AoR33

***But We Can Call It Paradise*** is the thirty-third chapter of *The Angel of Reckoning*. It focuses on the revelations of Polaris's goals and the truth of the Azrael Project, and the immediate fallout of these events.

## Plot summary

In Viridian City, Silver - who has become the Viridian Gym Leader in the time since *The Weight of the World (Part 2)* - is approached by Proton, who was sent by Giovanni to bring Silver in. Meanwhile, Trevor Hastings collects Looker, Mitsumi Crowe and Silva Shaw from the Celadon City Pokémon Center, as per their previous agreement.

Matt, Nekou, Olivia, Anabel and Amanda travel down Route 45 toward New Bark Town, having decided to cross the border into Kanto for Olivia to obtain her last three badges. They are intercepted by Pierce, who has a similar summons from Giovanni for all of them. He refuses to disclose the subject of the meeting beyond it regarding the intelligence stolen from the Adenosine Base.

Gabriella Bouchard visits the secret laboratory beneath Angel Tower, where she is revealed to be in possession of the long-lost Life Orb. She addresses it as the key to the "Laphicet Prophecy" and the Forbidden Beast consuming the world in Dark Matter.

Silver confronts Giovanni in his office at the Rocket Game Corner and Resort in Celadon City, demanding to know why he was summoned. Giovanni and Stacia reveal Ariana Lalume's death to him; his mother's fate, along with Giovanni's warnings about Polaris, convince Silver to stay despite his misgivings. Trevor arrives at the resort with Looker, Mitsumi and Silva shortly after.

A few hours later, Pierce arrives with Matt's group, and they are brought to rooms in the resort to prepare for their meeting with Giovanni. Nekou speaks to Matt, admitting her anguish over having to find out what Ariana gave her life to obtain. Matt assures her that he will not abandon her before her phone rings, informing them that the meeting is about to start.

With all their guests assembled in his office, Giovanni introduces them to Dr. Zager. Zager reveals that based on the data from the Adenosine Base, he has discovered that Polaris's plans have not been disrupted by Team Rocket's actions despite their beliefs to the contrary. Furthermore, they are anticipating the completion of the Laphicet Prophecy based on "the Oracle's visions;" this leads Matt to further speculate that Polaris has indeed somehow resurrected Saeko Oryo to serve as their guide.

At Silva and Amanda's request, Zager reveals that the Laphicet Prophecy is tied to Polaris's true purpose: to drive the world into despair and chaos in service of Dark Matter, which feeds on negative emotions. This is all so Dark Matter's creator deity, the Forbidden Beast, can come to Earth and consume it as part of its millenia-long quest to obtain the life-giving light of the Radiant One and evolve into a perfect lifeform; Polaris believes that by aiding the Forbidden Beast in accomplishing this, it will bring all life on Earth along into a paradise where life and death are irrelevant. In order for this to become possible, however, the Forbidden Beast first needs an avatar for its power on the planet it wishes to consume. The Laphicet Prophecy is the awakening of this avatar - Azrael, the Angel of Reckoning.

Puzzled, Matt questions how Zager can know all of this, to which the scientist replies that he was a member of Polaris long ago, who was charged with preparing Azrael's arrival. In a flashback to 1982, Zager - then a young student at the Pokémon Institute - is approached by Finansielle with an offer on behalf of Polaris to join their organization. With the promise of unlimited research funding and educational accreditation, Zager agreed to her proposal. He was thus tasked with the operation of a Polaris facility in Vermilion City, the Aball Clinic, as well as researching the Therion Virus, an extraterrestrial virus found at the site of a meteorite impact on Birth Island. Zager shows those in the meeting a video log from July 17, 1983, depicting himself and his aide Barbara leading a team to recover the meteorite from Birth Island. In another flashback from some time later, Zager and Barbara fill in Finansielle on the basic capabilities of the virus. She expresses a hope that the virus can one day be used to make humanity stronger and healthier, fulfilling the Aball Clinc's purpose.

Zager explains that in the ensuing years, he developed a genetic therapy dubbed "Triangle" using the Therion Virus. By 1986, Polaris commenced the Azrael Project, human trials making use of the Triangle therapy. Through a series of video files documenting the project, Zager chronicles his work for his audience, leading to the identification of a candidate among the test subjects for the second phase of the program, a woman named Chimere. Matt grows anxious upon seeing Chimere's appearance and behavior, but says nothing.

After several more clips, Zager reaches one he apologizes profusely before playing. Taking place on December 17, 1986, it depicts him meeting with Chimere regarding the third phase of the Azrael Project - an attempt to create a human host who has Triangle in their system from birth, thus making its effects permanent. Chimere agrees to take part in this phase and become the host's mother. With this development, Zager decides to have Barbara take a photograph to commemorate the project's progress, during which he states their full names, Gabriel Zager and Chimere Delphine Langley.

