The moment he noticed the flower, Lucas's brain overloaded.
No way, it really exists here?
The origin of the so-called Eternal Flower had to start from a tragedy many years ago in this world. It was about three thousand years ago. In the Kalos region, separated from Hoenn by only a sea, an extremely brutal war broke out. The war caused the death of King AZ's beloved Pokémon partner, Floette. Unable to accept reality, AZ developed the resurrection device known as the Ultimate Weapon. Through the Ultimate Weapon, he revived Floette and granted her eternal life.
This was the origin of Floette Eternal Flower. From this perspective, the story seemed like a happy fairy tale of a man who, for his beloved Pokémon partner, found a way to revive her and succeeded.
But the name of the resurrection device—"Ultimate Weapon"—already hinted that this revival was suspicious. And that was indeed the case.
After reversing life and death and completing the revival, King AZ did not stop there. He had endured too much sorrow. His anger could not be quelled. He could not forgive the warring sides that had harmed his beloved Pokémon, nor this world. He modified the Ultimate Weapon to be more offensive, turning it into a god of destruction that annihilated everything.
The war also ended under the crushing force of that equal power. Because of the Ultimate Weapon's influence, King AZ, like the revived Floette, gained eternal life.
But Floette eventually learned that whether reviving or destroying, the cost of powering the Ultimate Weapon was the life energy of countless Pokémon—their lives and sacrifices. Disappointed in AZ, Floette chose to leave him.
AZ felt pain from Floette's departure, but because of his eternal life, he could not even seek death. He could only embark on a journey to find Floette, beginning a long period of wandering.
This was a fairy tale from the Kalos region with a tragic hue. And the flower on the revived Floette's hand had changed because of this. That was the "Eternal Flower" now before Lucas's eyes.
Unlike other Floette, Eternal Flower Floette not only had its base stats raised from a total of 371 to 551, but it also mastered the Fairy-type special attack move with the highest normal power besides Z-Moves—"Light of Ruin." In the games, its base power was a full 140.
There were no other Floette around, yet the Eternal Flower bloomed quietly among the flowers. Everyone simply treated it as an ordinary flower with some unique characteristics.
Lucas remembered that in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, there was indeed this Easter egg in Sootopolis City in the game, but he hadn't expected the same situation to appear in reality.
Noticing his pause, Wallace stopped, turned around, observed for a few seconds, and followed Lucas's gaze to also discover the "Eternal Flower." As if understanding something, a smile appeared at the corner of Wallace's mouth.
"If you like it, just pick it."
"Huh?"
Lucas was slightly stunned, a puzzled expression appearing on his face. It could be picked?
With his keen observation, Wallace noticed his confusion. Instead of explaining directly, he searched the surroundings with his eyes. Soon, he spotted an elderly couple holding flowers and had Lucas look that way.
"This is also a small tradition of Sootopolis City. Everyone believes that picking a flower from the flower field near this long-lived great tree and taking it home to care for carefully will allow them to share in the tree's health and longevity. So people often pick a few flowers without damaging the flower field and take them away.
"If you like it, feel free to pick it. Preserving it is indeed a problem, but if it's your Grass-type Pokémon with healing abilities, it should have a way, right?"
Wallace still had a deep impression of the fresh flowers on Comfey and mentioned it naturally.
"Comfey is actually a Fairy-type Pokémon… but you're right, it does have the ability to preserve flowers."
Lucas explained, then took out Comfey' Poké Ball.
"Then I'll leave it to you to preserve it for me temporarily."
As he spoke, Lucas pressed the button on the Poké Ball. Comfey appeared before him and Wallace, bringing a fragrant scent with her.
Since Wallace had said so, Lucas followed his own wish and, using Comfey' ability to preserve flower vitality, picked the Eternal Flower. He was indeed somewhat interested in the Eternal Flower and planned to bring it back to the farm and transplant it into the flower field in the glass greenhouse first.
Speaking of which. Since the "Eternal Flower" truly existed, then King AZ should currently be wandering somewhere in the Kalos region, right? Perhaps he had already reunited with Floette?
If the Legends series was released smoothly, after Legends: Arceus, the Unova and Kalos stories in the Legends series should open one after another. Perhaps in the Kalos story of the Legends series, AZ could appear as an NPC to complete or continue his story with Floette? For example, AZ becoming the owner of some inn?
Such an absurd thought emerged in his mind. Lucas smiled, thinking his imagination was truly rich.
The Sootopolis City tour ended with an explanation of the large number of murals in the Attraction—the fake Cave of Origin. As the busy Hoenn Champion, Wallace was able to spare an entire day to accompany him on sightseeing. It could only be said that he truly regarded Lucas as a good friend worth deepening ties with.
With the Wallace Cup approaching, to avoid distracting Wallace, Lucas also mentioned that he would leave Sootopolis City the next day.
…
January 20th, early morning.
Outside the Sootopolis Gym, Wallace's flashy sports car was parked by the roadside. Juan, Lisia, and Sebastian stood to the side, exchanging simple farewells with Lucas.
"To live up to your teachings, please look forward to it. I, Lisia, will definitely become the strongest Contest idol!"
Lisia's eyes sparkled as she held Lucas's hands, as if making a promise.
"…Then do your best?"
Lucas replied cautiously. He had a vague feeling that he had somehow turned a perfectly good cute idol into a battle idol.
After chatting with Juan for a while longer, he got into the sports car with Wallace. Accompanied by the roaring start of the engine, the sports car gradually disappeared from everyone's view.
There was still some distance to the Sootopolis City port, so Wallace curiously asked, "Where do you plan to go next for fun?"
Lucas didn't hide anything and told him about going to Lavaridge Town to soak in the hot springs and heading to LaRousse City to fulfill an appointment.
