Seeing Squishy crawl into Bai Chen's pocket, Bonnie curiously leaned in.
She greeted him, "Hello there! My name is Bonnie."
Inside the pocket, Squishy turned his head away, ignoring her. He had very little trust in humans, and that included Bai Chen; he had only sought him out because he refused to go back on his word.
Seeing Squishy ignore her, Bonnie tried greeting him a couple more times. When it clearly wasn't working, she tactfully stopped bothering him.
"Sorry, Squishy's situation is quite unique. He doesn't trust humans right now," Bai Chen apologized to Bonnie.
In the original timeline, Squishy would have followed Bonnie and developed a deep friendship. When Bonnie eventually became a Trainer in the future, Squishy would have been her partner, traveling the world with her.
But now, Squishy's path in life had changed. Bai Chen couldn't say whether this change was good or bad, and he didn't feel the need to ponder such far-reaching matters.
Bonnie quickly regained her energy and said to Squishy, "Let's play together later then~"
Squishy closed his eyes and didn't answer, maintaining an air of cold aloofness.
This small interlude didn't disrupt the group's plans. On the walk toward the Anistar Gym, Bai Chen took a moment to check Squishy's status panel. Currently in his core form, his combat power was effectively zero.
[Name]: Zygarde — Z1 Core
[Species]: Order Pokémon
[Attribute]: Ground, Dragon
[Rarity]: 11[Level]:?
[Ability]: Aura Break — Reverses the effects of Auras, reducing their power! (Zygarde suppresses all Auras!)
[Skills]:
Power Construct (Rarity: 11) — [Unknown] Grade: Absorbs cells distributed worldwide. Level and strength are directly related to the number of cells. Upon absorbing all cells, Zygarde possesses the power to destroy the world. Note: Move cannot be copied.
Mythological Power (Rarity: 11) — [Unknown] Grade: A Pokémon from myth and legend, possessing the Rule Power to change the world. Note: Move cannot be copied.
Ecosystem Monitor (Rarity: 11) — [Unknown] Grade: When an [Existence] disrupts the ecosystem, Zygarde gains overwhelming Order Power. Note: Move cannot be copied.
As a Core, Squishy possessed three powerful skills of Rarity 11, and Bai Chen couldn't copy any of them. Aside from Squishy, Bai Chen had never seen a Rarity 11 existence; even an Elder Dragon like Valstrax was only Rarity 8.
Based on his current deductions:
Standard Elder Dragons generally sit at Rarity 8, corresponding to typical Sub-Legendaries like Moltres.
Unshackled (Final Boss) Elder Dragons are usually around Rarity 9. The Zorah Magdaros he encountered previously fell into this category, corresponding to "Box Art" Legendaries (Primary Legends) without special titles and ordinary Mythical Pokémon.
Rarity 10 would likely correspond to "Forbidden Monsters" in the MH world, such as Alatreon or Fatalis. In the Pokémon world, these would be Legendaries that master specific Rule Powers. For example, Solgaleo and Lunala (Sun/Moon), Reshiram (Truth), Zekrom (Ideals), or even Kyogre, Groudon, and the Rayquaza that defeated Bai Chen recently.
Nebby (Cosmog), currently unevolved, was only Rarity 8. If he evolved to his final form, he would naturally reach Rarity 10.
Stronger than these were beings with explicit administrative authority over the universe:
Zygarde, who maintains world order.
Necrozma (Ultra Necrozma), the representative of light in Alola legends.
Dialga and Palkia, masters of Time and Space.
These were generally Rarity 11.
Finally, the likely sole Rarity 12 would be Arceus, the Creator God who reportedly made the Pokémon world.
Of course, these were all Bai Chen's deductions; he didn't know exactly how the system appraised them. He was inferring based on current information, so it might not be perfectly accurate.
Bai Chen quietly closed the system interface. It's a pity I can't copy any of Squishy's skills.
He patted Nergigante's head on his shoulder. Nergigante's hidden potential definitely reached Rarity 10 levels, but for some reason, the system only appraised her at Rarity 8.
Rarity wasn't just flavor text. The most direct impact was on skill potency. For example, if you gave the same move to a Rarity 1 Mosswine and a Rarity 10 Groudon, the resulting skill strength for the Mosswine would never come close to Groudon's.
This was one reason Bai Chen avoided catching ordinary monsters—poor scalability meant even with "cheats," their ceiling was low.
Squishy has a natural advantage. If I could fully tame him and give him a bunch of powerful skills, he might even be able to take on Arceus in a 1-on-1.
Inside his pocket, Squishy seemed to sense a wave of malice and shivered. He had no idea that Bai Chen had already prepared dozens of "recruitment plans" for him.
The group finally arrived at their destination. Before them was a massive pink crystal structure. The rock stood like a towering wall in the middle of a river. Looking at it, it was at least a hundred meters tall. This was one of Kalos's wonders, a meteorite from the stars: the Sundial.
"Is this the Sundial? It's spectacular!" Ash shouted excitedly. "Is the Anistar Gym inside here?"
Serena explained, "There's no space inside the Sundial. The Gym is about 300 meters to the east."
Ash was disappointed he couldn't battle inside the Sundial. Serena suggested they tour the crystal first. But accidents often happen suddenly.
