Chapter 366: Ho-Oh's Prophecy! The Gravely Wounded Mew!

“Phew… phew…”

Zoroark gazed toward the place where clouds of dust were still billowing, breathing heavily.

Finally—

its body, already battered beyond recognition, could no longer hold itself up. Its legs gave way, and its entire body began to collapse uncontrollably.

At that very moment—

a pair of arms reached out from the side and firmly caught the falling Zoroark.

“Lord… Lord Chen Mo…”

“You did very well, Zoroark.”

Chen Mo smiled faintly.

“I…”

Zoroark was just about to say something when a rustling sound came from the distant cloud of dust.

Then another violent bout of coughing rang out.

In an instant, Zoroark became tense again.

Chen Mo, who had been observing both Pokémon with his Eye of Detection, supported Zoroark as he spoke softly.

“Don’t worry.”

The dust gradually dispersed.

A hazy figure walked out from within it, accompanied by a voice tinged with emotion.

“I never thought I’d get to see you again.”

“You’ve grown stronger, Zorua.”

These two sentences weren’t spoken in any language Chen Mo knew, so he couldn’t understand a word.

But Zoroark, supported by Chen Mo, recognized that familiar voice and those familiar words.

Its nose suddenly stung.

“Senior…”

“Zorua… No, I suppose I should call you Zoroark now. It’s been so lo—”

Lucario, walking out of the dust, suddenly froze.

According to its memories, Zorua should have evolved into a red-and-black Zoroark.

Yet what Lucario saw before it was a vivid mass of red and white.

Feeling the Ghost-type energy flowing around Zoroark, Lucario only needed a moment to understand what had happened.

Then it noticed Zoroark’s injuries.

Guilt immediately filled its heart.

“I’m sorry…”

As a Legendary Pokémon with a tendency toward support abilities, Jirachi naturally possessed plenty of ways to heal injured Pokémon.

However, to avoid attracting too much attention, Chen Mo normally only allowed Jirachi to use its abilities on a small scale.

Just like now.

To help the badly injured Zoroark and Lucario recover as quickly as possible, Chen Mo had Jirachi use Life Dew to treat them.

During the process—

the two Pokémon bathed in the healing droplets while rapidly communicating with each other in the language of the other world.

Chen Mo remained silent.

Simply by observing the changes in their expressions, he could tell that Lucario was most likely asking about everything Zoroark had experienced alone after they parted ways.

Lucario’s expression grew increasingly guilty, while Zoroark acted as though nothing had happened, seemingly trying to comfort the big dog.

Before long—

Jirachi’s treatment was complete.

“This is…”

Feeling that his body had recovered substantially, Lucario looked at the floating Jirachi with considerable surprise.

As Marshadow had suspected—

Lucario at its peak had already reached the Legendary level.

Precisely because of that, Lucario understood even better that recovering from its injuries should absolutely not have been as simple as healing an ordinary Pokémon.

Looking at the little star that had already rushed toward the young man and was clearly seeking praise, Lucario’s eyes took on a look as though it had confirmed something.

It stood up and slowly walked before Chen Mo, then bowed respectfully.

“You are the hero foretold by Ho-Oh, aren’t you?”

Having already learned some things about Chen Mo from Zoroark, Lucario didn’t speak aloud.

Instead, it used telepathy to transmit its words directly into Chen Mo’s mind.

“Ho-Oh!?”

Before Chen Mo could react, Marshadow, living within the shadow world beneath him, immediately perked up.

Realizing that the conversation to come probably wasn’t suitable for an ordinary livestream, Chen Mo glanced at Gengar.

Gengar immediately understood.

It shut down the livestream and then quickly reopened it through another channel.

After the identities of Ideal’s Hero and Waveguide Guardian had been exposed one after another, there actually wasn’t much left that Chen Mo needed to hide from ordinary viewers.

But from what he had seen so far, the World-Origin Tree involved far too many enormous secrets.

With the livestream audience being a mixture of all kinds of people, Chen Mo decided to shut down the stream temporarily to avoid causing unnecessary panic.

