"Meow!" Meowth's voice cut off abruptly, its fur standing on end and its tail going rigid.
"What's wrong, Meowth?" Jessie frowned and nudged it with her elbow. "Hurry up and send Ekans out. This girl might be an investigator."
"Meow! Jessie! James!" Meowth ignored Jessie, staring at Lin Hao with terror filling its eyes and its throat seizing up. To Jessie and James, Lin Hao was just an ordinary, reasonably handsome boy whose true abilities were hard to gauge. But through Meowth's extraordinary Pokémon senses, the pressure radiating from the boy choked off its breath.
Behind Lin Hao, dark rifts silently opened. On the left, an enormous bird wreathed in five-colored divine flames gazed down. On the right, a giant beast in green armor ground its fangs, its purple eyes fixed on Meowth. Over a hundred of them! Every last one was a legendary monster capable of flattening an entire continent! Their auras intertwined, winding around this boy.
"Meowth? Are you having a seizure?" James looked pale.
"A monster..." Meowth pointed at Lin Hao, its paw trembling uncontrollably.
"What monster? Isn't he just some pretty boy with a Pikachu?" Jessie shot him a sideways look.
"Run, meow! He's not human at all, meow!" Meowth let out a shrill wail. "There are gods behind him! So many gods, meow!" It could barely get the words out, tears and snot streaming down its face. Standing ahead of them, May glanced back at Lin Hao in confusion.
Lin Hao spread his hands, looking utterly bewildered. "I didn't do anything."
"What kind of sympathy act are you putting on?" May turned back to Team Rocket and raised her Poké Ball. "Stop trying to spook us!"
"Meow!" Unable to withstand the aura any longer, Meowth's eyes rolled back as it foamed at the mouth. With a thud, it collapsed.
"Meowth!" Jessie crouched down and shook it.
"Hey! Get a grip, Meowth! What exactly did you see?" A fine sheen of sweat appeared on James's forehead.
Lin Hao shook his head. Apparently, this Meowth's senses were so keen that it had detected those restless troublemakers in the system space. "Excuse me. Coming through." With his hands in his pockets, Lin Hao walked toward the Team Rocket Trio as though nothing had happened.
"What do you want?" Jessie stood up and pulled out a Poké Ball. "Ekans, get-"
"Shh." Lin Hao raised a finger to his lips without even looking at Jessie. He simply walked past her. As he passed, a heavy dragon's breath spilled from him-the trace of aura that had escaped when Rayquaza sneezed inside the system space. Jessie and James couldn't move.
The two stood frozen, cold sweat sliding down their temples as they held their breath.
"Let's go, May," Lin Hao said without looking back. "We have business to take care of. Leave these lunatics alone."
May stood rooted to the spot. She looked at the two frozen Team Rocket members, then at Meowth unconscious on the ground, before finally turning to Lin Hao's retreating back. "What exactly did you do to them?" She hurried after him. Lin Hao didn't turn around. "I didn't do anything."
Lin Hao yawned. "Maybe they've done so many bad things that they suddenly had heart attacks."
"Who do you think you're fooling?"
"If you don't believe me, why not go back and perform an autopsy?"
"They're not dead yet!"
Their bickering faded into the woods. A full three minutes passed before Jessie and James began gasping for breath and collapsed onto the ground. "What was that feeling just now..." Jessie panted, unable to keep her voice from trembling.
"I almost got swallowed whole." All the color had drained from James's face. The two exchanged a glance, then looked at Meowth, still foaming at the mouth on the ground. They didn't even bother with the Caterpie lying there. Hoisting Meowth up, they fled in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Lin Hao and May finally emerged from the dense woods. Ahead of them stood a building surrounded by a wire fence.
"That's the Viridian Forest research station Professor Oak mentioned." May pointed at the little red building ahead.
"We're here. This errand was exhausting." Lin Hao patted the package on his back.
Just then, with a buzz, the package on his back shook violently, giving off a dull thumping sound.
Lin Hao stopped, and May's expression shifted slightly. "Is there something alive in that package?"
"No idea." Lin Hao frowned. Professor Oak had only said it was an important package, not what was inside.
Buzz, buzz, buzz- The vibrations grew more frequent, and even the outer wrapping began to heat up. "Let's get it inside." Forgetting about resting, Lin Hao hurried toward the research station.
They had barely reached the entrance when the door opened. A man in a lab coat rushed out, his hair disheveled and his glasses thick-lensed. He held what looked like a detector, its red light flashing wildly. "It's here! It's here! The energy source is right here!"
The man looked up and fixed his gaze on Lin Hao's backpack. "Did Professor Oak send you?"
"Yes." Lin Hao took off the backpack. "Are you in charge of the research station?"
"I'm Researcher Ake! Quick! Give it to me!" Ake snatched the backpack and rushed inside.
Lin Hao and May exchanged a look and followed him in. All sorts of equipment were piled throughout the room.
Ake set the backpack on a metal table and unzipped it with trembling hands. Inside was a specially made insulated container. He entered the code, and the container sprang open with a click, spilling light.
May stared, stunned. "Is that a Pokémon Egg?"
A huge Pokémon Egg rested in the center of the insulated container. Its shell was translucent milky white, covered in intricate golden patterns that flowed across its surface. The moment the egg came into contact with the air, a ding sounded in Lin Hao's mind.
The system panel appeared automatically: [Warning! Unrecorded mythical fluctuations detected! Mysterious gene chain awakening detected!]
A chill ran down Lin Hao's spine. This thing's origins were far more significant than he had expected.
Ake's face flushed as he swept a scanner over the egg again and again. "This shouldn't be happening! These patterns, this energy level-they don't belong to any known Pokémon!"
Suddenly, Ake turned and stared fiercely at Lin Hao. "You!" He pointed at him.
"Me? What about me?" Lin Hao took a step back.
"That egg kept acting up the whole way here, didn't it?"
"Yeah."
"But now it's settled down!" Ake rushed up to Lin Hao. "It's responding to you! Your magnetic field soothed it!"
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm just some calming incense." Lin Hao waved him off.
"No! You must have a special constitution!" Ake grabbed Lin Hao's arm. "Stay and help me investigate! I need to draw some of your blood and run a full-body genetic comparison!"
"Draw blood, my ass!" Lin Hao forcefully shook off his hand. "I'm just a delivery guy passing through! Your package is here. Goodbye!"
Lin Hao turned and headed for the door. All he wanted was to get out of this damn place as quickly as possible.
"Don't leave! This is for science!" Ake shouted after him.
"Screw your science! I just want to take it easy!" Lin Hao quickened his pace.
May hurried after him. Just as Lin Hao set one foot outside the door, a sharp crack suddenly sounded behind him. It echoed through the room, and he stopped. Crack... crack... The sounds of breaking came faster and faster.
"My God!" Ake cried. Lin Hao looked back. The mysterious Pokémon Egg on the table had cracked open.
A dazzling golden light pierced sharply through the fissure. Boom! A surging shock wave erupted from the egg, instantly blasting apart the entire research station. The sheet-metal roof flew straight into the sky, and every glass test tube shattered at once!
"Holy shit!" Lin Hao yanked May behind him, shielding her from the flying debris.
Within the light, a hazy figure slowly floated into the air.
Ake pointed at the figure, his jaw trembling as his words tumbled out incoherently. "Th-that... what... what is that thing?!"
Lin Hao stared at the figure within the light as the system in his mind suddenly sounded a long, piercing alarm: [Warning! Unknown law interference detected!]
He barely dared to breathe. "Now I really can't just laze around, can I..."
Before you continue