As soon as Bai Chen got within 200 meters of the Sundial, his body began to change. The rainbow energy from the Giant Rock he had absorbed began to leak from his pores. From a distance, he appeared to be glowing with prismatic light.
Squishy hopped out of his pocket in shock, watching Bai Chen resonate with the Sundial. "This is..."
The others were stunned, staring blankly as Bai Chen suddenly began to emit light. Ahead, the pink crystal of the Sundial responded, glowing with a deep crimson hue as its temperature rapidly rose.
Bai Chen hadn't expected the energy inside him to leak out and resonate like this. This feeling... is the Sundial calling me?
He couldn't quite describe the sensation. He looked at Squishy uncertainly. Squishy's internal energy was of the same origin as the Sundial and the Giant Rock. Squishy frowned, thought for a moment, and sent a telepathic message: "Since the Sundial calls you, simply walk forward."
With Squishy's reassurance, Bai Chen lowered his guard. He stepped toward the Sundial; with every step, the light grew stronger.
Everyone held their breath. They didn't know why Bai Chen was approaching it, but such a phenomenon was clearly abnormal.
Lillie anxiously tried to stop him, fearing he was being hypnotized. Squishy stopped her, shaking his head to indicate she shouldn't interfere. Lillie didn't know Squishy, but seeing Nergigante remain calm, she felt slightly relieved.
Bai Chen reached the Sundial and, guided by an invisible force, placed his hand on the crystal.
Vroom—
A ripple of crimson energy pulsed from the Sundial. Wisps of energy began to flow from the crystal into Bai Chen's body.
Bai Chen was shocked. Energy from the Sundial is flowing into me!?
The Sundial, like the Giant Rock, was a crystalline lifeform, but it lacked sapience; it acted purely on instinct.
Bai Chen and the Sundial were like two containers of special energy; when unbalanced, the high-density energy flowed toward the lower-density container.
Was this good or bad? For Bai Chen, it was a blessing. The Sundial was much larger than the Giant Rock, meaning its energy reserves were vast. By absorbing it, his evolution's potential would be even higher.
But as he was greedily absorbing the energy, someone attacked him from behind.
"Sigilyph, use Psybeam!"
A pulse of pink energy shot toward Bai Chen, striking him. He grunted, nearly breaking the energy transfer.
"This is a warning! Leave the Sundial immediately, or I will make you pay!"
Behind the group, a red-haired girl with twin tails, wearing purple ritual robes, ran toward them. Before her floated a totem-like Pokémon.
Lillie was horrified that she had attacked Bai Chen. "What are you doing? That's dangerous! We weren't trying to do anything to the Sundial—it just started acting weird when we got close!"
The girl, Carrie, didn't back down. "Evil-doers coveting the Sundial, leave this instant, or don't blame me for being heartless!"
"We haven't done anything evil!" Lillie was getting angry now.
Before Carrie could say anything else, Nergigante deactivated her "Minimize" state. She reared up, swinging a massive claw and swatting Sigilyph away with a single blow. She roared furiously at Carrie.
Carrie was visibly stunned by the massive dragon, but as she got a clear look at it, her pupils shrank. She screamed, "The Disaster Beast!"
Carrie threw a new Poké Ball: "Sableye, come out! Use Power Gem!"
A purple Pokémon with gem-like eyes emerged and fired a beam of crimson energy at Nergigante. Nergigante had struggled against this move once when fighting a Persian, but she was different now.
She shifted her body, blocking the beam with her hardened black spikes. The Power Gem didn't even pierce her defense.
Nergigante reared up, her right arm swelling as she slammed it down toward Sableye.
BOOM!
The stairs before the Sundial were smashed to pieces by her Ruinous Palm, marble cracking in every direction. Sableye took a direct hit, and its health plummeted.
Lillie could feel Nergigante's fury. This girl had appeared out of nowhere, attacked Bai Chen, and called Nergigante a "Disaster Beast." Lillie didn't want a violent solution; she wanted to clear the misunderstanding. She stepped in front of Nergigante, pushing down the dragon's arm.
"Is there a misunderstanding here?!" Lillie shouted at Carrie.
But Carrie was blinded by zeal. "There is no misunderstanding! That is the Disaster Beast that will bring the apocalypse! They must be defeated!"
Carrie continued to command her Pokémon. "Sigilyph, Psybeam! Sableye, Power Gem!"
Nergigante had zero patience for someone attacking Bai Chen. She leaped over Lillie's head, a blue Aura Sphere gathering in her front paw. She hurled the sphere, and it struck both Pokémon accurately. With a single hit, both were knocked out.
Carrie realized the situation was spiraling out of control; Nergigante was far stronger than she had imagined. She recalled her Pokémon, cursed under her breath, and realized she couldn't handle a "world-ending beast" alone.
Nergigante wasn't planning on letting her go. She dove toward the ground, pinning Carrie down with one paw. She opened her maw, revealing rows of razor-sharp white fangs. She was ready to kill this fool who attacked her master.
Just as Nergigante was about to strike, reinforcements arrived from a distance.
"Gardevoir, use Moonblast!"
The Kalos Champion had arrived.
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