Chapter 750: Various Guesses, The Problem at Hand
Having learned all this from Scizor, Kazuya's mood was extremely complex.
To say how deeply saddened he was?
That wasn't exactly the case.
Because most of Kazuya's friends in this world had already died. They had passed away long before the Great Darkness event erupted.
The only ones who could survive were a few sufficiently powerful Pokémon like Scizor; the rest were all Gods. While ordinary Pokémon being tainted by shadow energy might be equivalent to death, Legendary Pokémon were different. At the very least, back when Kazuya defeated Shadow Lugia, the latter did not die; the shadow energy on its body had simply faded away.
Even though the shadow energy of this era seemed different from what had appeared in this world three hundred years ago, Kazuya firmly believed one thing:
"Gods" are not that easy to kill.
His Mythical and Legendary Beast friends couldn't be considered dead; they had merely temporarily lost their minds. The ones he truly needed to worry about were his non-God Pokémon friends. However, the number of such friends was not large. Those who were still alive... besides Scizor, there were probably fewer than five.
Therefore, the emotion of sorrow wasn't overpowering in Kazuya's heart. It was more a mix of unacceptability and anger. He couldn't accept that such a beautiful world had been reduced to this dilapidated state. He was furious that the world holding the happy memories of his friends and family had been completely polluted into this twisted reality by that shadow energy.
Furthermore...
Kazuya shifted his gaze to the Scizor in front of him. Even without capturing the other party's Aura, he could feel the pain and sorrow in his heart. He didn't want to watch his junior suffer like this.
But this wasn't because Kazuya deeply loved this junior as family... No. It was because of Scyther.
Although the time Kazuya spent with Scyther was perhaps less than half of the time he spent with Scizor, Scyther had always held a very important place and left a profound impression in his heart. Scyther was the very first Pokémon friend Kazuya truly connected with after his transmigration. They had not only fought side by side, experienced life and death together, but also stood back-to-back, shouting the slogan "Together, we are invincible."
Most importantly...
After Kazuya's death in his second life, Scyther carried on his will, protecting Liz for decades, helping her cross half the globe, and finally, lonely and far from his hometown in the Kalos region, met his own rather unhappy end. This event had a massive impact on Kazuya, leaving him feeling deeply indebted for a very long time. Because he valued his friendship with Scyther so much, he extended that love to Scizor, unwilling to see him in such an agonizing state now.
"Cipher..." Kazuya's eyes narrowed as he muttered the name.
The origin of the Great Darkness event was absolutely inextricably linked to Cipher in the Orre region. Kazuya was certain of this. He even suspected that this entire disaster was actually their doing. The probability that they were the ones who ruined this world was 99%.
The reason he left a 1% margin of doubt traced back to a mystery from 150 years ago in this world.
Back then, Kazuya was still a cute little Piplup. At that time, Lorelei suddenly received a "Rainbow Wing" falling from the sky, meaning she had been chosen by Ho-Oh as a Rainbow Hero and had to undergo the Rainbow Trial. But after meeting Ho-Oh, Kazuya realized that Ho-Oh had intentionally given the Rainbow Wing to Lorelei just to see him; the subsequent three trials were merely a formality.
After meeting Ho-Oh, Kazuya not only obtained some useful rare items and a precious Ho-Oh Feather, but he also received some news about Cipher.
It was mentioned that 300 years ago, while Kazuya was locked in a fierce battle with Shadow Lugia, Ho-Oh was busy in the Orre region wiping out the main culprit—Cipher. From what Ho-Oh implied at the time, Cipher should have been completely eradicated.
So, who orchestrated the current Great Darkness event?
Aside from Cipher, Kazuya couldn't think of any other organization or creature connected to shadow energy. If he had to force a guess, it would be the God of Darkness, Darkrai. In the stage of the Mystery Dungeon series, there was an existence known as Dark Matter, which looked similar to shadow energy but had different effects—at least it didn't corrupt Pokémon—and the final boss of that world was a Darkrai.
But Kazuya knew exactly what was going on in this world. Back when he traveled the globe as Empoleon, he had gained a profound understanding of it. He was certain this world had absolutely nothing to do with the Mystery Dungeon universe. Still, he couldn't rule out other possibilities, like a clone of Arceus going berserk and corrupted, descending to deliver divine punishment like in a movie...
Thus, Kazuya believed there was a 99% chance Cipher was responsible for turning the world into this state. But to know the specifics, he would probably have to personally break into Phenac City in the Orre region—the very place where, supposedly, no living creature had set foot since the shadow energy erupted.
By this time, Scizor had sorted out his emotions. He looked at Kazuya in confusion, hesitating before asking, "By the way, Master, you being here is..."
