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In the middle of the team formation, Li Xiang stared at the dense mass of Phantom Raticate, his expression strange.
He reached behind his back and silently stuffed something into his bag.
"The more we fight, the more there are! We can't keep tangling with these guys any longer. We need to find a way to shake them off!"
Lucario called out. In its Aura vision, even more Phantom Pokémon were rushing over from far away.
Layer upon layer. The sheer number couldn't be cleared out anytime soon.
"Let my Garchomp use Dig. There's a passage next door, right?"
The female Ranger said in a deep voice. The Garchomp in front of her quickly disengaged from the attacking formation, ran to the side, and started digging.
The remaining Pokémon continued to output heavily, buying time.
The tremors inside the cave were obvious.
"Damn it! Where did so many Phantoms come from!"
Tyranitar, spewing flames, was furious. If the location weren't so unsuitable, it would have wanted to use Earthquake.
Ninetales's expression wasn't good either. It was busy swinging its tails, sending out basin-sized fireballs.
When the fireballs hit the Phantom Raticate, they exploded with a bang like fireworks, taking out a large area in one blast.
But even so, it was still a drop in the bucket.
Mo Ye's Jellicent continuously sprayed numerous streams of water from above its head. When the water streams hit the Phantom Raticate, they pierced through them like bullets, dispersing them.
Time ticked by, second after second.
Li Xiang's action of stuffing things into his bag became increasingly obvious. He even switched out Aegislash and brought in Incineroar.
By the time Garchomp had dug a tunnel, the group fought while retreating.
Using Aura to scout the terrain and relying on the Phantoms being rigid enough in their methods of judging enemy movements—making it hard for them to lock on—they managed to misdirect them.
While opening a path ahead and destroying it behind them, the group successfully escaped through another cave, causing the pursuing Phantom Raticate to lose their target.
They finally had a moment to catch their breath.
One Ranger licked a finger to feel the airflow and found that the cave had an exit; the wind was blowing in from ahead.
This was undoubtedly good news.
However….
"To think there are still so many Phantom Pokémon inside..."
Zhong Hai's voice was filled with gravity.
While the Phantoms were attacking Mist Island, so many were still stationed inside.
How exactly were these things being created?
Questions swirled in everyone's minds.
"It seems we need to split into two groups."
Lucario looked at the group. "One group goes to stop the Phantom Pokémon from continuing to be produced. The other group goes to seek an audience with the Embodiment of Knowledge."
"They're not in the same place?"
A Ranger asked.
Lucario looked at him and said, "Yes. Although they are spawned by the Embodiment of Knowledge & Wisdom, they aren't created directly. They come from the Adamant Ore Jungle inside. We need to cut off the energy output there to stop the Phantom production."
"I see..."
Zhong Hai frowned slightly. "Wouldn't splitting into two teams be too dangerous?"
The number of Phantoms was too high; they also had limits. If they exhausted their stamina and type energy, they wouldn't be able to fight anymore.
"For one of the teams, having me as the main fighter is enough."
Mo Ye suddenly spoke. This Elite Four member's expression was calm, yet carried a strong sense of confidence.
The Rangers were momentarily stunned.
Tyranitar sneered coldly, thinking Mo Ye was too arrogant. Ninetales glanced deeply at him but said nothing.
Lucario hadn't expected Mo Ye to say that and seemed a bit at a loss.
"...I think it's feasible!"
Zhong Hai, as the team leader, took the initiative to speak. "We all know Director Mo's strength. Leading a team alone is absolutely no problem. He just needs guidance..."
He looked towards the three Sages.
Lucario looked at Tyranitar and Ninetales. After a moment's thought, it said, "Since that's the case.
The Adamant Ore Jungle is more dangerous. I suggest the main group goes there. The small team heads to the room where the Embodiment of Knowledge resides to figure out the situation. How should we assign the members?"
"I'll go with this... Director Mo to seek Wisdom and Knowledge." Ninetales stepped forward voluntarily, taking on the role of guide.
The problem with the Adamant Ore Jungle was too severe. Lucario, as an Aura user, had to go there first to resolve the Phantom issue.
No one understood the Adamant Ore Jungle better than it did.
"I have no objections." Tyranitar wouldn't oppose at a time like this.
The team division was complete.
Li Xiang still followed Mo Ye, but the small team only consisted of the two of them, plus the big fox.
There was a micro-camera on the helmet, capable of recording everything seen.
The temporary communicator was also unaffected; both sides could still communicate. Splitting into two teams didn't mean losing contact.
They walked for a while and reached a fork.
Wind was blowing from both sides, proving both passages had exits.
Coincidentally, the direction of one cave leaned towards the Adamant Ore Jungle.
The other wasn't strictly Uxie's dwelling, but it was relatively close.
The two sides temporarily parted ways there. They agreed that whichever side finished their task first would rush to help the other.
They went their separate ways.
Previously, Mo Ye had only released one Pokémon. This time, with only the two of them left, and to protect Li Xiang, he released three.
Jellicent, Kingdra, and Golisopod.
They formed a triangular formation.
Li Xiang still stood in the safe middle, with Aegislash pressed against his back, protecting his vulnerable head.
Greninja clung silently to the cave ceiling.
Ninetales walked at the very front, its two eyes glowing blue.
