CHAPTER 74 - PHIONE IS EVOLVING?!

In the previous chapter we see how our hero saves Lira and Koharu from a recruit of Team Magma particularly annoying in going out with them, unfortunately the recruit gets angry and tries to threaten Ash with his position, but just as Ash was about to take out his Pokémon to take him down, Courtney appears and sends him to the dungeons. Right after these events, our heroes arrive at his room where they call Looker and tell him everything he accepts.

...

With Ash.

"Do you really believe that, do you really believe that?" - she asked again.

"I don't think so, I'm sure of it" – I nodded.

"I see... then why didn't he even try, why didn't he do the same as you and try to fall in love with me?! I just wanted him to feel the same way about me!" - she said as she shed tears.

I hugged her without any doubt.

"Listen to me carefully, since Gold wasn't smart enough to try it, then it means he doesn't deserve you, you deserve someone better, so smile, don't be sad for him, it's not worth it, you're a wonderful girl who deserves someone as wonderful as you" - I said seriously.

"Thank you... Those words, I needed to hear those words, I couldn't be honest with anyone, maybe that's why I never managed to overcome it completely, I needed to vent to someone, to overcome this, thank you, thank you very much and sorry for putting you through all this" - she said somewhat calmer.

"I don't care, you can always count on me if you want" – I said with a firm tone.

"Thank you... You're also a wonderful person, besides, now, I think I have someone I want to try it with" - she said with a smile.

"And that someone will do to like you" – I answered.

"I will also do my part to fall in love with that person and in the future ... And I will finally have someone by my side, someone who loves me" - Lira said.

This girl... She just needed someone to give her her love, in fact, she didn't realize it, but we were still hugging and she didn't seem to want to let go, so I didn't and took advantage of the moment.

The good thing about all this is that that seed seemed to have blossomed, it seems that it will not take long for him to fall in love with me, if I had something to measure his favorability, I would say that with everything that happened I am on the threshold, one more step and I would get him to fall in love with me, apparently to conquer her you just had to give her a little love, the love she never got from the person she used to like.

I will confess that it would be unfair for her to fall in love with me and I accept her because she is beautiful, so I will also try to fall in love with her, because otherwise it would be very sad for her and I already said that I would not accept anyone in my harem that I was not in love with, so I will do my best to make that happen. Lira is a wonderful girl with a big heart, she deserves the best, in fact so far I only found beautiful, wonderful and big-hearted girls, will it also be a power of the original Ash to surround himself with wonderful women? I don't know that either, but if it is, I appreciate this "power".

After hugging us for a while, she let go of me blushing and decided to go to bed, but not before taking my Rotom Dex and writing her number on it.

"I already memorized your number, now I will add it, plus if I do not have your number, I will not be able to know you better and once again, thank you for everything" – she said with a smile.

And then she left happily.

"Haa... Anyway, my hunger is gone, I'll go to sleep, tomorrow I have a hard day ahead" – I said leaving the food in place.

Then I went straight to bed where Koharu, Pikachu and Latias were already completely asleep.

"And they still left me the middle site, I don't mind about the side anyway" - I said, lying on the bed.

...

The next morning.

We got up very early because the activity in Team Magma started around this time according to Courtney, so we showered, dressed and had breakfast.

But as we were about to leave, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" – I asked.

"It's me, Courtney, I need to hear the answer, it's urgent" - she said.

I obviously opened the door right away only to find Courtney a little nervous.

"Well, did you accept?" – he asked immediately.

"Yes, he agreed, but he said that in return you must do two things" – I nodded.

"Whatever he wants, what do I have to do?" - she asked.

"It's easy, the first is to tell us everything you know about the objectives of your boss and the second is to act as a spy for the police, he said that if you do that you can be sure that he will get you out of here, safe and sound" – I explained.

"I see, I thought it would be something harder, I agree on everything, in fact, let's start right now, follow me" - Courtney said.

Then we started walking to god knows where.

"As we walk, I'll explain their goals to you, then I'll show you something interesting" - Courtney said.

Seeing that we all nodded, she began to explain.

"As you know before, Team Magma used to be called Magma Corporation and their goal was to extract valuable minerals and sell them to the highest bidder, nothing illegal, in all of Hoenn we only had one competitor, the Aqua Corporation, which had the same task as us only that instead of extracting minerals from the ground, they extracted them from the deep sea. At first everything went perfectly, we did our job like any normal company, but one day everything changed and the boss's aspirations changed completely" - Courtney explained.

She explained that to us yesterday, but well, it's always good to listen to it again, sometimes you can get details that you couldn't see before.

"I already told you yesterday, the next thing that happened was that he discovered the existence of the Ancestral Pokémon, Groudon who is said to have formed the Earth throughout the planet and Kyogre who was in charge of creating the sea, the objective of our boss is to use the power of Groudon so that Hoenn and later the world may be covered with earth alone" – she explained.

"Your boss is crazy, does he know that without water human and Pokémon beings cannot live?" – asked Lira dumbfounded.

