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Maylene got up very early. Lucario, who was sleeping beside her, was accidentally stepped on. In pain, Lucario jumped up and fired an 'Aura Sphere' straight at Maylene.
Maylene didn't even look. Relying on instinct alone, she lifted her leg and swept the 'Aura Sphere' out into the courtyard.
The Gym apprentices, accustomed to the sound of 'Aura Sphere' explosions, continued their tasks or lazily slept in.
Besides her battle skills, Maylene realized she was becoming increasingly adept at catching 'Aura Spheres'.
It couldn't be helped. Luther always enjoyed watching her practice, and Lucario, using Luther's name as an excuse, would bully her with 'Aura Spheres', forcing her to develop this reaction speed and strength.
"It's almost six o'clock. Hurry, or Senior is going to leave."
Maylene brushed her teeth while nudging Lucario's head with her foot. The lazy thing was still trying to sleep in.
After tidying up, Maylene grabbed a small box she'd placed on her bedside table the night before and rushed Lucario to the park where Luther was camping.
They rushed all the way, and when Maylene arrived, Luther and Mai were already shouldering their backpacks, while the Pokémon were cleaning up the campsite.
Seeing Maylene and Lucario panting, Luther smiled and said, "Didn't I say yesterday? You didn't have to come see me off."
"Senior Luther, please accept this." Maylene took out the blue-gray box and handed it to Luther.
Luther froze for a moment. After opening it, he found a dark cyan, irregular stone inside.
"When Team Galactic raided Veilstone City's Meteor stockpile last time, some of the Meteors were damaged. I helped with the repairs and managed to collect quite a few. Senior, you're participating in the Lily of the Valley Conference, right? This might bring you some good luck."
Looking at the meteor, Luther fell into thought.
"Is this some kind of hint?" He murmured to himself.
Both Maylene and Mai heard Luther's muttering and looked at him curiously.
"It's nothing. This meteor made me think of something. It's a wonderful gift. I really like it."
Hearing that, Maylene smiled.
"Oh, right. Maylene, keep working hard as a Gym Leader. You'll definitely become an outstanding core Gym Leader."
"That goes without saying. I'll become an even stronger Gym Leader than Candice. Then, I'll be able to turn the tables and teach her a lesson!"
Luther held back his laughter. He was actually looking forward to the day Maylene would defeat Candice.
On the road out of Veilstone City, Luther wore his headphones the whole time, listening to a steel-type piano piece and staring blankly at the meteor.
Matsuyama truly lived up to his reputation as an outstanding music producer. Even though he had lost his inspiration, his talent remained undiminished.
When Luther hummed the theme of Ultra Necrozma, Matsuyama, despite Luther's lack of musical theory knowledge, managed to reconstruct the piece based solely on Luther's descriptions. While the result differed slightly from the original, Luther was more than satisfied.
After all, the difference between what could be hummed and what could be played by multiple instruments was huge. This was something that Luther, who knew no music theory, simply couldn't express well.
Matsuyama said that the mood of the piece made him feel as if he were facing a sacred life form, powerful, impossible to profane, and filled with an oppressive presence, like a legendary god.
Those words stunned Luther. With his poor rhetorical ability, he couldn't describe the shock he felt at that moment.
Music knows no national boundaries, nor even the boundaries between worlds.
Melodies that strike straight at the soul evoke the same feelings everywhere.
Matsuyama asked Luther where he had heard the piece, frantically. The elderly man, who had devoted his life to music, grabbed Luther's arm anxiously.
"In a dream." Luther could only give that answer.
Matsuyama was stunned. He absentmindedly looked toward Malamar and Musharna as if seriously considering having them put him to sleep to search for inspiration in a dream.
"Did you hear any other pieces in your dream?" Matsuyama's disciple, the one who had directed Gallade's performance at the music festival, quickly asked when he saw his teacher's reaction.
An image of the Veilstone City meteor yard suddenly surfaced in Luther's mind, and his body shuddered slightly.
"There is...one more."
Luther's words drew the attention of the two of them, and Mai also looked over curiously.
After all, Luther had only hummed one piece that night.
Matsuyama's disciple was a renowned steel-type pianist. When Luther said that this piece was pure steel type, Matsuyama immediately sat down at the piano. The Gallade who had been holding instruments to accompany him put their instruments down and listened quietly.
The melody Luther hummed was slow. Compared to the fiery passion and reverence that all the Pokémon had shown while reconstructing the previous piece, they were now stunned into silence.
The tune was incomplete and had a weak emotional impact. The Gallade felt that the first piece had been much better.
Only Matsuyama and his disciple stared at Luther in shock.
After a long silence, Matsuyama's disciple began to play. He played several notes in succession, constantly consulting Matsuyama.
Late at night, as the music festival was about to end, Matsuyama and his disciple sat together in front of the steel piano and nodded solemnly to each other.
As the first notes echoed through the room, the Pokémon felt as if the music were carrying their consciousness far away.
Houndoom had closed his eyes to feel the music and seemed to recall the days when he wandered alone. Despite his strength, tears filled his eyes.
Jumpluff remembered wandering alone in the research lab after losing to Vileplume.
Mismagius buried her head in Luther's arms. She was truly crying.
She saw her first master and the castle that no longer existed.
When the piece ended, Matsuyama asked in a trembling voice, "What's the name of this piece?"
Luther did not answer.
The name of the piece was, in truth, the tragedy of a person and even an entire clan.
Meteorite Requiem was Zinnia's tragedy and the tragedy of the Draconid people.
Had the image of the meteor yard not appeared in his mind at that moment, Luther might not have remembered this melody or this story.
If he had the chance, Luther wanted to take a trip to Hoenn. He wanted to know if Meteor Falls had a girl named Zinnia.
If there were any scene in the Pokémon series that Luther could never forget, it would be the moment on top of the Sky Pillar when Zinnia battled the protagonist for the inheritance.
Each time the Draconid people saved the world with Rayquaza, they sacrificed their lives. As the inheritor of this generation, Zinnia had long been prepared.
Yet, Rayquaza rejected her.
When Rayquaza acknowledged the protagonist, what was Zinnia thinking?
After leaving the Sky Pillar and gazing at the night sky with Whismur, what was she thinking?
A player who had always saved the world in games, who had always thought saving the world was only natural, Luther, only at that moment, truly wished that he would lose.
Don't win.
Must the protagonist save the world simply because he is the protagonist?
Aren't those ordinary people who are already prepared for sacrifice the truly greatest beings in the Pokémon world?
When Maylene handed him this fragment of a meteor, Luther suddenly felt that, in the unseen currents of fate, something seemed to be guiding him.
(End of Chapter)