Chapter 637: Reward Secured, Exhibition Match Opponent is One of the Four Kings!

At a street corner.

With Victini perched on his head and Delibird and Terapagos tucked under his left and right arms respectively, Luo Mu glanced furtively left and right like a thief; only upon confirming no one was following did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"Phew, that scared me to death."

The scene just now was truly quite large; it nearly caused a blockage on the moving walkway.

Fortunately, he ran fast; had he been surrounded, escaping would have been very difficult.

After all, many tourists and residents in Lavaridge Town came specifically because of the "Battle Tower."

And the enthusiasm such a group of Trainers held for rare or unseen Pokémon far exceeded ordinary imagination.

Even if they were not as fanatical as Ash, they probably weren't far off.

Confirming he was currently in a "safe" state and checking the time to see there was still some slack before his scheduled meeting with Professor Londo, Luo Mu did not leave the corner immediately but instead set Delibird and Terapagos down.

His gaze fell upon Terapagos and Victini, who wore somewhat innocent expressions.

Having fled, Luo Mu had already figured it out: it was likely Victini that caused such a massive change in Terapagos.

However, since this was the first time witnessing such a change, Luo Mu still intended to clear the air with Terapagos about it.

—But before that, Luo Mu flicked Victini's forehead with his finger, neither too lightly nor too heavily.

"Do not abuse your abilities just because you are in high spirits; as punishment, you get no snacks for half a day today."

"Wang Wang!?"

Upon hearing this, Victini immediately looked as though the sky had fallen, gazing pitifully at Luo Mu while opening its small mouth to reveal tiger teeth, seemingly wishing to plead for mercy.

But Luo Mu anticipated its plea and, appearing completely unmoved, stated: "If you plead, the time will be extended by another half day."

At this, Victini fell silent, hanging its head in dejection like an eggplant struck by frost.

Delibird patted Victini on the back, softly comforting it.

"Don't worry; I have quite a few candies in my tail."

Turning a blind eye to Delibird's behavior, Luo Mu shifted his gaze to Terapagos.

With curiosity in his eyes, he asked: "What was that just now?"

A hint of shyness appeared on Terapagos's face; it gently stomped its forelimbs a few times, hoping Luo Mu would understand what it was trying to convey.

"Do you mean that was your battle form?"

Luo Mu blinked, accurately voicing the thought Terapagos wished to express.

"Gos-Gos!"

Terapagos's eyes lit up, and it nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice.

Actually, Terapagos's intended meaning was quite easy to guess.

After all, they had just witnessed it first "evolve" and then voluntarily "devolve" back into its current appearance.

This wasn't that neighboring franchise's set where evolution and devolution happened freely, where dogs evolved into mice and mice evolved into female angels.

Aside from temporary Mega Evolution, evolution represented permanent growth.

But form changes were a different matter entirely.

With precedents like Deoxys, Shaymin, Meloetta, Hoopa, and Zygarde, accepting Terapagos's earlier change became much easier.

After all, as the third legendary of the Paldea region, sporting the appearance of a harmless little turtle indeed lacked any majesty or imposing presence.

That fleeting glimpse of the eighteen-type patterns on the back of its crystallized shell carried far more style and prestige.

It was unknown whether the Terastal form just witnessed was the endpoint of Terapagos's transformation or if there existed possibilities for further advancement.

Much like Zygarde's ten percent, fifty percent, and one hundred percent forms.

In response to Luo Mu's question, Terapagos merely shook its head in confusion, indicating it did not know the answer either.

In its worldview, the battle form was already extremely powerful and formidable.

Having sorted out this "unexpected joy" of Terapagos's Terastal form, Luo Mu did not continue probing the mechanism of its transformation but instead set off toward the agreed-upon café.

Since the distance was only a few hundred meters, he had no intention of stepping onto the moving walkway, and within moments he arrived before the storefront of 【Zigzagoon Café】.

Pushing open the glass door, accompanied by the pleasant chime of a wind bell, a Pokémon resembling a raccoon and badger, covered mainly in brown fur accented with light brown ring-shaped serrated fur and bearing a raccoon-like "mask" pattern on its face, approached first.

Its name was Zigzagoon, a fairly common Pokémon in the Hoenn region, making up for the lack of actual Zigzagoons in the +Zigzagoon Coffee Shop.

Zigzagoon stared with its pair of watery brown eyes, obediently cried out to Luo Mu, then turned around and made a gesture to lead the way.

Clearly, Zigzagoon was the café's greeting Pokémon.

Luo Mu followed behind it, walking into the café interior where gentle music played.

Interestingly, Zigzagoon did not walk in a straight line but followed a zigzag path; as it moved, the segmented, uneven texture within its fur strangely drew the eye.

The only pity was that although Zigzagoon looked fluffy, its entire coat of fur was actually short and coarse, feeling somewhat prickly to the touch.

