Sky Fortress

"What on earth happened here?" Angie asked.

"Chesnaught~ Chesnaught~"

Chesnaught gestured and tried to explain, but Angie couldn't understand a single word.

"Diancie! Quick, come here, something big happened!" Angie called out toward the house.

After calling, he looked again at the people and Pokémon piled up together and finally recognized two of them as Alva's subordinates, Levi and Cherie.

At that moment, both the people and Pokémon were still unconscious.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! What happened?" Diancie hurried out of the house, looking flustered.

"Look." Angie pointed to the area below the steps.

Seeing the heap of people and Pokémon, Diancie was just as startled. "What's going on?"

Chesnaught then explained to Diancie everything that had happened last night, and Diancie relayed the story to Angie.

After hearing it, Angie thought, That Alva really is no good.

Just then, Munchlax stumbled out, half-awake. When it learned that someone had tried to go after its master, it was furious. Clenching its fist, it shoved its other arm into Diancie's hand and shouted.

"Munchlax~ Munchlax~"

Don't hold me back; let me at him!

Diancie pushed it away, saying, "I'm not holding you back; go ahead and beat him up!"

Someone daring to harm their Angie? They must have eaten Bewear's heart and Liepard's courage.

Without hesitation, Angie pulled out his phone and dialed Kimia's number.

Upon learning that Angie had been attacked by Alva's people, Kimia wasted no time. She immediately piloted her aircraft toward Nebel Plateau and arrived at Angie's doorstep in no time.

"Your Highness!" Kimia disembarked from the aircraft, looking anxious. "Are you alright?"

Angie waved his hand. "I'm fine. They were subdued as soon as they arrived last night. I slept soundly until morning and didn't notice a thing."

Hearing this, Kimia breathed a sigh of relief. "That's a relief!" Then, with a serious expression, she added, "Your Highness, leave this matter to me. I'll make sure you get justice."

After Angie's last call to Kimia, telling her that Alva had secretly tried to talk to him with vague, cryptic words, Kimia had already been investigating Alva in secret.

But Alva was a cunning old fox. Aside from showing up at the palace for work, he lived a very secluded life, making it hard to catch him in any wrongdoing.

Today's incident finally gave her a breakthrough.

Angie nodded. "Then I leave it to you. I'd rather not have someone scheming against me every day."

Kimia nodded in return and directed her Gardevoir to load Levi, Cherie, and their Pokémon onto the aircraft.

"Your Highness, I'll head back now. If there's any progress, I'll keep you updated immediately," Kimia said.

Angie nodded, watching as Kimia took off from Nebel Plateau in the aircraft.

After Kimia left, Angie walked over to Komala's little hut, gently lifted it off the bed, and thanked it warmly. "Thanks for last night."

But Komala just turned over and continued sleeping soundly.

"I'll get you a good bottle of wine as a thank-you gift for saving my life."

Hearing this, Komala's ears twitched slightly, and then it slowly turned its body back over.

Angie couldn't help but smile at its adorable reaction.

"Chesnaught, thank you all for last night. Coming out in the middle of the night to rescue me," Angie said, turning to Chesnaught.

"Chesnaught~ Chesnaught~"

Chesnaught shook its head, feeling it didn't really help much as they had just come over and watched everything unfold, without actually lending a hand.

Angie laughed, "What matters is that you had the thought to come. Besides, you kept an eye on those two all night, didn't you? Wasn't that hard work?"

"Chesnaught~ Chesnaught~"

Chesnaught scratched its head in embarrassment at Angie's words.

Five or six days passed in the blink of an eye.

During these days, Angie lived and worked as usual, going to work at Munchlax's Home in the morning, returning in the afternoon to plant trees with his Pokémon, and having dinner with everyone in the evening. His days were busy yet fulfilling.

Of course, money flowed out like water.

Feeding so many Pokémon daily came at a high cost, especially considering that Pokémon generally eat far more than humans.

Take Aron, for instance. The amount it eats in one meal is more than ten people could manage!

But it's not just a big eater; it's a hard worker, too.

One afternoon, Angie assigned the group a new tree-planting task.

The sweet, tarr, and syrupy apples had all been planted in sufficient quantities, so Angie had bought two new types of saplings: the Pinap Berry and the Bluk Berry.

