Chapter 293: Victini and the Poké Ball: A Disruption in Natural Balance!

In the Paldea region, within the street corners and alleys of Levincia.

Luo Mu, Victini, and Mewtwo materialized out of thin air in this deserted alley.

Utilizing Mewtwo's psychic powers, they could cross the distance between cities in an instant; in Luo Mu's impression, even powerful Psychic-type Pokémon could not achieve long-distance teleportation to this extent, let alone teleportation spanning half a planet.

Legendary Pokémon are truly existences beyond standard specifications.

Such a convenient mode of transportation... I want one.

Glancing at Mewtwo, whose entire body was shrouded in a black robe, Luo Mu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Luo Mu exchanged a glance with Mewtwo, who was unaware that someone was coveting its body, then walked directly toward the outside world.

This was one of the most prosperous cities in the Paldea region; large screens everywhere played advertisements for the latest luxury goods, and in a certain sense, this place resembled the human cities from deep within Luo Mu's memories where he had once lived.

Victini lay prone on Luo Mu's head, curiously gazing at everything around.

Victini felt that neither Opelucid City nor Nimbasa Town could compare to the prosperity here; only Castelia City and Lei Wen City, which it and Luo Mu had briefly passed through in the past, could rival it.

However, the dozen or so types of Poké Balls dazzled Victini, making it think every single one looked good.

Compared to Victini, Mewtwo's presence was even more conspicuous; people covering themselves completely in black robes when going out were quite rare, though some assumed Mewtwo was cosplaying, glancing once before looking away, merely muttering in their hearts about how strangely dressed this person was in the middle of the day.

Without any major upheaval, Luo Mu brought the two rather extraordinary Pokémon to the largest department store in Levincia, the Shangcheng.

This is V-mon's very own Poké Ball, a unique one!

At this moment, Mewtwo spoke: "Let us return."

The Heavy Ball suits a man's romance and large-sized Pokémon, while the Lure Ball inexplicably matches Totodile well in the anime.

"This is... a Level Ball?"

Although it was slightly expensive, it wasn't a big problem.

As if to confirm Mewtwo's translation, Victini struck its signature V-sign pose, revealing an incomparably brilliant smile.

It turned its head toward the source of the fluctuation, only to find nothing there; it was merely Luo Mu standing there admiring a new green Poké Ball.

Even authoritative Pokémon Professors dare not claim to recognize every Pokémon, let alone these ordinary citizens who are not even Trainers.

"Good, I understand."

Occasionally, passersby would curiously look at Victini on Luo Mu's head, finding it very cute, but no situation arose where people shouted upon seeing a rare Pokémon and swarmed over.

The second floor of the Shangcheng was one of Luo Mu's destinations for this trip, a place named Delibird Presents.

As for the Friend Ball, Luo Mu recalled it was a type of Poké Ball that could make Pokémon and Trainers become closer.

It pointed at a Poké Ball that was half white at the base, with the top half black and the bottom half golden-yellow, engraved with a red V-pattern, calling out to Luo Mu.

Mewtwo frowned slightly, unable to quite understand.

Setting aside their special effects, Luo Mu felt the Moon Ball's appearance suited Umbreon well, while the Love Ball suited cute-looking Fairy-type Pokémon, such as Sylveon and the like; the Love Ball beside it was no different.

Having already completed the ball exchange, Victini hugged the Level Ball, its face brimming with excitement and joy throughout.

After struggling for quite a while, Victini finally selected the Poké Ball it favored.

Victini's eyes lit up; flapping its small wings, it excitedly began to choose.

As if on a whim, Mewtwo translated: "It says the pattern on this Poké Ball looks very much like itself, and it likes this Poké Ball."

Luo Mu said to Victini: "Choose one that you like."

Upon seeing the signboard, Mewtwo remarked with a cold expression through telepathy: "You humans come up with such strange names."

Not to mention the standard Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, and Master Ball, there were also various types of Apricorn Balls in stock here, such as the Level Ball, Moon Ball, Lure Ball, Friend Ball, Love Ball, Fast Ball, and Heavy Ball originating from Azalea Town.

According to the introduction, they seemed to be specially procured from Azalea Town; thanks to this, the prices were considerably higher.

Speaking thus, as if recalling those even stranger shop names seen along the way, the face hidden beneath Mewtwo's hood and cloak tightened further.

Leaving the shop, Luo Mu went down to the basement to purchase quite a few ingredients.

It was merely an inexplicable intuition telling him that perhaps one day in the future, he would make use of this Poké Ball.

It must be said that there were indeed quite a few varieties.

Mewtwo, who had been quietly observing the surrounding environment as well as the demeanor of passing pedestrians and Pokémon, suddenly detected a faint, strange fluctuation.

