Pokemon Paldea [386-387] (Patreon)

Chapter 386 – Pikachu and Charizard

Crack.

The Solar Beam ice sculpture shattered into countless motes of light. The ice that had sealed up Bulbasaur splintered along with it, revealing Bulbasaur’s unconscious body.

Compared to the first four battles, nothing was wrong with this one in terms of the tacit understanding between Ash and Bulbasaur, nor in the choices they made mid-battle.

What they lacked was simply strength.

Ash returned Bulbasaur to its Poké Ball, planning to take everyone to the Pokémon Center for treatment once the match was over.

When he stood up, the impulsiveness from earlier was gone from his face. In his eyes now was a faint glimmer of contemplation.

Obviously, although Bulbasaur had lost the ability to fight, it had also cooled Ash’s restless heart, forcing him to calm down and start thinking.

Perhaps, in the middle of a battle, this state of mind might at some critical moment give rise to a flash of inspiration—something out of left field that would lead him to victory.

Seeing Ash like this, Lucas smiled. At least in terms of battle style, it looked like Ash no longer needed a reminder from him.

With that in mind, Lucas signaled with his eyes for Ash to send out his sixth Pokémon.

Ash pinched the brim of his cap, took a deep breath, and shouted, “I choose you, Pikachu!”

“Pika!”

Perched on Charizard’s shoulder, Pikachu sprang lightly into the field, where bits of ice still remained scattered. It crouched low on all fours. The red electric sacs on its cheeks flashed with dazzling arcs, and its eyes were filled with seriousness.

Pikachu’s title of “Pika-God” could be traced back to the Battle Frontier, when it defeated Brandon’s Regice.

Before that point, its status as Ash’s ace hadn’t truly been revealed.

But judging from the look in Pikachu’s eyes now, its growth seemed a fair bit faster than in the original storyline.

From the corner of his eye, Lucas glanced at Delibird. He clearly remembered Delibird mentioning once that, ever since the time of Mewtwo Incident and after, it had battled Ash many times, and each time it had thrashed Ash and his Pokémon so badly that they were left in tatters. Among them, Pikachu’s tenacity had been the strongest.

It had been a long time since their last battle. Delibird was very curious: just how far had this Pikachu—who once swore it would one day defeat it—come?

The battle began with Ash’s shout: “Quick Attack!”

Compared to Cyndaquil’s Quick Attack, Pikachu’s was not only much faster; its agility and impact were on a completely different level.

It was as if it had become a streak of white light racing along the ground. In the span of a heartbeat, Pikachu was right in front of Delibird.

Delibird crossed its wings before itself and forcibly endured Pikachu’s Quick Attack. At the same time, from its beak a long-charged, ice-blue bolt of energy shot out point-blank at Pikachu!

“Pika—chuuu!”

Pikachu did not panic. Electricity surged from its cheeks, spreading to cover its entire body in an instant.

The next second—

Bathed in blinding thunder, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt erupted and collided head-on with Delibird’s Ice Beam in a violent clash!

Boom—!

With a deafening blast of intersecting energies, Pikachu and Delibird, who had gone for a point-blank bayonet clash with Thunderbolt vs. Ice Beam, both staggered backward out of the smoke in turn.

Compared to Delibird, whose feathers were only slightly dusted with ash, Pikachu was much more battered.

A thin layer of frost covered more than half its body, making it shiver from the cold.

From their respective conditions, it was obvious which side had come out on top in that exchange.

“Even Pikachu…”

Misty covered her mouth, looking worriedly at Ash and Pikachu together with Togepi in her arms.

The difference in strength was simply too great.

“Don’t be afraid! Thunderbolt again!”

Ash, who believed that the best defense was a good offense, gave another order.

Enduring the cold, Pikachu forced its stiff limbs to move, leaping up once more. Blinding electricity enveloped it again as a powerful Thunderbolt blasted straight at Delibird.

Lucas narrowed his eyes. “Drill Run.”

