Chapter 369: The Mastermind!? Journeying into the Deepest Layer of Consciousness!

"Ambushed?"

Chen Mo was somewhat puzzled.

As the Hero of Waveguide, Aaron's level was certainly far above that of a half-baked Waveguide user like himself.

Once a Waveguide user activated their Waveguide, the entire world became like a transparent realm to them. On top of that, Aaron's physical abilities were most likely maxed out, and firing off Aura Spheres by hand should have been effortless.

Chen Mo simply couldn't imagine what kind of person could possibly ambush Aaron.

"We encountered that person on the first day after entering the forest, after saying goodbye to Zorua."

Lucario slowly explained.

"At first, he was extremely courteous. He said that he had long heard of Lord Aaron's reputation, and that since they happened to meet, he wanted to have a Pokémon battle with Lord Aaron."

The Trainer culture on Earth had yet to evolve to such an extent, but in the Pokémon world, there were plenty of Trainers obsessed with Pokémon battles, some even reaching a near-fanatical state.

As the saying went, the moment two Trainers locked eyes, no matter when or where, the battle had already begun.

Having battled countless Youngsters and Bug Catchers, Aaron was already accustomed to such situations.

However—

because of the World-Origin Tree, Aaron had no intention of battling the unfamiliar Trainer at the time.

But the other party refused to give up, persistently pestering Aaron.

With no other choice, Aaron accepted the challenge, intending to end the battle as quickly as possible, defeat the Trainer, and immediately continue toward the World-Origin Tree.

After all, as the Hero of Waveguide who had repeatedly received invitations from the Alliance, Aaron had a certain degree of confidence in his own strength.

Even against the Champions of various regions, he believed he could put up a fight.

Dealing with some random Trainer he happened to encounter on the road shouldn't have required much effort.

The battle soon began.

And then something Aaron hadn't expected happened.

That unfamiliar Trainer, whose name had never appeared in any regional news report, was surprisingly strong.

In Aaron's estimation, his strength was more than enough to qualify him for the position of an Elite Four member in some regions.

"Lord Aaron became serious. In order to end the battle more quickly, he chose me to fight."

Lucario clenched its fists tightly.

"The opponent's next Pokémon was a Salamence."

"Lord Aaron and I both guessed that it was probably his ace Pokémon, so I devoted all my attention to my battle with Salamence."

Like Gible, Bagon's evolutionary line was a late bloomer, and Salamence was the final form of its species.

Its strength was certainly not to be underestimated.

However—

Lucario had already stepped into the Legendary realm.

Compared to Lucario, Salamence was still far weaker.

After figuring out its opponent's strength, Lucario planned to take down Salamence immediately after it finished using Hyper Beam.

But—

at that exact moment, the Salamence in the sky suddenly turned its head.

The Hyper Beam, which had already begun to weaken, suddenly erupted with renewed force.

Its target abruptly shifted from the evasive Lucario to another location.

The place where Aaron was standing.

"..."

Chen Mo's brows furrowed tightly.

It was obvious that Salamence's Trainer had done it deliberately.

Or rather—

from the very beginning, the other party's plan had been to attack Aaron himself during the Pokémon battle.

However, because Aaron's Lucario, like Chen Mo's Pikachu, normally didn't stay inside a Poké Ball, the opponent had first needed to employ some method to force Lucario beside Aaron into a situation where it couldn't immediately protect him.

And Aaron himself had trusted Lucario's strength.

Furthermore, he believed there might be even more situations inside the World-Origin Tree where he would need to use his Waveguide.

So he hadn't activated his own Waveguide at that moment.

"They actually dared to hurt Lord Aaron..."

Zoroark gritted its teeth, negative energy filled with resentment continuously spilling from its body.

"Calm down, Zoroark."

Lucario gently raised one paw and placed it on Zoroark.

A pale-blue Waveguide flowed from its palm.

Zoroark, enveloped by the Waveguide, trembled all over.

As the resentful energy around Zoroark gradually disappeared, Lucario slowly continued.

"Looking back on it now, Lord Aaron and I were ultimately too careless."

"In the midst of the Chaotic Era, we should have been on guard at all times."

But Aaron was, after all, the Hero of Waveguide.

His reaction speed was extremely fast.

