Chapter 294: Just a Passing Farmer

Not long after Ash and his companions docked on Ascorbia Island, arrived at the Great Tiki Hut, listened to the Festival Maiden play a strange song with an ethereal melody on her flute, and heard her explain the traditions of past years, a terrifying storm enveloped the seas near Ascorbia Island.

Festival Maiden Flura looked worriedly toward the outside world and murmured, "With weather like this... I'm afraid it isn't suitable for setting sail."

"Pikachu."

Pikachu's ears drooped down, its expression filled with dejection.

Its Trainer, Ash, also wore an identical expression; in a certain sense, this pair of Pokémon and Trainer was remarkably similar.

The orange-haired girl Misty advised, "Setting sail in this weather is simply unrealistic; for safety's sake, we should wait until the storm and the sea calm down before acting."

As an expert on Water-type Pokémon, Misty knew very well what terrifying power was currently brewing on the great sea.

Beside them, the Pokémon Observer Tracey, who wore a headband, stroked his chin, his brows slightly furrowed.

Although the sea was inherently capricious and unpredictable.

Originally, this wasn't much of an issue, merely slightly affecting flight flexibility; for Zapdos, simply increasing its electrical output could easily shatter it.

Staff members encountering this situation for the first time were all dumbfounded, not knowing how to proceed.

Under such weather conditions, would the Commander still appear?

On Tangelo Island, an intellectual woman with a fine figure wearing a white lab coat had just helped her assistants rescue several Oddish shivering in the storm.

Moreover, the most terrifying aspect was that this phenomenon was not limited to the Orange Archipelago region; according to data displayed on the monitors, the phenomenon of climate runaway was gradually spreading outward!

The anomalies on the other half of the planet had not yet affected this place, because Luo Mu, in this rural backwater, did not even own a single computer, let alone high-configuration equipment capable of supporting an invasion of the Kanto region's Orange Archipelago monitoring network.

The instant after Zapdos slowed its movements, the ring that had already captured Moltres shot out, caught up to Zapdos, and bound it within a special magnetic field that even Zapdos could not break, forming a cage.

"Once preparations are complete, we shall depart."

But under the dense barrage of attacks, Zapdos could not avoid being grazed by an Ice Beam, causing its wings, which shimmered with electric light, to become coated in a thin layer of ice.

After hesitating for only an instant, the two legendary birds made different choices.

Among the assistants who were soaked to the bone, Brock asked perplexedly, "Professor Ivy, wasn't the weather forecast for the past few days supposed to be sunny? How did it become so sudden?"

Since Moltres's aura had disappeared, it was only right that he occupy that island!

As for Articuno, it decided to remain on its own island; for some reason, an indescribable sense of crisis lingered in its heart at this moment.

She had conducted a brief investigation there and heard some legends from the islanders on the island.

At this speed, it would spread to the vicinity of the Kanto region within a few hours, encompass the Johto region within half a day, and after some more time, cover Sinnoh, Unova, and other regions, and even the regions on the other half of the planet within a day or two!

In the center of the aura, some young people who had never seen such an anomaly and possessed fragile psyches covered their faces and began to sob quietly.

Lawrence III placed his right leg over his left, smiled, and gave the order.

But in order to escape those relentless members of Team Rocket, he had already destroyed all equipment that could expose him; moreover, the consumption required for teleportation across half the planet was, even for him, a figure that could not be ignored.

Heavy rain, tsunamis, storms, and even earthquakes.

In terms of psychic energy reserves, Mewtwo was actually weaker than Mew, but it had the advantage of being able to continue growing, and its control over psychic powers was far higher than that of Mew, which did not cultivate at all.

Mewtwo teleported directly to Flatbed Town, spent a little time gathering a pile of materials that looked like scrap metal, used its psychic powers for micro-manipulation, and somehow, very quickly hand-crafted a supercomputer.

At the same time, because Zapdos had been captured, the dense thunderstorms and heavy rains sweeping across the entire Orange Archipelago finally eased somewhat, at least enough to allow for setting sail.

As a professor researching regional form variations of Pokémon, she knew the Orange Archipelago very well; the islands in that direction seemed to be only Ascorbia Island and a few small islets.

