Though it was reluctant to admit it, Marshadow had gradually come to realize that Ho-Oh had been keeping many things from them.
And sometimes, Marshadow could not help but wonder.
What exactly was the meaning of its existence—and the existence of the three Legendary Beasts, including Suicune—to Ho-Oh?
Marshadow had pondered that question for a very, very long time.
And after entering the secret realm containing the Tree of Beginning, the confusion in its heart had reached its peak.
Regigigas had created Regirock and the other Titans because of its loneliness.
But Ho-Oh was different from Regigigas.
Ho-Oh had many friends. Even among Legendary Pokémon, quite a few shared close relationships with it.
The most well-known, openly acknowledged examples were Mew and Lugia.
Ho-Oh would never be lonely.
Was it only because of pity, then, that Marshadow and the three Legendary Beasts existed?
"That was a very long time ago."
Marshadow gazed at the young man before it and spoke softly.
Most Pokémon were born from Eggs.
However, some Pokémon came into existence alongside various natural phenomena.
Marshadow was one of the latter.
Having only just descended into the world, Marshadow had no idea what it was supposed to do. It simply wandered aimlessly around the place where it had been born.
In the forests, the rivers, and the lakes, Pokémon could be found traveling together in groups.
Eventually, Marshadow, hiding within the shadows, could no longer endure its loneliness.
It reached out toward a group of wild Pokémon in the distance, wanting to ask whether they could take it with them.
"I will never forget the looks in their eyes."
"Panic. Terror. Fear."
"They looked at me as though they had seen a demon."
Marshadow looked at the yellow-green flames emerging from its palm, extinguishing them almost immediately under its control. Its expression remained calm.
Hundreds of years ago, the newly born Marshadow had almost no control over the power it possessed from birth.
And so, without question—
The excessively powerful energy radiating from its body terrified the surrounding wild Pokémon to the extreme.
No Pokémon dared approach Marshadow.
Nor did any dare respond to its request.
Wherever Marshadow went, countless Pokémon fled as though running for their lives.
Marshadow had been deeply hurt.
When it realized that its own energy was what had frightened those wild Pokémon away, Marshadow desperately began suppressing the power within its body, regardless of the consequences.
In the end—
Its energy went out of control.
The yellow-green flames that erupted forth began madly devouring everything around Marshadow.
Trees.
Flowers and grass.
Even rocks and soil.
Everything.
All things in the world burned endlessly within that inferno.
Marshadow heard the cries of living beings.
Countless negative emotions and energies poured continuously into its body.
Until Marshadow finally fell into complete despair—
Until it had already decided to give up its own life—
A torrential downpour suddenly descended from the sky.
Under the endless rain, the flames consuming the forest rapidly weakened until they finally disappeared.
Completely exhausted, Marshadow lay upon the scorched, blackened earth.
It had decided that once the sky cleared, it would end its life.
Because—
Although it had been born from darkness, Marshadow preferred the feeling of standing beneath the sunlight.
The warmth made it feel as though the world itself was embracing it.
Though perhaps that had merely been a wishful fantasy of its own.
Even so, back then, Marshadow had vaguely felt that perhaps—
Perhaps the world needed it.
And so—
The Marshadow that had continued waiting soon witnessed a scene it would never forget for the rest of its existence.
Red.
Orange.
Yellow.
Green.
Cyan.
Blue.
Purple.
Seven-colored specks of fluorescent light slowly descended from the heavens, scattering across the devastated land.
Marshadow watched as the brilliant motes landed upon the body of a wild Pokémon that had been consumed by the flames.
The creature's charred skin rapidly began recovering beneath the light.
Only seconds later—
The wild Pokémon that should have died opened its eyes once more.
With a confused and bewildered expression, it stood and looked around.
"I'm sorry. I came too late."
A clear, pleasant voice, filled with an almost sacred quality, sounded within Marshadow's mind.
It turned around.
Warm sunlight poured through the broken clouds.
And beneath that sunlight—
A rainbow bridge formed from seven colors seemed to stretch from beyond the clouds themselves, extending all the way to Marshadow.
At the far end of the rainbow bridge, a Pokémon descended, its entire body enveloped in gentle seven-colored light.
It called itself Ho-Oh.
And it said that it had come to take Marshadow home.
Home.
It was an unfamiliar word.
Yet for some reason, hearing Ho-Oh's incomparably gentle voice made Marshadow feel as though it wanted to cry.
At Ho-Oh's invitation, Marshadow subconsciously wanted to walk toward the rainbow bridge.
But—
At that moment—
A flicker of yellow-green flame appeared before its eyes.
The memory of the disaster it had caused flashed through Marshadow's mind once more—the moment when it had lost control of its own power and brought catastrophe upon everything around it.
