In the northwest of Mt. Coronet in the Sinnoh Region, within a primeval forest, an abrupt icy field would occasionally see the sudden appearance of pitch-black Spacial Rifts.
But before the Spacial Rifts could expand any further, they would retract on their own and ultimately vanish into nothing.
Sato, Cynthia, and Fujin stood silently at the edge of the icy field, quietly watching the scene unfold before them.
There was nothing they could do, only stand and watch.
"…This is already the tenth day. The frequency of the Spacial Rifts hasn't increased, but it hasn't decreased much either."
Fujin spoke slowly, clearly growing increasingly impatient with Gengar.
But Sato shook his head. "Still, my Gengar hasn't made a single mistake. It has handled every rift alone."
Fujin nodded. He had to admit, Gengar's ability to suppress space was completely on par with him, a Champion Trainer.
However… it still wasn't a cure!
---◓---
Meanwhile, within the dimensional space -where there was no concept of time or distinction between light and dark- Gengar kept its golden eyes wide open, never stopping its observation of the surroundings.
Suddenly, an eerie spatial fluctuation surged forth, and the dimensional space seemed to be punctured, letting in a burst of light.
A Spacial Rift had appeared, forcefully linking the two worlds!
Gengar, already on alert, floated straight toward the rift and casually activated a space lock.
In the next moment, a mysterious wave of spatial energy appeared on its own, mending the rift.
Soon, the Spacial Rift disappeared, but a significant portion of that mysterious energy still lingered.
Gengar's golden eyes gleamed. With a wave of its hand, it gathered the energy over!
The mysterious spatial energy was enveloped by Gengar's Spatial energy. At first, it struggled slightly, but it was quickly assimilated, absorbed, and strengthened!
Gengar grinned wide, its eyes filled with joy and satisfaction.
In just ten days, its control over Spatial energy had already more than doubled.
At the same time, it had discovered the key to completely resolving the Spacial Rift problem.
First, Gengar theorized that during the ancient battle between Dialga and Palkia, the passage between the two spaces had been accidentally shattered.
As space began to repair itself, the two "realms" instead became entangled and fused together.
If the Pokémon world and the dimensional world were like two elastic membranes, then pulling them apart created a kind of "wound."
So the emergence of Spacial Rifts was a form of growing pain during the worlds' self-repair process.
Next, both worlds would send forth Spatial energy to aid the healing.
And Gengar's role was like a platelet, coagulating the wounds and helping them heal more quickly!
But without Gengar's help, Spacial Rifts were difficult to close on their own and often grew larger the more they tore.
Fujin's Weavile and Froslass were strong enough that their Ice-type moves could even freeze space itself, so they also served a "platelet" function.
However, precisely because they were too powerful, their freezing of the "wound" often buried hidden dangers; or even created new "wounds" entirely.
Over the centuries, Gengar was not the first Pokémon to discover the root cause of Spacial Rift formation.
But no matter how strong the others were, they were powerless when it came to actually mending space.
So for hundreds of years, the only solution was the dumbest one…
Freeze every Spacial Rift that appeared!
Until Sato arrived with a Gengar who had "mastered" Spatial energy. Only then did the hope of fundamentally eliminating Spacial Rifts finally emerge.
And any Spacial Rift eliminated with Gengar's help would leave behind no hidden dangers or side effects whatsoever. So, the number of Spacial Rifts would only continue to decrease.
As for why the number hadn't dropped even after ten days…?
It could only be said that the hidden dangers accumulated over hundreds of years were just too staggering!
Which also made it easy to imagine just how terrifying Fujin's workload had been when handling Spacial Rifts alone.
---◓---
"Take it slow. How's the synchronization method I taught you yesterday coming along?"
Fujin didn't dwell on it any longer. Even if Gengar couldn't fully cure the problem, he'd just treat this as a vacation.
Worst case, before dying, he'd have the League send someone to guard this place. He wouldn't be able to worry about it by then anyway.
So, he shifted the topic to the two's training.
"Hmm, the results are amazing!"
"Really useful."
At the mention of training, Sato and Cynthia were clearly a lot more enthusiastic.
The synchronization method involved adjusting one's breathing to bring the Trainer and their Pokémon into the same frequency, allowing them to achieve mental resonance and develop deeper-level synergy.
It sounded pretty mystical. In fact, when Sato first heard about it, he wondered if Fujin was messing with them.
And then…
"Zoroark, let's do it again!"
"Zoro~ (^o^)!"
---◓---
The three of them moved a little farther away, trying not to disturb Gengar, who was still hard at work.
Fujin made no visible moves, yet Froslass quietly floated over to him, giggling softly.
"Since you've already learned the synchronization method, the second step is being able to enter the state at any time."
"Fross!"
Froslass came to stand before Sato and Cynthia, lightly pointing to the Poké Balls at their waists.
The two made eye contact and quickly understood that the next part of the training would be done together with their Pokémon partners.
Without hesitation, they each sent out the Pokémon they were most "synchronized" with.
"Garchomp!"
"Zoroark!"
"Frosososososo…"
The laughter drifted off, as if Froslass had vanished completely.
But immediately after, a thick icy mist engulfed the area, obscuring everything.
Since they were practicing the synchronization method, Cynthia and Sato instinctively adjusted their breathing without hesitation.
Yet just as both pairs reached "synchronization", two razor-sharp Ice Shards suddenly shot straight at Sato!
In that instant, Zoroark and Garchomp turned back without hesitation to shield their Trainer, completely unaware they were still in synchronization mode.
First attempt… Failed!
On the other side, Froslass demonstrated a Champion level Pokémon's control ability.
With just a mischievous giggle, the two Ice Shards curved around Sato and Cynthia's faces and flew off, without even touching a single hair.
"Remember this. You must always keep yourselves in a synchronized state. The more dangerous the moment, the more you need it!"
Fujin spoke with rare seriousness, silencing both Sato and Cynthia.
"Again!"
"AYE~" ×2
Soon, Sato and Cynthia re-entered synchronization with their respective Pokémon partners.
But this time, Froslass didn't sneak-attack. Instead, it unleashed a powerful Blizzard directly at them.
Sato and Cynthia's eyes sharpened. They already had a plan in mind.
In a state of synchronization, it was as if the Trainers had lent their minds to the Pokémon. The speed at which commands were issued surpassed even Telepathy!
But this wasn't Telepathy… it was the absolute synchronization of resonance!