"Jirachi, how about I take you out to have some fun?"
The next morning, after breakfast, Chen Shi held Jirachi in his arms and asked with a smile.
There was still no news about Groudon or Kyogre, and he hadn't figured out what exactly had happened yesterday either.
Rather than worry about things he couldn't solve, he might as well spend the next few days properly accompanying Jirachi.
"Okay! Where are we going?"
The moment Jirachi heard they were going out to play, it became eager.
"Hmm... how about the beach?" Chen Shi suggested tentatively.
It was no longer summer.
Winter was already approaching, so going to the beach wasn't exactly ideal.
But with Jirachi's strength, there was hardly any difference between summer and winter.
That was why Chen Shi had suggested the seaside.
Jirachi agreed without even thinking.
"Okay! Let's go to the beach!"
For Jirachi, where they went didn't matter.
What mattered was having someone there to play with it.
"Alright. Give me a moment to pack everything up and we'll leave."
Chen Shi smiled.
"Mhm~ Jirachi will help too!"
"Ralts~"
...
With the help of all his Pokémon, Chen Shi quickly packed away the tent.
Then he climbed onto Dragapult and headed toward the coast.
Since this area was already close to the sea, it didn't take long before a vast beach appeared before them.
Waves rolled in one after another, gently washing over the shore.
Snow-white foam burst across the sand with each impact, accompanied by the soothing sound of the surf.
After climbing down from Dragapult, Chen Shi released all of his Pokémon and called out loudly,
"Alright!"
"Everyone can play as much as you want today!"
"Swamp!"
Swampert immediately roared in excitement.
It dashed straight toward the ocean and leaped into the water.
It had been far too long since it had enjoyed a proper soak.
Although seawater wasn't as comfortable as fresh water, Swampert was still perfectly satisfied.
A warm smile spread across Chen Shi's face.
"Everyone, go have fu—"
"Swamp!"
Before he could even finish speaking, Swampert suddenly cried out.
Then it came scrambling out of the sea in a panic.
Chen Shi frowned.
"Swampert, what happened?"
"Swamp!"
(There's a black rock down there!)
Chen Shi immediately relaxed.
"That's it?"
"It's just a black rock. Why are you panicking?"
For a moment, he had thought Swampert had encountered some kind of danger.
It was only a black stone.
Seeing how unconcerned Chen Shi looked, Swampert became anxious.
It had originally gone into the water to relax.
But once it reached the seabed, it had discovered a black stone constantly giving off a dark aura.
That aura was exactly the same as the one carried by Dark Lugia.
The moment Swampert realized this, it had rushed back to find Chen Shi.
Yet Chen Shi was treating the whole thing as though it were nothing.
Swampert hurriedly explained the situation in detail.
The moment Chen Shi heard that the aura was identical to Dark Lugia's, his expression changed dramatically.
The same aura?
Could this thing also be connected to that mysterious darkness?
"Swampert, can you go bring it—"
Chen Shi immediately stopped himself.
"No. You shouldn't touch it."
"Take Metagross down there instead."
"Have Metagross bring the stone up with psychic power."
"And whatever you do, don't make physical contact with it!"
"Meta!"
Metagross understood how serious the matter was and nodded.
Then it followed Swampert into the sea.
Chen Shi waited anxiously on the shore.
He couldn't understand why something related to the darkness would appear here.
And this time it was a stone?
Could even rocks be infected by the darkness?
Unless...
A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Could this be connected to the reason Arceus had sent him to Hoenn?
The more Chen Shi thought about it, the more convinced he became.
Under normal circumstances, if the only issue in Hoenn were the battle between Groudon and Kyogre, there would have been no reason for Arceus to send him here.
Rayquaza could resolve that situation by itself.
Chen Shi's presence would make little difference.
But if this involved the darkness...
Then sending him here suddenly made perfect sense.
After all, as far as he knew, he was currently the only one who could deal with that substance easily.
Once he reached that conclusion, Chen Shi felt his entire body relax.
Ever since arriving in this era, he had been constantly trying to figure out why Arceus had sent him here.
Now, at last, he had found a possible clue.
The darkness might be terrifying to everyone else.
But Chen Shi was different.
He knew the unruly psychic power inside his body was its natural nemesis.
...
Before long, Swampert and Metagross emerged from the sea.
A pitch-black stone floated beside Metagross, held firmly in place by psychic power.
The instant Chen Shi saw it, the psychic energy within his body began surging uncontrollably again, practically desperate to rush toward the object.
Chen Shi forcibly suppressed the restless power and immediately used the system to scan the stone.
[Meteorite formed by a dormant Dark Deoxys]
"De... Deoxys?"
Chen Shi swallowed hard, completely stunned.
He never expected the stone to actually be a meteorite formed by Deoxys.
And not an ordinary Deoxys either.
A Dark Deoxys.
Wait!
Chen Shi's eyes widened.
He suddenly remembered the strange battle from yesterday.
Could this be the same Deoxys that had fought Rayquaza and the others?
No wonder Jirachi had said Rayquaza didn't even dare approach it.
This thing had been thoroughly contaminated by the darkness.
Who would dare go near it?
And if it really was a Dark Deoxys, then Zygarde and Mew helping Rayquaza made perfect sense as well.
"Swamp!"
Swampert ran over and pointed toward the meteorite.
Chen Shi waved a hand.
"I know."
"Don't say anything for now. Let me think."
While continuing to suppress the psychic power inside his body, Chen Shi carefully examined the meteorite and began sorting through the possibilities.
After a while, he realized the situation might not be as simple as he had first assumed.
The Deoxys in front of him was probably not the one that had fought Rayquaza yesterday.
Ever since Xerneas had been infected by the darkness three thousand years ago, Mew's desperate attempts to save it had made many Legendary Pokémon aware of how dangerous the darkness truly was.
Mew and Zygarde, in particular, understood it extremely well.
If they had defeated a Dark Deoxys yesterday, there was absolutely no chance they would have allowed it to transform into a meteorite and fall back onto the planet.
When Lugia's own clan member had been infected, Lugia had even been willing to permanently isolate it.
That alone showed how seriously Legendary Pokémon treated this darkness.
Deoxys was already an extraterrestrial Pokémon.
Even if Rayquaza and the others didn't outright kill it, they would almost certainly throw it back into space rather than allow it to remain on the planet.
Which meant—
This Dark Deoxys was not the one from yesterday.
After confirming that possibility, Chen Shi let out a long breath.
"Good thing I found this thing."
"With how contagious that darkness is, leaving it here could have caused a massive disaster."
"Shi..."
Jirachi tugged gently at Chen Shi's clothes.
"This thing makes Jirachi feel really uncomfortable."
"Can we throw it away?"
...
Deoxys – All Formes
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