Disclaimer: These characters belong to Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company.

May God bless you all.

Rika sat in her office. The questions Florian had asked her… were strange. Yes, strange is what she would call them. He seemed more interested in that area of Kanto itself as opposed to the tournament. Then again he always seemed… less than interested in what she would call the Champion's path as a whole. He even failed the interview at first because he told her he came there just for fun he guessed.

It's not like he was unmotivated. It just seems like his motivation came from something other than wanting to be the best, or a champion, or any of the usual things that many trainers strive for. He didn't seem to care about becoming champion or rising to the top in the Pokémon league, or even about this upcoming tournament. At least, not about the tournament itself. Once again it seemed like this tournament was just a means to an end for him, like with becoming a champion. He needed to get it to get to Area Zero.

Rika pondered what his real interest could be in the upcoming tournament. It was about 5 in the afternoon now and she would be off duty in about 1 hour… not like anyone was here for her to service, so she quickly got online and started doing some research on the questions Florian had asked her. She knew about the Mewtoo crises and the Mew that had been seen in the area, also about the Lugia crises though that happened out at sea and not really in the Kanto region, but still Florian had asked her about it so she even researched that.

However, in all her research, she came up with nothing that should be of interest to any Paldea trainer. Other than for research purposes that is. She knew though if Florian was interested in this it must have been something important. Florian wasn't like many of the other trainers. Both he and his sister actually were unique in all sorts of ways. Their pokemon were leagues higher than most other trainers in their rank. They had also (in large part due to their Koraidon and Miraidon) explored much more of Paldea than many who had lived here for decades.

But what was the strangest thing of all was that both seemed to have alternate motives for what they were doing. Rika had paid attention, and though both were very different as Florian took forever to finish the gym path, while his sister practically breezed through it very early on in the treasure hunt, both seemed very similar in… wait a minute.

Rika started looking at any connection any of these crises had to do with Area Zero. Not much turned up, the regions in truth though connected were very separate; even when it came to their legends and disasters and whatnot. However, there was one entry. Back when Heath made his expedition around 200 years ago, he had a group with him.

Among them was a Young Archeologist… Jane Oak. This seemed to be the only connection Rika could find. That Jane Oak had been a part of the expedition and was from Kanto.

Rika sighed. It wasn't really much of a connection, but hey she had some time to kill so there was no harm in exploring it.

As she did however… she couldn't find much… Jane apparently went back home and continued to study some of the samples of herba mystica which she had brought back with her. However she soon found herself pregnant with her first child, and there was little more said about her.

Except… that her research had recently been picked up by one of her descendants.

Professor Samuel Oak.

Penny lay in her bed. She should have been asleep by now but if she was completely honest the game had gotten her.

She probably should take some days off. Maybe travel around Paldea with…

"No…" She said as she once again found herself thinking about Florian. She turned and took out her phone. There hadn't been any messages from him in a while in any of their groups. Juliana had told her he went to see Rika about… something, but it was odd for him to not message for a few days.

Penny put away her phone. He was probably just busy. She knew that he and Juliana had been down to Area Zero a few more times to try and catch all the pokemon there. Florian even caught that jiggly puff-looking Screamtail, which just thinking about it caused Penny to Shiver.

However, something else was going on between the two. More specifically Florian. He seemed more aloof lately, like he was distracted with something.

Penny let out a yawn. Her tiredness was starting to really kick in. Though her curiosity didn't seem to be going away. Perhaps she should just ask him… yeah that would work. He was a pretty honest person. However, asking would show that she would really want to know and the question was why did she really want to know?

As Penny drifted off to sleep… she had to admit to herself.

She knew exactly what the answer to that question was.

"Finally home." Said La Primera as she got back to her house. Dumping most of her bags on the floor, she practically collapsed on the couch. It had been a long trip, trying to get all the last-minute details for the tournament done. It was about 4 months away but there was still a lot of work to do. Not to mention they still had to vote on the 10 trainers to send.

sigh*

She needed a shower and to sleep for about 15 hours. However, she knew she had to get up early tomorrow to attend the very meeting to just decide the possible candidates. They would then have to vote on the top ten regardless of age, gender, or years they have been a champion.

