BXBX NOVEL Chapter 1092: Encirclement of Geosenge Town
Chapter 1092: Encirclement of Geosenge Town
Therefore, at this moment, Floette, getting closer to AZ, sensed its presence.
From Floette\'s reaction, Yuga speculated that the place where Team Flare was hiding AZ might be these piles of rocks outside Geosenge Town.
"Absol, let\'s go take a look," Yuga said to the Absol beneath him.
"Absol!" Absol responded softly and started to run towards the rock piles.
When they approached the rock piles, Yuga discovered that this place seemed to have been developed into a tourist project. Although it didn\'t look crowded now, the visiting facilities among the stones indicated that this place must have been quite popular.
Just as Yuga was about to enter on his Absol, he was stopped by a middle-aged man who was short and had a face full of stubble.
"Sorry, dear guest, but we are currently closed for renovations and cannot allow entry," he said.
Yuga responded in confusion, "I didn\'t hear about any restrictions here; why is it suddenly closed?"
The middle-aged man chuckled and said, "You must not have been to Geosenge Town for a few years, right? This place has long been bought by me; it\'s now private property.
Two years ago, I transformed it into a tourist attraction, hoping to make a little money. However, recently some of the equipment has aged and needs maintenance, so it\'s temporarily closed to the public.
It\'s quite messy here at the moment, and it really isn\'t suitable for outsiders; if a guest accidentally gets hurt, that would be bad. I advise you to leave as soon as possible."
Yuga nodded and replied, "I see; I won\'t intrude then." After saying that, he unhesitatingly urged his Absol to leave the rock piles.
After watching Yuga\'s back for a while and confirming he had left, the bearded man turned around and walked back into the piles of rocks. However, before he went, a few Diggersby hopped out and began to move around, seemingly monitoring the surroundings.
Once Yuga was out of the bearded man\'s sight, he utilized Gengar\'s invisibility ability to return to the vicinity of the rock piles. He looked at the stone door directly in front of the rock piles and quietly slipped in with Gengar, unnoticed by the patrolling Diggersby.
Since Floette sensed something here, Yuga could not give up his investigation just because of this minor obstruction. Moreover, that bearded middle-aged man looked quite suspicious; he seemed very afraid of Yuga approaching the piles of rocks.
If it was just a matter of maintaining old equipment, he wouldn\'t have to be so tense around outsiders, almost like a forest full of soldiers.
As Yuga stepped into the outskirts of the rock piles, he saw many workers busily hammering and repairing, just as the bearded man had said—they were indeed maintaining the facilities.
However, as he ventured further inside, the situation changed. People in red uniforms were running around with all sorts of strange machines, seemingly busy with unknown tasks.
The red uniforms were a symbol of Team Flare, and Yuga hadn\'t expected to find a lead so soon after arriving in Geosenge Town.
At that moment, the bearded man was talking to a woman with short purple hair.
"Tell them to speed up; we can\'t afford any delays. If someone else comes and accidentally stumbles in, it will be trouble!"
"Understood, Lady Celosia! I\'ll go urge them right away!" the bearded man said, bowing and nodding.
"Make sure they are careful and follow the instructions strictly. If anything goes wrong due to mistakes, you\'d better watch out," the woman referred to as Claire said.
"Yes, yes... I\'ll keep an eye on them," the bearded man hurriedly turned and left.
Based on the information from Malva, Yuga knew that Team Flare had five core members: Aliana, Bryony, Mable, Celosia, and Xerosic. The woman before him was likely Celosia.
From his observations, Yuga noticed that everyone from Team Flare was busy around the black giant rock in the center of the pile. What they were specifically doing was unclear to him.
"Floette, Floette..." I can feel a tremendous energy hidden within that stone, a feeling so familiar...
Floette\'s voice suddenly echoed in Yuga\'s mind.
"There\'s unknown energy within the giant rock?" Yuga suddenly seemed to realize something.
Over there, Claire walked around for a few circles, and Yuga suddenly noticed her walk alone to a square stone standing upright. A large door suddenly cracked open in front of the stone, and she stepped inside.
Just as the stone door was about to close, rational Gengar immediately grabbed Yuga and dashed in.
Looking at the stone door closing behind him, Yuga gently patted his chest and exhaled a long breath, "Thank goodness you\'re clever, Gengar."
"Gengar!" Gengar scratched its cheek and let out a silly laugh, then quickly realized they were in enemy territory and hurriedly covered its mouth with its hand.
