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Mo Ye paid no attention to Ninetales whatsoever.
He wouldn't even spare it a glance, silently waiting for Uxie's explanation.
The look in Li Xiang's eyes as he regarded Ninetales became even more pitiful. After all, it was such a beautiful, large fox...
"Of course, you may."
Uxie patted Ninetales on the head, signaling it to be patient.
"However, please allow me to rest first."
Afterward, countless specks of green light rose from the jungle, merging into Uxie's body.
Was this... Giga Drain?
No, the forest was actively giving it nutrients, not the other way around!
Watching Uxie's injuries gradually heal, and its calm demeanor devoid of any energy fluctuations, Li Xiang keenly perceived this cause-and-effect relationship and was astonished by the scene before him.
'Could it be that the forest on Mirage Island, like the Ilex Forest, was alive?'
Li Xiang observed the surrounding plants, half-expecting some strange slime creature to appear.
The nature of the Pokémon world was different from his previous life.
It often possessed its own will.
Thus, special beings like the Children of Viridian Forest came into existence. The great tree in the movie "Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew" was also a living entity, reacting to intruders within its body like a human immune system.
The green light swirled around Uxie, and a small portion of it flowed into the bodies of the Ho-Oh Guard.
The fatigue and injuries of the four legendary beasts vanished in an incredibly short time.
The three legendary beasts regained their majestic bearing, standing alert around the Adamant Orb, likely worried about a counterattack from the black aura within.
Revitalized, Uxie let out a long breath.
"Thank you."
It bowed to the surrounding trees, which rustled in response to the wind.
During this time, the thick clouds in the sky showed signs of dispersing, and the rumbling from afar diminished, indicating a significant reduction in the number of phantoms.
'My candies!'
They were all getting taken out!
Li Xiang clenched his fist, feeling a bit unwilling but helpless, only hoping they would leave some for him.
"Sorry to keep you both waiting."
Uxie looked at the two of them and explained in detail the changes that had occurred on Mirage Island.
Actually, it wasn't a very complicated matter.
Mirage Island appears once every five years, and this time is calculated based on the flow of time within the island. Therefore, to the outside world, the island's reappearance after many years means that only five years have passed inside.
But just last month, in island time, the anomaly occurred. The Adamant Orb under Uxie's watch was corroded by the black aura.
This thing directly affected the altar beneath the Adamant Orb and the connected Adamant Ore Jungle.
The phantom Pokémon lost control, becoming aggressive. The forest was also affected, with large swaths of plants withering.
The island's environment became a complete mess. More importantly, the flow of time became unstable. It no longer flowed at a fixed rate as before; sometimes faster, sometimes slower.
The frequency of shifts increased. Dozens of changes in a single day became the norm.
Originally, Uxie could use the power of the Adamant Orb to manually control the frequency of time shifts and shut down the creation of phantom Pokémon.
But after the black aura's corrosion, the Adamant Orb was no longer under its control and went into a rampage.
Objectively speaking, it was as if the Adamant Orb had been hacked, forcibly locking out Uxie, the administrator.
As for the true master...
According to Uxie, the true owner of the Adamant Orb was sleeping in their own domain, in a deep slumber.
If the corrosion of the Adamant Orb were allowed to continue, it might awaken or provoke that being, potentially leading to unforeseeable consequences.
To avoid this situation, Uxie had to simultaneously suppress the black aura and deal with the phantoms.
However, due to some reason, the black aura seemed endless, generated from the void, countering Uxie's efforts.
More and more phantoms were also created. To the point where even Uxie couldn't stop it and had to focus entirely on suppressing the Adamant Orb itself, trying to eliminate it at the source to halt the phantom creation.
After that, Mirage Island emerged, and the phantoms surged out, attacking the Pokémon of Mist Island.
The Ho-Oh Guard seemed to have foreseen this and came to help Uxie eliminate this black aura.
Unfortunately, this thing was more stubborn than imagined, like a stubborn plaster.
It even knew how to lie dormant and hibernate.
For now, it had calmed down.
Some of the authority over the Adamant Orb had returned to Uxie's control, and the creation of phantoms had been forcibly stopped.
"But if this black aura cannot be removed, the phantoms will continue to be generated endlessly."
Uxie sighed helplessly. In the struggle for control, it had actually lost to this ignorant black aura.
Of course, the main reason was that the black aura could appear continuously from the void.
Li Xiang was slightly stunned. "Can't we just destroy the Adamant Ore Jungle?"
"No, that won't work. The Adamant Ore Jungle is not the source of the phantoms. They are designated exits, connected to the ley lines of Mirage Island. The ley lines act as a bridge, connecting to the Adamant Orb."
"The ley lines have already been corroded by the black aura. They can bypass the Adamant Ore Jungle and create phantoms anywhere. Even the phantoms themselves, upon contact with the ley lines, can split into identical copies."
Uxie shook its head.
'Ley lines? A setting similar to the one in the movie "Pokémon the Movie: Black—Victini and Reshiram and White—Victini and Zekrom"?'
No, that one was called Dragon Force.
