Pokémon: My Parallel World Daughters Revealed

Chapter 154: We Are the Hoenn Iron Triangle! (Power Stone Milestone Extra Chapter 2/2)

[VIP Chat Group]

[Diantha]: Hahahahahaha! ”This rain isn’t fake too, is it?” Miori, did you really have to ruin the atmosphere like that?! That conversation just now felt so profound and fateful!

[May]: Their conversation sounded really deep, but I think Miori made more sense!

[Lance]: True freedom includes every possible choice, including the choice to remain with a Trainer. If a Pokémon chooses to stay by its Trainer’s side, forcibly separating them would itself be a form of deprivation.

[Drayden]: N’s reasoning has a blind spot. He regards all Trainers as exploiters, so he believes leaving one’s Trainer must always be the correct choice for a Pokémon.

[Volkner]: But N’s argument does contain some truth. It would be one thing if every Trainer treated Pokémon like Miori does, but some people genuinely use Pokémon as tools, and abandoned Pokémon are hardly uncommon.

[Gary]: Still, his goal of ”making every Pokémon happy” is far too idealistic. Happiness itself is impossible to define, let alone happiness for ”everyone.”

The scene on the screen changed once again.

Hoenn region.

Steven and Wallace were crouched behind a boulder half their height. Each held a pair of binoculars and watched the area opposite them with grave expressions.

Asher stood behind them, holding a cup of hot coffee that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. He leaned casually against the rock wall, looking completely relaxed.

”Brother Asher, could you crouch down?”

Steven didn’t look back.

”They’ll discover us if you keep standing like that.”

”Discover what?”

Asher blew across the surface of his coffee.

”Their surveillance cameras recorded both of you ages ago—from the very first second you crouched behind that rock.”

Steven abruptly lowered his binoculars.

”What?!”

Wallace also froze.

”Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

”Your crouching postures looked impressively professional. I didn’t have the heart to interrupt.”

Asher took a sip of coffee.

Steven and Wallace exchanged a glance, threw aside their binoculars, and stood.

”Let’s go.”

Asher straightened as well.

”Since they’ve already discovered us, we might as well walk in through the front.”

”We should have done that from the beginning!”

Steven strode ahead and kicked open the abandoned power plant’s metal door.

The door released an ear-piercing groan, and flakes of rust showered from its hinges.

Asher walked over to one of the containers and tapped its outer shell with a finger.

”It’s still in the preheating stage. This round of experiments hasn’t formally begun yet.”

Steven leaned closer and knocked on it too.

The container produced a duller sound than before.

A stream of gray-white steam suddenly burst from the top and struck Steven directly in the face.

Steven sneezed three times in succession, his eyes watering from the fumes.

”Brother Asher, does this thing have something against me?”

Asher held his coffee and answered expressionlessly:

”You hit it too hard and activated the automatic pressure-release valve.”

Wallace brushed the dust from his clothes.

”Steven, between kicking down the door and punching the container, if Team Plasma installed a decibel detector, they’ve probably already received a Level Three intrusion alert.”

The instant Wallace finished speaking, hurried footsteps came from deeper inside the factory.

Seven or eight uniformed people rushed out from behind the metal containers.

A technician wearing protective goggles led the group. He looked at the door Steven had kicked open before taking a fighting stance.

”Who are you people?”

Steven straightened his tie and stepped forward.

He cleared his throat.

”Since you have opened your eyes and beheld us...”

With a sweep of his right hand, a cape appeared from seemingly nowhere and billowed dramatically in the draft passing through the abandoned power plant.

”...then prick up your ears and listen well!”

Wallace shifted half a step to the side and whispered to Asher:

”When did he prepare that cape?”

Asher shrugged.

”I have no idea.”

Completely unaffected, Steven continued in a booming voice:

”I am the sharpest point of the triangle—the Noble Prince of Steel, Steven!”

He turned sideways and extended one hand toward Wallace.

”Second, the most elegant point of the triangle—the Flowing Waters of Sootopolis, Wallace!”

