"If a Pokémon you met in another spacetime, clashed with, and then encountered again in this era were to show up, don't you think that would be interesting?"
As for that Master Ball, quite a few of the Poké Balls on Hikaru's person reacted to it and began shaking.
Aerodactyl let out the roar of a victor. Walking Wake gave a low, rumbling laugh of mockery. Raging Bolt let out a deep rolling sound, offering its balanced opinion that the whole thing was indeed amusing.
And only Iron Valiant, from within its Cherish Ball, sent a message toward the Pokémon inside the Master Ball.
[I'll be watching you, loser!]
Inside the Master Ball, Flutter Mane, who had already been called a little scrub by several Pokémon, was practically drenched in nervous sweat. She bit down hard and wore a look of unwilling frustration!
Archrival +1!
Hikaru himself could only laugh helplessly.
"Well, anyway, I'll take it. Maybe this really is some weird karmic entanglement."
"But right now, the top priority is changing Garganacl's Tera Type to Ghost... right!"
A Ghost Tera Garganacl, thanks to Purifying Salt, would be left with only a single weakness: Dark. It was an even stronger Tera Type than Water.
And with Flutter Mane added in too...
"Flutter Mane, the queen of sun teams, can output solid damage under basically any conditions, even if this big sis hair is a bit of a scrub."
And Flutter Mane was also part of the famous "Fish and Hair" core. Together with Chi-Yu, the two were known as one of the strongest special attacking combinations in competitive battling.
Once those two came out under sun, all they brought the opponent was fear and suffering.
They were practically unavoidable even in the Masters Division finals of the World Championships.
My heart is iron, unbreakable!
At the final moment, Heat Wave cleaned up the field and carried them to the throne. In the struggle between Fire and Dark, it even overcame Incineroar... proving just how real the value of the Beads of Ruin was.
Listening to Hikaru's evaluation, Flutter Mane felt like she was being praised and insulted at the same time, and immediately gnashed her teeth in fury!
Idiot, idiot human! How dare you call me a scrub! At the very least, you should give me a proper look, shouldn't you?
Do I really not have anything worth your attention?
"Something worth paying attention to...?"
Hikaru looked thoughtfully at the Master Ball, while the Flutter Mane inside went from dejected annoyance to a look of eager anticipation.
Ha, so you finally noticed I have something special about me, right?
Hikaru: "As a Ghost/Fairy dual type, in terms of saving money... you probably don't need food, right?"
"Even if you still hunt, do Ghosts actually need to eat?"
Flutter Mane: "...?"
While Hikaru was talking to Flutter Mane, AI Sada fell into thought for a moment, then said to him,
"As for your Pokémon, although they all have different abilities, and many of them are species I've never seen before, there's one I'm especially interested in."
"That would be the Rotom you call 'Classmate Loto.' This kind of Pokémon can enter instruments and devices. That might be useful for my research."
"Where exactly did you get this Pokémon?"
During this time, AI Sada had thoroughly come to understand just how convenient Rotom was.
She had seen Heat Rotom helping Arven cook. She had seen Wash Rotom helping with the laundry. She had seen Fan Rotom serving as an electric fan.
And on top of that, this little thing could also enter the C Device, the Capture Styler, and even the time machine itself. AI Sada had also discovered that this Rotom was somewhat helpful in suppressing the time machine, though only a little.
Hikaru explained that this Rotom had once entered the Unova time machine, which was why it could do that. That only made Sada even more interested.
AI Sada: "It can assume different forms inside different appliances. Although it currently doesn't have that many forms, and in devices like the Capture Styler it can't take on a battle-ready form, it can still greatly improve a machine's performance and keep it charged at all times."
"I've never seen such a convenient Pokémon before. Plasma... Come to think of it, you said this Pokémon's category is the Plasma Pokémon. And the operating principle of the Tera Orb developed by Professor Sada and Professor Turo is to activate and plasma-fy the Tera Orb."
Hikaru: "This Pokémon first appeared in the Sinnoh region. Long ago, a boy discovered it and became its friend, but later, for unknown reasons, the boy and Rotom were separated and never saw each other again."
"Still, their friendship remained. It was simply hidden away very carefully. Later, Rotom was discovered by a certain scientist from a certain organization, a dark and gloomy sort of man, who tried to keep it hidden as his own discovery. He planned to study Rotom in depth and monopolize all the credit."
"Unfortunately for him, Rotom also appeared in the Unova region. They're beings of plasma, and you should know that there's a theory saying a living soul is related to plasma."
