Chapter 66: Move It or LaRousse It

Yuna had time to mentally prepare herself, with Cyril and Gene working together to outfit several of them with special collars for the trek to Kalidron IV’s remains. Apparently they projected barriers that would “keep the harsh vacuum of Eternatus’ innards from ripping you guys apart.”

Naturally, that made the drakloak less inclined to go through with this. But Leo kept pacing on the floor of Cyril’s workshop and Yuna knew she had to support him.

Gene outfitted Leo, Yuna, Nikki, and Widget with collars as a start, telling them that they could check where the lustrous ore led to and report back. If things were too chaotic on the other side of the anomaly, then Gene could give them backup. To Yuna’s surprise though, Cyril joined them with a collar of his own, stating they should at least have someone around who dabbled in this kind of stuff. Just in case.

The shadowy mewtwo didn’t argue Cyril’s point. He wished them all well and opened a blue rift behind them while Cyril put the Morph-O-Tron back on Leo, disguising him as a fake dreepy. Things turned much darker before Yuna even finished flying through it.

She was used to floating everywhere, so not having solid ground to stand on didn’t bother her in the slightest. Widget quickly engaged his flight mode and caught a flailing Nikki before her momentum could send her drifting into a ball of razor sharp metal fragments.

And, really, that was all Yuna could appreciate. Chunks of metal, rock, and crystal drifted aimlessly around them. The latter gave everything a gray-purple tinge. The crystals were hardly bright, though.

In some respects, it was like she was back in a mystery dungeon. With distortion taking the form of planetary rubble.

“I feel like I went on a crash diet.” Nikki’s voice was muffled. Probably an effect of Cyril’s barrier.

“Well, yeah.” Cyril floated next to her and Widget. “No planet means little to no gravity. Which makes moving around a problem for you and me.”

“What do you mean?” Leo wondered. “I feel the same as ever.”

“I mean that, without something solid to push off or someone to pull us around, we’re not getting very far.” Cyril’s starry mane rippled. “Not that it matters. I see some lustrous ore pretty close by. Let’s go to it. One of you grab my hair and take me over with you.”

“I got it.” Widget’s thrusters hummed to life. He flew over Cyril and grabbed the zoroark’s puffy, blue-purple mane. Yuna and Leo flew after Widget and his passengers, heading toward planetary chunks that might have been the corner of a building at one point. There was a purple, moon-shaped crystal lodged in a scorched rock slab.

“Hey, uh…” Nikki rubbed the back of her head. “Can we really trust this lustrous ore stuff? What if it, like, phases us inside a wall or so deep underwater that we get crushed to death?!”

Yuna abruptly stopped. She… hadn’t considered that. “Oh, God, that’s totally a thing we have to worry about, isn’t it?” The drakloak looked at Cyril. “Why didn’t one of you brainiacs bring it up before?!”

“‘s not something you gotta worry about with lustrous ore, shiela.”

Yuna flinched from the X-transceiver. So, either Gene gave Jaeger one or he was borrowing somebody’s. Either way, she hardly found it reassuring. “Is this another ‘trust me’ thing?”

“Nah. Charged lustrous ore can only link two similar locations together.”

Widget clicked his tongue. “Well, by that logic, then this just links to another destroyed planet and we’re wasting our time!”

“Think a bit smaller, mate,” Jaeger said. “What’s the immediate area around the ore look like?”

“Uhh… some crispy slabs of wall, I guess.” Widget hovered closer. “Maybe this was the corner of a building at one point.”

“Then the corner of a building is what’ll await on the other side. Can’t give you anything beyond that, ‘m afraid. You’ll have to take the plunge for yourself.”

Yuna eyed the lustrous ore skeptically. Take the plunge, huh?

She saw the curious glint in Leo’s eyes. There was no stopping the fake dreepy, but she could at least make sure everyone was ready.

“Leo seems raring to see what happens.” Yuna sighed. “Is everyone good?”

