Chapter 562: Revealing the Truth

Judging by Tapu Fini's reaction, Luo Mu knew that the owner of the eerie footsteps was not a guest invited by Tapu Fini.

But rather—

An uninvited arrival.

"Luxray, come back first."

Luo Mu quietly ordered Luxray to return to his side, then flipped his hand to open another Poké Ball.

"Swampert!"

A flash of red light passed, and Swampert's figure appeared within the Otherworld Ruins.

If his guess was correct, while the one on Melemele Island was the all-devouring Guzzlord, the one related to the power plant on Poni Island must be—

The footsteps were already right before him.

The first thing to enter his vision was a head glowing with dazzling Bai Guang.

Its tall, bamboo-strip-like humanoid body was composed of electric wires; the star on its head glowed with the white light of an incandescent lamp, yet no facial features could be seen at all.

The cables forming the wires branched out into limbs and a tail, each cable bound and fixed by three white leaves, resembling zippers or Christmas lights.

With every step forward, that cable-constituted body would twitch eerily a few times, just like kelp drifting with the current.

Looking at it made one's sanity plummet.

Its copper claws landed on the ground, and the mysterious creature halted its steps.

Although this was the first time seeing the other party with his own eyes in reality, Luo Mu recognized this creature.

"UB-03: Lightning"

Or rather, it would be more appropriate to call it the Ultra Beast—Xurkitree.

Before the Otherworld Ruins, Xurkitree stopped its footsteps.

Its body continued to sway constantly, its star-like head tilting left and right, as if confirming something.

Although it lacked facial features, this did not mean Xurkitree was blind.

As an Ultra Beast, exceeding the norm was "normal"; since the other party clearly came with hostile intent, Luo Mu naturally would not just stand there staring blankly.

He directly chose to issue a command in a low voice.

"Hammer Arm."

"Lagu!"

Thanks to their long-maintained tacit understanding, the instant Luo Mu's command arrived without any prior warning, Swampert immediately began to act.

The moment Swampert darted out, a pair of fists overflowing with earth-yellow light moved continuously closer to Xurkitree.

Relying on some method to "see" Swampert, Xurkitree's swaying motion paused, and the six flat copper fingers on its hands aimed directly at it.

Seeing this scene.

Tapu Fini's expression changed, and it just opened its mouth to offer a reminder.

But Xurkitree's action was faster.

It was currently in a state of "Power Overload"; in just an instant, a thunderous boom exploded!

Countless bright blue electric currents, like sky-covering waves, surged violently forward.

Countless currents struck the ground, easily blasting out a large pit.

Yet even so, those currents were not satisfied; under Xurkitree's control, they hissed as they surged forward, as if intending to destroy everything before them completely.

Seeing this scene, Tapu Fini couldn't help but close its eyes.

This reminded it of what happened on that day.

The sky-covering Lei Ting released by countless dark figures was like a mad snake choosing people to devour; even as an Island Guardian, it could not withstand such power.

Even if only a single individual had come, it was still a threat that its current self could not resist—

But the explosion Tapu Fini expected did not occur; instead, after a solid, muffled thud, the piercing shrieks emitted by those lightning bolts began to disappear—

Tapu Fini opened its eyes, catching sight of the majestic Luxray shaking its fur, causing those follow-up blue Lei Ting that had lost their momentum to dissipate into the air.

And before the quietly standing Swampert, Xurkitree was firmly embedded into the wall, completely unable to move.

Was it resolved just like that? Tapu Fini stood stunned in place, completely unexpected that matters would develop this way.

"Buzz! Buzz!"

Xurkitree frantically twisted its body, attempting to break free, but it was utterly futile.

Seeing that it still had the energy to cause trouble, Swampert frowned, flipped its hand to deliver a supplementary Ice Punch, and only after seeing Xurkitree completely frozen and motionless did it abandon the idea of launching a third punch.

Only now did Tapu Fini realize what kind of person its other self had sent; compared to the relieved Tapu Fini, Luo Mu stepped forward to stroke Luxray's fur, feeling the numbness transmitting through his fingertips, and immediately furrowed his brows.

"This is a bit ominous—"

While muttering to himself, Luo Mu looked at the ice-sealed Xurkitree.

The process by which Swampert and the others subdued this fellow was not complex.

It was simply Swampert taking the main attack role, Luxray providing support by absorbing the large amount of current that could interfere with Swampert's attacks while its feet were off the ground, finally completing an instant kill.

As an Electric-type Pokémon, even if Luxray could not convert large amounts of electricity for its own use like an Electivire with its "Motor Drive" ability, absorbing part of the electricity to "recharge" and clear obstacles for Swampert was still within its capabilities.

