The moment he chose "Yes," a fiery red Poké Ball appeared in Axel's hand.
At first glance, it seemed like flames were dancing on the surface of the ball.
Axel could clearly feel that these flames carried no burning power, but instead had a sense of divinity, even a breath of life.
"So this is Ho-Oh's Poké Ball? Produced by the system, it truly is a masterpiece," Axel sighed slightly with emotion and impatiently pressed the Poké Ball's mechanism.
A divine flame emerged from the Poké Ball, roaring skyward.
In the next moment, sky changed.
Seven-colored rainbow light pierced through the clouds, turning the entire sky into flowing blocks of color.
Night vanished in an instant, and everything within a ten-mile radius was illuminated by the blazing fire.
Axel could clearly see that all the Pokémon nearby bowed their heads toward the place where Ho-Oh appeared, their eyes full of fervor.
This was a god, the god of Kanto.
As the flames flowed, Ho-Oh's form gradually appeared in Axel's field of vision.
The first to take shape was the tail feathers, three clusters of golden-red flames burned in the sea of clouds, with sparks falling mid-air and forming countless tiny light particles.
The feathers covering its body looked like dusk clouds shredded and re-spun into fine silk; the golden feather rings around its neck flickered with its breathing, and every feather's edge shimmered with a translucent glow.
Golden-red wings, a yellow feathered crown on its head, and feathers shining with rainbow light.
Ho-Oh's appearance was stunning, completely unrelated to the previously mocked mega Fearow before the worlds fused.
Even someone who had never heard of Ho-Oh, upon seeing this magnificent creature, would instinctively think of two words: "God!"
Axel's heart stirred as he used the panel to check Ho-Oh's stats.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
— Ho-Oh: Level 1 (Rainbow Pokémon, flies endlessly across the world's skies with its radiant wings, a mythical Pokémon.)
— Type: Fire + Flying
— Ability: Regenerator (Restores a small amount of HP after battle or upon returning to the Poké Ball)
— Moves: Gust, Whirlwind, Ancient Power, Weather Ball, Sacred Fire
— Potential: ???
— Held Item: None
— Tags: Rebirth (Supreme), God of Flames (Supreme), Flight Mastery (Purple)
• Rebirth: Possesses powerful regenerative ability; even if killed, can revive after a certain time. When Ho-Oh is alive, the Trainer can also share this effect.
• God of Flames: Fire-type move power +100%, instant-cast all fire-type moves, ignores all negative effects after using fire-type moves.
• Flight Mastery: Flying-type move power +30%, slight increase in casting speed.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
After seeing Ho-Oh's stats, Axel couldn't help but feel a tingling on his scalp.
After Gardevoir, his team had welcomed another Pokémon with Supreme-level Tags.
And this Pokémon had two Supreme Tags.
Rebirth needed no explanation, it should be an advanced version of the Resurrection Tag from Mewtwo, even allowing both himself and Ho-Oh to be revived.
In Axel's view, even more powerful was that God of Flames Tag.
Instant casting of any fire-type move, and ignoring post-cast negative effects.
In fire-type moves, many would reduce the user's stats or cause self-damage after casting.
Overheat, with a whopping 130 power, was one such move.
But with this Tag, it meant Ho-Oh could instantly cast several, even a dozen maxed-out Overheat moves.
"Ho-Oh, come here!"
Hearing Axel's voice, Ho-Oh, who was hovering in the air flapping its wings, immediately flew in his direction.
Its eyes held no emotion, like a machine, but Axel could feel that this was a real, living being.
Its body was also slightly larger than recorded in books, clearly more well-developed.
Its height was about five meters, wingspan nearly twenty meters, and its broad back could easily accommodate both Axel and Gardevoir.
Even after sitting on Ho-Oh's back, Gardevoir hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing it.
Back when the Rainbow Rocket Team attacked, Gardevoir had seen Ho-Oh in action.
In a one-on-one scenario, it could suppress most gods.
'Such a powerful being, how did my trainer capture it?'
Also... Gardevoir didn't even know when Axel caught this.
Gardevoir looked at Axel full of confusion, completely turning into a real fool.
'Could it be my trainer has transmigrated too?'
