"Looks like it's calmed down a bit."
Damian watched the quiet Zygarde z1 and was very satisfied.
He tucked away the Azure Flute with a calm, controlled motion.
z1 didn't say anything.
At this moment, it stared at Damian, full of disbelief.
And yes—the Origin-breath from Arceus was definitely not wrong.
So this humans…
was a humans endorsed by Arceus…
If it could be recognized by Arceus, then this humans must be special in some way.
So z1 decided to give him a chance to explain.
Otherwise, if there was a misunderstanding like "a big water conflicts with the Dragon King's Temple,"
that would be pretty bad, right?
Yeah. No problem.
"Mewtwo."
"Put it down."
Damian greeted Mega Shadow mewtwo y.
Mega Shadow mewtwo y lowered its arm.
The limits around z1's psychic scattering dispersed.
z1 landed again.
It immediately jumped in front of z2, and stared at Damian cautiously.
"Don't look at me with that much wariness."
"I won't hurt your other half."
"I came over and saw you attacking my other half!"
z1, without conscious, started baring its teeth again and hissing.
It was obvious it was extremely angry about that.
"I understand you're worried about your other half."
"But you're hissing at me all the time—honestly, that's just kind of rude."
Damian raised a brow.
"Yeah, I attacked it."
"But think about it."
"Your other half's negative mood was off the charts…"
"and it was being controlled by evil humans."
"If I don't beat it…"
"what about this city?"
"And what about innocent people in this city?"
"…"
z1 went silent.
"And I'm also rescuing it from the hands of evil people."
"Right?"
"But in the end…"
"it was your humans who hurt it!"
z1 still wasn't convinced.
And in the end, wasn't it still humans who hurt z2?
"That's true."
"But no matter what Pokémon…"
"there's always Born Evil inside."
"Zygarde—this is something you should know, too."
Damian didn't deny it.
Team Flare really had hurt z2.
"I've already sent people to capture those humans who hurt your other half."
"They'll all pay a price for it."
"They'll spend their whole lives repaying those sins."
"Zygarde, how do you feel about this?"
Seeing that z1 still didn't answer and looked like it still wasn't satisfied…
Damian asked again.
"If you think this still isn't enough…"
"you can suggest a solution."
"Hand them to you for disposal."
"You kill them?"
Damian asked once more.
z1 glanced at z2.
z2 was still unconscious.
That was its other half.
Zygarde was an incredibly amazing Pokémon.
Because its inherent duty was to protect the ecosystem and order.
So Zygarde could naturally "become countless."
It spread its body into countless cells across the land…
to achieve the purpose of monitoring the ecosystem.
But Zygarde's cells had no consciousness at all.
They only handled monitoring.
And once the ecosystem order appeared to have a problem—
center his team would gather the cells back together,
turning everything into a corrected Zygarde again.
Zygarde, center his team—
that meant z1 and z2.
They were already one.
Even though they had their own consciousness—
they were truly just one.
Seeing "itself" in such a miserable state…
how could z1 not get angry?
But with z1 calmed down, it naturally also knew—
Damian wasn't to blame for this.
Yeah.
Of course, the biggest problem was that the humans in front of it…
was endorsed by Arceus…
and was given the gift by Arceus.
Even if z1 really wanted to vent its rage…
it had no reason to take it out on this person.
As for killing those people?
What meaning would that have?
For Zygarde, what it wanted to punish wasn't just the real culprits.
"I'll hold back this time because of your face."
"If there's a next time…"
"I absolutely won't spare the humans on this land!"
If it weren't for Damian's presence—
z1 would definitely have become a full-formed entity…
and caused a huge mess.
It even made its other half look like this.
Did it really think it was that easy to bully a Zygarde?
"Fine."
"If there's a next time, I won't interfere."
Damian nodded.
z1 took z2 and left.
The z1 in dog form carried z2 in its mouth, leaping around flexibly.
Very quickly, it disappeared from Damian's vision.
Damian shook his head.
He had originally wanted to get along well with Zygarde…
but it was obvious that the current Zygarde was a little too "on edge."
The timing wasn't right.
"Basically done, then."
"Diantha, I did what I promised."
Damian checked his phone.
On Dawn's side, they had also solved things.
"Mm."
"Thanks."
Diantha nodded.
Then she turned her head and looked at the ruined city all around.
She still couldn't help letting out a long, deep sigh.
"In this battle…"
"was there really a winner?"
Diantha couldn't help asking herself.
They won?
Where did they even win?
Lumiose City survived, sure.
But half the city had already been annihilated.
Rebuilding it would take time too.
And how many people were frightened and injured?
No one knew.
Zygarde z2—innocent—got hurt.
It was forced to be spawned under control.
And because of that, z1 almost retaliated against those humans.
If it weren't for Damian…
maybe the entire Lumiose City would've been wiped off the map by Zygarde.
"Don't get so down about it."
"Think about the bright side."
"At least Team Flare, this extreme organization…"
"got dragged out and wiped out."
Damian patted Diantha's round shoulder.
He smiled and comforted her.
"Otherwise, if Lysandre kept hiding…"
"the Future might've sparked an even bigger catastrophe."
"Mm."
Diantha nodded.
She took a deep breath.
Damian was right.
Team Flare was just that kind of extreme, deranged evil organization.
It was terrifying.
And thanks to the fact that he exposed himself early—
otherwise the losses might've been even worse.
The crisis was finally completely resolved.
There were still scattered Team Flare members resisting inside the city…
but they were only a small part.
Soon enough, they were all brought under control too.
"Damian, Damian—!"
