— — — — — —
"Oh please, a bunch of pervs!"
Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "So what if it's a time-stop item? Our world literally has Time-Turners! That thing can even take me back in time! You see me bragging about it?"
With her current grades, she figured she had a decent shot at applying for one.
And considering how much attention Dumbledore was giving her lately, she was pretty confident.
But right now, most of her energy was going into researching bloodline fusion and developing dragon bloodline potions.
Not to mention learning magic, analyzing Sage Chakra, and now she had to deal with Reiatsu too?
Ugh! Even with Shadow Clones helping her out, she still felt like there wasn't enough time in the day.
"Oh right!"
Everyone else suddenly had a lightbulb moment.
Hentai Renzo looked at Hermione with a sparkle in his eye and said, "Hey, try to get one of those time-stop gadgets for us to study! Let's see if it works across different worlds!"
"Yeah, good idea!"
The others quickly joined in, hyping her up.
Not that they were all thinking dirty thoughts or anything — but when it comes to time-based tools, everyone takes that seriously.
If they could gain control over time, that'd be a total game-changer.
"Just a heads-up."
Aizen spoke up, "Anything involving time isn't going to be that simple."
"First off, it might not even work in other worlds. And even if we fully analyze it, recreating it will probably take a ridiculous amount of mental energy."
"So your best bet is to focus on completing the Reiatsu analysis, work on boosting your spiritual and mental energy, and like me, store up excess power in advance."
"Otherwise, you'll just be looking at it without ever being able to use it — that's even worse."
He spoke from plenty of personal experience. Though… his bodiless days were finally coming to an end.
"Speaking of which!"
Suddenly, Gundam Renzo rubbed his chin and said, "If I remember right, Aizen, your world has spirit particle conversion tech, right? The one that turns physical bodies into reishi?"
"Didn't Ichigo and the others use that the first time they went to Soul Society? Reishi Henkanki?"
"Why haven't you brought that over for us to study? If we could convert our bodies into spirit form anytime we wanted, we could tap into the full power of our Shinigami abilities."
If they could shift into spirit form whenever, even without fully integrating Reiatsu into their source energy, they'd still be able to use their full Shinigami strength on demand.
"Smart thinking."
Aizen smiled approvingly, "That's definitely doable. Even after we fully merge Reiatsu, I'll still research that transformation method. In certain situations, it can be really useful."
"But don't forget — the real goal is to fuse Reiatsu into source energy, so we can use all our abilities together."
"Once you shift into spirit form, you lose access to a lot of your physical body's power. Don't forget that!"
Even Fullbringer and Quincy powers were deeply connected to reishi and spiritual energy.
He could theoretically research Quincy bloodlines to allow use of Reiatsu in a physical state…
But honestly? No point.
Once they fully merge Reiatsu into source energy, it'll be super easy to do all that — and it'll be way more effective than anything the Quincies came up with.
"True, good point."
Gundam Renzo nodded. "Alright, let's focus on analyzing Reiatsu first then."
"No objections here."
"+1"
"Agreed."
"Let's do it!"
Nobody argued.
Who wouldn't want to be able to use full Shinigami power in human form as soon as possible?
"Alright, let's call it a day. I'm gonna head back and work on merging Sage chakra."
With that, Uchiha Renzo dipped out.
The others also started to leave.
"Yo~ Fairy Tail, wait up!" x2
Hermione and Python called out to Fairy Tail Renzo at the same time.
"Hm?"
He looked confused. "What's up? Something wrong?"
"Of course there is."
Hermione nodded. "Hurry up and get that purified sub-dragon blood analyzed. I'm in a hurry to use it."
"Yeah, same!"
Python nodded rapidly. "Also, once the Dragon Slayers arrive from the past, make sure you learn their Dragon Slayer magic!"
"Or, just hit up Laxus and learn Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic first. That works too!"
Python was clearly eyeing those spells with interest.
"Uhh…"
Fairy Tail Renzo looked a little exasperated. "Is that really necessary? Once you fuse with the dragon bloodline and fully transform, won't you just naturally gain Dragon Slayer magic anyway? Why go through all that trouble?"
