Chapter 147

"..."

Hoopa glanced at Genesect beside him, then at the number of troops in reserve behind him, and finally at the dragon opposite him. He felt like he was ready again.

That terrifying White Dragon's fighting power is steadily declining. If they continue their attacks like this, that guy will definitely reach his limit!

The previous Hilbert!

Pokémon shrouded in darkness don't have particularly complex thoughts, so Hoopa, tempted by simple considerations and the Captivate of victory, didn't leave immediately.

It wanted to win, to eliminate the world's greatest threat.

The battle continued.

As Hoopa had predicted, the White Dragon's fighting power continued to weaken, and the white area gradually shrank.

Hoopa, with its six arms raised high and a wicked smile spreading across its enormous head, led the Genesect army closer and closer, Minimize the encirclement and gradually devouring everything in its path.

We won!

"Bang!!"

Hoopa roared excitedly. Even in its demonic form and under the control of strange energy, it still loved to show off and would roar excitedly when it saw the dawn of victory.

However—just as it was so excited and happy, enjoying the joy of victory, a sudden change occurred.

The white area began to expand wildly, completely engulfing its entire body.

Everything happened in an instant, so fast that there was no time to react.

"...!!"

Hoopa's pupils Minimize instantly, and his heart pounded wildly.

We've fallen for their trap!!

It immediately waved its arms, expanding the Ring in front of it, trying to teleport itself out, but—it was too late.

The blue giant wolf, its jaws gripping the broad blade, was already slashing at its body when a black giant bird swooped down from the sky, slamming its massive, six-meter-tall body to the ground. Furthermore, a barrage of attacks— Water Cannon, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Power Gem, and more—were simultaneously unleashed upon it.

Its enormous body, in this moment, became a huge target.

The White Dragon, as if targeting it, flew directly in front of it and condensed a huge, blazing fireball.

Hoopa could only see the fireball growing larger and larger in front of him.

Finally, it filled its entire field of vision—

All it could see was the color of flames.

This time... we really fell for their trap!

Section 284, page 280 [Distributing]

Qiao Ran's plan was extremely risky; if the other party had been even slightly more cautious, they could have lost everything.

However, this is indeed the most feasible strategy at this stage. Reshiram has already used up his remaining strength, and in order to stop the losses in time, he needs to do more.

For example—eliminate that Hoopa here!

"Roar... Roar roar roar roar!!!!"

Initially, Qiao Ran only had a plan and an idea: to have Reshiram feign weakness to lure the enemy in, then take them down in one fell swoop.

However, to his surprise, the Hoopa was so cooperative that it had no chance to resist until Reshiram condensed a huge fireball in front of it.

That's too greedy.

"Boom boom boom boom!!!"

As Reshiram's power gradually coalesced, a massive fireball erupted, engulfing Hoopa's enormous body. After the crimson flames dissipated and the light faded, a huge crater appeared even in the floor of the Throne Room, with charred marks visible everywhere. Hoopa, shrouded in black... aura, also vanished into black smoke within the flames.

"Disappeared? Or did it escape?"

Qiao Ran stared blankly at this scene; it was completely different from the scenes after other Pokémon were Defeat.

Where's Hoopa? It was just here a moment ago, such a big Hoopa!

Could it be that Hoopa, in its final moments, suddenly had a burst of energy and used its spatial abilities to escape?

It didn't run away.

"It doesn't belong to this space-time. It's a product of the world's own Ideals, and like the Genesect, it will eventually return to its rightful place."

Reshiram snorted, offering his explanation while expressing disdain and dissatisfaction with these things. Falsehood is falsehood; cherishing what you have is the only true principle.

Surely no one actually likes an Ideals version of counterfeit goods, right?

Although Reshiram's words were still somewhat difficult to understand, Qiao Ran nodded. "... Is that so?"

Having spent so much time with Reshiram, he's pretty much figured out some of her points.

Reshiram's statement can be summarized as follows: These Pokémon are not real, so they will disappear when they touch her, this "real" entity.

So...

Qiao Ran's gaze swept across the hall, and sure enough, just like Hoopa, the Genesect that fell to the ground also emitted a faint light and gradually disappeared into the air.

They didn't experience the same intense "reality" as Hoopa, so these changes were delayed for a while. But as part of the "Ideals," they will eventually disappear here.

"Sizzle... sizzle sizzle..."

Inside the hall, the remaining Genesect, seeing this scene, all left the battlefield. With Hoopa, their highest-ranking commander, gone, they had essentially lost the will to continue fighting.

The once incredibly Uproar Throne Hall suddenly fell completely silent.

--Only ruins and devastation remained after the battle; the original appearance of the place was completely unrecognizable.

"..."

Qiao Ran watched the flying insects and considered commanding Reshiram to give Pursuit to weaken the enemy's fighting strength. However, after looking back at his own situation and that of the other Pokémon, he ultimately abandoned the idea.

--They were already at their limit, and no one knew whether continuing the Pursuit would unleash something even more terrifying.

For example... "that guy" that Reshiram keeps mentioning.

If Reshiram can unleash such combat power, then the black dragon that shares the same origin as Reshiram, which covers almost the entire world, must be even more powerful.

Qiao Ran will do everything in his power to seize the opportunity, but that doesn't mean he'll foolishly let his Pokémon take risks.