A girl's crisp shout was very loud.
Damian looked to the left.
Rosa and the others were running over right now.
"Everyone worked hard."
"Looks like nobody got hurt—good."
Damian showed a gentle smile.
"Hehe~ Damian."
"We caught seven Team Flare Admins in total, including Lysandre!"
Rosa grinned.
She was so proud she lifted her little head high.
"Oh?"
"Great job."
"Thanks to you all, Team Flare's evil plans didn't go through."
"We protected this city!"
"We protected the entire Kalos Region!"
Damian nodded in satisfaction.
"Next…"
"keep helping everyone maintain order."
"And we still have to clean up all these plants too."
"Otherwise…"
"Lumiose City can't be lived in."
Damian glanced around at the enormous distorted plants that were thrusting through the walls.
These were all left behind by enraged Zygarde.
Now that he thought about it…
it was pretty weird.
As Zygarde that maintains order and the ecosystem—
how could it possibly have the ability to control plants?
Zygarde itself was Dragon/Ground.
So was it because of Zygarde's Ability and the concept of "field disruption"?
Or was it because of the "ecosystem" concept itself?
Still…
it didn't matter.
A full-formed entity Zygarde was cool, sure.
But right now, it seemed extremely hard to catch.
After going through something like this—
whether it was z1 or z2…
their feelings toward humans were extremely low.
"Okay, okay."
"Then let's go help."
Hearing that, Dawn and the others were all fired up.
After all, this was doing good, right?
"Mm."
"I already told Miss Diantha."
"You all go."
Damian smiled and nodded.
"Lysandre, Malva, Aliana, Bryony, Mable, Celosia, Alain?"
"So it really means…"
"Xerosic isn't here."
Damian narrowed his eyes slightly.
Alain was here too.
That did surprise Damian a little.
But it wasn't that important either.
After all, in the anime—
Alain was Ash's rival.
And in the Lumiose Conference finals…
Greninja also lost to Charizard
Back when Damian saw that, he still felt a bit sour.
Was there a chance in this world to see Ash and Alain battle?
Damian thought maybe not too hard.
If Ash had to fight Alain in this world…
it probably wouldn't be too difficult.
Alain's talent was pretty good.
But it could only be considered "pretty good."
Compared to those "monsters,"
it still wasn't on the same level.
Dawn and the others left first.
They went to help the League maintain order—
and also clear out the plants left behind by the rampaging Zygarde.
That was perfect.
It was a good way to deepen the public's impression of Team Rocket.
You had to know—
without Team Rocket, just the Kalos League alone trying to deal with Team Flare?
That'd be way too hard.
Team Rocket was the hero saving Lumiose City!
"Want to go see those captured ones?"
Caitlin asked Damian.
"Not yet."
"We'll go somewhere first."
Damian shook his head.
All the captured Poké Balls of Lysandre had already been transported and locked up by Team Rocket.
But Damian wasn't in a rush.
Right now, the most important thing was something else.
Geosenge Town.
At this moment, Geosenge Town had no residents at all.
Because this town was already occupied by a Team Flare squad.
And in the center of Geosenge Town,
a huge machine stood right there.
Its shape looked like a blooming flower.
That was the Ultimate weapon!
"Damn it!"
"Bosses got captured too?!"
"Did we fail?!"
Inside a secret base near Geosenge Town,
a bulky man in an orange Team Flare uniform clenched his teeth hard.
He was Xerosic.
The only one from Team Flare still alive right now.
And he was also the only male scientist among Team Flare's Admins.
After the plans activated, he came to Geosenge Town to prepare.
But in the end, he ended up being the only Team Flare Admin who wasn't captured.
"No!"
"There's still a chance!"
"Ultimate weapon is still in my hands!"
"As long as I can Trigger the Ultimate weapon…"
"boss's dream can still come true!"
Xerosic quickly calmed himself down.
That was right.
Even though boss Lysandre and them were all "missing"…
it was fine!
The Ultimate weapon could still be activated.
And the beautiful world could still be born!
Once he finished this dream…
he could also go back to researching his battle outfit.
But the problem right now was…
Triggering the Ultimate weapon required Yveltal's energy.
Team Flare had definitely found Yveltal's Cocoon of Destruction.
And they transported it into the base.
But how could they control Yveltal—
and inject its energy into the Ultimate weapon?
Lysandre didn't tell him that.
Originally, if Zygarde was here…
then suppressing Yveltal with Zygarde could work too.
But now—
Zygarde wasn't there either.
"If we just awaken it…"
"and talk to it…"
"will it listen?"
Xerosic stared at the black-and-red cocoon on the monitoring screen.
He couldn't help thinking about this possibility.
Because he really had no other way.
In legends, Yveltal was the symbol of death and destruction.
And its personality was probably pretty brutal too.
So Xerosic really was stumped.
If he woke Yveltal up and it attacked him…
what then?
"Forget it!"
"Asai."
"Go inside and awaken Yveltal."
After thinking it over, Xerosic decided to directly awaken Yveltal first.
Maybe Yveltal was easier to talk to.
But this kind of important job—
as an Admin, he definitely couldn't personally do it.
"Huh?"
"Sir, I have to do it?"
A Team Flare member named Asai jumped in fear.
He pointed at himself.
He looked extremely guilty.
"What's there to be afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid, so why are you?!"
Xerosic glared at Asai.
Then he reassured him confidently.
"Don't worry."
"Go ahead and do it."
"I'll stay here watching."
"If anything unexpected happens…"
"I'll send reinforcements."
"Just a mere Yveltal."
"It can't cause any big waves."
~~
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