'But the timeline doesn't match!'
'Could it be my trainer transmigrated twice?'
'Emmm... can't figure it out, not gonna think about it.'
'Anyway, it's my trainer, the stronger, the better.'
While Gardevoir was lost in wild thoughts, the distant sky also began to brighten.
That fiery red sky seemed to share the same origin as Ho-Oh, but its range was even more vast, everywhere visible was covered in crimson.
Axel blinked. If he wasn't mistaken, the Ho-Oh from Kanto had appeared.
He just didn't know how that one would react upon seeing this Ho-Oh...
———
In the distant sky, Kanto's Ho-Oh's eyes were full of confusion.
It didn't understand, 'When did another Ho-Oh appear here?'
From the looks of it, the aura was still weak, but that divine flame on its body absolutely couldn't be faked.
It was definitely a genuine Ho-Oh.
When it got within about ten kilometers, Ho-Oh stopped flapping its wings.
It noticed that the small Ho-Oh seemed a bit off.
'It seems to lack consciousness.'
'Is it because it just emerged?'
'But it is clearly bigger than me.'
Ho-Oh couldn't make sense of it, but seeing that there was a Trainer beside the smaller Ho-Oh, it still didn't recklessly approach.
'Emmm...'
Since they were the same kind, it decided to form a good relationship.
With a thought, Ho-Oh dropped a tail feather shining with rainbow light, quickly drifting toward Axel...
———
Seeing the rainbow-colored feather land beside him, Axel paused for a moment.
If he wasn't mistaken, this should be the Rainbow Wing, a key item in the Pokémon world.
According to legend, this was the item Ho-Oh used to test heroes. But he had never planned to capture the Kanto Ho-Oh.
When it came to legendary beasts, Axel was content with just one of each.
Thinking this, Axel placed the Rainbow Wing directly onto his own Ho-Oh.
The moment it made contact, the Rainbow Wing instantly turned into a streak of seven-colored light, merging into Ho-Oh's body in a flash.
An explosive holy flame emerged from within Ho-Oh, enveloping both Gardevoir and Axel.
Ho-Oh's level also began to skyrocket.
Level ten... twenty... twenty-nine...
Even after reaching level twenty-nine, Ho-Oh's level kept slowly rising.
After about a minute, it stopped at level thirty.
In Ho-Oh's panel, three new moves had also appeared: Air Slash, Safeguard, Calm Mind.
"This is pretty much perfect now."
Axel smiled with satisfaction and was about to ride Ho-Oh with Gardevoir back to Pallet Town when he suddenly heard a strange yet familiar cry from Ho-Oh's mouth.
"Ho~Oh~!"
Upon hearing that chirping sound, Axel's heart suddenly pounded.
According to his understanding of the Ho-Oh just now, this little guy clearly only had a body, but no consciousness.
'Then what was up with that chirping just now?'
"Little guy," Axel tried calling out.
The Ho-Oh turned its neck, locked eyes with Axel, and blinked gently.
In its gaze, there was clearly a bit more intimacy and affection than before.
"You're conscious now?"
"Ho-Oh!", The Ho-Oh tried its best to stretch its neck as long as possible, gently rubbing against the bodies of Axel and Gardevoir.
Axel and Gardevoir exchanged a smile.
Now their team also had a fully evolved divine beast cub.
A family of three, all mythical beasts, who else could compare?
"Let's go, Ho-Oh, fly straight to Pallet Town!"
"Ho~Oh!"
The Ho-Oh let out a call, flapped its wings, stirring up a strong air current, and flew toward Pallet Town.
Gardevoir glanced at the surrounding environment, and suddenly recalled the location where the Clefairies resided.
In the previous life, Gardevoir was never able to evolve, and even had trouble being properly nurtured.
Axel searched everywhere for guides, and after hearing about the events on Mt. Moon, resolutely brought Gardevoir to Kanto.
During that journey to Mt. Moon, Axel had spent nearly all his savings to buy a spot on the outskirts, allowing Ralts to receive the fairy-type energy summoned during the Clefairies' ritual.
Since they were here in this life too, Gardevoir didn't plan on missing this opportunity.
With their current strength and potential, they should be able to easily secure a more central position and significantly boost their strength.