"So my Rotom was one of the Pokémon that escaped from the spirit world for a certain reason. There were two other Rotom with it, and they're currently being kept by Professor Juniper."
"You could try getting in touch with Professor Juniper. Also, another friend of mine in Unova is an Electric-type Gym Leader, and she's shown a huge amount of interest in this species before too."
AI Sada thought for a bit.
"I understand. So there are still two more... If Professor Juniper finishes her research, perhaps I could borrow one from her. Although I'm not very familiar with her."
That was only natural. Professor Juniper should be a graduate of Edenfield University, while Professor Sada had graduated from the Paldea Academy.
There was also about a ten-year age gap between them. After all, Professor Sada already had a pretty grown child, while Professor Juniper was still only in her early twenties and currently single.
"Exchanging ideas with professors from other regions... Professor Sada herself, and even Professor Turo, don't seem to have done that before."
AI Sada laughed helplessly. Before the Tera Orb was successfully developed, Sada and Turo hadn't received corporate investment at all. They were basically just obscure little researchers amusing themselves. Even after joining the Tera research project, they still hadn't produced that many major results.
That was, until a certain turning point arrived.
Even though they had once been rated as outstanding graduates by the academy, that didn't really mean much.
And yet, as everyone knew, the more remote and strange the little workshop, the more likely it was to cobble together some insane device that a major laboratory could never produce.
With the help of the Tera Orb, Professor Sada and Professor Turo were finally able to begin research on the time machine, return to the Great Crater, and become the leaders of the Terapagos Project.
"Would it be a bit awkward to suddenly speak to them out of nowhere...? Uh, according to the data I've gathered, every year there's an all-region academic summit, organized by the great scholars Professor Oak and Professor Rowan..."
"Maybe this year... I should find a way to participate remotely too."
'Flutter Mane. A ferocious Pokémon first encountered in the ancient world.'
'It was met in a prehistoric human settlement twenty thousand years ago, then encountered again in Area Zero due to the influence of the time machine.'
'Arrogant in personality.'
'A bratty little menace who's always overly confident in her own strength, only to end up crashing and burning in battle.'
When Hikaru brought Arven back to the Area Zero gate through the spatial transfer panel, the first people he saw waiting there were still Larry and Rika.
Rika was pressing a hand to her forehead. Clearly, what had happened last night had really been too intense for her.
"Oh! You're finally back! Nice work!"
Rika rubbed her temples. The moment she saw Hikaru and Arven emerge from behind the remote door, she perked up at once.
Even so, it was still obvious that her hair was a mess. She didn't seem to have had the energy to tidy it up, and even her expression had started drifting a little in Larry's direction.
Hikaru: "Sis Rika, did you have fun last night?"
"Fun?!" Rika bared her teeth. "...Don't tell me that dream last night was the mysterious plan you mentioned before!"
"What's wrong with it? As challenge facilities go, that one's top-tier." Hikaru asked in return, looking thoughtful. "You were the one who told me before that you wanted to be part of this plan, weren't you? So this time I brought you in too."
"As for the facility's details, I already explained them to you once in the dream. Do you want to hear the full explanation again?"
"N-no, that won't be necessary." Rika hurriedly shook her head, then looked at Hikaru with an extremely complicated expression. "I really did say that before, but I never expected it to be such an incredible challenge facility."
"It completely wiped me out!"
She let out a dispirited sigh.
"I was obviously asleep, but after waking up, I felt even more exhausted than if I hadn't rested at all! But at the same time, my body and mental state both feel really good. It's just that the second I think about the dream, I start feeling lingering fear and fatigue."
"So that's the energy of the dream world you were talking about... Seriously, if someone went through that too many times, they might stop being able to tell dreams from reality."
"By the way, even though everyone was fighting on the same floor, the battle areas weren't actually connected to each other at all?"
"Oh, so you're the Doctor's kid, Arven?"
"But you went into the crater without permission! For that, I absolutely have to get mad at you properly!"
Rika planted her hands on her hips and sternly lectured Arven, while Arven drooped and apologized without trying to argue.
He knew he had really caused a huge mess this time.
"But since things turned out all right in the end, and you made it back safe, I'll let it go."
Rika sighed and shook her head.
"It's a good thing Hikaru was with you. Otherwise you'd really have been in serious trouble. I heard you even contacted a nearby Flying Taxi and had them secretly fly into Area Zero to get you out. That's against the rules, so don't do it again."
