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After the Ho-Oh Guard left, the three sages did not stay long either. They took the initiative to bid farewell to Uxie.
The top priority was to clearly explain what had happened here to the other seven sages at the roundtable meeting.
Moreover, the phantoms had not yet been completely wiped out.
Although these phantoms had low intelligence, they knew how to seek benefits and avoid harm.
When a large group gathered, they would swarm together. But when their numbers dwindled, they scattered like frightened birds, each fleeing for its own survival.
They could hide and conceal themselves, and were distributed in various locations, making the cleanup operation very slow. If not for the large population of Pokémon on Mist Island, things would have become even more troublesome.
On Mirage Island itself, there were still many phantoms that had not been cleared out. It truly wasn't something that could be finished in just a day or two.
On the other side, Zhong Hai and the others felt quite regretful.
Having finally encountered legendary Pokémon they could communicate with, the rangers wanted to learn some things. But Uxie had to cleanse the polluted leylines and simply had no time to chat with them.
The black energy in the Adamant Orb was gone, but plenty still remained in the leylines. It had even begun seeping into the leylines of Mist Island. If not dealt with soon, who knew what would happen.
Zhong Hai and the others had to leave for now, to organize the events that had occurred on Mist Island during this time and submit them as a report, so that the higher-ups would take it seriously.
Mo Ye also had to rush to the association, convene a meeting, and inform them about the black energy. There was much to be done.
The only ones present without any responsibilities, idling about, were Li Xiang and Mewtwo.
However, Mirage Island wouldn't disappear so quickly. According to Uxie, at least until the phantoms and leylines were cleansed, Mirage Island would remain accessible.
"You want to stay here?" Mo Ye noticed the hesitation on Li Xiang's face before leaving.
"...Yes." Li Xiang nodded. He definitely wanted to stay on Mirage Island, as he was still counting on defeating phantoms to obtain new candies.
What would he do outside? Compete with Mist Island's Pokémon for kills?
By staying on Mirage Island, he might be able to seek Mewtwo's protection for his personal safety.
Of course, under normal circumstances, the proper thing for Li Xiang to do now would be to return to the base and wait until the phantoms were dealt with before coming back out.
Mo Ye was silent for two seconds, glancing at Mewtwo beside them. "Starmie, I'll leave it with you for now." He took out a Great Ball and an hourglass from his pocket and handed them to Li Xiang.
"Huh?"
"Take good care of it for me." With those words, Mo Ye rode off on Gyarados in a hurry. He had actually left Starmie behind as a bodyguard for Li Xiang, and also gave him an hourglass to measure time.
It was clear he understood Li Xiang's intentions but still didn't fully trust Mewtwo, hence leaving him with a backup plan.
Li Xiang watched him leave. He departed in such haste mainly because the situation was critical. After two years, visitors from another dimension had reappeared. And they had silently accomplished something that could potentially harm the entire world.
If not for this coincidence, they might not have learned about it until much later.
They must not repeat the same mistakes. They had to find a way to gain the upper hand.
If possible, Mo Ye would have even liked to take Mewtwo away as solid evidence. However, as things stood, Mewtwo probably wouldn't leave with him. Moreover, it was itself an unstable factor. Randomly bringing it into the city Capital, who knew what chaos would ensue? It was better to let it stay on Mist Island for now.
As for the rest, the micro-camera on his helmet would explain everything. Mo Ye took off his helmet, confirming that the camera and the internal storage chip were not damaged.
By the cliffside, Li Xiang and Mewtwo sat together resting and chatting. They watched the gradually clearing sky, listened to the sound of the waterfall, their expressions calm and relaxed.
"What are your plans next?" He touched the sun mark on his wrist and the bracelet given by Suicune. The bracelet had cracked a small hole but still looked usable. Mewtwo had also mentioned that there was energy flowing within it.
"I don't know." Mewtwo shook its head very honestly. Although it yearned for freedom, it hadn't yet figured out what to do after getting out.
"Then first, go learn some basic common knowledge about the outside world." Li Xiang unstrapped his backpack and took out two cookies, shaking them. "Have you eaten before?"
"What is this?" Mewtwo took them curiously, then saw Li Xiang stuff a cookie into his mouth, crunching and chewing.
"Food. You crush it with your mouth, swallow it into your stomach, and it gives you energy." Li Xiang spoke indistinctly. "Your mouth is also used for this."
Food?
Mewtwo looked astonished.
It had never eaten so-called food. It had always lived in a culture dish, and after being born, it immediately went to pick a fight with Mew. This was its first time seeing a cookie, its first time seeing someone eat. It found this very novel.
Mewtwo couldn't help but imitate Li Xiang's actions, putting the cookie in its mouth. The texture was a bit rough at first, but after chewing gently, a strange sensation welled up in its mind. Its brain unconsciously felt pleased, and its body became more relaxed.
