that an autumn cherry grove on Mount Yoshino had caused visitors to faint and lose their way.
• Cheng Tian and Su Han reached the closed mountain and decided to investigate the grove despite the restrictions.
• Cheng Tian explained that abandoned cabins remained on the mountainside after residents moved away.
• Noibat found an abandoned cabin where Cheng Tian and Su Han discovered a wild hot spring.
• Rotom tested the spring and confirmed it was safe to use.
• Cheng Tian and Su Han saw pink cherry blossoms covering part of the summit and agreed to climb there the next day.

Cheng Tian and Su Han settled into an abandoned mountain cabin, repairing it with help from their Pokémon and enjoying the nearby hot spring. After dinner, Su Han challenged Cheng Tian to keep quiet for half an hour while she teased him, and he struggled not to wake the sleeping Pokémon.

• Cheng Tian and Su Han inspected the abandoned cabin and set their Pokémon to cleaning and repairs.
• The Pokémon built a low earthen windbreak beside the hot spring, and Su Han prepared a makeshift bed inside the cabin.
• Cheng Tian, Su Han, and their Pokémon soaked in the spring while Gengar cooked miso for dinner.
• After the Pokémon fell asleep, Su Han snuggled against Cheng Tian and challenged him not to wake them for half an hour.
• Su Han teased Cheng Tian until he blushed, then kissed the corner of his mouth before the half hour had passed.

Cheng Tian and Su Han reached the eerie Cherry Blossom Grove, where living creatures immediately lost consciousness. Cheng Tian entered alone and discovered that an unknown force was interfering with his brain, while a strange cry silenced his system.

• Cheng Tian and Su Han climbed toward the summit, fighting wild Pokémon along the way as they approached the Cherry Blossom Grove.
• Cheng Tian and Su Han tested the grove by sending Rotom and then a Pidgey inside, and Pidgey passed out until Rotom carried it back out.
• Cheng Tian decided to enter the grove alone and asked Su Han to have Rotom pull him out if he passed out.
• Cheng Tian felt a heavy blow to his brain upon entering, but the system's self-diagnostic protection helped him stay conscious.
• A strange cry sounded in Cheng Tian's mind, silencing the system before Su Han's calls brought him back to his senses.

Cheng Tian and Su Han encountered an ancient Alakazam in the Cherry Blossom Grove, where their Pokémon and Rotom were incapacitated. Alakazam forced them to follow it through the grove, and they arrived at an unexpected steaming lake.

• Su Han rushed into the Cherry Blossom Grove to help Cheng Tian, and both remained conscious despite the grove’s strange pressure.
• An old Alakazam revealed itself, stopped Cheng Tian’s Dark Ball with psychic power, and knocked Greninja and Rotom unconscious.
• Alakazam told Cheng Tian and Su Han that its master had sent it to bring them over, then restrained them and led them through the grove.
• After walking through the disorienting grove for a long time, Cheng Tian and Su Han reached a vast steaming lake they did not expect to find on Mount Yoshino.

Cheng Tian and Su Han met Mesprit at the misty lake, where it separated them and knocked Cheng Tian unconscious. Mesprit spoke privately with the divine-consciousness fragment inside Cheng Tian, then told Su Han that it was interested in her and had personal business to attend to.

• The old Alakazam brought Cheng Tian and Su Han to the lake and left them before Mesprit appeared.
• Mesprit freed Cheng Tian and Su Han from their restraints, then trapped each of them inside a separate pink enclosure.
• Mesprit dismissed Cheng Tian as unworthy of speaking to it and knocked him unconscious when he tried to speak.
• Mesprit drew a sacred-looking fragment of divine consciousness out of Cheng Tian, and the fragment explained that Cheng Tian might help it accomplish its goal.
• Mesprit appeared before Su Han, blocked her Aura Sphere, and told her Cheng Tian was asleep while it handled personal business and pursued its interest in her.

Mesprit told Su Han that Mew created humans and passed Aura to them, then sent her and the unconscious Cheng Tian away from the summit. Back at the mountain cabin, Cheng Tian woke and learned they had been driven down, while his system began rebooting.

• Mesprit recognized Su Han’s Aura and said a powerful human had used Aura more than twenty years earlier.
• Mesprit revealed that Mew had created humans, passed down Aura, and might soon return.
• Mesprit vanished, and Old Alakazam carried Cheng Tian and led Su Han out of the woods.
• Cheng Tian woke in the mountain cabin with Greninja and Rotom, and Su Han explained that they had been driven down from the summit.
• Cheng Tian contacted his system, which said it was performing a self-check and rebooting.

