Chapter 165. Di-Ash-ga
Pikachu leaned against the statue's arms, and a tear slid down.
The tear soaked straight into the statue's body, and a faint light spread.
"Pika pika!"
It pounded Ash's chest, staggered to its feet, and tried to fire off electricity again.
Suddenly, it froze.
Crystals across the sky converged toward Ash.
The crystals were clear and pure, shaped like teardrops.
No, they were teardrops.
From humans and from Pokémon—every single tear.
Each drop that fell onto Ash seeped in strangely, then lit with a faint glow, as if a butterfly were breaking from its cocoon.
Inside the mindscape, Natsume let out a breath.
Phew—
He held fast at Ash's head—not only because the link to Ash's mind was there, but for another important reason.
He needed to take the chance to transmit intense emotion.
Natsume hadn't forgotten.
In the original, Ash was awakened by tears.
Even if the more he thought about it the less scientific it seemed, it was the only way left.
He would treat a dead horse like a live one—try anything.
"Natsume, what's this?"
Still dazed, Natsume heard Ash's voice from behind.
He turned around woozily, and when he saw what was in Ash's hands, he shook his head hard and stared straight at it.
It was a stone slab—the very one from his system's inventory.
"Why is it with you?"
Startled, Natsume checked and found the slab truly gone.
"I don't know—it suddenly appeared in my hand."
"Natsume, I feel like this slab is drawing something out of my body..."
In a haze, Natsume noticed the slab seemed to be changing.
Looking closely, the reliefs of grasslands and Pokémon populations that had once covered it were rapidly receding.
The complex strokes diminished, until only a starkly simple outline remained—a recessed human-shaped silhouette.
Even less scientific!
Ding! Unrecorded Divine Authority discovered: Humans and Bonds.
Great—now it was scientific.
Outside, countless crystal tears fell into stone Ash's body, and the archaic gray was dyed crystal.
Pikachu pressed its face to Ash's chest in delight—thump-thump.
Behind them, center-parted stood on a little mound.
On top of the mound sat Ash's cap, and over the cap was center-parted's little blanket.
"Pika!"
Center-parted put its hands on its hips, proud.
See, it knew there was a trick to it!
"What... is that?"
Jessie and James stepped forward, staring blankly as their own tears turned to crystals and drifted toward Ash.
"Why... why do I, Meowth, suddenly find that glowing twerp so easy on the eyes, meow?"
Meowth tilted his head in confusion.
"That is proof of humanity's existence."
Mewtwo gave Ash a complicated look.
It had lost.
From this moment, humanity's existence in the world had absolute proof.
As the crystalline tears poured in, every trace of stone on Ash's surface vanished.
At last, he stood up like a little golden man aglow.
On his system panel, Natsume could clearly see Ash's physical attributes climbing exponentially.
"At this rate... Mewtwo's really in for it if it doesn't put up a barrier."
Natsume twitched at the terrifying stats.
It had jumped nearly tenfold!
Even his intellect—huh?
Natsume paused; he found Ash's intelligence metric now even farther from his own.
What was going on?
Did possessing an Authority inevitably cost something?
Soon, Natsume realized the issue wasn't with Ash at all—it was with himself!
Outside, the golden light on Ash's body faded, ultimately forming a human-shaped golden crystal that sank into him and vanished.
In the mindscape, Ash stood there dazed, clutching the slab.
He had no idea what to do now, but Natsume told him to hold the slab tight.
Whoosh—
The golden human-shaped crystal dropped into the slab, perfectly slotting into that human-shaped recess.
The entire mindscape blazed, and the psychic power Natsume had saturated through Ash surged back into him, gleaming gold.
This—!
The instant the golden psychic power returned to his body, Natsume felt utterly unburdened.
Even the stabbing pain in his brain and eyes was swept clean; like a newborn opening his eyes for the first time, Natsume felt wonderful.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a laboratory.
"Huh?"
Natsume blinked.
What was he doing here?
Wasn't he on New Island?
He took in the spacious lab before him.
This lab was exactly the same as the "dream lab" he'd built a thousand times in his mind.
Unfortunately, there were no instruments inside.
"If only there were a precision deconstruction machine."
As soon as Natsume had the thought, a machine appeared before him.
"???"
Natsume stared.
"I want a Pokémon Transfer Machine?"
In the next second, a massive device appeared.
Natsume narrowed his eyes.
Before long, the lab was filled with all manner of expensive instruments; Natsume hovered in midair, clicking his tongue in wonder.
He could now confirm what this place was.
On the glossy floor, Natsume clearly saw his current state—a chibi Natsume.
Chibi Natsume!
This was his Main World!
Through the golden psychic power fed back from Ash's body, he had broken through to the Main World in one go.
The best part was that Sabrina's Main World was just a room, whereas his was a laboratory that bent to his will!
"I want a Master Ball."
Chibi Natsume reached out, and a Master Ball appeared in his hand.
He had tested it: he couldn't create living things, but anything nonliving whose structure he understood could manifest in his Main World.
Everything here was virtual and couldn't be taken into reality.
But so long as he knew the principles, the operating models and parameters would be identical to the outside world!
That meant experiments he ran here could be replicated in reality if they succeeded.
Natsume was overjoyed.
He had been fretting over how scarce Master Balls were.
Now it seemed there was no need at all.
In this virtual lab, he could use Master Balls without limit for experiments, pushing his success rate up toward nearly one hundred percent.
With costly rare materials, he could do the same—raise the success rate here first, then reproduce it in the real world.
That would minimize losses and save costs to the greatest extent.
"Fantastic!"
Chibi Natsume clapped sharply.
A moment later, he froze.
"Wait—how do I get out?"
When the excitement faded, the chibi little guy stroked his chin and fell into thought.
Outside.
"It's over—Natsume saved me and now he won't wake up!"
Ash held Natsume's head and sobbed.
"Pika—"
Beside them, center-parted shook its head slightly and picked up Diglett again.
Time to dig a pit to call his soul back again.
"Mr. Natsume's vitals are all stable."
Vermilion City's Nurse Joy came over, eyeing Natsume in puzzlement.
His body was perfectly normal, but he just wouldn't wake up.
"Mew—"
Mew floated over, and the tip of its long tail tapped Natsume's forehead.
You have received Mew's genetic blessing!
The system's voice chimed.
"What?"
Natsume started; his mind felt much clearer.
In the next second, the world before his eyes began to shift.
"Natsume woke up!"
Ash exclaimed.
"Thank goodness, Mr. Natsume, you're awake!"
"Little Mew is amazing!"
"Yeah—both cute and strong."
Everyone gathered around Mew.
Natsume rubbed his brow and found his condition unexpectedly good.
He turned his head, sent out his psychic power, and searched for Mewtwo—finding it at last on a rock by the sea.
After stepping into the Inner World, even if Mewtwo guarded against him, it couldn't prevent Natsume from initiating a mental link.
In the instant of the link, Natsume felt the swirl of complicated emotions within Mewtwo.
"Well?"
Natsume's voice sounded in its heart.
Mewtwo started, then shook its head and closed its eyes:
"You win."
"What I mean is—do you know why Mew is more popular than you?"
Natsume raised an eyebrow.
He now had a preliminary grasp of Divinity.
The more important kinds of Divinity were usually held by Pokémon with steady, gentle temperaments.
And such Pokémon were rare.
For example, Mew's Authority of Genes.
A hothead like Mewtwo splitting off half that Authority—Natsume didn't see that as good news.
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