Though the sentence was unfinished, Kazuya understood what he meant.
"Ah, as you can see, I've been reincarnated. Because of Jirachi, I returned to this world." Kazuya sighed, leaning against the cave wall and rubbing his slightly aching head. "I need to find Big Cat."
"Jirachi, huh? The Pokémon said to be capable of granting any wish? I understand, but... what's the situation with Meowscarada?" Scizor nodded upon hearing this, then asked somewhat anxiously.
He had heard of a Pokémon like Jirachi, though he had never seen one with his own eyes. In Scizor's imagination, his master had been resurrected by someone utilizing Jirachi's power. It was probably a scenario like, [The believers of the God of Wood utilized Jirachi's wishing power to resurrect the great God of Wood from history] or [Humanity remembered the God of Wood who once defeated the shadow energy, so they chose to resurrect him, hoping he could crush it once again].
However, Scizor didn't care much about that right now. He even forgot that, according to his own investigations, there were no longer any "Gods" in this world who still retained their sanity, and the Wish Pokémon Jirachi was naturally no exception. The Jirachi Kazuya spoke of was not the same one Scizor was imagining.
Right now, Scizor was solely focused on the issue of Meowscarada.
To Scizor, Meowscarada was somewhat of a "senior sister," a "childhood sweetheart," and a "playmate from his youth." The two of them had an excellent relationship back then. Eating, living, and training together for three years, their bond was no less profound than the one between Kazuya and Scyther. So when Kazuya brought her up, Scizor's attention immediately shifted entirely to her.
"Big Cat disappeared from this world. I almost turned this world upside down and couldn't find her. By the way, since the great war 300 years ago, have you seen her?" Kazuya asked, feeling puzzled himself as he spoke.
He didn't think it was because he hadn't searched hard enough or missed her; Meowscarada had genuinely disappeared from the First World. At the very least, she had vanished from the era Kazuya was in at the time. But now... Jirachi had sent him back. This meant there was a high probability that Meowscarada was in this world, in this very era.
Or a small probability... she isn't here right now, but will arrive in this world and this era very soon.
In short, Jirachi's wishing power must have calculated that Kazuya could find Meowscarada here, which was why it sent him to this place. It was just that the greater the wish granted by the wishing power, the greater the side effects. What those side effects were, or whether they had already occurred... remained entirely unknown.
"I saw her a few times. We were both traveling the world back then, so running into each other was purely up to fate. The last time I saw her, she said she was going to the Sinnoh region. I haven't seen her since. I didn't expect that she had actually disappeared..." Scizor trailed off.
Kazuya remained silent. This wasn't exactly valuable information. With Meowscarada's speed, if she said she was going to Sinnoh today, she could be on the other side of the planet in the Kalos region by next week.
"Don't worry, Master. Ever since you left, that girl has been very driven. She's always been stronger than me, and smarter too. If I could survive, she definitely won't have a problem," Scizor quickly offered, trying to comfort Kazuya.
"I'm not worried about her safety. I'm just thinking about where she might appear. Jirachi's power sent me to this era, which means Meowscarada will appear in this era." Kazuya shook his head.
"Then... is it possible that Meowscarada went to Phenac City?" Scizor scratched his head, asking tentatively.
In his view, Kazuya had died because of the shadow energy back then. Therefore, Meowscarada likely held a deep grudge against it and might very well have actively sought out the culprits who created it to settle the score.
"No, she's not that stupid," Kazuya firmly shook his head, instantly shutting down that theory.
Meowscarada only showed her impulsive side when it came to matters concerning him. Although it didn't sound very pleasant to say, with Kazuya not around, it was equivalent to Meowscarada shedding her only weakness; she wouldn't allow something like hatred to consume her reason. Even Champions and first-tier Gods couldn't enter Phenac City. There was no way Meowscarada would recklessly charge in all by herself.
Kazuya felt that unless Big Cat was currently trapped in some special environment or situation, she was likely hiding somewhere, gathering her strength, preparing to launch a full-scale assault on Phenac City in the future when she was absolutely certain of victory. If it were Kazuya, he would do the exact same thing: build high walls, hoard provisions, delay claiming the throne, and take it step by step to achieve his ambitions.
"Then..."
"There's no use rushing things regarding Big Cat right now. I believe in her. More importantly, your problem is the one staring us right in the face." Kazuya raised a hand, interrupting Scizor.
Haste makes waste. Since he already knew Big Cat was in this world, there was no need to panic; doing so might only get him killed.
His gaze moved from Scizor's face down to his abdomen. There, a deep, cross-shaped scar sat prominently, continuously emitting a black, sinister aura.
Clearly, Scizor had been attacked by a magical beast, and the shadow energy had already invaded his body.
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