Thinking this, Gardevoir shook Axel's arm.
She pointed toward Mt. Moon, ["Master... that mountain looks pretty... want to go..."]
"You want to go there?", Axel thought for a moment and finally nodded.
"But we'll need to wait a bit, okay? After we go home today, let's rest first. Then I plan to challenge Pewter Gym."
"Once that's done, we'll head to Mt. Moon, how about it?"
Pewter Gym was a place Axel had long planned to visit.
Last time, after triggering a passive tag from Brock, his cooking and nurturing abilities had both greatly improved.
This had indirectly brought a significant boost to his training skills.
If he could trigger another in the real world, and the two tags could fuse, he might easily surpass Brock's cooking skills.
"Garde~"
Gardevoir leaned in Axel's arms and nodded softly, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned.
She just knew her master would never refuse her requests.
She only had to remember where the opportunities were from her past life, and then take her master flying.
As for trust issues and such, she didn't have to worry about them at all.
———
The next day, when Axel woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
Because she knew Axel didn't have anything going on today, Aunt Delia hadn't come to wake him up.
However, Daisy gave him a call, asking if he wanted to go to Mt. Moon to participate in the upcoming Clefairy Festival.
Axel originally intended to decline Daisy, but recalling that Gardevoir also wanted to go to Mt. Moon, he agreed.
When he went downstairs, Delia was already preparing lunch.
"Axel, you're awake. Were you tired yesterday from going to Professor Oak's place?"
"I heard you've become Professor Oak's researcher—on par with Ash and Gary now."
"Today Ash and Gary officially went out traveling, but I bought a lot of ingredients."
"For lunch, we're having creamy buns, mushroom brain oil soup, and truffle grilled sausage. Let's celebrate properly."
"Thanks, Aunt Delia," Looking at the ingredients in her hands, Axel couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead.
If he wasn't wrong, cooking today was again going to be full of Aunt Delia's startled screams...
Very soon, under Aunt Delia's extremely easily misunderstood methods, the two finished cooking the meal.
Since Ash wasn't around, Axel became Aunt Delia's only one to care for.
"Axel, have a creamy bun. Auntie kneaded it by hand, so soft and round."
"Don't cut open this sausage. You have to swallow it in one bite to enjoy the flavor. Watch me demonstrate."
"Ah~ (one bite swallowed)"
"See? Isn't that just right?"
"Y-yes, Aunt Delia, you're amazing..."
After spending a few hours alone with Aunt Delia, Axel finally understood the true weight of the phrase "Auntie, I'm your husband."
Not exaggerated at all.
Luckily, the meal didn't take too long. After eating, Axel added Aunt Delia as a contact.
After promising to visit again next time, he set off for Pewter City.
Due to the large number of people nearby, Axel didn't summon the Ho-Oh this time, choosing instead to walk with Gardevoir and Pheromosa.
In Axel's view, Kanto's public security was slightly worse than Aurient's.
If they were in Aurient, he could ride the Ho-Oh openly in the city without a second thought.
But in Kanto...
It was fine to use it during battle, but parading it around, better not for now.
Pewter City wasn't far from Pallet Town, and Axel's group didn't rush, they basically walked and played along the way.
After a day, Duraludon and Dragonair had gotten very familiar with each other.
The general routine was Dragonair teasing and messing with wild Pokémon along the way. Whenever it saw Caterpie or Weedle types, it'd casually fire off a weakest-power attack.
Each time that happened, Duraludon would rush over to apologize profusely.
As the dragon clan's great general, he felt obligated to protect all his dragon kin companions.
As for other companions, Duraludon said he couldn't protect them for now, maybe after some observation.
.
.
.
.
By noon the next day, Axel and the group passed through the last forest and finally arrived at a city's entrance.
Along a quiet stone path, there stood a sign completely made of rock.
[Welcome to Pewter City. The Gym Leader here, Brock, is a man as strong as rock!]
"..."
Seeing the gym's signboard, Axel was utterly speechless.
It was hard to imagine that Kanto's weakest gym leader could be such a confident man.
'Since that's the case...'
'Let this rock-strong man take on the Ho-Oh!'