"Cough, cough... cough, cough..."
A moment later, the mountain collapse caused by the violent explosion finally ended, and David's continuous coughing could be heard through the lingering smoke and dust.
"Zoro, use a low-power Icy Wind to blow away all this dust."
As soon as he finished speaking, an icy cold wind instantly appeared within the smoke, blowing away all the dust particles floating in the air.
Suddenly, the surrounding air cleared. After the smoke and dust dissipated, David and his Pokémon finally became visible.
Under Dragapult's Protect, this unexpected explosion hadn't caused any harm to David or his Pokémon.
David looked around—Zoro, Lucario, Kirlia—everyone was fine.
"Phew..." He finally let out a sigh of relief.
As for Dragapult, there was no need to worry. Although the explosion's power was astonishing, David estimated that it probably reached the level of an Elite-level Pokémon unleashing full-power moves like Hyper Beam, Flamethrower, Draco Meteor, or Earthquake.
But for Dragapult, this explosion's power was merely average. Moreover, Dragon-type Pokémon were known for their powerful bodies. Even the relatively fragile Dragapult was stronger than an ordinary Elite-level Pokémon.
Even if an attack of this magnitude struck it directly, it would probably only cause minor injuries.
After all, the explosion's power was dispersed, unlike the concentrated force of a Pokémon's move.
If it weren't for protecting David and his Pokémon, Dragapult probably wouldn't have even needed to use Protect.
They hadn't suffered any damage, but their current appearance was quite disheveled.
Protect could block the damage from the enemy's explosion, but it was powerless against the sky-high dust stirred up by the subsequent landslide.
Therefore, David himself, along with several Pokémon, were all covered in dust.
It was worth noting that the Pokémon in David's care were all exceptionally clean.
Zoro, who was always particular about his appearance and demanded David groom him daily, meticulously cleaning every strand of fur, went without saying.
Lucario's first priority after every workout was to shower, and David's Lucario even had a habit of taking baths.
Kirlia, inheriting traits from her mother, had a slight cleanliness obsession and utterly detested dirty things.
Now, all of them were covered in dust, feeling as if insects were crawling all over their bodies—it was extremely uncomfortable!
"Oh no!"
Suddenly, David realized that while they were fine, the Pokémon they had rescued earlier were still inside the cave!
David immediately instructed Dragapult to clear a path through the collapsed cave.
This was where the difference between the Pokémon world and an ordinary world became apparent. In an ordinary world, if half of an entire cave collapsed like this, even the most advanced rescue team might not be able to clear a path in a whole day.
But with the power of Pokémon, all impossibilities became possibilities.
Upon hearing David's command, extremely concentrated Dragon-type energy gathered entirely on Dragapult's tail.
Dragapult used an advanced energy manipulation technique, solidifying the Dragon Tail move, which was originally meant for a single strike, onto its own tail.
Then, Dragapult continuously swung its tail. Before it, the fallen rocks and soil were pulverized as easily as a hot knife cutting through butter.
They were easily shattered and then directly transported out of the cave by Kirlia using Psychic.
Relying on Dragapult's power, in just two or three minutes, David and his Pokémon carved out a path dozens of meters long through the ruins.
Finally, they found the young Pokémon trapped in the cave.
The young Pokémon, who didn't know what had happened, were trembling in fear. When they saw David and his Pokémon appear like saviors, they immediately gathered tightly around David, chattering at him anxiously.
"Alright, alright, it's good that you're all safe and sound!"
David looked at these lively little ones.
Although they were suddenly trapped in the cave due to the collapse, they were only frightened and slightly panicked, but they hadn't suffered any real injuries.
"Kirlia, use Heal Pulse again!"
David counted all the young Pokémon, and after confirming that none were missing, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Then he had Kirlia heal a few unlucky ones who had sustained injuries.
Fortunately, David had remembered that another group of criminals would return earlier and had instructed all these Pokémon to hide on the opposite side of the cave.
The recent explosion had mostly affected the area where the Pokémon were previously held.
Furthermore, since this was where the poachers themselves had lived, even though it was only for a few days, they had still made some basic reinforcements.
