"Hey, Xiao Yan! What took you so long?" That familiar hairstyle and narcissistic tone-it could only be Gary.
"Gary, what are you doing here?"
"My good buddy went off to show off without inviting me. Boo-hoo." Hearing that made Xiao Yan feel uncomfortable. Coming from Gary, those words really hit differently.
"Xiao Yan, here, take this. I just found it in a trash can. Looks like Detection Goggles. Try them on." Gary tossed the goggles to Xiao Yan, then headed up to the top floor first. Xiao Yan put them on and followed him.
"Get out!" The voice echoed through the top floor. Then an unidentified figure appeared in front of Gary.
"Wartortle, use Water Pulse on that weird thing!"
Wartortle's Water Pulse shot toward the figure, only to pass straight through it. The unidentified figure remained completely unharmed.
"Get out!" The voice echoed through the top floor again.
"What a pain. Something feels off here. Why isn't Xiao Yan up yet?" Gary recalled Wartortle and kept his eyes fixed on the figure.
Just then, Xiao Yan came up beside Gary, switched on the goggles, and scanned the unidentified figure.
"It's a Marowak!"
"What?! Let me see!" Gary took the goggles from Xiao Yan. The unidentified figure gradually revealed the shape of a Marowak, though she was still a ghost.
"Get out. It's dangerous here. This place belongs to bad people," Marowak said.
"So Pokémon can speak human language once they become ghosts," Gary marveled.
"Wait, Cubone!" A Cubone ran over to Marowak, while a girl with twin ponytails came running up to Xiao Yan and Gary.
"That Marowak is Cubone's mother. A little while ago, Team Rocket killed her while she was protecting Cubone, leaving the little one behind. Grandpa Fuji then brought Cubone to the Pokémon House. That's more or less what happened," the girl with twin ponytails explained.
Marowak suddenly pushed Cubone aside, then ascended to heaven. Xiao Yan came to a conclusion: her lingering resentment had dissipated.
"Our target is that room up ahead, right, Xiao Yan?"
"Let me deal with them this time." Xiao Yan slowly walked into the room, and Gary and the others followed.
When the door opened, they saw a man sitting inside. Xiao Yan recognized the black clothes he wore at a glance. They were unmistakably a Team Rocket uniform.
"Who are you?" A man dressed in black approached Xiao Yan with a Golbat.
"You don't deserve to know. Go, Charmeleon! Use Flamethrower!" Flamethrower sent Golbat crashing down in an instant. Shocked, the man in black recalled his Golbat, which had been knocked out immediately.
"I could take on ten pieces of trash like you at once." Once again, Xiao Yan flashed a smile he thought looked incredibly cool.
"One day, our great Giovanni will deal with you himself. Just you wait." The man in black threw down a smoke bomb. By the time the smoke cleared, he was nowhere to be seen. A haggard-looking old man was tied up beside the sofa, and Xiao Yan went over to untie him.
"Grandpa Fuji!" The girl with twin ponytails threw herself into the old man's arms.
"Thank you so much. If it weren't for you, I might already have..."
"Ahem. You must be Elder Fuji. Let me take you back to the Pokémon House." Xiao Yan cut in with just the right words at just the right moment.
"Um... Xiao Yan, I'm not really comfortable with scenes like this, so I'm heading out. Next time, we really have to settle things at the Indigo League. Well, see you." Xiao Yan watched Gary disappear into the distance. Once Elder Fuji and the others finished talking, he took them back to the Pokémon House.
"Xiao Ai, if there's nothing else, please head outside. I still have something to discuss with Xiao Yan." With that, the girl with twin ponytails carried Cubone outside.
"Young man, the moment I saw your eyes, I knew one thing for certain: what's in this box would be better suited to you. So please, take it." Elder Fuji handed Xiao Yan a deep black box. Xiao Yan opened it to find two stones that clearly looked anything but ordinary.
Could these be Mega Stones? And for Charizard, too. I have to accept them, Xiao Yan thought.
"Thank you. I need to get back to my journey."
"Come visit whenever you have time."
"I will."
Just as Xiao Yan was about to step out of the Pokémon House, he suddenly remembered something.
"Ah! I forgot about Xiao Lan!"
Just then, Xiao Ai came out with a girl wearing an icy expression. The girl spoke coldly.
"Xiao Yan, you only remembered me now?" Xiao Lan said irritably.
"Sorry. Next time, I'll catch you a Pokémon."
"Really?!" Xiao Yan hadn't seen anyone switch expressions at lightning speed like that in a long time. With that, the group continued toward their next destination.
Before you continue