Chapter 70

After receiving the revitalized Pokémon from Nurse Joy and placing the Poké Balls neatly on the bedside table, Huo La lay flat on the bed, his gaze fixed straight on the patterns of the chandelier on the ceiling, a worry out of place for his ten-year-old age quietly climbing onto his face.

The words and phrases from Dragonite perfectly matched the guesses he had buried deep in his heart, even outlining the contours of a larger, more complex world.

Arceus was indeed the Creator God, but what it created was by no means just this one Pokémon world.

Those parallel dimensions separated by space-time rifts might each follow the origin of "Arceus's creation", but had gone down completely different branches in subsequent evolution.

This point made his definition of "God-level Pokémon" completely shaken.

The division of "First-Grade God, Second-Grade God" he had defaulted to before obviously didn't apply in the world Dragonite was in—that world had no trace of Kyogre or Groudon, land and ocean existed since creation, no need for a "controller" to maintain balance.

But Dialga and Palkia had left traces in both worlds, did this mean that the laws of time and space were transcendent of dimensions? Were these two gods not "one in each world", but in the form of "the only true god", ruling over the flow of time and the structure of space in all parallel space-times?

Thinking of this, he remembered Giratina again.

Although Dragonite had never heard this name, just based on its status as one of the "Space-Time Trio" alongside Dialga and Palkia, and the setting of "in charge of antimatter" in legends, its identity as "the only true god" was probably also beyond doubt.

It was just that "Distortion World" that had been banished for years, was it some independent parallel dimension, or a "back reflection" that existed in every world?

If it was the latter, did its checks and balances relationship with Dialga and Palkia exist in all space-times?

"Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza..." Huo La whispered, his fingertips tapping the bedsheet unconsciously.

Dragonite's world didn't have them, but he firmly believed that these three legendary Pokémon must exist in the space-time he was in—after all, with Ash's existence, the trajectory of this world was likely the familiar context of "starting from Kanto, searching in Hoenn, chasing dreams in Kalos" in his memory.

Just didn't know, when these three giant beasts in charge of sea, land, and sky woke up, would they pull out more secrets about "world branches".

Compared to these grand world-view puzzles, what made his heart even more restless was the obsession hidden in the deepest part of his heart—himself.

Why him? Why did an ordinary corporate slave who died on Blue Star transmigrate to this Pokémon world, and accidentally bind to a system? Was all this a coincidence, or a deliberate arrangement by some unknown force?

Dragonite's experience of being wrapped up by a space-time rift was like a pebble thrown into his heart lake, stirring up layers of ripples.

Since the battle between Dialga and Palkia could tear open a dimensional hole, since the Ultra Wormhole could connect different worlds, did there exist such a possibility: as long as he could find the 'secret key' to control time and space—whether by borrowing the power of Dialga and Palkia, or finding a more stable space-time rift, he could cross those intersecting dimensions and return to that Blue Star with high-rise buildings and food delivery?

Once this thought arose, it wrapped around his thoughts like vines.

Since transmigration, he had adapted to the life of a Trainer, but when dreaming back at midnight, he would occasionally think of past memories and things; the street scenes of Blue Star, the smiles of his family, would still clearly appear in his mind.

"System..." Huo La called out silently in his heart, "What exactly are you? Is my transmigration related to you?"

No response, only silence.

Huo La sighed softly, turned over, and looked out the window.

The sunset of Vermilion City was slowly sinking, dyeing the sky a warm orange-red, and the calls of Pokémon came from afar, gentle and healing.

He knew that now was not the time to struggle—to touch the mysteries of space-time, he first had to possess enough strength, at least to be able to stand at a height sufficient to contact Dialga and Palkia.

"Take Lt. Surge's badge first." Huo La's eyes became firm again, temporarily pressing those worries back into the bottom of his heart.

The sunset outside the window gradually faded, and the night began to shroud Vermilion City.

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock..."

The rapid knocking sound hit the glass window like raindrops, dragging Huo La out of a deep sleep.