It was fortunate—otherwise, if they had faced the explosion head-on, David truly didn't know how many of these young Pokémon would have survived.
"Crazy... truly a lunatic."
David cursed silently to himself. For these terrorists, he could only use these two words to describe them.
He hadn't expected that Mr. K would perform physical modifications on both himself and his Pokémon.
And when David discovered their secret and Mr. K couldn't eliminate him to maintain silence, he actually chose to self-destruct.
He truly lived up to his dual roles as both terrorist and cultist.
Besides "crazy," what other words could David use to describe this?
Humans weren't Pokémon! They couldn't survive after using Self-Destruct.
Moreover, the explosion from Mr. K just now was definitely not a normal Pokémon move modification.
His twisted posture and that dark, evil, unforgettable energy at the time—these were clearly not that simple.
"The End Church, is it?"
"I've disrupted your plan this time. I hope you don't fall into my hands again."
David muttered to himself.
Mr. K's last words—that The End Church wouldn't let him go, wouldn't let his family go—made him feel very displeased.
If his strength became great enough in the future, he wouldn't mind uprooting this organization entirely.
However, it was merely a bit of displeasure. With David's current background, he wasn't truly worried about those terrorists bothering his family.
After all, if this group of rabble dared to run to Imperial City—the center of the Cloudspire Alliance—to trouble his parents, they would probably be eliminated before they even reached them.
Both his family's Ascending Dragon Gym and the Imperial Capital Research Institute had top-notch security. If these places could be breached by a terrorist organization, the Alliance wouldn't need to exist.
As for his elder sister, Aria, David didn't think those people had the ability to cause trouble in Magic City.
Magic City and Imperial City were the two core cities of the Cloudspire Alliance, with many official agencies and important facilities located within them.
Each of the two cities also had one of the eight special-grade Gyms. The Gym Leaders of these special-grade Gyms, who could operate in such cities, were almost all veteran Champion-level Trainers in terms of strength.
Adding the stationed military forces, if those terrorists truly lost their minds and dared to cause trouble in these places, that would be like seeking their own demise.
So, David didn't take Mr. K's dying words to heart at all.
However, now that David knew the truth, The End Church would likely not escape the official retaliation of the Alliance.
No matter what The End Church truly was, a mere terrorist organization could not possibly contend with one of the strongest nations of that era.
Don't be fooled by those terrorist organizations wreaking havoc and flaunting their power internationally every day. Once the official Alliance truly decided to take action against them, the power of a mere terrorist organization was simply negligible in the face of a fully mobilized national force.
Since the high-ranking members of The End Church used English letters as codenames, even if all twenty-six of their leaders, represented by the twenty-six letters, were Elite-level Trainers, the Cloudspire Alliance could still ensure they met their end. These rats in the gutter would always be rats, unable to rise to prominence.
Thinking of this, David couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh.
He held grudges. He hoped this group never fell into his hands again in the future.
"But... the Doomsday God?"
David didn't pay much attention to those cultists, but this so-called Doomsday God... Although general cult organizations liked to fabricate deities to deceive their followers, this Doomsday God...
Feeling the special energy fluctuation from Mr. K's self-destruction just now, David was somewhat uncertain.
That evil, destructive, and terrifying dark power was indeed far beyond what ordinary Pokémon could possess.
But David always felt that this power was somewhat familiar. Had he encountered it somewhere before?
"The Doomsday God... Among the many Mythical and Legendary Pokémon in the Pokémon world, if it were to fit this title... the one that seems to match is only..."
"Yveltal, the Y among the XYZ trio."
David guessed.
Looking at the many Legendary Pokémon in the Pokémon world that were called gods, most of their divine domains represented neutral natural concepts.
For example, Rayquaza, the god of the sky; Kyogre, the god of the sea; Groudon, the god of the land; the Sinnoh trio symbolizing time, space, and antimatter; the twin sun and moon gods symbolizing the sun and moon, and so on.
Otherwise, they were mostly positive titles, such as Xerneas, the god of life; Zygarde, the protector of the ecosystem; Calyrex, the king of legends; Zacian and Zamazenta, the warriors of sword and shield; and Reshiram and Zekrom, the dragons of truth and ideals.
