Back at Mount Cangqing, Gastly had willingly fused with the remnant energy Giratina left behind in the ancient ruins in order to grow stronger and find an opportunity to evolve.
In other words...
When it came to sensing ordinary Pokémon or ordinary energy, Gengar was far inferior to the Legendary Marshadow.
But when it came to Giratina's power...
Gengar could detect it before even Marshadow could.
Realizing this, Chen Mo's expression became incomparably serious.
The exit portal was still some distance away.
There was no chance of making a run for it.
More importantly...
The spatial tempest stirred up by Giratina's arrival had completely pinned them in place.
"It's coming!"
Marshadow leapt out from the Shadow World and appeared beside Chen Mo.
Holding Ho-Oh's Rainbow Wing tightly, it warned in a solemn voice.
Seven-colored light spread from the feather, forming a protective barrier around Chen Mo and his Pokémon, shielding them from the violent distortions of space and time.
Feeling the gentle warmth radiating from the Rainbow Wing...
Chen Mo wasn't surprised.
He had long suspected Marshadow carried one.
Under normal circumstances...
He probably would have sat down and teased Marshadow about secretly hiding Ho-Oh's feather all this time.
But now...
He couldn't spare even a second for that.
Because...
Giratina had arrived.
Beneath the mysterious realm woven from deep blue and violet...
A colossal phantom-like body slowly emerged from the darkness.
Jirachi, sleeping in Chen Mo's arms, seemed to sense something.
Rubbing its eyes...
It mumbled sleepily,
"Chen Mo..."
"I think I had a bad dream..."
Then...
It looked up.
Immediately...
It froze.
A pair of blood-red eyes...
Overflowing with terrifying pressure...
Were staring down at them.
Compared to that enormous shadow...
The radiance emitted by the Rainbow Wing looked pitifully small.
Jirachi's entire body trembled uncontrollably.
It was instinctive fear.
It couldn't move.
Not at all.
Just as panic overwhelmed it...
A warm familiar hand gently rested on its head.
Then...
Chen Mo raised his voice toward the ruler of the Distortion World.
"Giratina!"
"Are you really planning to fight us here?"
"This is Dialga and Palkia's domain!"
The Eye of Insight was useless against beings on the level of Legends.
But...
Chen Mo still noticed something unusual.
Perhaps Giratina's true body hadn't fully arrived.
Or perhaps it was concealing itself while intruding upon the domains of Time and Space.
Either way...
Its entire body was shrouded in black mist.
Only those crimson eyes remained visible.
And just as Chen Mo had said...
Time belonged to Dialga.
Space belonged to Palkia.
In Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life...
Giratina had repeatedly attacked Dialga in the human world to retaliate for the disasters Dialga and Palkia caused.
Notably...
Those attacks always occurred in the real world.
Because, like Giratina...
Dialga normally resided within its own dimension—the realm of Time itself.
Based on this...
Chen Mo had long suspected...
Even the ruler of the Distortion World couldn't freely enter the dimensions governed by Time and Space.
Whatever the truth...
He had absolutely no desire to clash head-on with Giratina.
He could clearly sense it.
Although Giratina's current condition seemed abnormal...
Its strength completely eclipsed the phantom that had appeared at Mount Cangqing.
In simple terms...
If Giratina chose to fight here...
Even with both Marshadow and Jirachi helping...
They wouldn't stand the slightest chance.
The only thing Chen Mo could do...
Was pray.
Pray that Giratina wouldn't dare provoke Dialga and Palkia by starting a battle here.
Suppressing the fear in his heart...
Chen Mo met those scarlet eyes directly.
Truthfully...
He was terrified.
In his mind...
Giratina was an extraordinarily vindictive Legendary.
Considering Chen Mo had foiled its plans back at Mount Cangqing...
There was every possibility that Giratina would ignore the risks...
And simply attack.
Chen Mo said nothing more.
A warning worked only once.
Repeating it might only provoke the Lord of the Distortion World.
Silence fell.
An eerie silence.
Giratina gave no reply.
It simply remained there...
As though calculating the consequences.
Only after a long time...
Did it finally move.
Its gaze slowly left Chen Mo.
It swept over...
Marshadow holding the Rainbow Wing...
The battle-ready Gengar...
The trembling Jirachi...
One after another.
Then...
Chen Mo saw something unexpected.
Giratina tilted its head slightly.
There was unmistakable confusion in those crimson eyes.
"...What's going on?"
Chen Mo was filled with questions.
Yet he didn't dare move.
Finally...
Giratina shifted its attention again.
This time...
It stopped on the Pikachu sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder.
At that instant...
Chen Mo sensed something change.
"Is it because Pikachu fused with Zekrom's Origin Power?"
He quietly tensed.
Yet...
As Pikachu stared back...
It experienced an indescribable feeling.
It was almost as though...
Giratina was verifying something.
After confirming...
That Pikachu truly was Pikachu...
The crimson eyes revealed an emotion of extraordinary complexity.
There was relief.
There was sorrow.
There was something else...
Impossible to describe.
"Pika..."
Pikachu tilted its own head in confusion.
It couldn't feel even the slightest hostility from Giratina.
Ignoring Pikachu's puzzled expression...
Giratina looked back toward Chen Mo.
Then...
A deep, hoarse voice echoed directly inside the minds of Chen Mo and all his Pokémon.
"Too weak..."
Chen Mo's heart shook.
There was no doubt.
That was Giratina's voice.
But...
What did it mean?
Before he could understand...
Giratina's enormous black wings slowly beat once.
"Pika! Pika!"
Sensing danger...
Pikachu cried out urgently.
Marshadow and Jirachi unleashed all of their power simultaneously...
Trying to stop Giratina.
But...
Just as Giratina had said...
They were...
Too weak.
