Increase their strength?
Could that actually work?
He still didn't know what level of creature was lurking in the Ghost World. Even Marshadow, a Mythical Pokemon, and Ho-Oh, a legendary existence, had been no match for it.
In just two short weeks, no matter how desperately they trained, themselves and their Pokemon alike, there was no way they could beat something like that.
This wasn't a matter of levels. It was a difference in power on an entirely different plane.
It would be like sending a freshly hatched Beautifly to fight Palkia, a god-tier Pokemon. Training for a hundred years would not change a thing.
Kairos shook his head. He had a feeling the System meant something different from what he was imagining.
After a moment's thought, he made up his mind.
No matter what, he had to enter the seal and see the situation at the center for himself before making any plans. Just listening to Marshadow's account was not giving him a real sense of what they were dealing with. Only by seeing it with his own eyes could he judge whether there was any chance of solving this.
With his mind made up, Kairos pushed the System interface aside and turned his attention back to Marshadow.
The Mythical Pokemon was hovering in place, staring into the depths of the passage with a look of deep worry.
Watching it, Kairos got a rough read on the situation.
Even though Marshadow was saying there was nothing to be done, it clearly had not given up. Otherwise it would have slipped away long ago. There was no reason for it to have waited this long, and certainly no reason to tell him any of this.
If that was the case, there was still room to negotiate.
Kairos cleared his throat and broke the silence.
"So, from what you were saying, you want us to run?"
Marshadow snapped out of its thoughts and gave a nod.
"That's right. It's the safest option. That thing is powerful, but it can only push into the real world so fast. As long as you move quickly and keep your distance from the Ghost World, it will not be able to touch you for a good while. You would be safe, at least in the short term."
It let out a sigh.
"Not that there's much of a choice. Our strength just is not there."
But Kairos shook his head.
"I'm not running."
"I still want to see if there's some way to deal with this. Because if things really spiral out of control, the entire world suffers, and I will not be able to run from that either."
Marshadow stared at him, clearly not expecting that answer.
It looked Kairos up and down, and something like admiration flickered in its gaze.
"True to form for someone the Boss recognized with a feather. You've got guts. But there really is not a good solution right now, and there is only so much I can do."
Since the conversation had gotten this far, Kairos saw no reason to hold back.
"Actually, it's not like there's nothing we can do."
He looked at Marshadow and gave a small shrug.
"Let me be upfront. I can help Ho-Oh recover its faith energy."
The moment those words left his mouth, Marshadow lit up.
Its whole body seemed to spark to life. It shot forward and hovered right in front of Kairos, its red eyes boring into him like it was trying to see straight through to his soul.
"What did you say? You can restore Ho-Oh's faith energy?"
Its voice had gone slightly pitchy, it was clearly stunned.
"How is that even possible? Faith energy only builds through the sincere prayers and devotion of countless people. Ho-Oh has been gone for hundreds of years. That connection was severed long ago. How could one person possibly pull that off?"
It spun several agitated circles in the air.
"But if you really could do it, that would be incredible. With faith energy, I would be able to sense Ho-Oh's location, and Ho-Oh's power would be restored. If there had been enough faith energy back then, Ho-Oh would not have just sealed that thing away. It could have wiped it out entirely."
Then Marshadow stopped short, like a thought had just hit it. The light in its eyes dimmed.
It turned and gave Kairos a suspicious look.
"But did you mean that? This is not something to joke about. Faith energy does not come from saying the right words. Tell me, how exactly do you plan to pull this off?"
Kairos had fully expected this reaction.
Faith energy did sound like something out of a legend, and getting it was extraordinarily hard. In this world, people had long since forgotten Ho-Oh even existed. Rebuilding that faith from scratch would be next to impossible.
But he had his game.
Using the game to let people learn about Ho-Oh, to get them to believe in it, would not be so difficult at all.
Though there was no point explaining that to Marshadow right now. It would not have any idea what game development even meant.
Kairos smiled, his confidence plain to see.
"I have my ways. But before that, since I have already promised to help Ho-Oh, could you do something for me in return?"
Marshadow studied that confident expression for a moment. It still had doubts, but thinking about the Ho-Oh feather in his possession, it ultimately chose to trust him.
The fact that he carried Ho-Oh's feather meant he would not lie. Everything he said was the truth.
Otherwise, Marshadow would never believe a person was capable of something like this.
"Of course." Marshadow dipped its head. "As long as you can restore Ho-Oh's faith energy, I will do whatever you ask. Go ahead, what do you need?"
Kairos pointed toward the darkness deep in the passage.
"Simple. Guide us. If we are going to solve this problem, we need to understand what we are actually dealing with. I want to go into the depths of the Ghost World and see the situation for myself, take a look at what has happened to that seal with my own eyes."
Marshadow hesitated.
"Go inside? It is dangerous in there. The seal has not broken yet, but even the energy leaking out is enough to make things deeply unpleasant."
Kairos watched Marshadow waver, but felt no concern.
Having decided to get involved in this, there was no reason to back out halfway.
He nodded, his tone firm. "I'm sure."
Marshadow looked at him, and something helpless crossed its features. A complicated emotion moved through those red eyes, something that seemed like resignation at this human's stubbornness, and something else that looked almost like admiration for his nerve.
"Fine. If you are that set on it, there is nothing more I can say."
It exhaled slowly and shifted its position in the air, like it was bracing itself.
"But let me be clear, it really is dangerous in there. The seal has not broken, but the energy leaking out is already terrifying. I will wrap a protective barrier around both of you. That barrier has a time limit, though, and I cannot hold it for long, so we will need to move fast."
It paused, then kept going.