He had to hand it to Mewtwo. Even with Delibird at his side, Lucas wasn’t sure he could have taught it so many moves so systematically. Yet Mewtwo had somehow even had Delibird master the Ground-type move Drill Run.

Brown, earthen energy spiraled at Delibird’s beak, the vortex spinning faster and faster as it concentrated, producing a shrill screech like a spinning steel drill.

Wrapped head to toe in that earthen vortex, Delibird flew straight into Pikachu’s Thunderbolt and shot toward the falling Pikachu, who had no foothold in the sky!

The Thunderbolt was completely neutralized by the earthen energy spiral. A heartbeat later, Pikachu let out a cry of pain as Drill Run exploded against its body!

The effect of that strike was outstanding. The heavily damaged Pikachu plummeted to the ground. In the billowing dust, its battered body was painfully conspicuous.

By Lucas’s calculations, even if Delibird’s Attack and Special Attack weren’t particularly impressive, Pikachu’s level gap with it was enormous. After taking multiple hits in a row—one of which was a super-effective Ground-type move—there was no way Pikachu should still be able to fight.

But reality was far from what he imagined.

“Pikachu, hang in there!”

At Ash’s shout, Pikachu, which was lying on the ground and looked like it couldn’t even stand, strained with all its might to push itself up. The electric sacs on its cheeks flickered with faint sparks, as if cheering it on.

A few seconds later, under Lucas and Delibird’s astonished gazes, Pikachu actually forced itself to its feet and let out a spirited cry.

“Pika pi! Pikachu!”

Lucas: “…”

There it was—the revival roar plus the one-HP clutch!

But this was precisely the charm of Ash and Pikachu’s battle style.

Expression complicated, Lucas spoke up. “Delibird, Ice Beam!”

An ice-blue beam of extreme cold spewed from Delibird’s beak. In the still-ongoing hail, it was something Pikachu, in its current state, absolutely could not take head-on.

But Pikachu still had its speed.

At Ash’s command of “Quick Attack,” Pikachu once again became a white streak racing across the field, dodging Ice Beam with agile movements and charging straight toward Delibird.

It was like it had entered some kind of Overdrive state. Pikachu’s speed right now was even a shade faster than at the start of the battle.

On instinct, Delibird reached into its tail and pulled out a ball-shaped object with a rainbow sheen, hurling it at the Pikachu who was now almost upon it.

The move: Present!

It had four possible outcomes. The first three were explosions of low, medium, and high power, respectively.

The fourth was a small chance to heal the opponent instead.

As Pikachu collided with the rainbow-hued ball, Ash’s face was tense.

In the next instant, searing white light filled everyone’s vision. When they finally blinked open their watering eyes, they were greeted by a shocking sight.

Pikachu, which had been forced back some distance from Delibird, not only had not lost the ability to fight—its ragged breathing had actually calmed, and many of the wounds on its body were visibly reduced.

“What just happened?”

That question arose simultaneously in the minds of Ash’s group and Pikachu.

Lucas, who had been a step too late to stop Delibird from using Present, could only helplessly explain the move’s effects.

After hearing the explanation, Misty and Brock couldn’t help lamenting Ash’s ridiculous luck. Even odds that low, and he’d blunder into the best possible outcome…

Ash, on the other hand, was staring at Lucas, eyes shining. That snowy battlefield, Drill Run, Present—these were all moves he’d never even heard of before!

To Ash, just gaining that much knowledge from today’s battle already made everything worth it.

He didn’t hesitate at all and chose to attack again.

“Thunder!”

This time, Pikachu didn’t leap up. Instead, it unleashed all its remaining power while moving at high speed.

With a roar like the heavens splitting, the Thunder that once held the record of knocking out over a hundred Spearow in succession descended, like a titanic tree of lightning whose branching bolts snaked toward Delibird.

Delibird had no interest in getting zapped for free.

