chsdbacks Chapter 127 The Handiwork of King Kikuko
Chapter 127 The Handiwork of King Kikuko
Chapter 127 The Handiwork of King Kikuko
"Keep up..."
These two words made Xiao Mao pause for a moment.
He never expected that the person who said he would "throw him out of Lavender Town" would suddenly go back on his word and say he would "take him to the Pokémon Tower to pay respects." This bizarre change of heart almost left Gary's mind reeling.
But after he came to his senses...
Without hesitation, Xiao Mao propped himself up, first putting away the unconscious Growlithe, then pausing for a moment before putting away the listless Eevee, and quickly following after Ze Shu.
"Aren't you Kikuko's lackey?!"
He asked Ze Shu's retreating figure in a cold, somewhat stiff tone.
"...Don't you have any emotional intelligence?!" Ze Shu turned around, a smirk on his face, and said, "Suddenly I don't want to take you to the Pokémon Tower anymore."
Xiao Mao was stunned for a moment, then obediently lowered his head: "...It's my fault for lacking emotional intelligence, I'm sorry."
Zeshu sighed and said, "Your personality is the same as before. Why can't you just talk things out? You wanted to enter the Pokémon Tower, but instead of saying you were paying respects, you forced your way in; you wanted to ask someone for help from Elite Four member Agatha Christie, but you just destroyed their gate, that's also forcing your way in..."
"No wonder Professor Oak introduced me to you and told me to bear with you for a while."
"He's not even as good as Ash."
Xiao Mao lowered his head, seemingly agreeing with Ze Shu and wanting to reflect on his actions; he also seemed surprised that Ze Shu knew his grandfather.
But then, upon hearing Ze Shu say "not as good as Xiao Zhi," he immediately raised his head reflexively, exclaiming incredulously:
"Me? I'm not even as good as that idiot Ash!"
"Really..."
After much effort, Blastoise managed to extinguish the forest fire. Blue watched Zephyr and Gary's retreating figures, a look of helplessness on her pretty face.
He angrily said to Ze Shu, "Wait for me!"
"Sigh, what can I do...:"
She quickly followed.
Seeing that Zeshu and Xiaomao were chatting, she didn't disturb them. She just reached out and rubbed the Growlithe that was following at Zeshu's feet, leaving the Growlithe looking completely bewildered.
Having spent a long time with Ze Shu, Yi Yi naturally picked up many of his habits.
At least this is how you vigorously rub a fluffy Pokémon.
Little Blue likes to do this too!
The League members stationed in front of the Pokémon Tower are still there.
Unlike Gary's forceful entry, Sawa entered the Pokémon Tower in a simple way—Gary saw Sawa take out something that looked like a badge, and the League members respectfully made way for him.
There was absolutely no obstruction from him as he had previously indicated.
This left Xiao Mao stunned for a moment: "Ah...:"
After a moment of stunned silence, seeing Ze Shu completely enter the tower, he hurriedly followed.
Inside the Pokémon Tower, it was pitch black, but even at the very bottom, there were rows of tombstones. As soon as you entered, you could feel the temperature in the air drop considerably.
Xiao Lan took out a thermometer and said, "Only 2 degrees Celsius—the temperature here is more than ten degrees lower than outside!"
Xiao Mao gritted his teeth and said, "There's a Gengar guarding this place, that guy..."
Shigeru was about to say something like, "That Gengar is really tough," "It was this Gengar that drove him out," "Entering this Pokémon Tower is just the first step," and "Be careful," among other words of concern and reminder.
But all he saw was Ze Shu reaching out and kneading something in the air.
A pair of bloodshot eyes appeared before him, their expressions clearly showing a comfortable and blissful state;
Immediately, the chubby, round purple body slowly materialized from nothing, its short, chubby limbs spread wide, as if it were sleeping comfortably in a gentle embrace. Without a doubt, this was the "dangerous" Gengar that Gary had warned about, the Gengar that would throw them away!
But now, in Ze Shu's hands, it's just like a docile Gengar doll!
Xiao Mao was dumbfounded again: "Ah..."
