Red and the Idol

"Did you find a clue to the energy inside Jikan?"

Whitley asked with concern. Of course she was concerned because Diana had similar energy fluctuations in her body and it was impossible for an individual to really treat it with the usual care when it was connected to someone close to them.

Rope nodded and looked at Diana then said, "While I haven't looked closely at the issue on you Diana, the odds are different."

"The ones on Jikan are very rough on sealing for this kind of energy. Once the seal is anything but a minor problem, it all immediately evolves into a major problem...and eventually a thousand-mile dike collapses into an ant hole."

"And the seal on you manifests completely differently than his. It's much more refined. It even gives you some possibility of controlling this energy. So basically you can conclude that this is the handiwork of two people, one is the original creator of this technique, or someone skilled in applying it. And the other is just a poor imitator, or even a half-knowledgeable guy."

Rope spoke with the same nonchalance, even a hint of mockery on his face. But Whitley could still see the gravity on Rope's face.

After all, this amounted to two more completely uncontrolled variables in the plan.

Hell knows how many years these two guys had been plotting these insta-energies.

Rope looked down at the ball of Evil Origin Energy in his hand, a thoughtful glint in his eyes. Guess there's always one of them that's going to be out of control for a bit without this thing.

Come on. Let's both face each other.

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Somewhere in a hut

The young man looked at a black gemstone ring on his hand that had dulled, a puzzled and angry look in his eyes.

"Something's wrong with the evil energy? How is that possible? That stupid bastard couldn't have been killed. No, even if he was stupidly killed, then something shouldn't have gone wrong with the energy in his body...my seal is so strong, how could something go wrong?!"

Although a little out of sorts, the man quickly regained his composure. Taking out a box from the cabinet of the hut, he then looked at the eight rings inside, and seeing that they were all still in their original state, he also let go of his heart.

If something goes wrong, then something goes wrong, it's just a matter of resealing in the past. Originally sealed in the body of that little guy is only a stopgap measure, at that time did not find a suitable carrier, now then or find a suitable carrier sealed it.

Thinking this way, the man also made up his mind. However, he was not in a hurry.

He glanced through the window at the small boat moored in the small river outside the window, and a look of satisfaction appeared in the bottom of his eyes.

Finally, he had gotten a boat...Hell knows why that village in the Ground System Origin managed to lose all their boats. Last time he narrowly missed out on being a snack for Basculegion.

This time with the boat he'd be able to pocket the Ground type Origin as well.

But unfortunately, there was nothing so far from the Grass, Fairy, Normal, Bug, Electric, Fire, and Dragon type.

He had also been to the Grass type's village, but sadly found nothing. Most of the attributes didn't have the same kind of limitations as the Grass lineage. Grass-type people themselves could walk around...so it was only natural that they couldn't find anyone right now. But it wasn't normal for the energy source to be missing as well...

As for the other villages...he hadn't been able to find the addresses of the villages at all...

These villages seemed to have disappeared into the corners of the world. Or maybe they just never appeared at all.

Such was the way of retention. One village only knew the existence and location of another, and as soon as one village was exterminated, then many villages after that were lost. It was impossible to find it no matter how much you searched.

"Never mind that much. After collecting the ground system's energy and the grass system's energy. I'll absorb them all first."

A determined look appeared in the young man's eyes. He had already made up his mind.

He had been working towards this goal for more than a hundred years, and finally the time had come when he was about to reap the rewards. Moreover... he always felt that he couldn't wait any longer. There was no telling how long he could hide his secret if all those gods appeared.

Moreover...if the world was already like this, wasn't it the best time for him to shine?

He had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

——————————————

"Have you heard of the legend of the flute?"

A young man in a black cloak was squatting in front of an old man and asked with a light smile.

The old man looked at the fairly pleasant face in front of him and smiled, "There was once a legend about the flute here. But what exactly that legend of the flute is, it's impossible to say now."

"Master, I'm a mythologist, I've been studying these things lately, not a bad person, this is my ID, take a look."

The black-robed man smiled and pulled out an ID from the backpack behind himself. What was written on it was Oak Research Institute Researcher.

The grandfather took the ID, then carefully examined the ID, and then looked at the young man in front of him.

"Rather a real ID..."

Red smiled, it must be real ah, this is what he asked Professor Oak to prepare for him personally. It was only the Professor Oak of another world.

He had anticipated that if he came to this world, these documents would be something he could use. Plus, he had already brought so much money and resources with him. But it was just a few documents that didn't take up much space or weight. If you use them, they'll be of great use.

"But I was right before...no matter who asks...I don't know the legend of the flute. I've only heard the old guys in the village who have long since been buried in the earth mention that there were flutes in the village back in the day. But I don't have any interest in such myths."

The old man helplessly and impatiently told the truth.

"And you people are really annoying, you came here, and I don't know how many other people came here before to ask me this question."

"You tell them you don't know and they don't disbelieve you?"

The smile on Red's face instead became more natural.

The old man slanted a glance at Red and said without any goodwill, "Old man I can see that your boy just doesn't believe me."

Red smiled and did not say anything, neither affirming nor denying.

The old man shook his head somewhat helplessly and said, "I don't know what you guys are after, but you shouldn't think of harming me either. I'm the only one left in the entire village now. If you dare to touch me, the God of Creation will really send down divine punishment."

"Arceus' divine punishment? It seems like it doesn't know how scary it sounds."

