Lucas knew.
Ordinary Moltres simply didn't have any special ability like a flame of life.
Fantasy beings such as the immortal bird or phoenix—burning their whole body in volcano lava to heal wounds.
As for flames that could be spat out and still possess the power to heal injuries, the only one that barely fit was the Sacred Fire belonging to the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh.
But in the games, Sacred Fire is a purely physical-damage move. Rather than believing the move itself heals, Lucas was more inclined to believe it was Ho-Oh's own special power that let that rainbow sacred flame either choose to kill or choose to heal.
So what exactly was the spark that can heal injuries that Chairman Goodshow mentioned?
Lucas felt he needed to study it thoroughly.
The Moltres that had likely been given a spark by that living flame was the protagonist here.
Ceruledge nodded lightly, indicating it understood its role.
Moltres, on the other hand, looked confused and hesitant.
In fact, ever since returning from the Indigo Plateau—at least in Moltres's own feelings—aside from what Lugia had mentioned on Shamouti Island about being attuned to nature, resonating with it more deeply, and borrowing natural power more easily, its body hadn't shown any changes worth mentioning.
In broad terms, its current state could be considered a youth version of a fire god state:
Tougher, able to spend and squander more energy, and more sensitive to changes in nature.
But since Lucas said so, and since Moltres had already accepted being recruited, it was willing to cooperate with testing.
It nodded lightly, accepting the task.
Seeing both Pokémon ready, Lucas didn't waste time and began the practical testing process.
The process was simple:
Moltres would continuously use Fire-type moves at Ceruledge.
Ceruledge would use its ability Flash Fire to absorb and analyze Moltres's Fire-type attacks, then report its conclusions to Lucas.
During this time, Lucas would also focus on observing Moltres's flames, confirming whether any subtle change appeared.
Lucas stepped back, clapped his hands gently, and announced the test had begun.
Moltres cried out loudly; the flames burning on its wings grew brighter and fiercer.
With a beat of its wings, swathes of flame became fire-meteors flickering across the sky. Then, heavenly fire descended—just like the day it first came to the farm.
Ceruledge, however, remained calm, standing in place. The flame in its eyes—almost tangible—wavered slightly, signaling it had entered a focused state.
Of course, this wasn't because Moltres's flames threatened Ceruledge.
With Flash Fire, Ceruledge wasn't actually afraid of most Fire-type moves.
Only Fire Pokémon stronger than it—strong enough to be over the line—could overload Flash Fire and earn the right to damage it with Fire attacks.
Moltres was still a bit short of that—
Just as the fire was about to hit the ground, Ceruledge's eyes flashed. It actively triggered Flash Fire, increasing its pull on flames.
The falling fire paused in near unison, then—like it had found a target—shifted from its original paths and wobbled toward Ceruledge, as if Ceruledge were a black hole attracting everything.
As the flames flowed into its body, Ceruledge sensed energy that carried a faint, nearly undetectable trace of nature's aura, and power that flooded through it. Though its expression stayed cold and unchanged, its emotions rippled.
It closed its eyes to feel.
It had to be said: as a legendary Pokémon, Moltres wasn't even on the same starting line as ordinary Pokémon—especially after gaining further fortune from what happened on Shamouti Island.
This kind of refined, nature-tinged energy was something Ceruledge couldn't wield at all.
Praise aside, only after repeatedly confirming it had missed nothing did Ceruledge open its eyes and shake its head at Lucas, who had also found nothing and was waiting anxiously for its verdict.
"Ceru." (Almost no difference from before.)
In Ceruledge's view, even without Flash Fire, being hit by this flame would only cause damage. It sensed nothing at all resembling the power to heal injuries.
"So that's how it is."
Lucas was disappointed.
But it was only the first attempt. Maybe Moltres, like Pokémon that have just mastered a new move, needed more tries to succeed—to get more proficient, to find the right feel.
Over the next hour, Moltres kept using Fire-type moves at Ceruledge almost nonstop, barely resting.
Ceruledge was getting numb—and also envious of Moltres's energy endurance.
At that rate, it looked like Moltres could keep breathing fire for half a day without issue.
Later, Moltres even started changing patterns with its flames.
Big ol' Fire Blast, three-character Fire Blast, grass-character Fire Blast… it was having a great time. But still, there was no sign of anything.
Moltres and Lucas were close to believing the Indigo Plateau scene had been a hallucination, or that the living, conscious sacred fire and Goodshow had just been messing with them.
At that moment, perhaps sensing that the Fire-type aura here was extremely dense, Victini flew over. Very naturally, it plopped down on Lucas's shoulder and chirped curiously.
"Viti viti?" (What are you doing?)
Lucas pinched Victini's cheek. Even though he couldn't understand its words, he could roughly infer what it meant from its tone and expression.
In a few sentences, Lucas explained the situation to Victini and asked, puzzled, "Didn't Oranguru say you went to play with Vulpix and the others? Why are you here?"
Victini tried to act cute and muddle through. It didn't want to admit it had tried to get a close look at the Sandslash couple's egg, but because its Fire aura was too strong, the worried parents had driven it away—then it noticed the commotion here and came over.
Luckily, Lucas didn't plan to interrogate it. Victini was basically a little street-roamer anyway—one moment making snowmen with Vulpix at the Ice-type cabin, another moment going to the salt hut to have Naclstack produce salt so it could count it, another moment running to the lake to demand Dratini's group take it swimming.
But it was good that it came—Lucas had another idea to try.
He urged the slack-off Victini to restore Ceruledge and Moltres's stamina, then reminded Ceruledge, "The power of the move will jump several levels. Let's take it slow."
"Ceru."
