Chapter 84: Maintaining World Peace

What does it truly mean to maintain world peace?

Producing food, ensuring that both people and Pokémon have enough to eat so that conflicts don't arise due to shortages—that is maintaining world peace.

Running a business, creating jobs for society, allowing people to earn a living and support their families so that they don't resort to crime and destruction to survive—that is maintaining world peace.

Conducting scientific research, improving the convenience of everyday life, and providing benefits to the public so that they can live better, happier lives—that is maintaining world peace.

But sometimes, staining one's hands with blood, eliminating parasites that incite chaos and endanger society, is also maintaining world peace.

So what does Hive mean when they talk about "maintaining world peace"?

"Well, our current mission is to expand our influence and dismantle or replace Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Galactic, and Team Flare," Flora stated seriously.

She didn't fully understand what these organizations were about, but from what Zeyan had told her, they all seemed quite powerful.

"..."

Ophelia simply nodded with a smile, choosing not to ask further questions.

Just from the way Hive recruited its members and its unusual psychic link, it was clear that this organization was anything but ordinary. But the idea of dismantling or replacing such colossal entities? That was a fantasy.

She wasn't too familiar with Team Flare, but the other three groups held immense power, deeply entrenched in their respective regions. Even the Pokémon League itself had been unable to uproot them, let alone a small group like Hive.

And from what she had gathered, Hive had barely over a dozen members. Unless every single one of them was Champion-tier, how could they possibly take on such formidable organizations?

Glancing at the girl sipping her coffee absentmindedly, Ophelia quietly shook her head.

Her expression darkened as she resolved to investigate the truth behind all of this. Yet, she failed to realize that instead of questioning the absurdity of Hive's ambition, she had already begun considering how to make it happen...

...

It seems that Giovanni has obtained some truly invaluable intelligence through his position as the Viridian Gym Leader.

This is the advantage of having a legitimate public identity. No wonder someone of his peak-Elite Four strength would still be willing to take on the role of a Gym Leader.

Lucius could understand his reasoning. A Gym Leader's role differed from that of an Elite Four member. While the Elite Four were the League's true executives, responsible for handling major affairs, Gym Leaders primarily oversaw their local territories. For someone like Giovanni, who lived a double life, the latter was far more convenient.

Of course, it was thanks to Giovanni that Lucius now possessed such crucial information.

Heh. Team Rocket truly lived up to its reputation as a fearless criminal empire. While most would be paralyzed with fear in the face of such dire circumstances, their first instinct was to exploit the situation to their advantage.

However, it appeared that the League had already developed a method to detect the virus, and Kanto was to be the first region subjected to a thorough investigation.

Should I abandon Kanto for now and move to another region?

As Lucius left the conference room, he pondered this question. Based on the League's reports, the virus had originally been disguised as a drug that enhanced both human and Pokémon physical capabilities. It was first distributed worldwide by large enterprises before undergoing a sudden mutation upon interacting with another substance.

That process made sense; it aligned perfectly with the hypothesis Zeyan had proposed. But something felt off—after infection, both humans and Pokémon transformed into undead creatures devoid of heartbeat and body temperature, mindlessly craving flesh. That detail didn't quite add up.

Lucius was currently in his Queen Ant Form of the Progenitor Virus, but his inevitable evolution into Veronica was certain. And Veronica's infected subjects were still living beings, capable of retaining most of their intelligence. They weren't mindless zombies. Additionally, under the command of highly compatible infected hosts, how could this infection lead to mindless undead swarming across multiple regions?

This scenario sounded far more like the result of the Tyrant Virus...

Could it be that in the history of the future, the outbreak was caused by the Tyrant Virus instead?

A sudden epiphany struck Lucius.

Yes. The timeline had changed.

Because of those two powerful individuals from the future, history had been rewritten.

That day at the Cerulean Police Department, if they hadn't sealed the area with a barrier, more people would have escaped, reducing the casualties. Lucius himself wouldn't have reached Level 10 so quickly, unlocking his Queen Ant Form.

More likely, he would have chosen to evolve into the Tyrant Virus upon reaching Level 5.

Then he would have followed a similar path—establishing an organization, executing a grand scheme, and distributing diluted viral agents with mitigated side effects to infect the majority of the population. The full outbreak would have been delayed for several years before civilization was ultimately wiped out.

But this time, he had chosen to evolve into Veronica instead.

And because of that choice, the system had assigned him an entirely different mission.

In the future described by those time travelers, Team Galactic, Team Flare, and the others had not been eliminated early. In fact, remnants of these organizations had later joined the surviving human factions. That suggested that the system had not issued Lucius's current mission to the version of him that had evolved into the Tyrant Virus.

Lucius sat alone in Archer's office, deep in thought. This decision would define the path he would take moving forward.

Thinking about it now, why had the system specifically targeted these four organizations?

If the goal was to eliminate criminal organizations, Team Rocket, Team Skull, and Team Plasma should also be on the list. So why these four?

Lucius began analyzing the motives of these infamous organizations.

Team Rocket's goal: World domination. Classic villain ambition.

Team Magma's goal: Expanding landmass. A rather odd objective. Did Maxie think there wasn't enough space left on Earth?

Team Aqua's goal: Expanding the oceans. Similar to Team Magma, except the world was already mostly water. What, did Archie want to evolve into an amphibian?

Given how absurd these goals were, Lucius strongly suspected that Maxie and Archie had simply come up with these justifications as an excuse to commit crimes.

Team Galactic's goal: Creating a new universe. Cyrus was even more delusional than Maxie and Archie combined. Apparently, even the cosmos wasn't vast enough for his ego.

Team Plasma's goal: "Liberating" Pokémon—but in reality, they wanted to rule the world. They disguised themselves as an environmental and animal rights organization, but their core philosophy was classic villainy.

Team Flare was relatively subtle in comparison, but its leader Lysandre ultimately sought to activate the Ultimate Weapon, wiping out most lifeforms to create his ideal "beautiful world." No matter how noble he believed his intentions were, his actions made him the enemy of both humans and Pokémon alike.

Meanwhile, Team Skull? Just a bunch of street thugs. No comparison.

Lucius hadn't paid much attention before, but now it was clear. The four organizations the system wanted him to eliminate were all groups seeking to fundamentally alter the fate of humanity and the world itself.

-----

Want to read ahead of schedule? 

Join here for advance chapters: patreon.com / madbot635