Hearing this, the old man rolled his eyes and raised his head to look at the sun before getting up and saying, "Believe it or not."

Then he walked towards the depths of the village.

"Where are you going old man?!"

Red asked as he opened his mouth.

"Sacrifice."

The old man replied without looking back, just walking forward silently.

Red raised an eyebrow before following closely.

The old man was very old and walked very slowly, but it was really steady. Moreover, his breathing was very smooth, and he couldn't see any feeling of weakness.

Red was also somewhat secretly amazed. Seriously, even he himself did not have full certainty that he could be so robust at such an age that was quite a bit older than Professor Oak.

It was not only related to one's physique, but also to many other things.

"You're in great shape, old man!"

Red just followed the old man around, not worrying if anyone would recognize him. After all, he and this world's Red certainly looked exactly the same, but no matter whether it was the temperament or the details of his face, they were all carved by different fates that were completely different.

So even if the two stood face to face, it would be easy to tell that these two people were different.

"Praise the God of Creation!"

The old man did not answer his question, but instead prayed reverently into the void.

The corners of Red's mouth twitched slightly. It couldn't really be that Arceus had idly bestowed a blessing on this old man. Or a blessing from the domain of life...

For such a believer who seemed to know that he was of little value, there was no need to pay such a large price for a blessing!

Red didn't read it and it felt strange.

But given the idea that what was there was still best seen at the end, he followed the old man and intended to see what was going on.

From a distance, the old man saw the idol that wasn't that tall, but was very neat and looked like it had been polished often. From a distance, the old man knelt down, then silently kowtowed, prostrated, advanced, kowtowed, prostrated.

Devout and sincere.

How long he had been doing this routine he couldn't quite remember.

He only knew that he needed about 87 seconds to kneel from here to the near front of the idol, that he must press his back to the lowest level when he was prostrating, and that he had to walk about 789 paces to the lake to fetch water and then bathe after each sacrifice.

He also didn't care at all about Red's stopped steps behind him.

The moment his head carving knife hit the ground, all that was left in his eyes, in his soul, was his god.

Red stopped dead in his tracks, the moment he saw the idol he was first surprised, then skeptical, then shocked...

What was that? That was a statue of a god? Arceus?

No, why would Arceus be in a standing human form?

That's not right! Isn't this Arceus? No...the first thing I thought when I saw this statue was 'this is Arceus' This doesn't feel like it anymore. It's like it was born that way...

But...

His heart was a mess, but Red's mouth was just open, unable to say anything.

If this is Arceus, then what is that alpaca?

Is it my world that I haven't explored fully...or is this world simply different from mine?

Red was already questioning his own perceptions.

He was shaken, not knowing what to say, much less how to react.

If the image of the God of Creation was not even the same...then what other hidden secrets did this world have?

For the first time, Red had the idea of doubting himself.

But that thought didn't last long before it was interrupted by the sound of a crisp bark.

Red lowered his head and found a cute, oddly-shaped canine Pokémon sitting at his feet.

He was topped with white fur and a small horn, as well as a white tail.

Red couldn't tell what kind of Pokémon it was, but this one didn't look dangerous.

"Woof?"

The dog cocked his head at Red, as if asking why he was here.

Red leaned down and lightly smiled as he stroked the dog's head, then he coldly looked at this idol in front of him, and after taking a deep breath took a big step towards the idol.

But before he could take every two steps, he felt a heat wave coming from behind him.

"Blasty!"Before Red could say anything, Blastoise leapt out of the ball. Then the instantaneous guard.

Red took the opportunity to look back and see that it was the same harmless looking dog that had just attacked him.

Red felt the power of the jet flame shot through the protective shield, and the corners of his mouth twitched... good lord, this dog's strength should be at the top of the champions, on the verge of legend...

This is a fucking dog! How could it be so strong?

Then Red reacted, he didn't know this dog either, maybe this dog is some kind of divine beast?

Red looked up and saw many Pokémon that looked similar to Braviary, except that they had colorful crowns on their heads.

Not far away, in the forest, there was a deer Pokémon that looked similar to Stantler, but was white in color...

These were all unseen Pokémon, but even if he hadn't seen them before, he knew that they couldn't all be Divine Beasts, because even a god's tribe wouldn't have so many members...

Not quite sure of the situation for a moment...Red thought it would be better for him to retreat first. So taking advantage of the situation where the dog stopped attacking, he hurriedly climbed onto Blasty's back and patted Blasty's turtle shell.

Blasty understood, shrunk his shell, rolled over, and fired at the ground in one fell swoop, turning into a stream of light to leave this place of wrongdoing.

Given that such a way of moving really involved a blind spot in these Pokémon's knowledge, they didn't react to the chase for a while. By the time they came back to their senses, Red and Blasty had long since slipped away without a trace.

That old man, however, was still kneeling before the idol with a pleasant demeanor, chanting under his breath.

"Great creator god, your light spreads throughout the world

Noble God of Creation, Your justice connects the ages.

Holiness God of Creation, Your goodness lives and dies.

Most high, most great, most holy God of creation, every corner of this world praises Your name.

We implore Your gaze, we implore Your forgiveness, we implore Your shelter.

We will walk through the world with Your glory.

Your devotees, thirst for Your grace!"

And then purple energy surged out of the idol and poured into the old man's body. The old man's body seemed to be filled with a dragon's roar. There were purple scales illuminating on his body, but soon all of them returned to peace. It was as if they had never appeared.