Its expression turned serious. It called up the same resolve it once had when Dragonite carried it into the heart of a storm. With a series of high-difficulty aerial maneuvers, it weaved through the serpentine thunderbolts and then dove at Pikachu the moment Thunder ended.

An Ice Punch was already charged and ready.

As Delibird’s wing, wrapped in ice-blue chill, drew closer and closer, Pikachu’s eyes widened. Time itself seemed to slow in its perception.

Precisely because of that, Pikachu found it had enough time to think.

Double-Edge?

There wasn’t enough room to build up the charge for a proper tackle.

Thunderbolt and Thunder were no longer options; it had nearly run its batteries dry.

Quick Attack couldn’t stand up to Ice Punch.

With almost every option exhausted, Ash’s shout suddenly echoed in Pikachu’s ears. At the same time, a peculiar feeling welled up in its chest.

It suddenly recalled the scene of Delibird’s Steel Wing cleaving through Bulbasaur’s Vine Whip.

From Lucas’s vantage, Pikachu’s lightning-shaped tail suddenly took on a distinct metallic sheen. Pikachu twisted its body and, in a blur of silver, swung that tail down at Delibird’s Ice Punch!

Zzzzzz—

Two stubborn forces clashed in a roaring struggle between Delibird and Pikachu.

After a brief deadlock, Delibird ultimately proved the more skilled. It broke through the new move, and with the burst of frigid energy from Ice Punch, Pikachu was sent flying, trailing frost as it crashed to the ground—clearly losing its ability to battle.

“Pikachu is unable to battle!”

Brock’s voice rang out again. His perpetually squinted eyes were fixed on the unconscious Pikachu, as if he were pondering something.

“That move just now… could it be…?”

Delibird glanced at its own wing in mild surprise. The thin scratch on it was starkly visible.

Ash scooped up Pikachu and said softly, “You worked hard, Pikachu.”

“Pika… pi…”

Pikachu answered Ash in a weak voice.

At this moment, Ash’s eyes were full of nothing but Pikachu. He didn’t even spare a thought for what move Pikachu had used at the end.

Clap, clap, clap.

Lucas’s applause pulled Ash’s attention back.

Smiling at Ash, Lucas said, “Congratulations. Pikachu just learned Iron Tail.”

“Iron Tail?”

Ash looked blankly at Lucas.

Misty stepped forward and took Pikachu from Ash’s arms, while Brock deftly pulled out some medicine for simple first aid.

Pikachu didn’t want to go back into its Poké Ball. To keep its injuries from worsening, they had to start treatment right away.

“Even though it’s a Steel-type move, it really suits your Pikachu,” Lucas explained.

Even he hadn’t expected Pikachu to master Iron Tail—something it didn’t learn until Hoenn in the original timeline—halfway through their Johto journey.

Among Pikachu’s mainstay moves in the later stages, Iron Tail’s presence was certainly not low.

It would eventually reach the point where a single Iron Tail from Pikachu could cause a full-on earthquake. Absolutely busted.

After a string of one-sided losses in the earlier rounds, Ash and Pikachu had still been able to explode with such potential. Lucas couldn’t help but look at them in a new light.

Turns out, if you squeeze them a bit, the potential is there.

Once Brock finished basic treatment for Pikachu, Misty took it to the side to watch the rest of the battle.

Having waited a long time for its turn, Charizard walked forward with heavy steps. Even though Ash’s Charizard was much smaller than the average Charizard, it was still far bigger than Delibird.

The oppressive presence that came from size alone had nothing to do with raw strength. Looking at Charizard, Delibird remembered the Johto region’s eighth gym, Blackthorn Gym—the time it had fought a Dragonite sent out by a tight-suited blue-haired woman.

That Dragonite wasn’t the one it knew, but under Mewtwo’s command, Delibird had still won.

If it could topple a Dragonite, what was there to fear from a Charizard?

Delibird took to the sky first, giving Charizard a provocative look.