Acting on an inexplicable impulse, Luo Mu picked up the Friend Ball; this did not mean he intended for Victini to use this Poké Ball.

Was it an illusion?

This was only natural; this world was constantly discovering new Pokémon, whereas ordinary people might recognize only a few dozen or a hundred types of Pokémon in their entire lives.

Seeing its conflicted expression, Luo Mu smiled and, having no intention of interfering with Victini's choice, simply began browsing the Poké Balls on his own.

But even if they were expensive, they weren't exorbitantly so; Poké Ball factories existed everywhere around the world, driving related prices down long ago, with only some special ball types costing a bit more.

"Bi-mi~ Ti-mi!"

Luo Mu and Mewtwo shared a consensus: being looked at was fine, far better than revealing their true forms on the street, getting photographed by someone, accidentally uploaded to the internet, and then discovered by Team Rocket, who would rush to the Paldea region like sharks smelling blood.

Luo Mu offered an awkward smile and, under the curious yet hesitant gaze of the sales guide who dared not approach due to Mewtwo, walked straight to the Poké Ball counter.

Luo Mu nodded gently, rubbed Victini's head, directly picked up the single brand-new Level Ball, took it along with the Friend Ball in his hand to the cashier, and paid immediately.

Not just ordinary Poké Balls, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, and Master Balls were sold here; all sorts of Poké Balls were available, including the special Apricorn Balls.

Luo Mu followed the direction Victini's finger pointed, his expression freezing for a moment, yet finding it quite reasonable.

Luo Mu paused his steps, looking at Mewtwo with confusion: "Is this it? Don't you plan to stroll around a bit more?"

Mewtwo shook its head beneath the hood: "The things you needed to do are already completed, and the matters I wished to confirm are also finished; there is no need to stay any longer, besides..."

Mewtwo's peripheral vision fell upon a corner where two people were hiding and watching them; they were likely security guards for this Shangcheng, feeling that their attire was inappropriate and discussing how to tactfully persuade them to leave.

Since Mewtwo had said so, Luo Mu saw no necessity to force staying: "Alright, then how shall we return?"

Mewtwo pointed toward a corner: "There are no surveillance cameras there, and no one is present; since you are carrying quite a few things, just teleport directly from that spot."

Luo Mu nodded slightly, raising no objection.

The moment they passed the corner, a faint spatial fluctuation rippled outward, and Luo Mu, Victini, Mewtwo, along with the pile of already-paid food, instantly vanished from their original location.

At this moment, Iono, who had been walking from a slight distance holding a selfie stick and livestreaming, suddenly stopped in her tracks; due to her daze, her small shark-like teeth inadvertently showed.

She looked at the empty corner, her face full of confusion: "Eh, was that just now Mr. New Champion?"

Before Kikuna could continue pondering, the danmu that was already scrolling at high speed went crazy, mostly questioning Kikuna about who that "New Champion" was.

Thanks to Hearing Hearing Nimo's idea, in just a short period, the number of followers on the channel operated by Kikuna had already broken six figures and was still growing continuously.

Realizing what had happened, Kikuna secretly cried out in her heart that this was bad, but then thought again: her live commentary on that battle, which had been buried among the over thousand videos she had submitted, hadn't been deleted; didn't this mean the League tacitly approved of her discussing this topic?

"As for who Mr. New Champion refers to, you can check out video number 405 posted by Kikuna~"

"What is Kikuna's relationship with Mr. New Champion?"

"Since the other party is also the New Champion, Kikuna must have lost~"

"Should we let Kikuna go find Mr. New Champion for another battle?"

"I don't want that kind of thing~!"

Nightfall enveloped the sky, and the farm, having just finished a wild party, fell into silence.

With the help of the Bubble Beam from Politoed and the others, Luo Mu quickly washed the greasy bowls and chopsticks, neatly stacked them in the kitchen, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and was still muttering to himself.

"Why does it feel like parties have been so frequent lately? It seems I need to restrain myself a bit."

At this moment, Mewtwo drifted behind Luo Mu like a ghost and suddenly spoke: "Do you have time? There is something I wish to discuss with you."

Luo Mu's heart tightened, but upon seeing that the visitor was Mewtwo, he breathed a sigh of relief and complained: "Don't sneak up behind people without making a sound; it scares people."

"I see, I understand."

The voice transmitted via Mewtwo's telepathy was extremely flat; it was unknown whether it had actually listened.

Luo Mu and Mewtwo went to the living room, where only a small lamp was lit, and sat down, only to discover that Delibird had been waiting there all along.

Luo Mu:?