Everyone else nodded. Yuna nodded at Leo. “Go ahead, then. Just be gentle with it, ok—”

The fake dreepy headbutted the lustrous ore. Ripples of warm light washed over Yuna and, within seconds, the dark debris filled disappeared.

There was a rush of purple light, followed by bright sunshine. Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and threw her arms over them.

“Sheesh!” Nikki groaned. “Talk about suddenly turning up the lights.”

“I like it,” Leo chirped. “Warm, happy sun. And so many big, happy, sun-eating panels!”

“What?” Yuna vigorously rubbed her eyes until she could open them without feeling like someone was holding her head over Noctum’s tail flame.

The bright sunlight made the vibrant city surrounding them crystal clear. They were, indeed, by the corner of a building. Large, tall, and mostly made of glass. Similar glass buildings sprouted from a ground full of moving walkways and strange, blue-purple panels that the sunlight glistened against. A lot of the buildings around them had similar panels. Especially taller ones. Yuna even spotted windmills in the distance, sitting facing rippling water. A herd of hoppip, skiploom, and jumpluff drifted around the nearest windmill.

“Whoa,” was all Yuna could manage. “This is… a lot bigger than the last place.” She blinked quickly. “Oh, right, yeah, what are these panels?”

“Solar panels.” Widget walked in front of the drakloak. He now looked like the pictures of the generic type: full units that Gene had shown her. “That and the windmills. Looks like this place runs off renewable energy.”

“That’s a pretty big body of water off in the distance.” Nikki walked next to Widget, stretching out her arms. “Another coastal city, then?”

[Hello, teleporting visitors!]

“Eep!” Yuna’s head sucked up her body at the unfamiliar, robotic voice. She had half a mind to dive into a nearby, rectangular bush, but remembered Leo was riding on her head. The drakloak collected herself and turned toward the voice.

She recognized the rotom’s grin, big eyes, and staticky aura. But its bulbous head and the tiny circles underneath it weren’t any form she had seen before.

“A rotom drone?” Nikki scratched her head. “Can we, uh, help you?”

[No, no. I am here to help you!] It lifted its circles up and down energetically. [I am Dronetom C-381 and it is my job to welcome visitors to LaRousse City, today’s land of tomorrow!]

C-381 drifted away and shot up tiny sparks like they were pieces of confetti. It projected letters overhead spelling out LAROUSSE CITY.

Leo nudged his head into Yuna’s view. “We don’t have to tip him, do we?” the fake dreepy whispered. “I don’t have money. And I don’t think our money is good here.”

[First things first.] C-381 stopped shooting off sparks and hovered back toward them. [It appears you can all talk! You must have studied under a truly great psychic.] The dronetom projected applause at them.

Even here, huh? Yuna did her best not to fidget. She figured a rotom would brush it off since it was a fellow a pokémon, but it was perfectly possible for most of the pokémon around to be ferals.

[Do you have a trainer?] C-381 asked. [I do not see—]

“Yo.”

If she hadn’t heard Cyril’s voice, Yuna would have meeped at the dark-skinned, blue-haired man wearing a blue and purple tie-dye sweater. The drakloak wondered if he had brought a spare Morph-O-Tron with him and not told the team.

[Ah, hello, Mr. Trainer!] C-381 wiggled its circles excitedly. [Welcome to LaRousse City! I do not see your face in our systems. Would you like me to print you a LaRousse Badge? It is your one-stop shop to accessing all of the fine amenities of our delightful city.]

“What’s it cost?” Cyril wondered, his hands firmly in the sweater pockets.

[It is complimentary!] C-381 generated more applause. [Ah, but you do have to pay to access our many attractions.]

Leo’s head shot up at the mention of attractions. “Oooh, like fun and games stuff?” He clapped his fake dreepy hands together.

[Fun! Games! Arts! Sciences! Battling! Contest Spectaculars!] The dronetom spun about, buzzing excitedly. [LaRousse City has it all! We are the capital of Hoenn for a reason!]