Ceruledge indicated it understood. Without underestimating anything, it immediately took a defensive stance.
After all, with Victini's boost, even Vulpix could instantly defeat the notorious Team Plasma's Shadow Triad in Unova—powerful both in status and strength.
With Victini's help, in a single all-out strike, the gap between Ceruledge and Moltres might truly shrink to a very small degree.
…
A moment later—
Victini sat on Moltres's back, its whole body shining with a brilliant golden aura.
That aura was one manifestation of infinite energy.
Under Victini's control, Moltres received a strengthened correction, feeling the energy in its body become more abundant and active.
To be honest, even Moltres didn't have high expectations for this attempt. It was just to see whether, under Victini's enhancement, they might trigger some deeper power hidden inside it.
Just as Moltres, as usual, began gathering energy to spit out a Flamethrower at Ceruledge on the ground—something changed.
The infinite energy next to its Fire-type energy seemed to be attracted—no, forcibly yanked away.
Just like when Ceruledge activated Flash Fire, a suction suddenly appeared, and Victini's universal infinite energy was absorbed.
And Moltres finally got a glimpse of the true form:
It was the spark of fire—the one the being formed from the flames at the Indigo Plateau had gifted to it.
Moreover, perhaps because it absorbed Victini's infinite energy, that fire was like a dried-out sponge hitting water, expanding at extreme speed and stretching out wildly.
In only a few breaths, it swelled into a flame mass shining with a seven-colored halo.
"V-Victini!?"
From its back came Victini's frightened cry.
It watched as the infinite energy, no longer under its control, poured unceasingly into Moltres's body—and it was terrified.
Victini's boosting always followed a principle: never let the target feel burdened. If Moltres absorbed this much infinite energy without stopping, its body might not be able to handle it!
Moltres noticed too, its expression turning grim.
It could sense the pressure on its body increasing continuously as infinite energy was injected.
Even though it still had a lot of margin before truly breaking down, Moltres didn't want to hand initiative to that rainbow flame inside it that was crazily devouring infinite energy.
My body, my power—I decide!
With Victini's massive infinite energy added in, Moltres's instincts told it this attack would be extremely strong.
Its expression became even more serious as it charged up, its gaze sweeping across the ground for a suitable direction.
But no matter where it aimed, it couldn't guarantee it wouldn't affect the farm.
If it fired into the sky, it might turn into fire rain and cause even greater harm.
If it fired toward the ground, it might hit the nearby farmland—especially the most precious Herba Mystica area.
On the ground, Lucas and Ceruledge also sensed something was wrong with Moltres and Victini within just a few seconds.
When Lucas saw Victini trying to pull back but still being drained, he knew things were going bad.
He immediately pulled out his phone, planning to call Calyrex over.
At that moment, Ceruledge stepped forward and shouted up at Moltres:
"Ceru!" (Aim at me!)
It would absorb everything Moltres released—every last trace—so the flames wouldn't endanger Lucas's precious farm!
Perhaps infected by Ceruledge's firm gaze, Moltres nodded lightly, indicating it would control output and power as much as possible.
The next instant—
Moltres let out a piercing cry that rang across the farm's sky. Fiercer flames surged around it.
Looking closer, those flames were faintly wrapped in a rainbow glow, carrying a sacred and solemn aura.
As Moltres drew in its wings, the seven-colored blaze found an outlet and erupted, spreading and burning from the sky down toward the ground, warping the air violently.
"Ceru."
Seeing a flame unlike anything before, Ceruledge's eyes flashed with surprise—and some emotion so deeply buried it couldn't name, as if that fire made it both tremble and rejoice.
As Ceruledge activated Flash Fire at maximum power, it drew all the flames to itself. Not even a single wisp threatened Lucas, who had just raised his phone and connected the call.
Seeing the rainbow flame, Lucas froze, pupils constricting.
"This is…"
At that moment, Ceruledge seemed caught in ice and fire at once.
One side: terrifying flame with extreme destructive power, so intense it nearly inflicted burn even on it as a Fire-type Pokémon.
The other side: flame brimming with life energy that made it, as a Ghost-type, indescribably thrilled—continuously repairing the damage caused by the other side.
Even Ceruledge's expression changed again and again at this bizarre scene.
Fortunately, the commotion had already drawn Calyrex's attention, even from the far end of the farm.
A vast psychic power twisted space itself, and Calyrex descended directly on Spectrier.
Seeing the rainbow-flame Moltres, Victini on its back, and Ceruledge continually being scorched and healed, Calyrex frowned.
A surging spiritual power spread out: it cut off Moltres as the source of the rainbow fire and separated Victini from Moltres, while also helping Ceruledge extinguish the remaining rainbow flames.
Under Calyrex's decisive intervention, the suddenly out-of-control situation was smoothly brought under control.
Moltres and Victini landed on the ground, drained, while Ceruledge, under Calyrex's healing, was cured of its burn status.
After finishing, Calyrex looked at Lucas, puzzled.
"Weren't you testing power? Why did it suddenly lose control?"
"And… was that flame just the 'sacred fire' you mentioned?"
"That was an extraordinarily powerful flame. Even with my experience, few flames can compare to it."
Hearing Calyrex's questions, Lucas—having checked Ceruledge, Moltres, and Victini one by one—looked up, his voice slightly hoarse:
"I… have a bit of an impression of that flame."
At that moment, Lucas's heart surged like a stormy sea.
But his mind was colder than ever.
Some 'Moltres flame that heals injuries'?
That rainbow, prismatic flame just now was clearly—
"That flame is very likely connected to one of the faiths of the Kanto and Johto regions: the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh."
"The name of that flame is probably… Sacred Fire."