At the most dangerous moment, he still managed to use his own power and erect a simple protective barrier before the Hyper Beam struck.

Although he was still seriously injured, he ultimately survived.

As for the Trainer of the Salamence—

after failing to land the killing blow, he decisively recalled Salamence.

He then released an Alakazam and used Teleport to flee the scene during the opening.

"Only after Lord Aaron and I reached the interior of the World-Origin Tree and reunited with the other Waveguide Guardians did we discover that everyone had suffered similar ambushes."

Lucario's expression darkened once more.

It was obvious.

The other party hadn't been targeting Aaron alone.

Their true goal was most likely to prevent the Waveguide Guardians from reaching the World-Origin Tree.

Chen Mo understood as well.

In the scenes from the past displayed by the Time Flower, there hadn't actually been that many Waveguide Guardians.

Although Waveguide Guardians were fewer in number than Psychic users, it wasn't as though there were only a dozen or twenty of them.

Chen Mo had initially been somewhat puzzled by this.

He had assumed that Aaron, considering the World-Origin Tree's extraordinary status, simply hadn't brought the weaker Waveguide Guardians along.

But now—

it seemed that a considerable number of Waveguide Guardians had already been taken out by the organization behind the Salamence Trainer before they ever reached the World-Origin Tree.

An organization with such a clear objective naturally made Chen Mo suspect that they were the masterminds behind the various calamities plaguing that world.

"What a pity..."

Because Aaron had assumed the man was merely an ordinary passerby, he hadn't even asked for his name at the beginning.

And according to the information provided by the other Waveguide Guardians who had also been ambushed, the enemy had acted extremely cautiously.

Unless directly asked, they never volunteered their names.

From this, Chen Mo suspected that even the few names they had obtained were probably nothing more than aliases casually thrown out to mislead them.

Chen Mo shook his head lightly.

He then informed the leaders watching the livestream about the attacks on the Waveguide Guardians.

Just then, while Chen Mo was checking to see whether any new comments had appeared, a video call request suddenly popped up on the screen.

Without hesitation—

Chen Mo accepted.

The next second, a young researcher who looked to be under thirty appeared on the screen.

Judging from the familiar, dim surroundings behind him, Chen Mo immediately recognized where he was.

The ruins in Cangqing Mountain.

"Hello, Teacher Mo. My name is Lin Muxiu."

The young researcher quickly spoke.

"We've just awakened some of the Unown one after another. However, they don't seem willing to communicate with us. Teacher Mo, take a look..."

"Point the camera at the Unown."

"Okay. Teacher Mo, please wait a moment."

Before the Unown living in the ruins had entered their slumber, they had already told Chen Mo how to awaken them.

From his previous interactions with them, it was obvious that the Unown's opinion of humans wasn't particularly favorable.

The only reason they had told Chen Mo how to awaken their entire group was because they owed him a favor.

Therefore—

when the researchers in the ruins awakened the sleeping Unown, the Unown naturally had no intention of following their orders.

This was something Chen Mo would have to communicate with them about himself.

Soon, under the guidance of Lin Muxiu, Chen Mo saw the Unown living within the ruins.

The instant they saw Chen Mo, the restless Unown flying through the air gradually became quiet.

They instead stared at Chen Mo on the screen with enormous eyes filled with curiosity.

"..."

Chen Mo suddenly felt as though he had become a monkey living in a zoo, surrounded by spectators.

His expression turned helpless.

"All right, stop staring at me. I'm real."

"Also, Unown, there's something I need to ask you to do."

After explaining the matter of saving the World-Origin Tree, the Unown immediately became visibly agitated.

Chen Mo watched their bodies rearrange themselves into letters.

One moment they formed YES.

The next moment they formed NO.

He couldn't figure out what they were trying to say.

Perhaps realizing that they weren't explaining themselves clearly enough, and that the video call couldn't accommodate too many words, light began to radiate from the Unown.

The light slowly connected with Lin Muxiu's communication device.

A moment later, Lin Muxiu's voice came from outside the frame.

"Teacher Mo, the Unown want me to tell you that the Mystery Realm containing the World-Origin Tree has probably already connected and merged with this world."

"With their power, they really can transfer the Mystery Realm to Earth."

"But that's the extent of what they can do."

