Chapter 232: Meowscarada Has Vanished, One of the Plates!
Inside the Tree of Beginning.
"Mew, you can't just suddenly grab me like that. They'll be worried."
Will pushed the small white cat off him.
"Mew~"
Mew immediately stuck to him again. It had been devastated when it watched Will die through the Tree of Beginning. Neither it nor the Tree had ever expected to see Will again after more than a hundred years.
"I'm happy to see you too. Have you seen Meowscarada at all these years?"
"Mew." Mew nodded and pointed at the Tree.
To be precise, the Tree had 'seen' her, but Mew hadn't.
"Where is Meowscarada now?" Will immediately used his Aura Power to communicate with the Tree.
"(I don't know. It has been decades since I last saw her. After that one public appearance, I have not seen Meowscarada again.)"
"Disappeared for decades?!" Will immediately became agitated.
The Tree of Beginning's crystals are spread all over the world. Sometimes they appear as blue crystals, sometimes just as ordinary sharp stones; humans can't tell which ones are connected to the Tree. They are everywhere on the surface and underground, just not in the sky. The only other place they aren't is within human cities, because humans clear them away.
But knowing Meowscarada's personality, she would never stay in a human city for decades. She would have to come out eventually. And as long as she left a human city, the Tree would definitely see her.
If even the Tree of Beginning couldn't see Meowscarada, where could she have gone?
Will didn't believe Meowscarada could fly, let alone fly for decades straight.
"(Do not worry. The last time I saw her, she was already very powerful. As strong as you were before you used that potion.)"
"Is that so." Will calmed down a little.
In other words, decades ago, Meowscarada had already reached the level of a high-Champion, bordering on peak. Her only disadvantage compared to him would be the lack of a Mega Evolution or an Alpha status. In that case, she should be able to hold her own, even against some of the less combat-oriented high-tier Legendaries.
At the very least, running away shouldn't be a problem.
"(Aside from a fight between Lugia and Ho-Oh after that great war over a hundred years ago, 'they' have all been quiet. None of them have re-emerged.)"
"They?"
"(Those fellows on par with Lugia.)"
"Oh." Will nodded, understanding the Tree meant the other high-tier Legendaries.
In that case, if the high-tier Legendaries weren't active, and the lesser ones were no match for Meowscarada, then her safety should be fine.
Of course, humans were sometimes capable of targeting even high-tier Legendaries, so they could certainly target Meowscarada. But not in this era. Humanity was developing fast, but they hadn't created the kind of crazy technology of the distant future. Not unless AZ got involved. But AZ knew about Meowscarada's relationship with Will. Besides, AZ had long since given up on that kind of technology. Even Lysandre imprisoning him hadn't changed that.
And, most importantly, the evil leaders who would create those technologies were all still little kids right now.
So, humans weren't the cause of her disappearance.
Not a high-tier Legendary. Not humans.
Who else could it be?
Did Meowscarada have the ability to disappear on her own?
A place the Tree of Beginning can't see...
"The Future, the Spirit World, or the Distortion World."
Will already had a few ideas. In his current understanding, these were the only three places he could think of.
Even if Meowscarada had gone to the past, the past Tree of Beginning would have "seen" her, and that memory would be part of the current Tree's knowledge. But the current Tree had no memories of the future.
And there were no Tree of Beginning crystals in the Spirit World or the Distortion World.
Will looked down, his brow furrowed.
Going to the future was fine. If she was careful, she wouldn't run into major trouble, and she could leave any disasters for the humans to solve.
But the Spirit World and the Distortion World...
The former was known as a place of no return.
The latter was home to Giratina, that angry, house-wrecking lunatic. Giratina in the Distortion World is in its Origin Forme, and its combat power isn't something Ho-Oh or Lugia can compare to. Even Dialga and Palkia would only get beaten up if they entered its domain.
"Mew?" Mew asked Will if he needed help.
"Mhm, please keep an eye out for me. Maybe Meowscarada will reappear. Also, if a Gate to the Spirit World or an entrance to the Distortion World appears anywhere, let me know."
Will nodded, not being polite. The Tree of Beginning was basically the world's most powerful intelligence-gathering network. To avoid its "gaze," you'd have to fly above the clouds or hide inside a human city indefinitely.
"(Very well.)"
"By the way, what was that you said about Lugia and Ho-Oh fighting?"
Only now did Will have a moment to process what the Tree had said earlier.
"(When your life was ending, Lugia felt guilty and wanted to save you. It went to Ho-Oh to ask for your resurrection. Ho-Oh refused, so Lugia decided to use force.)"