Behind the stone door was a long corridor, with bright walls seemingly made of special glass. Yuga tiptoed inside, wary of disturbing the guards and alarm systems around.
After passing through the long corridor, Yuga and Gengar entered a research facility comparable to the underground café in Lumiose City, and at a glance, they spotted AZ among the crowd.
AZ\'s towering height of nearly three meters was incredibly conspicuous, making it impossible for Yuga to miss him.
At that moment, AZ seemed to be discussing something with the Team Flare members around him. Yuga was too far away to hear clearly, but he could see the person beside AZ nodding repeatedly while taking notes with a pen.
It was evident that AZ held a core position in this research facility; not only did the others follow his instructions completely, but their attitudes toward him were also very respectful.
It seems that Lysandre has completely persuaded AZ to help him create the ultimate weapon! Yuga speculated in his mind.
Just then, AZ seemed to sense something, suddenly turning his head in Yuga\'s direction. However, after seeing nothing, he furrowed his brows tightly.
The current AZ was completely different from the image Yuga had seen in the Mirage Tower. His long, messy hair had been neatly trimmed, the beard on his face was gone, and his tattered clothing had been replaced with new attire—he looked revitalized.
The moment AZ glanced over, Floette suddenly gripped Yuga\'s shoulder tightly, feeling extremely tense.
Floette had a vague connection with AZ, and AZ shared a similar connection with Floette.
"Sir AZ, what\'s wrong?" Celosia approached, noticing AZ\'s unusual expression.
AZ relaxed his tightly furrowed brows and shook his head, saying, "It\'s nothing." With that, he continued to focus on his work.
Seeing that AZ hadn\'t noticed anything, Yuga finally breathed a sigh of relief. He didn\'t dare linger in the research facility, quickly following one of the Team Flare members who was leaving.
Now that he had found AZ, he needed to prepare adequately before taking him away.
After quietly leaving the rock piles, Yuga went to Geosenge Town. After finding a place to stay, he dialed Mr. Ramos\'s phone number.
After contacting Mr. Ramos, Yuga quietly waited in Geosenge Town for two days. During this time, he didn\'t stay idle; instead, he concealed his identity and explored the town.
After careful observation, he discovered that aside from a few locals, there were many Team Flare members mixed in, making this place effectively Team Flare\'s headquarters.
Two days later, in Geosenge Town, Yuga secretly met with Siebold and Mr. Ramos, who had come here quietly.
In the small hotel room, Yuga said to Siebold and Mr. Ramos, "This time, we\'ll split into two groups. Siebold and I will go to the rock research facility, while Mr. Ramos will lead a team to capture all the Team Flare members hidden in Geosenge Town."
Mr. Ramos replied, "Don\'t worry about Geosenge Town; leave it to me. You two must bring AZ out."
Yuga replied, "Are you sure you have enough people this time? If we can\'t capture them all, it\'s very likely that Lysandre in Lumiose City will be alerted."
Siebold responded, "Don\'t worry, the entire area around Geosenge Town has already been secured by our people; not even a single Team Flare Zubat can escape."
"Then I can rest easy," Yuga said.
Next, Yuga shared all the intelligence he had gathered in Geosenge Town with Mr. Ramos, and afterward, he and Siebold headed to the rock piles outside the town.
Upon reaching the vicinity of the rock piles, Yuga said to Siebold, "I\'ll go in first to see if I can persuade AZ to leave with us voluntarily. If I can manage that, you all can take action once I bring AZ out." With Floette by his side, Yuga felt that the chances of convincing AZ were quite high.
If he couldn\'t persuade AZ, then he would have to resort to force.
His intuition told him that AZ was a very formidable person.
Siebold nodded, saying, "You can go with peace of mind; our people are all around, so there won\'t be any accidents."
Having established their plan, Yuga once again snuck into the research facility with Gengar and Floette.
The situation inside the research facility was similar to what Yuga had seen two days earlier; the Alliance\'s encirclement hadn\'t alerted the people inside the facility. However, when Yuga entered, he didn\'t see AZ anywhere.
After searching for a while, he finally spotted AZ in a concealed room, seemingly resting.
Upon finding AZ, Yuga didn\'t rush to reveal himself. Instead, he discovered a surveillance camera in AZ\'s room, indicating that AZ\'s every move was being monitored.
However, just as Yuga reached the door to the room, AZ suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards the entrance.
"Mr. AZ," Yuga\'s voice rang in AZ\'s ears.
"Who\'s there?" AZ asked, warily glancing around, but he couldn\'t see anything.
