Chapter 4

On the outskirts of Geosenge town, a chopper landed near a mountain range. Lysandre removed his seat belt and got off the chopper, walking towards the mountain range with a few team flare operatives behind him, dressed in civilian clothing as to not attract attention.

Lysandre stopped a few feet away from the range, as a part of the range was uncovered by a rock moving, revealing a scanner. It quickly scanned Lydandre from head to toe, before retreating.

Lysandre stepped forward, bending downward, to look into the eye scanner. Right after, he placed his card in the middle of the range, causing the secret door to be revealed. The door opened as Lysandre walked inside with his guards, the chopper that took him here, staying in its place.

Lysandre pressed one of the buttons, as the elevator started to move, heading downwards. Lysandre had a stoic look on his face, yet his eyes slowly began to gain more and more excited as the elevator soon reached the bottom.

The elevator doors opened as Lynsadre walked down the hall. His pace started to quicken as the guards kept up with him. A smile started to form on his face, his excitement was barely being controlled at this stage, as he wanted to let loose and just run down the hallway to inspect the weapon like a child running towards his presents to open them on his birthday.

" Move. " He said to the guards blocking the entrance to the ultimate weapon, which was behind the door they were guarding.

Obeying orders, they stepped to the side as Lysandre CALMLY opened the doors and stepped into the room, his presence being known to everyone as they looked towards him.

" Hello, sir! " Xeriosic said as he looked towards his boss.

" Xeriosic. " Lysandre greeted as he looked at the object before him.

" Is this... "

" The ultimate weapon? Yes, sir! " Xeriosic said as he looked at the weapon.

The weapon towered over Lysandre and Xeriosic, with both of them. having to take multiple steps back to look up to see the top of the weapon with their own eyes. Lysandre stared in awe, the weapon was in its initial position, an un-bloomed flower. In due time, this flower will open.

" I see. Give me a full report and what you've discovered about the weapon. " Lysandre commanded.

" The weapon has been firmly rooted into the ground, mainly to the extremely long time it's been here. I've already been working on making support structures to send it above ground when it finishes charging. " Xeriosic explained as he handed Lysandre a tablet, multiple blueprints on it as Lysandre's blue eyes scanned them, his finger moving gently across the screen.

" Good, good. What about the weapon itself? " Lysandre asked.

" Hmmm~...Oh, using the Porygon we have, we've managed to locate the ' battery ' of the machine, where all the power goes, before being launched. The Porygon have already been working along with my scientists to create machines to monitor its progress. " Xeriosic explained with pride at how efficient his squad is.

" However, we have run into a problem. " Xeriosic said with a straight face.

" What is it? " Lysandre asked.

" It's better if I show you. " Xeriosic said as he started walking towards the weapon with Lysandre following behind him.

" Right here, sir. " Xeriosic said as he pointed to a hole in the machine.

' A keyhole. ' Lysandre thought.

" I don't know how someone did this, but if they are alive I would like to ask them how they built this in those times. The ultimate weapon won't start up to begin charging without the key and we can't replicate it. The sensors in the machine will only activate once that specific key is placed. " Xeriosic said.

Lysandre rubbed his beard as he looked at the key in thought.

' If they were alive... '

" That's it! " Lynsadre said with wide eyes and a grin on his face.

He quickly turned around and walked towards the exit.

" Focus on the ultimate weapon! Finish your preparations! I'll find the key! " Lysandre said.

" Yes sir!! " Xeriosic said with a salute.

It was a thought.

Just a thought...

That popped into Lysandre's head at that moment after hearing a comment made by Xeriosic, yet it was enough for the gears in his mind to start moving at a rapid pace, bringing out the product quite quickly.

The book that he had, that had inspired him and driven him to create Team Flare in the first place, the one that notified him about the ultimate weapon and how, with it, he can achieve his goal to make a beautiful world.

What if the author was alive?

It sounded ridiculous at first...but the thought only lasted for a microsecond before his brain started piecing together. Not in a conclusive way, but one that made sense at the moment. With him walking away, his brain started to fill in the holes.

