Chapter 294: You Think I’d Fall for the Same Trap Twice?

The video continued playing.

Wallace grabbed Steven by the back of his collar with one hand and dragged him all the way from the side of the stage into the deepest storage room backstage.

"Get in here."

"Wallace, we’re both adults. If there’s a problem, we can sit down and talk about it. There’s really no need to get physical..."

"Sit."

Wallace shoved Steven into a chair and folded his arms.

"Steven, I’m seriously starting to wonder if I threw every single one of your rocks into the ocean in my previous life."

"I ran all the way from Hoenn to Sinnoh, and you still followed me here."

"What exactly do you want?!"

"Wallace, calm down."

"I genuinely didn’t come to Sinnoh because of you this time."

"Oh?"

A vein visibly twitched at Wallace’s temple.

"Then why are you dressed like that?"

"Performance art?"

"I heard you were holding a competition, so I figured I’d stop by and support you while I was here."

Steven spoke as though it were perfectly reasonable.

"I’d already finished half of my actual business before entering the competition."

"Actual business?"

Wallace finally released him and took a step back, staring at Steven like he was examining a psychiatric patient.

"You actually have serious business?"

"Of course."

Steven straightened his crumpled collar.

"Brother Asher sent me."

"He even specifically told me to keep a low profile, come quietly, and not let too many people know."

Wallace stared at him.

"So which part of anything you just did was supposed to be low profile?"

"You don’t understand."

Steven tugged proudly at his sequined cape.

"Everyone’s attention was completely captured by my mesmerizing dance."

"Naturally, that means nobody would suspect there was anything unusual about the two of us appearing here at the same time."

Wallace sighed.

"Fine."

"Then tell me what Asher actually sent you here to do."

Steven grinned.

He reached inside his glittering cape, pulled out a palm-sized communication card, and casually tossed it to Wallace.

"Here."

"Open it and take a look."

"The password is the founding year of Quaxmen."

"Don’t say your bro hides things from you."

Wallace held the card between two fingers, his brows knitting together.

"What is Quaxmen?"

"I don’t know either."

Steven shrugged.

"He just told me to give this to Niece Hina."

Wallace felt that if he spent another minute alone with Steven, he might enter menopause ahead of schedule.

So he immediately shoved the communication card into Hina’s hands.

"This is for you."

"Take a look at what’s inside. Steven says it’s important."

Hina accepted the card and tapped several numbers into the keypad.

The next second—

A pale-blue light appeared across its surface.

Then a very short recording began playing.

It was Asher’s voice.

Wind could be heard in the background, along with the restless cries of Pokémon.

"Kiddo, something’s happened near the Old Chateau in northern Sinnoh."

"I need you to come over."

"But don’t use the main road."

"Head west from Celestic Town. Pass through the old river channel behind Lost Tower, and it’ll take you around to the mountain behind the Chateau."

The recording paused for roughly two seconds.

Then Asher’s voice softened slightly.

"Hina."

"Your mom always says I treat you like a little kid."

"So this time, Dad won’t treat you like one."

"Bring everything you’ll need."

"And be careful on the way."

The recording ended.

"Wait!"

May immediately grabbed Hina’s arm.

"Where are you going?"

"Your dad just said the road behind the Chateau is dangerous. You can’t go alone."

"But I have to go."

Hina looked at her.

"Dad needs me right now."

"I’m not saying you shouldn’t go!"

May tightened her grip on Hina’s hand.

"I’m saying..."

"I’m going with you."

"How could I possibly let my junior go into something like this alone?!"

"Miss May..."

"Don’t worry!"

May gave her a thumbs-up.

"As your bigsister, protecting you is only natural!"

"Come on."

"We’ll go together!"

Wallace looked at Hina.

Then at May.

Finally, he turned toward Steven, who was still crouched nearby examining the communication card.

"Why are you still sitting there?!"

"Lead the way!"

[VIP Chat Group]

[Steven]: See that?! See that?! Parallel-world me was a key figure responsible for delivering vital intelligence! You people are always saying I’m never serious. Well? Got nothing to say now, do you?

[Wallace]: You act serious once in a blue moon and suddenly you’re proud of yourself?

[Aaron]: The real question is, why did Steven have to enter a dance competition just to deliver a card?! Couldn’t he have just gone to the Pokémon Center and handed it directly to Hina?!

[Steven]: You people don’t understand. It’s called creating a diversion. The more enthusiastically I dance, the less anyone will suspect that I’m actually there to deliver intelligence.

[Flint]: Amazing. So Steven actually possesses this level of strategy?

[Wallace]: Don’t praise him. He didn’t think that far ahead at all. He just wanted to dance.

[Leon]: Honestly, after watching this, I respect Asher even more. He actually trusted Steven to deliver something this important.

[Raihan]: Maybe it wasn’t trust. Maybe there was literally nobody else available.

[Steven]: Endless slander only proves that you’re jealous of the bond between Brother Asher and me. It doesn’t matter. As the man standing behind Brother Asher, I’ve long since prepared myself to endure gossip and misunderstanding. These are nothing but a little wind and frost along the road of life~

[Asher]: Steven, come to Granite Cave. I’ll show you Diancie.

[Steven]: Brother Asher, you can’t insult my intelligence like that. You really think I’d fall for the exact same trap twice?

[Asher]: Stop talking. Are you coming or not?

[Steven]: Coming.

[Mr. Stone]: ...

[Wallace]: ...Embarrassing.

The scene changed again.

The mountain behind the Old Chateau appeared ahead of them.

The instant Hina saw what lay in front of her—her footsteps stopped dead.

The entire mountainside was covered with Pokémon.

Cherubi, Buneary, Staravia.

All kinds of wild Pokémon that lived in the surrounding area lay scattered across the ground.

Their eyes were tightly shut.

Their breathing was extremely slow.

The surroundings were so unnaturally silent that even the wind itself seemed to have been swallowed.

Only the black figure hovering overhead continued to rise and fall faintly.

Darkrai.

Its arms were spread wide.

Dark-purple mist poured from both sides of its body like waterfalls, blanketing the entire mountainside.

Dawn stood on the grass at the very front.

Her usual energetic smile was gone.

In its place was an expression more focused than Hina had ever seen before.

Asher stood a short distance behind her.

The black Quaquaval was beside his feet.

"Oh, you’re here."

Asher turned around and waved toward Hina.

"Ten minutes later than I expected."

"Did Steven pull some weird stunt again?"

"Brother Asher, don’t worry."

Steven swept a hand through his hair as he spoke.

"This time, I followed your instructions perfectly."

"I kept an extremely low profile."

Beside him, Wallace’s mouth twitched.

He unconsciously took a step farther away.

Hina ran toward Dawn.

The Power of Viridian was already spilling unconsciously from her palms.

"Mom!"

"What can I do to help?"

Dawn reached out and rubbed Hina’s head.

"Hina, the energies inside these Pokémon are clashing against each other."

"I had Darkrai use nightmares to temporarily suppress their consciousness."

"But the energy fields inside their bodies are still continuing to deteriorate."

"If we don’t find the source, then once those energy fields collapse, they’ll wake up again."

Asher picked up where Dawn left off.

"And when that happens, they’ll suffer even more."

"D-Dad..."

Hina bit her lip.

But her golden eyes were shining with extraordinary determination.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Easy."

"Don’t be nervous."

Asher patted Hina’s shoulder.

"As long as I’m here, nothing too serious is going to happen."

"This time, I only had Steven send you that message because I was worried about your mom handling this alone."