However—

after what had happened with Zoroark last time, government officials had approached Chen Mo and asked whether, whenever he encountered a special situation that required him to shut down his livestream, he could reopen another one through a special official channel.

After all, this concerned matters involving two worlds.

Considering that he would inevitably need official assistance in the future, Chen Mo had agreed.

After confirming that the livestream had been restored, Chen Mo finally asked Lucario:

“What do you mean by the hero foretold by Ho-Oh?”

“You don’t know?”

Lucario’s expression was one of surprise.

Chen Mo felt helpless.

How the heck would I know?

Ho-Oh was practically the king of cryptic messages.

He hadn’t even seen Ho-Oh in person once.

“This…”

After hearing Chen Mo’s explanation, Lucario’s expression also became somewhat confused.

But after a moment, it shook its head and spoke seriously.

“Since you have passed through the barrier, there can be no mistake.”

Lucario’s gaze swept over Chen Mo and all the Pokémon accompanying him.

It then lingered on the camera Gengar was carrying and the shadow beneath Chen Mo’s feet.

“Hero, if possible, please follow me.”

“Sure.”

Chen Mo had come here precisely to uncover the truth and solve the problems surrounding the World-Origin Tree, so he naturally agreed without hesitation.

As they walked toward their destination, Lucario also began explaining some events from the past—things that the young Zorua had never known.

The loss of its light source was indeed a serious problem for the World-Origin Tree.

However—

as an ancient lifeform that had existed since the birth of the world, the World-Origin Tree was not actually as fragile as Chen Mo had imagined.

If it had merely lost its light source, the World-Origin Tree could have relied on the accumulation of countless billions of years to survive for an extremely long time.

It shouldn’t have caused the Mystery Realm to become as desolate as Chen Mo had previously witnessed.

“So there was another reason that caused the World-Origin Tree to become what it is now?”

“Yes.”

Chen Mo’s brows furrowed.

Just as he was about to ask another question, he noticed that Lucario ahead had suddenly slowed down.

Bright light was shining from the narrow passage ahead.

Clearly—

they had arrived.

When Chen Mo and the Pokémon stepped into the illuminated area, what appeared before them was an enormous space covered in crystals.

Unlike the outside—

although most of the crystals here had already been covered in a scarlet glow, a small portion still retained their brilliant blue radiance.

“Hm?”

Noticing that these blue-glowing crystals seemed somewhat unusual, Chen Mo was about to step forward when he suddenly noticed Lucario nearby.

Lucario gently touched a crystal that spiraled upward, its surface transitioning from blue to purple.

Time Flower!

As the power of Waveguide resonated with the Time Flower, the world gradually began to distort beneath its blue radiance.

The next instant—

a group of humans wearing all kinds of clothing appeared directly ahead.

They were gathered around an enormous red crystal, discussing something heatedly.

And at the center of that red crystal, Chen Mo clearly saw—

a small cat-like Pokémon covered in wounds, its face contorted in extreme pain as it lay frozen inside the crystal.

At the same time—

the isolated island where Chen Mo had been before entering the Mystery Realm had already been occupied by numerous government personnel.

Inside the temporary base.

In the conference room—

Hu Chengliang stared at the pink Pokémon appearing on the screen.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

“Mew…”

Beside him, Professor Zhou and numerous other high-ranking officials had also recognized the Legendary Pokémon that had appeared in the murals earlier.

Every one of them wore an extremely solemn expression.

After all—

according to Chen Mo’s previous explanations during the livestream, Mew, as the ancestor of Pokémon, was absolutely among the highest-ranking Legendary Pokémon in terms of strength.

Yet such an existence was now appearing before them in a gravely wounded state.

What on earth had happened…?

Chen Mo’s expression became solemn.

Lucario’s voice slowly sounded within his mind.

“This is where the heart of the World Tree lies.”

“The Pokémon appearing before us is undoubtedly one you have already recognized, Hero. It is Lord Mew, who shares a symbiotic relationship with the World Tree.”

When Aaron brought Lucario and the other Waveguide Guardians to the World-Origin Tree, they had immediately noticed that something was wrong.

Everyone knew that the World-Origin Tree was protected by the three Regis gifted by Regigigas.

