Chapter 804: Meeting the God of Nightmares Again in a Dream
When Kazuya, who was already in a bad mood, returned to the original spot with the Plate and saw Scizor suffering from the corruption of shadow energy due to his injuries, his mood worsened even more.
Scizor, lacking any tact, saw Kazuya return and hurriedly rushed forward with a hint of pride: "Master! I defeated It!"
Upon hearing this and taking a glance at Kazuya's expression, the other five Pokémon inwardly cursed, realizing things had gone south.
Their intuition told them.
They were in for a severe scolding.
And that was indeed the case.
All six Pokémon were thoroughly reprimanded by Kazuya, and even Dragonite and Cofagrigus were no exception.
Thankfully, Scizor's combat power was genuinely impressive, and the other Pokémon had also covertly lent a hand; otherwise, a major disaster would have occurred.
However, for a period of time to come.
Scizor would inevitably have to endure the pain of shadow energy corruption.
During this time, their travel speed would have to slow down.
Kazuya had not forgotten his initial purpose for coming to the Sinnoh region—heading to Newmoon Island to learn of the other path to save the world.
Since Newmoon Island was located in the sea at the extreme northwest of the Sinnoh region.
It would take some time to get there.
They had two routes to choose from:
One was to traverse the Mt. Coronet range, which lay across the center and divided Sinnoh into east and west.
The other was to head north into the Alabaster Icelands, and then travel west through the snowfields.
If this were the League Era.
They would undoubtedly choose the latter route.
Because trekking over mountains was truly exhausting, and the Pokémon within the Mt. Coronet range were numerous and highly wild, making that route quite risky.
But in this dark and lightless New Magical Beast Era.
The environment of the Alabaster Icelands was simply too harsh, enough to freeze a person to death.
Even though there might not be many magical beasts there, entering it would definitely be an excruciating experience for them.
Therefore.
In the end, the seven Pokémon plunged headfirst into the Mt. Coronet range.
As for that group of survivors in Celestic Town.
They seemed to have noticed the arrival of Kazuya's group of Pokémon.
But since the other party showed no intention of initiating contact, they couldn't be bothered to interact either, and decisively left.
Time flew by.
Half a year passed.
Kazuya and his party temporarily left the Sinnoh mainland and once again boarded Samiya, heading towards the direction of Newmoon Island.
After half a year of paranoia.
Kazuya and his party discovered.
That the mastermind behind the scenes didn't seem to care about them, or perhaps couldn't predict their whereabouts.
Anyway, they hadn't encountered any ambushes or crises so far.
However.
Everyone didn't relax their vigilance because of this.
The moment they set foot on Newmoon Island, they still maintained an appropriate level of tension, carefully searching the surroundings to guard against an ambush.
Newmoon Island was an island covered in rocks.
So whether there was light in the sky or not had no impact on this place whatsoever.
Whether it was three hundred years ago or one hundred and fifty years ago.
The appearance of Newmoon Island hadn't changed at all.
"This is my first time coming to this island. In the past, the existence of Newmoon Island and Fullmoon Island wasn't unknown, but very few people would come."
Lucario looked around with an expression of novelty.
He was relatively relaxed right now.
Because in his Aura perception, there was absolutely nothing on this Newmoon Island; it was just a barren island without even a single magical beast.
"Because this is a restricted area controlled by the Pokémon League. Let alone humans, even Pokémon found it difficult to enter these two islands."
Mewtwo explained from the side.
He still held the "new year's" travel guidebook in His hand and gestured that the previous sentence came from it.
"Isn't that just telling everyone there are Legendary Pokémon here? Wasn't the Sinnoh League afraid that Darkrai and Cresselia would encounter danger?"
Dragonite looked at Kazuya in confusion.
She felt Kazuya should know what was going on.
Dragonite had always harbored a suspicion: had Kazuya truly only lived four lifetimes?
She guessed not.
It was just that.
She only knew about the Dragonite, Sceptile, Empoleon, and Darkrai lifetimes, these four.
Just like this Empoleon lifetime.
If it weren't for meeting the connected Lucario and the knowledgeable Cofagrigus, even Scizor, Dragonite, and Skitty would have been kept in the dark by Kazuya.
Dragonite believed Kazuya definitely had another lifetime or several lifetimes that they didn't know about.
If that was truly the case.
Then many secrets in this world.
Might be nothing in Kazuya's eyes.
"If They don't take the initiative to show themselves, it's meaningless even if people come. Legendary Pokémon aren't that easy to meet."
Kazuya smiled and shook his head.
As the Pokémon ventured deeper step by step.
In the center of the island.
Within a completely dried-up lake.
Quietly stood a pitch-black, crescent-shaped stone.
The stone was very small.
About the size of a palm.
"Intuition tells me that the method to save the world that Darkrai found is within this stone."
Kazuya walked over and grasped the stone in his hand.