Type disadvantage? So what? Just watch it take the final victory!

Charizard’s eyes burned with the determination to win, to not waste the belief and effort its partners had passed on to it.

“Roooaar!”

Charizard roared forth a jet of scorching flame, beat its dragonlike wings, and flew into the sky to chase Delibird’s silhouette.

It had been less than a month since it arrived in the Charicific Valley, but Charizard’s strength, flying posture, and move accuracy had all improved significantly.

By now the snowfall had faded away, and sunlight once again bathed the field. Feeling the warmth of the sun on its skin, Charizard’s fighting spirit surged even higher, and it launched into a fierce aerial dogfight with Delibird.

Up to now, Brock and Misty still found it hard to believe that such a small body as Delibird’s could hide such tremendous power.

Even if Delibird’s level surpassed Charizard’s, it could not compare in sheer physical power. But Delibird made up for that by showing off a host of aerial combat techniques it had learned from Dragonite, Mewtwo, and the wilds, toying with the bulky Charizard until the latter was fuming.

The Aerial Ace it had used at the start to slip past Cyndaquil’s Swift was used repeatedly to mock Charizard, and every so often it would catch Charizard from a tricky angle with a Water Pulse.

By the final moments of the battle, Delibird’s offense was finally broken through by Charizard’s brute strength, and it took a full-power Flamethrower head-on. In response, Delibird gathered Ice-type energy and struck Charizard with a full-powered Blizzard, bringing the battle to a close.

As Charizard tumbled from the sky to the ground, Ash knew that he’d lost today’s challenge—and lost miserably, an utter defeat.

If Pikachu and the others hadn’t burned off so much of Delibird’s stamina, Charizard’s last Flamethrower might not even have landed.

Yet Ash didn’t feel discouraged. On the contrary, he was overjoyed.

After all, it meant that he had indeed grown stronger—he’d managed to actually hurt Delibird this time, where once he couldn’t even scratch it.

When he saw Ash and his friends say goodbye and prepare to take Charizard to the Pokémon Center, Lucas called out to him.

Meeting Ash’s puzzled gaze, Lucas suddenly said, “Ash, when you’re doing special training before the Silver Conference, come to Paldea for a while.”

Ash blinked, as if he hadn’t quite processed the words.

Lucas pointed at Charizard, who was being helped to its feet by Ash and Brock. “Bring Charizard along then. Its aerial combat skills are way too rough. For a Flying-type Pokémon, it barely knows any flying-type moves it can use properly.”

“Sounds like, in the Charicific Valley, it was too busy thinking about building muscles and bulking up and wrestling other Charizard on the ground, huh?”

At that, Charizard gave him an embarrassed look, scratching its head as if to say: how did you know?

Lucas walked up and patted Ash’s shoulder with a faint smile. “Trust me. In the Silver Conference, you and Charizard will need those skills.”

Ash didn’t know why Lucas was suddenly inviting him, but the thought of battling him again, of experiencing that kind of rapid growth like today, made Ash nod without hesitation. “Thank you for the invitation! I’ll definitely come!”

Chapter 387 – Indigo Plateau, the Other Moltres

After saying farewell to Ash and the others, Lucas returned to Goldenrod City, then took the Maglev Train and arrived in Saffron City by dusk.

Saffron City.

The largest and most prosperous city in all of Kanto, much like Goldenrod’s position in Johto.

The headquarters of the world-class corporation Silph Co. towered right in the city center, impossible to miss.

The city was also home to the Saffron Gym, guarded by the formidable Psychic-type Trainer Sabrina, known as the Humanoid Pokémon.

But none of that had anything to do with Lucas right now.

If it were earlier, he might have considered dropping by Sabrina’s gym to see whether he himself had any talent for Psychic-type abilities.

But after being shot down three times—by Oranguru, Mewtwo, and Calyrex—he’d given up on that dream.

The moment he stepped off the Maglev, he saw people from the Kanto League already waiting for him at the station exit.

