The next day, bright and early, Lucas was already awake.
He reached his hand into the quilt, pulled out Vulpix, who was playing Play Rough with the air inside, and buried his face in its belly for a deep inhale.
It was refreshing and smelled wonderful.
Vulpix had already learned how to quickly escape from Lucas's grasp; with a twist of its body, it slipped right out of his hands.
It even used its four paws to step on Lucas's face before jumping off the bed.
Lucas, whose face had been stepped on a few times, sat up and checked the time.
06:19.
He lay down for another ten minutes, then got out of bed to wash up.
Although the room Gardenia arranged was very comfortable, Lucas still had trouble sleeping in a strange bed. Fortunately, he had Gengar, Gothorita, and Lilligant with him last night.
He couldn't fall asleep last night, so Gothorita and the others had lulled him to sleep.
He remembered Gothorita's eyes flashing last night, and then he immediately fell into a deep sleep.
He stretched his neck; that sleep had been truly comfortable.
Gengar, who was behind him, gave Gothorita a thumbs-up.
"gengar sound"
Your method was effective after all.
Gothorita tossed its head.
"Gothorita~"
What else did you expect?
Lilligant giggled quietly nearby.
"Gothorita."
You spoil her too much.
Lilligant dared not speak.
After washing up, Lucas grabbed Vulpix, who was trying to run away, and gave it a thorough face massage to avenge the morning's face-stomping incident.
Walking out of the room, he didn't expect Lucian to already be awake and making breakfast in the kitchen.
He originally thought he had woken up early, but Lucian was even earlier.
Lucian placed the breakfast in front of Lucas, who unceremoniously speared a fried egg and started eating.
The taste was surprisingly good.
He never expected a big, burly guy like him to know how to cook.
Lucas stared at Lucian, who looked confused, thinking the food didn't taste right.
"Does it not taste right?"
Lucian asked.
Lucas shook his head. "I just didn't expect your cooking to be quite good."
Lucian smiled softly, his voice gentle. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"Speaking of which, I'm actually quite skilled at cooking, though naturally, I can't compare to Lucas."
Lucas ignored him and focused on eating the breakfast in his bowl.
Just as Lucas finished his breakfast and left the table, Gardenia also emerged from her room.
Since they were in Eterna City, Lucas and Lucian were temporarily staying at Gardenia's house.
"? Elite Four Lucian, you woke up so early? And Lucas, why didn't you wake me when you got up this early?"
"Come quickly and have breakfast."
Lucian smiled and beckoned Gardenia over to eat.
Gardenia clearly hadn't eaten anything this delicious before; she reacted with surprise to the breakfast Lucian had prepared.
It seemed he absolutely had to let her experience what true cuisine was next time!
After playing with Vulpix for a while and waiting for Gardenia to finish eating, Lucas stood up. The group prepared to set off to deal with the Moltres situation.
After all, if they left it alone, an angry Moltres would cause significant damage to the local environment and the living conditions of the people.
Led by Gardenia, Lucas arrived at the place where they had first discovered Moltres.
Traces of burning flames were still visible everywhere.
"Moltres fought me right here back then, but unfortunately, my Pokémon were at a type disadvantage, and I couldn't keep it here."
Gardenia said, clenching her fists.
Lucas carefully inspected the surroundings, suddenly remembering something.
"Speaking of which, Gardenia, if someone comes to challenge the Gym while you're out, what happens?"
Gardenia thought Lucas had made a discovery, but he was only asking this question.
"Actually, when I go out, I notify the Gym to close temporarily, so Lucas, you don't have to worry about that."
Nevertheless, she explained.
Lucas suddenly realized.
At that moment, Lucas felt like his brain must have stopped working to ask such a question.
After a thorough inspection, he had to admit that the destructive power of these Legendary Pokémon was truly immense.
A large swath of the surrounding forest had been burned. Furthermore, Eterna City was known for its Grass-type Gym, the entire city was lush green, and the outskirts were covered in greenery, yet now this area was reduced to ashes.
This was only a secondary Legendary Pokémon, yet it had caused this much damage. If it were a catastrophe brought about by a primary Legendary Pokémon, Lucas could already imagine how severe the situation would be.