The book, that the author wrote, was too... real.

The pictures...

NO!

The MURALS in the book had pure emotion put into it, like when an artist puts his entire soul into a painting, creating a masterpiece. The words written, were simple, yet refined, mixed with the murals, which plunged the reader straight into the story, as they watched the scenes occur as their only option.

The man's happiness.

The man's anxiety.

The man's sorrow.

The man's drive.

And...

The man's rage.

.

.

.

The very notion is still ridiculous, even with all the fancy talk above, but Lysandre knew the man could live.

Xerneas.

The legendary pokemon that can give someone eternal life.

The man's actions could have had a negative reaction from the pokemon, considering that he brought back a pokemon from the dead, and in exchange, a lot of pokemon were killed.

Xerneas may have made him eternal in some form of punishment for his actions.

The chance of this theory being correct is low, extremely low...

But not 0.

That was enough for Lysandre.

' The key must be with him!! ' Lysandre thought as he held the book in his hands.

' He must have it!! ' He thought as he looked at the small engravings at the bottom of the book.

' I will find you... ' Lysandre thought with a determined expression, his eyes widened as he ran his fingers over the engravings.

' AZ! '

...

' When's he going to come back? It shouldn't be that hard to find a soul in the afterlife! ' Sabeleye whined, laying on the ground underneath the shade of the tree, Atsumu sitting next to him, reading the book.

' Yeah! I mean...aren't souls just little blue balls that are floating in an dark infinte space? ' Gengar asked, floating above Sabeleye.

' Possibly, but I wouldn't know since I can't go to the world of the dead. ' Atsumu said.

' Well you can...we just have to kill you first. ' Sabeleye said.

' He has a point. ' Gengar said, pointing her finger at Sabeleye.

' Hmmm...you're not wrong but I don't want to die at the moment so...' Atsumu said with a shrug as he went back to reading the book.

Suddenly, Dusknoir appeared in front of Atsumu, Gengar, and Sabeleye, erupting from the shadows as he floated out of the darkness, his singular eye glowing red.

' Did you find some? Are souls real?! Are they little blue balls floating in a dark infinite space?!! ' Sabeleye asked excitedly as he got up in Dusknoir's face, holding on to Dusknoir's body while smiling, revealing his shark-like teeth, his voice getting more excited with each question, showing which questions he had priority for.

' Firstly, please get off me. ' Dusknoir said sternly as he glared at Sabeleye.

'I'll get off once you tell me! ' Sabeleye exclaimed.

' We both know he's not going to let go until you give what he wants...so tell him. ' Genagr said as she looked at Dusknoir after looking at her nails.

Dusknoir sighed, knowing that she was correct.

' Yes. Souls are real and yes, they are little blue balls floating in a dark infinite space. ' Dusknoir said.

' I fucking called it~!! ' Sabeleye said as jumped to the ground and his ' I told you so dance ', which included him twerking at everyone.

' I blame poke-tok. ' Gengar said with a deadpan as she turned away from Sabeleye, while Dusknoir just sighed.

' So souls do exist... ' Atsumu thought as he closed the book.

' That means that mega stones could possibly contain the souls of all the pokemon who were sacrificed, trapping in that state to just be used as power or they are dead and all the energy they have in their bodies were transferred to the stone while their souls went to the afterlife. ' Atsumu thought.

' Souls being trapped in mega stones seems to be more plausible... ' Dusknoir thought out loud.

' Well, it's not inaccurate. ' Gengar said.

' Then that really puts us in a predicament. 'Sabeleye said with a grin.

' We can tell this to the authorities, mostly the people that can be trusted, but the chances of the information leaking to someone who's...completely insane is pretty high, resulting in experimentation and loss of lives. ' Sabeleye said.

' What a drag. ' Atsumu said as he leaned back on the tree.

' But this does make sense of what Marshadow found out during the tests. After a mega evolution, the soul of the pokemon is completely used up and can't be recovered afterward, so mega stones can run out of energy at some point. ' Dusknoir said.