An image of Mewtwo floated in Slowking's mind; if it were that special Pokémon, perhaps it would have a way to stop this disaster, yet it was precisely during the gap left by its departure that such an event occurred.

The Fire God, the Lightning God, the Ice God, and the Sea God.

After a moment of silence, Professor Ivy disregarded the rain-soaked clothes sticking to her body, which made her feel very uncomfortable.

Professor Ivy frowned slightly, looking at the black clouds that seemed poised to crush the sky, and at the strange behaviors of some Water-type Pokémon glimpsed briefly earlier, all of which were inexplicably heading toward a certain direction.

Walking quickly to the telephone, Professor Ivy dialed an important contact number recorded nearby—Professor Oak!

Perhaps only Professor Oak, an authority in the field of Pokémon research, could resolve her doubts.

But this change was far too sudden, filled with a scent of something abnormal.

Just shortly after the group decided to temporarily abandon their voyage, the weather centers established on several islands of the Orange Archipelago simultaneously received climate anomaly alarms from the monitoring stations.

In the center of the dense thunderstorms, a massive airship ignored nature's roaring rage, allowing currents to pour onto it like a dam releasing floodwaters, while countless gun muzzles continuously flashed with fire, firing Ice Beams that were super effective against Flying-type Pokémon.

Dense thunderstorms continuously fell from the cloud peaks; the deafening roar brought a heavy sense of oppression. On the cliffside cave at the edge of Ascorbia Island, Slowking stood with its hands behind its back, looking out at the outside world, its expression somewhat troubled.

It was as if the world itself was wailing for something.

After this series of operations, the time was approaching midnight.

At the source of the incident, within the Lightning Island and Ice Island among the three islands, two pairs of sharp eyes suddenly opened; just moments ago, they had sensed the disappearance of the Fire Island master's aura.

"In that case... this is somewhat difficult to handle."

Mewtwo had not considered simply teleporting back to its base to directly utilize existing equipment and systems.

Inside the flying boat, an emotionless female voice continued broadcasting.

Accompanied by muffled thunder echoing within the clouds, Zapdos flapped its wings, which seemed forged of golden light while crackling with continuous electricity, and flew at high speed toward the direction of Fire Island.

His mood was very good now; the Fire God and the Lightning God had been captured, and once the Ice God was captured as well, the Sea God would surely appear.

Zapdos moved with agility, constantly twisting and turning in the air, executing nimble maneuvers that even the most skilled fighter jet pilots could not achieve to dodge the Ice Beams.

But now, the entity fighting it was neither a human nor a Pokémon, but an artificial intelligence that calculated everything and would never let a fleeting opportunity slip by.

"Capture of the Lightning God complete; location of the Ice God locked. Mr. Lawrence III, shall we proceed to Ice Island?"

Ash and his companions boarded a speedboat to rush toward the three islands, only to collide head-on with Articuno, whose stable triangular relationship had lost two corners; because this was closely related to the balance of nature, it too was affected by the unbalanced nature, its heart gradually becoming irritable until it lost its sanity!

From the direction of Tangelo Island, a helicopter took off, carrying Professor Ivy, Professor Oak, Delia who had followed out of worry for Ash, and Lorelei, the Ice Master, who had rushed over urgently, worried that the anomalies in the Orange Archipelago would spread to her hometown, the Sevii Islands!

Paldea Region, Flatbed Town.

Late night.

Teleporting back and forth two or three times would exhaust its psychic energy; then, what would it have to face the crisis that could arrive at any moment?

Mewtwo's vigilance did not allow it to casually exhaust its power.

Just while Mewtwo was invading the system to investigate Lawrence III's whereabouts, when it checked whether anything strange had happened recently in the Orange Archipelago, it suddenly saw a livestream room whose popularity was skyrocketing.

The livestream was broadcasting simultaneously with the television news, and the figures appearing within were significant enough that Mewtwo directly clicked into it.

"Pokémon possessing the ability to travel across the sea are moving toward Asertia Island in the Orange Archipelago for unknown reasons, while those unable to cross the sea have gathered on the landmass closest to Asertia Island."

