Pokémon from Galar

"Hmm? It seems there's a child there. Why don't we go over and ask?"

Mary squinted at it, then casually answered Yuri's question. Asking wouldn't be a big deal, since they had nothing else to do anyway.

"Then let's go ask!"

Yuri seemed particularly excited, pulling Marie along as they headed over there. Meanwhile, Bal, who was watching over the two little ones he had shot out, squinted and carefully examined the little girl for a while. After judging that there was no threat, he let the two trainers go by themselves.

The little girl was dressed in a monochrome outfit, and her light pink top looked quite cute. However, she stood in the corner, seemingly lost in thought, and it was unclear what was going on.

"Hello, little sister, I'm Yuri."

Yuri bent down, supporting herself on her knees, and approached the little girl with a big smile. Mary squatted down beside her, hugging her knees and looking up at the girl. Only when the girl shifted her gaze to herself did she say:

"Hello, my name is Mary. Little sister, have you gotten separated from your family?"

"Family? No, we don't have any..."

The girl paused for a moment, looking somewhat bewildered, then shook her head, denying Mary's question. She then pulled an old, but perfectly folded, envelope from her pocket and handed it to Mary.

"Big sister, you...you seem like a trustworthy and good person..."

"Give me?"

Mary took the envelope with a puzzled look, then looked back at the girl, waiting for her to continue. The girl, who had just seemed lost and confused, now had a slight blush and shyness on her face.

"I... I have someone I like, and I wrote him a letter... If it's possible, could you please pass it on to him for me?"

"Wow—is it a love letter?! Mary-chan!"

Before Mary could answer, Yuri exclaimed excitedly. Mary smiled wryly and asked:

"Wouldn't it be faster to have the courier deliver it? Why do you want me to come?"

"Hmm... delivery? But I just feel that you are more trustworthy, big sister."

The little girl tilted her head, seemingly not understanding what Mary was saying, and her tone carried a hint of anxiety. Mary, taken aback, quickly raised her hand to comfort her.

"No, I'll deliver it to you. Just tell me where it is and who it is. If it's too far, it might take a little time. Is that acceptable?"

"It's okay, I believe in you, big sister. I'm so happy~ Thank you, big sister!"

The little girl smiled at Mary and thanked her.

"My name is Paula. Please give this letter to Frank in Dance Town."

"Dance Town... I understand, we'll deliver it for you. How should we contact you then?"

"This is fine."

The girl pointed to the spot, seemingly not intending to ask for contact information.

Mary raised her hand to touch the little girl's head, but the moment her hand touched it, she felt that the touch was a little strange. She didn't pay too much attention to it, carefully put the letter into her backpack, and then the two said goodbye to the girl.

"Go home soon, Paula-chan~ We'll deliver it to you as soon as possible."

After saying goodbye to the girl, and seeing that it was almost time, Yuri pulled Mari away from the open area, intending to find a place to have lunch.

"But...why not just ask your parents? Is it a secret relationship?"

"Who knows? Maybe we can ask the boy later."

Mary shrugged; she wasn't good at guessing these kinds of messy things.

Chapter 208 First Meeting with Chibana

That evening, after spending the whole day with Yuri, Mari first took her back to her hotel before heading to the Punch Gate Arena alone.

I checked the time; it was just past 7:30. I wasn't late.

The arena is open all day, but challenges are mostly only available during the day. Nighttime is the gym leader's private time, and whether or not to accept a challenge is entirely up to the individual.

Upon entering the boxing arena, before she could even ask anyone for directions, a staff member approached Mary and greeted her from the lobby.

"Hello, are you contestant Mary?"

"Ah, it's me."

"Please come this way. Gym Leader Chibana instructed me to take you to see him."

"Thank you for your help."

Mary nodded and followed the staff through the lobby into a side passage. After waiting for a short while in a meeting room-like place, she met Chibana himself.

"Sorry, we were training just now, so I asked someone else to keep an eye on things."

Qibana pushed open the door and entered, revealing a hearty smile. He then looked at Mary, who was sitting in the chair, with some curiosity. He knew what had happened from Chairman Rose, so he was curious about who Nie Zi's sister was.

Mary frowned slightly. Since the other person's gaze wasn't too impolite, she didn't pursue the matter further. Instead, she stood up and asked directly:

"Gym Leader Kibana, what is it that my brother is talking about?"

"Ah—yes, let's talk as we walk, let's find another place to talk."

Chibana withdrew his gaze, opened the door, gestured to Mary, and then walked out, leading Mary through the electronic door into a restricted area.

"Before we get down to business, I'd like to ask you what you learned in your dream yesterday? Otherwise, I don't know where to begin."

As he walked ahead, Chibana went through various identity verification processes, scratching his head as he spoke to Mary, who remained silent behind him. He felt that Mary and her brother were practically identical, both rarely saying a word.

Mary, unaware that Chibana categorized her and her brother in his heart, thought for a moment and then said:

“I dreamt yesterday about the underground of Hammerlocke City. There was a huge chamber and something that looked like a skeleton.”