He could feel a special energy contained within it, which could be considered of the same origin as his own.
However, as to how to stimulate this energy.
Kazuya didn't have a clue in his heart.
"Then what do we do now?"
"...Let's stay here for a day first. Perhaps we'll know tonight."
Kazuya remained silent for a few seconds, then spoke up.
Thinking of the exclusive ability of the Darkrai species.
He felt...
He might have to find the answer in a dream.
The fact is.
Kazuya guessed right.
Late at night.
Kazuya fell into a deep sleep, and the edges of the stone in his arms bloomed with a faint crimson-black light.
The lighting up of that glow made the stone look like a lunar eclipse.
And within Kazuya's mental world.
The figure of a Darkrai also appeared before him.
The Darkrai opposite him stood there, gazing at Kazuya for a long time, staring until he felt his hair stand on end, before finally speaking: "Celebi once peered into the future through the power of a Time Ripple. It told me that the key to saving this world will descend seventy years from now."
"It also said that it was a child It had taken care of for a while. Seventy years later, he will be born as a Darkrai, and he will personally put an end to the darkness through the means I leave behind. But as to what exact means, Celebi didn't know either. It said only the future me would know."
"What means could I possibly have? What special abilities can a Darkrai possess? Why can't we just end the darkness right now, why must we wait until seventy years later?"
"That was my thought at the time."
Kazuya looked at this familiar Darkrai, moving his feet slightly, circling around Him.
Finally confirming.
This Darkrai.
Was something akin to a projection left in the dream.
Not actually conversing with him right now.
No matter what Kazuya said, he couldn't communicate normally with this Darkrai; he could only listen one-sidedly.
This Darkrai also wasn't like Lugia and Mew, waiting for Kazuya's arrival.
He was simply waiting for the Darkrai that Celebi spoke of.
This was understandable too.
After all...
Although Darkrai knew the name "Kazuya."
But in reality, He had only seen Kazuya in his fourth life, and that was just a passing encounter with no other interaction, much less witnessing Kazuya's abilities.
To make Darkrai believe Kazuya could save the world was truly an impossible task.
If it were Meowscarada, it might be possible.
After all, Meowscarada and Darkrai were once friends, but she had been missing for over two hundred years.
This Darkrai, however.
His words were truly astonishing.
"That Celebi is probably the one who left me the Time Ripple and the Miracle Seed back then."
Kazuya rubbed his chin and muttered.
As for.
Darkrai's somewhat self-deprecating tone.
He could understand.
After all, a Pokémon like Darkrai wasn't a particularly powerful god of battle.
Currently speaking.
They leaned more towards crowd control.
The Darkrai in the dream continued speaking. He placed His hands behind His back and looked up at the moon in the dream: "Those things I just mentioned happened 20 years ago. At that time, I was stubborn, believing that with the combined strength of so many of us gods, it would be enough to save the world."
"But facts proved..."
"It is precisely because of us 'gods' that this world stepped into an impasse. We truly do not have the power to end the darkness and defeat 'Shadow'."
"But fortunately, during these 20 years of fighting against the darkness, I also found the 'means' Celebi spoke of back then."
"A world-saving folk remedy that only us Darkrais can use. It's just a pity that I discovered it too late, and I also couldn't find the crucial item. Therefore, the last hope falls on you."
Darkrai spoke another paragraph.
Making Kazuya understand.
When He left this stone, it was already the final stage of the Great Darkness, which was about the time when the whole world had almost completely fallen.
And...
[Shadow].
Kazuya caught onto this word that Darkrai heavily emphasized.
He originally thought it was just a noun used to describe the shadow energy of this world.
But judging from Darkrai's tone and the hatred hidden in His eyes, this [Shadow] referred to a specific person.
"Is this the guy who's been ambushing me? Isn't this the code name of the boss of Team Shadow? I remember..."
Kazuya lowered his head, carefully recalling the past.
[Shadow].
This was an inherited title.
The organization that created Shadow Lugia, Team Shadow, was formerly known as Team Snagem. Shadow was the name taken by the boss of Team Snagem at that time.
Only by becoming the boss of Team Shadow could one inherit the name Shadow.
And the original Shadow.
His public identity was the mayor of Phenac City, the central city of the Orre region, Evice. His actual true name was Nascour.
This story originates from the Pokémon Colosseum game.
According to what Kazuya learned later.
This story took place around League Calendar Year 30, a period when the Pokémon League wasn't particularly mature yet, which was why Nascour could find the opportunity to throw his weight around and dominate the Orre region single-handedly.
But a former member of Team Snagem named Wes wiped out Team Snagem at the time.
About five years later.
Team Snagem revived again, renamed themselves Team Shadow, and a new Shadow was born, who also created Shadow Lugia.
That was the story of another game version, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.
And also the events Kazuya and the others experienced at the time.
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