Almost instantly, Marshadow made its decision again.
Marshadow believed that its birth had been a mistake.
It could not leave with this Pokémon called Ho-Oh.
A power without value—a power that could do nothing but harm other living beings—
It should disappear together with its owner!
Having already made up its mind, Marshadow was just about to refuse Ho-Oh and leave decisively when—
A rainbow-colored feather slowly drifted toward it.
Marshadow reached out and caught the feather without thinking.
And at that very moment—
The restless energy raging within its body suddenly seemed to have been persuaded by something.
It immediately calmed down.
Ho-Oh's gentle voice sounded once more.
"Every kind of power has a time when it is needed."
"Marshadow, your birth—and your power—are needed by me as well."
"From now on, I will help you."
"So—"
"Come home with me."
Moonlight fell across Marshadow's body as it stood by the window.
Looking at the young man before it, its tone was somewhat complicated.
"That is my story."
Inside the room, Chen Mo, who had listened quietly until now, fell silent.
His heart ached for Marshadow.
But he also understood that what Marshadow needed was not merely a few words of comfort from him.
Ho-Oh's appearance had already saved Marshadow back then.
However—
Just as Chen Mo was about to speak, an anxious voice suddenly rang out behind him.
"Gengar! Gengar, Gengar!"
(Chen Mo! Something terrible has happened!)
Chen Mo turned around and saw a purple-black figure pass directly through the door before rapidly floating toward him.
Seeing this, Chen Mo's face immediately darkened.
"You'd better be telling me something genuinely serious."
"Otherwise, for the next ten days—no, the next month—you won't be getting any snacks."
"Gengar!"
(How can you do this?!)
Gengar's expression instantly collapsed.
But in the next second, remembering that it really had burst in because something serious had happened, Gengar immediately began waving its chubby little arms and speaking rapidly.
"Gengar! Gengar, Gengar!"
(It really is something serious! It's Lucario! Lucario suddenly disappeared!)
"What!?"
Chen Mo's expression changed immediately.
Then, through Gengar's hurried explanation, Chen Mo quickly learned what had happened.
Since Marshadow had said it wanted to speak with Chen Mo alone, Chen Mo had sent all the Pokémon away beforehand so that he and Marshadow could talk privately in the room.
During that time—
Pikachu and the others, driven by curiosity, had been hiding behind the door, trying to listen in on what Chen Mo and Marshadow were discussing.
However, Gible and Zoroark—being representatives of the more honest Pokémon—felt that doing so was inappropriate.
Thus, Zoroark chose to leave on its own and went to look for its senior, Lucario.
Gible and Absol had nothing better to do, so they went along as well.
But when the three Pokémon arrived at Lucario's room, they discovered that Lucario was nowhere to be found.
According to a passing crew member, Lucario had apparently left the ship some time ago and headed deeper into the island.
The moment Zoroark heard that, its expression changed drastically.
It immediately abandoned Gible and Absol and ran toward the depths of the island without even looking back.
With no other choice, Gible and Absol had returned first to inform Chen Mo.
"I let my guard down…"
Chen Mo's expression was filled with self-reproach.
Earlier that day, he and Hu Chengliang had discussed the matter.
They had concluded that light alone would not be enough to completely heal the Tree of Beginning in its current state.
Because of that—
Chen Mo had always suspected that Lucario might try to imitate the Lucario from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and use its own Aura to heal the Tree of Beginning.
Chen Mo had been constantly watching out for Lucario's actions.
But he had never expected Lucario to act so decisively.
The moment Chen Mo let his guard down, Lucario had immediately put its plan into motion.
"I was planning to find some time to have a proper talk with him…"
Chen Mo quickly began gathering his things.
Then—
As though suddenly remembering something, he turned toward Marshadow.
"Ah…"
The Shadow Guide sighed softly.
Having spent so much time inside Chen Mo's shadow world, Marshadow naturally understood Chen Mo's thoughts and plans. A helpless expression appeared on its face.
"Go deal with your business first."
"Once this is over, we can continue our conversation."
"No, Marshadow, you've misunderstood."
Chen Mo quickly shook his head.
His expression turned serious as he extended a hand toward Marshadow.
"I still need your power, Marshadow."
"I am asking you—please help me!"
"Eh… eh!?"
Marshadow immediately became flustered.
"No, no, Chen Mo, don't you understand yet? My situation isn't—"
"It doesn't matter. I'll teach you."
Chen Mo's voice was incredibly firm.
"Marshadow, you're a genius."
"I've always believed in you."
"So you can definitely do it!"
"Please."
"Help me one more time."
"Let's use our power together to save that stubborn idiot who wants to play the lone hero."
"I need you!"
Over the past several hundred years—
Marshadow had encountered countless living beings.