“Hoenn, huh?” Gene’s voice crackled through Yuna’s X-transceiver. “Sounds a lot more… centralized than what’s on our Earth. Hoenn was always pretty spread out. Encouraging trainers to make the most of the ‘land of too much water.'”

“That does sound like a lot.” Cyril scratched his chin. “I can take a badge for starters, yeah.”

[Excellent! I am happy to assist!] C-381 hovered closer to Cyril. [If I could just scan their balls for your badge.]

“Ah, yeah. Not gonna work.” Cyril pulled his right hand out of his sweater pocket, showing a card with some sort of stylus insignia on it.

Yuna squinted. Had Cyril prepared that for his human disguise?

“I can’t say I’ve heard of a Ranger Union before,” Reshiram said. “But that’s a pretty big risk to take. We don’t even know if those exist here!”

[Oh, a pokémon ranger. My apologies.] C-381 looked at the others. [Is this trip for business or pleasure?]

“Business, actually.” Cyril put the card away. “We’re trying to find space-time anomalies and we think one might be here.”

C-381 said nothing. When the dronetom back away, Yuna stiffened, worrying Cyril had gotten too forward with it.

However, its head started spinning around. [Checking… checking…]

Its head stopped revolving. [Bzzt. I am not seeing any reports of anything suspicious beyond littering and graffiti.] It hovered back toward Cyril and opened its mouth. A plastic square popped out. [Here is your badge.]

“Thanks.” Cyril took the square and put it in his pocket. “And nothing suspicious, huh? Got a question for you, then.”

[A question? Oh, yay!] The dronetom’s head resumed revolving. [I love questions!]

“Any of these attractions you mentioned do anything space-timey?” Cyril wondered. “Like a planetarium or a history museum or—”

C-381’s eyes lit up excitedly. [If it’s science you want, the LaRousse Learnatorium is the place for you!]

Yuna could see the interest drain from Nikki’s face like mead guzzled from a frothy mug.

[It gets rave reviews. Five stars in every travel guidebook around,] C-381 chirped, hovering around Cyril. [You won’t find a better science museum on the planet.]

“Who calls a science museum a ‘Learnatorium?'” Rayquaza scoffed. “That doth not even sound like a real word!”

“I think it’s catchy!” Reshiram said, the fluffy end of his turbine tail wagging in Yuna’s mind.

The dronetom stopped in front of Cyril’s illusory human face, expression growing stoic. [All-access day passes start at fifteen thousand yen. Card only. No refunds or blackout dates.]

Alarm briefly flashed across his face. “I see.” Cyril scratched his chin. “I don’t suppose there are any sweepstakes or giveaways going on for tickets, are there?”

Nikki and Widget exchanged incredulous looks.

[I do not see any listed.] C-381 bowed its small head apologetically. [Do you have any more questions?]

“Thaaaaat about covers it.” Cyril waved it off.

[Wonderful!] C-381’s head glowed and produced outlines of stars over its head. [Now, if you had to rate this experience on a scale of one to five, one being—]

“Five stars.” Cyril abruptly draped an arm over an uncomfortable-looking Widget. “Now, come on, team, we’ve got a city to explore!” he declared with a bit too much enthusiasm.

Yuna shot after the rest of the team. She didn’t even hear whatever farewell C-381 had for them.

“Seriously? A sweepstakes?” Nikki shook her head disapprovingly. “We don’t have time to go about entering giveaways! Or visiting tourist attractions, for that matter!”

“Thought it was best to keep playing along,” Cyril said, shrugging. He stepped onto a moving walkway with the others. Thinking quickly, Yuna flew onto Widget’s head crest so she wouldn’t have to keep hovering after them.

“What’s with the kooky getup, anyway?” Nikki flicked her hands between her face and torso. “You take one of your weird disguise thingies.”

“I think he’s doing it himself, actually,” Leo chirped.

Cyril rubbed the back of his head. “Something tells me you have to share the credit for that one, kiddo.”

Yuna tensed up. “R-Really?”

