To Akira Hayashi's immense relief, Professor Sada said the words he'd been silently praying for:
"The Area Zero project is still in its earliest phases."
He almost sagged with relief.
That meant one crucial thing, no time machine.
Yet.
Which meant… there was still time to change everything.
For all its emotional gut punches, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had always felt like a gentle utopia in disguise.
A little dreamy. A little bittersweet.
No archvillains. No cruel dystopias.
Just people who meant well, only tradegy was people like Sada and Turo, making impossible choices in the name of science and progress.
And at the center of it all? Arven. Left behind in every timeline.
But maybe not this one.
Maybe this time, Akira could make a difference.
As soon as the topic of Area Zero came up, Sada transformed. Gone was the composed researcher persona, she launched into a full-blown academic rant, hands gesturing wildly, eyes alight with passion. Technical jargon tumbled from her mouth faster than a Rapid Spin Blissey.
Akira could only blink as the verbal hurricane swept over him. He caught something about "temporal energy decoupling" and "aerial anchor fields," but most of it zipped past his mind.
Honestly, even Arven's worst info-dumps had more breathing room.
So that's where he gets it, Akira thought, semi-dazed.
He didn't have long to recover. A shrill alarm suddenly blared from one of Sada's consoles.
She didn't even flinch.
"Looks like another failure," she said, sighing as she slipped off her lab coat like it was a second skin. Pulling on a pair of rubber gloves, she reached into a nearby containment unit and fished out a cracked core still sparking faintly with violet energy.
Judging by the scorch marks, it had lost a battle against thermodynamic stability or maybe a feral Charizard.
"Spatial transmission instability," she muttered.
Apparently, if they wanted to build permanent research stations in Area Zero, they needed more than strong Pokémon.
They needed a way to beam supplies and people across the crater without lugging it all through monster-infested cave networks.
Thus they thought of teleportation pads. Sci-fi style.
The theory was sound. The math? Already perfect.
The problem? The cores kept exploding like untrained Voltorb.
"Hey, system," Akira murmured mentally, "any cheat codes for this one?"
[Mix the second blue bottle from the left with the pink bottle in position four. Trust me bro.]
He glanced at the shelf. Sure enough, the system's directions matched perfectly. Suspiciously perfectly.
"…Professor Sada," he called casually. "What are those two bottles on your left?"
She blinked at him, then picked them up with a curious expression.
"This blue one is a spatial stabilizer—it compresses ambient field distortion. And this…" She swirled the pink vial with faint distaste. "Psychic extract. Harvested from Kadabra saliva."
Akira blinked. "I didn't realize you could milk a Kadabra. Why not mix em."
"You don't. You bribe them."
Good to know.
But then, mid-joke, a spark of inspiration lit up in Sada's gaze.
Her eyes sharpened like a scientist possessed. Before he could say anything else, she whirled back to her workstation and began muttering to herself like a caffeine-high Alakazam with a deadline.
Hours passed in a blur of failed shells and half-melted circuits. Akira sat nearby with a sandwich, casually watching her work like it was his favorite soap opera.
Then, finally , she let out a breathless laugh.
Two softly glowing green cores hummed on her workbench.
She installed one into the base of a circular pad at her feet. A halo of light sparked to life around it, humming like a distant Solgaleo cry. Her eyes widened.
"It worked!" she gasped.
Akira blinked.
"Wait. That's it? You can really create teleportation tech by mixing two liquids."
He barely had time to react before she grabbed a beaker, placed it on the pad, and slammed a big retro-style button. It looked like something straight out of an old sci-fi film reel.
The lab buzzed.
Light flared.
And with a cheerful poof, the beaker blinked out, then reappeared five meters away on another platform.
Akira stared.
"…That's definitely the Area Zero fast travel pad from the game."
His system snorted in his head.
[Told ya. I'm cracked.]
Just two characters. But the font bounce radiated so much smugness, Akira almost smacked the air out of spite.
Still, he couldn't complain.
If the system kept feeding him tips like this, building that dream farm might actually be possible.
After sharing his raw Tera Shard ores with Sada, something she immediately labeled "game-changing", the professor offered him a job on the spot.
"Become a researcher full-time," she said, sparkling with joy. "I'll even pay more than the academy! All I ask is a little overtime."
Akira's soul visibly left his body.
Sure, the offer sounded sweet.
But he'd seen what "a little overtime" did to these two. They got so buried in their research, they didn't even notice they'd forgotten their own son.
If this was their work ethic, he could only imagine what their assistants went through.
Hard pass.
Sada, a little disappointed, handed him several packets of ancient seed stock from a nearby preservation unit.
"Found these while digging through old texts," she said. "They've got strong energy signatures, but I've never managed to grow one successfully."
Akira squinted at the faded packet. No Pokédex data. No clear markers. Just a weird pulsing warmth in his fingers.
Mystery seeds, huh?
Might be useful once he had proper soil and greenhouse conditions.
Besides, he'd already promised to grow things for friendship. Or whatever that meant.
He pocketed the seeds and made for the door.
Then came the voice behind him, soft, hopeful, and uncharacteristically emotional.
"Professor Hayashi!" Sada called. "Please take care of Arven at the academy."
He stopped cold.
His smile faltered.
If Arven was one of his students… then the rest of the main Paldean cast probably were, too.
Nemona. Penny. Possibly even the Team Star kids.
Oh no.
He hadn't even started teaching yet… and he already wanted to retire.
------------------------
Author's Note:
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
+50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
Update Schedule: 7 chapters/week + up to 3 bonus chapters
If you have any suggestions for the story or spot any corrections, feel free to let me know. Your feedback is always welcome!