The Unown weren't particularly good at communicating.

After a long period of back-and-forth, Chen Mo finally understood what they meant.

It wasn't really a matter of "transferring" the Mystery Realm.

It was more like forcing it to descend.

The World-Origin Tree itself was an extremely special life-form.

On top of that, there was a severely injured Mew inside.

Because of these factors, the Unown couldn't arbitrarily choose a location and transfer the World-Origin Tree there as Chen Mo had imagined.

They could only take advantage of the gap where the Mystery Realm was already connected to the world and forcibly make it descend onto Earth at its existing location.

"Lucario, would doing that cause any problems?"

Chen Mo turned toward the blue-furred Lucario.

Lucario shook its head.

"Although frequent rain at sea will affect the World Tree's recovery somewhat, there is still light during rainy weather."

"Whether moonlight or sunlight, as long as the World Tree is bathed in light, it will eventually recover completely."

This was already the best possible outcome.

Lucario had no reason to be dissatisfied.

"It looks like it's finally over. From here, all we need to do is wait for the Unown to arrive."

Chen Mo ended the livestream and stretched.

His entire body gradually relaxed.

Although the Unown couldn't lock onto the location of the island in the sea and teleport directly there, given the authorities' speed, they would be able to bring the Unown to the vicinity of the island by tomorrow at the latest.

However—

Chen Mo had a strange feeling that he'd forgotten something.

While he was trying to figure out exactly what it was he'd forgotten, Lucario suddenly spoke from beside him.

"Lord Chen Mo, I heard from Zoroark that there seems to be something wrong with the Waveguide power you use."

"!"

Chen Mo's entire body stiffened.

He had been so completely absorbed by the World-Origin Tree and Mew's safety that he'd nearly forgotten the original reason he'd entered this Mystery Realm.

His half-finished Waveguide power still hadn't been resolved!

Seeing the headache on Chen Mo's face, the corners of Lucario's mouth curled into a faint smile.

"Lord Chen Mo, you previously told Zoroark that you suspected your Waveguide had been bestowed upon you by some powerful existence?"

"Yes!"

Chen Mo looked toward Lucario, his eyes filled with anticipation.

As a Pokémon that had naturally mastered Waveguide from birth and had itself stepped into the Legendary realm, perhaps Lucario could solve the problem with his Waveguide.

"Lord Chen Mo, I can tell you with certainty now."

Lucario studied Chen Mo carefully from head to toe before speaking solemnly.

"Your Waveguide belongs to you."

"Judging from the way this enormous Waveguide manifests, after observing it for so long, I don't think you're incapable of using normal Waveguide abilities."

"Rather—"

"you yourself are rejecting the Waveguide."

"Hmm?"

Chen Mo froze.

He couldn't understand it at all.

When had he ever rejected Waveguide?

Waveguide was such an incredible ability. He'd been wishing he could use it normally this entire time!

"To be honest, Lord Chen Mo, it's perfectly normal that you find this strange."

"Even I am encountering a situation like this for the first time."

Lucario spoke softly.

"However, Lord Chen Mo, since it is your consciousness that is rejecting the Waveguide, I know of a special method that Lord Aaron taught me."

"It can allow you to enter a deeper layer of your consciousness."

"Perhaps there, you'll be able to discover the reason why you are rejecting your Waveguide."

"..."

Chen Mo's brows furrowed slightly.

To be honest—

the mission given by the system was called "Trial of Waveguide."

Yet judging from everything that had happened since entering the Mystery Realm, none of it had resembled a trial in the slightest.

Moreover, all the clues he'd encountered along the way had given Chen Mo an extremely strange feeling.

Giratina.

Ho-Oh.

Mew.

The World Tree.

Aaron.

Lucario...

Everything seemed as though it had been prepared specifically for this very moment.

"Chen Mo, if you feel that something is wrong, then don't do it."

Marshadow's voice sounded in his mind.

"After this incident is over, I'll go find Suicune and the others."

"I'll have them try to communicate with Ho-Oh first."

"The three Legendary beasts were revived through Ho-Oh's power. They have a special method of directly communicating with Ho-Oh."

"..."

Chen Mo pondered for a moment.

Then he gently shook his head.

They had already come this far.

There was naturally no way he could give up now.

"I want to try."

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