Chapter 740: Place of Lingering
Among the four Pokémon that arrived.
Slowking should have known about the "Princess of the Diamond Domain" and the "God of Steam," and might have even met the previous generation's Diancie and Volcanion.
As such, he certainly knew about the extraordinary nature of Diancie and Volcanion.
He understood that using Future Sight on these two Pokémon.
Would likely require paying a certain price.
As for Magearna, she was currently an inanimate object, and couldn't even be called a Pokémon.
She couldn't be targeted with Future Sight.
So at least on the surface.
The most suitable candidate for Future Sight was that ordinary Gardevoir.
Which was Kazuya.
Unfortunately.
Slowking chose the wrong target.
If the Pokémon world had a concept of karma.
Then the karma Kazuya bore would be ranked number one among non-divine Pokémon.
Moreover.
It might not compare to ancient Gods like the Creation Trio, Regigigas, or the Hoenn Weather Trio.
But it would certainly be more massive than young ones like the Tao Trio or the Kalos Aura Trio.
Although this might not be a good thing.
The lives he had influenced over these eight reincarnations numbered in the hundreds of millions, encompassing the living beings of two worlds and affecting at least tens of millions of years of time.
Every single life and every second of time within this.
Could potentially affect Kazuya's future.
Precisely because of this.
Kazuya's future was no different from other Gods.
It belonged to the "unpredictable" level.
If he hadn't promptly interrupted Slowking's Future Sight, and if his level in this life wasn't still only Lv.81.
Perhaps Slowking would have already turned into an idiot or a vegetable by now.
At this very moment.
Slowking lay on the ground with a pained expression. He struggled to open his eyes and looked at Kazuya: "It seems I have poor judgment. I didn't expect such a great deity to visit our Pokémon Village. Please forgive my rudeness just now; it was a necessary action. If you wish to vent your anger, direct it solely at me."
He couldn't discern Kazuya's identity.
But he didn't need to right now.
Slowking was worried Kazuya would take his anger out on the Pokémon Village because of what just happened, so he ignored the splitting headache and hurriedly apologized.
It didn't matter if the Pokémon Village lost a Pokémon like him.
After all, there were still creatures like Oranguru whose intellect could match Slowking's.
But the Pokémon Village absolutely could not disappear from this world.
It had nothing to do with the safety of the world.
It was just that the creatures here, including Jirachi, couldn't leave this village.
To be more precise.
They couldn't leave the invisible energy magnetic field covering the Pokémon Village.
"Village Chief?"
Jirachi's soft voice came from the side.
It lay on Slowking's chest, looking at him with concern, tears already welling up in its big eyes.
"You're overthinking it. If I wanted to settle the score with you, I wouldn't have interrupted you just now."
Kazuya casually spread his hands.
Just as he said.
If Kazuya felt offended by Slowking's action, couldn't he have just let Slowking continue using Future Sight?
Furthermore.
He knew what Future Sight could see.
It wasn't some ability that could directly pry into the target's personal information and intelligence.
Although it could be considered a bit rude.
It wasn't enough to demand the other party's life.
Most importantly.
This Slowking hadn't used his psychic powers to conceal his condition from the very beginning.
Kazuya believed that if Slowking could recognize Diancie and Volcanion, he wouldn't fail to recognize a Pokémon like Gardevoir.
Which meant.
Slowking didn't intend to be on guard against Kazuya.
Therefore.
Kazuya could sense Slowking's emotions using Aura—there was no hostility whatsoever.
It was mostly vigilance.
Worrying they would harm Jirachi.
"Thank you... I might need to sleep a bit. As for the specific situation..."
Slowking's pupils trembled, his gaze shifting to a certain figure in the tree canopy above.
Before he could finish speaking.
Slowking's eyelids uncontrollably shut tight, and his consciousness simply fainted away.
"This reckless fellow..."
A somewhat aged voice came from above.
A white and purple figure flashed before them.
The Oranguru Kazuya had noticed earlier jumped down from the tree canopy.
Oranguru.
The famous Sage Pokémon.
And a sage specific to the forest, enjoying meditating alone in trees, and even using Poké Balls to command Pokémon like humans do, earning it the strange nickname "The Person of the Forest".
Oranguru was a very troublesome type of Pokémon.
They disliked creatures that were too smart and couldn't resist repeatedly engaging in battles of wits.
But they also disliked creatures that were too stupid, feeling tired when talking to them.
Yet, deep down, they were gentle and would actively help Pokémon living in the forest.
In short, they were recognized by the League as Pokémon only suitable for experienced Trainers.
"Elder!"
Seeing Oranguru, Jirachi hurriedly flew over and anxiously pointed at Slowking.
"He brought it upon himself. Just ignore him."
Oranguru scolded irritably.
But despite saying that, he had actually seen Slowking's condition and wasn't too worried.
"So, about the situation Slowking mentioned, would it be convenient to let us know?"