But then Ze Shu asked Gengar curiously, "I didn't expect to run into you again. Weren't you in the manor before? How did you suddenly end up in this Pokémon Tower...?"
3
This Gengar is the same Gengar that Zeki rubbed in Kikuko's Manor.
After Ze Shu asked the question, the Gengar put its hands on its hips in a wronged manner:
"Goblin!"
It's because Ze Shu rubbed it!
So he "made a mistake" and was "replaced" by Grandma Akiko to be the "gatekeeper" in this Pokémon Tower. But unexpectedly, he met Sawaki again.
Sure enough, it feels pretty good in the hand!
Ze Shu even chased him all the way here!
Thinking of this, Gengar even smiled and brought its chubby cheeks closer to Zeju:
"Goblin!"
Massage it a little longer, it feels so good!
Ze Shu twitched the corner of his mouth, but his hands unconsciously rubbed together a few more times. He said, "Do you know why we came here...?"
Gengar looked confused for a moment, then exclaimed, "Gengar?"
Wasn't I here to rub it?
Ze Shu laughed and said, "We're going inside the tower."
Gengar was shocked: "Kouhachi!!"
It tried to back away, but found that Ze Shu's hand, which had been massaging it comfortably, was now like the jaws of a megalodon, biting it and refusing to let go.
All that could be done was for Gengar's chubby body to struggle wildly: "Giggle...Giggle!"
No!
When the Swamp Tree showed no obvious aggressive tendencies, Gengar was reluctant to harm it, as it had a close relationship with the Swamp Tree.
So it only struggled physically, without attacking.
But then, something was stuffed into its wide-open mouth.
Gengar was taken aback: "Goblin..."
So delicious...
Ze Shu laughed, then gave Gengar another Energy Cube and said, "This is just a small gift. This Pokémon Tower is too dark, and I'm not familiar with the terrain. Could you be my guide?"
"Don't worry, we won't disturb the ghost Pokémon inside. We're just quietly coming to pay our respects..."
Ze Shu pointed to Xiao Mao beside him and said:
"Look, this kid's name is Xiao Mao. If we don't offer him a sacrifice soon, he might cry in front of you..."
"The kind that could make this Pokémon Tower cry itself to pieces."
Xiaomao: "..."
Geng Gui asked suspiciously, "Kou Jie?"
Is it just for worship?
Ze Shu smiled and said, "Yes."
"We held the ceremony quietly, and Kikuko didn't know, right? Even if she did know, look how respectfully the Alliance personnel guarding the gate treated me."
I will definitely plead with Kikuko on your behalf, and I won't let Kikuko do anything to you...:”
Gengar blinked. The naive creature didn't understand what "being fooled" meant; it simply felt that the man who was rubbing it so comfortably was trustworthy. So, after hesitating for a moment, it nodded.
"...Gah!"
It should be...no problem!
If it's just a matter of worship...
The more Gengar thought about it, the more confident it became. Soon, it put its hands on its hips, raised its head, and showed an arrogant smile!
"Goblin!"
Then just trust this "guide"!
It felt familiar with this Pokémon Taco, just like coming home!
Ze Shu laughed and said, "Then I'll leave it to Gengar..."
He was very fortunate to have encountered the most innocent Gengar.
Xiao Mao was dumbfounded again.
He thought that once Zeki got past the Gengar hurdle, he'd have a good plan. But he never expected that Zeki would actually "turn" Gengar to the other side!
They stole the heart of Kikuko, the most eccentric Ghost-type Elite Four member?!
Seeing Shigeru's stunned figure, Ze Shu said speechlessly, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and catch up. The Pokémon you need to worship..."
Which floor is it on?
"Listen...::" Xiao Mao hesitated for a moment, "On the sixth floor."
Ze Shu shook his head and said, "It's really far."
The Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town has seven floors, and each floor on the way to the sixth floor is incredibly eerie, filled with Pokémon tombstones, almost like a maze—if it weren't for Gengar's guidance, they don't know how long it would have taken.
Along the way, Xiao Lan suddenly pulled out a headset that looked like VR glasses and said with a grin:
"I almost forgot about this, the multi-functional surveillance mirror from the Siluf Corporation, which is said to be able to see invisible ghosts..."
