As one of the most ferocious kinds of Pokémon in the ocean, the Sharpedo species had had no shortage of dealings with humans in their previous world.
There had even been a period when the conflict between Sharpedo and humans had nearly rivaled the relationship between humans and Pokémon in ancient times.
There were two main reasons for this.
The first was Sharpedo's naturally violent temperament. Any ship entering the waters inhabited by a Sharpedo clan was liable to be attacked. As long as they encountered a vessel, the Sharpedo would inevitably rush over and take a bite out of it, making themselves thoroughly hated.
The second was Sharpedo's inherent value.
In reality, shark fin was an extremely expensive delicacy. In the Pokémon world, however, the fins produced by Sharpedo were even more valuable as ingredients than ordinary shark fins were in the real world.
Furthermore, ornaments made from Sharpedo teeth also had a market throughout the world.
As a result, it was only natural that certain ill-intentioned hunters eventually set their sights on the Sharpedo species.
Pokémon Hunters began slaughtering Sharpedo on a large scale. And as a species with an exceptionally strong tendency toward revenge, the Sharpedo naturally began attacking passing human vessels with increasing frequency.
This led to humans in the Pokémon world despising Sharpedo, while Sharpedo likewise came to hate humanity. Through this vicious cycle, the hatred between the two sides continued to intensify.
There had even been a period when many humans actively supported the illegal hunting and killing of Sharpedo, with some going so far as to petition the League to exterminate the entire species.
That approach was admittedly somewhat extreme, but it was enough to demonstrate just how serious the problem had become at the time.
Later, as the League developed further, taking into consideration Sharpedo's importance to the marine ecosystem, it explicitly prohibited the hunting of Sharpedo and afforded a certain degree of protection to their drastically diminished population.
However, the Sharpedo certainly did not appreciate that gesture. Decades of accumulated hatred were not something that could simply disappear.
"Shark!"
Sharpedo let out a piercing roar.
The hatred for humanity carved into the Sharpedo species' very DNA, combined with the resentment it had built up over having its food repeatedly taken away during this period, allowed Sharpedo to break free from its fear of death.
"Hm?"
Chen Mo glanced at the Sharpedo in the water with some surprise.
Normally speaking, since Aura represented a person's spirit, it naturally could not carry such an intense aura of death.
Therefore, Chen Mo's method just now had been the same as before. He had simply separated the portion of the Tree of World's Beginning's Aura that represented death—the Aura of a World Tree gradually approaching death—and imposed it upon Sharpedo.
However.
Although it lacked self-awareness, the Tree of World's Beginning was still a Legendary-level lifeform. The pressure exerted by the deathly aura it released upon ordinary Pokémon was naturally self-evident.
And yet, under such circumstances, Sharpedo had actually managed to break free...
Chen Mo glanced at the information returned by the [Eye of Detection]. Looking at the favorability value that had plunged beyond the floor and was now even lower than the negative favorability he had seen when encountering Electabuzz in the Viridian Forest, he silently nodded.
"I see..."
Beside him, Lucario watched as the Sharpedo approaching rapidly from the outer waters and asked,
"Lord Chen Mo, do you need my help?"
Chen Mo thought about it before shaking his head.
"Not for now."
Then—
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd and countless Pokémon, Chen Mo slowly walked toward Sharpedo.
"Shark!?"
(Hoho, you aren't retreating—instead, you're approaching me!?)
Sharpedo ignored the yellow-furred rodent sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder and yawning. It looked like a complete weakling.
Under normal circumstances, the moment Chen Mo entered its killing range, Sharpedo would already have attacked.
But Sharpedo was a Pokémon renowned for both its ferocity and cunning. While it occasionally lost its head in rage, its intelligence was by no means lower than that of other Pokémon species. In fact, it was considerably above average.
Therefore, because of the strange energy fluctuations filled with the aura of death from earlier, Sharpedo did not immediately launch an attack against Chen Mo.
And more importantly...
"Shark..."
Sharpedo looked around.
As the Sharpedo species appeared and the wild Pokémon fled away from the island, the human "ships" surrounding the area gradually drew closer, slowly forming an encirclement.
To be honest.
Before coming here, Sharpedo had not regarded the humans of this world as a threat at all.
After all, even the Kingdra clan guarding the Coral Sea knew that the humans of this world were nowhere near as terrifying as those of their previous world. And as a species that frequently roamed the seas, the Sharpedo had naturally heard quite a bit of information as well.
But when Sharpedo actually arrived here and saw the humans stationed on the island and aboard the ships, it realized that the situation was somewhat different from what it had imagined.
Not only was there that human emitting an eerie aura, but many of the humans on the island and ships were accompanied by all kinds of Pokémon.