“Whatever he did to make me look all starry… gave me proper zoroark powers, I guess?” Cyril held up a finger, which shifted back to a yellow claw, then back to a dark-skinned finger. “If I think about it hard enough… poof. It happens.” Back to claw, then back to finger.

“Oooh. Wow, that’s cool!” Leo bounced up and down on Yuna’s head. “Maybe I’ll learn to do that and not need to wear the silly belt.”

“Wouldn’t count on it, kiddo.” Cyril chuckled. “Anyway, it’s best I stay like this for now.” He straightened up. “I do think that science museum is a good place to start if we’re hunting anomalies.”

“So, it’s a nerd scavenger hunt, then?” Nikki pinched her brow. “Grrreeeeeeat. Soooo glad I volunteered for this.”

“Aww, c’mon.” Yuna wanted to float to the toxtricity side, but realized she was still on Widget’s head. The drakloak noticed a glass-paned handrail that moved in time with the walkway. She floated up to Nikki and landed on it.

“It’s not so bad. Maybe there’ll, uh, be free food?”

Nikki stopped walking. She leaned against the handrail. “Free food? Tempting.”

Cyril quirked a fake purple eyebrow. “Weren’t you snacking on a whole bunch of fries earlier?”

“Yup. And I burned through that already.” The toxtricity stretched her arms above her head and cracked her knuckles. “Perks of being electric, I guess.”

“I feel like that’s not how calorimetry works.” Cyril chuckled.

“Oh, hey, look!” Leo stuck his arm in front of Yuna’s head. “Is that the science place up there? On the big screen?”

There were several big screens attached to the buildings at the upcoming crosswalk. Some people watched them while others moved past, stepping from one moving walkway to another. A few showed some seafood dishes with a nice looking golden sauce on them. But one had a man in a lab coat with a long, bright blue ponytail that matched his button-down shirt.

“Routine got you in a slump? In need of a little deep brain stimulation?” He squeezed his index fingers against his temples. “Or perhaps your pocket change is weighing you down a bit too much?” Bronze, silver, and gold coins trickled down behind him.

“Then the LaRousse Learnatorium is here to help!”

Rapid-fire footage flickered across the monitor, from a large rampardos skeleton to a small wind vortex seemingly supported by nothing at all, to a bunch of spinning wheels with water flowing through them and multiple lightbulbs turning on in succession.

The man reappeared, waving to the camera. “Hi, I’m Dr. Tory Lund, co-founder of the LaRousse Learnatorium, where we make science fun for the whole family!”

The advertisement shifted to multiple human kids and their parents gathered around a large gray table where someone in a lab coat was attaching various metal objects to magnemite and magneton. Some kids clapped while others tugged at their parents’ arms.

“Ugh. Barf.” Nikki put her hands on her hips. “Is it too late to go back to the blown up planet?”

Dr. Lund then proceeded down a pristine white hallway. “We offer a wide assortment of activities and exhibits from some of the greatest minds across the globe!”

He passed by a portrait of a man whose hair was suspiciously pyroarish. “From the beautiful works of Lysandre Labs in Lumiose City—”

Dr. Lund next passed a blonde-haired man with a bizarre ring of blue hair going around his head. Like the ring of a planet. “To the technological marvels of P2 Laboratories, like the helper silvally you see all around the city.”

Yuna nearly tumbled off Widget’s head when he suddenly turned. Grabbing the upper part of his head crest, she noticed two pokémon identical to Widget’s current form on the moving walkway behind the team. Each had an orange vest with “Licensed Service Silvally” embroidered on it, alongside a red X over a human hand. Probably an encouragement not to pet.

“Silvally?” Widget mumbled.

“Wait, what?!”

Cyril’s sudden gasp prompted Yuna to turn around. The advertisement showed two gigantic metal cylinders facing one another on opposite walls.

“And no trip to the Learnatorium is complete without seeing our most treasured exhibit,” Dr. Lund continued. “The Cozmo-Lund Large Hadron Collider!”

“Large Hadron?” Nikki snorted. “What, were small and medium hadrons not enough for the— ow!“

Cyril stepped on the toxtricity’s right foot. “It’s exactly like Kalidron IV’s supercollider.”

