The Dragon Trio were strange existences in their own right. Zekrom was the dragon of ideals, Reshiram the dragon of truth, and Kyurem represented the fusion of ideals and truth—something almost tied to belief itself.
Maybe the God Stone was Kyurem, and it simply needed enough power to awaken.
As for Zekrom and Reshiram, in Gary's opinion, there was definitely more than one of each.
The Zekrom that Ash had encountered right after arriving in the Unova Region was definitely not the one connected to N, and the Reshiram at Eindoak Town wasn't N's either.
And if Zekrom and Reshiram weren't unique, then Kyurem certainly wasn't. There had to be more than one Kyurem out there.
Among the top-tier Legendary Pokémon Gary knew of, at least two kinds existed in multiples, and there were more than three Lugia. He figured most top-tier Legendaries weren't one of a kind—though not all of them could match the strongest individual of their own species.
If any Legendary in this world was truly unique, it could only be Arceus, along with the Creation Trio and Hoopa. All the other Legendaries existed in plural.
Even the Creation Trio and Hoopa weren't necessarily singular, because the anime's Pokémon world contained parallel dimensions, so other versions of them should exist in those parallel worlds too.
Still, this was all just Gary's inference. At the very least, he had never seen a second set of the space-time dragons.
Hawes led Gary to the front desk to settle the payment, then returned to the section where the meteorites and unusual stones were displayed. He lifted the glass case and handed the God Stone over to Gary.
Gary took the God Stone. It felt cool to the touch, its surface smooth—a bit like a polished river pebble. But its coloring was completely plain, with no translucence at all. In terms of looks, it couldn't even compare to glass.
Hawes had handed the stone over very quickly, as if afraid Gary might change his mind.
"Gary, would you like to look at the other unusual stones? I have plenty of old ones here," Hawes offered.
Hawes couldn't see anything good about the God Stone. He simply assumed Gary liked old things, so he might as well take the chance to sell off every unusual stone in the museum.
The stones weren't worth much, and they took up display space. Trading them for some money was a good deal.
"I'll keep looking. If anything catches my eye, I'll buy it," Gary said.
"Please, follow me."
Now certain that Gary was a generous customer, Hawes's commentary grew even more animated—but Gary had no interest whatsoever in the remaining stones.
"Mr. Hawes, which Pokémon is this fossil from?"
When they reached the fossil section, Gary noticed a complete fossil housed in a glass container, its surface fully exposed.
"That's a fossil I discovered in the Unova Region's desert. We've confirmed it dates back hundreds of millions of years. It's very precious," Hawes said.
"Is it for sale?" Gary asked.
"Sorry, the fossils aren't for sale. This one is the property of Nacrene City," Hawes said.
"That's a pity."
Gary looked at the fossil with genuine regret, because it was very special—not an ordinary fossil Pokémon, but one connected to Genesect.
The shape exposed on the fossil's surface looked very similar to Genesect's form when it retracted its body. What's more, this huge slab of stone didn't contain just one Genesect—there were three, their outlines all clearly visible. With restoration technology, every one of them could be revived.
"Dear, you're here too?"
At that moment, a voice carried down the corridor.
Gary and Hawes both looked toward the passage and saw a Black woman with a big, voluminous head of dark blue hair walking over, followed by an elderly man with gray hair.
The old man wore a black suit. Despite his age, he looked very gentlemanly, carrying himself with the air of a social elite—clearly someone of a certain standing.
"Lenora, weren't you resting? What are you doing here? And who is this gentleman?" Hawes asked in surprise.
Seeing Hawes gesture toward the old man beside her, Lenora made the introduction. "This is Mr. Bronius, a businessman. He wants to buy one of the unusual stones in the museum, so I brought him over."
"Buy an unusual stone?!"
Hawes was startled, then glanced at Gary.
Normally, nobody ever bought these stones—why were they suddenly so popular today? Had the market for unusual stones changed? And they both wanted that same plain, ordinary rock, no less.
"That's right. I saw the stone in a photograph and learned it was kept in this museum. I hope to purchase it—I'm willing to offer two million," Bronius said, wasting no words and naming his price directly.
"Ah… that stone." Hawes said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, but this young man has already bought it."
Bronius's eyes, previously narrowed to slits, opened as he looked at Gary. "My friend, would you be willing to sell the stone? Say the word, and the two million is yours."
Hawes was dumbstruck. He had sold the stone for one million, and Bronius had immediately offered two. When had that rock become so valuable? Had he really been that careless?
As a researcher, Hawes had naturally tested the meteorites and unusual stones in the Gym before, but he'd never detected any special energy in them. Besides, the stone that Bronius and Gary both wanted had sat in the museum for ages, and none of the curators over the years had ever studied it closely or found anything special about it.
Gary studied Bronius and recognized him as one of Team Plasma's Seven Sages. Team Plasma's boss, Ghetsis, was also one of the Seven Sages, and Bronius ranked just below him—effectively Team Plasma's second-in-command.
Bronius must know the connection between the God Stone and Kyurem, so there was no way Gary would hand it over.
That said, in the anime's plot, only two Team Plasma figures had appeared: Ghetsis and Colress. The Seven Sages never showed up, and even N had betrayed Ghetsis in the anime, standing on the side of justice.
The Seven Sages never got their moment in the anime's storyline, but aside from Ghetsis, the other six were all old men like Bronius. Their Pokémon weren't especially strong, and Gary wasn't the least bit afraid.
"My friend, this stone is very important to me. Name your price." Bronius wore the expression of a man determined to win, the words "money is no object" practically written across his face.
Hawes was overwhelmed with regret. He'd heard Gary offer one million and closed the deal on the spot. He should have haggled the price up back then. Now the money and goods had changed hands, and it had nothing to do with him anymore.