That pose even caused the restrained Zoroark to freeze for a moment.
Its struggle stopped as well.
"...Fine. You can walk like that from now on!"
Lin Feng sighed helplessly.
[Vulpix...]
(That feels so difficult.)
After taking a few steps, Alolan Ninetales felt that it looked incredibly silly.
It lowered its forelegs again.
"..."
Lin Feng shook his head and stopped paying attention to the little troublemaker that never seemed to grow up.
He turned toward Zoroark.
"By the way, weren't you looking for me? So why did you try to run the moment you saw me?"
"Zoro?"
Zoroark froze.
Looking into the human's eyes, it suddenly felt as though its thoughts had been completely seen through.
It swallowed nervously and lowered its head slightly.
But soon, it raised it again.
[Zoro, Zoro!]
(I want to ask you for your help!)
Hmm.
Its tone was extremely sincere.
Its methods, however, were a little questionable.
Lin Feng tentatively reached out his hand, intending to use his Viridian Force to investigate Zoroark's past.
But after thinking about it, he decided against it.
Instead, he asked directly,
"Tell me. What did you see about me in the future?"
"Zoro?!"
The moment those words came out, Zoroark froze.
Then all the fur on its body stood on end.
It stared at Lin Feng in disbelief.
Almost instinctively, it blurted out:
[Zoro!]
(How did you know?!)
It was certain this was its first time meeting this human.
Yet despite the enormous distance between them, he had immediately identified the reason it had come looking for him.
Lin Feng said nothing.
He simply stared at Zoroark.
Gardevoir also loosened the Psychic force restraining it and gently lowered Zoroark back to the ground.
This time, Zoroark did not run.
It seemed to have realized that Lin Feng was much easier to talk to than it had expected.
Nearby, Qin Shu was still holding a large chicken leg.
Seeing this scene, she quietly walked over, clearly wanting to eavesdrop on why this Zoroark had attacked her.
[Zoro...]
(I don't come from this time and space...)
Lin Feng interrupted it.
"Time and space, or just a different timeline?"
There was a difference between time and space and simply being from another point in time.
If it was a different time and space, then Zoroark might not even come from this world.
After all, the Pokémon world itself contained countless parallel worlds.
The great Creator God Arceus existed beyond countless worlds, while its countless incarnations had created innumerable worlds.
And those worlds each possessed their own time and space.
Lin Feng's question left Zoroark completely stumped.
It hesitated for a long time.
In the end, it seemed to decide that it probably only came from a different timeline.
"I can see your past."
Lin Feng looked at it.
"Are you willing to let me see it?"
"Zoro?"
Zoroark had never expected this human to possess such a method.
Its expression became hesitant.
After a moment, it nodded.
Lin Feng placed his hand against Zoroark.
He took a deep breath.
Then his Viridian Force surged into action.
Past events flashed through his mind like drifting clouds.
A Zoroark with black and brown fur.
A spirited young trainer.
A city.
An earthquake.
Judging from the direction of the memories, these events had happened no more than a dozen years ago.
And the magnitude of the earthquake...
Under the influence of the Viridian Force, Lin Feng almost felt as though he had been transported directly into that place.
He could feel the terrifying power of the earthquake.
The earth roared with fury.
Buildings more than ten meters tall collapsed almost in an instant.
Looking down from above, the ground stretching for hundreds of kilometers seemed to transform into an ocean, enormous waves surging endlessly across the land.
The cries of countless humans and Pokémon echoed through cities and forests.
Trainers without Flying-type Pokémon had no means of escaping.
Pokémon that could not fly were equally helpless before such a natural disaster.
Countless Ground-type and Flying-type Pokémon moved through the devastated earth, rescuing injured people and Pokémon trapped beneath the rubble.
Lin Feng did not even need to think very hard to guess when and where this had happened.
The Donghua Region.
Sichuan Province.
That earthquake had happened not long after he was born, so his personal memories of it were extremely vague.
But an earthquake of this magnitude was impossible to forget.
According to the reports and descriptions that came later, almost the entire Sichuan Province had been affected to some degree.
The hardest-hit areas had been reduced to rubble.
Even reinforced concrete structures had been crushed into fragments.
The number of people directly affected had reached into the hundreds of thousands, while the disaster had indirectly affected nearly three-quarters of the province's population.
Some people claimed that the Earth's ley lines had been disturbed, causing the earth itself to roar in anger.
That was the local explanation.
According to the legends, enormous veins of energy stretched for thousands of kilometers beneath the ground.
If the energy within them was disturbed, the earth would become enraged, resulting in a devastating disaster.
Lin Feng did not know whether that explanation was true in the real world.
But in the Pokémon world, he believed it was entirely possible.
After all, every region in this world had its own legends.
Some of those legends claimed that a single Pokémon could destroy the entire world.
That might sound exaggerated.
But perhaps those legends were simply the ancient people's way of warning future generations.
Do not casually disturb the beings and powers connected to those legends.
Otherwise, disaster might follow.
The origins of the ley line legend were impossible to trace.
Later, when Lin Feng had been in school, one of his classmates had brought up the subject.
That classmate had spoken in an incredibly mysterious tone, claiming to know some inside information.
According to him, a certain organization had become extremely interested in the legend of the ley lines.
The legendary ley lines supposedly contained an enormous amount of energy.
The organization wanted to use that energy to create automated production systems.
So they had sent a large number of excavators into the mountains to dig for it.
And that was where things became interesting.
In this world, legends of this kind were generally passed down through generations in various ways.
The simplest method was also the most direct.
One person told another.
The older generation told the younger generation.
And legends like these often had guardians and guides.
Just like the story Lin Feng had heard from his classmates.
This Zoroark...
And its trainer...
They had been guardians of the ley lines.
But when faced with the power of an entire organization, they had been unable to protect the place.
The organization disturbed the ley lines and began massive excavation work deep within the mountains.
Eventually, they uncovered what they believed to be the energy of the ley lines.
In reality, it was nothing more than a pile of useless stones.
But their actions had already disturbed the earth.
The earthquake came.
In the end, the young trainer had taken Zoroark with him and raced through the mountains and forests.
They eventually reached Regigigas.
He begged the Legendary Pokémon to unleash its power and calm the fury of the earth.
But the endless journey and desperate search had exhausted the young trainer's body and mind.
He eventually collapsed.
And never rose again.
He returned to the earth forever.
Zoroark died as well.
But while Zoroark was drowning in grief, something else sensed the earthquake.
Celebi.
The Legendary Pokémon had felt the disturbance as well.
And in that moment of overwhelming sorrow, Zoroark's emotions became powerful enough for it to touch the Time Ripple.
That was how it crossed the boundary of time.
And that was how it transformed into its Hisuian form.
A Zoroark of the Ghost type.
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