Chapter 1282: Sea of Flowers

Milotic and Hisuian Braviary, standing at the ready, received their orders. Vast psychic power surged, supporting immense life energy as the two Pokémon ascended into the firmament.

Not minding that the ground was covered in mud and withered leaves, Su Hao sat down with a thud, as if drained of all strength. Mega Lucario's form flickered; unable to maintain its Mega Evolved state, it collapsed to the ground.

Not only had both their Viridian Force and Aura been completely exhausted, but even the gift from the Tree of Beginning had been mostly depleted.

Although this was clearly a losing deal—calling it a massive loss would be no exaggeration—these things could be obtained again through other means. Since the Viridian Forest had treated him so well, being timid or unwilling to act out of concern for personal gain would be a complete betrayal of Su Hao's principles of conduct.

Feeling a sense of weakness only a notch less severe than the time at the Tree of Beginning, Su Hao panted heavily and looked up at the sky: "This time, there really is nothing left."

Lucario spread its arms in a long-overdue gesture, lying on the ground motionless, slowly recovering its stamina.

For a Pokémon that had emptied all its Aura, it had done everything it could. Now, it only needed to trust its teammate who had taken the second leg of the relay.

It was time to rest.

Man and Pokémon watched as Milotic and Hisuian Braviary, their bodies wreathed in a mysterious halo, gathered rain clouds and summoned the Wind of Revival. A fine drizzle, imbued with rich life energy, fell gently. The rain clouds, emitting a faint green glow, did not look ominous; instead, they were filled with the pulse of life.

The rain fell upon the earth and upon the dying wild Pokémon, bringing the first touch of spring's new green and the vitality of all things reviving.

Decaying trees broke through their cocoons to be reborn, green grass scrambled to sprout from the ground, and countless flowers bloomed at their most beautiful moment. The wild Pokémon, whose life force had been stripped away, opened their eyes in a daze, then gazed respectfully at Milotic and Hisuian Braviary, who circled beneath the rain clouds, bestowing their grace.

In their eyes, these two Pokémon were no different from gods at this moment.

"Bana..."

The giant Venusaur, gradually waking, was startled to find itself in the midst of a resplendent sea of flowers.

Its consciousness had been completely severed after Wo-Chien drained its life force. It should have been utterly bewildered; in reality, the giant Venusaur only froze for a moment. As if it had realized something, it looked up and cast a respectful gaze toward Milotic and Hisuian Braviary—Pokémon that were smaller than it and which it should have looked down upon.

Then, it moved its massive body, walking with clear purpose toward the center of the sea of flowers. It stopped before Su Hao and Lucario and lowered its proud head, which it had never bowed even when battling Wo-Chien.

Other wild Pokémon in the Wonder Garden also gathered from all directions, bowing their heads in unison.

At this moment, whether it was the giant Venusaur, which held the highest status in the Wonder Garden, or the weakest, most frail Pokémon, all were like pilgrims, using their actions to express gratitude that words could not describe.

The drizzle gradually ceased, and the rain clouds covering the Wonder Garden dispersed. Hisuian Braviary and Milotic bathed in the sunlight and descended slowly, stopping beside Su Hao and Lucario, who had already sat up.

Accepting the homage of these wild Pokémon, Su Hao smiled and said to the three Pokémon beside him: "This feeling really isn't bad."

Although their bodies were weak, an unprecedented sense of accomplishment filled their hearts.

Milotic, Hisuian Braviary, and Lucario were startled, then gazed in admiration at the beautiful, isolated scenery, nodding involuntarily.

Yes, it truly was a resplendent and beautiful sea of flowers.

Rocky Mountain Zone.

"It seems they have succeeded over there as well."

Liao Xingchen sat casually by a rock, gazing at the scene of revival in the distance.

This kid is truly outrageous. I wonder if he used the Viridian Force to summon the Forest God directly; otherwise, there wouldn't be such a massive commotion.

At this moment, Lin Sen had already been trussed up by Liao Xingchen, and Wo-Chien was being firmly guarded by Charizard, which would occasionally blast it with Flamethrower to prevent Wo-Chien from rapidly recovering its stamina through the constitution of a Legendary Pokémon.

Centered on Lin Sen, the five-meter radius around him was surrounded by Liao Xingchen

with several operating spheres placed in position.

Those were specialized spatial interference devices, products born to prevent the contingency plans of certain criminals.

They could release a force field that distorted the surrounding space, causing instant movement or move-swapping using those criminals as coordinates to be distorted and rendered ineffective.

Each such device was expensive to build, comparable to the value of an ordinary pseudo-legendary Pokémon egg, not to mention that Liao Xingchen had now directly activated the device's overload mode, sacrificing the equipment to gain the ability to prevent Champion-level Pokémon from using spatial moves.

It could be said that Lin Sen's path of retreat had been completely severed; there was nowhere to escape.

"Entei will arrive soon. Once it arrives, you will be escorted to the Alliance to face judgment, and this Wo-Chien will be resealed."

"Everything is over. Now, it is time to talk about your affairs, Lin Sen."

Liao Xingchen pursed his lips, his voice heavy.

"Why did you disappear without a word that year? The research application for the Four Treasures of Ruin had already been approved."

Liao Xingchen's gaze fell upon the Wo-Chien over there. He had clearly seen that just before this Wo-Chien was about to be swallowed by Mega Charizard X's Sacred Fire, it would rather let itself be burned by the super-effective Sacred Fire without any defense, just to squeeze out the last bit of energy to protect Lin Sen.

Even if they were Pokémon that brought disaster, they would still protect the people important to them.

This was also the reason why the Alliance had long hesitated to approve Lin Sen's research application.

The Shenzhou Alliance was not sure if the Treasures of Ruin, as incarnations of disaster, were controllable, or if they would bring indiscriminate disaster if unsealed during the research of the four shrines.

Now, the glaring fact proved that even the Treasures of Ruin had emotions and were willing to protect the things important to them at all costs.

This also happened to show that the efforts of Liao Xingchen and several friends back then to overcome public opinion—even playing the "Candidate for the Rainbow Hero" card to guarantee for Lin Sen—had been meaningful.

But when they took the research approval documents to Lin Sen's laboratory to find him, the place was already empty, leaving behind only a pile of research materials on the Treasures of Ruin.

When they met again, the other party had become a member of the notorious Nova organization, driving Wo-Chien to wreak havoc on the Viridian Forest. Even now, he could not understand why.

Just as Liao Xingchen was lost in memories due to his friend's fall, Lin Sen's voice suddenly rang out: "I think you have been fundamentally wrong about one thing."

—————————— ===== CHAPTER 1283 =====