Chapter 210: Time never stops

"Ah, you have indeed seen through my thoughts. As expected of Arceus."

Rōzu chuckled: "I thought I would have to go through additional trials or something. Can you send me away so easily?"

In Arceus's pondering gaze, Rōzu was slightly puzzled.

【It seems someone intends to keep you.】

Miss Zhu Lan spoke at this moment.

"Mr. Rōzu. Although Sinjoh and Hisui have perished, the current Sinnoh is also very good! If you have nowhere to go... you can come to Celestic Town."

"That is my hometown, where the history and ancient lifestyle of the Sinnoh region are completely preserved."

Miss Zhu Lan issued an invitation to Rōzu: "People who miss the past gather there, and people like me who inherited the blood of ancient Sinnoh people also live in that city. Although that city was still quite rural, it has developed very well now."

"Ah, it is precisely because that city has developed that I don't want to go there." Rōzu scratched his head, closed his eyes, and sighed: "It used to be... the Ancient Retreat."

"There is someone I don't want to see who might still be living in the town... although if I were to see her now, I wouldn't feel ashamed, after all, I have more or less realized my dream."

"If you meet a woman named 'Cogita', help me bring a message to her. Just say that I am leaving soon, and let her not worry about me. I won't cause her any more trouble. Ah, she looks like you, but her hair is silver, and she wears black mourning clothes. How should I put it, she has a very Galar noble style, although I have never been to Galar."

"Hmph, but Arceus has a new messenger now. Maybe that woman has already left this world. Thanks to you, I know what the mission and 'what the world originally looked like' she spoke of mean!"

Rōzu looked at Xiang Guangtai and commented: "You messengers of god always like to stay in remote areas that ordinary people can't find! Maybe Sinjoh will also become a place like Celestic Town in the future, building high-rise buildings and becoming modernized or something..."

"Cogita, huh..." Miss Zhu Lan nodded slightly: "I have remembered. If I meet her, I will help you inform her."

"A long time ago..." Xiang Guangtai looked at the two: "The Ancient Retreat was the city of the Sinjoh people. That city collapsed and was destroyed after the sun disappeared. The Sinjoh people who lost their hometown went far away, leaving only the Pokémon still living here."

"In the distant past, there was a town called Sinjoh. Once upon a time, the residents scattered, and the name Sinjoh was never mentioned again."

"I don't know how long it took, but a group of people who worshiped the Great Sinnoh One crossed the sea to this place."

"They split into two factions, worshiping different Great Sinnoh Ones."

"Opposition arose from this, and disputes arose from this."

"To show their own orthodoxy, both factions called themselves Sinjoh people."

"The name Sinjoh reappeared in the world, but the hearts of the ancients were no longer there."

"Exactly... even if I return to Celestic, it is no longer the place I am familiar with." Rōzu rejected Miss Zhu Lan's invitation:

"Celestic will also move toward the future, inheriting the name and history of Sinjoh, but the lost ancient heart cannot be found back. Don't say I am rigid, because I am a very nostalgic person."

"Time never stops. Past, future, and present..."

This is the inscription on the Celestic mural.

"So, I also have a future I want to find, without chasing the past."

"Of course, I am not missing the Sinjoh people. The stories from thousands of years ago are also very far away from me. If we talk about cultural identity, the Sinjoh people have already scattered all over the world, and there are their descendants in every region!"

Xiang Guangtai: "This is just like what is described in ancient legends. Initially, the people of Sinjoh gathered to build a city for survival, scattered due to disasters to continue civilization, and finally they returned again, revived the Sinnoh land, and then, carrying their respective philosophies, rushed to the four directions again."

Miss Zhu Lan sighed helplessly, but the corners of her mouth curled up, and a relieved smile appeared.

"Actually, you are afraid that I will cause another Sinnoh crisis, right?" Rōzu pointed out Miss Zhu Lan's thoughts directly: "It seems you have listened to my words well. Are you embarrassed to point it out directly?"

"Well... but the disaster that Sinnoh has to face now is not me. You should deal with Team Galactic. Regarding its history, I will explain it to you concisely."

"Uh... simply put, it has nothing to do with it!"

Rōzu waved his hand casually, as if waving away some non-existent ghost:

"When the Sinjoh people returned to Hisui from all over the world, they also brought many foreigners to settle down. Except for the 'two batches of Sinjoh people' that Xiang Guangtai just mentioned, the third batch of people who entered Hisui on a large scale were these foreigners. They are 'Team Galactic'!"

"It seems that because a disaster happened in their hometown, they ran over from all over the world to find this undeveloped land of Hisui to survive. At first, they were hostile and guarded against Pokémon... In short, it was an exploration team good at investigation and research, and it had nothing to do with aerospace."