The woman had long, wavy blue hair, wore a yellow midriff tank top, white three-quarter pants, and yellow high heels that matched her top.

Her face was set and serious, and a palpable oppressive aura rolled off her, causing passersby to unconsciously keep their distance.

Some people clearly recognized who she was, but even so, they didn’t dare approach her under that pressure.

The woman seemed to already know what Lucas looked like. As soon as he stepped past the ticket gate, she strode toward him on her heels.

Lucas motioned for Delibird to stick close behind him so they wouldn’t get separated in the crowd, then looked up at the woman now standing before him and greeted her with a smile. “Didn’t expect you’d personally come to pick me up, Elite Karen.”

“The others are all busy. But Chairman Goodshow said we mustn’t slight you, so he sent me from Mt. Silver to Saffron to meet you in advance.”

Karen nodded slightly and glanced toward the station exit.

“I parked the car outside. It’s too late to go to headquarters today. The League wants us to rest in Saffron for the night. The hotel’s already booked; I’ll take you there.”

Beyond the intimidating aura that came from being an Ice specialist, Karen herself exuded an efficient, capable air. She wasted no time or words.

Under her guidance, Lucas and Delibird got into her black jeep.

His surprise must have been a bit too obvious, because as she weaved deftly through Saffron’s busy streets, she pushed up the night-vision polarized shades on her nose and said:

“There’s nothing strange about it. I’m a practical person. I often have to travel between wild areas and different cities. Naturally, I picked a high-clearance, rugged vehicle as my ride.”

“Deliiii~”

Delibird nodded. It agreed: practicality was best.

Lucas looked thoughtful.

Indeed, unlike in Alola, in major Kanto cities most Pokémon were not allowed to carry people on public roads.

The only exceptions were Pokémon like Dodrio—and even then, you needed a certified license to travel with them.

Even as night fell and the sky darkened, the streets remained as crowded as ever. Karen glanced at Lucas, who was absorbed in watching the passing scenery from the passenger seat, and asked, “Are you free tonight?”

Lucas blinked. Not knowing what she had in mind, he chose the safest possible answer.

“Let’s… say I’m not. I pulled an all-nighter yesterday and planned to get an early sleep tonight.”

“I see. Then let’s do it another day.”

Karen nodded lightly, her demeanor refreshingly unforced.

A string of question marks popped up in Lucas’s head. He hesitated a moment, then asked, “Can I ask what you wanted me for?”

Karen didn’t answer immediately.

Only after the jeep had taken a few more turns and finally stopped in front of an upscale hotel did she stretch with her arms crossed and reply in a lazy tone:

“I rushed here from Mt. Silver without stopping. Taking a little interest isn’t too much to ask, is it?”

“If you don’t mind, once we reach Indigo Plateau, have a one-on-one Pokémon battle with me.”

She didn’t bother to hide her desire to battle. Perhaps most Pokémon Trainers were like that.

“No problem,” Lucas nodded. “Though I didn’t bring my ace with me on this trip.”

“Then just send out your main attacker. Oh—and I’m quite interested in that Dragonite that defeated Moltres. There’s no record of you taking any flights, so I’m guessing you rode it here, right?”

Spreading her hands, Karen seemed very satisfied with Lucas’s straightforwardness.

“You know, our Johto League Champion’s ace is also a Dragonite. I’ve never given up on taking that title. I’ve done a lot of training for that matchup—so I might be unexpectedly well-prepared against you.”

“Fair enough.”

Lucas unbuckled his seat belt, then went around to the back to gently unstrap the Delibird sitting obediently on the child seat and help it out. Under Karen’s lead, all the check-in procedures were completed in one go.

On the top floor of the hotel, outside his room, Karen leaned against the doorframe and waved.

“Get a good rest. It’ll take us about half a day to drive to Indigo Plateau tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

Lucas closed the door and exhaled in relief. He looked at Delibird, who was curiously examining the hotel room, thought for a bit, then took out his Poké Balls and released everyone.

