Yancy was still frantically working the controls for Dragonair, desperately trying to turn the tide.
But two fists were no match for four.
With a tremendous explosion, Dragonair was left battered and teetering, clearly on the verge of collapse.
Yancy stared at the backpack full of top-tier items that were about to disappear, then at her fallen partners, and nearly fainted on the spot from sheer panic.
So many precious things!
All of it was about to be gone!
Then, in the very moment Dragonair was about to go down, time seemed to freeze.
The roar of the dungeon fell away all at once, replaced by a silence as deep as death.
A single feather, shimmering with rainbow light, drifted slowly down from above and came to rest at the center of the party.
The gentle radiance it gave off instantly pushed back the surrounding darkness.
Then, high above the dungeon, the enormous, sacred silhouette of a phoenix materialized, floating in the air.
Its entire body blazed with golden fire, and its eyes shone like two small suns, radiating power and divinity.
Yancy stared at it, completely dumbstruck.
Who was that?
The figure let out a clear, piercing cry. The sound seemed to come from deep antiquity, carrying within it a force capable of purifying all things.
A flood of golden radiance instantly washed over the entire screen, like a warm rain of sunlight.
A miracle had happened.
Within that radiance, white light rose from Larvesta and Squirtle where they lay on the ground, and their HP bars, empty just moments before, instantly refilled to maximum.
More than that, every status condition was lifted, and even their depleted PP was fully restored.
As for the ferocious enemies surrounding them, they seemed overwhelmed by Ho-Oh's divine presence, each one locking up where it stood, frozen in place and unable to move.
Yancy blinked once, swept a glance at the countdown timer in the upper right corner, and immediately understood what was happening.
This was her chance.
Her only chance.
She shouted for everyone to run and charged for the exit, driving her fully-restored party through the precious seconds the enemies were paralyzed.
Ten meters. Five. Three.
With one second left on the countdown, Larvesta's foot barely grazed the shimmering light of the teleport portal.
The screen lurched and twisted, and the scene transformed in an instant.
The party had made it out of the dungeon entrance and back to the safety of the outside world.
Every item reward was secured, stuffing the backpack to capacity.
Yancy slumped back in her chair, breathing hard, her heart still hammering in her chest.
The chat in her stream had completely exploded, scrolling so fast the messages were impossible to read.
[What the HELL was that just now??]
[That entrance was incredible! I literally got goosebumps!]
[I don't think I've ever seen this one in any other game...]
[Who cares who it is?! It healed everyone AND stunned the enemies. If I were the streamer I'd be bowing to it right now...]
Yancy read the comments with a stunned, overwhelmed expression on her face.
She steadied herself, and then, with trembling hands and a nudge from the chat, she opened her bag.
In the most prominent spot, resting quietly, was a single feather radiating seven colors of light.
Item name: Rainbow Feather.
She tapped to view the details, and a line of golden text appeared.
Legendary Token: Ho-Oh's Blessing.
Each time you enter the Temporal Dungeon, you may use one "Divine Revival," which fully restores the entire party's status and stuns all enemies for 5 seconds.
Cooldown: One week in real time.
Reading those words, Yancy felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
Ho-Oh?
Was that the Pokemon she had just seen?
Without that blessing, she would have been wiped out just now, and every single item would have been lost.
She looked at the rare resources filling her bag, then looked at that gleaming, radiant feather, and thought back to that sacred golden light shining through her despair. The Legendary Pokemon she had encountered in the game before were powerful and awe-inspiring, but compared to this one...
This was the only one that deserved to be called a true god.
A wave of genuine gratitude rose up inside her.
She turned to her stream and announced that from that day forward, not a single bad word about Lord Ho-Oh would be permitted in her channel.
Meanwhile, Kairos sat in a private room at an internet cafe in Saffron City.
Kairos sat up straight, watching the stream of data flickering across the panel in front of him.
A single line in green stood out with startling clarity.