Facing Luo Mu's inquiring gaze, Mewtwo merely stated calmly everything: how it and Delibird had arrived at Asertia Island, sensed an unknown sense of crisis, met the Sage Slowking, and learned about the prophecy of Asertia Island.

The purpose of their return this time was to ask Luo Mu for his thoughts on this matter, after all, Luo Mu was the only human Mewtwo trusted.

After remaining silent for quite a while, Luo Mu, whose expression had become inexplicably serious, asked: "When you scanned the entire island, did you discover that boy wearing a Pikachu hat?"

"The boy wearing a Pikachu hat?"

Mewtwo frowned; it seemed to have a slight impression, but why was Luo Mu asking about that boy? Did he have something special about him?

Although it couldn't figure it out, Mewtwo still shook its head and said: "At least during the time Delibird and I were on Asertia Island, there was no trace of him."

Hearing Mewtwo's answer, Luo Mu fell into thought.

As a Psychic-type Pokémon, Mewtwo always possessed a powerful premonition of crisis; the kind of crisis that could make its spirit tense could likely only be brought about by that one.

But according to what Mewtwo said, the area near Asertia Island was currently calm, the three Legendary Birds were staying in their own homes, and there was absolutely no sign of any imbalance in natural equilibrium.

Was it... that the node for the plot to begin had not yet arrived?

Luo Mu wasn't clear on this, but he knew the original cause of everything, and that was enough.

Was there any need to hide it?

Luo Mu felt that in order to protect this world where everyone could live in peace, sometimes one needed to be more decisive.

"Can you locate Lawrence III's whereabouts? He is a mad collector; if we can find him, we can stop this incident from the very beginning."

Mewtwo's expression remained calm as it asked: "Why are you so certain, when you are separated by half a planet?"

Luo Mu did not avoid Mewtwo's gaze and asked: "Does that matter?"

Mewtwo looked deeply at him for a moment, recalled that fleeting illusion it had once glimpsed, and chose to believe Luo Mu.

Mewtwo nodded: "Indeed, it does not matter, because if we are to remotely search for that fellow's whereabouts, infiltrating the surveillance systems of the Kanto region will be somewhat difficult; at the very least, there will be no results tonight, so you should go to sleep first."

"Alright."

Not long ago.

On the other side of the planet, shortly after dawn broke.

A massive airship flying high in the sky had already arrived in the vicinity of Asertia Island.

Inside the airship, which was lavishly decorated and filled with countless collectibles, the artificial intelligence onboard issued a notification in an emotionless mechanical female voice.

"Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno: detected life reactions from three special species of Legendary Pokémon. Please give instructions."

The green-haired man, moving with elegance, pondered for a moment and smiled: "Capture Moltres; as the source of the sacred fire for the Kanto and Johto League Conferences, I look forward to its performance."

His name was Lawrence III, a somewhat famous collector in the Kanto region, but because his collecting hobby was slightly different from others, he had been ostracized by them.

But for Lawrence III, who commanded vast wealth and had even constructed this massive airship, these were trivial matters.

"It's merely collecting living Pokémon to appreciate them up close; truly, a group of people who don't understand art."

Lawrence III shook his head, driving these distracting thoughts out of his mind.

Now, he was about to embark on the climax of his career as a collector.

The God of Fire, the God of Ice, the God of Thunder, and the God of the Sea—he would collect them all as his own treasures!

Others' evaluations were not important, but if someone wished to view his collection, as long as they remained polite, he would be more than happy to oblige.

Lawrence III stretched out his arms as if in ecstasy, his gaze falling upon the Island of Fire which was drawing ever closer, his face filled with determination to succeed.

The result was just as Lawrence III had expected; after merely a few minutes of engagement, Moltres, the God of Fire, was trapped within a cage constructed from a special electromagnetic field, its face filled with pain.

Looking down at Moltres from above, Lawrence III revealed a faint smile: "No matter how special you are, you are ultimately just a Pokémon, and if you are a Pokémon, it is impossible to withstand this airship, which is the crystallization of technology."

"However, my ultimate goal is still that God of the Sea, said to be hidden deep within the depths of the ocean; you lot are merely incidental."

Lawrence III shook his head, immediately turned the airship back to the skies above, and, with the assistance of the artificial intelligence, began preparations to capture Lei Zhishen.

At the same moment, because Moltres had been captured, the exquisite balance formed by the three islands began to lose balance.

Deep at the bottom of the sea, the noble existence, which was in a state of slumber, suddenly opened its eyes.

Starting from Asertia Island, the surrounding sea areas were gradually enveloped by dark clouds, fierce winds howled, as if heaven and earth were growing angry.

The ship carrying Pikachu, the boy, and his companions had no choice but to dock on Asertia Island.

(End of Chapter)