Chapter 774: Actions Equivalent to Digging One's Own Grave
The battle concluded in a mere ten minutes.
These Pokémon, having grown up alongside Trainers, were like individuals who had lost both legs the moment they lacked a Trainer's commands—they couldn't even walk straight, let alone coordinate with each other in battle.
Their team battle capability had effectively dropped by half right on the spot.
The only one capable of maintaining formidable combat strength, relying on a century of battle experience—the Meganium—also suffered a significant drop in power. Because Silver fell asleep, she exited her Mega form and ultimately fell, unable to match Scizor.
"Weak."
Looking at the humans and Pokémon sprawled across the ground, Scizor offered a single, simple word of appraisal.
"We still shouldn't underestimate them. If they had known about Senior Dragonite joining us or Lord Kazuya's power, we might have faced a tough battle today."
Lucario stepped forward, clapping his hands together, though his eyes were closed.
He was using all his might to sense the surroundings.
To see if any magical beasts had been attracted by the commotion.
If even a single magical beast managed to sneak over and leave a wound on the fallen Pokémon, it would be a massive problem.
Not every Pokémon possessed resistance against shadow energy.
Even Champion-level Pokémon like them would need a considerable amount of time to recover if injured, let alone the Elite Four and Elite-level Pokémon lying all over the ground.
"Hmph, you underestimate Master too much."
Scizor snorted disdainfully.
In his view, even without Dragonite's intervention.
This group of people couldn't do anything to them.
At most, it would just take a few more minutes to deal with them.
"Kazuya, what do we do with them?"
Dragonite turned to look at Kazuya.
"...Let's just leave it at this, don't bother with them."
Kazuya glanced down at Silver, then shook his head.
Of course, he understood the principle of cutting weeds by the roots.
If they didn't deal with Team Rocket now, they would definitely come knocking again in the future.
But the current social context was different.
The number of humans and Pokémon was already low; the difficulty for humanity to save itself was immense.
And characters like Team Rocket, who were wholeheartedly dedicated to saving the world and willing to endure anything for it, were rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
If they wiped out this group.
Wouldn't the forces capable of resisting the darkness become even scarcer?
Internal conflict was one thing.
But facing external enemies, they still needed to unite first.
Just like if a Demon God were to attack Kazuya and Mewtwo right now, Team Rocket would definitely choose to help them fight the Demon God first.
Moreover.
One must know.
As Mewtwo had said earlier, Team Rocket's actions also included supporting shelters attacked by magical beasts, which had saved an unknown number of survivors.
Therefore.
Kazuya had no intention of killing this group of Team Rocket members.
The value of these people being alive was greater.
Kazuya wouldn't wipe them out just to have a slightly more peaceful life later on.
"Why does little Silver want to capture you? Does he know your identity?"
Dragonite bent down, staring at the red-haired man on the ground, a complex look in her eyes.
"No, his desire to capture me has nothing to do with me being the God of Wood. It's purely because of my identity and power as Darkrai."
Kazuya shook his head.
As for the matter of him being the "God of Wood"...
All the living creatures in the First World who knew about it were already gathered right here.
Perhaps some Pokémon might have guessed that "Kazuya" had reincarnated again, but they would never expect it to be this Darkrai.
In short.
Silver definitely didn't come for the God of Wood.
He glanced at Mewtwo.
Team Rocket's objective was actually quite easy to guess.
"They probably just want to clone another Darkrai, or use Darkrai's genes combined with the genes of other Legendary Pokémon to create a more powerful 'God'," Mewtwo said casually, leaning against the trunk of an Iron Thorn Tree nearby and waving a hand.
Sometimes He had to sigh; the things humans wanted to do were truly too easy to understand.
He could see through it even without mind reading.
"Tch, isn't this matter simple? I could just scrape off some keratin and give it to him. After all, this is beneficial to humans; I don't mind offering a little support. Is fighting really necessary?"
Kazuya scratched his head, feeling a bit of a headache.
He glanced at the red substance around his neck.
That stuff should contain genes belonging to "Darkrai," which might allow Team Rocket to clone other Darkrais.
"Please absolutely do not do that, Lord Kazuya."
Lucario spoke up at this moment, stopping him with a stern expression.
"Oh?"
"Something similar... was done by someone over sixty years ago, and it resulted in rather terrible consequences. It caused the entire world to pay a heavy price and accelerated the downfall of the Pokémon League."
Lucario took a deep breath, a shadow falling over his eyes.
Beside him, Scizor and Dragonite frowned simultaneously.
Clearly.
They also remembered the event Lucario was talking about.
"Over sixty years ago, in order to combat the corrupted Demon Gods, the Aether Foundation decided to bring in some Pokémon possessing the power to fight them..."
"Their target was the Ultra Beasts. To attract a large number of Ultra Beasts, the Aether Foundation opened Ultra Wormholes."
