Chapter 653: Reunion with Lugia and the Giant Dragonite

Even ten thousand hectares of seawater could not block the will of the colossal beast to reveal itself.

The first thing to break through the water's surface was a massive, conical horn.

Though it looked sharp and cute on a Dragonite's head, on this colossal beast's head it radiated a threatening aura capable of easily piercing through most things.

Immediately after, a pair of antennae comparable to power cables unfurled, followed by the head, wings, and half of its body.

That enormous form, along with the indelible trace of sorrow on its face.

It was none other than the long-unseen Giant Dragonite.

The waves stirred up by Giant Dragonite's ascent were so vast they nearly caused a light rain to fall over the surrounding area.

Yet the sea did not calm down just because Giant Dragonite had finished surfacing.

The seawater churned once more; a melodious cry, akin to a whale's song, echoed from the depths as a massive waterspout tore through the ocean surface.

As pristine white wings spread wide, the waterspout instantly transformed into countless droplets filling the sky, and under the sunlight, they framed Lugia's figure—pure, sacred, and seemingly impervious to any defilement.

"Long time no see."

While marveling at the grand spectacle Lugia created with every appearance, Luo Mu did not forget to greet both Lugia and Giant Dragonite.

"Aowu~"

Giant Dragonite raised its right arm in response, but forgot that given its size, even a gentle breeze from its wave would feel like a gale to Luo Mu.

It nearly blew Luo Mu right off the back of Moltres.

Fortunately, the solid form of Moltres stood firm against this gale, preventing any mishap.

Realizing its mistake, Giant Dragonite immediately lowered its head in guilt.

It was only after Luo Mu spoke to comfort it, assuring it that everything was fine, that it stopped feeling dejected.

On the other side, Lugia, whose size differed considerably from Giant Dragonite yet whose presence was impossible to ignore, also fixed its gaze upon Luo Mu.

Upon seeing him riding Moltres instead of Dragonite, a flash of surprise passed through Emperor Yan Di's eyes.

It had assumed that this time Luo Mu would also be riding Dragonite.

In that case, it could have properly tested Dragonite's cultivation progress.

Even if it still could not master its exclusive move for now, its control over air currents should have improved significantly.

After all, back then it had poured many insights directly into Dragonite's mind through the form of battle.

Noticing the puzzled look in Lugia's eyes, Luo Mu smiled, as if guessing its thoughts, and explained, "As for Dragonite, I let it stay home to rest."

After all, it was impossible to bring Dragonite along every time he went out; it needed rest itself, and besides, he occasionally had to bring other Pokémon from the farm out to play.

Though slightly disappointed, both Lugia and Giant Dragonite were beings with extremely long lifespans, so they did not react strongly.

If they could not meet this time, they could simply meet again next time.

They had plenty of time.

A brief exchange of pleasantries—no, to be precise, such a concept did not exist for Pokémon.

Those with telepathy would simply greet each other mentally; those without would let out a cry, rub heads together, and that counted as a greeting.

In short, whether facing ordinary Pokémon or a Legendary Pokémon like Lugia, there was no need for elaborate formalities; after exchanging greetings, one could proceed straight to the main topic.

"As agreed, I have come to take Giant Dragonite to find its companions," Luo Mu said after directing Moltres to lower its flight altitude.

"Aowu?"

Giant Dragonite's eyes immediately lit up.

It had been worrying whether Luo Mu still remembered their agreement and was considering whether to try reminding him.

It never expected him to bring up the matter so directly!

Giant Dragonite was eager to depart immediately, but Lugia suppressed its movement with gentle telekinetic force, then communicated via telepathy, "Wait a moment; I also have something I wish to discuss with him."

Hearing Lugia say this, Giant Dragonite recalled the things it had learned while following Lugia during this period; it blinked its eyes and obediently ceased moving.

Indeed, this matter was also very important.

After soothing Giant Dragonite, Lugia flapped its wings and moved before Luo Mu and Moltres, getting straight to the point: "I forgot to tell you earlier the reason I have been active in these nearby seas; may you listen now?"

"Ah, of course."

Luo Mu nodded, curiosity also rising in his eyes.

In his impression, Lugia should have been the type of homebody bird that liked to stay in one place without moving; he had wanted to ask last time why it had been so active moving around these several sea areas, but had accidentally forgotten.

Since Lugia wished to speak, Luo Mu naturally listened with rapt attention.

Organizing its words, Lugia slowly began, "I wonder if you have heard the legend of the Sea Creator beneath us—the ocean that created all the seas on this planet."

"Sea Creator?"

