"Meow!"
With a furious, scratchy screech, Meowth scrambled back to its paws the moment it hit the floor, teeth bared as it prepared to lung forward once more.
That last desperate strike had drained every ounce of its stamina. Each dragging step was an agonizing struggle, yet the cat stubbornly refused to lower its claws.
Such was the terrifying depth of Meowth's obsession with its fortune.
Snapping out of her daze, Qingque rushed forward, frantically reaching for her pouch to slip the lucky charm back into place before the cat realized what was happening.
Before her fingers could brush its brow, a soft ring of pink light flared from Arceus's eyes. A gentle wave of telekinesis lifted the golden pendant straight out of Qingque's waistband, guiding it smoothly through the air until it settled back against Meowth's forehead with a neat click.
Thankfully, Meowth was far too exhausted to notice where the coin had flown from. Otherwise, it surely would have turned its claws on its unreliable Trainer for pulling such a cheap, heart-stopping stunt.
"Meow..."
Feeling the familiar cool weight pressing against its brow, Meowth's bristling fur immediately smoothed down. The overwhelming adrenaline crash hit the little body like a falling hammer, and its eyes rolled back as it collapsed in a dead faint.
Knowing it was simply wiped out from exhaustion, Qingque knelt down, pulling a red-and-white sphere from her hip and recalling the sleeping cat in a flash of crimson light.
"Rest up, little guy."
Staring at the sphere in her palm, Qingque couldn't stop a warm, helpless smile from curling her lips.
The circumstances had been chaotic and downright absurd, but standing shoulder to shoulder with a partner, sharing the exact same racing heartbeat until their minds moved as one, had felt remarkably good. Far better than she had ever anticipated.
With the trial brought to a close, the stifling divine pressure vanished entirely. Arceus's towering frame relaxed, no longer radiating the cold, crushing weight that had pinned her to the floor moments ago.
"A commendable effort."
A resonant note of approval echoed through the void. A rare, brilliant warmth flickered within the deity's golden eyes, carrying a touch of genuine joy.
Yet within the span of a breath, the ancient majesty returned, calm and unreachable once more.
"You have answered my trial. Accept your due reward. Now, it is time for me to walk among the stars and witness how this realm has flourished."
With a few graceful strides across the celestial void, Arceus vanished into the deep sea of stars.
The starlit chessboard dissolved, and the cold void shifted back into the ancient marble colonnades of the Spear Pillar.
A soft pillar of golden light cascaded over Qingque's shoulders, accompanied by the crisp chime of the system interface:
Achievement Unlocked: Recognized by Arceus.
Blessing Granted: Favor of the Creator.
Effects: Experience gains increased by 50%; friendship growth accelerated by 30%; base companion affinity raised by 50%; and grants the authority of the Ancient Pact.
Pact Authority: In moments of grave peril against formidable adversaries, you may summon Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina to your side to turn the tide. (Restricted to the Sinnoh sector).
"No wonder those three weren't catchable at their altars," Qingque murmured, enlightened. "The developers were saving them for this all along."
These three ancient rulers of Time, Space, and the Void were the most coveted entities in the entire release outside of Arceus itself.
Yet across their respective temples, challengers were only permitted to answer their trials and test their strength; standard capture commands were completely disabled.
It was an entirely reasonable design choice. Allowing players to casually deploy cosmic entities with domain over physics in open matches would have completely shattered competitive balance overnight.
As for Arceus, its innate defenses were truly absolute, yielded only to the miraculous resonance of a genuine bond. And even breaking through that barrier merely shattered the damage immunity; actually bringing the creator low remained out of reach.
For Qingque, commanding the creator god was far too much work anyway, but holding a direct summons for the Creation Trio was already an incredible windfall.
The live chat erupted into chaotic excitement:
"Wait, we can actually summon the Creation Trio into battle?! Everyone thought it was just background flavor text, but the summon mechanic is real!"
"Even if it's restricted to story bosses and ruin encounters, having Dialga on speed dial is insane!"
"Hold on, if you summon Dialga, can you use Roar of Time to roll back the game clock and rewrite story choices?!"
"Dream on! Imagine the processing power required if ten million players started rewinding server timelines at once. At most, it probably just opens a fast portal to ancient ruin mini-games."
"Palkia and Giratina probably work the same way, serving as mobile gateways into hidden spatial zones alongside their combat firepower."
"You guys are planning out your endgames before even clearing the first gate! Have you forgotten the trial requirement? Are you really confident you can pull off a miracle bond under pressure?!"
"Wait... right, that part..."
"Chief Que! We need a guide! Tell us the secret!"
"Begging for a walkthrough +1!"
Viewers had tried asking Guinaifen about triggering the bond during her tournament streams, but Little Gui was not the academic type.
Executing a technique on pure instinct was very different from explaining the underlying theory, let alone coaching someone else through it. To Guinaifen, synchronizing with her partners felt as natural as breathing; pressed for details, she could only offer vague advice about letting your blood run hot in close, desperate trades.
Qingque was entirely different. As an experienced diviner, her mind was razor-sharp and analytical.
Furthermore, she had barely played ranked matches and had never treated her companions with competitive intensity. If someone as thoroughly laid-back as Qingque could unlock the state in a matter of minutes, there had to be a concrete, reproducible trigger behind it.
"Well... to tell you the truth, Julian set up a few psychological nudges behind the curtain," Qingque said, offering a playful, elusive smile toward the camera. "Without his little tricks, I never would have taken the fight seriously, and passing the trial would have been out of the question. As for what those tricks actually feel like, you will have to experience them firsthand. Spoiling the surprise would ruin all the fun."
As she spoke, Qingque checked her belt. The temporary roster she had collected while exploring Sinnoh was gone, replaced neatly by the six companions who had stood beside her on the cosmic dais.
She brought out each sphere, checking their status windows one by one. Only after confirming that all six were safe, sound, and fully accounted for did she let out a long, quiet breath of relief.
"Thank you, everyone. You worked so hard today."
Passing through Arceus's crucible had undeniably shifted how she viewed her team.
Yet as she looked into the eyes of her recalled partners, her smile faded slightly.
The vivid, self-aware spark that had animated their gaze within the cosmic arena was gone. Back in the standard game environment, they had returned to lines of polite, scripted code.
A soft touch of melancholy settled in her chest.
The viewers couldn't understand why her expression had softened so suddenly, but the stream chat was moving too quickly to dwell on it, buried under a mountain of pleas for a strategy guide.
"Well, you will see what I mean the second you cross that threshold," Qingque laughed softly, tapping her chin with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "All I will say is this: so long as you aren't completely heartless, remember the fire from the Grand Celebration, think back to my match today, and you should be able to cross the finish line."
She couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.
Though she had made it through in one piece, the safe return of her five fallen companions proved that Julian had merely been staging a dramatic bluff, just as she had suspected.
Still, why should she be the only one who had to sweat bullets and panic over losing her partners?
Shared hardship built character, didn't it?
A deep, genuine bond with your companions was something every Trainer across the cosmos dreamed of. Why would she ever stand in the way of her viewers experiencing such personal growth?
Watching their favorite slacker transform into an infuriating riddler, the audience was completely out of options.
Yet failing the trial meant forfeiting the authority to summon the three great rulers of the Sinnoh region, a penalty no serious player could stomach.
Left with no answers, viewers immediately began deserting the channel, swarming into the streams of other content creators to urge them to clear the ruins, challenge the creator god, and leak the real strategy.
And at the very top of their list was naturally Guinaifen.
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