Chapter 85

"..."

Only Phoebe listened to those people's awkward boasting, feeling rather strange. Even she hadn't expected it to end so quickly!

On the other side, Qiao Ran also met up with Lillie and the others, and they reported their situations to each other, especially Lillie... Qiao Ran was quite worried about her.

"Me? Hmm... that Trace seemed pretty weak, so I wasn't hurt at all."

Lillie waved her hand with a smile, indicating that she was fine. This wasn't because she had maxed out her defense, but because her opponent was simply too weak.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Qiao Ran felt a little relieved, but... Lillie said the opponent was weak, which meant she herself was weak too...

Strictly speaking, the basic abilities of these Trace are even stronger than those of the original.

"Alright, let's move on."

After regrouping, under Phoebe's command, the Research Team set off again. This time, they were to traverse a long alleyway, and this time, they would encounter only some normal traps and mechanisms.

For example, the Research Team had seen many of these things, such as ground subsidence, flying arrows, and Rock Throw. They quickly cleared away all the traps, and Qiao Ran and the others successfully arrived at the mysterious Altar.

The Altar was set up in a huge space, with huge, strange patterns carved on the surrounding stone walls. Each one looked like a bizarre, giant Monster overlooking everything around it. However, in contrast to these strange carvings, what attracted everyone's attention the most was the sword that was stuck straight into the Altar.

Even with a rusted blade and a broken hilt, it stands tall like an indomitable Hero, never falling even in the face of perilous situations.

"This sword is..."

Phoebe cautiously released a few Ghost Pokémon and flew up to the Altar with them. As the Elite Four, she naturally noticed the sword's unusual nature.

However, when she reached for the hilt of the sword, intending to pull it out to see what it was, she found herself subjected to a backlash of force. As if electrocuted, she quickly withdrew her hand.

"This is... this shouldn't be what I'm looking for..."

Phoebe looked at her injured hand and muttered to herself, "These are not what I wanted." She understood this after sensing the power within the sword.

How could that upright and awe-inspiring aura possibly be the Time Power she had been searching for?

The difference between these two is as vast as heaven and earth.

"I'm tired. You may continue on your own."

Phoebe shook her head, her disappointment evident. She simply waved her hand, indicating that she would no longer concern herself with the matter and that the other tasks could be left to the Research Team.

These team members will organize all the materials and hand them over to her. If there is any important information, she will not miss it.

The long sword stuck in the stone then received a lot of attention from many people. However... those who tried to pull it out seemed unable to do so, and some even suffered an electric shock-like backlash.

I'll go take a look too.

Qiao Ran pretended not to care and moved closer, wanting to try to pull it out herself.

He bent down, placed his hands on the hilt of the sword, and strained with all his might, even turning his face red, but in the end, it seemed that he had no way to succeed.

"My God... what is this?"

Qiao Ran rolled his eyes, and Lillie and Mei looked at him with helpless smiles.

"Fine, since we can't pull it out, let's just take the Key for now..."

Taking advantage of the others' inattention, Qiao Ran, with his left hand on the sword and his right hand lightly reaching over it, had already firmly grasped the Key in his hand. In fact, this was his real goal; he had come for the Key from the very beginning.

However—at that very moment, something completely unexpected happened out of the blue—

"Clang!"

A blazing light suddenly appeared, and an unknown object instantly slashed a gash at Qiao Ran's location. The gash seemed to open a dimensional gate, directly sucking Qiao Ran, who was closest to it, into it.

"...!"

"!!!"

Mei and Lillie, who were farther away, didn't react in time. Only Dianxi and Vulpix, who were closer, immediately pounced on Qiao Ran's position.

They disappeared with Qiao Ran into the suddenly appearing crack, and everyone present remained in a daze until everything was gone.

"What... just happened?!"

Phoebe, who was slacking off nearby, was also thrown into chaos and trembling.

In shock, not only Qiao Ran, but even the sword that had been stuck in the stone had vanished. What... what happened?

Is this... some new magic trick?

Section 162, page 159 [Singularity: 040]

"Singularity...040... Enter..."

Singularity Name: Extreme... Sand... End... Sand... Siege...

"Danger level... swish swish swish..."

"Target..."

"Uh-huh?"

In a daze, Qiao Ran felt waves of intense pain.

It felt as if someone had suddenly thrown him to the ground; his entire body ached.

He groggily opened his eyes, only to find, to his surprise, that he... seemed to have appeared in a wasteland overgrown with weeds?

The surrounding area was filled with trees and grass, and the smell of either a lake or the sea wafted over from a distance. Was this some desolate wilderness?

"Wait a minute... I think I was just... conducting a scientific expedition at the bottom of the lake? How did I end up here?"

Qiao Ran blinked in confusion, genuinely unable to figure out whether it was a dream or reality.

Suddenly, he saw two familiar figures beside him. They were lying next to Qiao Ran as if they were asleep.

"Dianxi? Vulpix?"

