◉◉◉◉◉
Because Kael had once possessed experience with electromagnetic levitation in a previous life, the sudden ascent into the sky did not panic him.
What truly occupied his thoughts was a quieter curiosity.
Where was Tapu Koko taking him?
Something else also bothered him.
Based on everything Kael knew from games and animation, Tapu Koko was supposed to be aloof, Cold, and distant.
Not the type to rescue strangers, much less reveal secrets bordering on forbidden knowledge.
Yet here it was.
Not only had it pulled him from the jaws of Guzzlord, but it had also spoken openly about the Nightmare Seed and its own corruption.
That contradiction lingered uneasily in Kael's mind.
At present, he was completely enveloped by Tapu Koko's electromagnetic field, carried steadily toward an unknown destination.
Still, he did not feel afraid.
If Tapu Koko had wanted him dead, he would already be ash scattered beneath the lightning.
There would have been no warning, no struggle.
And regardless of its intentions, one fact was undeniable.
Tapu Koko had saved his life.
That alone earned trust.
Not blind faith but enough to follow without resistance.
Wrapped in the powerful magnetic field, Kael remained silent as they streaked through the air.
Despite Tapu Koko's visible weakness, its control over electricity and magnetism remained vastly superior to that of ordinary Electric-type Pokémon.
Twenty minutes later, they had crossed more than half of the ruined city.
From above, Kael finally grasped the scale of what had been lost.
The crowds were gone.
The factories had fallen silent.
Machines that once hummed with precision now lay rusted and broken.
Yet even after centuries of erosion and sandstorms, the skeletal skyline still spoke of impossible prosperity.
A city that had once thrived.
A quiet melancholy settled in Kael's chest.
Eventually, their speed slowed.
Pulled back from his thoughts, Kael lifted his head.
Their destination had come into view.
A towering skyscraper, nearly a hundred meters tall, loomed ahead.
Most of its glass had long since vanished, leaving behind rows of black, hollow window frames embedded in gray concrete.
Faded signage still clung to its outer walls, hinting that this building had once been a massive commercial center.
They entered through one of the dark openings.
Inside, the corridors twisted and branched, forcing them through a labyrinth of shadowed halls before they reached the structure's heart.
A small indoor plaza.
The first thing Kael noticed—
Was the sound.
A clear, resonant hum.
As if tens of thousands of silver bells were ringing at once, overlapping into something vast and almost majestic.
Then came the light.
Brilliant white radiance spiraled into existence, forming a rotating vortex suspended in midair.
It glowed like a fragment of the Milky Way, shedding tiny motes of starlight that vanished into the darkness.
A hole in reality.
An impossible structure hidden inside a ruined building.
Kael froze.
"This is…"
Recognition struck him instantly.
"An Ultra Wormhole."
Tapu Koko's voice echoed within his mind, heavy and emotionless.
"The source of calamity."
"The passage that brings Ultra Beasts from their native reality into this world."
It continued calmly.
"When spatial currents collide under extremely rare conditions, the boundary between neighboring worlds can rupture."
"What you see here is one such rupture a stable passage formed by coincidence."
Kael stared at the swirling white vortex, unease settling deep in his gut.
From everything he knew, Ultra Beasts were not apex predators in their own realm.
They were merely common lifeforms adapted to a harsher reality.
If he were dragged through that vortex—
Death would be inevitable.
"Relax," Tapu Koko said quietly. "As long as you do not step directly into it, the spatial current will not pull you in."
Kael still took several cautious steps back.
Curiosity did not outweigh survival.
One day, when he was stronger, he might explore that other world.
But not now.
Tapu Koko paid no attention to his caution.
It stared at the Ultra Wormhole, its dimmed eyes reflecting the swirling white light.
After a moment, it spoke again.
"When I first realized I had been infected by the Nightmare Seed, I intended to sleep."
"To slow the corruption."
Its voice grew lower.
"But something intervened."
"Just before I could enter hibernation… the Ultra Wormholes appeared."
"Not one."
"But more than a dozen."
"Scattered across the ruins of this city."
"They emerged without warning."
"And with them came Ultra Beasts more than had appeared in the previous decades combined."
Tapu Koko paused.
"At that time, I could have ignored everything."
"I could have allowed them to devour life and destroy the land while I sealed myself away."
"But I did not."
There was something fierce beneath the exhaustion in its voice.
"Centuries of watching over this place bound me to it."
"I could not abandon even the smallest life."
"Not the weakest Magikarp in a stream."
"Not a single blade of grass growing in the cracks."
"They were under my protection."
Its gaze hardened.
"So I chose…"
It lifted its head slightly.
"…to fight."
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access Patreon normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!