Her companions' fates were all unknown, and they had been sucked into who knew where.
Two Ancient Pokémon, as terrifying as natural disasters, had suddenly appeared before her.
And the stone tablet that might have recorded a solution was now buried beneath the rubble.
There was no way they could find it anytime soon.
"What do I do... what do I do..."
Hokuto's tears finally fell, her face filled with regret and fear.
"According to the inscription, is the world really going to be destroyed because of us...?"
Just as she panicked, almost breaking down, Lu Chen stood with his arms folded, showing not the slightest alarm.
"You really don't have to panic so much."
"A world-ending crisis? What if the historian who wrote this inscription was just bragging?"
"?"
Hokuto froze at Lu Chen's words, looking up at him through tear-blurred eyes, her face full of confusion.
Lu Chen spread his hands and said,
"The Super-Ancient Civilization didn't have phones or videos to record things. Everything relied on word of mouth."
Lu Chen watched the two giant beasts locked in fierce combat, his arms folded across his chest.
"So the great empires of the super-ancient era all loved to brag when they recorded their histories."
"B-brag?" Hokuto was dumbfounded.
She thought she had misheard.
"Were super-ancient records really all that slapdash?"
"Shouldn't they have recorded historical material in detail for future generations to consult...?"
Even her voice changed pitch, and for a moment, she forgot her sorrow.
Lu Chen helplessly spread his hands.
"That's how you modern people think. Most super-ancient historians did it part-time. You were lucky if they bothered to jot anything down."
Hokuto opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
At that moment, Lu Chen's plain, unadorned words tore away more than half the mystique the Super-Ancient Civilization held for her.
Lu Chen ignored her reaction, his gaze remaining on the two super-ancient giant beasts, as though he were watching two rowdy pets.
"Besides, while these two Ancient Pokémon are fairly strong, on par with an average Champion..."
Lu Chen paused, his tone carrying an ease Hokuto could not understand at all.
"They're nowhere near strong enough to destroy the world!"
"Huh?!"
Hokuto wondered whether she had misheard.
Merely Champion level?
Although she was not a Trainer, as a professor researching the Super-Ancient Civilization, she knew a little about modern Pokémon power rankings.
Champion level!
That was a level of strength only Trainers at the very pinnacle of an entire region could possess.
A single Champion level Pokémon was enough to destroy a city.
Yet Lu Chen said these two super-ancient giant beasts, powerful enough to destroy the world, were merely Champion level?
Still, looking at Lu Chen, who had been so mysterious throughout their journey, and the equally mysterious Gengar beside him...
Hokuto inexplicably felt a little more trust in him.
"You..."
Just as Hokuto was about to say something, Lu Chen had already turned to look at Gengar floating beside him.
After watching the giant Alakazam and Gengar fight ever more fiercely and begin destroying their surroundings,
Lu Chen sighed helplessly. After all, he bore half the responsibility for these ruins being discovered.
He certainly could not leave them unchecked, so Lu Chen said to Gengar beside him,
"Go on. Since one of your own kind caused this trouble, you can deal with it."
"Geh?"
Gengar froze for a moment.
A rare trace of helplessness appeared on his perpetually grinning face.
But the next second, Gengar abruptly raised his head.
He opened his wide mouth, revealing that signature wicked grin.
Dark purple light surged from deep within his body.
Those black markings began to glow, like patterns set alight, spreading from his neck to his limbs, then from his limbs across his entire body.
Then he began to grow.
Hokuto watched as the Gengar before her swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye.
One meter, three meters, ten meters, fifty meters...
His body burst through the ruins' remaining dome, sending rubble flying as moonlight poured through the opening.
Lu Chen's Gengar had grown as enormous as that super-ancient Gengar and super-ancient Alakazam.
Hokuto's mouth formed an O.
"Th-this... could this Gengar actually be an Ancient Pokémon too?!"
"Then just who is Lu Chen?"
Hokuto felt her mind go completely blank.
A change in size on this scale completely defied everything she knew about Pokémon.
Ordinary Pokémon could never achieve anything like this.
Yet Lu Chen's Gengar was still growing.
He continued to swell, his dark purple body blocking the moonlight and casting vast shadows.
By the time he finally stopped growing, his size exceeded that of the super-ancient Gengar and super-ancient Alakazam combined.
Before him, the super-ancient Gengar and super-ancient Alakazam looked like two cats standing before an elephant.
"Geh heh heh~"
Lu Chen's Gengar looked down at those two tiny "kinsmen" and let out a deafening, eerie laugh.
He floated in midair, his enormous body level with the surrounding mountain peaks, his silhouette clearly visible even from the distant town.
Hokuto slumped to the ground, looking up at the colossal creature that blotted out the sky, utterly speechless.
Lu Chen stood beneath Gengar's enormous body, looking up at the two Ancient Pokémon that now seemed so tiny.
"You're nothing but mere imitations, and you want to destroy the world?"
Lu Chen's voice was quiet, yet it reached Hokuto's ears clearly.
"Aren't you giving yourselves a little too much credit?"
Imitations.
Hokuto's heart gave a sudden jolt.
She remembered the inscription on the stone tablet, remembered the markings depicted on that deity's body.
If these two, the super-ancient Gengar and Alakazam, were imitations, then the Gengar beside Lu Chen was...
Hokuto did not dare follow that thought any further.
"Gengar, Hypnosis."
Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Wishing all you dear readers good health, success in everything, and a happy family reunion in advance.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
(.・ω・.)