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Although some strange items still appeared along the way—such as milk bottles, plump Miltank, and empty Poké Balls—Chris and Vladimir managed to pass through several islands within the space rifts without any major issues, eventually arriving at the secret realm Vladimir had mentioned.
It was a desolate and crumbling ruin.
Throughout the area, they could see ruins covered with various ancient texts and peculiar murals.
Chris had already examined these patterns through Teacher Vladimir's previous research records before coming here.
When these patterns were correctly combined and arranged, they actually depicted a "sacrificial" process—showing how ancient humans worshiped Palkia.
"Although the last time I came here was decades ago," Vladimir said with emotion as he observed the familiar ruins, "because of the special nature of the space here, everything has remained exactly the same after all these years."
"The next step is up to you," Vladimir added.
Chris nodded in acknowledgment. He had already collected the treasures that were meant to be found.
Without means that surpassed his teacher's abilities, the result might be the same as what his teacher had experienced.
"Gardevoir, MEGA Evolution," Chris said as he stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers.
Gardevoir clasped her hands in front of her chest, her appearance transforming into an elegant wedding dress-like form, while her psychic power continued to soar higher and higher.
Chris wasn't idle either. He put on the Aura gloves he had obtained from the Tree of Beginning and fully activated the power of Aura to assist Mega Gardevoir.
Psychic energy gradually spread outward.
They tried their best to explore everything in the surrounding area.
Chris and Mega Gardevoir didn't have a specific target they were looking for—they were simply here to try their luck.
For this reason, Chris also took out his treasure detector.
Almost at the same instant, both the treasure detector Chris held and Mega Gardevoir locked onto the center of the island simultaneously.
"Huh?" Chris raised his eyebrows, feeling the determination of the treasure detector's direction.
The intensity of this abnormal reading seemed to be no less than that of a large diamond!
"Did we really find the Lustrous Globe?" Chris's eyes lit up. "Gardevoir, take me there immediately!"
Mega Gardevoir waved her hand, and both Chris and Vladimir were instantly teleported to the center of the island.
At the very center of the island, where the ancients had worshiped Palkia, the treasure detector in Chris's hand pointed toward the air, yet there was nothing visible in the sky.
Soon, Mega Gardevoir tore open a crack with her tremendous spatial power.
A completely new world unfolded before Chris's eyes.
"The secret realm of the Hanging Islands is already located within the space rifts, but the space within those rifts can actually tear open another layer?" Vladimir said, genuinely amazed.
It seemed that Chris's Gardevoir was indeed far superior to his own Gengar in terms of spatial mastery. He had been here with Gengar for at least more than a year, yet he had never discovered that within this secret realm in the space rift, there was actually another layer of space hidden away.
It was like a never-ending nested puzzle!
Chris couldn't wait to walk toward the portal.
The light and shadows before his eyes flickered and shifted.
Chris, accompanied by Mega Gardevoir, and Vladimir, accompanied by Gengar, appeared in a desolate land.
It was vastly different from the dark scenery of the Hanging Islands.
Here, it was as bright as daytime.
However, it wasn't natural light.
Chris looked into the distance and saw tall towers. Each tower had an enormous light bulb at the top, emitting golden light and illuminating the entire world.
These glowing towers made Chris feel somewhat familiar.
"I feel like I've seen this somewhere before..." he muttered.
Mega Gardevoir, however, had already remembered where she had seen these light bulbs and gently waved her hand, sending the memory directly into Chris's mind.
"A space rift?" Chris raised his eyebrows.
The image that came to mind was from when he had ventured into Zeraora's world.
The lighthouses before him now were exactly the same as the devices Zapdos had used to absorb electricity from other Electric-type Pokémon in that world behind the rift. A similar device had even been moved to Chris's laboratory afterward.
"Could this be another one of Zapdos's hideouts?" Chris narrowed his eyes.
The last time Zapdos had managed to escape from his grasp, it was precisely because of its powerful spatial abilities. After running away, they couldn't rule out the possibility that it had returned to "cause trouble" in other dimensions.
Chris signaled Mega Gardevoir to immediately conduct a thorough exploration of the area.
Soon, the results of the investigation appeared in Chris's mind.
Unlike last time, this enormous space didn't have nearly as many Electric-type Pokémon who had been forced by Zapdos to perform hard labor here. In fact, there was only one Electric-type Pokémon in this entire space.
Right at the center of the eighteen lighthouses, a Zapdos was lying comfortably, absorbing electricity while sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of Chris's arrival as an uninvited guest.
"So it really is here," Chris chuckled.
Back then, there had been only one lighthouse in that space rift, yet it had attracted thousands of Pokémon to work as Zapdos's slaves. Here there were eighteen lighthouses. Just how many Pokémon had Zapdos enslaved as laborers this time?!
"Zapdos has committed too many wrongdoings!" Chris said with determination.
"This time, I won't let you escape again!"
"Come on, let's go see how much Zapdos has grown during this time!"
Mega Gardevoir activated Teleport.
She teleported Chris and Vladimir directly to Zapdos's location.
The moment they landed, Zapdos suddenly opened its eyes.
The instant it saw Chris, its eyes filled with horror.
It was that human who had ruined its plans last time! Why was he here? Why had he appeared so suddenly, without any warning at all!
Without a second thought, Zapdos flapped its wings rapidly and turned around like a speeding car trying to escape.
But this time, escaping wouldn't be so easy.
With the experience from last time and enough time to prepare this time around, Mega Gardevoir had completely sealed off the surrounding space using the Lustrous Orb.
Zapdos attempted to use its spatial power to tear open a crack and escape to another dimension through the space rift, but it soon found itself crashing headfirst into the ground instead.
It neither flew successfully nor escaped to another dimension.
It was over!
Zapdos realized that its opponent's spatial mastery far exceeded its own!
Since escape was impossible, the only option left was to fight to the death!
"Zaaaaap!" Zapdos screeched, preparing to battle Chris.
But before it could even exert its power, an enormous fist descended from the sky and landed directly on Zapdos's head, defeating it mercilessly right in its own lair.