"I'm aware of that fact and that's why I tried for years to convince him that it was crazy, but it was useless, I couldn't make him change his mind it's as if... I don't know, as if he was controlled and didn't think about the consequences of his actions" - Courtney explained.

"Controlled? If that's true, whoever is controlling him is even crazier than he is" - I said somewhat thoughtfully.

"Maybe, but continuing with the explanation, the book said that Groudon was a very difficult Pokémon to catch, almost impossible, so, in order to control all its power, it is necessary to find an object called the Red Sphere, an object capable of controlling it 100%, but there is still a problem" - she continued to explain.

"Apart from all the disaster it would cause, is there still a problem?" – asked Koharu surprised.

"Yes, I read the book myself and it said that the Red Sphere is necessary to control Groudon and the Blue Sphere is necessary to control Kyogre, but for some reason, our boss is hell-bent on finding the Blue Sphere instead of the Red Sphere, as it is said in the book" - she replied.

"I don't understand it, even if the book didn't mention it, it's obvious that the Red is for Groudon, why that fixation on the Blue Sphere and what would happen if he tries to use it on Groudon?" – I asked curiously.

To tell you the truth, I already know and it's not exactly a pretty panorama.

"I don't know the boss's reason, but I've been researching and found out that Kyogre and Groudon were enemies in the past and that they were about to destroy the world but thanks to the Ancestral Pokémon known as Rayquaza stopped them, so if the boss tries to control Groudon with something that theoretically works for Kyogre..." – Courtney said.

"This will provoke Groudon's wrath and get out of his control" - I said.

"Exactly" – she nodded.

"What do we do then, should we warn Looker to look for the Red and Blue Sphere? We could avoid catastrophe if we do that" - Lira suggested.

"You are right, have you found any clues about its location?" – I asked.

"No, from the Red sphere we have not found anything at all, but from the Blue Sphere that is the one that the boss tries to get, we have found clues" – she replied.

"What kind of clues?" - asked Koharu.

"That's the thing i want to show you" - she replied.

Then he took us to a floor, specifically to -8, in a kind of laboratory, where on a kind of pedestal, protected by a fairly thick glass, there was an egg, an egg that I know perfectly, a Manaphy egg.

"It's beautiful...What is it?" asked Lira.

"It's an egg of the Singular Pokémon, Manaphy" - Courtney replied.

"Where did you get it?" – I asked.

"From some underwater ruins, we have come to the conclusion that the Blue Sphere is located on the seabed, but Hoenn is very big, so finding it is basically impossible, at least until we found this egg" - she replied.

"What do you mean?" – I asked.

"In the book I also said that wherever there is a Manaphy, there will be the Blue Sphere, apparently it is a kind of guardian of the sphere, that's why we have concluded that its location is in a place close to there, specifically north of Mossdeep City, we have been looking for months in that area, without success" - Courtney answered.

"I see... I guess you'll be waiting for the egg to open, maybe instinctively Manaphy will know the location of the sphere" - I suggested.

"We thought that at first, but then we concluded that it's not possible" - she said.

"Why?" - asked Koharu.

"Look closely at the egg, at the top of it and you will understand the reason" - Courtney said.

The five of us approached the egg to see why his words and soon understood, the egg was broken.

"It's broken... which means that..." – said Lira.

"Exactly, it's not going to be born, but it wasn't our fault, it was already broken when we found it" - Courtney explained.

"It's a shame... poor thing" – I said something sad.

But suddenly, something very strange happened, one of my Pokéballs on my belt started shaking greatly, as if it was excited.

"What's wrong with your Pokéball?" - asked Courtney.

"No idea, let's go see it, maybe there's something wrong with it" - I said, picking her up.

It was Phione's Pokéball, but it was in perfect condition, only it was shaking.

I was going to say something, but suddenly, the egg lit up and fired a kind of beam at my Pokéball causing it to be thrown back.

"Ash!" – said the girls.

Quickly the three girls helped me off the ground, while Pikachu climbed back onto my shoulder.

"What just happened?" – I asked, clutching my head.

I hit myself and it hurt a little.

"This... you must see this" - Courtney said.

"What's wrong?" – I asked.

Soon I understood it because the Pokéball that I released due to the impact was different, now it was light blue, with small bright lights, as if it were a starry sky but in broad daylight and in the center there was what seemed to be a small jewel, all that on the side of the Pokéball that should be red.

"What happened to your Pokéball?" – asked Lira.

"Now that's not important, Phione please come out and tell me you're okay" – I said pulling Phione out of her Pokéball.

Fortunately, it was completely fine.

"Are you okay Phione, does something hurt?" – I asked as I tried to see if I had any injuries.

But just as she was about to say something, a light enveloped her, a very familiar light, a light we all knew.

"It can't be, it's evolving!" – said Lira stunned.

"It's impossible, Phione can't evolve!" – said Koharu.

I couldn't believe it either, it's impossible for a Phione to evolve.