Chapter 271: Eterna Forest
"So, your purpose in coming to Sinnoh is to collect the fragments of Arceus's Plates."
Professor Rowan walked to the dining area, made Ryan a cup of coffee, and handed it to him. Ryan took the coffee and took a sip. The rich aroma filled his mouth; the coffee tasted very pure, quite to his liking. Seeing Ryan's expression, Professor Rowan smiled and said, "If you like it, take some with you. This is coffee I grew myself, and I'm quite confident in its taste."
Ryan slowly savored the rich aroma of the coffee and smiled, "Then I'll gladly accept. However, collecting the Arceus Plate fragments is just a side thing; the main reason I'm here is to travel with Lillie. Before, I always rushed through my trips to challenge Gyms, never really enjoying the pleasure of travel. This time, I plan to take my time and enjoy it properly."
Professor Rowan glanced at Lillie, who was chatting happily with Cynthia, and smiled, "She's really found someone quite worthy of her trust."
Ryan shook his head, smiling silently. Didn't he also feel that being with Lillie was the greatest blessing of his life? Professor Rowan looked at Ryan, whose eyes revealed his affection, smiled, and reminisced about his own youth. After saying goodbye to Ryan, Professor Rowan went back to work.
Lillie and Cynthia walked in hand in hand. Cynthia said, "I've accepted Lillie as my little sister. Ryan, you can't bully Lillie anymore!"
Rolling his eyes, Ryan said irritably, "Do you need to tell me that? Alright, now we're going to continue our journey. Champion Cynthia, what are your plans?"
"What else could I be planning?" Cynthia stretched, revealing her elegant figure. "Champions are very busy. There's a lot of things waiting for me at the League. By the way, let me tell you something. Although Team Galactic has been suppressed, there's still a poaching organization operating in Sinnoh. Their leader is a woman named Hunter J. She's not very strong, but she's very cunning. She's escaped many times. If you see her, please help catch her."
Before Ryan could say anything, Cynthia sent out her Togekiss. After leaping onto Togekiss, it let out a melodious cry, its wings flapping powerfully, sending a gust of wind rushing towards them. Meanwhile, Togekiss, using the reaction force, soared straight into the sky, flying north at an extremely high speed.
A vein appeared on Ryan's forehead; Cynthia, who had been talking to herself, had given him a rather troublesome task. Seeing Ryan's expression, Lillie covered her mouth and laughed, "Fine, if we run into her, we'll just capture her. After all, she's my newly adopted sister, we should give her this much face."
Ryan's forehead veins throbbed as he pinched Lillie's cheek and pulled gently, "You're too biased towards her!"
Lillie's cheek was distorted by Ryan's pull. Seeing Lillie's expression, Ryan chuckled, then released her cheek, "We should still help, after all, I can't stand these poaching organizations. But we can try to see if we can recruit them. After all, they're a professional hunting group; if they can reform, they'll be a valuable force."
Rubbing her slightly sore cheek, Lillie huffed, "You opportunist."
Ignoring Lillie's complaints, Ryan took out a new tablet. This was a fragment sensing device specially made for him by Colress, capable of displaying maps and the specific coordinates of fragments—far more advanced than the previous device. Ryan turned on the tablet, displaying a radius of nearly a thousand miles centered on him.
After looking at the many lit spots, Ryan zoomed in on the map of the nearest lit spot and said, "The nearest Plate fragment is in Eterna Forest. Should we fly directly to Eterna City or walk there?"
"What's the point of just flying there? Let's walk there slowly. But wasn't the fragment-finding mission assigned to the elite team? Why are we going to find it ourselves?" Lillie said, somewhat puzzled.
Ryan shook his head and said, "Don't you think there's a certain fun in treasure hunting? Although we could easily ask the elite team to do it, what's the fun in finding it ourselves?"
Lillie couldn't argue with Ryan, so the two said goodbye to Professor Rowan and headed towards Eterna Forest.
Let's shift the scene to the Distortion World. The two Giratina finally met in this reversed world. Looking at the other Giratina in front of it, the original Giratina from the Distortion World was completely dumbfounded.
"Why? Why is there another me? Aren't I a unique being in this world?" Giratina said somewhat confusedly, its eyes filled with bewilderment as it looked at the being that looked exactly like itself.
Giratina is a large, gray, dragon-like Pokémon with gold half-rings around its back and black and red horizontal stripes on the front of its neck. In the Distortion World, Giratina remained in its Origin Forme. In this state, Giratina resembled a serpentine creature. Six ghostly, ribbon-like appendages floated on its back, their tips red. Its legs retracted into pointed shapes, and four additional golden spikes appeared near the tip of its tail.
"Don't think about anything else. I'm Giratina from another world. I was entrusted by Ryan to come and ask you what you're hiding in the Distortion World."
"Another me?" Giratina seemed to realize, then a hint of excitement appeared on its face. "Then, another me, how about joining forces with me to overthrow Arceus? That being drove us into the Distortion World, don't you resent it?"
"No," Giratina said indifferently. "On the contrary, I hate another being even more; it destroyed my original world. Compared to that, Arceus has been very merciful. After the world was destroyed, I considered many things.
Arceus banished us to the Distortion World because we didn't have the ability to properly control our own primal power, causing too much destruction. You must know, the essence of antimatter is not so easily mastered. In the Distortion World, we don't have to worry about harming others, and we can gradually master our own essence.
This is also the result of Arceus's consideration for us. Take my advice, put aside your so-called resentment. There are so many things better than this; don't let resentment blind you!"
Giratina fell silent. Only it could understand itself, even if that self was from another world. Giratina could still listen to its own words.
"Can you tell me what exactly happened?" Giratina said in a deep voice, its voice tinged with hesitation. But one could also hear the complex and conflicted feelings it was experiencing.
(End of Chapter)
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