"The name of Team Galactic comes from the fact that the abilities of the people in the investigation team were as shining as the stars in the sky, so they were called this. At that time, they also said heroically that they wanted to pass on the name and achievements of Team Galactic to their descendants. But the descendants now, *tsk tsk*."

"By the way, I heard that you used to be a Pokémon assistant, right? What was the name of the Pokémon Professor in the Sinnoh region? Oh, Professor Rowan. He used to be in Kanto, right? His ancestor was the founder of Team Galactic!"

"Eh?!" Miss Zhu Lan was greatly surprised!

"I have never heard of this!"

Rōzu giggled: "That's probably because one of that old man's ancestors hid the history of Team Galactic. After all, many years have passed. His ancestor's personality was not very good. It is normal to feel ashamed and not pass down the stories of the past. Eh, it's really amazing. The descendant of the former Team Galactic leader went to do Pokédex research. You know, that guy hated Pokémon very much."

"And looking at the other side, it is the complete opposite ending. The descendants of those who passed on achievements turned Team Galactic into what it is now. Not to mention their strange ideals and activity reasons, I can't compliment that weird aesthetic!"

Miss Zhu Lan: "Yes, yes, the watermelon head is really weird, right."

Rōzu: "Yeah, yeah, it's really ugly. And why did their boss think of dyeing the members' hair green?"

In terms of criticizing Team Galactic's earthy aesthetic, the two ancestors and descendants, Rōzu and Miss Zhu Lan, had a strong common language and desire to complain. And Miss Zhu Lan suddenly reacted:

"Wait! Mr. Rōzu, do you know who the current leader of Team Galactic is?!"

At this point in time, its leader, Cyrus, is still a great philanthropist and businessman who has a shallow relationship with Team Galactic on the surface. Although the senior management of the Sinnoh Alliance has investigated clearly that Team Galactic and the Galactic Corporation have a close connection, because there is no evidence, they cannot identify Cyrus.

And in some public occasions, Cyrus has even seriously criticized the behavior of Team Galactic. On the surface, it looks like a righteous cut, and even a little... this guy actually laughs in public.

"You should have some guesses in your heart, but I won't talk nonsense if there is no evidence!"

Rōzu held up his finger, made a shushing gesture, and his smiling expression made Miss Zhu Lan quite helpless.

"You are the Sinnoh Champion, use your power to investigate. This matter will not cause too much trouble. After all, isn't there a messenger here, and Giratina will also help you."

"However, always be vigilant. *Ayyy*, these villain organizations are very cunning now, with various high-tech means emerging one after another, which makes me quite surprised."

"Ahem." Xiang Guangtai reminded: "Arceus..."

【It doesn't matter. Those who master history have the obligation to pass on the past history to future generations. The story of the world continues forever, and history is never interrupted. As a place of ruins, the only valuable thing here is these lost histories.】

Arceus didn't care about Rōzu's chatter. After all, this world will experience many terrible things next.

In other worlds similar to this one, these "ambitious people" have always existed, and even their names have not changed. At most, their motives are different. This is also a fixed part of historical development.

"I did intend to leave here directly before... but suddenly, I had some new ideas."

"Still the same question, do I not need to experience any trials?"

【That is your own choice. Do you still need to ask the gods about the road ahead now?】

"Yeah... since that's the case, I decided to travel. I will temporarily 'save' this option of leaving the world. I didn't say I want to leave now!"

Rōzu turned his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the Hall of Origin and the Sinjoh Ruins.

"As a merchant, one must confirm rare things, objects, and people. There are still many rare things in this world that I haven't seen."

"As for Michina, listening to what Xiang Guangtai and you said, it seems that the cause of the real disaster in this world also has something to do with them, but I am not very interested. After all, what does that kind of thing have to do with me? What I want to investigate is you. What I was chasing back then was also you, right."

"I want to travel to other regions first. As for after my travel ends..." Rōzu closed his eyes and pondered, suddenly showing that classic cold and evil smile:

"A world of extreme beauty exists. Before going to that world, why not go to a worse world to take a look?"

"Hey! The world that Xiang Guangtai mentioned before, which once made you there very angry and almost destroyed the entire human society, is real, right!"

