Chapter 324 – Friend Pass, Gary, and... Who’s the Real Villain Here?!

Chapter 324 – Friend Pass, Gary, and... Who's the Real Villain Here?!

After sending Zinnia and Akari to gather berries nearby, Asahi began inspecting the new icon on his phone.

> [Friend Pass: Choose a friend to invite to Hisui.]

[Friend system unlocked. Accumulate Hisui mileage to earn more passes.]

Asahi: "...You copied that other app, didn't you? You didn't even bother to change the word 'mileage'…"

Still, blatant rip-off aside, this function was actually quite useful.

He tapped the icon.

> [Please enter the name of the friend you want to invite.]

Asahi typed: [Giovanni]

In the Alola region, Giovanni's phone buzzed with a strange notification.

> [Asahi invites you to the Hisui Region. Click [Teleport] to join Asahi and his friends on a grand adventure!]

Giovanni stared at the screen, baffled. "?"

How the hell did Asahi get his new number?

And what kind of obvious scam message was this?

Only a few top Rocket executives even had his current number. Did one of them leak it?

Giovanni frowned, tapping his fingers on the desk as suspicion filled his mind.

Back in Hisui, Asahi waited a while but saw no response.

"Don't tell me… the system doesn't consider Giovanni a 'friend'?" Asahi muttered, stroking his chin.

No way the issue was on his end. He'd always considered Giovanni a friend. Which meant—

There was only one explanation.

Giovanni never thought of him as a friend.

Asahi let out a dramatic sigh. "Sigh… And to think I even warned him about Sird... He's always the first person I think of when something good happens, but I guess he just doesn't care."

Feeling slightly betrayed, Asahi typed: [Gary]

This time, it only took a few seconds.

A golden rift opened in the sky, and a very confused Gary Oak—wearing beachwear—popped out right in front of Asahi.

Gary: "???"

What the heck just happened?

"Ahem."

Gary snapped out of his confusion at the sound of a very familiar fake cough.

He turned his head and jumped in shock. "Asahi?! When did you come back?!"

"Correction: you came here. I didn't go anywhere."

"And judging by that guilty face of yours, you did do something behind my back, didn't you?" Asahi squinted at him.

"Ack—No way!" Gary instantly remembered popping champagne at the meeting and hastily changed the subject. "Wait, where are we? How did I end up here?"

He'd just been on vacation, saw a weird notification on his phone, clicked it out of reflex—and poof, here he was.

"Where is this? That's a good question," Asahi said. "This is Hisui, the ancient version of Sinnoh. As for why you're here… I brought you."

Gary's expression froze. He had suspected time travel when Asahi went missing, but hearing it confirmed was still a shock.

"Wait wait wait… I saw a photo from the Sinnoh Archaeological Society—they claimed to have found a pic of 'Team Rocket Origins.' That… that was real?!"

Asahi scratched his chin. "So my actions really did impact the timeline, huh?"

"Of course they did! It's all over the news back in Sinnoh! Aren't you worried about causing a paradox or something? What if we vanish because of this?" Gary started to panic.

Asahi glanced at him calmly. "You think I left Dialga back at the manor for decoration?"

As the Pokémon of time, if something really went wrong with the timeline, Dialga wouldn't just sit back and do nothing.

Gary finally relaxed a little.

But before he could even take a full breath, Asahi continued, "Back to the point—what exactly did you do that made you so guilty earlier?"

Gary froze.

...

By the time Zinnia and Akari returned, their bags were filled to the brim with berries.

Akari stared at Gary's spiky hair and odd getup. "You are…?"

She was pretty sure no one with that hairstyle lived around here.

"Platinum?" Gary blinked, equally confused.

Asahi was about to explain.

Zinnia, on the other hand, looked like she'd just seen a ghost. "Gary, you too?! Asahi tricked you into coming here too?!"

"Asahi: '?'"

What the heck did she mean by 'You got tricked into coming here too?'

Why was he in Hisui instead of lying comfortably on his couch at home, petting his Eevee? Wasn't it because of her?

If you don't know how to talk, maybe just don't talk.

Zinnia immediately realized she'd said the wrong thing. Asahi hadn't agreed to let her take care of Rayquaza yet—and just now, she'd completely erased all the good impression she'd been building up...

"Asahi, you're not mad, right...?" Zinnia leaned closer, whispering.

"Heh. What do you think?"

Zinnia instantly wilted like a juiced Bounsweet—completely deflated.

Akari stood off to the side, watching the trio.

Could it be… that this weirdo named Blue came from the same place as Mr. Asahi?

