Chapter 245: My Dad Ran Off with Your Dad

The video continued playing.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Elaria’s trip through Galar finally came to an end.

After returning to League Headquarters, her life remained as busy as ever.

But Elaria didn’t really mind any of that.

What she did mind was that ever since she’d returned from Galar...

She hadn’t seen Asher for five whole days.

"Big Sister Lillie."

Elaria put down her pen and rubbed her wrist.

"Daddy hasn’t come to see me at all these past few days. Has he been really busy lately?"

Lillie raised her head from the pile of documents.

"Chairman Asher really hasn’t been at League Headquarters for several days."

"His schedule only says ’field assignment.’ There isn’t any other information."

"Field assignment?"

Elaria tilted her head in thought.

"What kind of field assignment doesn’t even have detailed records?"

"And Daddy doesn’t even have time to reply to my messages?"

"I’m not really sure either."

Lillie flipped through the folder in her hands.

"I asked Mr. Lance about it. He said the Chairman only told him, ’Handle the League for me for now,’ and then left."

"He didn’t say where he was going."

Elaria picked up her pen again.

She didn’t ask anything else and simply continued signing the next document.

Lillie watched how obediently she behaved and somehow felt even worse for her.

Elaria never made a fuss.

But the less she complained, the more obvious it was that she was worried.

Just then—

The office door was violently thrown open.

Bang!

It slammed against the wall.

"Elaria!"

Ruri stood in the doorway with one hand braced against the frame, her chest rising and falling heavily.

Her hair wasn’t neatly tied back like usual.

Instead, it hung loosely around her shoulders, several damp strands sticking to her forehead from sweat.

Elaria put down her pen and stood up.

"Ruri? Why are you here? Did you need something?"

"Of course I do! Something huge!"

Ruri strode into the office and planted both hands on Elaria’s desk.

"My dad ran off with your dad. Did you know?"

The air froze for several seconds.

It almost felt as though a flock of Murkrow had flown across the ceiling.

"???"

Elaria looked completely baffled.

"Ruri... are you serious?"

[VIP Chat Group]

[Iris]: Wait, wait, wait—what did Ruri just say?! "My dad ran off with your dad"?! Does that sentence mean what I think it means?!

[May]: Probably... maybe... possibly... exactly what you think it means?

[Skyla]: Pass it on—parallel-world Asher and Steven eloped.

[Daisy]: Pass it on—parallel-world Asher and Steven have a child together.

[Viola]: Pass it on—Asher and Steven are the true love story, and Diantha was just an accident.

[Diantha]: ?

[Steven]: Hahahahahaha! Parallel-world me, well done! Finally, Steven gets to go somewhere alone with Brother Asher!

[Wallace]: Steven, how are you still laughing...?

[Steven]: Parallel-world me accomplished something I’ve always wanted to do! Going out with Brother Asher to cause trouble, with nobody else tagging along! Now that’s true brotherhood!

[Leon]: Does brotherhood normally require the phrase "ran off together"?

[Elesa]: Girls, just to be safe, how about we kill Steven now?

[Misty]: Works for me.

[Cynthia]: Agreed.

[Diantha]: Death penalty! Execute immediately!

[Steven]: Wait, wait, wait! Sisters-in-law, isn’t the death penalty a little excessive just because I secretly went somewhere with Brother Asher?!

[Raihan]: Do you even hear the words coming out of your mouth?

[Asher]:@Steven, if you’re still alive, I won’t be able to sleep peacefully.

[Steven]: BROTHER ASHER, NO!!!

[Wallace]: I hope Steven doesn’t make it this time.

[Lance]: Agreed.

[Flint]: Can’t help but support this one.

The video continued playing.

"Um... Miss Ruri."

Lillie raised her folder to cover her mouth, clearly just as shocked.

"Chairman Asher and Mrs. Diantha have always had a very good relationship. Did you hear some strange rumor somewhere?"

"Huh? What rumor?"

Ruri blinked.

Then she suddenly realized what they meant and frantically waved both hands.

"No, no, no! That’s not what I meant!"

"I mean—my dad ran off with Uncle Asher to do something crazy, and they hid it from everyone!"

Elaria walked over to Ruri, took her hand, and led her to the sofa.

"Ruri, don’t panic. Sit down and tell me slowly."

"Okay."

Ruri took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

"This morning, I went to my dad’s office to deliver some documents."

"When I got to the door, I heard him talking on the phone. He was saying things like, ’I’m already prepared,’ and ’We’ll head into Allearth Forest together tonight.’"

"He was talking to my daddy?"

Elaria tilted her head.

"Yes!"

Ruri immediately nodded.

"Then I pushed open the door and asked what the heck he was planning."

"And the moment my dad saw me, he didn’t say a single word. He jumped straight out of the sixteenth-floor window!"

"Oh, I see."

Elaria nodded.

"So Daddy went to Allearth Forest."

Lillie flipped through her folder.

"Allearth Forest..."

"A few days ago, a monitoring station reported abnormal energy fluctuations in that forest."

"Chairman Asher ordered the surrounding area to be designated as a temporary protected zone."

"Then that’s definitely it!"

Ruri stood up.

"They must be planning something huge over there!"

"And they’re deliberately hiding it from us!"

"Ruri, then let’s go together."

Elaria patted Hoopa in her arms.

"Daddy hasn’t sent any news for so long. Elaria is worried too."

"All right."

Ruri straightened her collar.

"Let’s go right now."

Hoopa floated up from above Elaria’s head and immediately began rubbing its little hands together.

"Hoopa Navigation is ready!"

"Destination—Allearth Forest!"

A golden ring tore open in the middle of the office.

After asking Lillie to take care of the documents on her desk, Elaria and Ruri stepped through the ring.

On the other side—Allearth Forest.

The trees here were frighteningly tall.

Layer upon layer of canopy blocked out most of the sky, allowing only a handful of scattered sunbeams to slip through the gaps.

Hoopa swiped both little hands through the air.

A pair of detective sunglasses dropped out of nowhere and landed perfectly on its face.

"Hoopa detects abnormal silence!"

"According to Hoopa’s many years of adventuring experience, this usually means..."

"Something nearby scared away all the Pokémon."

Ruri finished the sentence for it.

"The question is, what could scare every Pokémon out of an entire forest?"

Just then—A nearby bush suddenly shook violently.

Ruri instinctively stepped in front of Elaria.

At the same time, her hand moved toward the Poké Ball at her waist.

The bush continued shaking.

Then—

A tiny, completely green creature jumped out.

Its body was only about the size of a palm.

Its two eyes looked like tiny green beans as it stared up at them.

"...What’s this?"

Ruri stared at the unfamiliar little creature in confusion.

"This looks like a Zygarde Core."

Elaria crouched down.

"Mommy told me about it before."

"Zygarde is the guardian of order in the Kalos region. It monitors the balance of the ecosystem."

"It probably sensed something was wrong with this forest, so it came here."

Ruri rubbed her chin.

"The guardian of order for the entire Kalos region...is this tiny little thing?"