"Sawaki, would you like to try it first?"
Ze Shu shook his head.
Xiao Lan said "Oh" and put the monitoring mirror on her head.
Soon, she, who had been giggling, stopped.
It's become "not so funny"...
She murmured, her face pale, "So...so many!"
What did she see?
She saw large swarms of Ghost-type Pokémon almost crowding around them, creating a near "people packed together" situation—Little Blue even saw that the Floatballs, which should have been round like balloons, were squeezed up!
No wonder.
No wonder that Gengar guide would occasionally make a pushing motion as if pushing a heavy object even when there was no air in front of him...
So, the goal was to push this crowded group of Pokémon apart!
Ze Shu laughed and said, "How was it?"
Xiao Lan's face turned pale, then she realized what was happening and pretended to be angry with Ze Shu, saying, "Ze Shu, you knew all along, didn't you?!"
Ze Shu shook his head, then smiled and said, "Judging from your performance, Xiao Lan, I already knew..."
Xiao Lan angrily punched Ze Shuxia: "Seriously!"
"However..." Ze Shu said, "Blue, don't you think these Pokémon are 'friendly'? Not at all..."
He didn't continue, but glanced at Gengar, who was happily leading the way.
But Xiao Lan quickly realized what Ze Shu was trying to say—"There was absolutely no Ghost-type Pokémon rampage in the Pokémon Tower as Akiko Elite Four member said."
There were no riots.
Some of the Pokémon were even quite friendly, looking at them with curiosity in their eyes...
Xiao Lan was taken aback for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Why is that...?"
Ze Shu shook his head, seemingly referring to something, and said, "You'll know once you go to the sixth floor to offer sacrifices. The sixth floor is indeed a very good location..."
It is only one floor away from the seventh floor, which is noticeably unusual from the outside.
But Xiao Mao, who had been walking silently, said in a low voice, "Because the 'tombstone' spots on the first five floors are all full..."
"After the funeral was held on the seventh floor, the burial took place directly on the sixth floor."
Ze Shu sighed.
Blue hesitated for a moment, then said to Gary, "Can you tell us about your... dead Pokémon? You're a trainer who just started your journey, right? How could it have died in such a short time..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xiao Mao gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and said hatefully:
"Because of the Rockets!"
Ze Shu replied, "The Rockets?"
"The Rockets!"
Xiao Mao uttered another angry sound.
He stared at Ze Shu for a long time, then silently said:
"Not long ago, in the Rocky Mountain Tunnel, I discovered a large truck belonging to Team Rocket smuggling Pokémon, and the Pokémon inside were badly injured."
"I...I didn't want to get involved, but I have a Rattata in my party, and it really wants to save these Pokémon..."
"So we took action and successfully rescued those Pokémon..."
"Then, they were met with a counterattack from the Rockets."
"With my strength, I wouldn't be in such a sorry state!"
"But one of Team Rocket's shameless officers keeps using Koffing to self-destruct..."
"Rada shielded us from a self-destruction, giving us a sliver of hope to escape. We found a route and ran, but... but..."
"Because I was eager to escape Team Rocket's pursuit, I unconsciously sped up my escape, neglecting Radamanthys, who was already badly injured from the self-destruction..."
"It's dead."
"It was exhausted from the previous battles and didn't get any rest afterward. It kept following us on our journey and I literally wore it out to death."
In the end, Xiao Mao almost gritted his teeth, forcing back tears, and squeezed out the words:
"This is my failure as a trainer. My weakness and ignorance killed him..."
"I'm telling you what happened because... I want it to serve as a warning! I... I will never be weak again. I will become absolutely strong, I will become strong at all costs. Only strength is the foundation of not being bullied, so I will...:"
Before Xiao Mao could finish speaking through gritted teeth, Ze Shu interrupted him softly:
"You should rest."
"Professor Oak said he misses you. After you've paid your respects to Rattata, go back to Pallet Town and see him..."
Xiao Mao remained silent, his face cold.
Ze Shu replied, "If you don't agree, let's go back the way we came..."
Xiao Mao remained silent for a long while, then said in a hoarse voice, "I'll go back after I finish the ceremony!"
