Chapter 682: Soul Crystal, Heart

My name is Aoki, I’m 34, and I’m technically a white-collar worker.

I hold multiple positions within the Paldea League: publicly known as the Gym Leader of Jinhuizhen, and also holding the title of Elite Four member of the Paldea League.

But in my view, my true job is being a staff member in the Paldea Pokémon League’s Business Department, and a mere brick in Chairman Yici’s hands.

Many probably think Yici has assigned me too many tasks, with clear signs of exploitation.

But only I know that this seemingly hectic workload is actually the maximum assistance the Chairman can offer within her official duties.

Because my performance as a Business Department staff member is poor, and my household expenses are slightly high, I take on so many jobs hoping quantity can make up for quality.

The root cause? My household’s Pokémon—whose upkeep still falls short even with the full Gym Leader and Elite Four allowances.

I like Normal-type Pokémon because I’m just like those two words.

But as an Elite Four member, I can’t be so casual—Chairman Yici strictly requires me to use Flying-type Pokémon, which I’m relatively better at.

Yet the expenses for most of my Normal- and Flying-type Pokémon are fully covered by the allowances.

—Except for one kind of Pokémon: a Pokémon named Kabutops, which makes me feel like I’m racing against death every single day.

They eat so much they instantly drain my empty wallet and worsen my miserable situation.

Worse still, they reproduce.

After my daily feeding routine, I often find one or two Poké Balls lying around.

At first I thought they were eggs from other Pokémon, but with experience, I learned to identify them by their random patterns—they’re all baby Kabutops eggs.

—God knows how these lazy, gluttonous Kabutops manage this. Don’t they even find turning over too tiring?

Now, time has come to the present.

On the last night of this month, as I dragged my exhausted body home from League Headquarters to Jinhuizhen on the other side of the Paldea Pit, and saw yet another Poké Ball appear out of nowhere.

My fingers, clutching my newly issued salary, trembled involuntarily.

In that moment, I understood what it meant for the sky to fall.

—That, above, is Aoki’s inner monologue as he slumps wearily on the sofa.

“.”

For a moment, Luo Mu could only fall into silent disbelief.

Because this was truly hard to evaluate.

He never imagined Aoki worked so hard, pushed himself to the brink of collapse, all because he kept a whole bunch of Kabutops at home.

Seriously, who the hell keeps that many Kabutops at home? Do they have too much money?

Aoki covered his face, his voice weak and barely audible beyond three meters: “I really can’t handle it anymore. The batch of baby Kabutops hatched months ago are on the verge of evolution, and now another Poké Ball has appeared.”

“In a moment of emotional breakdown, I ran all the way here from Jinhuizhen because your farm should be able to afford the food for one baby Kabutops.”

“But now that I’ve calmed down, I realize how immature I’ve been—trying to dump my burdens onto you.”

“I’m truly ashamed.”

Watching Aoki begin to self-reflect, Luo Mu’s lips twitched slightly, trying to comfort him from another angle.

“By the way, if it’s really that bad, just get them all sterilized.”

Mid-sentence, Luo Mu’s heart skipped—a sudden chill froze the rest of his words in his throat.

He’d almost instinctively given Aoki advice based on his pre-transmigration experience.

Come to think of it, Pokémon don’t need sterilization—they’re the kind of creatures that, after a picnic, you find extra eggs when packing up.

Suggesting sterilization to stop Kabutops from laying more eggs? That idea, upon reflection, is absurd.

“Oh, alright.”

Luo Mu sighed deeply, recalling Aoki’s reason for keeping so many Kabutops: sleeping on their bellies helped him sleep better, letting him wake up after only six hours to become a nuclear-powered donkey—his expression had been half-sob, half-laugh.

Seeing Aoki in such misery, and knowing his farm still had enough reserves to feed one baby Kabutops and its evolved form, he decided:

Consider this compensation for always making Aoki work overtime—he’d take the egg.

Luo Mu picked up the Poké Ball Aoki had rushed out with, still tucked inside the incubator, and examined its pattern closely.

Unlike the egg from the old woman in Kaminari Town, whose type couldn’t be identified by pattern, this one clearly bore features linked to the Kabutops line.

“Really?”

Aoki lifted his head in surprise—he hadn’t expected Luo Mu to actually accept the egg.

“Yes.”

Luo Mu nodded helplessly, giving a firm confirmation.

Aoki stared at Luo Mu for a long time, then spoke with solemn gravity.

“Thank you. And… I must sincerely apologize for previously seeing you as a ‘curse’ and a ‘magnet for bad luck.’”

“I’m sorry.”

Luo Mu: Σ(°Д°;

Wait, what did you just say!?

After seeing Aoki off, Luo Mu crossed his arms and stared at the two Poké Balls before him, expression complex.

“Why does my place keep turning into a daycare center?”

Luo Mu asked himself, genuinely puzzled.

The Flareon had just begun to grow, and the Ballistea had fully adapted to the farm environment.

He hadn’t even caught his breath, and now two more unhatched eggs were piled in his hands.

Am I some cheap, easy-to-use dad now?

Also, Aoki’s revelation had left him uneasy.

He claimed all his work was self-requested, making Yici seem innocent—but Luo Mu didn’t believe a word of it.

Yici, after all, was the kind of person who’d hire a nine-year-old to work.

Luo Mu just thought Yici was terrifying—what had she turned Aoki into?

She’d quietly exploited him, and yet he still sincerely defended her. It was terrifying.

“Clearly, choosing not to hold any responsible position within the League was the right decision.”

Luo Mu once again felt proud of his own foresight.

After considering tomorrow’s class schedule, he shook off his thoughts, stood up, and instructed Alakazam to properly store the two Poké Balls.