Previously, when planting the three apple types, they had started from the lakeshore directly facing Angie's house, planting along both sides of the lakeshore. This part of the shore is connected with the grasslands of the Nebel Plateau, making it flat terrain.

Beyond this stretch of lakeshore, however, the Nebel Lake's terrain became uneven and rugged, with numerous small ponds and pools appearing around the area.

Angie planned to plant Pinap Berry and Bpuk Berry around these small ponds and pools.

Unlike regular berries, Pinal Berry is a perennial herbaceous plant rather than a berry tree. Its planting method is similar to pineapples, so Angie decided to plant them around the ponds on the west side, where there's ample sunlight and water.

The Bluk Berry is also different from typical berry trees; it is a shrub, with a form similar to raspberries, complete with vines and thorns. Angie planned to plant it around the pools on the eastern side.

After assigning the planting tasks to the Pokémon and leaving Diancie to supervise them, Angie took Munchlax and headed home.

Once home, he made a quick stop at the vegetable garden. Recently, he had the Dugtrio plant some green onions, and he thought he'd check on their progress.

Looking at the newly cultivated patch of land, where neat rows of green onion sprouts had sprung up, Angie nodded in satisfaction.

Leaving the vegetable garden in the hands of the Dugtrio brothers had indeed been a good choice.

Just as Angie was about to pull a few tender onions to add flavor to tonight's meal, his phone suddenly rang. It was Kimia.

After the call, Angie hurried back into the house and said to Munchlax, who was busy in the kitchen, "Munchlax, I need to make a trip to the palace. Can you manage things on your own?"

"Munchlax~~"

Munchlax popped half its body out of the kitchen, flashed a playful grin, and made an "OK" sign with its paw.

Angie waved goodbye with a smile, then went upstairs, carrying Komala, and used the space portal to head to the Azoth Kingdom.

When Angie arrived at the palace gates, he saw Flamel already waiting for him.

"Your Highness," Flamel greeted him, then said, "The Princess is expecting you. Let me show you the way."

"Thank you," Angie nodded.

On the way, Angie asked Flamel, "What did Kimia want me to come here for?"

Kimia had sounded urgent on the phone but hadn't explained why she needed him at the palace.

"It's related to Lord Alva. The Princess will explain the details to you, Your Highness," Flamel replied in a low voice, as such political matters weren't her place to discuss.

Angie nodded and didn't ask further.

Soon, Angie was led to Kimia's office.

As soon as he sat down across from her, the first thing he heard was, "Your Highness, Alva has been arrested."

"Really?" Angie's face showed surprise. That quickly?

Kimia nodded, "Levi and Cherie have already confessed that they acted under Alva's orders to capture you, and they even provided evidence. The crime of attempting to kidnap a royal family member was enough to arrest Alva."

"And…?" Angie asked curiously.

"And he also attempted to overthrow the kingdom," Kimia said gravely.

"Overthrow the kingdom?" Angie's eyes widened.

It turned out that after Alva's arrest, Kimia searched his residence and discovered a series of shocking revelations.

Five hundred years ago, there had been unrest in the kingdom, with some attempting to use Magearna to seize a secret weapon created by Nikola, and Alva was a descendant of these subversive individuals.

For years, he had been searching for Magearna's whereabouts, intending to recreate those events.

Crucially, Alva possessed significant information passed down from his ancestors, including details on some of Nikola's inventions and his research notes.

The notes explicitly documented the location of that secret weapon, which was the reason Alva had relentlessly pursued this goal all these years.

Over the years, he even attempted to control the kingdom by influencing Raleigh.

Raleigh was one of the heirs to the throne. As long as he could control Raleigh and help him ascend to the throne, then the kingdom would be his to command, greatly aiding his goal of finding Magearna and overthrowing the kingdom.

Because of this, he had harbored resentment towards Princess Kimia, as she was the only obstacle in Raleigh's path to the throne.

After Angie appeared, he even considered supporting Angie in a rebellion, turning him into a puppet emperor once he had control over Nikola's secret weapon.

After hearing Kimia's account, Angie cursed silently: As if I'd ever want to be your puppet!

"I didn't expect Alva to have such… ambition."

Kimia sighed deeply and said, "Neither did I." She had initially only suspected that Alva wanted to manipulate Raleigh, never imagining his scheme was to overthrow the kingdom.

"This time, we have Your Highness to thank; if you hadn't captured Levi and Cherie, we wouldn't have uncovered Alva's plot."

