AI Sada: “So you mean turning the lab into the endpoint of the trial, right… Honestly, that does sound kind of interesting…? If it’s part of a treasure hunt, it fits pretty well too.”

Hikaru:

“It’s not just that. The key point is Victory Road.”

“The Paldea League is a newly established League. The test of its Victory Road, in itself, is getting eight Gym Badges and taking part in the outdoor treasure hunt.”

“However, because of Paldea’s peaceful style and unique local culture, the people here care more about daily life than battling.”

“Chairwoman Geeta is somewhat troubled by that situation.”

“In a conversation I had with another Elite Four member, Rika, we brought up the idea of changing Victory Road.”

“In other words, modeling it after the Victory Roads of other regions, and turning Victory Road itself into the place of a Trainer’s final trial.”

“As the League is now, the so-called Champion Assessment is basically a civil-service exam. Once you pass, you become a Paldea League employee. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that, but it lacks that final sense of calling.”

“The rainbow you see after weathering the storm, your own growth and self-examination, the growth of heart and soul, the fruit and answer born from all of that – those too are treasures the academy hopes its students will obtain.”

“To cross rich natural landscapes, witness Pokémon battles, seek out legends hidden in history, challenge impossible limits, break the shackles on yourself. To give treasure a visible form and symbol, and make it something real.”

AI Sada replied, “…The professor herself – no, I suppose I heard before, in the past, about Victory Roads in other regions. But although I am a Pokémon Trainer, I am even more of a researcher.”

“So I had only heard that Victory Road is the final test before reaching the Pokémon League, and that in many distant regions, it gave rise to countless powerful Trainers.”

Hikaru said, “The content tested by each region’s Victory Road differs slightly, though in essence they are all obstacles standing before Trainers.”

“Because each region’s landscape, culture, and social environment are different, the answer reached at the end is different too.”

“In Kanto and Johto, the answer of Victory Road is strength.”

Blue, Red, Green, Leaf… even Professor Oak and Elite Four Agatha, Lorelei from the Sevii Islands, Bruno training in the mountains, Karen seeking to prove the might of Dark-types, and Lance who left Johto.

Other than Will, every one of them had a reason to come to the Indigo Plateau!

Who knew how many people had entered the cave on that plateau in pursuit of becoming Champion? Because of that, in those two regions, the meaning of Victory Road was extremely simple.

It symbolized absolute strength.

Even Professor Kukui, as a kind of pilgrimage and in order to build the Alola League, requested access to the Indigo Plateau and once challenged Victory Road himself, only to fall just short before Lance of the Kanto Elite Four.

“In Hoenn, the answer of Victory Road is transcendence.”

At the end of Hoenn’s Victory Road, Brendan or May meets Wally, who has surpassed himself and overcome illness and weakness, for the final challenge.

Surpass your rival, surpass the Gym Leaders, surpass legendary Pokémon, surpass the Champions. The whole story of Pokémon Emerald keeps repeating those very themes.

And in ORAS, the battlefield is covered in red spider lilies.

What is gained and welcomed after crossing the boundary between life and death, in the light within that cavern, is rebirth.

“In Sinnoh, the answer of Victory Road is battle and encounter.”

Sinnoh’s Victory Road is itself an extremely difficult maze.

And along the way, more than one Trainer tells the protagonist that both Pokémon and humans will one day die, and that because of that, the battles of the present shine all the brighter.

The large man standing in front of the cave leading to Route 224 tells the protagonist to go and encounter all kinds of Pokémon.

The Ace Trainer beneath the waterfall says he will never give up.

And after that, more than one Trainer brings up the same thing: battle, and defeat the Elite Four!

After all, Sinnoh inherited the history of Hisui, and Hisui’s history is the history of battles between people and Pokémon.

“In Unova, the answer of Victory Road is truth… or ideals.”

The friends who set out together from Nuvema Town come to understand what they themselves should do when they reach Route 10.

Cheren and Bianca said it before.

Everyone has things they can do, and things they cannot do.

And in order to understand those things, Unova’s skilled Trainers head to Victory Road of their own will. Among them are even former members of Team Plasma.

That is where they go to test whether the things they gained on their journey can become truth, and to look ahead toward new ideals.

“So then, in Paldea, what answer will the children who challenge this road receive in the end?”

“The answer given by the academy is treasure.”

“But I think that even when it comes to treasure, each person’s final answer is different. And what makes that answer real is every vivid, living person who carries those answers forward into the future.”

Hikaru described that ideal vision to AI Sada, the future Swords of Justice, and Arven, who had understood just enough to widen his eyes.

And the purpose of it was not just his work as an Elite Four member.

There was another reason too.

It would be fun.

Or rather, once the Area Zero incident was over, something had to be left behind for the protagonist who came after.

So… why not leave behind a Victory Road plus a challenge facility?

And if people ended up describing it as “painful”…

Then that probably meant it had truly succeeded.

“However, the challenge rules would be teams of four! And only those who have earned all eight Gym Badges would be qualified to challenge Area Zero!”

“After all, Geeta was discussing battle facilities with me before. Personally, I think Dream Tower would be even more impressive if it could be made real. But for ordinary Trainers, visible, tangible things are more motivating as challenges, aren’t they?”