In any case, the other team's mission would likely be in vain. Destroying the Adamant Ore Jungle would be useless.
Upon hearing Uxie's words, Ninetales panickedly told Uxie about Lucario and the others' plan.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Uxie was slightly taken aback, then the red gem on its forehead faintly glowed, and an intangible rhythm spread outward.
It seemed it was planning to use telepathy.
After listening to Uxie's explanation, Mo Ye fell into a brief period of contemplation.
Unlike Li Xiang, who came from another world, had played many Pokémon games, read extensive setting collections, and had movies and anime to fill in the gaps,
Mo Ye wasn't particularly knowledgeable about the secrets of Legendary Pokémon, let alone the myriad of things that had never happened and likely never would.
Many things required his own thought, unlike Li Xiang, who could directly arrive at an answer through comparison.
Li Xiang didn't disturb him. After letting him think for half a minute, Li Xiang asked Uxie the most important question.
"The source and cause of the black aura, as well as what it actually is. We hope you can tell us these two points."
Mo Ye could tell that Uxie was deliberately concealing information about the black aura, so he directly asked.
"Well, as for that..."
Uxie fell silent, perhaps hesitating whether to tell Mo Ye.
Although it enjoyed granting creatures knowledge and wisdom, it didn't just tell everyone everything. For some things, knowing them was of no benefit to humans.
It could easily breed greed and dire consequences.
But after carefully observing Li Xiang and Mo Ye, considering that these matters could no longer be concealed and that they might need to unite human strength in the future,
Uxie spoke: "I can only say that the black aura is a collective entity born from the negative emotions of Pokémon, an existence difficult to describe. It can take on a physical form, or it can be formless."
Dark Matter?
Li Xiang almost instinctively thought of this major antagonist from the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series.
Just as Uxie described, Dark Matter was born from the various negative emotions of Pokémon.
It would absorb the life energy of Pokémon, turn them to stone, and steal their souls.
In the games, it appeared on the Tree of Life, threatening its survival, causing the planet to lose vitality, slowing its orbit around the sun, and ultimately being destroyed by colliding with the sun.
Never mind the absurd physics; in short, it was enough to know that this thing was extremely dangerous.
"Negative emotions of Pokémon?" Mo Ye frowned.
If the source of the black aura was truly as Uxie described, then the situation was serious.
Just as he was about to press further, within the Adamant Orb, as if replenished, the black aura surged countless times in an instant, churning within.
"Oh no!"
Uxie's expression changed. It immediately stopped paying attention to the two, returned to the altar, and together with the Ho-Oh Guard, channeled energy to suppress the black aura.
Ninetales wanted to help but didn't know how, so it could only fret helplessly.
Mo Ye was in the same situation.
Through the brief conversation with Uxie, he realized that the black aura would definitely threaten humanity.
The mere fact that it was born from the negative emotions of Pokémon was enough to draw the attention of the Zhuxia Association... no, the entire Pokémon League.
Troubled times indeed.
He frowned. The issue of the otherworldly visitor was not yet resolved, and now this black aura appeared.
Disasters always plague everyone when least expected.
The two had no choice but to stand by. There was no room for their intervention at the altar.
With the four legendary beasts putting in effort, the black aura dissipated at a considerable rate. It would likely return to its depleted state soon.
Complete elimination shouldn't be too difficult.
But when the four legendary beasts exerted their full strength, the black aura within the Adamant Orb surged again, in an extremely anomalous manner!
Without even fully occupying the Adamant Orb, it directly spilled out, forming a black sphere that engulfed everything in all directions!
"Run! Get out of here quickly!"
Uxie exclaimed.
Mo Ye decisively recalled his Pokémon, grabbed hold of the Aegislash behind Li Xiang, and, mounted on Kingdra, fled backward.
A green membrane and an octagonal silver shield appeared on their bodies. However, Mo Ye's retreat was still slower than the expansion of the black aura.
It was like a bomb.
If you didn't take cover before the explosion, you wouldn't have time to react afterward.
In the blink of an eye, the black sphere eroded the entire summit of Trophy Mountain, stopping only at its boundaries.
Below, the second team, notified by Uxie and rushing towards Trophy Mountain, saw the black sphere and their expressions changed drastically.
It was obvious something major had happened up there.
Unable to contain his anxiety, Lucario pulled Tyranitar and flew towards it, with Zhong Hai and the others closely following.
At the horizon, a radiant sun passed them at even greater speed, plunging without hesitation directly into the black sphere.
"That is..."
As Zhong Hai was stunned, the black sphere at the summit of Trophy Mountain had already vanished.
They reached the summit.
There, they saw the heavily injured Ninetales and Uxie, along with a completely transparent crystal placed on the altar.
But Li Xiang, Mo Ye, the Ho-Oh Guard, and that sun were nowhere to be seen. The black aura was also completely gone.
Uxie's face was full of shock.
"Could it be... they were taken there? Why?"
It looked up at the sky.
"You—"
Zhong Hai's face turned pale. He spun around and shouted, "Hurry and request reinforcements!!"