Chapter 99 — A Sudden Change, Evil Energy

Hours later in the evening, everyone gathered around the dining table in the small villa created by the all-purpose capsule, feasting heartily after their training session.

"Serena's cooking is spot on, it's just as good as Sonia's," Sun Wuming praised while wolfing down his food.

That housewife-like quality really matched Serena's character from the anime perfectly.

"Teacher Wuming, you're too kind," Serena said bashfully, raising her ladle. "Would you like another bowl?"

"Sonia - you mean the female professor who exposed the Galar royal family's lies and revealed the truth about the incident from 3000 years ago?" Karuna suddenly chimed in.

Thanks to that report with Zacian and Zamazenta, Sonia had gained quite a reputation in Pokémon research circles.

Of course, there was another important reason.

She was beautiful.

Ah, that's way too real.

"She and Wuming used to date," Marnie suddenly interjected.

Clang!

Serena's ladle dropped to the floor.

"S-sorry, I'll go wash this," Serena said with an awkward smile, picking up the fallen ladle and rushing to the kitchen.

Sun Wuming gave Marnie a hard flick on the forehead, saying irritably, "You talk too much."

"710," Marnie puffed her cheeks and stuck her tongue out at Sun Wuming.

Take that!

Karuna couldn't help but giggle, secretly giving Marnie a thumbs up.

Well done!

...

...

Early the next morning.

"Miss Karuna, are you leaving?" Serena asked reluctantly.

"Well, there's a mountain of work piling up at the League, but don't worry, we'll see each other again soon," Karuna said with a reassuring smile, then asked: "What about you all? Where are you headed next?"

A smile appeared on Serena's face. "Teacher Wuming said he'd accompany me to get the remaining four badges, while helping Diancie search for Xerneas."

"Can we really find it?" Marnie asked Sun Wuming from the side.

"Don't worry, it's not difficult," Sun Wuming said with a slight smile.

In his experience, finding Xerneas was much easier than tracking down Ho-Oh or Mew who roamed all over the world.

Xerneas's nemesis, the destruction god Yveltal, was known for having the worst case of morning grumpiness among legendaries.

Every time it awoke, it would devour countless lives.

And Xerneas would always clean up after Yveltal's messes.

Therefore, wherever Yveltal was, Xerneas would be there too.

And Yveltal's awakenings always caused such a huge commotion that finding it was child's play.

Another method would be through the outlier among mythical Pokémon - Hoopa.

Worst case, they could just ask Hoopa for help and have it use its rings to fish out Xerneas.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Sun Wuming's eyelid twitched.

Having spent considerable time with him, Marnie could tell something was wrong just from this subtle change in his expression.

"Did something happen?" Marnie asked.

"I sense an evil energy coming from about 200 kilometers south of here," Sun Wuming said, his tone growing serious.

Hearing this, Serena and Karuna turned to look at him.

"200 kilometers south? Isn't that... Aquacorde Town?" Serena's expression changed and her voice grew urgent. "Teacher Wuming, what's happening?"

Sun Wuming narrowed his eyes, sensing for a few seconds before saying:

"Hmm... judging by the energy's strength, it's not as powerful as Zacian, so there shouldn't be much to worry about."

Not as powerful as Zacian?

Hearing this, Karuna's expression became quite peculiar.

Zacian was among the strongest even among Legendary Pokémon.

Quite a few Legendaries weren't as powerful as Zacian.

That assessment really didn't help figure out the opponent's actual strength!

"You can sense things 200 kilometers away?"

Though Karuna knew Sun Wuming had real abilities, she couldn't help but be skeptical.

Even Pokémon skilled at sensing shouldn't be able to detect things that far away, right?

Sun Wuming didn't answer Karuna, his expression tensing up again after having just relaxed.

"Many life forces just vanished in an instant... was it that thing's doing?"

Hearing this, a strong sense of foreboding welled up in Serena's heart.

She quickly took out her phone and dialed her mother Grace's number in Aquacorde Town.

"Ring... ring... ring..."

The call wouldn't connect, and Serena anxiously muttered:

"Pick up, please pick up, Mom..."

"Maybe she just happened to go out without her phone. Why don't you try calling others?" Karuna suggested.

Hearing this, Serena quickly dialed the numbers of some childhood friends from Aquacorde Town.

However, the result was the same.

No one answered.