After the obstacles were cleared, it was simply a matter of applying brute force.

It was just that some things still exceeded Luo Mu's expectations.

This Xurkitree, which was at best merely a vanguard scout, released an amount of electricity in that split second nearly equal to the electricity Luxray normally released when using its moves—

Luo Mu was unclear exactly how many Xurkitree were on this island.

It was just his intuition telling him that this abnormal situation regarding Xurkitree likely had a rather deep connection to the reason Poni Island had become what it is now.

At this moment, Swampert's cry called Luo Mu's consciousness, which had sunk into thought, back to reality.

Before the ice-sealed Xurkitree, countless blue threads collapsed like a spiderweb, forming a certain mysterious passage, slowly sucking the ice-sealed Xurkitree into it.

It was an Ultra Wormhole! Praising Swampert, which had vigilantly moved away from the Ultra Wormhole's range at the first moment, he waited until the Ultra Wormhole sucked in its target and vanished as if it had never appeared.

Only then did Luo Mu turn to look at Seeing Seeing Kapu, his gaze carrying a questioning intent.

The truth behind all these phenomena was likely known only to Seeing Seeing Kapu.

At the same time.

At the headquarters of the "Rainbow Happy Development and Construction Company," located on an artificial island.

Under the illumination of the lights, his meticulously maintained scalp reflected a gleaming shine; stroking his luxuriant beard, the man with a slightly ferocious appearance instantly turned cold-faced upon seeing the information displayed on the screen.

"Unit 1146 has lost contact, sent back through the Ultra Wormhole—"

He was aware that Seeing Seeing Kapu was still lingering near Poni Island.

However, the other party should have long since lacked sufficient power to repel an Ultra Beast, especially Vikavolt, which had been strengthened within his own power plant.

Does it have helpers, or something else? After a brief moment of thought, the man let out a cold laugh and input a string of commands into the screen before him.

A moment later.

On the continuous rocky mountains of Poni Island, the numerous Vikavolt densely "rooted" beside the massive cables lifted their heads.

A clear target point appeared within their perception.

Having accomplished all this, the man rose from his boss's chair, raised his hand, and released a physically robust Electivire.

"Any obstacle hindering my lord Brugen from making wealth will ultimately taste the flavor of despair."

"A rare Island Guardian should be able to pull in a large sum of funds—" Taking Electivire with him, Brugen walked out of his president's office.

At that time, those fellows had been unwilling to inform him of Seeing Seeing Kapu's hiding spot, but now none of that mattered.

He intended to personally go and capture the other party.

"First, we need to relocate our base, and we must do so quickly, immediately, right now."

"If my expectations are correct, this place should already be exposed."

Luo Mu rationally explained the current situation to Seeing Seeing Kapu.

"If you can trust me, then come with me; a base I found earlier should be sufficient for us to hide for a period of time."

Seeing Seeing Kapu remained silent for a few seconds, as if engaged in thought.

In the end, it still nodded its head.

"Puka-lai." (I will go with you.) "Good."

No translation was needed; Luo Mu also understood Seeing Seeing Kapu's meaning at this moment.

Considering that the other party had been able to find the Other Shore Ruins directly, he planned not to use the original passage, but instead to dig a new one directly.

With Swampert present, there was ample room to turn this idea into reality.

Before long, the rumbling sound of the ground trembling slightly echoed within the Other Shore Ruins.

As for Seeing Seeing Kapu, it silently followed behind Luo Mu, producing no excessive reaction to this.

Only Seeing Seeing Kapu itself knew that even though it had once deeply detested battle and hated all acts of destroying the island itself.

Yet nowadays, it had long since become numb to these things, let alone the fact that Luo Mu was doing this to take it to a safe location.

This human was quite calm, clearly understanding that rashly appearing in the outside world would make one easy to track, and thus chose a more prudent method.

Before long.

Accompanied by the final layer of rock being pierced through by Swampert, a withered forest came into view.

Because Luo Mu had first let Luxray observe the external environment through its foresight eyes to confirm there were no ambushers before digging away the final barrier, they did not maintain any excessive vigilance and directly left the mountain body.

After determining the direction, Luo Mu recalled Swampert, mounted Luxray, and extended his hand toward Seeing Seeing Kapu.

"We need to reach the base as soon as possible; your flight speed probably cannot keep up, can it?"

All along the way, he had been observing this Seeing Seeing Kapu from the parallel world.

The other party was clearly in an unprecedented low state; otherwise, it would absolutely not have allowed Poni Island to become like this.

