"Being a trainer is far too dangerous, especially if you're an Elite Four member or Champion."
Rowan still looked shaken as he spoke. "It was because of the battle in Snowpoint City that Sinnoh lost three Elite Four members. The old Champion also stepped down after his main Pokémon suffered devastating losses. Otherwise, Sinnoh would have remained one of the League's greatest regions, second only to Headquarters. Those little pests wouldn't even have a chance to show themselves now..."
Halfway through his complaint, Rowan stopped himself and sighed before earnestly trying to persuade Shiro. "Shiro, since you are already prepared to head to Hoenn, you should just focus on being a professor. At least your safety will be guaranteed. Those Elite Four members and Champions might be popular among ordinary trainers, but in the end, they still answer the League's orders and assist professors with their research."
"Morever, a trainer's limit is Champion-level. People say Master-level experts exist, but nobody has ever actually seen one. Let alone whatever lies beyond that path..."
Shiro only smiled bitterly without replying.
In the Pokémon world, strength was everything. How could he simply give up being a trainer?
Although the strongest trainers currently only reached Champion-level, the Pokémon Adventures storyline had already begun. At the very least, the battle fanatic Red would break through to Master-level and even Legendary-level within just a few years. Besides, who knew what the future would bring?
Shaking his head, Shiro said, "What if some violent Legendary Pokémon are awakened... or fall under the control of an evil organization?"
"Hahaha!" Rowan laughed, finding the idea amusing. "How could that happen? Even the research community hasn't fully understood those Legendary Pokémon yet. How could a bunch of criminals who only know how to rob people possibly awaken them? Didn't the Hunters Guild fail before?"
To Rowan, such worries sounded as ridiculous as hearing that the Supreme One of Sinnoh had suddenly dropped dead.
Shiro opened his mouth to respond but stopped himself. In the end, he remained silent and rubbed his forehead.
Seeing how exhausted he looked, Rowan got up, asked Rei to take good care of him, then returned to his laboratory to continue working.
After finishing a few more sips of tea, Shiro's exhaustion caught up with him. He leaned back on the sofa and dozed off.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already noon.
He had fought through the entire night, then hurried back at dawn. Bright sunlight now filled the world outside.
"You're awake?" Rei seemed to have been waiting the whole time. He immediately poured another cup of tea and slid it over. "Professor Shiro, the people from Pokémon Center just returned your Pokémon. They've all been treated and have fully recovered their strength. I had someone place them by your bedside in your bedroom."
Shiro emptied the cup in one gulp, thanked him, and hurried back to his room.
* * *
Inside Shiro's room.
On the bedside table sat a high-quality storage case, with a neat row of Poké Balls lined up inside.
Corviknight, Gengar, Growlithe, Bewear, Drakloak, Vibrava, and Rhyperior.
All seven were there, not a single one missing.
Shiro finally let out a sigh of relief, clipped them all back onto his belt, then opened his backpack. Inside were the three iron boxes containing the Unown, along with the sleeping Unown A.
At that moment, Unown G quietly floated into view. Its expression was unusually calm.
"How is it?" Shiro frowned as he looked at Unown A.
Unown G answered with a slight stutter. 'A... is... sleeping.'
"...I know it's sleeping."
'Mm... sleeping.'
After saying that, Unown G suddenly flew over and rammed its head into the motionless Unown A.
With a flash of light, Unown A instantly vanished.
'G, we're brothers! And you actually sneak-attacked me!'
Unown A complained as it reappeared in the corner of the room. The moment it looked at Shiro, however, it wore its usual cheerful grin.
Shiro immediately grabbed it and carefully examined it from every angle. Only after confirming nothing was wrong did he finally relax. His greatest fear had been that Unown A had ended up crippled or lost its memory. If it couldn't communicate anymore, things would become much more troublesome.
'As if I'd end up crippled or lose my memory!' Unown A disappeared again and landed on Shiro's shoulder. 'I'm the world's origin, His successor, the inheritor of the world's authority... Ow! That hurts!'
Shiro flicked it on the forehead before withdrawing his hand. "So you heard everything?"
'Of course,' Unown A replied. 'I was only temporarily frozen. I never lost consciousness.'
Shiro asked, "What do you think?"
Regarding everything Hunter A had said about Arceus being dead and the Unown inheriting its power as fragments of the world's origin, Shiro only believed about half of it.
How could a being like Arceus possibly die? If Arceus truly disappeared, could this Pokémon world even continue to exist?
'Of course not!' Unown A answered loudly. But then it hesitated. '...Actually, I'm not sure. I could still sense Him before, but now...'
It could only say that something had definitely happened to Arceus. If Arceus had truly died, then this world, which had been created by Him, would collapse immediately. After all, Arceus existed everywhere, at every moment.
There was another strange thing as well. Whenever ordinary people spoke Arceus' name aloud, the surrounding space would fluctuate. That alone was highly unusual.
After thinking for a while, Shiro decided to do what he always did. He set the matter aside instead of wasting time making guesses. Questions like these could only be answered after obtaining more information.
As for what the answer really was, he simply needed to continue collecting the Unown.
In fact, he might already be able to verify part of it. He now possessed five Unown. According to Hunter A, every four Unown unlocked a portion of the world's origin power. If that was true, perhaps he could test it now.
Shiro lined up the three iron boxes side by side and examined them carefully. Unlike the device that had captured Unown A and G, these iron boxes were completely sealed. Judging by their performance, they were also much more effective, capable of actively containing three Unown at once.
"A, check on these three."
Unown A answered and immediately floated over, scanning the boxes with its psychic power.
After a dozen seconds, it began circling in the air, its expression a mix of confusion and bewilderment.
'That's impossible...'
Shiro frowned. "What's wrong with these three Unown?"
'I was wondering before what could possibly restrain them,' Unown A muttered. 'So this is it.'
"Be more specific." Shiro reached over and grabbed it.
'Ropes woven from the hair of nightmares, feathers from the divine birds intertwined with the power of time, and... His aura.' Unown A remained visibly shocked as it continued muttering, 'I can't believe humans came up with something this brilliant.'
Shiro placed it on the table. By now, he had already figured out how the iron boxes worked.
Darkrai's Dark-type power was used to bind the Unown, the feathers of Ho-Oh and Lugia maintained stability, and finally… Arceus' aura.
'The key is still Him. He's the one controlling them.' Unown A paced back and forth. 'But why! Why is His power being used here? The drug used on that Ditto was the same. Without His own will, His power could never be used like this.'
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!