Despite all this, it was very rare for them to send anyone under the age of 18 and also usually the candidates chosen had been champion rank for at least 5 years.

After forcing herself off the couch, and making her way up the stairs, La Primera thought about who she may pick this year. However, the first three that came to her mind…

…Didn't meet any of those norms.

"Are you sure?" Asked Florian to his Rotum phone.

"No, but he said it was there." Came the reply.

"I can't… nothing's here." Said Florian.

"Search the surrounding area. It's not always exactly where the coordinates say it is." Replied the voice from his Rotum phone.

Florian looked around. It was a regular plateau. Nothing out of the ordinary. Rocks, dust… yup your regular plateau. Yet supposedly there was a level seven black tera pokemon around here. However, currently he could see nothing.

Professor Jacq however assured both he and Juliana that there definitely was a level 7 somewhere on this plateau and their radars definitely confirmed this.

"Sorry Professor I don't see…"

Suddenly Florian felt what could be described as a small tremor. It continued for a few moments before he realized just what was happening.

"Juliana!" He yelled causing the girl who was also searching about 100 yards away from him to turn.

"Get off the Plat…!" He yelled just before the violent shaking caused him to lose his balance.

Within mere moments the entire plateau broke apart under what could now be better described as an earthquake.

God's blessings that their Miraidon and Koraidon both jumped into action, catching their trainers and gliding down a short distance to the valley below what was the plateau that they had just been standing on.

"You okay?" Asked Florian, once they were both safely on the ground.

"Yeah." Juliana answered.

Looking over, they both saw that the plateau was in shambles and a black light seemed to be glowing from it's center.

Florian and Juliana both immediately realized what had happened.

"Hey, you guys okay!?" Asked Nemona as both she and Arven ran over to them. The two had been watching from nearby.

"Yeah, we're good." Said Florian.

He then looked to his little sister, who gave him an affirmative nod.

"You guys ready?" He asked the group.

"Always ready." Said Nemona.

"You sure we can handle this?" Asked Arven as the four approached where the black light was emitting from.

"No…" Juliana replied.

"But that's part of the fun."

*thump*

Oh, boy… her bed never felt so good. Between the travel and the streaming Iono was exhausted.

Still, though she was glad she went. Her stream never got so many views and she could have possibly been streaming historical events. The secret of Area Zero, the legendries, and the time machine which she never got to see actually work, but was amazed just how that thing looked from the inside.

Her feed was still buzzing with people amazed that she had actually not only witnessed but streamed most of it. She was already getting messages from local and international news agencies.

They were probably already hounding Florian and Juliana as well. It's not every day that a group comprised of mostly teenagers… well truth be told that wasn't exactly uncommon in a world where many leave home young.

There was red, and green. Also those twins from the Galar region only about a month before. Then there was those two from Johto… in any case it seemed like the young people tended to be the ones making big discoveries lately.

Iono was no historian but she remembered, Red during the Mewtwo crises… He was only about 12 when that happened. He had to be almost 30 by now. In fact he was still out there. Still catching pokemon and still competing in competitions. He was definitely going to be one of those selected to participate in this upcoming international pokemon league.

Wait a minute thought Iono as she half sat up on the bed.

The League. How could she have forgotten? She had been one of the influencers invited to stream it despite being months away. However, that's not what her mind was currently on.

"I can't believe I came all the way home." She said as she grabbed her Rotum phone.

"Hello, Emily, get me a flying taxi back to Mesagoza tonight!" She told her assistant.

Iono let out an annoyed sigh as she once again got ready and packed a new bag. With everything going on, she had forgot that the Gym Leaders were supposed to give their top 20 picks to be considered for sending to the international tournament.

They had a big meeting at the league headquarters in Mesagoza, which she had just come from only hours before.