"Besides, Laxus isn't exactly the sharing type. Learning his ultimate Lightning Dragon Slayer magic from him? That's gonna be really tough."
Sure, Laxus hadn't reached that full rebellious phase yet,but he was already pretty damn proud and hard-headed.
Hermione chimed in with a confident grin."That's easy! Just make a batch of powerful lightning-type attacks using Lightning Ninjutsu, Electric-type Pokémon skills, Kido, whatever works—and offer them up as trade! I bet even Laxus wouldn't be able to turn that down!"
Everyone had their price—especially if the offer was good enough.
"…Fine, I'll give it a shot," Fairy Renzo said after thinking it over.
— — —
Pokémon World —
After regaining consciousness, Eevee, who was perched on Cynthia's shoulder, looked at her and said softly, "Cynthia, I want to make a trip to the Seafoam Islands near Fuchsia City."
"Red Queen just picked up a signal… there's been a sighting of Articuno near there. I really want to check it out—it might be important for my next evolution. Can we go?"
Eevee's eyes sparkled with hopeful puppy energy as he looked up at her.
"Huh?" Cynthia blinked, slightly surprised. "Articuno? One of the legendary birds, right? I've never actually seen one either. If it's that important to you, then sure, let's go!"
Without hesitation, she canceled her original plan and released her Garchomp, letting it hover in the air.
Cynthia leapt lightly onto its back, gave it a pat, and commanded, "Garchomp! Let's go! Head for Saffron City!"
"…Um," Eevee said awkwardly, "you know we could just teleport, right? I've already mastered high-level teleportation. I left a coordinate marker the last time we passed through Saffron to visit Sabrina."
"Nope!" Cynthia firmly shook her head. "This is for your safety, Eevee."
"I've got a strong feeling Team Rocket has already set their sights on us."
"It's probably because of how unique you are. They might've figured out more than we expected. You've felt it too, haven't you?"
"So for now, let's play it safe and keep some cards hidden."
"If we suddenly teleport from Lavender Town straight to Saffron… even an idiot would realize something shady's going on."
Cynthia had promised to protect Eevee—and she meant it. She wasn't about to let Eevee expose his trump cards unless absolutely necessary.
Sure, she already knew he was ridiculously strong.
But she still wouldn't let him use certain moves unless absolutely necessary—they were just too flashy.
She wasn't strong enough yet to guarantee his protection or shut down the greedy eyes watching from the shadows.
Sometimes, the real danger isn't the criminal underworld—it's the League itself.
With dark organizations, Cynthia could go all out, no rules needed.
But with the League? Totally different story. (Unless she didn't care about dragging her whole family down and being labeled a criminal.)
"…Fine, you win," Eevee muttered, a little pouty.
He quietly wished, "Hope Uchiha hurries up and finishes integrating Sage Chakra. That way I'll have more options—more stealthy ones too."
Eevee could already use magic to simulate Pokémon energy and skills like it was second nature. But chakra? That still hadn't been fully integrated.
"Damn you, Team Rocket… I'm not done with you yet!"
Fuming, Eevee clung to Cynthia as they soared through the skies on Garchomp. It took them a full day before they finally arrived in Saffron City.
The moment they entered city limits—whoosh!—a figure blinked into view right beside them.
"Eevee! Cynthia! You came back to see me already?! Yay! (>▽<)/"
Sabrina beamed as she snatched Eevee from Cynthia's shoulder and affectionately rubbed her cheek against his.
"Ah—Sabrina! Don't scare me like that!" Cynthia laughed, ruffling Sabrina's hair. "We're actually heading to the airport here to catch a flight to Vermilion City, then taking a boat to Fuchsia City."
"…Oh, "Sabrina's cheerful smile dimmed a little. "So… you didn't come just to see me…"
That hit them both a little hard—especially Eevee, who looked guilty.
After thinking for a second, he perked up and said, "Actually, Sabrina, you can come with us! Bring Uncle and Auntie too! It'll be like a little vacation trip to Fuchsia together!"
"They've got famous hot springs there, you know! It'll be fun!"
It was a decent compromise, and a way to cheer her up too.
.
.
.