Chapter 291: God of the Ocean
Just three days later.
After a League meeting, Steven's proposal was immediately rejected.
Over the past hundred years, countless trainers and Pokémon had saved cities from natural and man-made disasters.
Some even contended with Legendary Pokémon.
None of those people or Pokémon were deified, and Will and Lorelei wouldn't be exceptions.
Moreover...
After learning about the appearance of Ho-Oh and Lugia, the Pokémon League decided not only to keep this secret but also to conceal some details when announcing the event to the public.
They would announce that Lorelei and her Empoleon saved Alto Mare.
They could even say Empoleon calmed Kyogre's anger.
But they couldn't mention that they knew Ho-Oh and Lugia.
Even the existence of Manaphy and the Eon Duo had to be downplayed as much as possible.
This was a form of protection.
In recent years...
Evil organizations in various regions were becoming increasingly active, planning big moves.
Being associated with Legendary Pokémon at a time like this...
Forget about whether it was prestigious or not.
When those evil organizations came knocking privately, or even targeted their families, they shouldn't come crying.
As for...
Deifying Empoleon.
Although promoting it worldwide and mobilizing all regional Leagues was impossible...
If the Hoenn League wanted to exert some effort secretly, that was fine.
As long as they adhered to the meeting's guidelines.
Thus...
The title "God of the Ocean" (or "Canghai Shen") gradually spread in the Hoenn region.
Even in Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, rumors could be heard.
The Hoenn League wasn't surprised.
Although the incident happened in their Alto Mare...
Lorelei was the Ice Elite Four of the Kanto region.
And Empoleon was a Sinnoh starter.
If these two regions just wanted to freeload without putting in effort, the Hoenn League would have words with them.
The public reaction to the title "God of the Ocean" was enthusiastic.
But most people just joined the fun and mentioned it casually; they didn't truly believe it.
One: The title wasn't officially recognized by the League; it was just a rumor that suddenly spread.
Two: The deeds of the God of the Ocean had nothing to do with most people, only the people of Alto Mare. So he would mostly be worshipped and revered by the people of Alto Mare and those who lived off that sea.
Three: The most important point.
The so-called "God of the Ocean" was just a Pokémon belonging to the Indigo League's Ice Elite Four.
He was too close to people.
Many people had even watched him grow up.
He lacked mystery and distance, making it hard for people to treat him like other "Legendary" beings.
Perhaps...
Only when the God of the Ocean died, the people who had seen him passed away, or he gradually disappeared from human sight, would he begin to take on a legendary color.
For all these reasons...
Although the title "God of the Ocean" had heat, its gold content and historical status definitely couldn't compare to the Leaf God.
However...
Will didn't care.
And Lorelei was quite satisfied with this result.
The title was spread moderately, half-true and half-false, with a time limit.
It satisfied her vanity without annoying her with endless trainer challenges disrupting her normal life.
Most importantly, this loud but insubstantial title wouldn't make Lorelei and Will targets for evil organizations or bring too much trouble.
At most...
For the next year or two, there would be more challengers.
But after two years...
When the hype around the God of the Ocean faded, Lorelei and Will could peacefully enter retirement.
After the Alto Mare incident ended.
Will and Lorelei returned to the Indigo League first.
They had one thing to do.
Resign and retire.
It was sudden, so the Indigo League naturally tried to keep her.
But Lorelei had promised Will.
Lorelei might not keep promises to others. But she always kept promises to Will.
So...
The news of the retirement of the first-generation Ice Elite Four, Lorelei, soon spread throughout the world.
Many people were puzzled.
Many people regretted it.
After all, Lorelei was still very young, only 28.
To put it bluntly...
Even if she wanted to sit in this position until she was 78, the Indigo League would support her.
And this event seemed to be just the beginning.
Because in the following month, two more things happened successively.
First.
The Ghost Elite Four, Agatha, retired.
Probably seeing Lorelei leave made Agatha feel emotional.
And the work of an Elite Four member was indeed tiring for an old woman like her, so she whimsically left the Indigo League.
Second.
The Flying Elite Four, Lance, finally became the Champion.
Two Elite Four members retired at once.
One was Lance's lifelong rival, Lorelei; the other was the veteran Agatha.
If he still couldn't win the championship, he might as well go home and farm.