He rubbed his eyes in a daze, his consciousness still trapped in the intertwined dream of "space-time rift" and "Blue Star", until the second wave of knocking sounded, only then did he prop himself up and look toward the window.

The moonlight sprinkled on the windowsill through thin clouds, a Meowth wearing a black mask was hooking the window frame with its claws, its whole body hanging in the air, firmly tied with a thick hemp rope, its tail nervously curled into a circle.

The mask crookedly covered most of its face, revealing only a pair of rolling eyes, looking just like a clumsy thief.

Huo La sighed helplessly—except for those three guys from Team Rocket, no one would use such an outrageous way to deliver a letter.

He got up and pushed open the window, just about to reach out to pull Meowth in, when the other party suddenly shrank back, its claws quickly stuffing a folded note over, then pulled the hemp rope upward.

"Meow~ Leaving!" A low mutter came from under the mask, the next second, the hemp rope was pulled hard upward, Meowth's figure slowly rose along the wall, and soon disappeared into the field of vision of the second-floor windowsill.

Huo La didn't need to guess to know that the other end of the rope must be Musashi and Kojiro—this trio could always come up with such troublesome and completely unnecessary operations.

He closed the window tightly, turned and returned to the bedside, and by the bright moonlight shining in from outside the window, carefully unfolded the crumpled note.

On it was handwriting scribbled in pencil, the strokes so sloppy they were almost unrecognizable, only barely able to piece together the content:

"Lt. Surge—confirmed Team Rocket member, responsible for providing Electric-type Pokémon and intelligence, has direct contact with headquarters;

Sabrina—suspected of cooperating with Team Rocket high-level, Saffron Gym as a stronghold, specific relationship not yet investigated;

Koga—confirmed to be a Team Rocket member, Fuchsia Gym has long been transporting Poison-type Pokémon for Team Rocket, status not low;

Also: Boss Sakaki is indeed paying attention to Vermilion City recently, reason unknown."

Just a few lines of text, but it made Huo La's heartbeat accelerate instantly.

His fingers unconsciously clenched the note—sure enough, just as he knew, these Gym Leaders had a deep connection with Team Rocket; leaving Sabrina aside, Lt. Surge and Koga had already been confirmed as members of Team Rocket.

Looking at it this way, adding Sakaki's Viridian Gym, four of the sixteen Gyms in Kanto were already strongholds of Team Rocket, and they were the four strongest ones at that.

Lt. Surge was responsible for intelligence, Koga transported combat power, Sabrina involved high-level... Team Rocket's infiltration in the Kanto region was deeper than he had imagined.

As for that information about "Sakaki paying attention to Vermilion City", he wasn't surprised, after all, the Saint Tenu was in this port, and it was also the implementation location for Sakaki's next plan.

Huo La took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. These pieces of information were both danger signals and opportunities—figuring out the details of the Gym Leaders, he could lay out plans in advance when challenging them in the future.

He got up and walked to the bathroom, threw the note into the toilet, and pressed the flush button. Watching the note gradually disintegrate and disappear in the water flow, only then did Huo La turn and return to the bedroom, lying back on the bed.

Since he now knew that Lt. Surge was indeed a member of Team Rocket, tomorrow's battle wouldn't be as simple as "getting a badge". After all, he had a share of the credit for the research on super-ancient Pokémon, would Lt. Surge use the battle to test him?

A series of questions surged into his heart, making his sleepiness dissipate completely; he lay on the bed, his eyes becoming increasingly firm in the darkness, every step from now on couldn't go wrong, a slight carelessness, and the previous preparations would all fall short.

Don't know how long passed, a hint of fish-belly white appeared on the horizon, a new day was about to come. Huo La finally closed his eyes, and before the dawn came, briefly fell into a light sleep.

And what he didn't know was that at this moment in Vermilion Gym, Lt. Surge was holding a document, reporting in a low voice to the other end of the phone: "Yes, he has already arrived in Vermilion City... I will 'properly' entertain him."