Chapter 132: Yeah, Definitely the Weakest Rayquaza
"Wow~ What a beautiful flower — could I have it?"
The voice rang out clearly, catching everyone off guard.
It was unmistakably a child's voice — bright and sweet, with a faint edge of innocent eagerness.
Lillie and the others looked around immediately. No one was there.
"Telepathy?"
The next instant, both Caitlin and Lillie understood.
Of course — telepathy. Mind-to-mind communication, which was why the voice had seemed to emerge directly from somewhere inside them.
"Could it be—"
Mammon's eyebrow lifted. He pulled the purple crystal from his pack immediately. The surface showed no visible change.
"Is that you, Jirachi?"
The adorable little telepathic voice — Mammon's instinct went there without hesitation.
"Yes~ I really like it. That pretty little flower."
The clear telepathic voice came again, and simultaneously a faint, barely-perceptible glow flickered across the surface of the purple crystal.
"Extraordinary — the thousand-year comet hasn't arrived yet, and Jirachi is already showing signs of consciousness?" Butler was visibly stunned. This contradicted everything in his research notes.
Caitlin and Lillie both reacted with surprise as well — surprised, and a little delighted. Were they about to actually see Jirachi?
"Then wake up now, and I'll give you the flower." Mammon spoke directly to the crystal.
But Jirachi didn't respond again. The glow faded completely, and the crystal went dark and still — Jirachi had apparently slipped back into deep sleep.
After a full minute of silence, Mammon accepted it was gone and settled into thought.
Why did it have a moment of consciousness just now?
Strange. Jirachi's sleep should have been profound — at least as deep as Kyogre's had been. Before the thousand-year comet arrived, you could dig Jirachi out of the ground and carry it across the region and it wouldn't stir at all. That was exactly what Butler had done in the film — retrieved the sleeping Jirachi days before the comet, packed it up and taken it with him, and gotten zero reaction. Jirachi didn't communicate with May telepathically until the comet had actually begun.
Was it the Power of Viridian?
That was the only anomaly Mammon could identify — he'd channeled some of it into the crystal earlier. Whether that was actually the cause, he couldn't say.
I'll test it again back at the house.
He put the crystal away and then looked at the rose still in his hand.
"This can wait for the little one, then."
He tucked the rose away as well, then let his gaze slide toward Butler — who felt it land and immediately broke into a cold sweat.
He's noticed. I aimed for a compliment and hit a nerve. Please don't let the boss put me on latrine duty.
With Jirachi's sleeping cocoon secured, Mammon took Caitlin and Lillie on a proper tour of the Farnes region.
The scenery really was exceptional. Mammon made a point of taking plenty of photographs for both of them.
Caitlin was poised and photogenic as always. Lillie was a little shy about it — but a young woman's flush was more charming than any pose, and the photos came out beautifully regardless.
After an afternoon in Farnes, the three of them headed into Lavaridge Town for a hot spring and a night's rest.
"Ma i~"
On the field outside the inn, the magnificent Lunala swept her great wings around Mammon and pressed her face against the top of his head with unmistakable affection.
"You, you. You're enormous now, and you still want to do this." Mammon shook his head, laughing helplessly, but he was already raising his hand to pat her wing — and privately felt quite pleased about it.
This was Lunala, after all. The legendary beast that lures the moon. Alola's own mythical guardian.
"But I'm glad to see you too." His voice softened.
"Mai~"
Lunala's eyes curved with happiness.
Watching the two of them, Lillie smiled to herself — warm and fond — and lifted her phone to capture the moment.
Nebby and Mr. Mammon, she thought. They suit each other in the strangest way.
Lilycove City. Pokémon League.
Steven walked into his office looking utterly drained and found Wallace already on the sofa waiting for him.
"How is he?"
Wallace stood as Steven came in, his tone unusually gentle.
"Five years."
"Five years?"
Wallace's expression went slack. Joseph Stone — the man who had built Devon Corporation into one of the world's leading enterprises from nothing — was going to prison for five years. The news alone was going to send shockwaves through Hoenn. Devon Corporation was genuinely household-name territory in this region.
"That's accounting for his decades of contributions to Hoenn, and the fact that he turned himself in voluntarily and cooperated fully." Steven pressed two fingers to his forehead. His eyes were threaded with red — he hadn't slept. His voice had gone flat with exhaustion.
The moment yesterday's meeting had broken up, the coordinator had pulled him aside with the news: Joseph Stone had walked into a station and confessed.
Steven had been blindsided. He knew his father — or thought he did.
He'd even wondered briefly if this was Mammon's doing, some scheme set in motion after the Devon kidnapping. The timing was uncomfortable.
But after visiting his father and hearing everything firsthand, Steven understood.
The impact had been significant.
He had not expected this of the man he'd spent his life admiring.
"But why?"
Wallace genuinely didn't understand.
Steven was quiet for a moment, then relayed what Joseph had confessed, his expression difficult to read throughout.
By the end, Wallace had nothing to say except that Joseph Stone had earned every day of that sentence.
"He caused the death of an innocent young woman. And he tried to forcibly capture Rayquaza using a technological restraint device—"
Both were serious crimes under League law. The prohibition on using technology to forcibly capture Pokémon had been on the books for years — violations were prosecuted severely. And causing the death of a Trainer on top of it was an aggravating factor of the worst kind.
"And the Trainer who died in that incident." Steven's hand moved to grip his own hair. "Was Kagura's sister."