Although its psionic waves weren't as effective as Aura, they were sufficient for perceiving the surroundings. Not to mention Mo Ye's Kingdra was also there.
Li Xiang walked while thinking.
'Adamant Ore.'
'In the games, it is an item used to trade with others for furniture.'
'It appears in the Underground of the Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum versions. Its appearance resembles diamond, yet differs from diamond.'
'How could the Phantoms be related to it?'
Li Xiang could not figure it out at all, nor did he put much thought into this matter.
At this moment, his attention was more focused on his palm.
Over the past three-plus years, besides hard work, what had supported him to this point was, more critically, the Candy.
It was the Candy that gave Incineroar and the others the power to overcome level differences.
Li Xiang always kept this in mind.
During this period, he had also been continuously trying to obtain larger Candies to accelerate Incineroar and the others' growth rate. Unfortunately, after all this time, not to mention large Candies, he had not even gotten a medium one.
As time passed, Li Xiang stopped obsessing over obtaining larger Candies and planned to rely on quantity to pile them up for Incineroar and the others.
But, just now, he had obtained a new Candy. Very abruptly, when Aegislash personally took down a Phantom Raticate, it appeared in his palm.
One appeared for each one taken down. Yet it was not the expected medium or large Candy.
It was a type of gummy candy.
A candy with a texture similar to Wangzi QQ gummy candy, shaped like a pea, the kind of colored candy sold in bulk at the market that no one buys.
Combined with the experiences of the past couple of days, Li Xiang almost instinctively thought of the true identity of this candy.
Explorer's Gummis.
Still an item from the Explorer series. In the games, it has the effect of increasing fullness, intelligence, and ability values.
Leaving aside the first two, which are just game mechanics and negligible, the key lies in the latter.
Gummies differ from Candies. In the games, Gummies only increase four ability values: Attack, Special Attack, Defense, and Special Defense.
They have no effect on Speed or HP.
Li Xiang was not sure if the Gummies in his hand worked the same way. After all, from using Candies up to now, he could clearly sense that this thing was different from the Ability Candies in the game.
Gummies were probably different too.
Exactly how they differed would have to be tested back home.
The main point was, Li Xiang could obtain Gummies by defeating Phantom Pokémon. Why this happened... he did not know. He did not even know who was giving him the Candies.
Anyway, the Phantom Pokémon were now experience point piñatas, that much was absolutely certain.
Li Xiang touched the Gummies in his waist pouch, feeling an uncontrollable itch, wanting to farm Candies crazily like in the games.
Of course, he also knew that farming Candies in the games took time, and farming them here could easily get you killed.
The scale of Phantoms from earlier was nowhere near something he could match. Messing around would only get him killed. Besides, right now he was just a follower with no autonomy, only able to follow the big shots and fight a few small fry.
The current situation also did not allow him to do anything unnecessary.
Something worth noting was, according to Lucario, the Phantoms themselves did not emit black aura, proving the black aura was the reason affecting them.
So, were the Gummies obtained from defeating the Phantoms, or were they generated because of that black aura?
There was no way to know.
Without a reference point, everything was just inference.
Led by Ninetales, the two-person team headed towards the cave exit.
Fortunately, they did not encounter too many Phantoms along the way.
The occasional ones they met were just three or four stragglers blocking the path ahead.
Li Xiang took the initiative to ask to take them down.
Mo Ye had no objection. Ninetales initially thought Li Xiang was wasting time, but after witnessing Greninja's precise and elegant assassination techniques, it fell silent.
One Gummy after another was banked.
Before long, the cave mouth was already in sight. But strangely, a thin light filtered through. Li Xiang guessed that dark clouds must also be covering the sky over Mirage Island.
Otherwise, the brightness outside would have blinded their eyes, which had adapted to the darkness.
After confirming there were no Phantoms near the cave mouth, they emerged.
They immediately saw the thick, pitch-black clouds above and the shallow, ubiquitous mist.
Just as Li Xiang had thought, this place was also affected.
They arrived under a large tree for a short rest.
The surrounding scenery was not much different from the main island below: an eternally lush primeval forest.
But according to Slowking, no Pokémon lived on Mirage Island; the sole resident was Uxie.
On the horizon, the pillars of fire, thunderclouds, and the solar orb remained extremely conspicuous, indicating that the Ho-Oh Guard and that Sun God were still hard at work.
Li Xiang looked around and spotted a strange mountain behind them.
This mountain's shape resembled a trophy, with a cup-like main body and an arched base.
It made one wonder if it might topple over someday.
On the mountain, countless waterfalls cascaded down, splashing noisily into the shallows below.
"That is the place."
Ninetales jerked its chin towards Trophy Mountain. "Wisdom and Knowledge live up there."
'Good grief, a Champion's Cup.'
Legendaries really were something else, even their dwellings were this peculiar.
Li Xiang took off his mask and inhaled some fresh oxygen.
With the destination confirmed, they set off. To avoid attracting the Phantoms' attention, they chose not to fly, but instead moved through the smoke jointly emitted by Ninetales and Kingdra.
This stuff could blend with the surrounding mist, enhancing its deceptive quality.
Unless the Phantoms' flying units had exceptionally good eyesight, the chances of them being spotted were slim.