Lugia, since you want me to deal with their problem, shouldn't you help me find them?
As he thought this, Lucas felt the wooden plaque on his chest begin to heat up.
[Pledge: A promise made with Lugia. As long as you are near The Legendary Birds, you will be able to follow Lugia's guidance to find them.]
[I leave them to you, Lucas
— Lugia]
Lucas: — — — —
Lucas didn't have time to complain; he closed his eyes and carefully sensed the area.
He faintly sensed Moltres's location, but it seemed to be in poor condition.
"Found it."
Lucas suddenly spoke, startling Gardenia, who was squatting nearby and playing with the grass.
"Huh?! Where?! Why can't I see it?!"
Gardenia asked.
Lucas pointed in a direction. Gardenia looked but couldn't see anything. She then stood on her tiptoes, but still couldn't see anything.
"It's not there."
"Oh, it's far away."
Lucas was a little helpless.
"Huh?! Oh."
Ignoring Gardenia, Lucas took Lucian and ran toward the location.
The next second, Lucian directly grabbed Lucas, threw him onto Bronzong, and flew over.
Lucas: — — — —
Warn me next time!
With the wind stinging his face, Lucas desperately tried to keep his balance on top of Bronzong.
As for a certain Gardenia...
What about me?!
Standing on Bronzong, Lucas saw the Pokémon enveloped in flames from afar.
It seemed to be fighting something at the moment.
After Bronzong quickly approached, Lucas saw those familiar uniforms again.
Team Galactic.
The members of Team Galactic also noticed the uninvited guests.
The red-haired woman looked at the quickly approaching Bronzong and the two people riding it.
"Tch, Elite Four Lucian, the Psychic-type Elite Four?"
She cursed under her breath, then ordered her subordinates to block them.
"Bronzong, Hypnosis."
The Golbat flying toward them were all hypnotized and fell to the ground.
"Lucas, are you ready?"
"What— — — —"
Before he could finish his sentence, Lucas was pulled by Lucian and jumped down.
"Girafarig, Wide Guard!"
The Poké Ball was thrown. Girafarig forced back all the approaching people and Pokémon, finally catching Lucas and Lucian with its psychic power.
"Seriously, do you really think I'm an Elite Four?!"
Mentally complaining about Lucian dragging him into the crowd, Lucas cursed silently.
"Leaf Storm!"
A massive tornado of leaves swept up several Croagunk and Toxicroak. When the tornado dissipated, they had all fainted.
Following that, Lucian and Lucas released all their Pokémon.
"Deal with them."
A voice sounded from afar. The remaining Team Galactic members surrounded them, completely encircling Lucas and Lucian.
Lucas looked in the direction of the voice.
A red-haired woman was standing on high ground, watching them.
"Red hair? A Team Galactic Executive? I remember her name is Mars, right?"
Mars glanced at them, then continued looking at Moltres in the air.
The device around its neck was continuously sparking with electricity, attempting to forcibly control Moltres.
Moltres swept over with a Flamethrower. Several Team Galactic Grunts' Pokémon couldn't dodge in time and were knocked out.
"Gothorita!"
Gothorita and Bronzong deployed Reflect, blocking the attack.
Looking at the enraged Moltres, Lucas frowned.
Devices used to control The Legendary Birds—weren't those supposed to be used by villains from other regions? Why was Team Galactic starting to use these things too?
Unlike Lucas's tension, Lucian licked the corner of his mouth and pushed up his glasses.
"Lucas, are you ready?"
Damn it, whenever I hear you say that, I feel like something bad is about to happen.
Clearly, Lucas's intuition was correct. Lucian shouted and bent over.
Then Bronzong lay flat, energy gathering at its base, followed immediately by a Metal Beam shooting out.
Immediately afterward, Bronzong rotated 360°, knocking out all the surrounding Pokémon.
Are you Iron Man too?!
Lucas looked at the fainted Pokémon and Team Galactic members scattered everywhere and couldn't help but complain.
"Moltres, Flamethrower!"
....
Power Stones PLZZZZZ
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