"Regarding this phenomenon, let us ask Professor Oak and Professor Ivy."

"Legend says that the Fire God, Lei Zhishen, and the Ice God reside on Asertia Island; their power and balance keep the deep ocean currents flowing gently, giving birth to the first life on this planet. In other words, the center of the deep ocean currents is the place where life was born."

"At this moment, that balance has been disturbed by unknown factors, and the Pokémon seem to have sensed something."

As Professor Oak and Professor Ivy finished their explanation, the camera cut to the outside view, where aerial footage revealed countless Pokémon in the sea and sky moving toward a certain direction.

At this point, Lorelei, who had been sitting silently to the side, spoke solemnly: "Regarding this incident, I will represent the Kanto region to investigate. Residents, please do not panic and stay in safe places as much as possible."

Mewtwo turned off the livestream.

Its action of infiltrating the Kanto region's system paused; this phenomenon was absolutely unnatural. Mewtwo frowned tightly, recalling the three legendary birds and the balance that Professor Oak and the others had just mentioned.

Could it be that in the less than a day it had been gone, something had happened there?

After a moment of silence, Mewtwo directly chose to wake up Luo Mu, who was sleeping soundly.

The instant Luo Mu saw the livestream footage, all traces of sleepiness vanished.

From the bottom of his heart, Luo Mu shouted, "I'm going!"

So when Mewtwo came to find him, had Lawrence III's actions already begun, or were they about to begin?

Due to the vast distance between regions, Mewtwo had completely failed to detect the imbalance in nature; the radiation from that side would take at least several days to reach the Paldea region.

With all these coincidences, missed opportunities, and the influence of various factors, seeing the footage in the livestream had reached this extent meant that, most likely, Lawrence III had already succeeded halfway.

There was no time to worry about sleep now; intuition told Luo Mu that the situation had undergone some subtle changes. At least in his memory, Lorelei should not have appeared in that livestream!

If the matter only affected the local region, Luo Mu might not have gone out of his way to get involved, but the imbalance in nature was clearly radiating across the entire world.

Even taking the most conservative view, once the anomalies in the Orange Archipelago touched upon the domains of other legendary Pokémon, those awakened beings would stop them.

But Luo Mu could not pin his hopes on Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza, nor on Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, who drifted outside the world's space, nor on Zygarde, who was in the same hemisphere as him and likely currently struggling to save itself.

Even just for the safety of the farm, he felt he had to go there just in case.

Having made all preparations based on his memory, holding the Delibird in his arms, Luo Mu looked at Mewtwo, signaling that he was ready to depart for Asertia Island at any time.

However, Mewtwo made no move, instead casting its gaze toward the real Three Legendary Birds, who had woken up due to the commotion and were now peeking curiously in their direction.

"Bring them along too; perhaps they can be of use."

Mewtwo's telepathy rang out in the minds of the creatures present.

Moltres instantly became dissatisfied; what did "perhaps they can be of use" mean!?

But constrained by Mewtwo's power, which was on the same level as Luxray, Moltres could only sulk in silence.

Meanwhile, Articuno and Zapdos looked completely bewildered; why did they need to be brought along too?

Weren't they here just to work part-time and enjoy some delicious food?

As if guessing Mewtwo's thoughts, Luo Mu pondered for a moment before looking at Zapdos and Articuno.

Moltres was not a concern; the main issue was how to make Zapdos and Articuno willing to go with him.

"On top of your original meals, I'll double the luxury of your food when we return. How about that?"

Zapdos & Articuno:!!!

Zapdos, who had no concept of dignity whatsoever, immediately scurried over to Luo Mu and Mewtwo like a free-range chicken, while Articuno, after a moment of hesitation, ultimately could not overcome its inner desire and walked over as well.

However, Mewtwo still had no intention of moving.

Glancing at the three legendary birds still waiting outside, and unwilling to admit that teleporting too many entities simultaneously would consume a massive amount of psychic energy, Little Little Dandan said calmly, "Recall them into Poké Balls; for those without balls, catch them on the spot, and we can release them upon our return."

