The sight of Gengar subdued with a single hand left everyone in dead silence.
Professor Oak was the first to react.
"Lu Chen! Let's talk this out!"
Professor Oak rushed over, his palms pressed together, so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead.
"Agatha has always had this temper. She means absolutely no harm! Please show some mercy and don't hold it against her!"
Delia ran over too, tugging worriedly at Lu Chen's sleeve as she gently urged him:
"Lu Chen, Agatha is getting on in years. Please don't be angry..."
Lu Chen, meanwhile, watched Agatha with a teasing expression, waiting for her answer.
Agatha stood where she was, her face alternating between livid and pale.
Her pride, her seniority, the prestige she had built over decades as an Elite Four member-all of it had been crushed by that patterned Gengar's five stubby fingers.
After a long silence, the old woman, who had always been sharp-tongued and stubborn, finally lowered her head.
"I was wrong."
Her voice was hoarse and dry, as though she had forced the words out of her throat.
Lu Chen glanced at Professor Oak, then Delia, then Agatha, who had lowered her head in admission of her mistake. Suddenly, he chuckled.
"Oh, don't be so serious. I didn't mean to do it either."
His expression was utterly relaxed, without a trace of anger, as though the person with that ice-cold gaze earlier had not been him at all.
Aerodactyl and the other Pokémon, who had been itching for a full-blown fight, all looked disappointed.
That was it?
They had been hoping to stretch their limbs.
Lu Chen's Gengar looked down at Agatha's Gengar, whose throat it held in its grip, then looked up at Lu Chen.
Lu Chen gave a slight nod.
"All right, let go."
Only then did the patterned Gengar spread its huge mouth into a classic wicked grin. It opened its five stubby fingers and casually flung Agatha's Gengar away like trash.
"Gar!"
Agatha's Gengar tumbled half a turn through the air. Its legs buckled when it landed, and it nearly lost its footing.
Its entire body was trembling. Both claws clutched its own neck as it gasped for breath, lingering terror still on its face.
During those few seconds in that grip, even the Ghost-type energy inside its body had been completely suppressed. Never mind fighting back-it could not even escape through the shadows.
It had felt as though a higher-order predator had pinned it to the very bottom of the food chain.
Agatha's Gengar glanced back at the member of its own species covered in strange patterns.
The other Gengar was grinning and waving a claw at it, looking perfectly friendly.
But to Agatha's Gengar, that friendliness was more terrifying than the fiercest roar.
It darted back into Agatha's shadow with a whoosh, not daring to poke even its head out again. Only a quivering stretch of shadow remained, trembling slightly on the ground.
Agatha: "..."
Her ace, the ace Gengar of Kanto's Ghost-type Elite Four member, had actually been frightened into this state.
Agatha took a deep breath, bent down, and picked up her cane with a trembling hand.
Her lips moved as though she had much to say, but in the end, she only managed:
"Lesson learned."
Lu Chen's patterned Gengar dusted off its claws as though it had just finished some trivial little task.
Then it drifted leisurely back to Lu Chen, shrank down, and slipped into his shadow again.
Before leaving, it even remembered to make a face at the Gengar trembling nonstop inside Agatha's shadow.
Agatha's shadow shook even more violently.
Professor Oak wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Delia glanced at Agatha's shadow, unable to bear the sight, and said quietly:
"Agatha, your Gengar... seems to have been scared out of its wits."
Agatha's face was ashen, and she could not say a word.
She had spent decades throwing her weight around Kanto, yet she had never let her Gengar suffer such humiliation.
Today was the first time.
And judging by the looks of it, the psychological scars probably would not fade anytime soon.
Lu Chen glanced at Professor Oak, Agatha, and Delia, his tone casual:
"Now that you're done testing me, let's sit down and have a chat."
At those words, Lorelei froze, then gave an amiable smile and said:
"So you were expecting us, Mr. Lu Chen."
Lu Chen looked as though it was only natural.
"If a top-tier powerhouse appeared in your own backyard, wouldn't it be strange not to send someone to test them?"
What Professor Oak and the others did not know was that Lu Chen was already used to these probes from all sorts of organizations.
Back in ultra-ancient times, Lu Chen had never joined any organization. He had always wandered alone.
He had long since accumulated plenty of experience dealing with these organizations' attempts to test and recruit him.
"Come inside and let's talk," Lu Chen said reflexively.
Then he paused.
Everyone followed his gaze toward the crude mud house before them.
Silence hung in the air for a second.
In the end, Delia stepped forward, smoothing things over with a gentle smile. "If you don't mind, let's go to my house."
And so, the whole group made its way over to Delia's house.
Delia's yard was small but clean and tidy. Several pots of flowers whose names they did not know were in full bloom, giving off a faint fragrance in the sunlight.
Mr. Mime was hanging laundry in the yard.
When it saw the group coming in, it had initially wanted to give them a warm welcome.
Then it spotted Lu Chen bringing up the rear.
"Mr... Mime..."
Mr. Mime went rigid. The clothes in its hands fell to the ground with a slap, and its whole body shook like a leaf. It nearly turned to stone on the spot.
This man, who had nearly had Aerodactyl tear it apart, had left it with bone-deep psychological scars.
Everyone took a seat in the living room.
Looking at Lu Chen, Lorelei was the first to speak. "Lu Chen, did you... really travel from ultra-ancient times to the present?"
"Travel from ultra-ancient times to the present?!"
This time, it was Delia's turn to be shocked.
She sprang up from the sofa, her eyes wide.
She had thought Lu Chen was just an ordinary Trainer, only a little stronger, with slightly stranger Pokémon.
But now?
First, he had defeated Agatha of the Elite Four in a single move, and now she was being told he had actually traveled here from ultra-ancient times.
This was genuinely a little more information than Delia could handle.
Seeing her reaction, Professor Oak hurriedly told her, "Delia, I hope you can keep this a secret. Don't tell anyone."
"O... okay." Delia nodded blankly, her mind still reeling from the shock.
Lu Chen looked at Lorelei and waved a hand helplessly. "I really don't know how many times I'll have to explain this."
Lorelei smiled, her tone carrying a hint of apology, but even more curiosity:
"We can't help it. It's simply too astonishing. If possible, we'd still like to confirm it with our own eyes..."
Lu Chen considered for a moment, then looked at Lorelei.
"Elite Four member Lorelei, right? I remember you're the Ice-type Elite Four member, and your ace happens to be a Lapras too."
He took out a Luxury Ball and pressed it lightly.
Red light flashed.
The ultra-ancient Lapras appeared before them.
Its enormous body filled almost half the living room. Old scars crisscrossed its blue-gray skin, and an invisible oppressive presence instantly spread through the room.
Everyone present reacted differently to the sight of this Lapras.
Agatha's pupils contracted, shocked by the pure killing intent and terrifying strength emanating from it.
Lorelei, however, noticed something different.
As the Ice-type Elite Four member, whose ace Pokémon was a Lapras, Lorelei believed that even Professor Oak could not match her research into this species of Pokémon.
So she spotted the problem at a glance.
"This... this is a purebred Lapras that went extinct back in ultra-ancient times!"
"What?!"