Late at night, when most of the city's people were already asleep, Xia You glanced at Ash and the others sleeping soundly in the other beds and quietly left the room.
The dormitory area was silent, save for faint snores coming from somewhere.
Passing a yawning Pokémon Trainer who had only arrived to check in at this late hour, Xia You pulled his clothes tighter around himself, crossed the empty dining room, and went out through the Pokémon Center's back door.
Outside, his Gengar had been waiting for quite some time and was furtively peeking around.
After Gengar had been assigned to follow Yuko, Xia You had happened to be commanding Deoxys in its fight against Rayquaza and those Trainers in the forest, so they had missed each other. Once Xia You returned to the Pokémon Center, there had been dinner, then chatting with Ash and the others. Only now, in the dead of night, had he finally been able to slip away to meet Gengar.
Seeing Gengar acting as though this were some clandestine rendezvous, he could not help finding it funny.
"You're a Pokémon. Why do you seem more like a spy now?"
"A spy? That sounds awful." Gengar cackled. "I'm a Pokémon secret agent with a one-hundred-percent success rate in tailing targets ever since my debut!"
"Enough bragging. How did the scouting go?"
Gengar shrugged. "With all this time, I've already figured out where the institute is and mapped out its interior. I also found that Deoxys core you mentioned. But there are cameras everywhere. Show yourself, and you'll be spotted. It's easy enough for me, but sneaking in there undetected with a physical body is practically impossible!"
"What condition is the core in?"
Gengar recalled what it had seen and told Xia You, "It was just