"Or, if you become strong enough to move around in Area Zero yourself, then that's another story. I already heard from Hikaru and the Top Champion about your situation, and about the new Five Great Symbols and all kinds of facilities, and the idea of turning Area Zero into the Champion Road..."
"I actually think it sounds pretty great. Don't you agree, boss of exploration?"
Arven could only offer an awkward but polite smile. Then he straightened up and apologized again.
"I'm really sorry! I'll study hard and train my body properly. Next time, I'm definitely going to take part in the Champion Road."
Hikaru: "Arven's going to become a really impressive Trainer one day. He was a mess this time, sure, but his future's bright. Sis Rika, I believe that with all my heart."
Rika pinched her delicate chin, gave Arven a long look, then broke into a mysterious smile.
"So that's how it is. Then I'll just congratulate you in advance on your successful enrollment, Boss Arven."
Amid a burst of laughter, that whole ugly business was finally smoothed over. At the same time, Larry gave his own opinion.
"It's a good thing nothing happened to you. Otherwise I might've been in trouble too."
"Once you've entered society, there are times when your own ideas are wrong, and there are things you simply can't do... You'll understand that later."
Arven fell into thought.
Meanwhile, Rika went on chatting with Hikaru.
"About the tower."
"You said the Top Champion was in there too. Last night, the sounds of battle from inside the tower were unbelievably intense... what kind of Pokémon did she run into?"
Because Rika had once said she wanted to take part in something this interesting, Hikaru had naturally pulled her into the dream as well when he started bringing people in.
But after just one floor, Miss Rika was already exhausted beyond words.
Hikaru spread his hands. "Top Champion Geeta lost on the first floor."
"Huh?! Seriously? I made it to the second floor!" Rika looked utterly shocked, and even started sweating a little. "I mean, even if the Top Champion doesn't train much, she's still obviously way stronger than me. If the first floor can randomly throw certain powerful Pokémon at you, then was it something even stronger than Champion level?"
Hikaru: "Well... yes, actually. Top Champion Geeta's luck was very good. She hit the jackpot."
Rika rubbed at her messy green hair.
"You're calling that a jackpot? I didn't even see her come back out of there. Did she get one-shot right off the server?"
"Besides, my side wasn't easy either. The second battle was against a species I'd never seen before. It had heads like birds and tails like fish, but bodies and limbs like quadrupedal beasts..."
A subtle change passed through Hikaru's expression.
"Those were the Pokémon you saw on the second floor?"
"Even though I'm helping build the tower with Entei and the Unown, what Pokémon dreams will actually show up inside it is still unknown. Some Pokémon I recognize, and some I don't."
Rika carefully searched her memory.
"Yeah. And there were three of them all at once. They looked mentally unstable and physically unstable too, like they were in some kind of crazed state. Even though you said anything could show up in that challenge facility, those three were way too weird."
"During the battle, two of them even started twisting at the head... and let me tell you, for a stylish lady like me, that was seriously creepy."
"The Pokémon you meet in the tower - first floor, that's usually Normal-types, right? And on the second floor, even though I didn't know those three, I had a feeling they were probably Normal-types too."
Hikaru nodded. "I understand."
Three Normal-types, in bad condition, frenzied, unstable, and powerful.
Fish tail, bird head, beast-like body and limbs. There was only one kind of Pokémon that fit that description.
The three prototype Silvally created by the Aether Foundation.
"BKP Development Record #2."
"Budget plan for the Battle Lifeform B-Killer Project intended for use against UBs approved by the President."
Silvally was, in fact, the name of the final completed form of that lifeform.
Its original name had been Type: Null.
And before that name, its code designation had been Type: Full.
And before even Type: Full, its codename had been...
"Code name BK. Artificially designed biological skeleton used as the skeletal prototype, and all-type cells used as the genetic template."
"At the same time, after the Team Galactic incident, or possibly even earlier... materials regarding a certain Mythical Pokémon were recovered from Canalave Library in Sinnoh City... and the AR System was developed."
"BKP Development Record #5. Recovery of development materials from Canalave Library in the Sinnoh region, attribute change plan, AR System specification finalized, dedicated memory disks for the system..."
Hikaru murmured to himself, his voice getting quieter and quieter, so much so that Rika only caught the first sentence.
"Code name BK? That's a weird way to refer to them. Doesn't sound like a Pokémon title. Sounds more like some kind of robot."
Hikaru: "It's a biological weapon. An artificial Pokémon created in response to a certain crisis. But right now, the people making it are probably in a bind, because they still haven't found a way to make that organism compatible with the power of every type."