Luo Mu could only abandon his intention of reaching out to try touching it.

Zigzagoon led Luo Mu to the counter, where a waiter then guided him to a booth seat located deeper inside the café.

Professor Londo was already seated there waiting; besides Professor Londo, a woman with a dangerous hairstyle sat beside him.

The moment Luo Mu arrived, Professor Londo, who kept short blue hair, stood up immediately and extended his hand enthusiastically.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, Mr. Luo Mu!"

"I am Londo, and this is my research assistant, Yuko."

Professor Londo began with a self-introduction to avoid any awkwardness between the parties due to unexpected circumstances.

Under his enthusiastic invitation, Luo Mu sat opposite the two of them.

Without immediately diving into the topic, Professor Londo continued warmly: "Is there anything you would like to drink? Just order directly."

The waiter beside them handed over the "menu" at the right time.

Upon entering the café, Luo Mu had already recalled Delibird and the others into their Poké Balls; in the eyes of the two, Luo Mu, carrying only a backpack and a shoulder bag, had arrived alone.

Luo Mu did not refuse; after glancing at the menu, he ordered a Mocha coffee.

After the clerk recorded the request and withdrew, the conversation between the three formally began.

As a scientific researcher, Dr. Lundquist was clearly not the type to waste time with heaps of nonsense and formalities before slowly getting to the point.

He valued efficiency highly and dove straight into the main topic from the start.

"I imagine you must be quite curious, Mr. Luo, as to why I, a complete stranger, would invite you to this city of LaRousse?"

Dr. Lundquist clasped his hands together, revealing a slightly stiff smile.

Luo Mu nodded lightly. "Mm, I suppose the exhibition match was just a pretext?"

"Initially, yes, but after we learned your identity, we did indeed arrange a genuine exhibition match," Yuko added.

Dr. Lundquist then proceeded to explain the reason he had invited Luo Mu to LaRousse City.

"It was probably last summer; I accidentally tuned into an ice sculpture program and noticed the ice sculpture you carved as a contestant."

"That was undoubtedly Rayquaza, the Legendary Pokémon of this Hoenn region, an ancient Pokémon."

"My first reaction was: why would you, so far away in the Paldea region, know such detailed information about Rayquaza, down to every dragon scale matching the video records we had previously captured with such realism?"

"But I soon realized that perhaps you had seen it before, or perhaps you had some special encounter."

"At that moment, the idea of inviting you to LaRousse City arose in my mind."

"To be safe, I felt I needed to learn more about Rayquaza."

Dr. Lundquist's voice paused; he picked up the coffee before him and took a sip, while Yuko smoothly took over the conversation.

"Your information was guarded so tightly that it took quite some effort for us to discover your identity beyond that of an ice sculptor."

"Thus, we conceived the idea of inviting you to LaRousse City under the guise of an exhibition match, and we put it into practice before the New Year."

"The exhibition match was indeed arranged, and the opponent should not disappoint you."

"As for the true reason and purpose behind inviting you with this pretext, could we ask you to accompany us to the research institute?"

Taking Luo Mu directly to the research institute would have been somewhat impolite; the two had pondered this for a long time before finally deciding to meet first at the coffee shop, clarify part of the reasoning to Luo Mu, and only then politely invite him to the institute.

Luo Mu did not answer immediately but fell into contemplation.

He truly hadn't expected that Dr. Lundquist had discovered him through an ice sculpture competition.

Come to think of it, it was also after watching the ice sculpture competition that Wallace decided to travel at public expense, running over to Paldea to promote Contest Spectaculars while also checking in on Ninetales.

Since Dr. Lundquist was about to take him to the research institute, the matter he wanted to discuss with him was most likely related to the Deoxys core within that meteorite in his possession.

—So the question arose: should he really agree?

Since Ash and his group had already appeared in this city, then according to his memory, the plot couldn't be far off.

Probably by tomorrow, both the other Deoxys and Rayquaza would make their appearances one after another.

Although it was still possible to leave now, since he was already standing within LaRousse City, whether he got involved or not seemed unimportant.

Since he was already here anyway.

Subconsciously licking his lips, Luo Mu spoke: "Alright, let's go take a look."

Inside the research institute built within an artificial ecological park.

Standing before the operation console, Luo Mu focused his gaze intently on the mysterious green crystal embedded within the extraterrestrial meteorite inside the glass tank.

Intense laser beams shone upon the crystal, causing it to emit a peculiar luster.

Luo Mu thought to himself, so this is Deoxys's core.

It indeed looked very strange; at the very least, it didn't seem like something created on this planet—Steven would probably be so excited upon seeing it that he'd raise a flag, wouldn't he?

—Or perhaps he had already seen it long ago.