"At first, the results were indeed good. But as the Ultra Beasts became corrupted by shadow energy, the forces of the magical beast faction rapidly expanded instead. The Aether Foundation's actions ended up laying the groundwork for the magical beasts, and humanity's side naturally suffered successive defeats."
Lucario briefly explained the events of the past.
And this was the reason he advised Kazuya against it.
In his view.
Team Rocket's current attempt to create Legendary Pokémon was no different from the Aether Foundation bringing in Ultra Beasts back then.
In the end, it would only bolster the strength of the magical beast faction, plunging this world deeper into a dark abyss.
It was nothing but digging their own graves.
"I see, then forget it. Let's go, continue heading west."
Kazuya nodded, very receptive to advice.
"Them..."
Dragonite pointed at the ground.
"Once I'm a bit further away, they'll wake up on their own."
Kazuya waved his hand, signaling her not to worry.
And so the group set off.
The western part of the Johto region was not a particularly familiar place to Kazuya; he had visited this area less frequently in the past.
Furthermore, Goldenrod City, the largest city in the Johto region, was located here.
Therefore, the upcoming leg of the journey was actually a bit dangerous; they had to try their best to avoid places where they might encounter trouble.
On this slowly advancing path.
The flow of time seemed to lose its texture all at once.
Sometimes they would suddenly forget how much time had passed while traveling this road.
In this imperceptible manner.
Half a year went by.
When Kazuya was born on Mt. Silver, it could at least be considered a mildly warm summer, but now it was a winter where the cold could practically freeze a person to death even during the day.
In the westernmost part of the Johto region.
There was a solitary island far away from the mainland.
On the island was a coastal city named "Cianwood City," which also marked the western border of the Johto region.
Further west.
Lay the ocean zone dividing the two regions.
Walking on the city streets, Dragonite exhaled a breath of warm air and couldn't help but sigh, "What a lonely city."
Cianwood City was not small in scale.
It could be considered a medium-sized city in the Johto region, and also a decent tourist destination.
But perhaps because the ocean lying between it and the mainland was filled with countless perilous whirlpools, this city had always carried a somewhat desolate atmosphere.
And in the current season, with snow flying year-round.
This was even more true.
"Even the number of magical beasts is fewer than in other cities."
Scizor's gaze swept over a street corner.
A Rattata was startled by his look and quickly pulled its head back, diving into a sewer.
It was probably because the magical beasts in this city had mostly finished slaughtering each other, and no new magical beasts were arriving on this isolated island.
So this Cianwood City had also begun to recover some vitality after utter destruction.
Now, normal creatures could survive in this city.
"If humanity plans to reclaim their land, Cianwood City would make a very good starting point!"
Lucario looked at the place with some excitement.
After all, this city represented hope.
If one day in the future the world regressed back to League Calendar Year 200, and all the numerous underground bases built by Team Rocket back then were refreshed and disappeared, humanity would have to come to the surface to fight for living space.
Cianwood City.
Would be an excellent choice.
This place would become the base camp for humanity's rise.
"..."
Kazuya smiled, noncommittal.
The future.
Who could say for sure?
Perhaps.
Fifty years later.
There would be no humans left in this world.
Or perhaps.
Fifty years later.
This world would have already been saved.
"Next, we have to cross the ocean, right? How do we get across?"
Mewtwo turned to look at Kazuya.
An ocean area separated the Hoenn region and the Johto region.
The distance of this ocean area wasn't particularly far.
Under normal circumstances.
Dragonite could just fly directly across with her abilities, which wouldn't take too much time, while the other Pokémon could temporarily stay inside Poké Balls.
However, the current weather was too harsh, and they had to consider the possibility of encountering magical beast attacks midway. Letting Dragonite fly across on her own was therefore not a particularly good option.
So.
How to cross this ocean area to reach the Hoenn region.
Was a small problem.
"There are definitely many boats in Cianwood City. We just need to find a larger-scale yacht; I know how to pilot those things."
Kazuya had already thought of a solution.
As early as three hundred years ago, Kazuya had learned how to pilot a yacht from Tom and Corphish.
Later on, while accompanying Lorelei, he inevitably had to deal with these maritime vehicles.
If the five of them rode the yacht together.
Even if they encountered a magical beast attack, they could easily handle it.
More importantly.
This method of travel was more relaxing.
"Leave this matter to me. I remember around League Calendar Year 240, they developed a type of yacht that could travel almost silently. I'll go look for one."
Lucario patted his chest, accepting this task.
As long as they could find that kind of yacht.
Even while sailing on the open sea, they wouldn't have to worry about being noticed by magical beasts lurking underwater.
"Ah, then I'll leave it to you."
Kazuya nodded gently.
Immediately after, he looked towards the west.
The easternmost point of the Hoenn region was...
Ever Grande City.
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