"I don't know either," Ash shook his head, then lowered it, full of guilt.
He really had no idea why Larvitar was like this.
Professor Oak didn't know either—after all, Larvitar's egg was rescued, and its parents' whereabouts were unknown. Why did the egg end up in the human world?
Calyrex watched him for a while, then looked away.
Its voice sounded:
"There's no hint of lying. It looks like you're telling the truth."
"Thank you for believing me!" Ash was overjoyed that Calyrex trusted him.
Lucas asked at the right time, "Do you have any leads?"
Calyrex nodded lightly, looking down at Larvitar, and added, "The two Unown most likely used their mysterious power to sneak into Larvitar's closed heart. As for their purpose, or why Larvitar closed its heart, that's hard to determine."
"But one thing is certain—even I can't forcibly intrude into its closed mind. That would only make its condition rapidly worsen. That's probably why Oranguru hasn't acted rashly either."
Calyrex's tone was extremely earnest, making Ash and Pikachu nervously swallow again.
"Next, I'll try to find a way to enter its spiritual world without causing a violent reaction, to discover why it closed its heart."
"This will take some time—maybe today, maybe several days."
Calyrex withdrew its hand from Larvitar's brow and looked at Lucas and Ash.
Ash was about to nod—
But Lucas suddenly spoke: "Larvitar was stolen from its mother by Pokémon hunters while still in its egg. Then, due to some accident, it wandered through a strange world for a long time. To protect itself, and to avoid the pain of being separated from its mother, it gradually closed off its heart."
"!!!"
Ash's eyes widened, staring at Lucas in disbelief.
How did Brother Lucas know all that!?
But Calyrex met Lucas's gaze and nodded lightly. "I understand. In that case, the time needed to enter its spiritual world will be greatly reduced. With luck, we might have results today."
Calyrex didn't ask how Lucas knew so much.
It didn't matter, nor was it worth pursuing.
It trusted its only acknowledged friend, and respected his privacy.
Before Calyrex succeeded in helping Larvitar break through its heart wall, Ash was kept close by its side.
According to Calyrex, only Ash—as Larvitar's caretaker and half-trainer—could break the wall of ice sealing its heart.
After all, Ash and Pikachu were the first ones Larvitar had even partially opened up to, despite its closed heart.
No one knew how long this would take, so Lucas didn't wait around, instead strolling around the farm.
After all, he'd invited Ash to Paldea for special training, and planned to have him work for the club leader later. He still had to give him some benefits.
He didn't want to end up hanging from a lamppost.
With nothing better to do, he checked the training progress of the forty-some Pokémon.
First, he went to the open field.
There, a fierce battle was taking place.
Charizard circled in the sky, occasionally breathing flames or unleashing massive Air Slashes at the speeding Arcanine.
Unfortunately, not only were Charizard's Fire-type moves four times resisted, but its Flying-type moves were doubly resisted. On top of that, Charizard was far weaker than Arcanine.
So, whether it was Flamethrower or Air Slash, hitting Arcanine was like a gentle massage.
Charizard's rare lucky break came when Air Slash made Arcanine flinch for a few seconds, giving Charizard a chance to try some close combat wrestling.
But before Charizard could deal any real damage, Arcanine would recover and send it flying with a headbutt, ending the fight instantly.
Simply put: Charizard was eager but hopeless in close combat.
Seeing this, Lucas chuckled, "So learning Solar Beam is useless—he'd be better off learning Ground-type moves from Swampert."
But Lucas had no intention of sending Charizard to train with Swampert.
Truthfully, he just wanted to make Charizard jealous and thus more motivated.
While Charizard's close combat looked weak against Arcanine, it was more than enough against same-level Pokémon—like Blastoise or Blaziken.
But there was still much room for improvement in long-range attacks. Progress there was most evident.
He'd let Moltres teach Charizard some Flying moves, and a few aerial combat skills—enough to handle Blaziken.
After praising Moltres and Arcanine, Lucas moved on.
In the orchard, Ash's Snorlax was, for once, awake.
At this moment, it was fighting Muk.
Lucas had set Muk to handle all the kitchen scraps and construction waste from the recent farm renovations, including fruit pits and less-than-fresh produce.
But every time Muk came, it found that Snorlax had eaten everything—fresh or not, pits and all. Not a crumb was left behind.
Muk was furious.
After holding back for a few days, it finally snapped.
Bulbasaur tried to mediate, but couldn't get involved. It could only turn to Noctowl, who was napping nearby.
As for Appletun, Tropius, and Shuckle and his sister? They were just watching the show with Lucas!
As long as no harm came to the orchard, they were happy to watch the fight. It was quite entertaining!
Both Pokémon were built to absorb most impacts—Snorlax with its belly, Muk with its slimy body.
Luckily, they both knew not to use destructive moves here. No Poison-type or Hyper Beam attacks.
After a while, they'd tire out, rest, refuel, and start again. It was hilarious.
After watching for a while, Lucas wandered around the farm like a street kid for most of the day.
He checked out Primeape's dark-red brow, traded Bayleef some buds for spices with Ash's room key, taste-tested Quilava's flames and Ceruledge's barbecue, and even rode the Tauros herd around the pasture—
The kids had a blast.