"LaRousse City, huh? That's a famous city in our Hoenn region. Many people go there for a visit. The hot springs in Lavaridge Town are also excellent. But are you sure you want to participate in the Battle Tower exhibition match?"
Wallace stroked his chin and said meaningfully. As far as he knew, there was a senior in the League who had recently scheduled a trip to LaRousse City.
"The exhibition match isn't the main point. Besides, participating in one won't affect anything."
Wallace might not know the nature of the exhibition match, but Lucas did. Putting aside who the opponent would be, at least in Lucas's view, the other party had suddenly invited him—a person from the Paldea region—to LaRousse City. It definitely wasn't just for the exhibition match. There were probably deeper reasons, and the exhibition match was merely a pretext.
In any case, whatever the reason, he would know once he arrived in LaRousse City. Lucas was actually quite interested in this city. It seemed to be a city completely managed by artificial intelligence. And the one who invited him, Professor Lund, was one of the managers there.
Although his own ecological dome was still far from completion, that didn't stop Lucas from learning about LaRousse City's urban management system. If it was worthwhile, perhaps he could find a way to obtain more detailed information, or even the core program itself.
After all, after receiving the USB drive from Alder, Lucas had also reviewed the information inside. The reason the ecological dome could keep running was an excellent central control management system, but the USB drive contained at most construction plans. Even Alder couldn't hand over the core program of the central control management system. But with LaRousse City's management system, he might be able to get in touch with it.
However, pure "artificial intelligence" was ultimately unreliable. Not to mention the classic AI rebellion plots in many movies and TV shows, even in the movie Destiny Deoxys, LaRousse City's management system had malfunctioned. It caused countless AI blocks to go berserk and even nearly buried Rayquaza alive.
—It would still be best to take its advantages and combine them with the Pokémon management system Lucas envisioned using Rotom or Porygon.
The sports car drove all the way to the Sootopolis City port. Because the Wallace Cup was approaching, people were streaming into Sootopolis City from the port. Those leaving the city were instead rare.
Thanks to that, after agreeing with Wallace to keep in touch and call him if he encountered any problems in the Hoenn region, Lucas boarded the ferry without any obstruction.
His next goal was simple. First take the ship to Lilycove City, then board the sea-crossing elevated train built near Lilycove that went directly to LaRousse City, and enter the city through the proper route.
After all, in a city managed by artificial intelligence, without proper identity documents for entry and exit, one would basically be unable to move inside LaRousse City.
Moreover—according to the positioning on the black ball, the Delibird was currently near LaRousse City as well. He could meet up with it. It had been several months since they last met in the Johto region. Even though they usually exchanged various items through the black ball, Lucas still missed it.
The fact that the Delibird, which occasionally followed Ash and the others, was near LaRousse City made Lucas a little concerned. —He hadn't actually jinxed it, had he?
…
January 21st.
Under the blazing sun, the train traveled along the elevated sea bridge. Flocks of Wingull, very common in the Hoenn region, spread their wings and flew as if following the train.
In the relatively low-density and spacious business-class carriage, a curious Delibird was sitting beside Lucas, looking out the window. Along with it were Terapagos and Victini. The two "country bumpkin" Pokémon both felt a sense of yearning toward the high-tech metropolis getting closer and closer. That completely different prosperity was something they had never seen before, truly exciting the Pokémon.
Last night, after taking the ferry to Lilycove City, Lucas had ridden on Moltres' back and picked up the Delibird in a small city not far from Lilycove. After several months apart, the Delibird had become much stronger than during the Johto period. Lucas wondered how it had managed that. Had it been using Ash and the others, who it kept "encountering," along with the free Rocket Trio as experience fodder?
However, the Delibird also mentioned that it hadn't encountered Ash and the others for nearly a week and didn't know where they had gotten lost this time, which made Lucas breathe a slight sigh of relief. No matter what, as long as they weren't there, it was fine.
This way, his trip to LaRousse City should pass smoothly and safely. By his calculations, they should be about to encounter Team Aqua and Team Magma causing trouble, with Groudon and Kyogre awakening. He could miss that plot segment while in LaRousse City. Truly something to celebrate.
—At least, that was what Lucas thought until the train stopped at a certain station.
The train continued moving, but from the carriage behind came the sound of a few somewhat familiar voices in discussion. Among them were a few "Pika Pika" sounds that made Lucas's hair stand on end.
—No way. Am I really this unlucky?
Compared to the despairing Lucas, the Delibird, which was interacting with its "juniors" Victini and Terapagos, immediately identified who was in the rear carriage based on its frequent dealings with the group.
The little brat, Pikachu, little brat No. 2, the Hoenn little girl, and little brat No. 3. Why had this group of disaster stars come too?
In the Delibird's view, the Ash group, who caused incidents wherever they went, was even more ominous than some "disaster beasts" sung about by humans in the Hoenn region. Running into them was definitely not a good thing.
"De~li!"
The already accustomed Delibird patted Lucas's head, comforting him in return to stay strong.
At the same time, high above the rapidly moving train, even higher in the sky.
Against the backdrop of the vast universe, a pitch-black dragon-like figure roamed freely in space. —Rayquaza, which had been lost for a long time, had finally confirmed its current location. The Hoenn region, or rather, the domain currently managed by its junior.
That guy was a bit vengeful, and there was no clear hierarchy among Rayquaza. Although it wasn't afraid of it, Rayquaza still planned to fly directly over Hoenn through space to avoid conflict with its junior.
—But plans could never keep up with changes. Just as Rayquaza swung its tail, ready to leave, it suddenly sensed, in the region below, the aura of a human it could never forget and desperately wanted to find for revenge!
Rayquaza narrowed its eyes.
…