Clearly.
Those humans were Trainers.
Sharpedo could not understand it.
Why had this world suddenly produced so many Trainers?
Just as Sharpedo was considering how to deal with the human before it, and how it might escape after succeeding, Chen Mo's voice sounded first.
"Sharpedo, since you hate humans so much, how about having a fair fight with me? If you win, I'll do as you say. If you lose, you'll listen to me."
"Shark?"
Sharpedo's crimson gaze fell upon the yellow-furred rodent sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder.
Chen Mo continued,
"Not Pikachu."
Having long anticipated that the human would say this, Sharpedo shifted its gaze toward Zoroark and Lucario standing farther behind.
Then it fell into thought.
Those two Pokémon did not look easy to deal with. Especially the blue one—Sharpedo had an instinctive feeling that it was extremely dangerous.
Besides, humans had always been exceptionally cunning. Their promises could not be trusted completely.
In that case...
"Sharpedo, you've misunderstood. The one fighting you won't be Pikachu, nor will it be Lucario or Zoroark."
Using Aura to effortlessly perceive Sharpedo's inner thoughts, Chen Mo smiled.
"It'll be me."
The moment those words fell—
Sharpedo froze.
And the crowd that had been silently observing everything nearby immediately erupted as well.
"Huh? Wait a second. Professor, what did Teacher Mo just say?"
Hu Chengliang thought he must have misheard.
But before anyone could answer—
The next second, Sharpedo moved.
It had been completely enraged by the human standing before it.
The murals in the Arthas ruins had already shown that, during the period of ancient history when the conflict between humans and Pokémon was at its fiercest, humanity had been completely at a disadvantage.
And why had Arthas been regarded as a hero by countless people?
To a large extent, it was because Arthas had pulled the human civilization of that region back from the brink of extinction.
Therefore—
Even the humans of the Pokémon world's ancient era had been weaker than Pokémon in one-on-one combat.
Not to mention humans in this world.
Sharpedo felt that the human before it simply had no regard for it whatsoever.
How arrogant!
Already extremely violent and prone to losing its temper, Sharpedo finally allowed its beastly instincts to completely overcome its rationality.
Every muscle in its body tensed.
Sharpedo burst from the surface of the ocean, its enormous body blocking out the sunlight overhead as its massive jaws opened wide and charged directly toward Chen Mo.
Dark-type energy surged wildly.
Sharpedo was fighting seriously!
Too close!
Countless people watching the scene involuntarily opened their mouths.
At this moment—
Many subconsciously forgot what Chen Mo had said earlier and instead hoped that Pikachu, sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder, would do what it had displayed during the livestream before: use Iron Tail to block Sharpedo's incoming Crunch.
However—
Pikachu, sitting on Chen Mo's shoulder, acted as though it had seen nothing at all, continuing to yawn lazily.
What the hell!?
Hu Chengliang roared inwardly as he anxiously rushed toward the beach.
Then—
He caught sight of the young man with his back turned to him.
Chen Mo calmly turned aside, smoothly evading the attack. At the same time, he slowly raised his right hand.
"That's...!?"
Hu Chengliang saw it.
Two streams of azure light spiraled rapidly into the young man's raised palm. In the blink of an eye, they formed a glowing blue sphere over twenty centimeters in diameter.
"Shark!"
The instant Sharpedo saw the human evade its attack despite the oppressive pressure of its Dark-type energy, it already sensed that something was wrong.
And when it saw the azure sphere forming in the young man's hand, that sense of unease immediately reached its peak.
Boom!!!
With a single fluid motion, the young man slammed the azure sphere violently into Sharpedo's back.
Vast amounts of energy exploded from the outside inward, violently ravaging Sharpedo's body.
Its entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Fresh blood, along with a considerable amount of the Pokéblocks it had eaten earlier, erupted from its wide-open mouth all at once.
But at that moment—
Sharpedo could no longer afford to care about its own condition.
There was only one thought left in its mind.
What the fuck is this!?
Before Sharpedo could figure it out, its body was violently slammed into the beach.
As the force crashed downward, the ground instantly caved in around Sharpedo's body, forming a massive crater.
Hu Chengliang, who had long since stopped running, stared blankly at the scene before him.
Like a Magikarp himself, his eyes went dull as his mouth slowly fell open.
The entire area fell silent.
Then—
All kinds of voices erupted from every direction like a roaring tsunami.
"HOLY SHIT!!!!"
"What the hell was that!?"
"It's the Rasengan!"
"Didn't someone just say that Teacher Mo's power is Aura? Wait, humans can use Aura to form energy balls with their bare hands!? This is fucking absurd! Absurdity just opened the door for absurdity—this is absurd all the way home!"
