"Legendary Swordbearers of legend?! Don't get in my way!"
As the power of the three gods swelled, Ghetsis's ambitions kept ballooning. Yet, because he had not been bathed in the Reveal Glass's light, he still retained a sliver of reason. At the same time, he pulled from his breast a device like a remote control.
Without a doubt, it was yet another prototype of a Colress Machine.
Staring at the young man before him, Ghetsis actually felt a pang of pity.
"If you people joined forces with us, everything on this land would be at your fingertips. Haha… there are many heroes, but there can be only one king!"
"Now that you have witnessed this power, if you're willing, we can unite. There's only one chance."
Ghetsis extended an olive branch to Hikaru:
"Become a Sage. Once you're a Sage, you can leave behind legends and fine tales. We will bring our King, who has fled, back here and correct some of his immature notions. Then this world will move toward maturity—how delightful that would be."
"One of the twin heroes of the new era will become the King's aide, and the King will rule Unova, founding a new nation where Pokémon and humans can both gain freedom!"
Hikaru just laughed.
"So long as someone can defeat N, you don't care who the twin heroes are, huh."
Hikaru said, "Do you see anyone with influence as a 'hero'? You beat people of influence to siphon their influence for your own group. That's why you challenged the Unova League too—same logic."
"You don't really think you've got this in the bag, do you?"
Ghetsis sneered. "The Four Gods—no, the cloud-borne gods' power is already mine. In the Abyssal Ruins, as a descendant of the Harmonia line, I could feel that power's agitation and call!"
He threw his arms wide. "Even if I'm not the King, I can stir this ruin's power. The closer I get to the Ancient Crown, the stronger that feeling grows!"
"Don't you get it yet? The Crown means you and we must settle things here—this is your final trial! Once we win, we'll pocket the power to rule all things under heaven and earth!"
"The hero and his Pokémon—those forms and that strength—united everyone's hearts and gave birth to Unova."
"If we can revive the hero and the legendary Pokémon here in Unova, we can seize the hearts of the people!"
"But! If the 'King's Heart' truly exists, perhaps we don't even need the 'hero' title to achieve that!"
"For the sake of the King, I recruited scholars from across the world as the Seven Sages. I will reenact Unova's legend and take hold of the people's hearts."
Ghetsis's posture tilted; his eyes went entirely blood-red. A maniacal air began to seep from him.
"To raise our King to the highest seat, a hero's existence is necessary. So I selected qualified youths among the Trainers—they will be the stepping stones for our King to trample!"
Ghetsis chuckled low. "After crushing the heroes, the King will topple the Champion. In that instant, the hearts of Unova will quake."
"Heroes defeating the King is… bad?"
"No—that's good!"
"It's training to temper the King's growth. I don't erase others when they're strong—I squeeze out their utility. That is my and the King's mercy."
"Only by defeating stronger and stronger heroes—only when the hero is mighty—does victory carry true meaning!"
Hikaru nodded and held his tongue, because that was exactly what Teacher N did in the original story.
Of course, back then he won mainly by relying on legendaries, and Alder had been heavily weakened because his partner had died… beating that kind of "hobbled Champion" doesn't say much about true caliber.
But it did shock the late-arriving Cheren and Hilda/Hilbert out of their wits.
And in the Special manga, Drayden once said that if "the heroes" all came to the battlefield—counting Teacher N plus the four protagonists—there were five heroes present at the time.
"He was raised from childhood with an education to become a hero."
"Of course I know," Hikaru cut Ghetsis off. "Not only that—you imprisoned him and kept injured Pokémon around him, which twisted him into an extreme protectionist."
"You crammed him with knowledge, told him to take pride in being Harmonia. He came to believe fervently in the founding legend, so he led legendary Pokémon to stake faith against faith—battles to confirm whether he was the true hero."
"That's the result of an education designed from childhood to produce a hero."
These were all things Teacher N did in the original storyline. In other words, no matter when you meet him, he always acts for that belief.
Even now, Teacher N seems not to have given up on challenging the Unova League. In short, he indeed still believes in the founding tale and hopes to change Unova's heart.
"Idealist—but your ideals are a bit low-grade."
Ghetsis's face darkened. "What did you say? My great ideals… all for Unova!"
Hikaru smirked. "Precisely because you can't do it yourself, you raise others to do it."
"Still, in manipulating hearts, you're truly gifted. Perhaps you also excel at civil engineering."
"You see your adopted son as a heartless monster, don't you?"
Ghetsis's expression jolted.
That deepest, best-camouflaged part of himself—how could the boy before him know?
"The red stone tablet in the Abyssal Ruins spells it out—the concrete virtues required to possess the King's Heart."
Hikaru glanced at the crimson stele not far away and pointed at one panel.
"Let's count, one by one, the conditions for becoming King."
"You have no courage. You hide behind your King, relying only on schemes and ambush."
"You have no hope, because you're nothing but greed."
"You have no mercy. You treat convenient power as a mere tool."
"You have no dreams—only ambition."
"You lack adventuring spirit—you're afraid to shoulder risk."
"You harbor hatred—hating anything that escapes your control."
"You accept nothing. All you want is to seize."
"So you possess neither the power to inspire the people nor the light to illuminate them."
"You took the green-haired orphan from the forest, noticed his ability to speak with living things, and bestowed on him the Harmonia surname."