"How is it?" Li Xiang asked with a smile. "Feeling a bit happier? Although some say this process of obtaining energy is inefficient, eating is indeed one of the great joys of living beings."
"It seems so, why is that?" Mewtwo crunched on the cookie, but its telepathy was as clear as ever.
"The reason is complicated, I can't explain it clearly either." Li Xiang got up from the cliff edge, looking at the ground hundreds of meters below, his body swaying slightly.
"You'll have to find the answer yourself." He pointed down. "There's a place down there called the Knowledge Library, with many books that can provide you with a lot of information about the outside world."
Upon hearing this, Mewtwo lowered its head. Its mental power pierced the ground like a long needle, tunneling straight down to the City of Wisdom. After looking around, it spotted the books Li Xiang had mentioned inside a strange, huge building.
"I see them. Unfortunately, my psychic power hasn't fully recovered, otherwise I should be able to see what's inside directly." Mewtwo turned its head and said.
At that moment, Li Xiang suddenly realized something very important. "Do you know how to read?"
"Characters?"
"Written language." Li Xiang took a pen from his bag and wrote an English word and a Chinese character on his palm. "Which of these can you understand?"
Mewtwo replied, "Neither."
Well then. At this stage, the creature was still illiterate.
"Then you'll probably have to start learning from scratch." Li Xiang looked a bit troubled. "Alright, I'll teach you the initials and finals first."
"Okay."
"Repeat after me: A, b, c, d, e..."
"A, b, c, d, e..."
On the cliffside of Trophy Mountain, the boy recited methodically. The strange creature beside him listened with extreme seriousness, even mimicking the mouth shapes.
At the Knowledge Museum, roundtable meeting room. As the psychic waves fell upon the Knowledge Museum, many sage Pokémon immediately raised their heads, their faces full of gravity as they looked upward. There was no way they could pretend not to notice such terrifying psychic power.
"This unfamiliar presence should be that creature you mentioned, right?" Slowking looked at Ninetales and the other two.
"Yes." Ninetales nodded. "A species never seen before. Not in the human-provided Pokédex, and it doesn't match any legends either."
"A new species, undiscovered?" Slowking frowned.
Li Xiang had not told Ninetales and the others about the North American Pokémon Research Institute, so they did not know Mewtwo was an artificial Pokémon. One purpose of this meeting was to decide how to treat Mewtwo as the "source" of the black energy: whether to drive it out of Mist Island or to host it as a guest.
Some believed it should be driven out. The black energy had caused them so much trouble, how could they let it stay?
Others opposed this, arguing that according to Ninetales and the others, Mewtwo possessed immense power. Even legendary Pokémon couldn't take it down one-on-one.
They would need to gang up on it and wear it down until it was exhausted. And everyone had experienced just how powerful that psychic wave was. What if it got angry? They didn't have the strength to stop Mewtwo.
After some squabbling, they ultimately decided to seek Uxie's opinion.
When in doubt, ask the boss.
This time, Slowking went up. Besides discussing Mewtwo, it had other matters to address.
On Mirage Island, with Mewtwo's help, Li Xiang began his candy-farming journey. Honestly, he hadn't expected Mewtwo to voluntarily help him separate large groups of phantoms, reducing them from dozens to just a few.
This made it possible for Li Xiang to defeat them. The phantoms' strength was inconsistent. The weak ones were very weak, like wild Pokémon in a city park. The strong ones were sometimes even stronger than trained Pokémon.
"What is the purpose of doing this?" Mewtwo created air walls to block group after group of phantoms, watching curiously as Li Xiang commanded Riolu to take out the scattered few.
The phantoms' positioning was decent, making Li Xiang's scalp tingle a few times. Several times, the phantoms didn't follow the expected patterns and came straight for his face. If not for the bodyguard Starmie and Mewtwo being sufficiently capable, he might have lost some limbs.
"Training, just training." Li Xiang turned his head. "Not all Pokémon are born with immense power like you. They can only grow through rigorous tempering. Every battle they fight becomes nourishment for their progress."
"I see. Noted." Mewtwo responded.
What else could be said?
Legendary Pokémon are just ridiculously exceptional.
This creature had fought Mew head-on for so long, been knocked unconscious, then captured and drained dry twice. Yet, after resting for less than two hours, it told Li Xiang its psychic power had recovered to fifty percent.
Goodness, was artificial weaponry this enduring? It was truly enviable. If only Incineroar and the others could be this resilient.
"Aura Sphere."
"Riolu!" Riolu responded loudly. The bell around its neck jingled as it gathered a massive energy ball and hurled it at the several dark figures ahead.
Boom!
Smoke billowed.
Li Xiang clenched his hand, feeling the candy that had suddenly appeared inside. He quietly stuffed it into his bag.
Currently, the time flow between the outside world and Mirage Island was one to seven. Seven days passed on Mirage Island for every one day outside.
Not taking advantage of such a time difference would be a true waste of a godsend.