Zeshu said, "Alright, if you break your promise, you'll never be as good as Xiaozhi."
Xiaomao:
"......
Beside her, Xiaolan sighed, glanced at Zeshu, and didn't know how to comfort him. She couldn't imagine how painful it would be for her closest Pokémon to die because of her wrong decision; she herself couldn't accept it...
After a long silence, Xiao Lan could only continue to use the monitoring scope to search for and guard against the ghost Pokémon around her.
They walked slowly up the Pokémon Tower, and thanks to Gengar's guidance, they didn't encounter any attacks. However, because of Gary's explanation, they remained silent and continued walking in quiet contemplation.
Suddenly, upon reaching the sixth floor of the stairs, Ze Shu asked:
"The cadre you mentioned who used dual-explosive gas to self-destruct, is his name Lambda...?"
Shigeru said coldly and hatefully, "I don't know! But I will wipe out Team Rocket, until not a single one is left!"
Ze Shu sighed, "I suppose it should be...:"
The sixth floor of the Pokémon Tower is no different from the previous floors, with piles of tombstones and shrouded in eerie mist, resembling a maze.
Upon reaching this point, Xiao Mao pursed his lips, but quickened his pace, relying on his memory to walk to a tombstone.
The tombstone bore a black and white portrait of Rada, who was smiling happily. You could vaguely see that it was plump and healthy, indicating that it had been well cared for by Shigeru.
Xiao Mao gritted his teeth and silently squatted down.
Beside him, a weak Growlithe with its head bowed, and an Eevee with tears streaming down its face, were also released by him, silently watching the still smiling black and white portrait of Rattata.
Zeshu glanced at Xiaoshige, who remained silent and motionless, and sighed.
He then silently began to observe his surroundings.
A thin mist hung in the air, but something unusual was immediately apparent—the staircase leading to the seventh floor was shrouded in black fog, as if something dangerous was churning within it; even the naked eye could see the danger.
"And..." Xiao Lan, wearing her monitoring glasses, asked疑惑地, "The ghost Pokémon here seem a bit mixed up to me..."
"What I saw included Mothball, Driftball, Crymask, and Pumpkin. This Pokémon Tower in the Kanto region has Pokémon from all sorts of regions. On the bottom floor, I thought it was just an accident, but coming to the seventh floor...:"
"This situation is even more obvious now!"
Xiao Lan murmured, observing intently through her monitoring glasses, and continued:
"They came down from the seventh floor!"
"And there were quite a few dangerous Pokémon. If it weren't for Gengar's guidance in keeping them away, we probably would have been attacked long ago..."
Hearing Xiao Lan's praise, Gengar, who was guarding the stairs and warning a mischievous Dragapult, proudly put his hands on his hips:
"Goblin!"
However, it was precisely this one leak...
A streak of fire swept past Gengar, seemingly driven by an extremely strong desire to attack. No matter how threateningly Gengar had chased after it, the fire ignored it and charged straight toward the two living people there—Ze Shu and Xiao Lan!
Little Blue whispered a reminder: "It's a Candlelight Spirit!"
Lidl is a Pokémon that people who know about it can't help but change their expressions when they talk about it. It is said that its flames are fueled by absorbing the life force of people and Pokémon. If you spend time with Lidl, your life force will be drained without you even realizing it, and you will grow old and frail.
Sure enough, the closer the fire got to them, the more intense it became, and the brighter it grew!
Ze Shu said softly, "Crush it."
Upon hearing the command, the Growlithe, which had been quietly following Ze Shu, barked, lowered its body, and emitted Dark attribute energy from its mouth.
Facing the oncoming flames, a giant, jet-black tooth suddenly materialized!
Then, it bit straight down into the flames!
All that could be heard was the "click" of the giant teeth closing.
Growlithe's Crush hits Candlestick squarely!
In the fog, a round candle appeared within the dark, closed giant teeth, its eerie flame flickering precariously. Its bright yellow eyes were filled with discomfort and bewilderment: "Hoo..."
Its candle body appears to have a huge tooth mark that lingers for a long time.
This is how Lidgment crushes this dark-type energy. It is extremely uncomfortable with the invasion of the Ghost Pokémon and wants to absorb the life energy of those two people even more!
