June 18th, Tuesday.
The weather grew hotter. Outside the farm, cicadas sang in chorus, adding to the summer swelter.
As the saying goes:
When cicadas cry, people fry.
To cool off, Lucas wore shorts and a short-sleeve shirt, shading himself with his work straw hat. If he were ten years younger and switched to a tank top and trunks, he'd be the spitting image of a Bug Catcher.
He fanned himself with a fan Oranguru made. When he first got it, he was thrilled.
To him, the fan was Oranguru's psychic amplifier—one wave could lift even Raging Bolt's massive frame.
Maybe, with the fan's boost, he could awaken his latent power.
Imagining himself like Oranguru, Lucas swung hard at a glass on the table. Nothing happened. Instead, the house-of-cards bridge painstakingly built by Victini and Alcremie toppled in the breeze.
After a costly round of appeasing several Pokémon, Lucas learned a lesson.
If you're not capable, don't blame the tool.
At the power generation and storage array in an open area, Lucas arrived with Luxray, Raging Bolt, and Zapdos.
As for Articuno, to appease Victini and the others, Lucas tempted it with food to build an igloo using the purest ice-type energy.
With Articuno's strength, the igloo could hold shape under blazing sun for at least a week or two.
Of course, if a fire-type intervened, that'd be different.
To prevent wild Pokémon from trespassing and causing explosions, the array was fenced with iron mesh; Corviknight Three Scar's flock guarded the air.
Lucas and Luxray, with Raging Bolt, stood a distance from the array. Zapdos, per agreement, flew high.
Lucas fanned himself and calmly tapped three digits on his battle-scarred phone—
Los Platos Police Station.
Per proximity, a dispatcher picked up.
"Hello, Los Platos Police. How can we help?"
Lucas blinked. "Hello, this is Lucas of Lucas Farm on the outskirts. The outskirts may suddenly experience thunderstorms for a while. Please don't dispatch officers to investigate."
He thanked them and hung up. He knew they'd report to Officer Jenny, and with context, they wouldn't waste resources.
At the station, the dispatcher stared at the busy tone, then quickly reported the odd call to Officer Jenny.
Peering through the window and seeing the outskirts darken, the dispatcher asked, worried, "Chief, should we still go—"
Jenny folded her arms under her chin, pondered, then shook her head. "No. He may be retired, but he's a Paldea-trained Champion-level Trainer. If he says so, it won't harm the surroundings."
"We'll just do town-wide comms to prevent panic."
After the dispatcher left, Jenny dropped her stiff posture, slumped over her desk, stirring her coffee. "Why did he retire to run a farm… Is this the brain gap between me and truly strong Trainers?"
…
Over the farm.
Because of Zapdos's pressure, Corviknight Three Scar and the Corvisquires had landed, afraid of catching stray lightning. Moltres's brow twitched at the sight.
What's the meaning of this!
These little brothers ignored my divine-bird presence before, but jumpy for Zapdos?
Moltres was puffing up like a ball.
Under Zapdos's deliberate prompting, clouds blanketed the farm. The black mass pressed heavy on the heart—hence Lucas's call to the police.
In the clouds, free ions rubbed; golden lightning brewed.
Staring at the sky, Luxray looked thoughtful. It understood why Lucas wanted Zapdos to generate power instead of having it and Raging Bolt take shifts.
As a legendary, Zapdos's lightning is mostly drawn by innate talent from the weather itself.
Such bolts are easy, powerful, and low-cost—hence why legendaries fight with grand spectacle, flinging energy like it's free.
Ordinary Pokémon like Luxray, who must finely control energy, can't compare.
Maybe it could learn to borrow natural energy like Zapdos in battle and training—broaden its path to catch up to Swampert…
When the charge peaked, Zapdos's piercing cry split the gloom, thunder boomed—
In an instant, torrents of gold surged like a dam burst, striking the silver tower, coursing through thick cables into the storage bays.
Lucas and Zapdos had tested beforehand, keeping voltage within bounds—enough to avoid overload while maximizing efficiency.
As time passed, the storage readout ticked up.
From 3% upward, and after an hour plus, it hit 30%.
Zapdos was a bit tired.
Not from dropping bolts for an hour—most of that borrowed nature's power; its own reserves barely dipped.
The real fatigue was from modulating the current to avoid frying the array—like what Luxray and Raging Bolt must do.
Lucas had no better option—on a budget of mere hundreds of thousands, you don't get hardware that tanks a legendary's full output.
Or… maybe there was an option.
His eyes lit up, recalling that cat-and-two-human "trio." Electrical experts who could, on a shoestring, build mechs and nullify Pikachu's electric attacks.
"If I run into them, maybe I can hire them to upgrade the farm's equipment…"
He murmured.
After Zapdos landed, Lucas didn't push more generation. No need to rush—both for Zapdos's focus and the array's health.
In this heat, continuous load might push temps past thresholds—bad for longevity.
And that Pokédex entry about an Electivire powering a whole big city for a year… seriously unscientific.
Lucas was about to dismiss everyone; he also had plans with Victini to go out.
Behind him, a ripple of space so faint as to be imperceptible spread. Even Raging Bolt missed it—only Luxray noticed.
Next moment, Mewtwo and Delibird appeared from thin air. Feeling a familiar aura, Luxray didn't drop guard immediately; it tugged Lucas's pant leg to point him behind.