Dragonite, Moltres, Arcanine, Victini, and Raging Bolt… Yes, this so-called top luxury hotel in Saffron had ceilings high enough for Raging Bolt to stand up straight.

From the shadows, Mimikyu crawled out. Lucas picked it up, then pulled a piece of high-quality fabric and some needle and thread from his bag. He called to Moltres, who’d suppressed its flames and was now stalking around the room like a big walking chicken:

“Keep an eye on Arcanine.”

Even if the room bill was on the Kanto League, Lucas still wanted to avoid causing too much damage.

Moltres nodded to show it understood, then turned to look at Arcanine, who was lying near the door.

To its surprise, Arcanine only glanced at the neatly placed disposable slippers, then calmly looked away, showing no interest at all.

Moltres: “…”

So he only fixates on my slippers, huh. Talk about principles.

Moltres sauntered over to Arcanine and began to slowly preen its fur with its beak.

On the other side of the room, Lucas tried to sew the fabric into a new disguise coat for Mimikyu, using it as a live model. Unfortunately, his skills clearly weren’t there yet, and the final product looked rather tragic.

Mimikyu, swaying its wooden tail, didn’t mind in the least.

But Lucas had promised to make it a cute doll-style cloak, so he had to do it properly.

He folded the failed prototype neatly and tucked it into his bag, then took out a second piece of fabric to start again.

…

Time slipped by until the night grew deep—around eleven o’clock.

He still hadn’t produced a cloak he was satisfied with, but the experience he’d accumulated was real enough. Stifling a yawn, Lucas looked over at his Pokémon, who had all fallen asleep in a heap.

Dragonite and Raging Bolt had just spent ages playing slide with Victini; no wonder they were exhausted.

“Time to call it a night.”

Drowsiness surged up, threatening to swallow his consciousness. Lucas yawned again, lay down on the bed, and drifted off with Delibird in his left arm and Mimikyu in his right.

With the two of them there, he didn’t even need to turn on the air conditioner. Their cool bodies chased away every trace of the summer heat.

…

The next morning—

Freshly washed and dressed, Lucas stepped out of his room and immediately bumped into Karen, who was leaning casually against the hallway wall.

He blinked, then said sincerely, “Standing like that makes it feel like you’ve been in that pose all night.”

Karen didn’t respond to the jab. Brushing her hair off her shoulder, she cocked an eyebrow. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Her jeep was still parked in front of the hotel. Lucas and Delibird settled into the backseat. As the engine roared to life, the jeep rolled out onto the road, heading toward the most solemn place in all of Kanto: the Pokémon League at Indigo Plateau.

On the way, Lucas fished a camera out from Delibird’s tail and began flipping through its photos with it.

The camera had only been with Delibird for less than a month, so there weren’t that many pictures.

But what grabbed Lucas’s attention most was a photo taken in a forest.

Lush trees with dense branches blotted out the sky. The light in the forest was so poor that even though the photo was taken in broad daylight, it looked like night.

If it were just a dark, gloomy forest, it wouldn’t have stood out.

The key was a mysterious creature in the distance, hiding in the sea of trees like a little fairy and glowing with an emerald-green light.

It was too far away to see clearly, but judging from the outline… it looked very much like that Pokémon.

In his mind, Lucas pictured a small green body with transparent gossamer wings on its back and two thick, black eye-rings: the Mythical Pokémon Celebi.

Celebi, who could freely travel through time.

If there was a Celebi there, and the forest was that dark and eerie, then it had to be Ilex Forest.

Delibird’s luck was insane—managing to snap a photo of a Pokémon as elusive as Celebi.

Blushing from his praise, Delibird bashfully scratched its head with a wing.

Still marveling, Lucas opened the camera’s instant print function and printed the photo on the spot, planning to put it into his album later.