Qiao Ran struggled to stand up, but—only then did he suddenly realize that there seemed to be something hard stuck to his left hand.

No matter how he tried to shake it, the thing seemed to be bound to him, always sticking to Qiao Ran's left hand.

"This is..."

Qiao Ran took a deep breath of fresh, green air. Wasn't this the sword he had seen on that Altar before?

Why is she sticking to his hand like this all the time?!

"No... no, we have to get it off first."

Qiao Ran frowned, feeling that something was wrong. He tried various methods, but none of them worked on the sword. It was as if the sword had chosen his left hand and refused to budge.

"..."

Qiao Ran was driven to the brink of a mental breakdown by this thing, and even while he was making a scene, Dianxi and Vulpix woke up.

"Master... Master, you're finally awake!"

"That's great... that's great..."

Both Pokémon were very worried about Qiao Ran's safety. When they saw that Qiao Ran had finally woken up, they couldn't help but excitedly grab Qiao Ran's arms.

"What... what exactly happened?"

Qiao Ran was a little confused about the situation, so he asked them, hoping they might know something.

"Actually, it's like this..."

Dianxi and Vulpix exchanged a glance and recounted everything they had seen. In short, they saw Qiao Ran being sucked into a crack, which startled them, so they quickly chased after him. By the time they came to their senses, they were already here. Not only that, Qiao Ran had also fainted and had only just woken up.

"So... I was actually sucked into the crack? And after I came into contact with that Key?"

Qiao Ran's heart skipped a beat, and he realized something was wrong. Had he... been suddenly teleported to Singularity?

If it really is Singularity, then he won't be able to leave until he completes his mission!

"By the way, where's Rotom? Didn't Rotom come out to explain the situation at a time like this?"

Suddenly, Qiao Ran remembered Rotom's name. As a Pokémon with a very special status, Rotom was with Qiao Ran 24 hours a day.

"Rotom... it seems she hasn't appeared since Master fell into a coma."

"Never appeared before?"

Hearing Dianxi's words, Qiao Ran frowned. He opened his backpack and saw that, sure enough, Rotom was lying listlessly at the bottom of the bag, with the screen flashing messages like "low battery" repeatedly.

Furthermore, a Golden Key was inserted into her body, clearly indicating that the Singularity had indeed been activated...

"Rotom? Rotom?"

Qiao Ran was startled by her situation and quickly extended her left hand...

"Click."

However, Qiao Ran's left hand did not rise as he wished. Instead, his Long Sword swept across the ground, picking up a pile of grass.

Seeing the scene before him, Qiao Ran's face darkened. What the hell was this???

What the heck???

Unable to reach out, he had no choice but to place Rotom on the back of his left hand, using this special position to transfer the Tokiwa Power to her body.

"Cough... cough cough... Master..."

Gradually, Rotom's condition seemed to improve slightly, but she still couldn't form complete sentences.

"Let me rest for a bit... It seems... there's no way to replenish some special energy like this... The previous consumption was too great... rustling..."

"As long as we keep moving forward... rustling... hope will continue to extend..."

Having exhausted all her strength, Rotom fell asleep before she could finish her sentence, while her screen flashed the message "Please Charge."

The sign reads "Please Charge".

"Lo--To-M--!"

Holding the now lifeless Rotom, Qiao Ran couldn't help but shout her name.

--Then, within a minute, she was put back into the backpack.

"Let's look around for a place to Charge... If that doesn't work, maybe try using an Electric-type Pokémon to see if that solves the problem."

Qiao Ran muttered to himself, the current situation was very special, and this was the only solution he could come up with.

"Electric-type Pokémon?"

Suddenly, just as Qiao Ran was talking to himself, a voice came from behind him—a female voice that Qiao Ran had never heard before.

It sounds somewhat naive, but it contains immense strength.

"Where... are you, Survivor from?"

"Who?"

Qiao Ran turned around warily and was shocked to find that behind him was a girl with Black Twin-Tailed Girl, a strange hairstyle, and a somewhat high hairline.

Behind her stood a large group of men and women dressed in a very flamboyant and outlandish style. They were all holding strange instruments that looked like trumpets, playing them loudly. Some were even holding half of the girl's portrait tapestry and swinging it wildly in the air.

"This is..."

This strange outfit... this bizarre art style...

Qiao Ran's expression instantly became fascinating; without a doubt, he knew the identities of these people and the girl.

She is...

"Hero!!"

However, to Qiao Ran's surprise, after he turned around, the girl shouted even more excitedly than he did.

She even stepped forward expressionlessly and excitedly grasped his left hand.

"This sword is... absolutely certain... absolutely certain!"

Her eyes shone with excitement, but her expression remained as expressionless as ever... or rather, indifferent.

"You... are the true Hero!!!"

Marnie

Section 163, page 160 [Galar: Spikemuth]

Upon hearing the girl's fantastical title, a huge question mark immediately appeared on Qiao Ran's mind.

Hero...?