The Tree explained, its "voice" sounding somewhat exasperated.
"(But, it had already been severely injured by you. It was no match for Ho-Oh. It was beaten all the way back to the Whirl Islands by Ho-Oh, and it hasn't come out since.)"
Will was speechless. That Lugia... it was either seriously injured or on its way to being seriously injured.
"Mew?" (Mew gestured, asking about Lorelei.)
"That kid is my friend. Protect her for a while," Will said. Then he suddenly remembered something. "Right, Mew, I have a problem with my body. It's a genetic issue. Can you see if you can fix it?"
"Mew?"
Mew was stunned. It flew over, hugged Will's head, and its body glowed with a faint blue light.
After a moment, Mew scratched its head, indicating it couldn't see any problem.
"(Mew is not good at healing,)" the Tree's voice entered Will's mind. "(It probably can't even tell if your body has a problem or not. You should find Xerneas, Ho-Oh, or Celebi.)"
"They can't fix this problem either... well, probably."
Will first shook his head, then added with uncertainty. His body's problem was genetic. Those Legendary Pokémon probably didn't even know what genes were.
"Sigh... if only Platane were still here."
Will shook his head. If it were Platane, she might have been able to help him repair his genes.
"Mew?" (Mew asked what he was going to do now.)
"I don't know. I'll probably hang out in Rota City for a few days and then leave. You can turn into a normal Pokémon and follow me if you want."
"Mew~"
Hearing this, Mew started doing happy loops around Will. It had been so long since it had this kind of fun, just wandering around with Will. If only Meowscarada were here, too.
"(By the way, how were you resurrected?)" the Tree asked.
"Is that really so strange to you?" Will didn't answer directly.
"...No." The Tree paused, then replied woodenly.
Resurrection... really wasn't that rare. The Tree of Beginning had seen many beings return from death. And it wasn't an ability exclusive to Legendaries.
Three thousand years ago, AZ had used the ultimate weapon to resurrect his Floette and make himself immortal. The Tree had seen it with its own eyes.
So when Will asked his counter-question, the Tree suddenly felt that Will's resurrection wasn't a big deal. After all, Will had defeated Lugia. He could probably defeat Ho-Oh, too. If Ho-Oh could grant resurrection, why couldn't Will be resurrected?
The Tree suddenly felt that seeing Will again was a perfectly normal event. And then, a deep joy welled up inside it. The Tree already considered Will a "friend." Although the concept was foreign, it seemed like the right word. If Will could live forever in this world, like Mew, it would be wonderful. It wouldn't have to pass the long ages in solitude.
"It can't be fixed. What am I going to do..." Will lay down on the ground and sighed.
Originally, he wasn't in a hurry to get strong. Even with "White" potential, he was confident he could reach the peak eventually through hard work. Talent doesn't determine a Pokémon's upper limit.
But after finding out Meowscarada was missing, this old father couldn't calm down. He felt restless. He wanted to charge into the Spirit World or Distortion World to find her, but he didn't have the strength. He'd probably just get himself killed.
The genes couldn't be fixed. His talent would stay terrible, and he couldn't evolve.
In his last life, with Celebi's "hack," he'd reached the peak of the Champion-class in 30 years. This life, with "White" potential and no evolution... he wasn't sure if he could even break into the Champion-class within 100 years.
"Mew?"
Mew tilted its little head and dove into its mountain of toys.
A moment later, it came out holding a flat, black stone and tossed it to Will.
Duang!
Will was almost flattened into a penguin pancake by the stone.
"Are you trying to... Holy crap!!"
Will was about to scold Mew, but when he pushed the stone off his chest, he couldn't stay calm.
Because this was one of Arceus's 19 Plates!
The Dread Plate!
"The two are matter, the three are spirit. Wishes are born from this, and the world takes form."
This was the Dread Plate's inscription. This item didn't just boost Dark-type moves by 20%.
Most importantly, a Pokémon holding this item would be forever immune to all Dark-type moves.
(PS: Not canonical, see author's notes.)
To put it simply, if a Pokémon with a 4x weakness to Dark-types, like a Ghost/Psychic-type—Hoopa Unbound, Dawn Wings Necrozma, Shadow Rider Calyrex...
...if any of these Pokémon got their hands on the Dread Plate, their greatest weakness would be gone.
Their strength would instantly jump by two or three tiers!
"Mew~"
Mew glomped Will, rubbing its cheek against him.
It was giving the big stone to Will. It wasn't fun to play with, so it wasn't a valuable treasure.
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