Cheng Tian and Su Han arrived in the United States, where Aunt Jenny welcomed them and arranged a hotel. While catching up on local news, Cheng Tian learned that an escaped Aerodactyl had been spotted in the Grand Canyon.

• Cheng Tian struggled to answer an immigration officer's questions until Su Han paid twenty dollars and said they were visiting for tourism.
• Su Han waited outside the airport for Aunt Jenny, who arrived in a luxury motorhome with six muscular men and greeted them.
• Aunt Jenny teased Su Han about Cheng Tian and said she had arranged a hotel and was looking into the items Su Han wanted to buy.
• Cheng Tian recalled that the system had refused to explain its silence after their failed investigation of Mesprit in Japan.
• At the hotel, Cheng Tian used Rotom's translation to read a report about an escaped Aerodactyl spotted in Colorado's Grand Canyon.

Cheng Tian and Su Han rode through the Grand Canyon of Colorado searching for the escaped Aerodactyl, hoping to earn a reward from the local government. After avoiding a wild Salamence, they encountered a foreign Trainer whose injured Rapidash collapsed before them.

• Cheng Tian explained that capturing Aerodactyl could help them approach local officials about obtaining Z-Crystals.
• Cheng Tian and Su Han searched the canyon’s trails but found only ancient fossils along the way.
• They spotted a scarred, sleeping level-55 Salamence and cautiously detoured around it with their Mudsdale.
• After the pair had left, a Dunsparce used Dig in the area, and a huge figure swooped down with a roar.
• A yellow-haired Trainer on a badly wounded Rapidash rushed toward Cheng Tian and Su Han for help, but Rapidash collapsed beneath him.

Cheng Tian and Su Han found an injured trainer and learned that a powerful escaped Aerodactyl was attacking her partner. They reached the canyon just in time to rescue the blonde woman and join the fight, leaving Aerodactyl under attack and the woman alive.

• Cheng Tian and Su Han treated the injured man's Rapidash, and the man told them Aerodactyl had badly wounded his partner.
• Su Han and Cheng Tian rode into a canyon, where a level 52 Aerodactyl was attacking a blonde woman and her Umbreon.
• The blonde woman fled as Aerodactyl chased her, then Umbreon knocked her aside and was slammed into the ground by Sky Drop.
• Greninja wounded Aerodactyl with Water Shuriken, and Cheng Tian charged in with his Pokémon to attack it.
• Milotic healed the fallen Pokémon while Su Han knocked the blonde woman's handgun away and urged her not to give up.

Cheng Tian and Su Han worked together to subdue Aerodactyl, leaving it bound and unconscious. Cheng Tian tried to catch it with a Poké Ball, but the ball burst and Aerodactyl escaped.

• Su Han joined Cheng Tian as his Pokémon and hers attacked Aerodactyl with a barrage of moves.
• Gengar used Skill Swap to exchange Aerodactyl's Rock Head and Aggron's Heavy Metal, making Aerodactyl too heavy to fly.
• Cheng Tian Mega Evolved Aggron, which slammed Aerodactyl into a cliff and pinned it down while the others overwhelmed it.
• The group bound Aerodactyl, froze its wings, and knocked it unconscious; Cheng Tian ended the Bond Phenomenon and Mega Evolution, exhausted.
• Cheng Tian threw a regular Poké Ball at Aerodactyl, but after three shakes the ball burst and Aerodactyl reappeared.

After catching Aerodactyl, Cheng Tian and Su Han escorted Stacy and her injured companion Dave toward the city as a hurricane approached. A blood-winged Salamence attacked them in the canyon, while Aunt Jenny learned that legendary Zapdos was flying toward Arizona and realized the travelers might be in danger.

• Cheng Tian caught Aerodactyl with a Great Ball after wasting ten Poké Balls.
• Su Han reluctantly agreed to take Stacy and her companion Dave back toward the city, and Cheng Tian and Dave shared a Mudsdale because Dave’s Rapidash was badly injured.
• Dave noticed dark storm clouds, and Cheng Tian chose to seek high ground and shelter from possible flash floods.
• Salamence attacked the group in the canyon, so Cheng Tian and Su Han fled on Mudsdale and sent out Noibat, Gengar, and Togekiss to slow it down.
• Three hours earlier, Aunt Jenny heard that legendary Zapdos was heading toward Arizona and realized the travelers could be in trouble.