' Yeah, but then we have to question, how many souls are in a mega stone? ' Gengar said.

' Also a drag. ' Sabelye sighed.

' Well...questions for later. ' Atsumu said as he leaned back on the tree and picked up the book again.

' Hey! I had this random thought. ' Sabeleye announced.

' How is that different from any other time? ' Gengar asked.

' What if the author of the book is still alive? ' Sabeleye said.

Gengar, Dusknoir and Atsumu froze as they turned towards Sabeleye.

' Think about it. It should be possible for the author to still be alive, if we consider him as the man in the story, making a legendary pokemon punish him in some way for what he has done. ' Sabeleye said.

' Xerneas. It is said that it can share eternal life with others, so that man would still be alive to this day. ' Gengar said.

' That's also possible. He could be roaming around the Kalos region, trying to find the Flabebe that was so close to him, considering that it left him after it found out how many lives were sacrificed for it to live. ' Atsumu said as he began thinking of other possibilities, trying to make sense of the theory, if and how it was possible.

" Hey!! " a voice shouted, snapping Atsumu out of his thoughts.

Atsumu turned towards the person in question. He was quite tall, near Atsumu's own height, was slim with messy black hair, wearing baggy grey pants, black leather jacket, black boots, blue shirt, fingerless clothes, a blue scarf that reminded Atsumu of something familiar and a mega ring on his left hand.

Atsumu then glanced at the Charizard standing by Alain, hiding a mega stone.

' So that's what the scarf reminds me of... ' Atsumu thought.

" Hmm...Oh hello~. " Atsumu said with a smile on his face as he looked at the guy.

" I wasn't expecting a visitor. Who might you be? " Atsumu asked as he closed the book and stood up.

" Alain. "

" Atsumu. "

.

.

" Sorry to intrude, but I wanted to ask where you got that book from. " Alain said curtly, after regaining his bearings from when Atsumu interrupted him.

" This book? " Atsumu asked as he held up the book.

" Yes. That book. " Alain confirmed.

" Huh? " Atsumu muttered before putting on a thinking face, changing it every so often as Alain stood there waiting, his patience wavering bit by bit till he snapped.

" Can you PLEASE... tell me? " Alain asked, using a lot of willpower to not yell.

" Oh...Sorry...but uh... I think I got this from a garage sale... " Atsumu said.

" You think... " Alain asked.

" Or was it in the sewers? " Atsumu muttered.

" You're playing with me aren't you? " Alain deadpanned.

" And I love that you got that. " Atsumu said with a smirk.

Alain sighed, after realizing that Atsumu has no intention to tell him seriously.

" Though I am curious about why you are interested in this book?

Simple curiosity? Maybe.

Or did you recognize it after seeing the cover because you know someone who has the same book? " Atsumu asked as he stared at Alain.

Alain kept a straight face, to give nothing away to Atsumu who just stared at him with the same infuriating smirk.

' Well, he's pretty good. ' Atsumu thought as he stared at Alain.

" The book. How much do you... "

" Sorry! It's not for sale. " Atsumu said with a closed-eyed smile, interrupting Alain.

" I see. " Alain said with a calm face.

" Then I have nothing more to say. Sorry for intruding. " Alain said as he turned around and walked away.

' So what do you bet on? ' Sabeleye asked as he turned towards Gengar.

' My bet is that he has a friend who has the same book we have. ' Sabeleye said.

' Bets off then. ' Gengar said. ' That's probably the correct answer. '

' Dammit! You should have taken the bet! ' Sabeleye whined.

' Sorry, but I don't want to lose another bet to you. I learned my lesson after the last time. ' Gengar said with her head held up in pride.

' Congrats, you managed to use your brain cells for once. ' Sabeleye deadpanned in disappointment.

' I can feel the disappointment in your voice, you know. ' Gengar said as she looked at Sabeleye.

' Okay. ' Sabeleye said.

