Auron Vale stroked his chin, grinning to himself as he made his way to the testing grounds.
"Hm? What's this?"
The moment he entered the testing grounds, Auron Vale spotted a small bird fluttering through the air.
"This…"
Pokémon: Archen
Gender: Male
Type: Rock / Flying
Ability: Defeatist (When HP drops to half or below, becomes apathetic — Attack and Sp. Atk are halved.)
Quality: Orange
Base Moves: Quick Attack, Leer
Egg Moves: Bite, Fling, Defog, Head Smash
"Archen?"
"Mm, Archen."
Dr. Lu replied without looking up, answering on pure reflex.
"Hm?"
Only after giving that answer did Dr. Lu react — realizing that everyone here was family, so nobody would be asking about something like this.
"Xiao Ze? When did you get here?"
"Just arrived."
Auron Vale walked over and kept watching the Archen flapping around in the sky.
"I thought Archen was a Fossil Pokémon?"
"It is."
Cyrus Zhuge stepped out from behind the crowd and answered. "Regarding the Black Mystery Zone — the ones trading with the island nation nationals for the Silver Feather — the Fossil Revival Machine and the schematics for making it were what they exchanged."
"Ziyu Uncle?"
Auron Vale quickly put together why Cyrus was here. "Did you catch them?"
Cyrus gave a wry nod. "Yeah. And this machine was extracted from the island nation nationals under interrogation."
Auron Vale asked, curious, "Then what about the person who traded with the island nation nationals?"
Cyrus rubbed his forehead awkwardly. "Zhuge Ling. My nephew…"
"Your nephew?!"
Auron Vale stared at Cyrus in disbelief.
"Yeah, my nephew."
Cyrus's expression soured. He'd never imagined the mastermind behind this would turn out to be his own nephew — though his intentions had been good. Still…
"Sigh. Let me explain what happened."
"Here's how it went. Zhuge Ling heard that the Ono clan from the island nation had obtained a Fossil Revival Machine and the schematics for building one from the American side. So he got an idea."
"He started by creating a false identity, doing some groundwork — gathering intel, building connections. Then, when he learned the Ono clan had informants vacationing at a certain beach, he staged an entire performance. He pretended to have obtained the Silver Feather. And to make it convincing, he even sought out Articuno and used my name to trick it into appearing alongside him."
Auron Vale blinked. You can do that?
He quickly recovered, though. "Hold on — if he really obtained the Silver Feather, wouldn't word have gotten out?"
Cyrus smiled bitterly again. "The only people on that beach — aside from the confirmed Ono clan informant — were his own people."
"…Damn."
Auron Vale didn't know what to say. That whole chain of operations was genuinely impressive.
"But then he worried the Ono clan's mole wouldn't fully buy it, so he deliberately ran a newspaper story. Though the article only mentioned that Articuno had appeared on that beach — nothing else."
"The Ono clan's mole genuinely saw the Silver Feather. So after reporting back to the Ono family, they got excited."
"From there, it was just a matter of meeting up, negotiating terms, and so on."
Auron Vale cut in, puzzled. "You knew nothing about this?"
"Don't ask me — barely anyone knew. Only a handful of people directly involved had any idea."
Cyrus was genuinely irritated. His nephew had been warped by his eldest brother's parenting style. Zhuge Ling was the eldest child in the family, which meant his father had always been exceptionally strict with him.
Strict would have been fine. But his father's approach was deeply flawed — strict and doting at the same time. And for the eldest son in particular, it was all negative reinforcement.
Whatever Zhuge Ling wanted to do, his father would pour cold water on it.
And when Zhuge Ling succeeded, his father said nothing. When he failed, his father would lecture him: *See? I told you you'd mess it up. But you just had to do it anyway, and now I have to clean up your mess.*
That kind of constant treatment had driven Zhuge Ling to desperately want to accomplish something big — just to prove himself.
One day, at a family gathering, Cyrus had casually mentioned in passing that it would be nice to get their hands on America's Fossil Revival Machine.
Zhuge Ling took that remark to heart. And from there, he schemed up this entire operation.
As for why the actual trade happened inside a Black Mystery Zone — it was because the zone had entry restrictions. No one had to worry about being ambushed from behind. And Zhuge Ling could also turn around and ambush the other party, since the restrictions went both ways.
He hadn't told any of his family about the plan, which meant the strongest person he could bring out was his old butler.
But even the butler couldn't guarantee a victory — they had no way of knowing how many people the other side had brought, or how powerful they were.
However, Zhuge Ling had prepared contingencies. His childhood friend, Zhongli Muyang, was military — and happened to be on leave at the time.
So Zhuge Ling arranged it: *You wait outside. Once my people come out and find you, flash your officer credentials and report to the military. We'll pin down all the island nation nationals that come out. That way, the Fossil Revival Machine is ours — and the Silver Feather is ours too.*
One important detail: the Silver Feather had actually been taken from his uncle Cyrus's home. The Pokémon guarding the vault had watched Zhuge Ling grow up since childhood, so it hadn't stopped him when he took it.
And he figured — as long as the plan succeeded, he'd just quietly return the Silver Feather afterward and claim the whole thing was a fake meant to trick them. Then surely his father would finally praise him.
What he hadn't anticipated was the complication. Their trade was interrupted by a third party — which led to everything that followed.
But what truly derailed his plan was the Church's attack on Auron Vale.
The issue with Soren Li was manageable — spread the word, block the exit, and Soren Li alone couldn't get out.
But the attack on Auron Vale was different. Not only did it let Soren Li slip out, but since the victim was Auron Vale, the whole situation became far more serious.
If it had been some ordinary person, the matter would have closed. After all — in a Black Mystery Zone, life and death are fickle.
But the person attacked was Auron Vale. And Auron Vale recognized it as the Church. That was unforgivable.
So the moment Auron Vale walked out, he made a report call: "Hello, there are Church members here."
The Black Mystery Zone exit was immediately sealed.
That meant the Church couldn't escape, the island nation nationals couldn't escape, and the person who'd orchestrated the entire scheme from the shadows was also caught.
The plan had been flawless — until Auron Vale became the variable that broke everything.
After hearing the full story — the cause, the process, and the outcome — Auron Vale couldn't help but let out a whistle.
"What a talent."
Then, suddenly, Auron Vale looked at Cyrus and asked: "So his little baiting plan failed. Where is he now?"
———
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