Cheng Tian and Su Han fought Salamence after Noibat charged it, and their Pokémon held their ground against its powerful attacks. As Milotic restored the rain, a system alert and a piercing cry announced that a Legendary Pokémon was approaching the Grand Canyon of Colorado.

• Noibat charged Salamence with Wild Charge, forcing Cheng Tian and Su Han to turn back and release their Pokémon.
• Su Han Mega Evolved her Pokémon, and the group attacked Salamence with coordinated moves while it tried to build power with Dragon Dance.
• Salamence dove to the ground and unleashed Earthquake, but the people and Pokémon protected themselves with Protect.
• The group countered Salamence’s Flamethrower and landed several attacks, including Milotic’s Origin Pulse and Mega Gardevoir’s Moonblast.
• Salamence took to the air, stacked Dragon Dance, and tried to change the weather with Sunny Day, but Milotic restored the rain with Rain Dance.
• A system alert announced an approaching Legendary Pokémon as a piercing cry echoed through the Grand Canyon of Colorado.

Cheng Tian and his Pokémon were interrupted by Zapdos, whose powerful lightning turned the battlefield into a desperate struggle. As Noibat boldly joined the fight, Cheng Tian wondered what purpose drove its reckless challenge.

• Zapdos appeared and attacked Cheng Tian, then struck Salamence as it battled Greninja and Mega Aggron.
• Salamence flew at Zapdos, but the legendary bird's lightning badly burned and paralyzed it.
• Noibat charged into the battle, and Cheng Tian ordered Su Han to leave and find a place to use Secret Power.
• Cheng Tian rallied the remaining Pokémon to support Noibat, while Salamence activated Outrage and forced Zapdos to retreat from close combat.
• Noibat slashed Zapdos, which retaliated with lightning until Mega Aggron blocked the attack with a boulder, leaving Cheng Tian wondering why Noibat had joined the fight.

Noibat reflected on growing up with Cheng Tian and the team, struggling to keep pace as everyone else grew stronger. Facing a powerful bristling bird, Noibat finally chose to fight without relying on its companions, hoping to evolve into a dragon.

• Noibat recalled how Cheng Tian raised it with care and how it came to regard him and the team as family.
• As its companions evolved and advanced, Noibat trained hard but remained weak and struggled to help during the fight in the dark cave.
• The team began supporting Noibat in battles, but Noibat realized it wanted to fight independently rather than hide behind them.
• Noibat faced the huge red-winged creature and the bristling bird, then attacked the bird with Dragon Claw through the electric current.

Noibat pushed through Zapdos's attacks while Cheng Tian ordered his Pokémon to restrain Zapdos without taking the battle from her. After Salamence fell and Zapdos struck Noibat with Thunderbolt, Noibat awakened a brilliant new power, leaving the fight at a turning point.

• Cheng Tian recognized Noibat's resolve and ordered his Pokémon to limit Zapdos's movements without attacking it, while Milotic kept Salamence going.
• Noibat and Salamence pressured Zapdos with coordinated attacks, forcing it to use Protect and then Electric Terrain.
• Zapdos charged Salamence with Brave Bird, but Salamence met it with Zen Headbutt; Zapdos struck Salamence with Ancient Power and Thunder, knocking it from the sky.
• Noibat seized her chance to attack Zapdos with Dragon Claw, but Zapdos hit her with a boosted Thunderbolt.
• As Cheng Tian's Pokémon rushed to help, Noibat opened her eyes, shone with brilliant light, and let out a piercing dragon roar.

Noibat evolved into Noivern and savagely overwhelmed Zapdos, which retaliated by targeting Cheng Tian with Thunder. Mega Aggron shielded Cheng Tian, enraging Noivern and the rest of the team as they launched their strongest attacks against Zapdos.

• Noibat evolved into Noivern, who swept away Zapdos's Thunderbolt and struck it with Boomburst and its claws.
• Noivern pinned Zapdos against the mountainside and bit its neck with Hyper Fang, but Zapdos escaped with Wild Charge.
• Noivern followed with Dragon Pulse as Zapdos, recovering its composure, unleashed Thunder at Cheng Tian.
• Mega Aggron shielded Cheng Tian from the Thunder, suffering a charred mark across its armor.
• Noivern entered Outrage, Greninja activated steam mode, Mega Aggron hurled a boulder, and the other Pokémon attacked Zapdos with their strongest moves.