The three Regis and the World-Origin Tree were separate systems.

Therefore, even Aaron and the other Waveguide Guardians had to negotiate with the Regis every time they wished to enter the World-Origin Tree.

But this time—

aside from the World-Origin Tree’s own defensive system, Aaron and the others encountered exactly what Chen Mo had experienced earlier.

They never saw Regirock or the other Regis.

As the Wave Hero, Aaron immediately realized that something was wrong.

And when Aaron and the others entered the heart of the World-Origin Tree and attempted to use their Waveguide to call out to Mew—

something even more serious happened.

They couldn’t find Mew.

It was common knowledge that throughout its long existence, Mew had deliberately maintained a certain distance from humanity because of various circumstances.

But Mew nevertheless had an extremely close relationship with the Waveguide Guardians.

Even the murals within the World-Origin Tree had been created by some of the Waveguide Guardians.

And as the Wave Hero, Aaron had multiple ways of calling Mew.

But now—

none of them worked.

Realizing that something was wrong, Aaron immediately led the other Waveguide Guardians into action.

First, they established a barrier and completely sealed off the World-Origin Tree.

Then—

they used various methods prepared beforehand to draw upon the energy accumulated within the World-Origin Tree, hoping to stabilize the surrounding area.

Just as Zoroark had said—

for a period of time, the deterioration of the World-Origin Tree was indeed somewhat contained.

But—

before long, without Aaron and the others even having to search for it—

Mew returned to the World-Origin Tree.

There wasn’t even time for them to speak.

The moment Mew returned, it was already covered in wounds.

Upon seeing Aaron and the others, it collapsed directly onto the ground.

And the World-Origin Tree, which shared a symbiotic relationship with Mew, instinctively began using the energy it had stored within itself to nourish Mew.

“If the root cause of the World-Origin Tree becoming what it is today was the disappearance of its light source, then what accelerated the process was Lord Mew’s severe injuries.”

Lucario sighed.

As the consciousness of the World-Origin Tree, Mew was in mortal danger.

It naturally couldn’t prevent the dying World-Origin Tree from instinctively responding.

Furthermore, in its severely wounded state, Mew would unconsciously absorb the World-Origin Tree’s own life force.

The disappearance of the light source and Mew’s severe injuries—

the combination of the two was what ultimately created the catastrophic situation they saw today.

“It was when Lord Aaron no longer knew what to do that Lord Ho-Oh descended.”

Lucario glanced at the shadow beneath Chen Mo’s feet before continuing.

“Lord Ho-Oh temporarily stabilized Lord Mew’s injuries.”

“However, because the injuries Lord Mew suffered this time were extraordinary, and had even damaged its very source, even Lord Ho-Oh was unable to heal it completely.”

“However, Lord Ho-Oh told Lord Aaron of a prophecy.”

“In the future, there would be a hero capable of passing through the seven-colored barrier.”

“He would possess the ability to save Lord Mew from the brink of death.”

After telling Aaron and the others the prophecy, Ho-Oh quickly departed.

At that time, the Pokémon world seemed to be facing quite a few troubles.

Even though Mew was gravely wounded and on the verge of death, Ho-Oh could not remain behind indefinitely to help.

It could only stabilize Mew’s condition and wait for the arrival of that so-called hero.

However—

even after Aaron and the others waited until the Mystery Realm was formed, the hero never came.

Instead—

because the area where the Mystery Realm existed had completely lost all sources of light, the World-Origin Tree’s condition deteriorated even further.

Even the healing power Ho-Oh had once bestowed upon Mew could no longer stabilize its injuries.

Desperate—

Aaron and the other Waveguide Guardians came up with an idea.

Mew was naturally close to the Waveguide Guardians because Mew itself possessed the power of Waveguide.

As a being connected to the World Tree, Mew possessed a Waveguide capable of embracing everything.

To embrace everything meant—

it could absorb every form of Waveguide.

“After some discussion, Lord Aaron and the other Waveguide Guardians decided to transfer their own Waveguide into Lord Mew.”

“In this way, they could prolong its life and continue waiting for the hero foretold by Lord Ho-Oh.”

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