The Indigo League's long-vacant Champion seat finally welcomed its owner.
However...
With this...
Of the first generation of the Indigo Elite Four, only the Fighting Elite Four, Bruno, remained.
It had only been ten years.
Ten years ago, the four first-generation Elite Four members were in high spirits.
But in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
Making many people feel like a long time had passed in a daze.
But this had nothing to do with Will and Lorelei.
Resignation brought relief.
They returned to Alto Mare, planning to vacation in the City of Water for a month or two before leaving.
Actually, Alto Mare alone couldn't keep Lorelei.
The real reason Lorelei stayed was the Eon Duo and Manaphy.
Thanks to Will.
Lorelei could meet and communicate with these three Legendary/Mythical Pokémon regularly.
In a secret garden in Alto Mare.
"Lorelei" threw herself into Will's arms, hugging him like an octopus.
"Latias, get down. Isn't it uncomfortable?"
Will reached out and pulled "Lorelei" off him.
Remember, parts of Empoleon's body were always hard and sharp. Even Will couldn't make those parts soft.
As for the "Lorelei" on Will...
It was Latias in disguise.
The real Lorelei was hugging Manaphy with a besotted look on her face. Relying on her status as Will's trainer, Manaphy didn't reject her, especially since Lorelei wore the Water Scale given by Caroline.
"Lias."
Latias blinked and refused to leave.
Not far away, Latios shook his head.
In his opinion...
He felt his little sister wanted to lay an egg.
Latios remembered that when he wandered invisible in human cities in the past, the state and mood he sensed from human women were very similar to what his little sister was showing now.
And soon after, those human women usually gave birth to babies.
Will sighed helplessly.
He could roughly feel Latias's pure and passionate heart.
But that was impossible.
Empoleon and Latias couldn't breed.
The main problem was with Latias.
Her Egg Group was "Undiscovered."
Pokémon in this Egg Group, theoretically in the games, cannot breed.
But that's the game.
From a realistic perspective...
This so-called "Undiscovered Group" was actually divided into two categories.
One category...
Was Legendaries and Mythicals like Latias.
It wasn't that they couldn't lay eggs, but that humans hadn't discovered or understood their breeding behavior and methods yet, so they were classified as such.
The classic example: Lugia.
Lugia had a family. In the original anime episode 220, a cute baby Lugia appeared.
The other category...
Was Pichu, Cleffa, Magby, Igglybuff, Togepi, Budew...
Pokémon that were clearly babies.
The reason they couldn't breed was simple: they weren't sexually mature yet.
Latias belonged to the former.
According to game theory, Empoleon couldn't breed with her.
As for reality...
Even if he could, Will wouldn't do it.
Although Latias's actual age was quite old, in Will's eyes, she was a naive little girl.
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
Besides.
He didn't know how.
Just then.
Latias suddenly remembered something and ran off.
A moment later.
She ran back holding a translucent blue gem.
"Lias."
Latias held the blue gem out to Will.
Not far away, Latios's eyes widened. He couldn't sit still anymore. He rushed over and smacked Latias on the head twice. Smack! Smack!
The poor little girl lay on the ground, teary-eyed.
She couldn't understand why her brother hit her.
Will pressed his lips together seeing her like this, then returned the blue gem to Latios.
He knew what he could take and what he couldn't.
This thing was the Soul Dew.
In the games, its effect was simple: it boosted the Special Attack and Special Defense of Latios and Latias by 50% (later changed to boosting Dragon and Psychic moves by 20%).
But in reality, its setting was powerful.
It contained near-infinite energy and had always been the guardian artifact of Alto Mare, protecting the city through various disasters. It was Alto Mare's last line of defense.
If the Soul Dew was placed in the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare (DMA), it could control the entire city, turning Alto Mare into a controllable fortress. Including sealing all roads, controlling water flow, and awakening the ancient Pokémon Aerodactyl and Kabutops.
At the same time, it had a characteristic similar to Ho-Oh's Rainbow Wing.
If the Soul Dew was used by an evil person, it would be corrupted by their dark heart and destroyed, triggering a tsunami strong enough to destroy Alto Mare.
However...
The Soul Dew was precious, yes.
But that wasn't why Latios hit his sister.
The reason lay in the origin of the Soul Dew.
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