Then he shuffled back to his bedroom in his slippers, still untouched by the Gengar.

Reuniclus was already waiting there.

Of course, this wasn’t some romantic “sleeping foot-to-foot with the former Galar King” scene—it was simply Luo Mu resuming the conversation Aoki had interrupted.

Cosmog had been entrusted to the empathetic Mimikyu, so the room held only Luo Mu and Reuniclus.

Seeing Luo Mu return, Reuniclus wasted no time and spoke directly through telepathy: “Let’s continue discussing the crystal you brought back.”

“Alright.” Luo Mu pulled out a chair from under the desk and sat, listening intently.

He had considered using the hint system to cheat and learn the crystal’s secrets outright.

But he suppressed the urge, deciding to investigate its origin with Reuniclus and the others after returning to the farm.

—After all, a life where you know everything is a little too dull.

Unaware of Luo Mu’s thoughts, Reuniclus’s eyes glowed blue, and the “mysterious crystal,” still wrapped in soil from Da Wu, floated into the air between them.

At the same time, Reuniclus’s usually calm telepathic voice spoke:

“First, the conclusion: this soil-covered crystal, when scanned by psychic energy, reveals a perfectly natural spherical shape.”

“The outer soil shows no unusual energy signatures, but the crystal itself—within my perception—I’ve discovered it possesses ‘life.’”

“Life?”

Luo Mu couldn’t help interrupting, a hint of surprise on his face.

“Do you mean this crystal might be a living being, or contain a life within it, or even be a Pokémon egg with a changed form?”

Or perhaps something like Deoxys’s core?

“Not any of those.”

Reuniclus shook its head, dismissing Luo Mu’s guesses.

“Strictly speaking, the ‘life’ within this crystal cannot manifest as anything you imagine.”

“Because this crystal is the soul of a Pokémon after death.”

“In other words—”

“A soul’s crystal.”

As Reuniclus finished speaking, its gaze upon the crystal held a barely perceptible sorrow and sigh.

“A soul’s crystal?”

Luo Mu whispered the phrase, his expression slowly turning thoughtful.

This concept felt vaguely familiar.

He remembered… it was something unique to certain Legendary Pokémon.

Fortunately, his memory was sharp, and he now had a key keyword.

Soon, he recalled why the crystal felt familiar.

“Could it be… the Heart’s Tear—?”

He murmured the words softly.

Reuniclus tilted its head in curiosity: “Do you know the name of this crystal?”

“Hmm… sort of.”

Luo Mu nodded lightly, and began telling Reuniclus what he knew.

Speaking of which, without his knowledge, Ash and his companions had already visited that city during their journey through the Johto region.

The Water City, Alto Mare.

More importantly, this water city is home to a legendary Pokémon.

—Latias and Latios.

They possess gender and typically travel in pairs.

Yet their relationship is not that of spouses, but of fixed siblings: an elder brother and a younger sister.

Latias is the sister; Latios is the brother.

They guard the secret garden of the water city, protecting the artifact that safeguards the entire Alto Mare island—the Heart Scale.

And according to the plot Luo Mu remembers, the Heart Scale was later corrupted by evil forces, plunging Alto Mare into imminent destruction.

In the end, the brother Latios chose to sacrifice himself, unleashing all his power to stop the tsunami, then died and transformed into a brand-new Heart Scale, continuing to protect the water city of Alto Mare.

This movie, this story, was Luo Mu’s unfulfilled longing.

But given the current timeline, Ash and his group had already experienced the Alto Mare story while traveling through Hoenn; Luo Mu had no reason to dwell on it anymore.

He looked at the mysterious crystal floating before him, encased in earth and rock, as if a dusty treasure, and whispered: “The Heart Scale is the physical manifestation of the soul-crystal of Latias or Latios after death.”

“That means the Heart Scale before us was once a Pokémon—perhaps Latias, the sister, or perhaps Latios, the brother.”

With an inexplicably heavy heart, Luo Mu turned to the Crowned Rook.

The Crowned Rook looked back at him; both fell silent for a moment.

After a pause, the Crowned Rook let out a long sigh and said gravely: “Well, anyway, keep it safe for now.”

“Hmm.” Luo Mu gave a slight nod.

Although in the game the Heart Scale merely boosts Latias/Latios’s Special Attack and Special Defense by 1.5 times, later changed to increase the power of Dragon- and Psychic-type moves by 20%,

after learning its backstory, it was impossible to treat it as an ordinary item.

In a world where “ghosts” truly exist, a soul-turned-crystal carries a meaning far beyond the ordinary.

After the slightly heavy conversation ended, he noticed the time was nearing midnight.

Tomorrow morning, the Orange Academy, freshly renovated from Grape Academy, would hold its opening ceremony; as a teacher and head of the Battle Department, Luo Mu had to attend.

At that time, his courses would welcome two new students.

—Ursaluna and Dandy, who had moved from North Village.

The potential talents he and Yeci had recruited from Blueberry Academy.

Another opening ceremony to attend, another pair of new students to meet.

No matter what, he couldn’t show up with dark circles that looked exactly like a mischievous Pandarbear’s.

So Luo Mu could only tidy up, climb into his long-unused bed, and prepare to sleep.

Before dozing off, he quietly pondered how to use “the first class of the semester” to host a “welcome ceremony” for the two new students.

“If all else fails, let Piplup and the others—those seasoned veterans—fight a few more rounds with the newcomers.”

“Orlin and Professor Forte’s vacation hasn’t ended yet; they won’t return to the Paldea Crater for a few more days.”

“I wonder if that kid Piplup will bring Gholdengo and Milcery to school.”

(End of Chapter)