Luo Mu's eyebrow twitched; he had not expected to hear such a title from Lugia's mouth.

The so-called Sea Creator, just as Lugia had described, referred to a Legendary Pokémon that created this ocean or was the embodiment of the ocean itself.

In the Hoenn region, it was also a famously renowned Super-Ancient Pokémon from myth and legend; wherever it passed, torrential rains poured down, and the seas flooded the land.

Seeing that Luo Mu looked as if he understood everything perfectly, Lugia fell silent for a few seconds before slowly speaking again, "In any case, some time ago the steady sleeping aura of that entity began to fluctuate, appearing and disappearing, and now it has even become so faint that I can no longer sense it."

"It is precisely to investigate the cause of this situation that I have been moving through these nearby sea areas."

Originally, Lugia did not need to concern itself with what happened to Kyogre at all.

But not long ago, some problems had arisen with the ocean currents it managed; if the embodiment of the sea was also experiencing abnormalities, matters might develop in an uncontrollable direction.

This was the reason why Lugia, even knowing that rashly approaching the other's territory could easily provoke conflict, still lingered nearby.

"Just as I have members of my own kind, although multiple Kyogre exist in the world, I can confirm that it is the oldest among them that has encountered problems."

"You humans have more ways to obtain information than I do; regarding this matter, do you have any clues?"

Lugia stared at Luo Mu, its expression extremely serious.

Judging by Luo Mu's strength, he must hold a high position in the human world; based on the sheer number of these creatures spread across every region of the planet, there might exist information that it could not obtain.

Suddenly asked this by Lugia, Luo Mu was momentarily at a loss for words.

How should he put it?

Kyogre has been captured by us humans, although the one who captured it was a bad egg among humans.

Oh, right, they also want to control Kyogre and let the ocean cover the entire planet!

Luo Mu felt that if he said this aloud, Lugia's favorability toward most humans would plummet to rock bottom again.

But he couldn't possibly claim ignorance, after all, within this very timeframe, the conflict between Kyogre and Groudon was about to unfold.

Was there any need to hide it?

Luo Mu deemed it unnecessary, so after organizing his words, he laid bare everything Team Aqua and Team Magma intended to do.

"Heh."

After a long silence, Lugia emitted a cold, ambiguous sneer, seemingly mocking.

As expected, no matter how many years pass, greedy individuals who attempt to seize legendary power will still arise among humanity.

The intelligence Luo Mu recounted aligned so perfectly with Lugia's definition of certain humans that it didn't feel the slightest bit surprised.

Cover the planet with oceans? Expand the land across the entire globe?

Absolutely ridiculous!

Leaving aside the ancient wills of the two super-ancient Pokémon, Kyogre and Groudon, which cannot be controlled by the mere will of ordinary humans relying on man-made devices.

Even taking a huge step back and assuming they acknowledged the ideals of those two ambitionists and truly began expanding the land and sea.

Before leaving Hoenn, this action would be halted.

Even if some of their individual kin might be somewhat lackluster, the wills of these two cannot be mastered, even if the goals are identical.

Those ambitionists went down the wrong path from the very start.

After learning a few more details from Luo Mu, without bothering to ask how he knew everything so clearly, Lugia proactively requested to depart before Luo Mu even had to speak.

"Let's go; after all, Dragonite has been with me for some time, and before I enter hibernation, I still wish to witness the moment it achieves its desire."

Flapping its wings, Lugia completely abandoned the idea of probing deeper into the Hoenn region.

Even if those two big guys started fighting again, it had nothing to do with Lugia.

Once the impact grew large enough, naturally, those responsible for such duties would come to rein them in.

Since Lugia had said as much, Luo Mu cheerfully took the lead in guiding the way.

In short, as long as neither he nor Lugia got involved, the probability of the original plot changing was extremely low; it wasn't a big issue.

After helping the giant Dragonite find its companions, things in the Hoenn region should have calmed down, allowing him to return and soak in hot springs for a few days before heading back to the Paldea region to welcome the start of the term at Grandma Ju Zi Academy.

With the Kanto seas as their destination, one human and three Pokémon began their journey.

Along the way, Luo Mu voiced a doubt he had long harbored and sought Lugia's opinion.

While maintaining a steady flight speed, upon hearing such an interesting matter, Lugia "raised an eyebrow" and looked at Moltres with great interest.

"Oh? You mean it possesses Sacred Fire within its body?"

Even with the accelerating search and guidance provided by the ever-faster Ninjask, Hearing Hearing Nimo still took nearly ten minutes to walk from inside the not-so-large island forest to its edge.