Luo Mu: "."

Zapdos & Articuno:!!!!

In the end, Zapdos and Articuno entered the red-and-white Poké Balls that Luo Mu took out; anyway, if they needed to, they could break free at any time, so it wasn't a big problem.

It definitely wasn't because they were threatened by Mewtwo that if they didn't enter the balls, they would be rolled into balls themselves!

Under the gaze of Oranguru, a flash of light occurred, and the figures of Luo Mu, Mewtwo, and the Delibird vanished into thin air.

Oranguru murmured, "A crisis of the world..."

"Screech!!!"

Dragging its beautiful tail feathers, the ice-blue legendary bird, which should have been full of elegance, had now completely lost its sanity; beams that seemed capable of freezing everything shot out continuously, and under the flapping of its wings, the howling cold winds made one feel as though they were in the far northern territories.

Under Articuno's rampage, vast stretches of the sea froze into solid ice blocks, ceasing their flow and further exacerbating the collapse of natural balance.

And on that endless expanse of ice, several small dots were fleeing in a sorry state.

They were none other than the Festival Maiden Melody and Ash's group.

Merely under Articuno's indiscriminate large-scale attacks, the speedboat they were riding had been frozen at the bottom of the sea, leaving the humans with no choice but to constantly dodge Articuno's area-of-effect attacks on this icy land.

A thin layer of frost covered Misty's orange hair; hugging the Togepi, which was shivering from the cold, she complained beyond endurance, "What exactly is going on right now—!"

It was just an ordinary voyage after a storm, a routine trip following standard procedure, so why did they have to encounter something like this!

Melody tightly gripped the flute, said to be capable of playing a song that could calm the anger of the three gods, her facial expression is solemn: "It's the prophecy. Everything in the prophecy has come true; nowadays, this world is heading toward destruction!"

Tracey's face was filled with terror: "The world is going to be destroyed? Are you kidding me!?"

Dodging another horizontal sweep of an Ice Beam, Melody said in a deep voice, "We must act according to the prophecy's instructions: gather the three treasures, place them on the altar in the temple, play the flute, and calm the gods' anger!"

"Charizard, use Flamethrower! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

At this moment, Ash suddenly threw out a Poké Ball; Charizard, now able to follow his commands, aimed at a branch of an Ice Beam attacking from behind them, its throat bulging as it spewed high-heat fire lines without restraint.

On the other side, Pikachu also released golden electric currents, striking the ice-blue beam together with the fire line.

This was the full power of Charizard and Pikachu, yet it could only slightly shift the range of the Ice Beam, relying on energy interference to make it explode prematurely behind Ash and the others.

Keep in mind, this was merely a branch of the Ice God's Ice Beam; if it focused its attention on them and launched a targeted Ice Beam, just how terrifying would that be?

At this point, seemingly due to the counterattack by Charizard and Pikachu, Articuno, which had been destroying the surroundings aimlessly, seemed to notice Ash's group; its turbid, angry gaze locked onto them as brilliant light gathered in its mouth.

This time... it was Absolute Zero!

Xiao Xiao Jian cried out in terror, "We're done for, we're done for!"

Even without being a Trainer, he knew that the move Articuno was currently brewing, locking onto them, must be terrifying.

Not to mention the killing intent permeating the air!

Misty stopped running, hugging Togepi tightly; since water and ice are of the same family, she knew clearly just how vast the range of that Absolute Zero move was.

Relying solely on their own two feet, escape was no longer possible.

Even Ash, usually so optimistic, felt a thread of despair well up in his heart at this moment, yet more than that was his stubbornness; he gritted his teeth, clenched his gloved hands, and shouted, "Pikachu, Charizard, use Thunderbolt and Flamethrower one more time!"

Moved by Ash's perseverance, Misty and the others released all their Pokémon to resist.

In the next instant, a brilliant beam of light surged forth like a torrent; compared to it, the glow emitted by Charizard, Pikachu, and the others' Pokémon moves was like a firefly against the bright moon, possessing no comparability whatsoever, and in the blink of an eye, everything was frozen by Absolute Zero.

