According to Porygon Z, this kind of link couldn't last forever, not yet, anyway. The online world was too vast, too chaotic.
It wasn't just made of code, but layers upon layers of self-repairing data. Keeping the passage open required a constant stream of aura.
As Larry watched, waves of aura surged from Porygon Z's body again, pouring into the void like liquid light. Once it entered the online world, the aura seemed to act on instinct, drawing in fragments of data from all directions.
Strings of text, flickering images, patterns of information, all of it came flooding in, pulled toward the aura like metal to a magnet. Then, as if reaching its saturation point, the aura reversed course.
But instead of returning to Porygon Z, this time it surged straight into Larry.
The moment the energy touched him, a flood of information burst into his mind, so fast and clear it nearly overwhelmed him.
He grinned. 'So it works.'
Larry took a moment to process it all, then nodded with a spark of excitement in his eyes. This meant he didn't have to search anymore. As long as he had Porygon Z, he had access to everything. If there was something he wanted to know, Porygon Z could dive in and deliver it directly.
The first connection took a lot, so many layers to crack, so many steps. But now? Now that the link was forged, the process was easier. Faster.
Next time, he wouldn't even need to open a full passage. Just syncing with Porygon Z's thoughts would be enough.
Suddenly, the white void rippled.
A figure emerged, thin as paper and flickering like static. It drifted at the edge of the hole, almost ghost-like, until it finally took shape.
"Larry?"
The voice was mechanical, synthesized, but there was a noticeable note of shock in it.
Even a digital entity like Ikshanpe could still express emotions.
"Oh? Ikshanpe?"
Larry raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected him to show up, but on second thought, it made sense. If anyone would be drawn to a cracked connection into the online world, it would be him.
"Wait, you were the one who broke through?!" Ikshanpe's paper-thin face twisted in disbelief, like something straight out of a comic.
His reaction was genuine, even if he wasn't a living being. To think the person who'd cracked the online world was the same guy he'd just casually met...
Larry gave a small shrug. "Not exactly. It wasn't me, it was my Nen beast."
He gestured toward Porygon Z, who stood beside him with its usual blank stare. All the heavy lifting had been done by it.
Ikshanpe finally turned his attention to Porygon Z, his expression shifting the moment their energies connected. He felt something… familiar.
"You were born in the online world too?" he asked, voice tinged with curiosity.
Porygon Z shook its head. It hadn't come from the online world. It had come from Larry, forged by Aura.
The next part was something Larry and Menchi could only watch from the sidelines. Whatever conversation followed wasn't one humans could participate in, not even listen to.
Because it wasn't speech.
The two, Porygon Z and Ikshanpe, weren't using words. Their communication bypassed sound entirely, relying on something else entirely. Thought waves. A language only digital lifeforms could understand.
And yet, despite not hearing a thing, Larry could still see the exchange. Ikshanpe's face twisted with every new revelation. His expressions went from curiosity, to awe, to outright disbelief as their silent conversation deepened.
Two beings from different worlds, one a Pokémon shaped by Aura, the other a creature born in data, finding common ground in a language only they could speak.
After a while, Ikshanpe reluctantly ended the exchange, though his face still showed a trace of lingering shock.
"Larry, your Nen beast… it's seriously powerful," he said, his mechanical voice calm but unmistakably laced with awe.
Even though his tone was flat, the way his paper-thin face shifted made his emotions easy to read. He was completely overwhelmed by what Porygon Z had just demonstrated.
"Its ability far surpasses mine," Ikshanpe admitted without hesitation. And it wasn't flattery, he meant every word.
Just from that short interaction with Porygon Z, he had learned a lot. It wasn't just impressive, it was game-changing. The more he thought about it, the more respect he felt for Larry.
After all, how powerful must someone be to create a nen beast like that?
'Is it really that much stronger than Ikshanpe?' Larry glanced at Porygon Z, who was still standing motionless. He felt a flicker of surprise, not because of the comparison, but because of what Porygon Z had just shared with him through their mental link.
Tiny, almost invisible data fragments were drifting into Porygon Z's body, and Larry could sense the slow but steady growth of its aura. It was absorbing raw data from the online world and turning it into power.
It was evolving.
This made Porygon Z the third Pokémon in Larry's team with a unique method of strengthening itself.
The first was Gengar, who gained strength by absorbing death-related Aura. The second was Snorlax that he call kirby, who advanced by eating high-quality food. And now, Porygon Z, who could grow just by devouring digital data.
And in terms of convenience, Porygon Z's method was easily the best of the three.
Death-related Aura existed across the Six Continents, but it was usually hidden in ancient ruins or battlefields. Gengar had to travel to those places to absorb it, which took time and effort.
As for food, Larry had no shortage of gourmet ingredients thanks to his chefs, and there were plenty of delicacies across the world. But even then, Larry figured it would be smarter to let Snorlax eat the food and then convert the resulting effects for his own use instead of just focusing on raising Snorlax's power.
Snorlax wasn't exactly lacking in strength, and Larry had enough raw muscle in his team already. Strengthening himself was simply more practical.
Porygon Z, on the other hand, could absorb data anytime and anywhere. It didn't need to wait or travel. As long as there was a digital signal nearby, it could feed. And unlike food or death-related Aura, the online world was infinite.
New data was generated every second, across countless networks. For Porygon Z, it was like standing in front of an endless buffet, free, limitless, and constantly restocked. The only limitation was how fast it could absorb and digest the data.
Ikshanpe, standing nearby, noticed what was happening too. But he didn't say anything. He already understood the rules of the online world better than anyone, he knew the data was infinite, and Porygon Z could help itself as much as it liked.
After chatting a little longer and asking Larry a few more questions about game mechanics, Ikshanpe vanished just as suddenly as he'd appeared, fading away into the white hole like a dissolving memory.
He hadn't come with any particular purpose. Curiosity had drawn him here, and now he was racing back to work on a game based on some of Larry's ideas.