But it soon felt better because Zeju smashed a Poké Ball.
Bang... Ding!
They paid no attention to the sound of the candle spirit being subdued.
Ze Shumei looked at the stairs leading to the seventh floor and asked Gengar, "Can we go up and take a look?"
Gengar's eyes widened, and it quickly shook its head:
"Ugh, ugh!"
That definitely won't work!
Wasn't it just supposed to be "offering sacrifices"?
Zeshu pointed innocently at the Poké Ball containing Lidlight, saying, "But I was attacked..."
He leaned close to Gengar's ear, revealed a badge, and whispered, "Do you know what this is?"
Gengar blinked, shook its head, and muttered, "Gengar..."
Ze Shu exclaimed in shock, "It's an investigator! A top-tier investigator! You've heard of them, right? They're the kind of investigators who can question and arrest even Kikuko Tenno, the top-priority investigators!"
"Hmph, scared by my identity, aren't you? But I'm under attack now, and a little Gengar like you can't stop me from investigating!"
Gengar has no idea what an investigator is!
But it clearly heard one sentence: "Even Kikuko the Heavenly King can be arrested." Its plump purple body was so frightened that its hair stood on end, and it said in disbelief:
"Ugh, ugh?!"
Ze Shu smiled and said, "Right? So you have no 'right' to stop me. Even if I threaten you to take me upstairs, it's all 'force majeure.' Understand? I just want to go up and take a look. This has nothing to do with you."
"After all, you're just a little, easily fooled Gengar leading the way..."
Gengar, still dizzy from all the commotion, mumbled, "Mouth..."
"So let's go..." Before Gengar could finish thinking, Ze Shu pulled it up the stairs, saying, "I'll just look, I won't touch it. You know, we investigators dislike fighting the most; we're all just bystanders..."
Gengar: "Goblin..."
How come it doesn't know any of the things that Ze Shu mentioned as "you know"?
Gengar became confused, but "unconsciously" led Zeju up to the seventh floor.
Behind them, Xiao Lan covered her mouth with amusement and quickly followed.
This seventh floor, because it serves as a place to hold funerals for Pokémon, is different from the six floors below. It only has neat rows of tombstones on both sides and an "altar" that leads directly from the tombstones to the center.
The seventh floor was eerie, chaotic, and filled with swirling black mist. Under the red candles lit around it, it resembled a cult festival!
This was Ze Shu's first impression when he walked up.
A strange "hehehe" sound continued to emanate from it. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw the central altar, where flickering red candles flickered, a red cloth that looked as if it were stained with blood was eerily large, and...
Two Gengars are playing cards and laughing on a red cloth!
That eerie "hehehe" laughter is the sound of them playing cards.
Ze Shu and Xiao Lan, who followed behind: "..."
What's going on here?
They never expected that such a gloomy environment would have such a joyful atmosphere!
At that moment, the two Gengar playing cards saw the Gengar who had led the way to Ze Shu approach, and their eyes lit up. As if they were "missing one player," they floated over and pulled the leading Gengar into their "card game."
The cheerful "hehehe" sounds continued to emanate.
It seems to be saying something like, "Two ghosts aren't enough to play cards, now that there are three ghosts, it's perfect for playing 'Landlord'!"
Clearly, the two Gengar playing cards are also members of Elite Four member Gengar's army.
"No!" Xiao Lan exclaimed first, pointing to the space behind the three Gengar. It was empty space, but in Xiao Lan's eyes, it appeared as if an "eye" was slowly opening and closing. "What is this?!"
"All the Pokémon from other regions came from this 'rift'!"
"It's very unstable, it opens and closes intermittently, but every time it opens, one or two ghost Pokémon emerge..."
But Zeju looked in another direction, saying more precisely, "It should be a rift in the spirit world. It's said to be the home of Ghost-type Pokémon, and all sorts of Pokémon are there..."
1
Xiao Lan was taken aback for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Ze Shu, how did you know...?"
Ze Shu pointed, and Xiao Lan looked in the direction he pointed. There was a wall with something like a "sealing array," and on the wall, a black night demon struggled with its single, red eye, but it couldn't move at all.