Rika immediately looked startled.
"...Another man-made Pokémon? Come to think of it, learning about the future Sword Saints down in the crater was already shocking enough."
"Uh, back in the day, there were also rumors that Team Rocket, the group that rampaged through Kanto and Johto, had created Pokémon artificially."
"Besides that, the most famous artificial Pokémon is probably Porygon, right? That thing was developed to travel to other planets. Though there seems to be a problem with it, because it still hasn't actually been put into practical use."
In this era, artificial Pokémon were rare, but not unheard of. Porygon's creation was no secret anymore.
Of course, there were rumors that Team Rocket had financed part of Porygon's research, because the Celadon City Game Corner had once been one of Team Rocket's businesses, and one of the earliest ways Porygon was made publicly available was as a prize there.
Meanwhile, Hikaru's thoughts were focused on Type: Null.
That thing's codename had changed a great many times, and there had even been pauses in the research along the way. Its development had not gone smoothly at all, right up until it received help from an expert in Canalave City...
That's right. An expert.
Hikaru tapped at his forehead.
This thing was also called "Little Arceus." Its Ability, the RKS System, which allowed it to freely switch types in battle, was also part of its own biological system. It had been created in imitation of Arceus.
According to the research materials, Type: Null only overcame its first development hurdle and began the design of its type-changing function after obtaining information from Canalave Library in Sinnoh.
That was when the basic AR System was first developed, and the codename changed from BK to Type: Full.
However, after three prototype tests, all three individuals rejected the AR System.
To suppress the reaction, the developers fitted those three with control masks meant to ease the rejection caused by the AR System.
At the same time, that also made the AR System impossible to activate.
The developers froze all three individuals and renamed them Type: Null. Because they carried the danger of rampaging, they were sealed away.
So the development process of Silvally was:
BK (no mask) -> Type: Full (rampaging) -> Type: Null (mask) -> Silvally (complete).
"The Aether Foundation has already developed three BK units! The next step is the AR System!"
"And yet, the strange part lies exactly there..."
Hikaru pondered that for a while.
The truth was, Canalave Library in the Sinnoh region did not actually contain any records stating that Arceus could change types.
It did contain "The Original Story," which wrote about Arceus, but it never named it or described its power.
Even Professor Rowan and Cynthia had needed to repeatedly investigate and verify things, tracing from the deities of time and space to Giratina, then from Giratina to Arceus, and along the way traveling to Sinjoh Ruins to confirm it.
And yet, someone at Canalave Library knew all of it.
That's right.
Another mountain man.
In Pokémon Platinum, after the protagonist obtains Arceus, this mountain man appears in the Oreburgh Mine and talks about Arceus.
After that, he goes to Canalave Library and says that he wrote those ancient legends himself, while continuing to tell more myths about Arceus.
"Volo... I'd love to say it's that guy again. After all, among mountain-man type figures connected to Sinnoh's legends, there's only one. But he also appears at Sinjoh Ruins, at the Hallowed Tower, and at Canalave Library..."
"The third mountain man calls himself a philosopher, and his personality is a little different from Volo's."
And on top of that, his little side event corresponded to Cyrus in the main story.
Cyrus believed the world was so painful precisely because hearts were imperfect.
But this mountain man believed the world began at the very instant humanity developed emotion. That the world only began to move once it had a heart.
There was much more to his story too. The real mystery was who exactly he was.
He claimed he came from somewhere outside Sinnoh and was filled with fascination toward the region, which suggested he was not Volo, and not the same character as the mountain men at Sinjoh Ruins and the Hallowed Tower.
And he also mentioned that every region had myths about purifying the heart, while the only place in the actual story where something like that had truly been shown was Almia.
In other words, the setting of Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, or the game once also called Pokémon Ranger: Fusion.
"If that unnamed mountain man had not written the history of the Plates down into books, then the Aether Foundation would never have been able to retrieve usable materials from Canalave Library. And before the Platinum story fully ended, he wouldn't have appeared in Canalave Library."
"Therefore, the Aether Foundation's current development plan is still stuck in the bottleneck phase of Stage One."
The incidents across the various regions were connected in hidden ways.
Those connections often only emerged in hidden events, little side stories, after specific quests were completed, or in postgame content.
So for players who only went through a normal first playthrough, it was difficult to connect all the regional events together.
But the clues had always been buried deep inside the games.
"Don't tell me it's me. With how I look, I'd count as a 'Backpacker' or a 'Mountain Man' too."
(End of Chapter)
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