"It's fine, I don't blame you."

Although his face remained cold, Shinji did not speak harshly to Ninjask; instead, he voiced words of comfort.

Compared to his counterpart from another world, the current Shinji, under Luo Mu's intentional guidance, placed greater emphasis on the Pokémon's own emotions and no longer harbored thoughts of casually catching and releasing or selecting only the best.

He knew very well that even if Ninjask had found Hearing Hearing Nimo at maximum speed, given Hearing Hearing Nimo's weakling stamina, returning within ten-plus minutes was already a stroke of luck.

Ninjask was not a Pokémon capable of being ridden or carrying people in flight; with dead weight in tow, there was absolutely no need for self-reproach.

Hearing Shinji's comfort, the dejected Ninjask instantly became cheerful.

Beside them, Shizuka briefly explained to Hearing Hearing Nimo the analysis she and Shinji had conducted while waiting just now.

"Oh? You mean a Team Aqua submarine just appeared over there?!"

"So next, we're going to charge over, beat them up, and hand them over to Miss Miss Junsha for arrest?"

Hearing Hearing Nimo's focus and train of thought were clearly abnormal; although this should have been a shocking statement, Shizuka and Shinji were already accustomed to it.

Shizuka could only hastily correct her dangerous notion, "That could very well be one of Team Aqua's mobile bases; who knows how many Team Aqua members are inside? With such a vast disparity in numbers, we certainly cannot act rashly!"

Unless one is a Champion, who would dare to rush alone into an evil organization's base and unleash havoc?

Wait, isn't Hearing Hearing Nimo actually one!?

Shizuka widened her eyes, but Shinji nicely plugged the gap in her reasoning.

"Moreover, the submarine has already submerged back into the seawater; even if you wanted to go after them, there's nothing you can do."

Shinji, expressionless, laid out the cruel reality before the eager-to-try Hearing Hearing Nimo.

The fact was, among the three of them, they couldn't muster a single Water-type Pokémon capable of moving freely in the sea.

—Shizuka's Quagsire was also an aquatic Pokémon accustomed to living in freshwater areas; even if Quagsire could adapt to the seawater environment for a short time thanks to its Pokémon constitution, it couldn't carry three people.

It wasn't Lapras, after all.

As for aerial routes, the same statement applied: among the three, they couldn't assemble a single suitable Pokémon.

On one hand, the back of Shizuka's Skarmory was too smooth; on the other, its size could at most accommodate two people, one of whom had to be a small child.

As for Hearing Hearing Nimo's Decidueye... leaving aside the sports-idiot Hearing Hearing Nimo, neither Shizuka nor Shinji possessed the arm strength to persist in holding onto its legs.

Precisely because of this, their method of reaching the small island was via a chartered boat ferry rather than self-reliance.

Under these circumstances, what talk was there of chasing the trail of Team Aqua's submarine?

"We also wanted to immediately call the police and notify Miss Miss Junsha, but only after the submarine left did we discover there was no signal anywhere nearby; it was very likely interfered with by Team Aqua's submarine."

As she spoke, Shizuka's expression held some helplessness.

Currently, both her and Shinji's phones were out of range with no signal; it was obvious at a glance that Team Aqua intended to do something shady and had blocked surrounding signals just in case.

The three of them were now effectively trapped on this island.

Either wait three days for the boat to pick them up, or find a way to break through this predicament on their own.

Hearing Hearing Nimo was clearly the latter.

She was not stumped by the dilemma before her; instead, she proposed a completely new line of thought.

"Then we just need to ask wild Pokémon for help!"

Since the submarine was gone, she simply jogged back to the campsite to retrieve her backpack, from which she pulled out a small square box.

"Teacher Luo Mu said in class that when encountering difficulties in the wild due to environmental factors and there is truly no other way, one can try using food or other items to seek the help of wild Pokémon!"

"If we ask wild Water-type Pokémon for help, won't we have a way to leave this small island?"

Hearing Hearing Nimo's words immediately plunged Shinji and Shizuka into silence.

Indeed, Hearing Hearing Nimo was a hot-blooded battle idiot.

But precisely because of this sincere personality, she would listen attentively to and remember every single lesson taught by the person she admired.

What Luo Mu shared with them was always his personal experience from his travels, which had previously proven effective at many unexpected moments.

After a moment, Shinji, who always preferred caution, was the first to nod. "We can seek the help of wild Pokémon; however, the sea at night is still too dangerous. We will act first thing tomorrow morning."

"If we still cannot find any trace of Team Aqua, we will immediately return to Mossdeep City to report to the police."

(End of Chapter)