Chapter 79: The Lapras of Coral Palace
For that moment, Arthur was somewhat unsure what expression he should wear.
What was this supposed to be?
Being given the "good person card" by a former enemy?
Yet, irritatingly, he couldn't loudly rebuke or deny it at this moment.
This kind of peace... he truly didn't dislike it.
Having fought for half his life back then, what he sought was nothing more than two things: the strengthening of the Alliance and the vision of peace.
In this current era, both of these could arguably be said to have been achieved.
The Donghuang Alliance had long ago firmly established its footing on the Eastern Continent and was now one of the seven most influential alliances worldwide, with its comprehensive strength ranking solidly within the top three.
And peace had also arrived. Even though the process had flaws in Arthur's view, this era of coexistence between humans and Pokémon was something he genuinely didn't dislike.
Fine, friend-zoned it is.
Anyway, it wasn't as if he'd only been single for a day or two...
However, there were still things he couldn't let go of, matters he absolutely had to clarify.
"What happened to my Pokémon from back then? After you exiled me, what did you do to them?"
"Woo, don't glare at me so fiercely. Nothing like what you're thinking happened. I brought you here specifically to show you the final outcome for one of them."
"Here?"
"Yes, right here on this Coral Palace island. This is also why I expended a great deal of effort to drag you here."
Alright, before this, Arthur had honestly thought he had just been randomly washed ashore by the waves...
Subsequently, Arthur got up, bringing along Froakie who had rested sufficiently, and followed the floating Celebi who led the way, heading up the island's mountain.
The mountain paths here were not particularly easy to traverse; many sections even required scaling sheer rock faces by hand.
After all, this was the residence of the Milotic. This type of Pokémon could fly; they normally didn't need to climb mountains and thus had no need to consider the feelings of climbers.
After considerable effort, they reached the mountainside. From there, they began to follow the edge of the jade-like pools, continuing deeper into the mountain.
The scenery along the way was beautiful, filled everywhere with decorations meticulously arranged by the Milotic clan—sculptures, murals, and carefully tended trees and flowers. However, Arthur was currently in no mood to appreciate them.
Upon reaching a palace situated within the mountains, Arthur heard the Milotics' song-like calls from a distance early on.
But this voice, which should have been exquisitely beautiful and pleasant, sounded somewhat anxious and helpless at this moment.
Just as Arthur was feeling puzzled, suddenly a beam of silvery-white energy shot out from within the palace. It quickly swept across the ground, instantly freezing a layer of frost along its path, effectively creating an ice slide that extended all the way to the palace entrance.
Following that, a young Lapras could be seen happily sliding out along this ice path, pursued by four or five Milotic flying laboriously in the air behind it.
The Milotic called out persuasively as they chased, and although they weren't speaking human language, the sense of helplessness and indulgence in their voices was palpable even without understanding the words.
They were clearly completely unable to handle this mischievous little Lapras.
It wasn't until the little Lapras slid all the way to the entrance on its ice path and saw the suddenly appeared unfamiliar human that it was instantly startled.
It frantically paddled its four flippers trying to decelerate, attempting to bring itself to a stop on the ice.
Its flustered appearance looked quite comical, and even a little cute.
Ultimately, however, it couldn't defy the laws of physics and slid along the frozen surface right up to Arthur, where he easily stopped it by placing his hand gently against its head.
Why is there a Lapras in the Milotics' inner palace?
And looking so lively, too.
Just as Arthur's head was filled with question marks, Celebi, who was beside him, suddenly spoke up.
"This is the descendant of your Lapras from back then."
"???"
The number of question marks above Arthur's head increased rather than decreased.
For some unknown reason, he also noticed at that moment that when Celebi spoke this sentence, the Milotic chasing the little Lapras all revealed expressions of pleasant surprise.
They looked exactly as if they had finally seen their savior arrive.
Could it be that this little Lapras is some kind of notorious little hellion here? Arthur thought inexplicably.
But first, he still needed to understand.
"Why is the descendant of my Lapras here?"
Celebi patiently explained, "Back then, after I exiled you, we truthfully informed all of your Pokémon about the situation."
"Exiling you was only done to weaken the power of the human alliance at that time. Otherwise, given the greedy and arrogant nature of you humans, you would never have accepted our peace talks while holding a position of power advantage."
"We tried to persuade your Pokémon to cease fighting, telling them to just wait peacefully for your return."
"However, at that time, I couldn't be certain exactly how far into the future you would be transported; that was something beyond my control."
"Therefore, the persuasion wasn't very effective. Many of your Pokémon were unwilling to believe us."
"Lapras was one of the few Pokémon who chose to trust us. She always wanted to wait near the original battlefield area for your return, so we settled her here."
"Later on, she met a Milotic here on her own, they became partners, and she has lived on this island ever since."
Hearing that his Lapras had found her own place and belonging certainly made Arthur happy, but at the same time, he felt a growing sense of unease.
Celebi had brought him here and shown him the little Lapras, but hadn't led him any further.
"So, where is she now?"
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
Even the little Lapras on the ground, usually fearless and causing daily chaos throughout Coral Palace, quieted down obediently under Arthur's hand for a moment.
Celebi turned her head away, seemingly unable to bear looking directly into Arthur's eyes.
"She passed away more than twenty years ago. She went very peacefully. I didn't know the specific time you were exiled to, so I couldn't make it possible for her to wait for you. I'm sorry. Don't hit me."
Even though he had vaguely guessed the outcome, Arthur still felt a profound sense of loss and melancholy in this moment.
In his memory, his Lapras was still a shy, gentle young lady who loved carrying him while surfing. He never expected that the next time he heard of her, it would be news of their eternal separation.
After a long silence, Arthur asked, "Did she live well before she passed?"
"Of course, she did! The Milotic clan held her in high esteem. I'm not just making this up. You can ask these pretty snakes in front of you if you don't believe me."
Pretty snakes...
Arthur then realized that Celebi apparently had a little hobby of giving others random nicknames.
He turned his head and found that all the Milotic before him were rapidly nodding at him.
One of them transmitted a message to him telepathically: "We have always held Great-Grandmother in the highest respect, and we have never mistreated her child. Therefore, human, please, take this child away quickly!! We're begging you!"
Uh...
Perhaps it was Arthur's imagination, but he felt as though the Milotic in front of him were so moved they were on the verge of tears.
Is... is it really that exaggerated?
However, he still felt a little uneasy.
"Did the other Mythical Pokémon not give her any trouble?"
Celebi let out a huff, placing her hands on her hips in an arrogant pose.
"Pokémon would never trouble other Pokémon! The only ones we have ever hated are humans!"
Her posture seemed quite impressive for a moment, but less than a second later, she deflated herself.
"Didn't... didn't mean you. Don't hit me. We pinky swore. You can't go back on your promise."
"..."
(End of Chapter)
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