Kazuya asked at this time.
He sized up this Oranguru.
He was over three meters tall. Judging from his appearance and voice, this Oranguru was even older than Slowking, but in terms of strength, he would be a bit weaker.
"Ah, I intended to tell you anyway. After all, we need to understand your purpose for coming here. It's better to be a bit more frank."
Oranguru exchanged a glance with Kazuya, then nodded. "Jirachi, go say hi to everyone first; everyone misses you very much."
"Mhm!"
Hearing this, Jirachi immediately turned and flew away with anticipation.
On the contrary, Kazuya turned his head and cast a thoughtful look.
"Everyone misses you very much"?
Jirachi's last awakening was a thousand years ago, right?
So "everyone" here were creatures that had lived for a thousand years?
Looking to the side.
Diancie and Volcanion hadn't realized anything was wrong.
"This village seems very special."
Kazuya muttered in his heart.
He then followed Oranguru into the tree hollow.
The not-so-large tree hollow was completely empty, not even having a bed; there was only a table and a few chairs.
"Then let me be the first to explain. About the Pokémon Village and Jirachi..."
Oranguru sat down on a chair by himself and began to recount everything.
As he narrated.
The worldviews of Diancie and Volcanion suffered a slight shock, and looks of astonishment gradually appeared on their faces.
Even Kazuya felt somewhat surprised.
Finding it unbelievable.
This Pokémon Village was actually a special zone located between the physical world and the spirit world!
The Pokémon living in this village.
Half of them were basically lingering spirits in this world!
As everyone knows.
Concepts like undead and souls exist in this world.
Whether it was the little girl from the spirit world in the anime, or Cubone's mother in the short film...
These all confirmed this point.
And Kazuya had even more say in this regard.
After all, he had not only seen spirits with his own eyes, but had even taken a trip to the spirit world.
He remembered during his third life.
He had once visited the Kalos region with Meowscarada.
At that time, they went to the Shionville Castle in Camphrier Town, and there they met Nia, who was lingering in the castle like an "earth-bound spirit."
Right now.
This Pokémon Village was equivalent to Shionville Castle.
And those including Slowking, Oranguru, and many Psychic and Ghost-type Pokémon were the "Nia" living in this village.
As for Jirachi and the other Pokémon...
The role they played was the "Cofagrigus" protecting Shionville Castle and Nia.
According to Oranguru.
The Pokémon Village was born about over seven thousand years ago...
Along with the birth of Jirachi.
And all of this.
Was the result of their own doing...
Over seven thousand years ago, because of the special environment of this forest, it was filled with Psychic and Ghost-type Pokémon. The former were mostly highly intelligent and keen on meditation and training, while the latter were mostly mischievous and loved to join the fun and cause trouble.
It was on that day.
A dazzling crystal fell from the sky along with the Millennium Comet, crashing straight into this forest.
At that time, many Psychic and Ghost-type Pokémon were attracted. They fought intensely to fight over that crystal radiating powerful energy. As a result, countless were killed and injured, almost turning this forest into a morgue.
Right at that time.
Jirachi, hidden in the crystal, woke up.
It felt the wishes of the surrounding Pokémon wanting to live, so acting on instinct, it fulfilled their wishes.
Let it resurrect the Pokémon that had just died.
It couldn't do that.
Perhaps only Ho-Oh could do that.
But it had other methods.
Jirachi opened the True Eye on its abdomen, absorbed the power of the Millennium Comet in the sky, and created an energy magnetic field spanning between the physical world and the spirit world.
Under the power of this magnetic field.
Some of the sufficiently powerful Pokémon who died in that great battle were able to let their souls materialize and remain in the physical world, instead of being drawn into the spirit world.
However, creating this magnetic field exhausted all of Jirachi's power, causing it to uncontrollably turn back into a crystal and fall into a deep sleep.
Looking at the crystal and the tragic forest.
The souls left behind realized their mistake.
They decided to build a new home in this magnetic field around the place where Jirachi slumbered, a place of lingering belonging solely to them, the undead—the Pokémon Village.
Up to this point.
This piece of history, at least on the surface, seemed to have a rather good ending.
But in reality, that was not the case.
As mentioned before.
Jirachi's power could fulfill wishes, but it required a price.
Although the souls living here retained their lives, they also lost their freedom. They could never leave this magnetic field, otherwise, they would immediately dissipate into nothingness, unable to even enter the spirit world.
And what's worse, the energy of this magnetic field could only last for a thousand years at a time.
Every thousand years.
Jirachi needed to wake up again to absorb the power of the Millennium Comet and recharge this magnetic field.
Only in this way could the Pokémon Village continue to exist.
Only then could the Pokémon in the village continue to exist.
To the Pokémon Village, Jirachi was their lifeline.
That was why the incident with Slowking earlier happened.
As the village chief.
He had to plan ahead.
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