That answered the question he'd been carrying since the battle. Why would a Dragon-type Champion with her caliber choose Team Rocket over the League?
"—Oh." Wallace stared. "That's—"
"Whatever else is happening — Team Rocket has to go." Steven's voice steadied.
His family situation and the work in front of him were two separate things. And as much as it hurt — Joseph Stone had made his choices. He needed to face the consequences. Steven's own sense of right and wrong was intact, even when it was personal.
"Yeah." Wallace's voice was quieter than usual. "That's the Steven I know."
"On the Mega Evolution front — Professor Sycamore in Kalos has responded. He can't confirm full details yet, but he's essentially verified that Mega Evolution is real." Wallace shifted into business. "A Pokémon needs to be holding the corresponding Mega Stone, and the Trainer needs a Key Stone to create the resonance. That matches everything we saw with Mammon's team — I think we can trust it."
"Professor Sycamore can provide some Mega Stones and Key Stones, but we'll need to identify which stones correspond to which Pokémon ourselves."
"Reasonable. The Pokémon themselves might be able to sense which stone belongs to them."
Steven thought it over. Even if they couldn't identify the type of each Mega Stone visually, the Pokémon might simply recognize their own.
"Professor Sycamore suggested exactly that." Wallace nodded.
"Then let's try. When the stones arrive, have Cynthia and the others come by."
Steven rubbed at his temple — a dull ache had settled there.
"Once our main team members can Mega Evolve, we mount another operation. Cynthia, Giovanni, Nemona — they can't stay in Hoenn indefinitely. We need to move while we have them."
They were all borrowed. Cynthia was a Champion. Giovanni was a Gym Leader. Nemona was mid-journey for her second run at the Paldea League. None of them could stay in Hoenn for long.
"First — get some sleep." Wallace looked at Steven with genuine concern. In all the years he'd known him, he had never seen Steven looking this worn. "You look terrible."
"I'll rest in a bit. Where are the others?"
"Cynthia and Nemona left Lilycove to get some air. Gym Leader Giovanni said he'd look around the city. Leon is doing training in the facility out back."
Leon had originally planned to see some of Lilycove — his first time in Hoenn. But given what had happened in Rustboro, he'd quietly decided wandering around unsupervised was probably not the right move for now.
"Get Leon a local guide. Take him around the area." Steven exhaled. He couldn't in good conscience have Leon sit in a training room for his entire stay. That reflected poorly on Hoenn as hosts.
Larousse City — a high-tech urban marvel situated near Mauville, known for its automatic walkways, patrol block robots, and above all, the Battle Tower.
After a night's rest in Lavaridge, the three of them arrived in Larousse the following day.
"This city is incredible."
Lillie had never seen anything like it. She stood with her head tilted back, looking up at the sleek towers rising on both sides, backpack on, eyes bright with fascination.
"Larousse is one of the benchmark examples of what modern urban development can look like. Though in practice, all the technology makes it feel a little sterile — it doesn't draw much foot traffic." Mammon smiled.
The futuristic aesthetic was eye-catching, but Larousse wasn't particularly famous even within Hoenn, let alone globally. This world revolved around people, nature, and Pokémon — most visitors came out of curiosity about the city's design, or for the Battle Tower. Permanent residents were rare.
"Still worth seeing once."
Mammon checked the map. His destination was specific.
"Mm mm~"
Lillie watched one of the block robots trundle past and found it completely enchanting.
They did a brief loop of the city, then arrived at a research facility.
"Can I help you?" A young researcher with long dark-brown hair answered the door, looking at the three of them with mild puzzlement.
"Hello — we were hoping to visit Professor Lund."
Mammon smiled warmly. His looks and easy manner had a way of putting people at ease before any words were exchanged.
Professor Lund: the head of this research facility, and the man who four years ago had retrieved the meteorite from the Great Ice Field. He had witnessed both Deoxys and the subsequent battle between Deoxys and Rayquaza firsthand — and had been fascinated by Deoxys's biology ever since. He'd been attempting to revive the Deoxys in the meteorite ever since, without success.
"Come in, please."
Researchers and travelers visiting prominent local scientists were common enough not to warrant suspicion.
"I'm Yuko — I assist Professor Lund with his research. Are you all Trainers?"
She led them in, making light conversation.
"Yes, first time in Hoenn for all of us." Mammon kept the tone easy and friendly.
They made their way into the facility's interior, and in one of the labs, a stern-faced middle-aged researcher with blue hair was bent over a data readout.
"Professor Lund, you have visitors."
Yuko knocked and pushed the door open.
The lab was substantial. At its center stood a large experimental containment cylinder, and inside it — a meteorite. At the meteorite's core, clearly visible: a green crystalline gem.
There it is. Deoxys.
Mammon's eyes sharpened slightly.
The green crystal was Deoxys's core — the most important thing about it. So long as the core survived, Deoxys could regenerate from total destruction, no matter how completely its body had been obliterated.
This green-crystal Deoxys — Individual Two — hadn't fully awakened yet.
Four years ago, the purple-crystal Deoxys — Individual One — had come searching for its partner and immediately been engaged by a Rayquaza that treated it as an intruder. The battle had ended with Individual One's body blasted to fragments by Dragon Ascent, leaving only a core crystal behind, which sank into the ocean.
Worth noting, however: if Individual One hadn't been reckless and rushed in, that particular Rayquaza might not actually have been able to win.
Mammon's assessment was settled.
Weakest Rayquaza on record. No question.
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