Dr. Lundquist and his assistant, Yuko, were demonstrating to him how laser irradiation could induce Deoxys's regeneration.

However, the output power seemed somewhat lacking; at the very least, they were still far from providing sufficient energy.

Luo Mu remembered that this Deoxys's consciousness was actually awake, and it would even interact with Dr. Lundquist's son, Cho, using visible light spectra similar to an aurora.

It was also the key to stopping the conflict between the other Deoxys and Rayquaza later on.

Luo Mu had no intention of interfering with the specific direction of the plot; simply coasting along would achieve a happy ending where everyone was satisfied.

His attention was focused more on what Dr. Lundquist had told him shortly after arriving at the research institute.

Simply put, the other party seemed worried that awakening Deoxys's regenerative abilities might once again attract Rayquaza, which had harbored an inexplicable hostility toward Deoxys four years ago.

He wanted to use Luo Mu, a trainer who supposedly had contact with Rayquaza, to learn some things related to Rayquaza.

—It was truly an exceedingly simple and rustic request; if Dr. Lundquist had proposed it earlier and Luo Mu had made this trip sooner, there would have been no need to get involved in the movie's plot.

Since the other party's request was so simple, Luo Mu felt too embarrassed to refuse, so he shared with Dr. Lundquist the reason behind the "poor relationship" between Rayquaza and Deoxys.

Rayquaza regarded the sky, or rather, this planet's atmosphere and ozone layer, as its own territory.

In Rayquaza's eyes, Deoxys, which came from outer space without an invitation, was an enemy that had invaded its territory.

For this reason, Rayquaza developed hostility toward Deoxys, and given Rayquaza's personality, if it sensed Deoxys's presence, it would most likely make a special trip to launch an offensive once again.

This news was certainly not friendly to Dr. Lundquist; he was already considering whether to slow down the awakening of Deoxys and first prepare measures to defend against Rayquaza's attack.

Luo Mu merely smiled and said nothing.

Setting aside whether defensive measures could be established in time, Dr. Lundquist very readily handed over the "reward" Luo Mu had requested: a USB drive loaded with a simplified version of the "City Management System Program."

As one of the developers and administrators of LaRousse City, even if Dr. Lundquist couldn't provide the most core and perfect management system, his own self-written simplified version was certainly no problem.

He also enthusiastically told Luo Mu that if he encountered any technical problems, he could seek his help at any time.

Luo Mu's impression of Dr. Lundquist was now completely fixed.

—This man was a tremendous good soul.

Just as the two were chatting happily, Yuko, who was recording data nearby, noticed the image playing on the screen overhead and spoke: "Dr. Lundquist, look at Cho, he..."

Dr. Lundquist looked back and immediately widened his eyes.

"How can there be a Pokémon Battle?"

His own son had developed a psychological resistance to Pokémon due to the incident four years ago; how could he now appear in the Battle Tower and even participate in a battle?

Luo Mu followed Dr. Lundo's gaze and immediately raised an eyebrow.

Oh, so they've directly formed a team?

Unsurprisingly, Xiao Chao's teammate was Xiao Zhi, since it was a double battle requiring cooperation between two trainers.

As expected, their opponents' Pokémon were Blaziken and Blastoise.

On Xiao Zhi's side, he sent out the veteran actor, Pikachu.

Unfortunately, Xiao Chao hadn't raised any Pokémon at all, which caused him to stand there dumbfounded.

Probably eager for a battle, Xiao Zhi simply lent his own Pokémon to him.

Luo Mu had thought it would be Ceruledge, after all, in the movie, the Fire-type Pokémon Xiao Zhi lent was Torkoal, but what actually appeared was Pupitar, which had already evolved from Larvitar into Shelgon.

How to put it? Although the Pokémon that appeared had changed, the result remained the same; the coordination between both sides was completely out of sync, leading to what was essentially a one-sided beating.

Compared to this farcical battle, Dr. Lundo's reaction beside him was far more interesting.

—The old father, upon seeing his son throw the Poké Ball, immediately shed a line of hot tears.

He was still muttering about how his son was finally willing to interact with Pokémon and so on.

After Dr. Lundo calmed his emotions and saw the battle nearing its end, he directly invited Luo Mu to accompany him to the Battle Tower.

He intended to welcome his son and, additionally, explain the schedule for the evening's exhibition match to Luo Mu.

Luo Mu naturally had no objections; since they were already scheduled, they might as well have a match.

However, he was still slightly curious about who exactly Dr. Lundo had prepared as his opponent for the exhibition match.

Dr. Lundo directly revealed a smile and said in a tone of seeking credit: "After learning of your status as a Champion-level trainer, I changed the invitee."

"—If it is him, he should be an opponent who satisfies you, correct?"

With those words, Dr. Lundo revealed the other party's name.

"Drake, of the Hoenn region's Elite Four."

(End of Chapter)