"Teacher Mo must have been possessed!"
"Fuck... A human forming an energy ball with his bare hands and beating up a Pokémon one-sidedly... Hahahaha, I get it now. I have to be dreaming!"
At this moment, not a single observer could remain calm.
Even someone like Professor Zhou had his chest rising and falling continuously, clearly shaken badly by what he had witnessed.
After hesitating for a moment, Hu Chengliang ultimately decided to approach Chen Mo.
"Xiao Mo, what exactly are you—"
Honestly.
Just as the spectators suspected, Hu Chengliang was beginning to wonder whether the person standing here was really Chen Mo.
Could he have been transformed by some Pokémon?
For example—
"That's right. I'm Zoroark."
"Huh!? So that's really it!?"
Hu Chengliang's spirits immediately rose.
If you were Zoroark, then where was the real Chen Mo?
Just as Hu Chengliang prepared to turn around and look toward where Zoroark had been standing behind them, Chen Mo's amused voice sounded again.
"Hahaha, Brother Hu, I was just messing with you. I'm Chen Mo—the genuine article!"
Chen Mo smiled.
"The energy ball you just saw was actually an Aura Sphere. You haven't seen me use that move before, but you've probably heard me talk about it. It's an advanced application of Aura Power."
"I've heard of it, sure, but isn't that a move Pokémon use...?"
Hu Chengliang became even more confused.
Chen Mo explained again.
"Although the vast majority of moves can only be used by Pokémon, humans can actually use some of them as well. The requirements are simply quite demanding. Take Aura Sphere, for example. Not only does it require an Aura Guardian to possess a sufficient quantity of Aura energy, but it also requires extremely precise energy control."
"I see."
(Actually, I don't understand any of that at all!)
His curiosity now completely aroused, Hu Chengliang was about to ask another question when Sharpedo, still lying in the sand where Chen Mo had slammed it, twitched slightly.
It's still alive!?
Hu Chengliang instinctively took two steps backward.
Chen Mo spoke softly.
"Brother Hu, stand behind me first."
A Pokémon's body was not that fragile. A single ordinary Aura Sphere naturally could not knock Sharpedo unconscious.
However.
Having just recovered from a brief blackout, Sharpedo—now with a mouth full of sand—was clearly still somewhat dazed.
The three great philosophical questions of a shark's life surfaced in its mind.
Just as Sharpedo was about to sink into a long period of contemplation, a voice from nearby interrupted its thoughts.
"Well? Sharpedo, do you still want to keep fighting me?"
Sharpedo's mind instantly cleared.
The moment it turned its head, it saw that exceptionally hateful figure again.
Baring its teeth!
Putting on a vicious expression!
"I see... I understand."
As those quiet words fell, an Aura Sphere even larger and brighter than the previous one began continuously forming in Chen Mo's palm.
Sharpedo froze.
An inexplicable terror surged wildly into its heart.
If the former owners of this island, the Tentacruel clan, were still here, they would surely be overwhelmed with emotion.
Yes! Exactly! This feeling!
Some humans are the real monsters!
Facing the human youth wearing that sunny smile, Sharpedo slowly lowered its head.
It had been defeated by human Trainers commanding Pokémon before, and that was one thing.
But this time—
It had been defeated by a human using his own power.
Sharpedo was completely convinced.
End of Chapter
Author's Note:
I don't know whether some readers might feel that this part of the plot is inappropriate—just showing off for the sake of showing off.
Well... Chen Mo really did want to show off a little. After all, he's only in his twenties, and now that he's finally obtained the complete version of his Aura Power, it's only natural that he'd want to show it off.
Also, there are actually two important reasons for this. Those are the real foundation behind Chen Mo's actions.
The first has already been accomplished in the chapter: using this method to completely defeat and subdue Sharpedo, making the Sharpedo willing to help him.
The second is that Chen Mo wants to demonstrate the capabilities of Aura to the higher-ups a little. As for why, that'll be briefly mentioned in the next chapter.
Also.
Under normal circumstances, it naturally wouldn't have been so easy for Chen Mo to defeat Sharpedo. After all, he is still human. In the future, Aura will be shown more through its ability to assist Pokémon.
The main reason here was that Sharpedo was enraged by Chen Mo's words, abandoned its advantage in the water, and charged out of the sea on its own. Chen Mo had anticipated exactly this and was simply waiting for it to come out.
Furthermore, Chen Mo also has Marshadow protecting him at close range. Sharpedo was never capable of injuring Chen Mo from the very beginning, so there was basically no real risk involved.
Just a brief explanation—and a bit more rambling—so nobody misunderstands...
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