“As for so-called challenge facilities, other regions have quite a lot of them too. Their difficulty rises step by step, from simple to hard.”

“I’m only making a suggestion. You can think it over and draft a simple plan. As for me, I still need to go farther down, into the Area Zero Underdepths. Professor Sada, what do you think?”

AI Sada: “I agree completely. The Area Zero Underdepths require authentication with a special Indigo Disk, but I already know you have one. It was a special disk previously provided to the corporate side, though its function was never specified. Even the Top Champion is unaware of its use.”

“So please be careful. There are the strongest Tera Pokémon in the Underdepths…!”

Iron Crown: [Hmm. That facility you mentioned earlier – what was it called? Dream Tower?]

Hikaru said, “That’s an incredible facility. Its more precise name is Dream Successive Battles. But it doesn’t exist in the real world. Perhaps it will open very soon. When that happens, I’ll let you know.”

“It is a trial ground left behind by the gods!”

Hikaru took out the Indigo Disk.

And changed the elevator’s destination.

After Hikaru led his Pokémon into the elevator, Iron Crown, Iron Leaves, and AI Sada began talking.

AI Sada looked toward the elevator and said to the future Swords of Justice and Arven:

“Sorry, but I think I need to go down as well. All the way to the deepest part of the crater. Please wait here for me.”

“Although I can’t leave this facility, the cavern below is an exception, because the Tera energy there is even stronger.”

“And there are also some… some doubts I want to clear up.”

Iron Crown’s eyes flickered.

[That’s fine. We’ll stay here and ensure the time machine continues running normally. If it keeps summoning more Pokémon, we’ll defeat them.]

At the same time, Arven was thinking too.

Something that had never appeared before was about to be born. And thinking back over the journey, most of the time he had only made it this far because of Hikaru’s protection.

Since Hikaru had already obtained the Herba Mystica, there was nothing Arven really had left to repay him with.

And during this journey, Arven had come to a clear realization of something important. He felt that, just as Big Bro Hikaru had said:

“If you don’t have strength, then you don’t qualify.”

That was exactly why you weren’t qualified.

If you really thought about it, whether in society, at the academy in Paldea, or anywhere else…

“Strength” could refer to many different things.

Put simply, you had to have at least one skill you truly excelled at.

And his dream was to become a Herba Mystica chef.

But just as Big Bro Hikaru had also said:

If you lacked strength, then there were certain delicious ingredients you would never be able to obtain. So if he wanted to become a gourmet hunter, then strength was indispensable.

When danger came, being rescued by someone else was fortunate.

But more often than not, you had to rely on yourself to cross that final barrier.

“Mom, I want…” Arven said to AI Sada and the two Swords of Justice.

“If possible, I want to challenge Victory Road too!”

“I should be enrolling at Naranja Academy very soon. Once I enroll, I’m going to start battle training!”

“I want to get stronger! I’m not good at battling, but I have a dream too, and to fulfill that dream, getting stronger is necessary!”

“I know I can break through any obstacle!”

There was gentleness in AI Sada’s eyes, but she was also highly rational. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly said:

“Arven, Mom supports your desire to become stronger. Your dream of becoming a Herba Mystica chef absolutely does require strength. It’s something that will help you get through many hardships and difficult situations.”

“However, once you’ve grown up, challenged the eight Gyms, and successfully entered Victory Road – or some facility… assuming the idea of making Area Zero into Victory Road, or part of it, really does get approved…”

“I think that after passing Victory Road, you may challenge the Pokémon League’s Elite Four in order to test your own strength.”

“But you absolutely must lose the final battle, or forfeit it.”

Arven: “Huh?”

“After crossing countless obstacles, and by Big Bro’s way of putting it, finding your own answer and treasure, at the final moment, that’s when I’m supposed to throw the match on purpose?”

AI Sada: “Uh… not exactly throw the match. Hikaru is a newly appointed Elite Four member, so he probably hasn’t told you much about Top Champion Geeta, has he?”

“That black-haired woman who looks like Glimmora. As the operator of the League, she is quite successful. But as a true Champion, someone who can lead others forward, she’s actually unqualified.”

“I know a little about the Champions of other regions as well. The information is limited, but they are all pure in their own way and possess independent ideals. Geeta is not.”

“Before she is a Champion, she is also the academy’s chairwoman and the League’s president. She holds a great deal of power. And precisely because of that, for the sake of the League’s rapid development, all of her attention is focused on that.”

She took a deep breath, though she was not actually alive. That inhaling motion was simply instinctive.

“So Geeta is dangerous!”

“I don’t mean Geeta has some frightening scheme or sinister plot. I mean that if you pass the Champion Assessment, then you essentially become a Paldea League employee. And at that point… she’ll start assigning you all kinds of work. In everyday terms, that’s called…”

“Overtime.”

“This kind of thing wears away people’s passion for certain things! Like a certain someone…”

“I think for you, someone determined to become a Herba Mystica chef, something like overtime is best kept far away from you, right?”

“For a kid, overtime is just too painful.”

(End of Chapter)

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