【You want to be a traveler of worlds? Not bad, that world exists. I in that world encountered human betrayal a long time ago. Even so, it still holds hope for the humans of that world... Anger is just an appearance, it's just that... if no correct hero appears, it will indeed destroy everything there.】

【That is the 'Trial of the End'. Compared to me here, it is quite extreme. That is caused by the history it has experienced.】

【Therefore, humans and Pokémon are interdependent. If either side produces intense malice, it will lead history to an irreparable tragic ending. It's just that compared to Pokémon with simple minds, humans with higher intelligence and more mature minds are more likely to fall into the abyss of malice.】

Arceus felt that Rōzu's wish was quite interesting, but it gave a slight warning:

【If you want to go, I can allow you to travel in different worlds. However, you like to interfere with the choices of the world too much. Although this is also a part of promoting historical development, when you go to other worlds and do this, you must be careful.】

【Because there is no existence of you in the history there, and you cannot do things that disrupt history. Guidance is limited, and you will also be restricted. Only when you reach the world where you are truly willing to stay forever will this restriction be lifted.】

"This wouldn't be turning him into a Pokémon or something, right."

Xiang Guangtai laughed, seeing Rōzu's puzzled expression, and explained simply: "You are not the only one who can travel between worlds, or rather, we mentioned Mystery Dungeon before, right? That world has a 'Savior', and it is a 'human'."

"Humans who arrived there from other human worlds, or humans who traveled from that world a long time ago, and in the dark world I mentioned, there are also people like 'Time Travelers'."

"Even in our world, there are lost people who go to other worlds."

The protagonist of the Mystery Dungeon world is a traveler who arrived there from another human world, and will transform into different Pokémon according to different aura.

And in the Special Arc, Pryce, who was lost in the spacetime rift, had also been a time traveler once. He revealed in the Sinjoh Ruins that he had seen the era without Poké Balls, the era when legendary Pokémon appeared, and even witnessed the complete destruction of the Sinjoh Ruins and the human world.

And even in the normal Pokémon world, there are places like the "Mirror World" in Kalos. Through special channels, one can cross the barriers of time and space. Ash once almost got lost in the kingdom on the other side.

"I thought my idea was special, but I didn't expect someone had already done it!"

"Ah, yes, 'she' is also a spacetime lost person. How did I forget this."

After Rōzu heard this, although his words were frustrated, his expression was even more excited. And the "she" in his words was of course that super Hisui person.

Rōzu didn't know about this before, but now he finally figured it out. It turns out that even that girl is not special. People similar to her exist in every world!

"This world is really vast! Ah... I have never felt that this world has radiated such great kindness! So that's it, so that's it! The reason why I endured great humiliation and suffering was for this day!"

"What I exchanged with a sad past is an endless future! I am very satisfied with this answer!"

"Xiang Guangtai! If we can meet again in the future... no, since you know so many things, we are destined to meet again! Perhaps in the past, perhaps in the future! At that time, let's share the information and experiences obtained in different worlds! You and I are the same kind of people, both existing in the world to witness rare things, objects, and people!"

"The descendants of the Sinjoh people left the ancient Sinnoh, they scattered all over the world, and now even other worlds are going to be stepped on by the Sinjoh people. Perhaps chasing history and myths is our destiny. We were born from myths, and we will chase them forever!"

Xiang Guangtai: "For me, there is no need to remember yesterday's things, and there is no need to consider tomorrow's things. I just need to live 'today' well."

"Today will also become a new future, so, I am going to embark on a journey! Goodbye everyone!"

Rōzu accepted the "restricted blessing" given by Arceus. He was very satisfied with this ending!

"It's just like the plates scattered in Hisui... we scattered in all directions, praying forever, bringing our traces to the new world we stepped on."

He sighed with emotion, and Xiang Guangtai also recalled an ancient poem, warning and wishing Rōzu, and also Miss Zhu Lan:

"The plates scattered in the lands of Hisui contain the power of all things."

"This is an immortal thing, engraved with eternal prayers."

"The thoughts contained in it will eventually spread to all directions, until forever."

"Miss Zhu Lan, after you go back, remember to collect these plates. Team Galactic might use these plates to do something. As for the Spear Pillar, I will go after my work is finished. After all, it is not open now."

"Don't worry about your god's attire, I will find suitable sewing materials to make it."

"Be careful of the Red Chain. Cyrus wants to use this chain to control Dialga and Palkia, wanting to create a new galaxy. But if you want to get these chains by normal means, it won't work. But if you act as a villain, then there is no concern..."

*Woo*—

Arceus raised its head, its body glowed brightly, and the originally illusory body finally dissipated, turning into massive energy and merging into the world of Sinjoh.

The scene of the Hall of Origin also faded rapidly, and everything returned to its original appearance, in the ruins of Sinjoh.

【Then, Sinjoh people, may your future be bright. I will once again give my sincere blessings to your world and the universe you live in!】

(End of Chapter)