Chapter 78

"Brother! I'm bored! We've done nothing but walk and battle for almost a month!"

"I'm just happy that I'm growing stronger!"

"I-I would like to take a b-bath…"

Hearing his pokemons' complaints, Jax thought about their actions for the past month and figured it was time to head back to the city for some much-needed rest. Plus, he was starting to miss a certain platinum-blonde girl.

"ALLY! I missed you!"

"Hmph! You disappear for a month and still have to galls to say you miss me."

"Hehe. Are you mad at me? Aw, don't be mad. Look, I even brought you a present!"

Reaching into his schoolbag to hide that he was really accessing his sub-space, Jax took out a large, greenish eye.

"It's just another egg! It better be the egg of a legendary if you want me to forgive you with that!"

Gasp! "I wouldn't even be here if I stole a legendary egg! Although the egg doesn't belong to one, the pokemon inside will one day grow up to be a pseudo one!"

"Pseudo-legendary? Green egg? A TYRANITAR!?"

"Bingo! And~! I actually bred this pokemon myself! I guarantee its grade to be Diamond rank and that it will have perfect IVs. Since you captured your pokemon out in the wild, I couldn't tell you this before, but if you follow the guide I'll pass to you, I promise no other Tyranitars would be yours match!"

As the two kids walked around the academy, they caught up with each other about what each had been doing over the pass month. While Jax was in the Great Beyond, Ally had visited and trained in the wild at places Jax had pointed out for her.

All of her pokemon had hit the level 60 range and their growth speed visible slowed down. Since Mewton also surpassed level 55, he had evolved into his final evolution, Dragonite! Now, with another pseudo-legendary on her roster, Ally would be a strong contender in the future after Larvitar grew up a little.

The annual Battle Competition was also held recently while Jax was away. Since he didn't need any more random pokemons, he wasn't too bothered by that fact. What he was surprised about was the winner of the tournament. George Adams, his fellow student under Headmaster Leon's care, had actually beat out everyone in their year and emerged victorious.

Jax was surprised but at the same time, quite thrilled. He had seen just how hard George had worked to train his aura powers. Although he had a head start on Jax, Jax eventually caught up and surpassed his Aura level which strained their relationship even more. Now, that George had won, maybe the shadow in his heart would have little a little. Maybe.

Ally also told Jax about the most recent gossip floating around the Empire that Evelyn had told her. Team Rocket grunts were spotted heading towards the south from the Empire! Although their destination was unknown, the only thing south of the Empire was the Great Beyond! The very same place Jax was currently spending most of his time!

"Strange. If they were heading towards the Great Beyond, why haven't I seen them yet? Unless…they were headed deeper in than I was exploring? This is starting to get fun!"

"Stop joking! Team Rocket is a huge criminal organization! I know we're being trained to fight against them someday but that someday isn't now! If you see them, run!"

"HAHA! Little Ally, after two years, I can't believe you still don't know me. Run? Yeah, I'll run. Right into them!"

Jax had already told Ally what he discovered when he came back from the Empire the first time he visited. After some more investigation, he was able to find a piece of black fabric with a red letter, R, imprinted in the corner. Team Rocket! If before Jax had to fight them to save the world, now, it was personal!

Since it had been awhile since the two had seen each other, they decided to schedule a date for the day after.

Walking through the downtown district hand-in-hand, two children could be seen going in and out of stores and cafes. Jax and Ally were on their date just browsing through the store. With his funds, Jax bought anything that caught his eye and some little gifts that he thought Ally might like.

Since he had the TM maker, Jax mostly just bought materials in bulk to lower the price. With his sub-space, Jax didn't lack berries and high-quality evolution stones. In fact, Jax was even the number one supplier to most high-end stores selling those stones.

Over the years, he had grown closer to Devon Corps as he was supplying them with a steady stream of evolution stones and steel-type pokemon parts and corpses. Besides the money made from selling the raw materials as is, he also received royalties for any of his stones and pokemon parts sold. As such, he had grown remarkedly closer to their young heir since they had many occasions to interact.

Jax and Steven also had the occasional mock battles to solidify their friendship. Even if Steven no longer owed him a favor, he still looked out for any materials or items Jax requested and would buy them as a gift for the young boy. And whenever Jax hunted strong steel-type pokemons or even the ones in his sub-space, he would directly give them to Steven instead of selling them.

The next day, "Alright! Bye, Ally! I'll stop by again when I have to restock…and when I miss you!" It was finally time to start his exploration in the Great Beyond, again!