She couldn't believe she had to now go all the way back to where she had just come from.

She groaned as she got in her elevator and headed down to the lobby of her building. It would be at least a 3 hour flying taxi, and then she had to find a hotel and try to get some sleep before… oh it was all just a hassle.

As the elevator went down Iono realized however that it wasn't all bad…

…At least she had an excuse to see Florian again.

"Wooo!" Nemona shouted as they defeated the Tera pokemon.

"We did it Professor." Florian spoke into his phone.

"Great, thank God you kids weren't hurt." Professor Jacq replied.

"There has been a decent amount of these lately." Juliana pointed out. "And it's all because of what we did down in Area Zero?"

"It would appear so. Those crystals seem to cause a reaction in whichever pokemon touches it first. The destruction of the time machine and the power surge that occurred after really seemed to affect the level of the crystals that reached the surface." The Professor told them.

"That's cool." Nemona Said. "That means we get to fight stronger pokemon more often."

"Just be careful." Warned Jacq. "Many of these pokemon are dangerous. And we better pray that you never have to face a level 10."

With that, the professor hung up and Florian put his Rotom back in his pocket.

"It's late, we should probably head back." Suggested Arven.

"It's not that late." Nemona told them.

"It's almost midnight." Juliana pointed out.

"OH… wow…" Replied Nemona. "Can we even get a flying Taxi from here?"

Florian looked at his Rotom phone and brought up the map. They could call a taxi but the nearest open one was over 2 hours away. Meaning they would have to wait 2 hours then ride 2 hours and a half back to Mesagoza.

"So, guess we are riding Koraidon and Miraidon back." Said Juliana as she took out her pokemon.

"Um… you guys go ahead." Florian told them. "I'll catch up."

"What?" Asked Arven. "Why?"

"There's a mine nearby, and I'm gonna check it out." He told them.

"Can't you come back tomorrow?" Juliana Asked.

"We're already here, and I'd rather not have to take a flying taxi here and then take it back home when I'm in the area tonight." Her brother replied.

Juliana sighed. "Fine, come on guys."

"Wait, if you stay then I'm staying too." Nemona insisted.

"No, Nemona." Florian insisted back. "Go with them… it'll be faster if I do this alone."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"I'm sure." He replied as he turned and headed toward the nearby mine.

"Be careful." His sister warned as the three got on Miraidon and headed off.

Florian turned back and watched until they were out of eyeshot. He then got out his rotum phone and made a call.

"Hello?" Someone asked from the other line.

"Yeah, sorry, I know it's late but I'm at the mine…" He replied.

"Excellent." The voice came back. "I'll send the coordinates."

Florian waited until he got the notification. It was actually not deep into the mine, in fact He only would have to walk about 100 yards to get there.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" He asked after arriving to the spot.

"Positive, you just have to dig a little." Came the reply.

"Okay…" Florian said before summoning his orthworm and commanded it to dig near the coordinates.

It wasn't long before he heard the orthworm hit something.

"I think he hit it…" Said Florian.

"Have him bring up a sample." The person on the other line of the call said.

"Bring a piece back here." Florian ordered the worm.

Soon enough it came back with a dark… strange but not all too unfamiliar substance.

"I'll send this over as soon as I can." Florian told the man on the phone.

"Excellent. Thank you, now go get some sleep… it's rather late." The man told him before ending the call.

Florian chuckled slightly. He was only up late because the professor needed these special and rare samples of Herba Mystica.

What was so special about these samples, Florian didn't know. However, he knew that different versions of Herba Mystica had different effects on certain pokemon. Hence how the Titan pokemon had gotten so huge.

However, this particular kind Florian had never heard of. He wasn't sure if it even had an official name. He also wasn't sure exactly why the professor was so interested in this. But as he exited the mine and hopped on Koraidon, he was sure about one thing.

If it was important to this professor, it was either very useful or very dangerous.

He doubted it was anything in-between.

Thank you all who made it to the end.

May God bless you all.