Zager's audience reacts with horror to this, realizing its implication. Nekou's attempts to rationalize it as a coincidence force Zager to explcitly confirm the truth - Chimere is Nekou's biological mother, and Nekou is Azrael, the product of their experiment, created by combining the DNA profile of an unnamed girl with the Therion Virus as well as Dark Matter. Alter-Nekou, now revealed to be Azrael, speaks up in Nekou's head, taunting her. Zager attempts to comfort her by revealing that he and Chimere wanted to raise her in peace, and even picked a name for her, Penelope Langley. This backfires and causes her identity crisis to worsen. When she asks where Chimere is now, Zager plays a clip in which he states that Chimere developed an unforeseen complication following the implantation procedure, and after the clip concludes, he says that Chimere died on October 9, 1987, when Nekou was born.

Nekou's previously erased memories return in full, and she experiences a series of flashbacks of her own. She recalls having knowledge programmed into her mind by a headset Zager created using his Beheeyem's lights, and then an experiment where she was injected with a large quantity of the Therion Virus, causing the dormant virus already in her cells to permanently activate; this is the source of her other abilities in the present. Eventually, Zager erased her memories with the headset and spirited her away from Polaris, leading to her awakening on the streets of Mahogany Town and encountering Team Rocket when she stole Rage Candy Bars to sustain herself.

Nekou has a violent emotional breakdown and flees from the office. Matt initially considers following her, but instead questions in disgust how Zager could do all of this. Giovanni answers, claiming that the Laphicet Prophecy is Azrael permanently taking over Nekou's body, and this event is tied to Polaris's planned attack on the Pokémon League, thus making it all of their issue to address. Silver and Mitsumi reject his proposed alliance but he requests they all stay at the resort and consider it further.

In her room, Nekou breaks down further, and is confronted by a hallucination of Azrael, who torments her with illusions of her friends and the Forbidden Beast until she falls into a catatonic state. Several hours later, the group sans Silver gathers to debate Giovanni's proposal. Looker, Silva and Amanda convince Mitsumi that if she wishes to destroy Team Rocket, Polaris must be beaten first or they will destroy the world, rendering everything else impossible. She decides to quickly gather eight Gym Badges to enter the Pokémon League herself. Marie, Nekou's Sneasel, suddenly enters the room and brings Matt, Amanda, Anabel and Olivia to Nekou's room, where they discover her catatonia. They tell her the different ways they value her friendship in an attempt to wake her up, to no avail.

Overnight, Zager and Professor Rosalie work on separate projects in a makeshift laboratory. Rosalie assures Zager that there is always time for redemption, and encourages him to continue working on his creation.

The next morning, Mitsumi battles Silver at Celadon's Trainer House. Dueling to a tie after two Pokémon, their match comes down to their third and final Pokémon each. Silver sends out his Weavile while Mitsumi decides to choose Type: Null, which surprises Silver as he does not recognize it. Using her rapport with the synthetic Pokémon to keep it focused, Mitsumi guides Type: Null to victory and wins the Earth Badge.

Back at the Game Corner, Rosalie gives Olivia and Anabel the result of her experiment, a medication to treat Olivia's seizures. Meanwhile, Ada tends to the still-comatose Nekou and recalls her past as a former system analyst working for Bill before joining Team Rocket. Later, Zager calls for the group, revealing that he created a Key Stone so Matt could use his Salamencite to Mega Evolve Sally, along with an Ampharosite for Olivia and Scizorite for Amanda, as well as Key Stones for both. He requests that Anabel, who already has a Key Stone and knows how to use Mega Evolution, help them practice using it.

Over the next several days, they train with the Key Stones as Zager requested. After each training session, Matt goes to eat in Nekou's room, and she eventually does wake up. She expresses a wish to be rid of Azrael but also to retain her Therion Virus-related abilities, as she considers those to be a part of her. Matt comforts her, but when she tries to eat some of the pizza he brought, she is unable to swallow it and vomits. Instinctively, she realizes that she is suddenly unable to use the abilities the Therion Virus usually gives her.

## Characters

* Matt Chiaki
* Nekou Lalume
* Olivia Mistbloom
* Anabel Mistbloom
* Amanda Chiaki
* Looker
* Mitsumi Crowe
* Silva Shaw
* Silver
* Gabriella Bouchard/Finansielle
* Dr. Zager
* Giovanni
* Stacia
* Proton
* Pierce
* Ada
* Trevor Hastings
* Professor Rosalie
* Ariana Lalume
* Chimere
* Azrael
* Barbara
* Polaris members
* Forbidden Beast

## Trivia

* This chapter takes its title from a lyric in the song "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran.
* This chapter's title is placed at the end instead of the beginning. It is the first chapter with this distinction.
* This chapter reveals the context of the scene depicting Chimere's death and Azrael's birth at the beginning of *The Day an Angel Fell to Earth*.
* The Laphicet Prophecy, Aball Clinic and Therion Virus all are named after elements from the 2016 video game *Tales of Berseria*.
* The device used to inject the Therion Virus into Nekou in one of the flashbacks is based on the test pilot's plugsuit seen in *Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance* and *Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon A Time*.
* The date of the Birth Island meteorite discovery, July 17, is a reference to the seventh Pokémon anime film, *Destiny Deoxys*, which was released in Japanese theaters on July 17, 2004.