…

Half a day later, they arrived at the Kanto League Headquarters, Indigo Plateau.

Walking up the long stairs of dark gray stone, Lucas and Delibird looked back down.

Rather than feeling like they were standing on the most solemn ground in Kanto, the view below looked more like a scenic resort, with large facilities scattered around the beautiful landscape.

They were walking a perfectly safe road. Just a little further out lay the famous Mt. Silver range, notorious for its treacherous terrain.

Karen’s voice drifted down from ahead.

“With the League’s power and scale growing in recent years, safe roads leading to Indigo Plateau have long since been built. Aside from Trainers who deliberately want to test themselves, very few people still challenge Victory Road.”

Lucas pulled his gaze back and continued up with Delibird. “So down there is the stadium, the Trainers’ Village, and all the other facilities for the Indigo Conference?”

“That’s right. Times are changing. Trainer rank divisions are more detailed than ever. Kanto’s League is also considering adopting Sinnoh’s Champion League system—letting free gym leaders and past League champions compete to decide who has the right to challenge the Elite Four and Champion.”

She chatted about Kanto’s recent changes without even turning around.

“I heard Paldea’s system is a bit different from Kanto’s?”

“It is,” Lucas replied, thinking for a moment.

His mind flashed back to his own Champion assessment in Paldea. The early interview rounds, in particular, felt less like challenging an Elite Four and Champion, and more like Geeta recruiting strong Trainers as corporate staff.

Idle talk made the climb feel shorter. As they chatted around topics that didn’t touch either region’s secrets, the long stairway that looked like a ladder to the sky suddenly ended, and the grand buildings of the Kanto League came into view.

Aside from the League’s imposing architecture, the most eye-catching thing was the blazing orange flame burning in a silver cauldron in the center of the front plaza.

“That’s the Sacred Flame?” Lucas asked, almost certain.

“Yes,” Karen nodded. “A never-ending fire born from Moltres, used as the symbol of the Indigo and Silver Conferences.”

Then, her expression turned a bit complicated.

If she remembered correctly, Lucas also had a Moltres, didn’t he? And even Articuno and Zapdos.

At least the Sacred Flame here came from an exceptionally strong Moltres. That was some small comfort.

Lucas thought of how he usually used his Moltres’s fire at home—to keep warm and to cook—and wisely shut his mouth. No need to court trouble here.

The Sacred Flame was a core part of the spiritual faith of Kanto’s people, after all.

They were almost at the main entrance of the Kanto headquarters. All they had to do was walk past the silver cauldron.

But before Lucas could step around it, the Sacred Flame inside suddenly surged as if sensing something, billowing upward to form a wall of fire that blocked Lucas’s path.

“?!”

Fortunately, Lucas and Delibird reacted quickly and stopped at the same time. If they’d taken one more step, his eyebrows and Delibird’s feathers might have been singed.

Karen, who’d walked ahead without provoking any reaction at all from the flames, halted and stared in shock.

The Sacred Flame… was reacting?

Feeling the wave of heat on his face, Lucas’s expression changed. He could vaguely sense that the Sacred Flame wasn’t aiming at him.

More like—

A Poké Ball on his belt trembled and opened on its own.

Moltres appeared in the plaza in a flare of fire.

The moment Moltres appeared, the Sacred Flame that had blocked Lucas and Delibird seemed to have found what it was looking for. The overflowing fire obediently flowed back into the cauldron, then began to gather and take shape, condensing into a flaming, long-crying, illusory firebird.

Its appearance was almost identical to Moltres.

Staring at the living, breathing firebird in the cauldron, Lucas’s eyes went wide.

It’s really alive!?

Karen’s eyes, too, were full of wonder. For a moment, she couldn’t maintain her usual forbidding Dark-type aura and muttered to herself, “It really is alive…”

Ever since she became one of Johto’s Elite Four, she’d heard rumors that the Sacred Flame possessed a will of its own.

But seeing it with her own eyes was something else entirely.