Whether on purpose or not, they'd teleported in silently like ghosts.
Lucas turned, baffled—and nearly blue-screened at the sight of Mewtwo and Delibird.
"Mewtwo? Delibird? What are you doing here?"
"Deli~"
Delibird dove into his arms, excited, while Mewtwo calmly surveyed the surroundings.
So this was Lucas's farm? At first glance, not much different from other human farms.
Mewtwo's gaze paused on Zapdos and Raging Bolt.
Why was Zapdos here?
And that odd-looking Pokémon—similar to the legendary Raikou it heard of in Johto while challenging gyms?
The shock lasted a heartbeat; Mewtwo, ever composed, suppressed emotion and said to Lucas, "As agreed, I came to tour your farm."
Lucas blinked, remembering the promise. Petting Delibird's back, he smiled. "I see. Then I'd better prepare well today."
Mewtwo nodded slightly and didn't bring up Shamouti Island yet; better to settle first.
Lucas asked Delibird, "Weren't you traveling? Why'd you come back with Mewtwo?"
Delibird chirped unintelligibly. Fortunately, Mewtwo summarized their recent experiences, including disguising itself as a Trainer and sweeping eight Johto gyms.
When it finished, Delibird proudly pulled a well-kept, gleaming full set of badges from its tail, looking for praise.
As expected, Lucas stroked its head, amazed. "You cleared all Johto gyms from start to finish with only you fighting? Awesome!"
Looks like Delibird had grown a lot with Mewtwo's help.
Meanwhille, Luxray eyed Mewtwo, surprised.
In such a short time, Mewtwo had grown far stronger. That growth rate was absurd…
If they fought now, it might be fifty-fifty. At this pace, Mewtwo would soon surpass it.
No—must keep getting stronger!
Zapdos and Raging Bolt had never met Mewtwo; they only felt immense pressure. But since Lucas knew it, they held back.
Mewtwo's eyes fell on the fan in Lucas's hand. After asking, it took the fan.
The moment it held it, Mewtwo's expression shifted. This fan… amplified psychic power and made it smoother to use.
Curious, Mewtwo asked, "Nice fan. Strong psychic conduction. But you don't have psychic talent—what's it for?"
"Who made it? Can I meet them?"
Lucas felt the arrow to his knee: "…"
Right in the feels.
Forcing a smile, he led Mewtwo on a tour and asked Oranguru to prepare.
After a satisfying tour, Mewtwo's evaluation of the farm improved.
It was undeniably a paradise for Pokémon—eschewing human labor entirely and running on Pokémon power.
Work division was reasonable, and the Pokémon looked spirited—something Mewtwo, who likes Pokémon more than humans, appreciated.
However, the overall modernization lagged. On the road through Johto with Delibird, it had seen Goldenrod's automated Miltank milking lines.
Here, Lucas still hand-milked a Miltank and two Skiddo.
Still, it was a warm farm, a home where Pokémon could be happy. Mewtwo wouldn't deny that.
One more thing caught its eye: Articuno building an igloo and Moltres napping, looking a touch plump.
That was surprising—maybe too coincidental.
When did Lucas capture the three birds?
Back in the lounge, Mewtwo met the fan's maker, Oranguru the butler.
Their eyes met, each recognizing the other as no ordinary being.
In Mewtwo's eyes—no wonder it made that fan.
Even among ordinary Pokémon, Oranguru's mental power was formidable, to say nothing of its clear intellect.
Oranguru, stunned, realized this was the Mewtwo Lucas had mentioned. Just standing there, Mewtwo made it feel it would be utterly outclassed in psychics.
Mewtwo tasted the tea and cake Oranguru served. Even its stern face showed surprise.
It had tried human food before—studied it, even.
Both cake and tea were top-tier, the flavors exquisite, with no waste of the ingredients' quality.
Lucas introduced proudly, "The cream and flour are farm-made; the honey is premium Combee wildflower honey. The tea leaves are from our two Sawsbuck in the pasture. You're the first Pokémon guest to taste them."
"There's also floral tea—want to try?"
When speaking of his farm's products, Lucas always waxed lyrical, wanting to share them with all.
Mewtwo nodded, complicated.
This place was just like that photo—and as it imagined. So humans and Pokémon can coexist like this…
"Viiii—"
An eager Victini zipped into the room, urging Lucas.
He knew what it wanted. Patting its head, he soothed, "Have a slice of cake while you wait. I'm hosting a guest."
"Vi-vi!?"
At the word "cake," Victini's big eyes sparkled. It took a plated slice—prepped by prescient Oranguru—and dove in.
Catching Mewtwo's gaze on Victini, Lucas smiled wryly. "This is Victini—my recent companion."
Mewtwo nodded. Maybe it was mistaken, but it sensed an immense energy within Victini.
So this Victini wasn't simple either.
After eating and drinking, and with Delibird and Victini still munching, Lucas said to Mewtwo, "I'm heading out—need to buy ingredients for tonight's party and take Victini to pick a Poké Ball it likes."
"Can you wait here a bit? Oranguru will host you."
Mewtwo paused. "This town likely doesn't have much selection. Are you going to a big city?"
Lucas was surprised Mewtwo noticed, then nodded slightly. "To Levincia—Paldea's most bustling city."
Mewtwo then dropped a bombshell: "Take me with you."