"As expected—do you know anything about Him?"

"That's what He calls Him, but we don't know much more about Him."

Having passed the final test, Kibana nodded, appearing calm on the surface, but his mind was far from calm. When Chairman Rose had spoken to him about this matter before, he had emphasized Marnie's ability to communicate with Pokémon.

Hearing the name from Mary's mouth now confirms this for Chibana.

That's a really useful ability.

While inwardly marveling at his own performance, Chibana led Mary through the monotonous, plain-colored passageway, providing explanations along the way:

"Let me tell you this first: what I'm about to tell you is information that cannot be revealed to others. I hope you can keep it a secret, because it will cause a lot of trouble if this gets out."

"I see."

"Well, let's talk about Mugentana first. The culprit that caused the Dark Night phenomenon was most likely Mugentana, and its body was contained underground in the Hammerlocke Arena."

"Was that consciousness really Eterna? Then why didn't she run away?"

"Who knows? Maybe he doesn't want to run, or maybe he can't. It would be much easier for you to ask Him directly than to ask us."

Upon arriving at the location, Ciban pointed through the glass to the huge chamber and spherical instruments inside.

"...almost exactly the same as what I saw in my dream."

Hearing Mary's words, Chibana nodded slightly, confirming his guess. However, these were minor issues; he hadn't brought Mary in for a simple visit.

"So, are you able to communicate with him now?"

Upon hearing Chibana's question, Mary thought for a moment and then asked in return:

"What do you want to do? I don't think there's any need for communication. Wouldn't it be better to just let her sleep?"

Chibana smirked. He didn't find Mary's question abrupt. In fact, if he didn't have any trump cards up his sleeve, he didn't intend to support Chairman Loz.

“What you said is actually true, but some things cannot be avoided. Since Chairman Loz established this observation chamber here, we have been able to detect that the energy of the Anuttara is recovering at a slow rate. It may take a long time, hundreds or thousands of years? But it will definitely recover someday in the future.”

"..."

Mary paused for a moment, not immediately responding, but instead pondering her memories. If she wasn't mistaken, Chairman Rose wanted to awaken Wujita in order to use the Dark Night to create energy, but what about Qibana...?

Was he trying to come up with a plausible excuse to fool himself, or was Qibana himself being fooled by Chairman Loz? Or was Mari's memory inaccurate?

Seeing that Mary remained silent, Chibana assumed she couldn't understand the vast time span and explained with a smile:

"It's not because we have a strange sense of justice that we want to solve the hidden dangers, but because the legendary savior's weapons, the sword and shield, are about to be revived. That's the reason."

"...Do you know what I'm trying to say?"

"You probably think we're incredibly audacious. But the reason I brought you here is to find a way to avoid war through communication."

"I think I understand, but there's a question: if the sword and shield are about to be revived, then who is the savior?"

"Forehead……"

Chibana hesitated for a moment, then Mary gave him a knowing smile and spoke first:

"Your reaction is just like Yuri and Hep's."

"Oh—why do you say that?"

Chibana turned to look at Mary and asked with a smile. Mary shrugged and explained:

“Yuri told me about her experiences in the Forest of Slumber, then about the stone statue in the town of Sooto, then about Sonia’s somewhat inexplicable investigation mission, and most importantly, the attention the Gym Leaders paid to them. Even if they were recommended by the Champion, they shouldn’t be getting this kind of attention.”

"Hahahaha—that's true, but there's something wrong with that. We're paying attention to Yuri and Hop, but we're also paying attention to you, Mari. Not because of the Savior and Eterna, but simply because you have this talent."

Mary nodded, neither confirming nor denying, then laughed and didn't continue the conversation.

"Let's not talk about that. This morning, my brother told me that there might be some minor trouble. What did he mean by that?"

"Judging from your tone, you want to handle this yourself?"

“My brother has his own things to do and is already busy enough. I don’t want to keep bothering him.”

Qibana saw in Mary's eyes not blind confidence and arrogance, but serious and earnest eyes, eyes that showed she was prepared. This made Qibana very curious, wondering what she had gone through to have such eyes.

"Good awareness. I'm starting to look forward to the day when you challenge me."

Chapter 209 Middleman Mary Doesn't Want to Make a Profit

"I'll send you some information about this troublesome matter later. It's hard to explain in a few words. Perhaps Nie Zi has mentioned some of it to you. Do you know about the remaining nobles in Galar?"

Upon hearing the term again, Marie nodded thoughtfully. Galar's former kingdom had been in decline for a long time, and the Pokémon League had been ruling Galar for quite some time.

As for the nobility, their power was gradually diminished as the Pokémon League gradually replaced the government, and today they have nothing but empty titles and no real significance.

Mary did learn some of these things in school, but of course, she didn't know much more about them since she didn't choose to pursue further education and academic studies.

"...So some nobles have set their sights on Mugentana? They can't possibly want to restore the old kingdom, can they?"

"Who knows? That's how they fool their subordinates, but in reality they just want to replace Chairman Loz or seize some real power. Those leaders aren't stupid."

"That's true."