But as for the specific truth, it would be better to confirm it only after reaching the natural shelter beneath the Sun/Moon Altar.

This time, Seeing Seeing Kapu did not hesitate; it accepted Luo Mu's invitation and rode together with him on Luxray's back.

However, due to Luxray's limited size, Seeing Seeing Kapu could only be held by Luo Mu, and carrying one human and one Pokémon would inevitably be somewhat strenuous for Luxray.

At this moment, Luo Mu somewhat missed Spectrier, whom he had sent to look after Ogerpon and the Eevee sisters; he wondered how things were going over there—

With various thoughts floating in his mind, Luo Mu's actions did not stop; he stuffed several cans of portable oxygen into Seeing Seeing Kapu's arms and instructed, "If the gas runs out, help Luxray replace them."

Seeing Seeing Kapu had peered at itself in the water for quite a while; it figured that simply replacing the oxygen should be within its capabilities.

Holding several cans of oxygen, Seeing Seeing Kapu only then realized just how unaccustomed Luo Mu and Luxray, as a human and a Pokémon from another world, were to the current environment of Poni Island.

If only I still retained the power to purify these things—

Accompanying the thoughts arising within Seeing Seeing Kapu's mind, Luxray took a deep breath, strands of electric current stimulating its muscles, and sprinted at high speed toward the direction Luo Mu indicated.

Not long after they departed.

A dark, pressing army of Vikavolt landed near the Poni Breakwater Coast, while in the distant sky, a helicopter was also flying toward this direction.

Luxray's pace was very fast.

Upon arriving at the base, Luo Mu immediately had Swampert seal the surrounding area with the move "Rock Tomb," leaving only a few minute gaps.

"Puka."

Noticing that this place was actually the Sun Altar, Seeing Seeing Kapu looked at Luo Mu with slight surprise.

After recalling Luxray, which was panting slightly due to some excessive consumption of oxygen, into its Poké Ball to rest, Luo Mu took out a Dive Ball.

Just as before, only after preparing a suitable pool did he release Popplio from the Dive Ball.

At this moment, Popplio was still fast asleep; the instant it saw the other party, Seeing Seeing Kapu flew excitedly to the poolside and gently stroked its body as if with pity.

Seeing Seeing Kapu could feel that Popplio's life aura had stabilized.

Even some congenital defects had improved; apart from the unavoidable contamination suffered due to Poni Island's environment, its condition could be said to be the best since its birth.

Seeing Seeing Kapu looked at Luo Mu gratefully, unsure of how best to repay him.

In a certain sense, even as an island guardian, Seeing Seeing Kapu inherits the simplicity common to most Pokémon.

"Alright, it will recover better resting inside a Poké Ball, so I'll return it now."

Having obtained Seeing Seeing Kapu's consent, Luo Mu took the initiative to end this brief meeting.

There were far more important matters demanding every second now; opportunities to grow closer would abound once the problem was resolved.

"Let's sort out the current situation."

Luo Mu and Seeing Seeing Kapu's gazes met in midair.

"Regarding my identity, you should know everything, correct?"

"Puka."

In response to Luo Mu's question, Seeing Seeing Kapu nodded gently.

Luo Mu narrowed his eyes and, without any beating around the bush, stated, "Then tell me the reason Poni Island has become like this, and who the culprit is."

"What exactly happened in this place to cause it to evolve into such a state?"

"Reveal the truth to me."

In truth, Seeing Seeing Kapu knew very well in its heart that it mattered not if it trusted no one else in this world.

But Luo Mu had crossed the gap between worlds and finally arrived before it solely to resolve the matter.

The other's attitude toward Popplio also demonstrated his character, while his easy defeat of Xurkitree proclaimed that he possessed corresponding Wu Li.

It could trust Luo Mu.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Seeing Seeing Kapu's eyes flickered slightly before finally solidifying into a trace of resolve.

A faint white mist, so thin it seemed it would scatter at the slightest breeze, rose around it.

However, due to limitations on its power, the mist could only be maintained within a one-meter radius around Seeing Seeing Kapu.

Within the mist, the figure of an old man slowly materialized.

Yet, under the illumination of the lighting Luo Mu had prepared for this purpose, the other cast no shadow beneath his feet.

The other seemed fully aware of why he was appearing at this moment, and an aged voice rang out within the enclosed space.

"Welcome, Trainer from another world, sent here by the island guardian, Seeing Seeing Kapu."

"This old man is Sofu, formerly the Island Kahuna of Poni Island; as you can see, nowadays I am merely a ghost."

"Regarding any questions about Poni Island, I shall recount all the truths to you, one by one."

(End of Chapter)