Then Steven spun toward Asher and dramatically thrust both hands forward, making the gesture twice as exaggerated as the previous ones.

”And finally! The triangle’s most mysterious, most powerful, and utterly unrivaled member—the legendary man, Asher!”

Steven raised both hands high above his head and shouted at the top of his lungs:

”We are—the Hoenn Iron Triangle!”

He remained frozen with both arms raised.

The entire abandoned power plant was silent for three full seconds.

Steven’s cape fluttered twice in the passing breeze before falling limply behind him.

The technician finally reached the limits of his endurance and turned toward the depths of the factory.

”INTRUDERS—!!”

Seven or eight Team Plasma members simultaneously threw their Poké Balls.

Scolipede, Toxicroak, Liepard, Weavile, and more than a dozen other Pokémon formed a defensive line in front of the metal containers.

Steven reached into his suit and threw Metagross’s Poké Ball.

Metagross appeared, and blue light flashed in its eyes.

An invisible force instantly pressed every opposing Pokémon flat against the ground.

In less than three seconds, all of them were unable to battle, their eyes replaced by matching spirals.

”Wallace.”

Asher continued holding his coffee without even turning around.

”Understood.”

Wallace threw a Poké Ball as well.

Milotic appeared and lightly swept its tail fin.

A pillar of water erupted from the ground, launching the remaining Team Plasma members into the air. They followed neat parabolic arcs before landing precisely inside a scrap-material container nearby.

In less than two minutes, every Team Plasma member around the factory’s perimeter had been dealt with.

Asher produced a floor plan of the factory’s interior.

”The central equipment at this Team Plasma experimental site is an energy-extraction system. It operates on the same principle as the device used near Route 4 in Unova, but its output is significantly higher.”

”Wallace, take the left passage. Steven, take the right. Finish within five minutes.”

”What about you?”

”I’ll go through the center.”

Asher rolled up his sleeves.

”We’ll meet back at the entrance afterward.”

At the very center of the factory—the primary equipment area—

When Asher entered through the main doors, the Team Plasma members were conducting the final round of energy testing.

Six energy-extraction devices had been arranged in a ring. More than a dozen cables were connected to each machine, with their opposite ends feeding into an enormous metal container in the center.

”Good evening, everyone.”

Asher’s voice echoed through the spacious factory.

Every Team Plasma member turned simultaneously.

A man in a dark-blue uniform, apparently the person in charge of the facility, frowned.

”Who are you? How did you get inside?”

”I walked through the front door.”

Asher answered as though it were obvious.

The facility supervisor fell silent for two seconds.

”...The front door was locked.”

”Does a lock mean I’m not allowed to enter?”

”I don’t care who you are. Since you broke in, don’t even think about leaving!”

The supervisor gritted his teeth and threw a Poké Ball.

”Hydreigon, use Dragon Pulse!”

Hydreigon flew out of the Poké Ball.

All three of its heads opened their mouths, firing three waves of purple energy directly toward Asher.

Dragonite flashed out from behind him.

With a casual sweep of its tail, it shattered all three Dragon Pulses. The scattered energy exploded against the factory wall like three bursts of purple fireworks.

Dragonite then appeared directly above Hydreigon and swept its tail downward once more.

The single strike smashed Hydreigon into the floor.

All three heads simultaneously stuck out their tongues as spirals replaced their eyes.

The facility supervisor’s hands began trembling.

He looked down at his Hydreigon, which had been knocked unconscious by a single tail strike. Then he raised his head toward Dragonite, which was staring down its nostrils at him.

Finally, he slowly raised both hands.

”I surrender.”

”Excellent.”

Asher planted one foot on the still-operating central machine.

”You now have three minutes to write down the coordinates of every Team Plasma experimental site in Hoenn.”

”I’ll write them! I’ll write them immediately!”

The supervisor crouched on the ground and began writing furiously.

...

TL: Respect Team Plasma for at least letting Steven finish the introductions.