Intense emotional fluctuation detected: Gratitude. Reverence. Awe.
Faith Energy successfully collected.
Legendary Unit "Ho-Oh": Faith Energy Points earned by you: 1.
Kairos read the line, and the corner of his mouth curved slightly upward.
He stretched, picked up his cola, and took a sip.
Good. It worked.
Rather than disappearing after the "collection successful" message, the green data box began flashing intensely, as though some hidden switch had been triggered.
Kairos set down his cola, and his gaze locked onto the center of the panel.
Then, accompanied by a clear chime, a brand-new system notification appeared, glowing with a faint golden aura.
Detected: Host has successfully collected Faith Energy from a Legendary Pokemon for the first time.
Special Function: Legend Faith, unlocked.
System Note: By your actions, help Legendary Pokemon build their renown and prestige within the Pokemon world, thereby collecting Faith Energy.
Effect: Spending Faith Energy can unlock exclusive bonds with corresponding Legendary Pokemon, or grant special rewards from that Pokemon.
Current Unlocked Legendary Pokemon: Ho-Oh (Rainbow Feather), Faith Energy: 1 point.
Next Reward Threshold: 5 points.
Deeper Bond Unlocked: 15 points.
Reading the notification, Kairos raised an eyebrow.
So the Faith system was here.
He had seen hints of it before, yet this was still a welcome surprise.
That said, while Ho-Oh's current Faith total was a pitiful single point and seemed almost negligible, it was still a breakthrough from nothing.
As long as the game kept running and the player base kept growing, more and more players like Yancy would be moved by Ho-Oh, and the rate at which Faith Energy accumulated would only accelerate.
Kairos gave a small nod and closed the notification window.
For now, the priority was to make a trip to the Ghost World and check on Marshadow.
Since Ho-Oh had now appeared in the game and successfully stirred genuine emotion in players, the real-world Marshadow should be able to sense something by now.
Ten minutes later.
He stepped through the portal, felt that familiar weightlessness wash over him, and arrived once again in the Ghost World, with its twisting purple mist and warped, dislocated space.
All around him it was quiet, broken only by the occasional distant crack of collapsing space.
The moment Kairos steadied himself, a purple shape darted out of the mist like a ghost.
It was Marshadow.
Its large eyes held a trace of bewilderment as it looked at him, clearly wondering why he was back so soon.
It asked him what had brought him back, its voice appearing directly in his mind, laced with confusion. It reminded him that restoring Faith Energy was not something that happened overnight.
Kairos didn't bother with small talk. He simply gave the floating figure a calm look and told it to set the questions aside for now and try to sense Ho-Oh's presence.
Marshadow froze.
Then its expression turned even stranger.
Wait a moment. Was he saying he had already restored some of Lord Ho-Oh's Faith Energy? How was that possible? He couldn't have been gone for even two hours.
Marshadow had its doubts, but looking at Kairos's certainty, it decided to try.
It closed its eyes. Its purple body hovered gently in place, and the turbulent spatial distortions around it began to calm with each breath it took. It pushed its psychic awareness outward as far as it could, reaching for something.
One second. Two. Three.
Just as it was beginning to think this attempt would fail like all the others, its body gave a sharp, sudden tremor.
Marshadow's eyes snapped open. Those usually calm eyes were now wide as plates, filled with pure disbelief.
It couldn't believe it. It had actually sensed something.
The signal had lasted only an instant, and it had been extraordinarily faint, like a single candle flame in the middle of a storm.
But Marshadow was certain. That was Ho-Oh's presence.
That sacred, warm sensation was unmistakable.
Visibly shaken, Marshadow looped through the air twice in rapid succession before hovering back in front of Kairos and pressing him eagerly for answers. What had he done? How had he managed it?
Kairos shrugged.
The mechanics would be hard to explain, he told it, but it only needed to know one thing: there was Faith Energy now, and that was enough.