…
When Lucas returned home, he found Larvitar, Ash, and Pikachu lying in a row with their eyes closed and shallow breathing. It was unclear if they were asleep or…
Calyrex floated nearby, looking like a murder scene witness.
Seeing Lucas, Calyrex glanced over and explained, "I sent Ash and Pikachu into Larvitar's spiritual world."
"So soon?"
Lucas plopped himself on the sofa, poured himself a cup of hot tea Oranguru always kept ready, and raised an eyebrow.
"Mm, the information you provided helped a lot," Calyrex said without hesitation.
"That's good."
Lucas smiled—there was nothing better than being able to share key information without having to explain how you knew it.
"Oh, right—"
Calyrex seemed to remember something. With a wave, a rusty suit of armor appeared in front of Lucas as space twisted.
Calyrex floated the armor with psychic power, its voice tinged with subtle amusement.
"This seems to be what humans call a 'souvenir'—something you bring back for friends or family when you travel. There's a faint psychic fluctuation on it—it's probably some kind of item, or has some other effect."
"This is—"
Lucas looked surprised, running his hand over the golden, red-patterned armor, feeling the cold metal.
A notification from his restless system popped up:
[Auspicious Armor: A miraculous suit of armor that allows certain Pokémon (Charcadet) to evolve. Contains feelings of congratulations.]
Just as he thought!
Lucas had gotten another, matching suit of armor before—the Malicious Armor—which he'd used to help Charcadet evolve into Ceruledge.
This "Auspicious Armor" was the other evolutionary item, but instead of Ceruledge, it would let Charcadet evolve into its other form: Armarouge, a Fire and Psychic-type!
Lucas explained this to Calyrex.
Understanding dawned in Calyrex's eyes. It said regretfully, "So, it seems I've brought you a souvenir you can't really use right now."
"No, it's very useful."
Lucas's gaze fell on Ash, who was sleeping with a furrowed brow, as if experiencing something difficult.
Seeing where he was looking, Calyrex seemed to realize something. "You plan to give it to him?"
Calyrex had learned about recent happenings at the farm from Lucas and Oranguru.
The boy named Ash had been working hard to win over the wary Charcadet who followed Ceruledge.
But Lucas just shook his head.
"No. At least, not yet."
He didn't plan to give Ash the Auspicious Armor right away.
Not because he was stingy, but because he didn't give away items for free.
Ash would have to earn it.
Of course, Lucas wasn't trying to extort Ash—he had other plans.
Just like the "carrot" he dangled before Nemona, Penny, and Arven before.
Ash would have to fulfill Lucas's requirements to get this armor.
And Lucas had already decided on the goal.
Since he was getting special training here, Ash at least had to win the Silver Conference championship before Lucas would give him the Auspicious Armor!
After hearing Lucas's plan, Calyrex smiled imperceptibly, thinking to itself—
He's like a teacher assigning homework.
…
Time flew by, and it was deep into the night.
Lucas had already replied to Nemona: If Ash woke up and succeeded in passing through Larvitar's heart wall, he'd fly to Alfornada on Dragonite to join them in watching for the giant Pokémon.
But after dinner and even into the early hours, Ash and Pikachu showed no signs of waking.
Just as Lucas was about to call it a night—
Ash, Pikachu, and Larvitar's tense faces suddenly relaxed.
Calyrex, sensing something, quickly looked at the seemingly empty space above them.
Two figures suddenly appeared.
They were thin, black Pokémon with half-closed eyes—Unown!
Specifically, the Exclamation Mark and Question Mark Unown!
Calyrex was about to grab them with psychic power when the two Unown exchanged glances and let out an excited cry.
"Meow~~ chi-nu chi-nu!"
A strange power rippled out, and to Lucas and Calyrex's surprise, a somewhat blurry scene appeared out of thin air.
"What's this!?"
In the scene, Pikachu was desperately using Thunderbolt and Iron Tail to break the ice encasing Larvitar, while Ash punched the ice with all his might, shouting Larvitar's name.
Somehow, Ash shattered the ice—which looked as tough as Regice's never-melting ice—with a single punch!
Lucas was speechless.
Even in the spiritual world, Ash was that strong!?
Then Calyrex, noticing something, exclaimed, "That ice sealing Larvitar was the heart wall it built to protect itself!"
"That means the boy and Pikachu successfully freed Larvitar's frozen heart!"
Almost as if in response, the scene conjured by the Unown faded into white, then disappeared.
Ash, Pikachu, and Larvitar all opened their eyes, fully awake.
Ash and Pikachu leapt up, shouting, "Larvitar!" "Pikachu!"
Larvitar, standing up, opened its eyes—no more confusion or fear, just lively emotion.
"Yogi~!"
It squinted its eyes and cheerfully responded to Ash and Pikachu.
"Its personality's become cheerful and brave," Lucas remarked.
He remembered this scene was supposed to happen on Ash's way to Mt. Silver in the original timeline.
"Chi-nu chi-nu"
Lucas, smiling at the joyful scene, suddenly heard two calls at his ear.
The two Unown spun in circles around him, clearly in high spirits and showing no sign of leaving or turning back into wooden plaques.
"What are you two—?"
Calyrex, smiling, acted as translator: "They seem to want to stay here at the farm. They're asking your permission."
…
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