Serena grew increasingly convinced that something had happened to her hometown.

"Altaria!"

Serena fought back her panic as she called out Altaria, saying to Sun Wuming:

"I'm sorry, Teacher Wuming, but I need to go back to Aquacorde Town to check."

"Wait, how long would that take you?" Sun Wuming asked.

Altaria wasn't known for its speed to begin with.

Plus, to avoid the risk of wind throwing their trainers off, Flying-type Pokémon always flew much slower when carrying passengers.

"Should I call the League to send a helicopter?" Karuna suggested.

"...No choice. Serena, return Altaria," Sun Wuming said, rubbing his temples.

Though confused, Serena obediently recalled Altaria to its Poké Ball.

The next second, she felt a strong hand wrap around her waist, with an elbow supporting her bottom, lifting her entire body up.

"Eek!?"

Serena's mind went blank, her pure face instantly turning bright red.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Karuna demanded angrily.

This is hardly the time to be taking advantage of young girls!

However, on the other side, Marnie expertly climbed onto Sun Wuming's back, her small hands wrapping around his neck.

"Where's your mind wandering? You pervert," Sun Wuming said with disdain.

P-pervert?

Karuna's chest heaved in anger - no one had ever called her that before!

"Want to come along? There's still space," Sun Wuming extended his remaining hand toward Karuna.

Seeing Serena pressed tightly against Sun Wuming, Karuna began to hesitate.

She'd even use Ditto as a body double for filming movies - she'd never had such intimate contact with a man before.

"Tch, fussing like a girl. Let's go!" Sun Wuming made to leave using his flying technique.

I AM a girl!

Karuna screamed internally...

But Karuna's only Flying-type Pokémon, Hawlucha, couldn't carry passengers.

And who knew how long it would take for a League helicopter to arrive.

Finally, Karuna gritted her teeth and quickly walked over.

Whatever!

It's not like I'll lose anything!

Whoosh--!!!

The next instant, Serena and Karuna saw the forests and towns below rushing past beneath them.

Being carried in Sun Wuming's arm, they were flying toward Aquacorde Town at incredible speed.

Karuna looked up at Sun Wuming's profile right next to her in astonishment.

He, he can fly!?

Even the League's most famous psychic, Unova Elite Four member Caitlin, could only levitate.

Flying was too incredible.

And so fast!

And they couldn't feel any wind pressure from the high-speed flight at all.

Usually, trainers riding Flying-type Pokémon would keep speeds below 50km/h.

That's because the human body simply couldn't handle the air pressure impact from high-altitude flight.

What, what was going on?

"Wuming created a protective barrier using ki, that's why you can't feel the wind pressure," Marnie explained from her position on Sun Wuming's back.

Well, Serena and Karuna were still confused.

They didn't understand.

But at this speed, it should only take a few minutes to reach Aquacorde Town.

About ten minutes later.

"We're here! We're here! Teacher, that's Aquacorde... huh!?"

Serena pointed at the town below, but before she could finish speaking, she froze.

"SCREECH!"

A piercing bird cry echoed through the sky as an ominous red light enveloped the entire town, even covering the surrounding wilderness.

Under the red light, humans, Pokémon, and even plants - all living things had been turned to gray-black stone statues.

The faces of the humans and Pokémon showed expressions of despair from the moment they were petrified.

The scene was like hell itself!

"Mom! Mom!"

After landing, Serena immediately ran toward her house.

Then in her home's courtyard, she found her mother Grace's statue.

No, her mother who had been turned to stone.

On her mother's shoulder stood her mother's Fletchling, also petrified.

At her feet was her mother's other Pokémon, Rhyhorn, also turned to stone.

"Shauna, Trevor... and Tierno... everyone has been..."

Serena saw several familiar figures in the street - friends she'd known since childhood.

And they had all been turned to stone.

"What, what in the world happened?"

Even Champion Karuna was stunned by the scene before her.

"SCREECH!!!"

That piercing bird cry echoed around them once again.

Looking up, they saw the red light coalescing into a massive dark red bird-like Pokémon.

Its huge wings and tail formed a Y shape.

Cold eyes looked down at the four below, the demon horns on its head making it seem like a messenger from hell.

"So it was this guy after all," Sun Wuming said with an "as expected" expression.

Karuna called out the name with great trepidation:

"Yveltal!"

— — —

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