“Come and witness the marvels of dimensionality for yourselves!” Dr. Lund declared, as the advertisement swapped to the museum entrance: a large, glass wall with various metal sculptures lining the walkway toward it. “Visit the LaRousse Learnatorium today. Tickets can be purchased from any available LaRousse rotom drone.

“The LaRousse Learnatorium, where science becomes spectacular!”

“Guess now we really have to go there, huh?” Nikki said, rubbing the back of her head.

“I’ll say.” Cyril pressed his right hand against the side of his illusory head. “Yo, Boss Kitty. Did you hear any of that?”

“Hear any of what?” Gene responded.

“The other side of the rift has a supercollider of its own,” Cyril said. “We might still be able to do your plan.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Yuna switched her X-transceiver off and hovered back into the air. You guys are bothered by it too, right?

“What?” Reshiram replied.

That there’s a collider here. The drakloak recalled what Jaeger said about the lustrous ore and how it only linked similar-appearing environments. You don’t suppose the lustrous ore linked us here because of it, do you?

Reshiram hummed in thought. “I mean… maybe? But there was a rift before there was lustrous ore, right?”

“Verily!” Rayquaza chirped. “And the last rift doth linked a volcanic land with another volcanic land. Mayhaps the rift linked Kalidron to this place because of the similarity?”

Yuna squirmed uneasily. Last time, the core of the anomaly was right over the volcano. If she followed the Sages’ logic, then…

“Um, Cyril?” The drakloak floated over to him. “I’m worried this side of the anomaly might be the collider in the museum.”

“How so?” Nikki asked, to which Yuna relayed her brief conversation with the Sages. The toxtricity crossed her arms. “Yeah, I could see how that might be a problem. What’s the play, then?”

“Dispel the anomaly first, obviously,” Yuna said.

“But Mom, when we do that, we’ll get sent home right away,” Leo noted, floating off Yuna’s head and looking between her and Cyril. “So, we won’t get to use the collider thingy.”

“Maybe fixing the anomaly will fix Kalidron IV?” Cyril said, shrugging. “At the very least, Boss Kitty’s having a couple of your buddies get ready to bring us the Red Chain fragment. We’ll head back to our world through the lustrous ore, get the fragment, then come back here and scout out the museum. Sound like a plan?”

Information gathering, then. Yuna didn’t see a problem with that. And holding onto the fragment was probably the best idea, just in case they could get an opportunity to actually use the collider.

“Sounds reasonable.” The drakloak motioned for Leo to rejoin her and the fake dreepy hovered toward her. “The fragment might actually be able to help us find the anomaly.”

Cyril tilted his head and crossed his arms. “Huh. It did react to Sigurd’s fragment.”

“And we freed him from an anomaly,” Leo chirped. “It’s all connected!” He did jazz hands.

“Maybe.” Cyril tapped an illusory human finger against his arm. “We’ll want to keep it hidden, though. Can’t have people getting too suspicious, right?”

“I got my jacket pockets.” Nikki turned one inside out, revealing bits of string and lint that drifted toward the ground. “Whoops. Thought I’d cleaned that out.”

“Do you even wash that jacket?” Cyril wondered.

“And ruin the leather?” Nikki scoffed.

“It’s called a washcloth and air drying,” Cyril countered.

Nikki raised her right index finger, then froze with her mouth open. She lowered her hand. “Touché. Maybe I’ll think about it once we’re done nerding it up or whatever.”

Cyril pressed his right hand against his fake human ear. “They left already? Okay. We’ll double back and meet them—”

“We don’t have to do that,” Widget cut in. He pointed a foreleg ahead of him. The moving walkway heading north ended by a streetlight with a lustrous ore crystal embedded in the middle of it. People were stopping to take pictures of themselves in front of the crystal. Yuna vaguely recalled Jade mentioning something about “selfies.”