Just at this moment of despair, a female voice suddenly rang out: "Lapras, Absolute Zero! Slowbro, Protect!"

A torrent of ice, slightly smaller than Articuno's Absolute Zero, collided with it to cancel each other out, while simultaneously, a red light descended before Ash and the others.

Standing before them, Slowbro erected a shield reinforced by psychic power, blocking the remaining aftermath that had broken through Lapras's Absolute Zero.

At this moment, the sound of rotating propellers came from overhead; a red-haired woman jumped down from a height of a hundred meters without any protection, landing before Ash and the others with the aid of Slowbro's psychic abilities.

Recognizing the newcomer, Misty exclaimed excitedly, "Elite Four Lorelei!"

Simultaneously, the helicopter landed, and Professor Oak, Professor Ivy, Delia, reporters, and others filed out one after another, aiming their cameras at the enraged Ice God in the sky, their faces filled with astonishment.

Staring intently at Articuno, Lorelei said in a deep voice, "I will hold off Articuno; Professor Oak, Professor Ivy, please find a way to stop the collapse of natural balance!"

No sooner had Lorelei finished speaking than, in the sky further away, a deafening explosion echoed through the heavens, and a pillar of fire shooting skyward was clearly visible even from here.

What happened over there?

Above the Ice Island, Lawrence III, who had just piloted his airship to this location, discovered that the trace of the Ice God had vanished without knowing when.

At this moment, the artificial intelligence voice of the airship sounded again.

"Mr. Lawrence III, Articuno's energy signature has appeared in the sky twenty-five kilometers away; it may have concealed its aura and flown there in one go."

Frowning slightly, Lawrence III said in a deep voice, "Change course; target—capture Articuno."

"Yes."

Just as Lawrence III intended to return to his control console, a faint spatial fluctuation rippled through the interior of the airship.

As red light lit up inside the airship, a piercing alarm siren blared.

The figures of Luo Mu, Delibird, and Mewtwo appeared directly before Lawrence III.

"Intruder detected. Intruder detected—"

"Shut up! I can already see them!"

Lawrence III did not show any sign of panic; instead, he looked at Mewtwo with great interest, raising an eyebrow: "An unseen Psychic-type Pokémon, did it arrive via Teleport?"

"This place should be over ten thousand meters high, correct?"

The Teleport of ordinary Psychic-type Pokémon should be fundamentally incapable of reaching this altitude.

Luo Mu and Mewtwo paid him no mind; after arriving at Ascorbia Island, Mewtwo, unsurprisingly, sensed the collapse of natural balance, communicated with Slowking, accepted its commission, and then, under Luo Mu's reminder, quickly located this airship hidden above the cloud layer.

Luo Mu first turned his gaze toward Moltres and Zapdos, who were bound on the other side; not seeing Articuno's figure, he felt relieved that they had not arrived too late.

Luo Mu also noticed the presence of Moltres and Zapdos here, yet Ash and his group along with Team Rocket's trio were absent; indeed, the plot had already changed.

"Is there a way?"

Luo Mu looked at Mewtwo, asking it with his eyes.

Mewtwo nodded slightly; although this was black technology capable of capturing the Fire God and the Lightning God, as a wholesaler of black technology, Mewtwo knew very well that when any performance is pushed to its limit, there are inevitably some flaws.

Just like these cages that had captured the Fire God and the Lightning God, inside them the Fire God and the Lightning God were completely unable to use their power; one could say there was no possibility for them to escape the cage relying on their own strength.

On the contrary, applying even a slight force from the outside could easily break the cage.

Seeing that Luo Mu ignored him, Lawrence III, feeling secure and unafraid, was not angered in the least; instead, he chuckled lightly: "Although I do not much like guests who arrive uninvited and lack manners, given that you brought a souvenir, I forgive you."

"Then, please introduce yourself; for instance, how should I address you?"

"Luo Mu, merely a passing farmer."

Looking at Lawrence III, who wished to destroy his peaceful life, the Poké Ball in Luo Mu's hand immediately flashed with red light.

In the next instant, under Lawrence III's visibly stunned expression, the figures of Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos appeared one after another.

(End of Chapter)