They resisted only for a brief moment.
Then...
An endless storm swallowed them whole.
Chen Mo.
His Pokémon.
Everything.
The violent distortions of space and time gradually eroded Chen Mo's consciousness.
Through fading vision...
He saw the exit portal drawing closer.
At the same time...
Giratina's low, raspy voice echoed beside his ear.
"...It's still waiting for you..."
"...Don't forget..."
"...Save..."
Struggling...
Chen Mo turned toward the colossal shadow behind him.
He had countless questions.
But before he could ask...
The light portal engulfed him completely.
His consciousness sank into darkness.
"..."
Giratina silently watched the place where Chen Mo and his Pokémon had disappeared.
Only after a very long time...
Did it slowly turn away.
Just then...
It seemed to sense something.
Raising its head...
It looked upward.
The intertwined sea of blue and violet...
Suddenly separated under an unimaginable force.
Like oil and water...
The two colors split cleanly apart.
Giratina stood precisely at the boundary.
Within the violet half...
A point of light appeared.
A voice echoed from the void.
"You have done something unnecessary."
At almost the same moment...
A second point of light illuminated the blue half.
Another completely different voice followed.
"He doesn't remember you."
Giratina paused.
Without turning around...
It answered coldly,
"I will honor our agreement."
"The rest..."
"...is none of your concern."
The blue light spoke again.
"Was it worth it?"
Giratina stepped forward.
As tremendous energy flowed from its body...
The powers of Time and Space intertwined once more.
A passage opened before it.
Its massive figure gradually vanished inside.
Leaving behind only one calm sentence.
"There is no such thing as worth or not worth."
"I'm simply doing what I want to do."
Back in the Real World
After finishing a series of international conferences...
Professor Zhou had finally returned to the Huaxia Region.
Only to receive devastating news.
Chen Mo had disappeared.
Ever since entering the dimensional rift...
An entire week had passed...
Without any word from him.
Looking at his two disciples standing before him with lowered heads...
Professor Zhou was furious.
"Why didn't either of you tell me sooner?!"
"And what have you been doing all this time?!"
"Why didn't you stop Xiao Mo?!"
"Teacher..."
Zhou Yichuan lowered his head.
Sounding rather aggrieved.
"But..."
"Weren't you the one who said..."
"If Xiao Mo wanted to go out for a while..."
"We should just let him?"
"I..."
Professor Zhou nearly exploded.
"I said go out!"
"I didn't say let him walk straight into a dimensional rift!"
"But..."
"We couldn't stop him..."
Zhou Yichuan raised his head helplessly.
"You know what he's like."
"The moment the rift appeared..."
"He rushed straight inside."
"There wasn't even time to react."
"It all happened too suddenly..."
"You fool!"
Professor Zhou pointed at him angrily.
His chest rose and fell violently.
"Don't you understand yet?!"
"It wasn't sudden at all!"
"He was heading there from the very beginning!"
"...Huh?"
"Look at this route!"
Professor Zhou slapped the marked navigation map spread across the table.
"If he had really gone to sea just to introduce Pokémon..."
"He never would've insisted the ship sail in such a perfectly straight line."
"Even if you didn't notice that..."
"You could've contacted the ship!"
"A single inquiry would've revealed everything!"
"He had the captain follow one specific direction the entire time."
"The day before the incident..."
"He even instructed the crew to watch for islands and unusually large gatherings of different Pokémon species."
"With that many abnormalities..."
"How could you not realize something was wrong?!"
"Teacher..."
Hu Chengliang finally spoke.
"Please calm down."
"We actually suspected something."
"Right after revealing himself as the Hero of Ideals..."
"Choosing to leave under such unstable circumstances..."
"It did seem like he had something important he absolutely had to accomplish."
"But..."
"As we've discussed before..."
"Xiao Mo is someone with an incredibly firm will."
"When he decides to do something..."
"Even if we know..."
"We still can't stop him."
"Wasn't Mount Cangqing proof enough?"
Under Hu Chengliang's repeated persuasion...
Professor Zhou gradually calmed down.
It was true.
No one could stop someone whose determination had already been made.
Still...
He sighed inwardly.
Hu Chengliang continued.
"Teacher."
"You don't need to worry too much."
"I've already sent Bureau personnel to investigate the island."
"And..."
"This isn't Xiao Mo's first time entering a space-time rift."
"He has experience."
"He should be fine."
"...I hope so."
Professor Zhou rubbed his temples.
This latest Global Earth Conference had gone remarkably well.
After countless negotiations...
Huaxia had reached numerous agreements with other nations.
Everything was steadily moving in a positive direction.
The timing...
Was finally becoming right.
If possible...
Professor Zhou no longer wanted Chen Mo to continue risking his life.
He hoped Chen Mo could remain behind the scenes...
Leading humanity into the future.
Enjoying everything he had earned.
Unfortunately...
That didn't seem to be the path Chen Mo wanted.
Professor Zhou sighed once again.
At that moment...
Rapid knocking sounded outside the office.
Someone shouted through the door.
"Professor Zhou!"
"We've got news!"
"Teacher Chen's livestream has a signal again!"
The three people inside looked at one another.
The next instant...
Without hesitation...
Zhou Yichuan rushed to the computer...
And opened Chen Mo's livestream.
Soon...
As the screen flickered to life...
A familiar voice rang out.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"A whole week has passed in the real world?!"
On the screen...
It was the familiar figure.
Surrounded by Pikachu...
Gengar...
And Jirachi...
Chen Mo wore an expression of utter bewilderment.
Judging from his surroundings...
He was standing inside a cavern passage.
The cave walls and floor were embedded with glowing blue crystals.
Seeing this...
The three of them finally let out simultaneous sighs of relief.
The exact same thought arose in all of their hearts.
Thank goodness he's safe.
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