Among all the Legendary Pokémon, it seemed that only Yveltal, known as the god of destruction, and Darkrai, the nightmare god, had clearly negative connotations in their divine titles.
David couldn't help but smile inwardly. These two were frequent villains in various Pokémon fan fictions.
Darkrai, the nightmare god, didn't match the title of Doomsday God, neither from its divine domain nor its special abilities.
On the contrary, Yveltal, known as the god of destruction, who, once awakened, would devour all surrounding life force, surprisingly aligned with the title of Doomsday God.
"Could it be that this terrorist organization found the Cocoon of Destruction?"
David said, somewhat uncertainly.
As for whether Yveltal had truly awakened from the Cocoon of Destruction? David hadn't considered that possibility.
Yveltal was not an existence that could be dealt with easily.
Given its nature, once it awakened from the Cocoon of Destruction, the first ones to suffer would be these cultists.
When Yveltal awakened, before its lifespan ended, it would relentlessly devour all surrounding life. David didn't believe Yveltal would care about these so-called believers of the Doomsday God.
As for whether The End Church controlled Yveltal, David didn't even consider it. There were no exaggerated evil organizations like Team Rocket or Team Galactic in this world.
If they could truly control a First-tier Legendary Pokémon, they wouldn't need to continue being rats in the gutter like this.
Moreover, if David remembered correctly, the last time Yveltal appeared was more than a hundred years ago, before the Alliance was even established.
At that time, during the middle and late stages of a world war, the Sakura Alliance, or rather, the then Chongying Kingdom, discovered the existence of the Cocoon of Destruction on an island ruin in the East Pacific.
As the embodiment of the god of destruction, the Cocoon of Destruction naturally contained unimaginably high-level energy.
By continuously studying the Cocoon of Destruction, the Chongying Kingdom used its destructive energy to create many powerful weapons, and they also completed a notorious technology—using destructive energy to physically modify Pokémon.
After possessing a large number of destructive weapons and a modified Pokémon army, the desires of the high-ranking officials in the kingdom expanded without limit.
The Chongying people, who did not yet know the true nature of the Cocoon of Destruction, believed it was a divine gift from heaven and actually harbored the ambition of conquering the world.
They directly declared war on the then Eastern Splendor Empire and the White Eagle Federation.
Relying on the power of the Cocoon of Destruction, the Chongying Kingdom's foreign wars were unstoppable.
The surrounding coastal small nations were no match for them at all. Their presence throughout the Pacific was completely wiped out.
Even with the Eastern Splendor Empire's main forces tied up elsewhere, the Chongying Kingdom's army directly invaded its mainland.
Just as the high-ranking officials of the Chongying Kingdom were feeling triumphant, natural disaster struck.
With their help, the Cocoon of Destruction not only achieved an early revival, but also, due to the countless life forces absorbed from the killings, the Yveltal that appeared reached an unprecedented state.
And when Yveltal awakened, the first to suffer was the Chongying Kingdom where it was located.
Black and red wings shone with destructive light, and beneath its wings, all things turned to ashes.
Yveltal, carrying a wave of destruction, swept through nearly a third of the kingdom before continuing toward the Eastern Splendor Empire.
Finally, on the East China Sea coast, due to Yveltal's presence, Xerneas, the god of life, also awakened. Together with all the Legendary Trainers of the Cloudspire Alliance and with the support of Ho-Oh, they paid a huge price to exhaust Yveltal's life force, causing it to revert to the form of the Cocoon of Destruction and be re-sealed within the ruins.
It was for this reason that, even now, four Champions—dispatched by the World Pokémon United Council from the Eastern Splendor Empire, White Eagle, Ross, and Europa—were stationed in the Sakura Alliance's territory.
Nominally, it was to prevent the return of the Cocoon of Destruction, but in reality... those who understood, understood.
"If it really is the Cocoon of Destruction, then this is serious. I must tell Dad and the others."
David thought to himself. Unfortunately, the explosion just now had destroyed everything around him, otherwise he could have checked for other clues.