.....

When Asahi returned to Jubilife Village, he immediately became the center of attention.

Founding the Rocket Squad Origins, chatting like old friends with Captain Cyllene, even getting the Galaxy Team to assign him a personal guide… all of it added to his legendary image.

"Why's everyone staring at you like that?" Gary asked.

"Some people are just born to be protagonists."

"Tch…"

Gary scoffed at Asahi's narcissism, but Asahi took it as thinly veiled envy.

With Akari off reporting their last mission, Asahi brought Zinnia and Gary back to the temporary Origin Rocket Squad base he'd set up.

The moment they walked in, they were greeted by the sight of a bunch of Trainers in black uniforms with a bold red 'R' on the chest. Gary nearly had a trauma response and almost threw out a Poké Ball.

Luckily, he stopped himself just in time.

"Asahi, even if you're just playing around, did you have to make this look this real? These Rocket uniforms—you didn't strip them off the actual Rocket Grunts, did you?"

The outfits were a 1:1 replica of the real thing.

"What are you talking about? You think I'm the type to strip people for clothes?"

Before Gary could breathe a sigh of relief, Asahi added casually:

"I confiscated them from a Rocket warehouse."

As he said that, he even tossed one to Gary.

The tag was still attached.

Whether or not they were stripped off someone, the real crime was the fact that Asahi was carrying so many Rocket uniforms around like it was normal.

Asahi and Gary were chatting when the door suddenly knocked.

"I thought the delivery date we agreed on with Cyllene wasn't until tomorrow…" Asahi muttered, signaling to Gengar to open the door.

But instead of Cyllene or Kamado, it was a young blond man wearing a Ginkgo Guild uniform, carrying a traveler's bag.

The young man smiled warmly. "Sorry to intrude. You must be Mr. Asahi, leader of the Rocket Squad..."

Asahi immediately recognized him—Volo, the secret mastermind behind the events of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

In the original storyline, this guy had tried to use Dialga and Palkia to rip open space-time itself, just to meet the so-called "Almighty Sinnoh"—Arceus.

Different motive, but his methods were eerily similar to Cyrus of Team Galactic.

"What business do you have with me?"

"I'd like to discuss... a deal with you, Mr. Asahi."

"A deal?" Asahi raised an eyebrow with interest.

Volo lowered his hat and whispered, "You're not from this world, are you, Mr. Asahi?"

"Hm?"

"That day... I saw you and your companion appear suddenly on the coastline. I know your secret, there's no need to pretend."

To Volo's surprise, Asahi didn't even hesitate.

"You got me. I'm from another world. My real name is 'The Traveler.' Her real name is 'Emergency Food.' We're looking for my long-lost relatives. Just 50 coins away from our travel fund! Send me 50 now, and once I reunite with my kin, I'll make you King of Hisui!"

"...What?"

Volo blinked in confusion, completely thrown off by the barrage of nonsense.

It took him a moment to realize Asahi was totally messing with him.

"You're not afraid I'll tell Captain Cyllene?" Volo asked in disbelief. "You're hiding your origins. If she finds out, you'll be exiled from Jubilife!"

Asahi gave him a look like he was an idiot.

"And you think she'd just believe you? Cyllene's not an idiot."

"I'm with the Ginkgo Guild—"

"And I'm the Galaxy Team's energy cube supplier. All I have to say is your guild got jealous of my business and tried to start a trade war. Then what will you do?" Asahi said calmly.

"....."

Volo had thought this negotiation was in the bag—but Asahi had flipped the script on him in the very first move.

It wasn't that he wasn't clever.

It's just that Asahi was way too slippery.

"Now then…" Asahi smiled. "Volo, was it? I don't know what shady business you're here for, but I know a schemer when I see one."

"And you wouldn't want Captain Cyllene finding out you tried to threaten me, right?"

"???"

Wait—who's the villain here, again?!

But despite being threatened, Volo wasn't panicked. He wasn't just some ordinary merchant.

He still had cards left to play.

Might as well play along for now and see what Asahi was really after.

Putting on a nervous front, he asked, "Then… what do you want?"

Asahi could tell this guy was faking it. Anyone who could make deals with Giratina wasn't going to break a sweat that easily.

Believing him would be like believing Giovanni was on a beach vacation in shorts.

Still, Asahi didn't expose him. Instead, he smiled. "Actually, I've had enough of the Galaxy Team myself. Why don't we join forces and overthrow them? You'll be my vice-leader, I'll lead the new Rocket era!"

"...Huh?!"

This time, Volo was genuinely stunned.