Wisps of black energy transformed into chains, binding the Night Demon to the wall.
It is said that the Night Demon is called the "Messenger of the Spirit World" and can open the spirit world to reach the real world and guide people who are about to die. If this is the case, then the opening and closing crack is obviously the so-called "spirit world".
This is clearly the work of Kikuko Tenno.
A Nightshade was bound here, preventing the Spirit Gate from dissipating on the seventh floor of the Pokémon Tower. It continued to slowly open, allowing Pokémon from other regions to enter the Pokémon Tower through it.
No wonder I encountered Pokémon from various regions, such as Woodpecker and Lidgment!
Xiao Lan's eyes widened: "Why is Kikuko doing this?"
Ze Shu shook his head and said, "It's not clear yet..."
"Kikuko bound the Night Demon here and opened the gate to the spirit world; but she had Gengar guard this place to strictly control the intrusion of the spirit world gate."
Clearly, this is under Kikuko's control.
Ze Shu noticed that sometimes, with Gengar's yelp, the chains binding the Night Demon would suddenly tighten, and the Spirit Gate would abruptly close before slowly opening again.
Clearly, Gengar, while playing cards, is controlling the frequency of its opening and closing.
Xiao Lan asked疑惑地问道, "Then what should we do? Should we close this gate to the spirit world?"
This spirit gate has always "produced" Pokémon, most of which are benevolent, but there are also dangerous Pokémon like Lidgment.
But as soon as she said that, the two Gengar playing cards suddenly looked over. Ghostly mist surged in the air, as if they would attack at the slightest movement.
Ze Shu sighed, "Why did you have to shut it down..."
"Why don't we just ask Kikuko Tenno about this? Perhaps... Kikuko Tenno's reason for doing this is actually quite simple."
Ze Shu seemed to be deep in thought.
"Never mind. Now that we know what's going on here, let's go down..."
Gengar was very happy to help Ze Shu lead the way.
Because Zeki truly kept his promise and did not break it; he really just "looked at it".
"Goblin!"
After being forced to play a game of cards, Gengar happily led Zeki downstairs. Back on the sixth floor, Zeki, lost in thought, slowly picked up the leftover Litwick Poké Ball.
But then, suddenly, Xiao Lan exclaimed in surprise:
"Sawaki!"
Then he saw Little Blue running up to him, carrying a dejected Eevee in his arms.
This Eevee was clearly the same one that Shigeru had been scolding earlier. In Lan's arms, it was silently shedding tears, without uttering a single word.
"This..." Xiao Lan gritted her teeth and said, "That Xiao Mao, he's gone!"
"But he left Ibrahimovic here!"
"And this..."
She opened her other hand, revealing a Poké Ball, broken in two—this was the state the Poké Ball automatically damaged after the release procedure was initiated.
"This..." Xiao Lan was furious.
"How could this person do this? Releasing this Eevee into this eerie, dangerous Pokémon Tower filled with ghostly Pokémon!"
Ze Shu sighed, "He knew we were here, so he did it on purpose..."
Xiao Lan retorted angrily, "Even if we're here, we shouldn't act like this! Can't we just talk properly?!"
"At first, I felt sorry for him after hearing about Rattata's plight! But I never expected that he... how could he do that to Rattata? He even said he wanted to get stronger, but I'm telling you, with his trainer mentality of casually abandoning Pokémon, he'll never get stronger!"
"Seriously!"
"What is this? This is moral blackmail! Just because it's here doesn't mean we have to take care of it! We absolutely have to take care of it!"
Xiao Lan was truly furious.
Xiao Mao's behavior disgusted her to the extreme.
"Hmph!"
Little Blue snorted angrily, then spoke softly to the Eevee in her arms:
"Little Eevee, your lousy trainer doesn't care about you, but I, Blue, will. I'll raise you perfectly well and make you incredibly strong. When that random guy named Gary walks by, we'll beat him up and make him regret it! He'll never be able to reach us again!"
Ze Shu laughed and said, "Yes..."
"From now on, every time we see that Shigeru, we'll beat him up until he kneels on the ground and properly apologizes to Eevee!"