"Ravaged Path?"
On the other end of the communicator, Steven furrowed his brow, vaguely feeling he had heard of this place before.
"You've probably heard of it, the place Elite Four Bertha forcibly renamed."
"Oh, that place... Is there still anything good left?"
Haruki thought to himself, 'As expected.' The business of the Stone family was mainly based in the Hoenn Region, followed by Sinnoh.
Even if they didn't get a piece of the action back then, they probably knew the whole story well enough.
"There's definitely something valuable. The real question is… do you all still dare to develop it?"
Haruki said with a hidden implication.
Steven instantly got the hint and replied at once, "The Devon Corporation has never done anything like… that. Besides, Elite Four Bertha is one of our esteemed VIP members."
"Fine. Just like before, I'll send you the location, and you can check it out yourself."
Not wanting to continue the conversation, Haruki hung up after sending the detailed location and stopped concerning himself with it.
He found a secluded, clear stream and gave all three of his Pokémon a proper wash. Only then did he resume his journey toward Floaroma Town.
After passing through Ravaged Path and walking for another three days, the dense forest around him began to thin out.
The number and variety of flowers increased, and groups of Bug-type Pokémon started appearing in droves.
Haruki, along with the always-friendly-looking Skiploom, carefully avoided each bug swarm to prevent any misunderstandings.
Soon, when Haruki stepped past the last tall tree, what came into view was an endless sea of flowers.
Some vibrant, some elegant, some shy, some in full bloom...
All kinds of flowers were growing upward with all their might, proudly displaying their beauty and drawing Bug-type Pokémon to gather nectar and pollen.
Above the sea of flowers, Combee, Mothim, Beautifly, Dustox, and many others coexisted peacefully.
Below the floral sea, grounded Pokémon like Burmy, Wurmple, and Kricketot clustered together, sipping nectar from the shorter blossoms.
Even when faced with the sudden appearance of Haruki and Skiploom, the Pokémon only gave them a glance before returning to their business.
For a moment, Haruki wondered if he had been hit with some kind of illusion or hypnosis again.
Although the journey so far hadn't been particularly difficult, every wild Pokémon he encountered either attacked on sight or ran away in fear; none had ever simply ignored him like this.
'Could it be that there were so many flowers here, and with such abundant resources, even conflict couldn't arise?'
"Skiploom, Aromatherapy."
"…Skip?"
Though confused, Skiploom still released Aromatherapy toward Haruki.
'Yeah, it's real.'
After double-checking that there was nothing amiss, Haruki slowly stepped into the flower-filled field.
But the blossoms were so densely packed that Haruki unknowingly stepped on and broke a tiny flower.
A sharp cry rang out, and Haruki immediately became alert, instinctively backing away two steps.
He saw a furious Burmy glaring at him, its round little hand pointing at the crushed flower as if accusing him.
Before Haruki could figure out what was going on, various Bug-type Pokémon swarmed in with rage in their eyes.
At that moment, Haruki wished more than anything that they had just kept ignoring him like before.
No doubt something was wrong now.
"Skip~"
At the critical moment, Skiploom, having understood why Burmy was upset, stepped forward and actively used Grassy Terrain.
With Grassy Terrain, the once-broken flower miraculously stood up again, blooming even more beautifully than before.
Within the range of Grassy Terrain, all the flowers began to grow wildly, each becoming vibrantly lush and bursting with vitality.
In an instant, all the hostile gazes vanished and were replaced with fiery admiration.
Their eyes toward Skiploom were absolutely burning!
"Skiploom, return!"
Seeing this, Haruki quickly gave a low command.
Even Skiploom was startled and immediately deactivated Grassy Terrain. The previously stimulated flowers remained vivid, but their growth returned to normal.
"Skiploom, what happened to you?!"
Suddenly, Haruki shouted in surprise and scooped up the utterly confused Skiploom.
"…Play fainted."
He whispered quickly and softly, then resumed his loud shouting.
"Skiploom! Your body's still not fully recovered! How could you forcibly use your vitality into these flowers? Do you want to die?!"
Skiploom blinked blankly, then shut its eyes with sudden understanding, pretending to look weak and drained.
Haruki continued yelling, so loudly that several of the Bug-type Pokémon instinctively backed away two steps.
As the intense stares gradually faded, Haruki swiftly recalled Skiploom into its Poké Ball.
"Everyone, do you know if there's a town or a wild Pokémon Center nearby? My partner needs urgent treatment!"
The Bug-type Pokémon looked at each other in confusion, clearly not understanding the situation.
Then, the Burmy that had screamed earlier suddenly stepped forward and pointed in the direction of the flower field.
Haruki's lips twitched. 'How am I supposed to go that way?'
"Could anyone take us there?"
Haruki quickly took the initiative and asked deliberately.
That did it.
Bug-type Pokémon scattered in all directions, unwilling to even glance at Haruki again.
Burmy hesitated a bit, but then looked at its tiny arms and legs...
Oh, right. It hadn't grown arms or legs yet.
Burmy shook its head and followed its companions away, helpless.
Only after all the Bug-type Pokémon resumed their indifference did Haruki finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The Bug-types here wouldn't tolerate any outsider harming even a single flower.
No, perhaps even they themselves were only allowed to collect nectar, not destroy the blossoms.
And when it came to an enemy that damaged flowers, all Bug-types would unite without regard to species. No matter how strong Haruki was, there was no way he could win against every single Pokémon in the flower field.
Maybe that's what allowed this sea of flowers to exist in the first place. But it also completely blocked Haruki's way forward.
Once out of the forest, all he could see was endless flowers. Detouring around it would be nearly impossible.
Besides, Floaroma Town itself was situated right within the flower field, any detour would bypass the town entirely.
But he had already spent too much time back at Ravaged Path, and his supplies were depleted.A detour would mean he wouldn't have enough provisions either.
What now?
Just then, a plump little Starly suddenly flew into the field, expertly snatching up a fat Wurmple and flying off without damaging a single flower.
The surrounding Bug-types scattered in shock but, after realizing what had happened, not one gave chase to save their "companion".
Watching this unfold, a thought crossed Haruki's mind.
Only the flowers were sacred.
Pokémon weren't.
As long as the flowers weren't harmed, no matter what method Haruki used to pass through, he wouldn't be mobbed.
'Then maybe… there really was one way.'
"Metang, there's a certain move we might need to start practicing."
"Meta?"
Metang blinked, confident it had already mastered every one of its moves.
"This move is... "carry me while flying"!"
"...Meta?"