"No need to look; you can\'t see me," Yuga\'s voice continued to echo in AZ\'s ear.
"What do you want?" AZ was not flustered; he knew that since Yuga had not shown himself, there must be something he wanted to discuss.
"Let me introduce myself. I\'m from the League. I\'m here to stop you from creating the ultimate weapon, and I hope you\'ll leave with me."
AZ refused without hesitation, "I\'m sorry, I can\'t leave." Of course, he knew about the Pokémon League, but he hadn\'t expected them to find him so quickly or to have infiltrated the research facility so silently.
Yuga asked, "Why? Do you know the devastation the ultimate weapon will cause once it\'s completed?"
AZ lowered his head and replied in a deep voice, "I know, but this is my promise."
Seeing AZ\'s resolute attitude, Yuga had no choice but to use his trump card.
"Floette is with me. It\'s begging you to leave with me. Would you refuse it as well?"
"Floette?!" AZ\'s voice shot up in surprise. He knew the room was being monitored, so he quickly calmed himself and asked, "Really? Floette is with you?"
"Floette... Floette..."
At that moment, Floette\'s voice echoed in AZ\'s ears.
"Floette, is it really you?" Tears instantly welled up in AZ\'s eyes.
Noticing AZ\'s emotional state, Yuga quickly reminded him, "Mr. AZ, please control your emotions. You\'re being monitored right now."
AZ, having lived for over three thousand years, quickly regained control of his nearly overwhelming emotions after Yuga\'s reminder.
"Mr. AZ, I want to know why you\'re helping Team Flare build the ultimate weapon," Yuga asked, voicing the question that had been gnawing at him.
Perhaps Floette\'s presence had lowered AZ\'s guard, for he began to explain the reason to Yuga.
It turned out that over three thousand years ago, the ultimate weapon not only ended the war but also destroyed AZ\'s own kingdom. At that time, AZ was the only one left alive from the entire kingdom, except for one person—his younger brother.
Out of guilt, AZ had taken off his crown before leaving and left it with his brother, making a promise that if his brother or his descendants ever needed his help in the future, all they had to do was present the crown, and he would assist them unconditionally.
Lysandre was a descendant of AZ\'s brother, and he had that very crown in his possession.
This was why AZ was not helping Lysandre willingly, and when he discovered Yuga\'s presence, he did not alert Team Flare.
"So, just for the sake of a promise made over three thousand years ago, you\'re going to build the ultimate weapon?" Yuga asked in disbelief. Keeping promises was important, but one had to consider the circumstances.
"So, are you determined to help Lysandre create the ultimate weapon?"
Yuga\'s words left AZ silent.
"Floette... Floette..." At that moment, Floette patted Yuga on the shoulder, signaling for him to let it handle the situation.
Having no other options, Yuga decided to give it a try and called out his Mismagius from the shadow space. Mismagius, with Floette in tow, slipped into AZ\'s room, leaving the space for a private conversation between AZ and Floette .
Over ten minutes passed, and though Yuga didn\'t know what Floette had said to AZ, AZ finally agreed to leave with him. After their conversation, the atmosphere between AZ and Floette seemed strange, leaving Yuga reluctant to ask any questions.
After convincing AZ, Yuga wanted to leave the research facility as quickly as possible, before anyone from Team Flare noticed. He planned to inform Siebold outside so they could launch their attack.
As they left the research facility, AZ passed by the large black boulder in the middle of the rocky piles. Somehow, he manipulated the boulder and extracted a transparent, arm-length cylindrical object from inside it. The object emitted a strange light.
Handing the object to Yuga, AZ said, "Since the ultimate weapon can no longer be built, I\'ll give this to you."
"What is this?" Yuga asked curiously as he took it.
AZ simply shook his head and said nothing.
Next came the raid on the research facility. With Yuga and Siebold leading the charge, the operation went smoothly—no one escaped.
However, there\'s no such thing as a perfect secret. Despite how covertly Yuga and the others acted, Lysandre eventually found out.
Two days after the raid on Geosenge Town, a small Team Flare grunt hurriedly entered Lysandre\'s office. After whispering a few words in his ear, Lysandre\'s expression drastically changed.
"When did this happen?" Lysandre asked.
"Two days ago, led by Siebold."
Lysandre immediately stood up to leave, but just then, Diantha pushed open the door with her team. She raised an arrest warrant in her hand and declared:
"Lysandre, you are under arrest."
Before, there had been no evidence. But now, with the items seized from the research facility in Geosenge Town, they had enough to arrest Lysandre.