Passing through the arched gates of the Pillar of the Sky.
Just as Xijana had said, a layer of rippling water suddenly appeared, symbolizing that the invisible seal did not hinder his steps forward.
After acquiring the scroll imbued with the "Ancestral Blessing," yet another thing confirmed the Meteor People's bloodline within him.
Fate is a trickster.
Who could have thought that the wooden plaque originally used to ceremoniously introduce new Pokémon has evolved to this point, impacting his life?
Baimu could feel the gentle gaze from Xijana behind him and suddenly imagined if he couldn't get inside and was blocked by the seal, it would be quite the scene.
"Sasha!"
As Hydreigon called out, his vision suddenly turned dark, with only mottled rays penetrating through the gaps in the walls, barely illuminating the path ahead.
The scene was similar to what had been seen once in the Phantom Tower, but the visibility in the Pillar of the Sky was noticeably lower—
Because relatively speaking, it wasn't as broken.
However, when Baimu wanted to complain why Ash Ketchum and his group could effortlessly see their surroundings when exploring ancient ruins, the walls suddenly emitted a thin light, as if mixed with the Luminous Stone internally.
Adding in the eyes' adaptation to the light, the Pillar of the Sky offered him visibility sufficient to see most things within a twenty-meter radius around him.
Baimu held the flashlight: "..."
Younger days.
Indeed, the creativity of the ancient Meteor People was beyond his judgment.
He thought for a moment and temporarily abandoned the idea of turning on the flashlight. The situation inside the Pillar of the Sky was unknown, so why attract lurking things with a large light source if he could see clearly enough?
It's possible that there might be special guards here like in the Phantom Tower.
Speaking of which, his curiosity gradually rose as he surveyed the surroundings and found that the interior of the Pillar of the Sky was not like the GBA gemstone version's well-defined, trap-filled floors but rather inclined toward the gemstone reproduction version, comprised of countless fragmented floorboards and thick triangular supporting pillars forming the bizarre tower.
A massive mural covering the entire wall, even areas beyond sight, came into view.
"Mega Rayquaza..."
Baimu murmured softly, undoubtedly engraved above was the scene of the ancestors of the Meteor People standing on the Legendary Giant Stone thousands of years ago, praying to Mega Rayquaza to stop the conflict between Primordial Kyogre and Primordial Groudon.
The pattern was abstract as ever, for example, painting Mega Rayquaza's head as a proper triangular shape, with distorted flames tearing the sky depicted beside its cheeks, its slender body like high-altitude turbulence, yet the overall charm was intact.
It was as if solemn symphonies resonated by his ears, highlighting the sacredness of this place.
"How high is this?"
He walked to the mural, looked up, but the thin light was insufficient to let him see the tower top, which was pitch black like a bottomless Black Hole, engulfing all light.
Curious, he suddenly lowered his head and pressed down the head of the Evil Dragon trying to peek through his groin, "What are you doing? I said to walk up using two feet, didn't you understand?"
"Sasha!"
Hydreigon frankly stated it didn't even listen and continued its efforts to lift the Trainer onto its back.
"Dummy, I said no!"
Frustrated, Baimu tugged its trumpet-flower-like fur, covering its eyes and swinging left and right, but owing to the awkward position, he abandoned the effort after trying twice.
He perfectly understood Hydreigon's intention—anyway, with Xijana outside unable to see, who cares, just charge ahead.
But such deceiving acts lacked significance, better to simply turn around and declare surrender.
Retreating its head, Hydreigon snorted sounding like a mooing cow, displeased with having its daring, albeit immature, suggestion nullified.
During their exchange.
Both suddenly looked towards a corner.
In a shadow obscured by a pillar, a pitch-black object ceased writhing as if caught red-handed like a lurking assassin.
The assassin thus erupted.
"Sss!!"
Intense glaring Flash induced massive ghostly shadows spreading to Baimu and Hydreigon's feet, Ghost energy boiling as it transformed into fierce Ghost claws reaching for them!
[Flash] Enlarging shadows, then using the augmented shadows to launch [Shadow Strike].
Damn, it can even perform combo tactics!
Yet neither were sitting ducks. The moment they discovered the spy, Hydreigon spread its wings ascending quickly, as he clung to this fellow's "legs" to reach the air.
The upward speed was rapid, thus managing to evade the other's sudden ambush.
"Scary Face! Suppress it!"
When Trainer and Pokémon suffered blinding attacks, identifying opponent type and specific range was impossible; chaotic attacks were irrational, procuring time for eyes to recover was essential.
[Scary Face] precisely accomplished this.
Sure enough, when Hydreigon showed extremely fierce and sinister expression, through both emotional and energetic impact, the opponent emitted further panicked cries.
"Yamy!" "Yamy-yamy!"
Two Sableye?
Baimu swiftly commanded, "Follow the sound—Evil Fluctuation!"
"Sasha!"
Hydreigon raised heads left and right, three mouths aiming at the sound origin and fired beams merged with ear-generated Evil Attribute Energy!
Rumble—!!
The entire Pillar of the Sky reverberated with the sound of beams hitting the ground causing explosions, and the Sableye's wails seemingly got drowned in the chaos.
Quite a commotion it caused.
Baimu was helpless; most Pokémon moves weren't quiet, wanting silence was impossible.