Still, as convenient as it looked, Yuna didn’t like it. “I’d rather double back.” She rubbed her right shoulder. “It’s kinda sitting out in the open? Everyone will see us strike it and disappear.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised that hasn’t happened to someone already.” Chuckling, Nikki shook her head. “Gotta figure a kid would try hitting it and get schlorped it.”

“Which would mean they’d appear in the vacuum of Eternatus’ innards… and pop like a fleshy balloon,” Reshiram grimly said.

Yuna winced. Why would you say that out loud?!

“Technically you’re the only one hearing i—”

Do I not count in this scenario?!

Reshiram flinched in the back of the drakloak’s mind. “Sorry.”

“Okay. Double back, then.” Widget shrugged. “I’m staying here, though.”

“What?” Yuna squinted. “What for?”

Widget looked over his shoulder. “I just… need to do something. But we’ve got X-transceivers, so I’ll catch up with you guys when I’m done.”

Yuna frowned. This was about the service silvally, wasn’t it? “You want to track down those pokémon that look like you.”

“Yes, I do.”

At least Widget wasn’t trying to hide it.

“It’s not dangerous or anything,” the type: full continued. “Can you really blame me? Fath—”

Widget flinched. “Th-the emperor… built me. For a specific reason that… I doubt is truly good.” He turned away from the others. “I need to talk to them.”

And he stepped onto the northbound moving walkway before anyone could offer a retort.

Cyril headed for the opposite walkway, shaking his head. “We’ll see him later, then. Or we’ll fix the anomaly and he’ll just get warped back with us. Right, kiddo?”

“Yep!” Leo tapped the top of Yuna’s rectangular head. “As long as Mr. Anomaly and I are on the same page.”

Chuckling, Yuna switched back on her X-transceiver, only to immediately recoil from Valkyrie’s harsh tone.

“What the hell’s taking you so long?! We’re under attack over here!”

In some ways, the planetary debris reminded Noctum of home. Dark skies. Little light. Weirdly shaped slabs of rock scattered about as far as the eye can see.

Of course, there was a lot more ground to stand on back home. And here, Noctum felt as light as a feather.

He turned to Valkyrie. “So, we give them this fossilized fragment, then head back to the outpost?”

“I guess so.” The garchomp stood atop some pile of melted metal slag, looking around for any signs of Team Bastion. “Sounds like they found another supercollider on the other side of the lustrous ore.”

Noctum blinked. He hadn’t heard the X-transceiver exchange when it happened. “That so? Huh.” The black charizard scratched his chin. “You don’t find that a bit too convenient? Like worryingly so?”

“I do.” Valkyrie didn’t budge from her spot. “But it sounded like they don’t plan on trying anything with it unless they’re sure it’s safe to do so.”

“That’s good.” Noctum put his hand on his chest. He knew Yuna wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, but it wouldn’t be like her to suggest something that reckless. Maybe Nikki suggested it and Yuna found a happy medium?

“Where are they?” Valkyrie growled. She tapped her right claw against the top of the slag pile. “It sounded like they were already on their way back here when Gene got us suited up.”

Noctum shrugged. “Who knows how long it takes this lustrous ore stuff to w—”

“INCOMING!”

Valkyrie leaped from the top of her slag pile, gliding toward Noctum. Seconds later, a large water torrent struck the slag pile. Yelping, Noctum flew away from the rubble.

“What the heck?” The black charizard looked in the direction of the attack. “That was the biggest Hydro Pump I’ve ever seen! Don’t tell me the empire’s here!”

As if to respond, a loud bell echoed in the distance, followed by a chorus of uproarious laughter. Another giant Hydro Pump shot toward Noctum. Fortunately, it was far enough away that Noctum could easily fly above it.

“What the hell’s taking you so long?!” Valkyrie snarled, drifting through open space toward a smaller chunk of floating debris. “We’re under attack over here!”

“Seriously?” The X-transceiver muffled Seifer’s nervous whinnies. “From who?”

Flying toward Valkyrie, Noctum squinted. Was he seeing… some sort of flying boat?