Though the overwhelming majority of them had never known that Marshadow had been beside them.
But no matter what—
When Marshadow looked back upon those long years, there had only ever been two beings who had said such words to it.
I need you.
I need your power.
One of them was Lord Ho-Oh, who had pulled it back from the depths of despair and saved it.
The other—
Was Chen Mo.
Hmph!
That guy Chen Mo is always saying things like "I need you" without considering my feelings at all.
What an infuriating bastard!
Hmph…
And an idiot, too!
He has the nerve to call Lucario a big idiot when he's such an idiot himself. How shameless can he get?!
And most importantly—
I simply can't do anything about him!
With a heavy sigh, Marshadow glanced at the young man looking at it with anticipation.
It tried its best to maintain an indifferent expression and answered in a calm, reluctant tone.
"Let me make this clear first."
"I can try."
"But I can't guarantee that it will work."
"Marsha-Doraemon! You're the best!"
"I told you, stop giving me weird names!"
"The name Marshadow was bestowed upon me by Lord Ho-Oh! Remember that!"
"I know, I know! Marshadow, you're the best!"
Watching the young man celebrate without paying the slightest attention to its protests, Marshadow gave him an extremely disdainful look.
Yet the corners of its mouth could not stop themselves from rising slightly.
Fine.
I'll help you one more time.
...
On the ship.
Hu Chengliang was walking briskly in a certain direction, a stack of documents in his hands.
Staff members continuously passed by him.
"Good evening, Director Hu."
"Good evening."
"Director Hu, are you going to see Teacher Mo?"
"Yeah."
"Then don't bother going to his room. Just now, Teacher Mo took his Pokémon and headed toward the deck."
"The deck? …All right, thanks."
Following the staff member's reminder, Hu Chengliang turned around with a puzzled expression and began walking briskly toward the deck instead, muttering to himself as he went.
"That guy… Didn't I tell him not to run around tonight? Once all the assessment documents are sorted out, we still need to talk…"
Hu Chengliang shook his head helplessly.
Then—
The words he overheard from nearby staff members—
"Lucario went out."
"Zoroark also rushed out after getting worried."
—instantly triggered Hu Chengliang's alarm.
"Could it be…"
Remembering their conversation earlier that day, Hu Chengliang's expression changed dramatically.
He immediately accelerated.
Pushing past the staff members coming and going, he rushed straight toward the deck.
And the moment he stepped outside—
Hu Chengliang saw Chen Mo, who had already recalled all his Pokémon and was now sitting on Pidgeot's back.
"Chen Mo! Where the hell are you going!?"
His shout instantly drew everyone's attention.
Chen Mo, sitting atop Pidgeot, also turned around.
The moment he saw Hu Chengliang, an extremely awkward expression appeared on his face.
But his movements did not slow in the slightest.
He patted Pidgeot's back.
Pidgeot immediately understood, spreading its wings.
A violent gust swept across the deck.
And all Hu Chengliang could see was Chen Mo's retreating figure as Pidgeot soared into the sky.
"CHEN MO! YOU FUCKING LIED TO ME!!!"
"I didn't! The situation just changed!"
Only after rising to a sufficient height—once Chen Mo was certain that Hu Chengliang could no longer stop him—did he call down toward the deck.
"This afternoon, I suddenly came up with a new idea and wanted to give it a try."
"Don't worry, Brother Hu. I'll be fine!"
"Trust me!"
"Trust you, my ass!!!"
Hu Chengliang gritted his teeth.
But after explaining himself, Chen Mo remembered the situation at the Tree of Beginning.
After briefly shouting an apology, he urged Pidgeot onward.
Hu Chengliang cursed furiously for a while.
Then, looking at the documents scattered across the deck, he clenched his fists tightly.
"Why…"
"Why are there always people like this in the world—idiots who don't even care about their own lives?!"
"How many times do I have to say it?!"
"Don't be so damn kind!"
"You bastard!"
The author recommends a friend's new novel, titled "Cthulhu Love Case Files." Interested readers are welcome to check it out~
Machines and the Church. The extraordinary and the bizarre. Humans, ghouls, werewolves, vampires, giants. Rituals, mysteries, curses, and disasters.
In this world, "gods" exist.
One day, on the outskirts of the royal capital, Istana, an entity appeared—something representing "divinity," something representing "uniqueness": a "Calamity."
He was a private detective who had narrowly survived one of the disasters caused by the gods. During an investigation, he discovered that this incident bore certain similarities to his own experiences.
Through a series of coincidences, he entered the inner world where the "Calamity" resided.
And from that point onward, a cycle resembling reincarnation began.
Death, again and again—
All in pursuit of a truth that perhaps had never existed in the first place.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed.
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