After returning to Pallet Town, Lu Chen briefly sorted through the things he had brought back from the Pokémopolis Ruins.
He placed the black dumbbell and golden spoon on the table, with the dusty gray bell beside them.
The three objects lay quietly, showing nothing unusual, like ordinary ornaments picked up at some secondhand market.
Lu Chen sat at the table and tapped the black dumbbell with his finger.
"All right, stop playing dead. Come out and talk."
Several seconds of silence passed.
A faint layer of dark light appeared on the surfaces of the black dumbbell and golden spoon.
Then a thin voice came from inside, distinctly reluctant.
Lu Chen's Gengar poked half his head out of the shadows to act as an interpreter.
The two Ancient Pokémon made their meaning clear:
They couldn't beat him. They accepted that.
He could kill or cut them up as he pleased, but he shouldn't expect their cooperation.
Lu Chen ignored their tough talk and went straight to other questions:
"How long can you last after growing giant?"
Another stretch of silence followed.
The Gengar inside the Shadow Ball spoke first, saying he could fight for about as long as an incense stick took to burn.
The Alakazam inside the golden spoon added that if the opponent wasn't strong, he could last a little longer.
But growing giant consumed an enormous amount of energy each time, and they needed a long period of dormancy to recover.
Lu Chen nodded. "About what I expected."
Lu Chen leaned back in his chair, as though recalling something from long ago, his tone tinged with reflection:
"I never expected the Pokémopolis Civilization's technology to have advanced quite so much."
The dumbbell and spoon both flashed, as though he had struck a nerve.
"Back in the Ten Thousand Beasts Empire, rapidly produced super-giant Pokémon like you were single-use consumables."
"You died after growing giant once."
Lu Chen's voice was calm, as though he were briefly describing something of no consequence.
But the moment he said this, both Ancient Pokémon froze.
The dumbbell's dark light flickered violently, and the spoon's golden light also flashed erratically.
Lu Chen's Gengar translated their trembling voices, which amounted to things like, "How do you know about the Ten Thousand Beasts Empire?" "Who exactly are you?" and "Is what you said true?"
Lu Chen didn't answer their questions.
"We'll talk about the Ten Thousand Beasts Empire another time."
Then Lu Chen changed the question, asking what concerned him most.
"Tell me, do you know how the Super-Ancient Civilizations before yours were destroyed?"
The dumbbell fell silent.
The spoon fell silent too.
Then the two Pokémon gave an answer that left Lu Chen somewhat resigned, though he had expected it.
They didn't know.
Ever since these two Ancient Pokémon had been created, there had been only one thing on their minds: fighting.
They didn't know how the Pokémopolis Civilization had perished.
They didn't know how the Ten Thousand Beasts Empire had fallen either.
Nearly all their memories from before they were sealed away were fragments related to battle. They had never paid any attention to the rise and fall of civilizations.
"All right, then." Lu Chen rubbed his temples.
"A pair of battle maniacs."
Seeing that he couldn't get any useful information out of them, Lu Chen stood up and casually tossed the dumbbell and spoon into the storage shed out back.
Ancient Gengar and Ancient Alakazam wouldn't be capable of fighting anytime soon anyway.
Lu Chen had built this storage shed later on, and it held a pile of unused farm tools and miscellaneous items.
Adding two ancient artifacts didn't exactly make it crowded.
As for that last stone bell...
Lu Chen could sense that another Ancient Pokémon lay sleeping inside it.
But his aura was very weak, as though he had been sealed away for a long time and wouldn't wake up anytime soon.
Lu Chen simply tossed him into the storage shed too, not bothering with it for now. He would deal with it once it woke up.
By the time he came out of the storage shed, Professor Oak had arrived.
The old man stood in the yard, looking around as though nothing were amiss, but his eyes kept darting toward Lu Chen.
"Lu Chen." Professor Oak rubbed his hands together, his tone tentative.
"That night, well, those two giant Pokémon that could be seen for hundreds of miles around... that had nothing to do with you, right?"
Looking at Professor Oak's strange expression, Lu Chen spoke without giving anything away.
"What happened? I went to bed early that night."
"Then that giant Gengar..."
"What giant Gengar?" Lu Chen's expression betrayed nothing.
"Maybe someone's Gengar got loose."
The corner of Professor Oak's mouth twitched.
He looked at the Gengar standing beside Lu Chen, clutching a bottle of cola and pouring it into his mouth.
That round, purple body, that trademark mischievous grin, those unique markings on his body.
It was him.
It was definitely him.
The Gengar that had turned super-giant that night and single-handedly defeated two Ancient Pokémon was definitely him!
There was no mistake!
But Professor Oak also knew he wouldn't get any answers, so he could only sigh and look at Gengar, his face full of wonder.
Although Professor Oak already knew Lu Chen's identity and had been shocked by him time and again.
Every time Professor Oak felt he had a sufficient understanding of Lu Chen's strength, Lu Chen would find a new way to overturn that understanding.
Professor Oak now felt that even if Lu Chen told him one day, "I caught a Legendary Pokémon," he probably wouldn't be all that surprised.
Delia had come too.
She was sitting on a stone stool in the yard, waving a golden-brown butter cookie in front of Zorua.
At the sight of the butter cookie in Delia's hand, Zorua planted both front paws on her knees.
His red eyes followed the cookie around, his tail wagging furiously.
There wasn't a trace of his usual tsundere attitude.
"Turn around."
Zorua obediently turned in a circle.
"Good boy."
Smiling, Delia broke the cookie into small pieces and handed them to him.
With the cookie in his mouth, Zorua bounded off to one side to enjoy it.
Delia didn't really care how many Ancient Pokémon Lu Chen had or exactly how powerful he was.
She only hoped that this kindhearted neighbor who had moved here not long ago would stay safe and sound.
If he could come over for a meal when he had time, and all his Pokémon stayed healthy, that was enough.
Across the farm, Lu Chen's Pokémon were scattered about.
Lapras soaked in the shallows by the river, with a plate of slightly sweet vegetable salad specially made by Delia in front of him.
Gengar refused to let go of his cola bottle, while Gabite patrolled the Starf Berry orchard along the field ridges, munching on a savory energy bar.
Aerodactyl lay on the hillside, tearing into sour jerky, his mouth glistening with grease as he ate.
Gouging Fire lay at the edge of the yard, leisurely drinking the thick, spicy soup Delia had made.
A breeze blew past.
The branches and leaves of the Starf Berry trees rustled.
The branches that had once held only tender shoots were now covered in tiny flower buds.
The white buds had yet to bloom fully, but they already gave off a faint luster, shimmering silvery white in the sunlight.
The entire farm looked flourishing and full of life.