"Also, once we are inside, stay sharp. Do not wander off under any circumstances. No matter what you see or hear, keep quiet. And return all your Pokemon to their Poke Balls, they will be safest in there. The environment is too harsh. Having them out will only make things harder."
Kairos paused at that.
Return his Pokemon?
That was a tough condition. In a place this dangerous, pulling his Pokemon back meant losing his most immediate protection. If something sudden happened, even his reaction time would suffer.
But thinking it through, Marshadow was only looking out for them.
If something even a Mythical Pokemon found brutal, it was clearly no joke. Better to keep the Pokemon safe inside their Poke Balls than put them through that. It was actually the smarter call.
He nodded.
But just as he reached for the Poke Balls at his waist, a thought struck him and his hand stilled.
He looked up at Marshadow.
"Can I bring Will along?"
Marshadow blinked, clearly not expecting that at a moment like this.
It glanced over at the man still standing in the distance, lost in his own thoughts, then looked back at Kairos with curiosity.
"You want to bring him too? That guy has decent enough strength, but in a fight at this level, like I said, he would just slow us down. Taking him only adds to the risk. What are you thinking?"
Kairos gave a small smile and did not get into the details.
"He's the domain master here. This situation involves him no matter how you look at it. And we might need his knowledge of this place to track down certain clues. Leaving him alone out here is not exactly safe either. If something goes wrong with the seal, he is actually more vulnerable on the outside."
That was an excuse, of course.
The real reason was that Will, while not particularly powerful, seemed like a decent person, and he knew the Ghost World inside and out. More hands meant more options. If they ran into something they could not handle on their own, having a local around would not hurt.
Marshadow stared at Kairos for a few seconds, like it was sizing up his sincerity.
Then, after a moment, it let out a small laugh that carried a note of appreciation.
"You're loyal, I'll give you that. Alright, one more person is one more person. My barrier can stretch to cover two just as easily. Consider this a favor for your willingness to help Ho-Oh. I would not bother otherwise."
With that settled, Kairos wasted no more time.
The two of them stepped out of the barrier and reappeared at the entrance to the passage.
Will's expression was still unsettled, his feelings clearly complicated. He had been watching from a distance the whole time, one hand gripping his Poke Ball handle so tightly his knuckles had gone pale.
The moment he saw Kairos reappear, he started to say something, his mouth already half open, but he had not quite managed to get a word out.
Kairos walked over and met his eyes.
"We are planning to go into the depths of the Ghost World together, to see what is actually happening with that seal. Do you want to come?"
Will looked completely thrown.
He stared at Kairos with a blank expression, like someone who had just been told a ghost story.
Just moments ago, that Pokemon had refused to let any of them through. The sheer force of its resolve had been a wall he could not get past. He had been close to giving up. This passage was the only route to the Ghost World's core, and with a Pokemon that powerful blocking the way, he had no way through.
After the battle earlier, he had felt firsthand exactly how overwhelming that power was.
That level of strength was simply beyond what an ordinary person could go up against.
And yet now, somehow, its whole attitude had done a complete one-eighty. It was saying they could go in?
What in the world had happened between them?
Will's mind was struggling to process it, stuck in a kind of dazed loop.
He stood there for a long moment before Kairos's words actually registered.
Come along?
How was that possible?
He stared at Kairos, disbelief written all over his face.
Then it clicked. It must have been whatever Kairos said during that conversation. This mysterious Pokemon seemed to treat Kairos with a kind of particular deference, almost something close to caution.
What could he have possibly said to cause such a dramatic shift?
Will was burning with curiosity, but he knew this was not the moment to ask.
If there was a chance to go in, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. There was no way he was passing it up.
He drew a slow breath, steadied himself, and leaned toward Kairos, keeping his voice low.
"Kairos, how did you manage that? It was ready to fight us a minute ago. How did it suddenly agree to let us in?"
Kairos glanced at him.
"Nothing much. Just agreed to do something for it."
He did not elaborate, giving only a vague answer before moving on.
Will still had plenty of questions, but he could tell Kairos did not want to go into it, so he let it go.
He simply gave Kairos a long, quiet look.
"Thank you."
Kairos clapped him on the shoulder, signaling him not to overthink it.
"Alright, enough standing around, let's move."
Will laughed softly, nodded, and fell into step behind Kairos.
Marshadow drifted ahead of them. It glanced back at the two humans, confirmed they were ready, then turned and flew toward the darkness at the far end of the passage.
"Stay close. Do not fall behind."
It issued the reminder, and then a faint green glow began to radiate from its body.
The light was not harsh at all. It gave off a remarkably gentle quality.
As the glow spread outward, a translucent green barrier formed in an instant, enclosing both Kairos and Will within it.
Under the protection of the barrier, the suffocating pressure that had hung over the area lifted considerably. Kairos felt his whole body go lighter, that heavy, oppressive weight was gone.
It was right at that moment that the shadow at his feet gave a sudden rippling twitch.
A purple Pokemon with red eyes pushed half its body up out of the shadow.
Gengar.
It had apparently sensed that this energy was something out of the ordinary. It blinked its big eyes curiously and glanced around.
Kairos looked down at it.
This one had always loved hiding in shadows, and had already shown a knack for it before. Maybe it could learn something from watching this.
He crouched down and pointed at the glow radiating from Marshadow, speaking quietly to Gengar.
"Pay close attention to that kind of power. Work toward making your own shadow abilities something like that someday."
Gengar blinked at him, caught off guard.
It tilted its head, staring at that mysterious, powerful green glow, an energy it could not even begin to wrap its head around.
Then it looked down at Kairos's shadow, reinforced by its own power, which looked more or less the same as always.
Me? Learn that?
Are you serious right now?
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