' Master. What should we do next regarding Alain? ' Dusknoir asked.

' Leave him be. ' Atsumu said as he held the book in his hands.

' For now, we can just keep going with day-to-day life. ' Atsumu said, walking back to his bag and placing the book into his shadow.

' Well then, let's hope he is not some crazy psycho. ' Sabeleye said, holding his hands together in a prayer motion.

' Amen to that. ' Gengar said.

' We're quite close to Ambrette Town. Let's hurry up. ' Atsumu said.

With Alain, as he got far away from Atsumu, he took out his holy caster. A screen appeared in front of his face, a name was presented.

Lysandre.

" Alain. What do I owe for the unexpected pleasure? " Lysandre asked with a kind smile on his face.

" Hello, Lysandre. I have some information for you. " Alain said stoically.

" Oh? " Lysandre said curiously.

" I found another book. " Alain said.

Lysandre's stayed still as his mind processed the information, soon causing his eyes to widen, his face becoming serious soon after as he looked at Alain through the holy caster.

" Are you certain? " Lysandre asked.

" Yes. The book had the very same front cover. A flower. " Alain said immediately and seriously, in order to cover up his nervousness from Lysandre's stern tone.

Lysandre stared at Alain, as Alain stood straight as bored, keeping his stoic expression on his face with a bead of sweat falling down his face from the long silence.

" I see. " Lysandre said.

" Alain. Who has the book in their procession as of this moment? " Lysandre asked.

" Someone called Atsumu. " Alain said.

" Atsumu. " Lysandre repeated.

" Good work, Alain. Is that all? " Lysandre asked.

" Yes sir. " Alain said.

" Alright. " Lysandre said as he hung up.

Alain sighed as he put away his holy caster. He looked in the direction where he met Atsumu, before walking away, with his hands in his pockets, a thought appearing in his mind.

' If I fought against him...Would I win? '

...

" Atsumu Miya. " Lysandre said as he stared at Atsumu's trainer profile on his tablet.

" Hmmm...He will be quite useful for my plans. " Lysandre muttered.

" However...It could come back to bite me later. He is a powerful trainer, considering his accomplishments... If he decided to turn against me..." Lysandre sighed, leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling above, placing the tablet on the table beside him.

He stared out the window, looking at the beautiful city of Lusmiose, the giant tower at the center of the city. At night, the tower lights will be turned on, becoming one of the most beautiful things Lysandre has ever seen.

Unfortunately, that beauty is surrounded by ugliness...

And that ugliness...

needs to be erased!

" Ambrette town. " Lysandre muttered.

" He's quite close to it, considering that Alain met him there. " Lysandre muttered as he took a deep breath before exhaling.

" I'll go pay him a visit! "

...

" Interesting. " Said a pale-skinned woman, her black eyes staring at the invite she just received.

" They want me to be a judge at the pokemon showcase in Ambrette Town. Hmmm...Should I go? " She muttered placing her sleeve over her mouth.

Closing her eyes, her eyebrows knitted together while she was in thought. A Sylvion sat beside her, licking he fur before going to her trainer and rubbing her face into her arm.

The trainer looked at Sylveon with a smile, lifting her hand as she patted her in the head, sighing soon after.

" I don't really see a reason for going... Yet, my gut says that it will be worthwhile. " She muttered.

" What should I do? " She asked, looking at Sylveon.

Sylveon looked at her and thought for a moment before making her decision, making noises of agreement, to her trainer.

" So I should go with my gut huh? Alright then. " She said with a smile, clicking on the reply option, writing the reply fairly quickly, her fingers dancing on the keys before she finished before hitting the send option.

" Well, I just sent it. Can't back out now. " She muttered.

She looked at the beautiful sakura petals, connected to the large trees outside. She walked over to the balcony, her long black hair, cascading down her back, flying as the wind brushed upon them, the sakura petals moving with the wind around them.

" I wonder what's in store for me... " said Valerie, the Fairy-type gym leader of Kalos.

" At Ambrette Town. "

____________________________________________________

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