After the competition, the senior high school students returned to their rigorous cultural studies.
Thanks to prior arrangements made by his father, Victor was granted leave from school. After saying goodbye to Tessa and Roman, he stepped into the bustling streets.
Walking on the street, victor, who was usually busy with training, fighting and practicing, rarely had some free time.
With some rare free time on his hands, Victor decided to explore the Spiral Secret Realm.
Having reached elite-level strength with Carbink, Victor was now eligible to enter the Spiral Secret Realm. However, his cautious nature urged him to take extra precautions.
He headed to the nearest Pokémon Center and called Uncle Lux at the gym.
"I need to borrow Dad's Arcanine," Victor said.
Uncle Lux promptly transferred the Poké Ball containing the Arcanine to the Center's machine.
Victor released Arcanine and confirmed the arrangements over the phone. Then, he fed Arcanine an energy cube from his bag.
"Sorry to trouble you again today," Victor said with a smile.
"Arca!" Arcanine barked enthusiastically.
---
The forest of the Spiral Secret Realm was as serene as ever.
Victor released Arcanine and climbed onto its back.
With its exceptional speed—rumored to be able to cover 10,000 kilometers in a day—Arcanine easily traversed the distance that would have taken Victor a full day on foot in just half an hour.
This time, Victor wasn't heading to the Scyther clan. His goal was the towering structure near the center of the realm: the Dragonspiral Tower.
As they approached the lake surrounding the tower, Victor crossed the stone bridge that connected it. Under the imposing presence of Arcanine, no wild Pokémon dared to interfere.
Standing before the Dragonspiral tower, Victor marveled at its timelessness. Dust covered its exterior, yet the structure remained intact and imposing.
---
Inside, the darkness was overwhelming, with only faint rays of sunlight filtering through narrow windows. Victor activated a high-powered flashlight and began descending the spiraling staircase.
The silence was broken only by the echo of his footsteps and the occasional flutter of Zubat and Golbat wings.
Time seemed to stand still as Victor descended deeper. When he extended his Aura, it stretched far—30 meters, 100 meters—but still didn't reach the bottom.
---
Suddenly, a disturbance in the Aura caught his attention. A faint ripple appeared, as if he'd triggered something.
The tower began to tremble, and mysterious energy surged from below.
"Buzz, buzz—"
The vibrations synchronized with the tower's energy, and then—
A blinding white light shot up from the depths, too fast for Victor to react.
His vision went dark.
---✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
"prpr~"
A hot and wet tongue licked his face. , victor who was sleeping soundly on the ground, pushed away Arcanine's head that was pressing on his face with some impatience.
Wait, arcanine head on the ground?
His stagnant thoughts slowly turned, and victor suddenly realized that he was exploring the Dragonspiral tower in the Spiral Secret Realm.
Opening his eyes, Victor could barely see clearly with the light reflected from the strong flashlight on the side.
Arcanine lay beside him, wagging his tail, his brown eyes showing worry.
"Arca ! Arca----."
Victor wanted to get up, but the severe pain from the back of his head made him unable to control himself for a moment.
I reached out and touched the back of my head. The scabbed wound told me that it had just bled.
After taking a short break and sorting out his confused thoughts, victor stood up.
He remembered that he was exploring along the seemingly infinite length of the spiral staircase, and mysterious ripples suddenly appeared somewhere in the space where he used the power of the Aura to move through.
The Dragonspiral tower also began to vibrate at the same time, and then the fluctuations gradually became synchronized with the vibration of the Dragonspiral tower.
Suddenly, a blinding white light appeared from the bottom of the tower and hit him directly before he could react.
Then his eyes went black, his consciousness was fragmented, and he woke up again and it was now.
Several guesses flashed through his mind, but the evidence was insufficient so he had to give up.
Looking up, Victor discovered that the passage out of the tower, which should have been far away from him, was actually right above his head.
He was puzzled, so he sent out Aura to connect with Arcanine and asked, " Arcanine, did you bring me up here?"
"Arca ! Arca~~" (I didn't do it, I appeared here as soon as I opened and closed my eyes.)
Since it wasn't Arcanine who brought him up, then what on earth was going on?
Victor turned over and rode on Arcanine, and soon walked out of the Dragonspiral tower.
---======
Confused but cautious, Victor mounted Arcanine and exited the tower. The twilight sky of the Secret Realm greeted him; it was already evening.
It took so long?! He was a little surprised, after all, he had entered the giant tower in the morning.
But there was nothing he could do about things he couldn't understand. Looking at the sky that was gradually getting darker, Victor rode on his Arcanine and quickly rushed to the exit of the secret realm to go home..
---
At the exit's medical station, a staff member treated Victor's head wound.
"How did you get hurt?" she asked, curious.
This morning she was on duty at the entrance inspection station. The strongest fighter in this secret realm was at most mid-elite level. Naturally, she was impressed by victor, who brought a late stage-professional Arcanine.
He was sitting and enjoying the bandage when he heard the words and raised his eyes to look at the staff.
He remembered that this person seemed to be in charge of testing in the morning?
After thinking for a moment, victor understood the staff's purpose in asking this matter.
Probably because he was a little curious after seeing that he got injured after bringing a late stage-professional Pokémon into the mid-elite level secret realm.
----------
"I fell," Victor replied nonchalantly.
The staff member nodded but didn't press further.
---
Back at home, Victor's father, startled by his son's injury, jumped from the sofa.
"What happened? Didn't I send Arcanine to protect you?"
Victor explained everything about the mysterious white light in the tower.
Father Su rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What could that light have been?"
"I don't know," Victor admitted. "But I'm okay now."
"Well, as long as you're safe. Let's visit the hospital tomorrow to check your head."
---