He paused, then asked whether, given that contact had been made, Marshadow could now pinpoint Ho-Oh's location.
Marshadow took a deep breath, steadied itself, and closed its eyes again to focus.
A moment later, it shook its head with a regretful expression.
The signal was too weak, it said, cutting in and out with no way to lock onto a specific location. On top of that, the connection seemed to be obstructed by something, and establishing a stable link would require more Faith Energy.
It looked up at Kairos, eyes sparkling.
He had a plan, right? If there was already this much, there had to be a way to get more.
Kairos nodded.
This was exactly what he had expected.
After all, the Mystery Dungeon game had only just launched. Even with its high player count, the number of players who had actually triggered Ho-Oh's storyline so far was probably limited to Yancy's group.
One point of Faith Energy being enough for Marshadow to catch a faint trace of a signal was already a solid result.
But this was not going to be a real problem.
Kairos knew exactly what kind of potential his game had.
Compared to the earlier Emerald and Dark Phantom titles, the Mystery Dungeon game had a far broader audience, and stories that touched players emotionally and showcased the bonds between Pokemon spread at a breathtaking speed.
Given some time. As more and more players advanced their progress and Ho-Oh's fame within the game world continued to grow, the Faith Energy collected would compound at an exponential rate.
When that happened, Marshadow should be able to find Ho-Oh again.
He told it to be patient. Two weeks at most, and they should have enough.
Marshadow blinked, then broke into cheers, spinning with delight and asking if it was really going to be that fast.
Kairos's gaze drifted across the dense purple mist still hanging heavy in every direction.
All that was left now was to wait.
The plan ahead was clear, moving on two fronts.
The first was here in the Ghost World, relying on Marshadow and the players in the game to finish purging the frenzied Pokemon and cleanse the environment.
Once that was done, Giratina should be able to emerge through the rift in the Distortion World and deal with the root of the problem directly.
The second was waiting for the Faith Energy to reach the threshold needed for Marshadow to pinpoint Ho-Oh's location.
Push on both fronts at once, and one of them would break through first.
With that thought settled in his mind, Kairos couldn't help stretching again.
He had been running on adrenaline for so long, designing games, monitoring streams, making trips to the Ghost World one after another, his mind constantly wound tight.
Now that everything seemed to be moving along on schedule, could he finally allow himself a little rest?
But the moment that thought crossed his mind, a system chime rang in his ear.
The sound stopped Kairos's stretch dead.
Another one?
He dropped his arms with a sigh and brought his attention back to the air in front of him.
There, a prominent line of red text was flashing urgently.
Special Invite Card Player Activity Detected.
Invite Card Unit "Mewtwo" has successfully cleared Emerald!
Kairos raised an eyebrow, genuinely caught off guard.
Already? That fast?
How long had it even been?
Even Cynthia had taken two weeks to clear it on her first run.
Mewtwo had already beaten it?
Though, thinking about it more carefully, it made sense. Mewtwo was the most powerful artificial Pokemon in existence, with computational ability and learning capacity that surpassed any supercomputer.
For a game like Emerald, it probably just needed to analyze the rule structure, adapt, and then steamroll its way through from start to finish. And it almost certainly didn't need sleep, so it had probably been playing in the Team Rocket base for most of this time.
Mewtwo really was something else.
Kairos shook his head, and before he could think it through any further, the system's follow-up notification appeared right behind the first.
Since the player was a specially invited unit holding an Invite Card and held a unique status, and since this was the first player to clear the special storyline, the Host was requested to immediately issue a personalized, custom-tailored clear reward.
A custom reward.
Kairos rubbed his chin and fell into thought.
What would be the right reward to give Mewtwo?
Resources and candies seemed like the wrong fit. Mewtwo was not one of those trainers. It was a genuine Legendary Pokemon.
So what did Mewtwo need most right now?
After a brief moment of reflection, the answer came to him, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
Of course. The answer was simple.
Freedom.
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