Angie smiled and said, "I'm also part of the royal family, and since I benefit from its resources, I have a duty to protect the kingdom and the royal family."

"Oh, would Your Highness like to come with me to see the secret weapon Nikola left behind?" Kimia asked suddenly. "I was just about to go inspect it."

"Absolutely! I'm also curious to see what Nikola left that could hold such an obsessive grip on Alva and those rebels of the past," Angie replied.

"Then let's go."

With that, Kimia piloted the aircraft, and together they departed.

When they arrived, Angie realized that a part of the ancient city wall of the Azoth City was actually the secret weapon left by Nikola!

After 500 years of development, most of the original walls had disappeared, leaving only a limited section standing outside the Azoth clCity.

This portion of the wall was regarded as a relic. The kingdom had neither carefully managed nor preserved it, nor had they considered dismantling it. Who would have thought that this segment was Nikola's most precious legacy?

Apart from Alva, now in prison, only King Edward, Princess Kimia, and Angie knew of this secret weapon.

To prevent anyone else from coveting it, the king decided not to share this information further, keeping it from even his highest ministers.

Through Kimia's explanation, Angie learned that the secret weapon Nikola had left behind was called the "Sky Fortress," and the key to activating it was none other than Magearna's Soul-Heart.

No wonder Alva had been so desperate to find Magearna.

Without Magearna, the Sky Fortress was nothing but a display piece.

Looking at the towering wall before him, Angie asked, "Have you decided how you're going to deal with this thing?"

After so many years of neglect, the walls had become covered in moss.

Kimia shook her head. "Father hasn't decided yet."

Angie nodded, understanding that this was indeed a difficult matter to handle.

Just then, Angie's phone rang. He took it out and saw it was Diancie calling.

"I'll take this call," he said to Kimia.

She nodded.

Angie stepped aside to answer, and Diancie's voice came through from the other end, "Angie, we have a mission."

"A mission? Now?" he asked.

"It's a sudden one," Diancie replied.

"What's the mission?" he inquired.

Diancie then relayed the details to him.

...

[ (Temporary Mission) Obtain the Sky Fortress. Accept? ]

[ Yes ] or [ No]

...

After hearing the mission details, Angie was momentarily taken aback. What would he even do with this thing? Without Magearna, it was just a display!

"Accept it for me," he said.

Whether it would be useful or not was secondary; he figured he might as well try, as the reward wouldn't hurt.

"All right."

Diancie's voice confirmed on the other end, and Angie received a notification from the system. Opening his mission log, he saw four missions listed, including the new one.

...

[ (Daily Mission 1) Train in the Culinary Training Room for 1 hour—Pending Completion ]

[ (Daily Mission 2) Entertain 10 Pokémon—Completed, Reward Pending ]

[ (Recruitment Mission) Recruit a New Sous-Chef—Pending Completion ]

[ (Temporary Mission) Obtain the Sky Fortress—Pending Completion ]

..

Hanging up, Angie returned to Kimia, who was still troubled by the Sky Fortress. He suggested, "If you and Edward are really struggling with what to do with it, why not leave it with me?"

"Leave it with Your Highness?" Kimia asked, surprised. "But how would Your Highness handle it?"

"I could take it to the Nebel Plateau and hide it there. No one would ever think to search for it in such a remote place."

Kimia's eyes lit up at his words, but she quickly grew hesitant. "But how would you transport such a massive fortress to the Nebel Plateau?"

Angie smiled slightly. "I have my ways; I'd be discreet, and no one would notice."

Kimia thought of Angie's means of teleporting Pokémon and his food cart, and suddenly it didn't seem so impossible.

"Then should I discuss this with my father?"

"Yes!" Angie nodded.

The two then boarded the aircraft and returned to the royal palace.

As soon as they arrived, Kimia hurried off to talk to the king, while Angie prepared to return to the Nebel Plateau. However, as he passed the palace garden, he noticed Raleigh sitting in a corner, crying.

"Raleigh."

Angie walked over and quietly sat beside him.

Raleigh jumped, hurriedly wiping his tears and nose.

"Your H-Highness…" he hiccuped.

Caught crying, Raleigh looked both embarrassed and flustered.

"Is it because of Alva?" Angie asked gently.

Raleigh didn't answer, but soon began to sniffle again, unable to hold back his tears.