"Unable to be a hero yourself, you raised him for one purpose only: to obtain a legendary Pokémon."
"Eliminate whoever gets in the way—that was a pretext to found Team Plasma. Why 'liberate Pokémon,' such a convenient slogan? True, using Pokémon lets humans extend their potential—precisely for that reason, you decided Pokémon should be used by you alone."
"And to you, that son is nothing but a twisted, heartless monster."
The more Hikaru tallied, the greater Ghetsis's shock grew. Even within the cult, no one knew these secrets—only he did!
"How do you know… any of this?"
(How? Because you say it yourself in the games, obviously.)
Hikaru didn't bother answering. He only mused:
"In the process of grooming a King, you got hooked on your ever-inflating ambition. Perhaps once upon a time, you were a father who wanted to reclaim lost glory. In raising your son, you amassed knowledge—enough that, by sheer skill, you could be called a true Sage. But then you grew afraid… afraid of your own son."
"This happens when there's cognitive uncertainty and a sense of latent threat: the son can understand Pokémon but not humans; the father can understand humans but not Pokémon. So you judged that N wasn't a person."
"Human-like but not fully human—this creates confusion and uncertainty in our cognitive systems."
"That uncertainty triggers anxiety and fear. Throughout human evolution, keeping wary of the unknown and the anomalous helped us survive."
"When someone doesn't fit your view, at bottom it's a form of taking—anger born of low self-worth reaching outward to snatch something from others, to construct a world where 'I'm better than you.'"
"So you became jealous—worried, afraid, unsure. Boundless negative feelings swallowed your humanity. After you threw your humanity away, you found your sense of the world… became 'clear.'"
"Sir, on your travels—no, on life's road—have you lost your way? Still, there are truths one only discovers after getting lost."
"So I'll say this: having those feelings is actually normal. It proves you are, in fact, human—you haven't completely become a monster."
Ghetsis's face went glacial.
Yet his heart gradually stilled.
Because what Hikaru said seemed to be exactly what he thought, but could not—and must not—speak aloud.
In a flash, he understood.
Why he saw N as a heartless monster. Why he liked the boy as a child, became more and more "satisfied" as he grew, yet grew ever more afraid.
That warped heart had been sprouting in his chest all along, and this—now—was the result.
"I see… so that's how it is."
"As expected of a psychic with powers of the heart. Among all psychics, this is my first time seeing one like you."
"Your psychic power isn't 'strong'—you can't move things at range or shift mountains and seas. But you can perceive what common folk cannot."
"If only I had met you earlier, you would've become a Sage under me. The world would be better."
"But now it's too late. By saying these things, you've refused me outright. Then let strength do the talking."
"The King escaped—infuriating—but the stage is set. As long as we drag him back, there will be plenty of new heroes! As a hero of the old days, make your exit here!"
"Don't think that just because I lost my scepter I can't deal with you. Underestimate me and you'll pay dearly!"
At Ghetsis's command, all of his Pokémon roared and lunged at Hikaru in a frenzy. He himself laughed madly; his towering ambition drew strange sigils beneath his feet, rousing the Reveal Glass to release an even stronger surge of energy!
"Cloud-borne gods—tear the Legendary Swordbearers to shreds!"
Ghetsis worked the formation while also operating the Colress Machine, stacking both forces to secure control. He had forgotten the assassins entirely; in truth, he had never been able to control the Forces of Nature.
This swelling power was, in fact, the Ancient Crown's tacit approval.
"Hydreigon, Fire Blast!"
Ghetsis had no 'virtue' of not attacking opposing Trainers. His Hydreigon was brutally strong. In the games its level would be illegal at that point, but that's only for gameplay balance. With his years of preparation, if he actually sent out a level-64–70 Hydreigon, it could crush the player.
Judging by the Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon "other-world" Ghetsis, this Hydreigon's real level was 66!
A blue Ultra Ball clattered across the floor. With a sudden blue flare, a fierce Meteor Mash shot skyward!
The fire that hadn't yet erupted was forced back down; Hydreigon's central head took a brutal uppercut, its jaw snapping up. And leaping from that blue light was the one with an old grudge against Hydreigon—Riolu!
The blue-furred pup's expression was no longer calm. Vengeful fire burned in its eyes, and a feral smile tugged at its lips.
The humiliation it suffered on Victory Road—today it would pay back in full!
Right now, Ghetsis's Hydreigon's silhouette seemed to merge with Drayden's Hydreigon in Riolu's mind. Replaying their prior battle, the blue pup had already forged a complete "fighting-type theory" for dealing with Hydreigon!
"A mere unevolved Pokémon—what can it do?"
"You don't recognize this Riolu?" Hikaru shot back. Ghetsis, eyes crimson, frowned. "How could I recognize such a thing?"
Hikaru: "It belongs to a Trainer you beat on Victory Road. Now it's back, burning with rage."
Ghetsis blinked—then burst out laughing.
"Too many of those foolish weaklings' Pokémon—I can't be bothered to remember them!"
"So that's it. This Riolu had a previous Trainer? It trained hard for revenge, and now that it's in your hands, that means its prior trainer liberated it, right? Behold the power of Team Plasma's oration!"
"Sooner or later, more and more people will liberate their Pokémon! As for this convenient power—so long as I wield it, that's enough!"
"Hydreigon, punt that little weakling far, far away again!"
(End of Chapter)
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