Chapter 453: A Strand of Golden Hair
After recalling Greninja, Hikaru turned his gaze to Latias.
He hadn't noticed before, but now it seemed that Latias's injuries were a bit more severe than Greninja's.
The reason Greninja couldn't hold on for long was simply because its level was too low and it had taken too much damage at once, causing it to lose its ability to battle.
Latias, on the other hand, was much more durable.
And she had still wanted to fight just now.
Looking at her slightly dented wing, Hikaru touched it lightly.
Stimulated by the pain, Latias frowned.
"You're this badly injured, and you're still thinking about fighting."
Although he was also very tired, Hikaru still took out various healing medicines from the training house, carefully applied them, and then bandaged her wing.
He then directed his Power of Viridian onto her.
"Nyuun..." (But I really can still fight...)
Latias said sullenly, flexing her wings. The white bandages on them gave her a cute look.
An impact injury like this would probably take a day or two to heal.
This was already very fast...
"Get some good rest."
Hikaru patted her head, then took out her Poké Ball, preparing to recall her.
"I can still fly, Hikaru."
Seeing that Hikaru was about to recall her, Latias immediately flapped her wings.
"Alright, alright, I know you can still fly," Hikaru didn't deny her ability and, using the excuse that they had already reached the Qinling Mountains and their destination wasn't far, successfully coaxed Latias back into her ball.
Then, he released Lugia.
In the town, it wasn't convenient for Lugia to appear, but here in the Qinling Mountains, it could appear freely.
He felt that he and Lugia still needed to build more rapport.
He had to say, Lugia's growth rate was truly terrifying...
In less than a month, the current Lugia was already at level 55.
It was as if it grew naturally without any special training.
At this rate, in less than a year, it would probably become a Champion... or even reach a higher level.
Such a growth rate was simply unbelievable for an ordinary Pokémon.
At the very least, Hikaru, even with his "cheats," hadn't been able to make his own Pokémon grow so quickly.
"Wooo wooo?"
Lugia emerged from its Poké Ball, first looking around curiously at its surroundings before asking Hikaru why he had let it out.
"Can you fly me for a while?"
Hikaru still didn't give it a direct order like he would with Charizard or Latias.
Although it had willingly followed him, Hikaru was well aware that he wasn't a huge draw for Lugia.
It was following him simply to observe the human world, right?
"Wooo wooo~" (Okay-dokey.)
Lugia quickly and happily agreed. It then directly picked up Hikaru's clothes with its mouth, tossed him onto its back, and flew towards the sky.
"Wait, I haven't said where we're going yet!"
...
The Tree of Beginning.
Upon returning to this place, the first to sense him was Mew, but it came over in a great hurry.
"Hikaru, Hikaru! A thief has come to the Tree of Beginning!!"
The small cat-like Pokémon flew in front of Lugia and said hastily.
"Huh?"
Hikaru, who had just arrived at the Tree of Beginning and hadn't even had a chance to rest, was stunned by Mew's words.
Someone could steal something right under your nose?
"Wait, don't rush, don't rush. Explain it clearly."
Hikaru had Lugia land, and the latter immediately shrank down and began to look around the Tree of Beginning with curiosity.
Hikaru reminded it, "Don't run too far. There are a few very powerful Pokémon here."
The so-called powerful Pokémon were, of course, the three legendary titans.
"It's fine, it's fine."
Mew waved its hand, shooing away Lugia, which was about to return, and circled in front of Hikaru a few times.
Seeing this, Hikaru let it be. The Tree of Beginning was Mew's territory; at least, while it was here, no harm would come to it.
He was just extremely curious about what could make Mew so flustered.
"It's... it's like this. Didn't I go looking for you yesterday? Then after I came back yesterday, I didn't immediately check around the Tree of Beginning. But when I just checked now, I found something was wrong."
Mew's psychic power quickly enveloped Hikaru's body, and before he could even react, his figure was already flying into the sky.
"Hey, hey, hey... at least let me fly upright."
Hikaru, flying backward, couldn't help but say.
...
The location Mew mentioned was halfway up the Tree of Beginning.
The so-called "theft" was just a black fedora hat, which looked to be of excellent quality and very smooth.
Hikaru's face was full of black lines.
I flew over here backward, just to look at this black hat?
"That's right! When I checked today, this hat suddenly appeared. I was very panicked at the time, you know?"
"This is the Qinling Mountains. I was only gone for half an hour. Within half an hour, this thing appeared. Hikaru, you don't know, ever since humans started coming to the Tree of Beginning a few times, I've almost developed a complex about you humans."
"Every time I come back, I subconsciously use my psychic power to scan for a human presence. There was none when I came back, so what does this mean? It means that within half an hour, someone came from outside to the Qinling Mountains, and then left the Qinling Mountains again!"
"This speed! As far as I know, not many Pokémon can achieve it!"
Mew's voice was slightly rushed.
It seemed the previous two incidents had made it a bit paranoid.
"..."
Hikaru was silent for a moment. Put that way, there really was a problem.
The Tree of Beginning was located in the center of the Qinling Mountains, almost a thousand miles away from any entry point.
It wasn't easy for an ordinary Pokémon to get here.
He walked over to the black hat and used his Aura to sense the fluctuations on it.
But it seemed the other party had long anticipated an Aura probe; Hikaru couldn't sense any presence on it at all.
This undoubtedly exposed the other party's ill intentions even more.
No wonder Mew was so alarmed.
But who could it be?
A human or a Pokémon?
And what kind of existence could block Mew's psychic senses?
Hikaru was completely baffled.
"See, see, you can't find out what it is at all..."
Mew confirmed his thoughts.
Hikaru sniffed the hat; it smelled very fragrant. After examining it, he found a strand of golden hair on it.
"A strand of hair?"
After a brief moment of surprise, Hikaru quickly realized that it was a strand of human hair, and a woman's at that.
---
Read up to 27 Chapters ahead on patreon.com/Fanglin
[Please leave a 5 Star review and power stone for this novel]
*Thank you*