After the initial panic over this unnerving revelation had subsided, the crowd of Pokémon pondered their next course of action. After what felt like an eternity, the silence was broken.
"As bad as things are," the speaker, a Magmar began, "we are rescuers. We live for things like this."
"Sure, we dedicate our lives to helping others in times of emergency," the Hitmonchan from before responded, shaking his head. "But this…"
"I'm sorry," the Magmar replied, noticing the anxiety in his comrade's voice.
"It's fine," another Pokémon, a Pidgeot, calmly replied. She let out a sigh, then voiced her own remark. "There is truth in what you say, young one. While this situation is much worse than anything we've had to deal with in the past, we are rescuers first and foremost, and we should not let the stress of this chaos dishearten us."
The rest of the crowd voiced their agreement. After a short moment, the room was again filled with silence; this silence was broken almost immediately. This time, however, Blaze was the one to speak.
"Now that that particular issue has been resolved, we can move on to the current issue facing us: what do we do about that village's plight?"
A few murmurs passed through the crowd; Blaze continued once that was done.
"Some of the teams should go and assist those in the village. The rest of us will stay here and figure out what to do about Reshiram."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and began discussing who would leave to aid the village's relief efforts and who would stay behind to formulate a plan to calm Reshiram. One by one, each team present volunteered for one of the two tasks; Luke was among those who volunteered to stay behind. Those that chose to stay behind congregated at a central table, and the discussion of what to do about Reshiram began; Luke was the first to speak.
"Before we can do anything," he began, "we need to know what we're up against. This is mostly me speaking from personal experience, but we should try to gather all the information we can about Reshiram. Once we have that, then we can go about formulating a strategy."
"You are wise beyond your years, young man," the Pidgeot from earlier responded.
"Thanks, Janella," Luke replied, shyly.
She smiled at him before adding her own remarks. "What Luke says is true; we can't just charge in without preparing ourselves first. Let's find out what we can about Reshiram, then build a strategy from there."
The others voiced their approval; Blaze being the first to add to the prior remarks made.
"Gathering information shouldn't be too hard, considering how long some of us have been here," he said, indicating his prior teammates along with some of the other Pokémon present.
"It's true," Tide chimed in. "Just as Ryder said before, when you've been at this as long as we have, you hear a lot of different stories and rumors. Reshiram is one such case; just as this young fellow–" he indicated the Hitmonchan "–said earlier, Reshiram is known as the Dragon of Truth. It's exactly as I explained: she earned the title because of her ability to see the truth in all of us."
Blaze added to his friend's comments. "Beyond that, it's been said that should one prove they're worthy, Reshiram will grant them her power and will follow them without question."
"Prove they're worthy?" Luke asked, confused.
"It means anyone who seeks to control that kind of power must first pass a test of sorts, and if they pass the test Reshiram will grant them said power. Specifically, they must state their reason for wanting the power. If Reshiram believes their reason to be true, and finds their conviction to be pure, she will grant them her power," Blaze clarified. "Unfortunately, little is known beyond that," he lamented.
"No worries," came the calm response from a Pokémon seated at the end of the table, a Scizor. "That information will be a sufficient starting place. Between that and our prior information, we can safely conclude that Reshiram is a big deal to that village, and her shrine's destruction created an element of mistrust and hatred toward the villagers, completely contradicting her kindhearted nature. We need to convince her somehow that the villagers were not responsible for that mess, and basically get her to come to her senses."
"That's the idea," Blaze responded. "Thing is," he sighed, "how do we talk someone like that out of a blind rage? Just as Scythe said, we have to extinguish Reshiram's rage and get her to see the truth…somehow…" The calm Scizor held a small grin upon his face in response to the acknowledgment.
"There's a problem with that, though," Luke cut in. "While it's true we have to talk some sense into Reshiram, if this 'Dragon of Truth' is as powerful as the legends say, then a battle against her would be nothing short of a suicide mission. Not even if we all joined forces would it matter." He pounded the surface of the table as he finished his grim observation.
The rest of the Pokémon present sat silently for a moment as the truth of the situation weighed over them. Janella was the first to respond to Luke's prior statement.
"Luke's words are, while harsh, quite true," she lamented. "Confronting such a powerful Pokémon would not end well for us as we are now."
"So what do we do, then?" Scythe asked, a hint of frustrated anxiety present in his voice.
"In a time like this, we consult the library," Blaze answered.
The crowd unanimously agreed, and with that, they all departed for the agency's library.