… Yes, it was! There were masts and black sails proudly emblazoned with white marowak skulls and crossbones. But also big mechanical thrusters and large metal cylinders on the deck that vaguely resembled the super scope lenses in Cyril’s pizza truck.

“Oh hon hon hon hon!”

Noctum frowned. Was that voice familiar?

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.” Valkyrie facepalmed. “Here? Now? I thought Gene had taken care of that idiot!”

A much smaller ship flew toward the two of them, only large enough to hold a single passenger. A single chatot passenger.

“Well, well.” Gilbert slowly extended his right wing. “It would seem fate has brought us togezzer again, Mademoiselle Chomp.”

“You’re that pirate guy!” Noctum realized, pointing accusingly at Gilbert. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Gilbert pointed to the fossilized fragment in the black charizard’s right hand. “Taking your treasure in ze name of mon capitaine!”

“That so?” Valkyrie spat tiny dragonfire embers in Gilbert’s direction. “Then fate must really like seeing you get your tailfeathers kicked in.”

Gilbert’s grin abruptly turned to a frown. His feathers fluffed up. “Rrrraaarrgh!” The chatot spun around. “Yoohoo! Pirate mateys? Attaque, s’il vous plaît!”

His ship zoomed off and, next thing Noctum knew, he was staring down the barrel of three incoming Hydro Pumps.

GL Exploration Log: LaRousse City, Hoenn (Dimension POV-2004)
Honestly? My head’s still spinning from this place. I’ll just let the brochure do the talking for me.

“This dazzling epicenter of the scientific world serves as the capital of the Hoenn region and home of the Pokémon League and Contest Spectacular Circuit Grand Festival! Both titles that were absolutely earned and totally, definitely not wrestled away from Evergrande and Lilycove Cities in political power plays fostered by the runaway tourism and viewership successes of the small island’s Battle Frontier. Despite the abundant recreational opportunities for pokémon-lovers the world over, LaRousse City has always stood at the precipice of scientific progress. For many years, it held the record for the longest overseas vehicle bridge, connecting it with Lilycove City for fast and easy commuting. Not ones to rest on their laurels, the city’s esteemed civil engineering teams went about building up city infrastructure with moving walkways and the automated Block Bot system. When Team Magma attempted to exploit a fatal security flaw in the Block Bots to wreak havoc on the city, those in charge retired the system in favor of a combination of porygon digital assistants and rotom-powered machinery.

Turning their attention outward, engineering teams used the Unova region’s Marine Tunnel as a blueprint to devise eastern Hoenn’s world-renowned Aquatic Subway, an undersea highway system connecting LaRousse City to Mossdeep, Evergrande, and Sootopolis. The success brought a wave of eager young minds to the city. The local university expanded into the LaRousse Institute of Technology (LRIT) we all know and love today.

Of course, ask anyone in the scientific community what drives them to visit LaRousse and the answer is simple: the Cozmo-Lund Large Hadron Collider, an inter-regional collaboration project headed by LRIT alumni Takao Cozmo, Ph.D. and Tory Lund, Ph.D., with the assistance of researchers from Alola’s Hokulani Space Center, Hoenn’s Aqua-Magma Geoplanetary Consortium, Kalos’ Lysandre Labs, Paldea’s Sada-Turo Research Institute, and Unova’s P2 Laboratory. The advances in particle physics brought on by the collider’s rigorous tests allowed us to permanently solve the issue of Ultra Wormholes, forever protecting our planet from the terrifying scourge of Ultra Beasts and wormhole-deploying threats like Team Rainbow Rocket.

With its primary purpose fulfilled, the LHC predominantly serves as a tourist attraction, stationed at the LaRousse Learnatorium Science Center. We’re told the kids love it, even though they have absolutely no idea what it is!”

Path of Valor Almanac
LaRousse City is the setting for Destiny Deoxys, which was originally released in Japan in 2004, hence the dimension number. One of the main movie-exclusive characters Ash befriends is a child named Tory Lund. It would seem that, in this universe, he’s all grown up and as work-obsessed as his dad was in the movie.