However, what Professor Sada said made Lucas breathe a sigh of relief.
Since the Great Crater of Paldea project was still in its early stages, that meant the time machine hadn't been built yet—meaning everything might still be changed.
The main plot of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is almost completely free of deep hatred or tragedy, filled with an ideal world feel.
Only the eventual passing of Professors Sada/Turo and Arven's loss of both parents could be called real regrets.
Maybe… in the future, he could change something.
When Professor Sada started talking about Area Zero, she revealed a chatterbox talent at least on par with, if not higher than, Arven's.
Maybe she also wanted to get Lucas interested in Area Zero.
Sada's endless stream of words was filled with technical terms, as smooth as pearls on a string.
Listening until his head spun, Lucas finally understood only one thing:
Arven's talkativeness was probably inherited from his mother.
What finally stopped Professor Sada's chanting wasn't a natural disaster or human trouble, but a sharp alarm from the pile of advanced research equipment behind her.
"Looks like it failed again." Sada sighed, stopping her torrent of words. Putting on gloves, she skillfully fished out a ruined special core with tweezers, looking frustrated.
Another failure in the spatial transmission endurance experiment.
Wild Pokémon in Area Zero are extremely strong. To set up a stable lab and observation stations deep inside, and come and go freely, they needed to base their tech on Poké Ball teleportation—then develop transporters between observation stations.
With teleporters, they wouldn't have to carry supplies through the dangerous, complex environment of Area Zero every time.
The calculations for the tech were done, but the core kept failing in tests and they couldn't figure out why.
If this continued, the Tera Project would be delayed—something Sada and Turo, fascinated by ancient/future Pokémon, didn't want.
Looking at the failed core, Lucas, curious to test the prompt system, asked in his mind:
"System, can you give a hint on this?"
[The blue solution in the second bottle to the left of the professor, and the pink one in the fourth bottle, can be mixed.]
Lucas looked where the system suggested—sure enough, there were two bottles. He suddenly said,
"Professor Sada, could you tell me about those two solutions to your left?"
"No problem." Although a bit puzzled, Sada picked up the two bottles, shaking them gently.
"They're a spatial solidifier and a psychic energy extract from Abra saliva."
"Spatial solidifier?"
"Put simply, it's to shrink and strengthen the boundaries of a space."
Lucas didn't really get the deeper science, but as Sada spoke, it seemed to inspire her with an idea. She called out to Lucas, then buried herself in research.
Maybe because she'd failed so many times, Sada's movements were very practiced. She took out some empty-core shells and began experimenting with her sudden inspiration.
Skipping the failures, Lucas waited for about an hour and a half. After several tries, Sada finally made two cores that glowed with a faint green light.
She installed them in the device on the floor. As the ring on the machine lit up, her face shone with excitement.
"It worked!"
Lucas, a modern-day transmigrator, never bothered trying to understand any of the Pokémon world's sci-fi tech—he considered it a pointless waste of brainpower.
But when Sada activated the device, he recognized what it was.
Wasn't this the same black tech from the game, that letting you teleport between research stations?
Sada tentatively placed an empty beaker onto the teleporter and, hand trembling, pressed a retro red button that looked ready to launch a nuke.
A faint humming, a flash of green light, and the beaker appeared four or five meters away on another teleporter.
Lucas was stunned. Was scientific invention really this easy?
It was absurd—whether it was the seemingly prophetic prompt system or Sada's sudden genius.
He felt completely crushed by their IQ.
Lucas thought, shocked, and asked the system:
"You're this OP?"
[Hehe!]
Lucas could tell from the way the letters shook that the system was very proud of itself.
Well, let it be proud. This overpowered but controllable prompt function would help the farm a lot in the future.
Lucas could think that far ahead.
After handing over the Tera Raw Gem to Sada, she seemed to think Lucas's reminder was what let her succeed with the teleporter.
Thanking him, she enthusiastically invited Lucas to switch careers and become a researcher, offering even better pay than Naranja Academy—the only catch being some possible overtime.
That possible and occasionally was incredibly suspicious. Lucas vaguely remembered that, after the professors devoted themselves to Area Zero, Arven became a literal latchkey kid.
He hardly saw his parents for years.
If that was how they treated their own, how overworked would their employees be?
No thanks!
Sada saw Lucas' determined refusal and could only give up, regretfully, then took several bags of suspicious, unlabeled seeds from a fridge and handed them over.
"I found these seeds by chance while studying ancient history. I'm not sure what they are, but they're full of energy—probably not ordinary plants."
Lucas looked one bag over carefully, but with his limited knowledge, couldn't tell what they were.
His future farm would need to grow crops for money. With unknown seeds, he wouldn't know what he was planting or if it would sell.
Lucas didn't have the highest IQ, but his EQ (emotional intelligence) wasn't bad.
Even if he doubted the use of these seeds, he still accepted them as a gesture from Sada, planning to stash them away until his farm was running smoothly—then plant them in some spare space.
After all, someone once said: "The more friends, the better."
As Lucas was leaving with the seeds, Sada suddenly called after him:
"Teacher Lucas, please look after Arven at Naranja Academy!"
Lucas' steps halted, his expression instantly turning weird. He suddenly felt a stomachache.
If Arven was going to be his student…
Wouldn't that mean he'd run into all the other protagonist kids and troublemakers too!?
Ugh. Please, not that!
He hadn't even started work yet and already wanted to quit.