"... Everyone, you've really worked hard. Thank you all for your hard work." Qiao Ran murmured, a smile involuntarily appearing on his face.

Today's victory was truly hard-won.

Most importantly, they actually killed that terrifying Hoopa, which means the crisis in Hangcheng was resolved.

"Awooo--"

Vulpix excitedly jumped into Qiao Ran's arms and rubbed against him, while the other Pokémon laughed and snuggled close to him. As for Dianxi, she didn't do the same as Vulpix; she simply stood by and smiled. After all, she remembered that during the previous battle, it was her tough body that had caused Qiao Ran to be seriously injured.

She felt guilty about it. Although she never said it, she always kept it in mind.

At the same time, a voice rang out in Qiao Ran's mind.

Singularity:?????

Task requirements:???????

Status: Completed

"Rewards being distributed..."

"0%...1%...1.01%...1.02%"

"... So... that's it?"

"What did I accomplish? Was it because Defeat Hoopa...? Didn't I write 'nothing' before?"

Upon hearing the voice in her heart, Qiao Ran was stunned for a moment before slowly coming to her senses.

"Wait... why is the reward being distributed so slowly?"

Although the problem of this Singularity has not been completely resolved, the system's missions do not necessarily completely solve all the problems in the current region. For example, in Galar, it has not completely solved the problem of Gigantamax.

So, Qiao Ran was somewhat prepared for this, but—what's with the speed at which the rewards were being distributed?!

1.01%? 1.02%?

Does this mean it will take several days, or even months, to process?

"Oh well, never mind those things for now."

Suicune used its ribbon-like tentacles to help Qiao Ran to his feet, and Rotom Levitate in front of him, displaying the text that had just been broadcast in his mind on the screen.

"... Reshiram, how much longer can you hold on?"

"Three minutes," Reshiram replied.

"If we leave this world, time will decay rapidly... probably decreasing at three times the speed or even faster."

"That's one minute..."

Qiao Ran manipulated Rotom's screen, and a Portal opened in front of everyone.

Having completed the Singularity mission, Qiao Ran also gained the ability to move.

"One minute is enough to go back and clean up the mess over there."

Section 285, Chapter 281 [Battle Situation]

In the Real World, in Hangcheng.

Night had fallen, but just like during the day, the insect infestation in the city remained unresolved.

The hundreds of Genesect had exceeded the city's processing capacity, and moreover, they had undergone successive...

After the battle, neither the Gym Leader nor Yi Ruoyun had much energy left.

Not only do they need to recover their own stamina, but the Pokémon's stamina also needs to recover. During this recovery period, the bugs have already caused enormous damage and brought extremely serious consequences.

"Damn it... why did this happen!"

The Pokémon Center in Hangcheng has taken in a large number of injured Trainer, including Yi Ruoyun. Her arm was cut by a large piece of rubble while moving and is now bandaged.

However, looking at the battle report in the hall, Yi Ruoyun, who was wounded, still looked terrible. She had completely forgotten that it should be her day off.

"The Pokémon League said the other Elite Four won't arrive until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest... By then, this place will be a ruin!"

Yi Ruoyun fought those insects for a whole day and knew how powerful they were. Only Elite Four-level combatant could effectively solve the problem, and even then, it would take several of them!

"What about that 'legendary one'? Doesn't she live near Zhenze Lake? Could we contact her and have her come over too?"

Yi Ruoyun took out her phone and kept making calls, hoping that the Pokémon League could contact the legendary oldest Elite Four. Although the other party was old and his Pokémon battle skills had probably declined, this was a special time and she couldn't worry about that now.

"I'm sorry... Actually, we've been trying to contact her for a long time, but we haven't received a response. This has happened often before. She usually prefers to do her research alone and doesn't like to be disturbed... So it usually takes us several days to get in touch with her."

"However, the Pokémon League has already sent people over to inform them, and they should arrive there in a few hours."

The Pokémon League liaison officer's tone was full of helplessness. Of course, they also wanted to contact that Elite Four, but he was not someone who was easy to reach.

"What's the point of getting there in a few hours! Even if we rush over overnight, it'll probably be tomorrow afternoon by then!"

Yi Ruoyun's voice trembled with anger; how could all of them be so unreliable?

At this point, Hangcheng had essentially lost its defensive capabilities. Trainer with combat abilities were all exhausted, and Trainer with stamina were basically of no help in this level of combat.

"Where's that guy? How's he doing now?"

Feeling somewhat helpless, Yi Ruoyun hung up the phone and couldn't help but think of the boy who had suddenly disappeared from her sight earlier that day.

He really did go there... behind that strange Ring, didn't he?

Is that another space... or some other place?

"..."

Yi Ruoyun was initially a little angry, but now she was not so angry anymore. On the contrary, she was full of worry. If the other party really went to the enemy's "headquarters", the danger he would face was unimaginable.

In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this behavior suicidal.

"... well."

Yi Ruoyun grabbed her hair and sighed deeply.

As Elite Four, she felt utterly powerless for the first time. She couldn't protect either the city or her promising juniors. She had even been thinking about taking a vacation... Was that really a good idea?

Outside the Pokémon Center, announcements urging residents to evacuate were constantly playing in the city. The bugs wouldn't attack people, but they could still damage buildings, so getting people out of there was the safest strategy.

"No... we can't keep resting like this."