It was the start of a new year.
Starlight City was covered in a heavy, bloody cloud of tension.
The death of Sylas, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, made headlines at once. It caused a huge stir and left many people in shock.
Because of this, Rory, who had been unsure about moving for a long time, finally made up his mind. He decided to bring his whole family to the Imperial Capital.
At the same time, the Su family had already sent people to fetch Julia earlier. After such a serious incident, it was no longer safe for her to stay where she was.
Jacob also received many calls from people who were worried about him. Nina and Raya called, and the siblings Amelia and Jeremy even came to visit him in person.
Even his master, Maximus, whom he had not spoken to in a long while, called him without being asked.
"I heard you were attacked by Huxley?" Maximus's deep voice came through the phone. Since being transferred to the East China region to serve as the Chief of the Four Heavenly Kings, Maximus had grown far busier, and the two of them rarely spoke unless something urgent came up.
"Yes," Jacob answered.
"Your voice sounds steady, so I take it you're doing fine." Maximus's tone dropped lower. "This whole matter is stirring up a lot of trouble right now. Keep a low profile for a while. Don't wander off anywhere, and get back to the Imperial Capital as soon as you can."
"Okay," Jacob said, nodding even though Maximus couldn't see him.
"As for your junior brother, I've already spoken to him myself. I told him the Pokémon that saved your life was a gift from me, so he won't cause you any trouble over it," Maximus said, his voice quieter now. "Things may not stay calm for a while. It's best that you remain in the Imperial Capital and don't go anywhere else."
"Understood."
"Remember what I told you — don't go anywhere for now."
After the call ended, Jacob sat in thought.
There was something odd about that call. Maximus had stressed, three separate times, that Jacob needed to stay in the Imperial Capital and go nowhere else.
That was the part that unsettled Jacob the most.
His master had never been a man of many words. He would never repeat the same warning three times without good reason.
There was something else strange too — his master hadn't asked a single question about how Jacob had survived, or which Pokémon he had used. Instead, he went straight to saying he had already talked with Colby.
Could his master have figured out that Jacob was secretly Giovanni?
The more Jacob turned it over in his mind, the more it seemed likely. Otherwise, why would his master need to repeat the same warning three times?
Maximus was probably telling him, without saying it outright, not to act as Giovanni for a while.
Whether or not that was truly a warning, Jacob decided to lie low for now. It was also a good chance to compete honestly in the Gym Leader League.
Meanwhile, the Xia family had been busy as well, with everyone discussing the move.
When Jacob's maternal grandparents learned that the Xia family had decided to settle in the Imperial Capital, they were overjoyed. Now the whole family could live close together, and they would get to see their daughter and grandson far more often.
Once the New Year had passed, Jacob found himself with plenty to do. There were four matters that needed his attention.
The first was the matter of the Gigantamax Centiskorch and Gigantamax Cinderace. He had promised to make it up to Whitney, and he intended to keep that promise. At the same time, he still owed Davis and his sister their rewards.
The second was the Gym Leader League. Jacob now had more than enough strength to compete for the position of Dragon-type Gym Leader in the Imperial Capital. Since Kindler's death, the position had only been held temporarily by the runner-up from before, which meant Jacob had a real chance to claim it.
The third matter concerned Gigantamax itself. Jacob guessed that the eighteen seals of Gigantamax likely corresponded to the eighteen Pokémon types. So far, he had unlocked four: Ice, Fairy, Flying, and Fire. That left fourteen more.
There were probably no Secret Realm Gaps left to find within Redwood Country, so capturing more Gigantamax Pokémon would mean traveling abroad. Since it wasn't convenient for him to leave the country right now, he would have to leave that task to Edwins. Still, if Edwins learned the secret of the Secret Realm Gaps and kept capturing Gigantamax Pokémon on his own, it might feed his ambition. To keep that in check, Jacob decided to send Whitney and Zion along with him, so the three could watch over one another. It wasn't a perfect long-term solution, but it would do for now. He still needed to find someone both trustworthy and strong enough to rely on.
The fourth matter was the laboratory. Construction of the Giant Laboratory was finished, and it was ready to be put to use.
On the surface, Jacob planned for the Giant Laboratory to serve as a proper research facility studying Gigantamax. But secretly, he meant to turn it into a temporary base for Team Rocket, a place to keep his Gigantamax Pokémon safe.
To do that, though, he needed full control over the laboratory, which meant he had to show real, convincing results first.
So Jacob laid out a careful plan.
He would begin by researching the Gigantamax Band. In the past, it had been impossible to build one because the Wishing Star lacked Gigantamax energy. But now that he had unlocked several Gigantamax seals himself, he believed he could finally attempt it.
Building the Gigantamax Band was only the first step. The second step was to construct Gigantamax Gyms, starting with the very first one in the Imperial Capital, to show the world what Gigantamax could do before spreading the idea further. The third step would be to announce Gigantamax publicly, once it had gained enough recognition.
If he could deliver on all three of these achievements, Jacob believed no one would be able to challenge his control over the Giant Laboratory.
Of course, everything depended on whether he could actually build the Gigantamax Band. If that failed, the rest of the plan would fall apart with it.
But if he succeeded in gaining full control of the laboratory, he could then move on to studying artificial Pokémon there as well.
Speaking of artificial Pokémon, a trip to Redwood Country would eventually be needed too. The pull of Mewtwo was simply too strong to ignore.
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Jacob and Julia headed back to the Imperial Capital ahead of the rest of the family, while his father and the others stayed behind in Starlight City to handle the details of the move.
Once he was back, the first thing Jacob did was call Whitney on his satellite phone. He told her he had found a Pokémon that could Gigantamax permanently, and that since he couldn't leave the Imperial Capital for now, she would need to come to him instead.
Whitney simply replied that she would visit whenever she found the time.
After that, Jacob went to the Giant Laboratory to meet with Eleanor. He needed her help to make progress on the Gigantamax Band — after all, she was the trained researcher, while he was only an amateur who could offer ideas.
Jacob spent some time explaining the concept of the Gigantamax Band to her. Eleanor agreed to help without hesitation.
With those two matters settled, Jacob turned his attention back to training his Pokémon, preparing for the Gym Leader Level 3 Professional League that would begin after the Lantern Festival.
At present, his main team stood strong. Dragapult, Charizard, and Sceptile had all reached Gym Leader level. Salamence was at the peak of Gym Leader level, Haxorus had reached Gym Leader level, and Dragonair had just broken through to that same level as well.
This lineup was more than enough for the Gym Leader League. Still, Jacob's team leaned too heavily on one type, which left him vulnerable against Fairy-type opponents. To balance things out, he planned to give Gengar, Cinderace, and Indeedee a chance to prove themselves in battle when the opportunity arose.
As for Diancie, a Legendary Pokémon was simply out of the question for now.
Oh — and there was also Volcarona, who had already reached Gym Leader level.
Thinking it over, Jacob realized he could just as easily follow the path of a Fire-type Trainer. Charizard, Cinderace, and Volcarona were all Fire-type Pokémon, after all.
And once Dragonair evolved into Dragonite, the path of a Flying-type Trainer would open up to him too — Charizard, Salamence, and Dragonite together.
In the end, it made sense. For most Dragon-type Trainers, the road eventually led to becoming a Flying-type Trainer as well.