Naturally, Akari's fists had no chance of breaking through Hikaru's defenses.
A short while later, smoke rising from her body, Akari lay curled up on the ground in Yamcha's infamous crater pose.
In terms of strength, she could only be described as having decent potential. She was still incapable of bringing much of it out.
"Impossible... That was a... a ki blast...!" Akari gasped. "That's totally unfair...!"
"Better to be knocked down by Aura than get soloed by a level-80 wild Pokémon," Hikaru replied. "The moves used by powerful Pokémon are far stronger than that."
"I was worried everyone might have taken such good care of you that you'd never develop into the God of War you were destined to become. It seems you've retained your fighting spirit after all."
"As for Aura... Do you want to learn it? I can teach you, but my lessons aren't free!"
"I want to learn!"
Akari, who had been lying in Yamcha's defeated pose only a second earlier, instantly returned to full HP. She sprang to her feet and adjusted her white headscarf.
A scorching light already burned in her eyes.
Everyone who loved video games dreamed of firing energy blasts. Being able to form a ki blast with your own hands was one of humanity's greatest romantic fantasies!
However, she had not forgotten her earlier questions.
She had just been defeated, so she did not seem to have the standing to continue interrogating him.
Based on how these things usually worked in games, if an option to "learn the truth of the world" appeared early in the story and triggered a boss battle...
"If you lose an early-game battle like this, the other person starts speaking in riddles, and you have to wait until everything is over before you can learn the answers," Hikaru said. "That's what you were thinking, wasn't it?"
Akari flinched.
"Ah! Did you read my mind?!"
"That's one of Aura's abilities. Convenient, isn't it? It allows you to sense another person's emotions and heart, letting you perceive their sorrow and joy."
"However, we never made any agreement, so there is no 'lose and you can't ask questions' condition. Just as I said before, this was merely my way of greeting you."
"So let's get straight to the point. You've been searching for me for quite a while, haven't you?"
"I imagine you've already heard what I once told Cyllene. When you found yourself in the void, is it possible that Arceus had only just created you, much like the heroes in video games who are suddenly transported to another world and tasked with saving it?"
"Being dragged without warning into an unfamiliar land must have been an unpleasant experience. It's like being summoned to another world as a hero responsible for defeating the Demon King."
"You fell from the sky carrying nothing, so you must provide everything for yourself. Not only have you been given a mission, but you're expected to help humans and Pokémon rebuild their trust and repair the divide created during a past age."
"You'll even have to battle alphas, nobles, and eventually the postgame superboss."
"Explaining it in terms you understand makes everything much clearer, doesn't it?"
"The workload is excessive, and people have difficulty trusting someone who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Many of the people here have suffered tragic experiences in the past."
"If they believe it necessary, they will deal with you, an outsider, without hesitation. No matter how pleasant their words may sound, very few people will actually help you when the time comes."
"You've already spent several days with the Survey Corps. You should have a general understanding of this world, so you can probably comprehend everything I'm telling you."
"You must have witnessed the many strange phenomena occurring throughout Hisui. If I hadn't made that prophecy, everyone would have projected their fear of those Pokémon-related disasters onto you, the girl who crossed through time."
"That is why I spread tales and legends throughout Hisui and used myself as an example. I taught them that those who fall from the sky do not bring calamity. They are prophesied children who come to quell it."
"That allows a disastrous chapter of history to be rewritten."
"As for you, treat this as a journey."
"You don't need to be afraid or anxious. All you need to do is move forward courageously. You'll receive unimaginable rewards, and one day, you'll either return to your world or become part of this universe."
"This isn't a one-way journey where you must risk your life in endless battles, suffering defeat after defeat, with no hope of recovery should you lose."
"Our deity is far kinder than a certain archangel. This world may be vast and boundless, but at least it isn't literally Digimon Frontier."
"Fear causes hearts to awaken within people, and those hearts allow them to survive. If people can understand that forming partnerships with Pokémon and establishing trust will help them survive in this world, then emotion, knowledge, and willpower will all be born in turn."
"You know about video games?!" Akari exclaimed. "Does that mean you came from another world like mine?"
"But something feels strange. I have a few memories of playing games. I remember playing at four in the morning, seeing a light, and then my phone screen cracked..."
"But everything from earlier in my life is completely missing. So many things are blurry..."
"Does that mean the life I lived before this was fake?"
"Not necessarily," Hikaru replied. "Almighty Sinnoh watches over Pokémon and humans throughout every universe. Your life must have truly existed."
"When crossing between distant worlds, it's common for memories to become hazy or disappear. Sometimes it's caused by the influence of the light. At other times, it results from unforeseen accidents or occurs to protect your mind."
"You also don't need to worry about the passage of time. No matter how many years you spend here, when you finally return... I imagine only a few minutes will have passed."
"I understand!" Akari declared. "You're one of those incredibly powerful allies who dominates the early game, coasts through the middle, and then suddenly reveals his ambitions near the end!"
"Your strength also increases with every version update, and the final achievement can't be unlocked unless the player completes your personal quest!"
"You really are a girl who stays up playing games until four in the morning," Hikaru said. "Parts of your description are accurate, but other parts are wrong, particularly the part about my ambitions."
"You saw that llama... No, I mean Arceus. Since I'm serving as its representative and providing your tutorial, do you truly think I need some grand ambition?"
"As I explained, crossing distant universes can cause a degree of memory loss."
"People who possess this profession are known as spacetime explorers. Have you ever played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky?"
Akari stared blankly at him.
"What's that? Hmm... I don't think I know it."
Hikaru understood.
So that was the problem.
Before being transported here, she had been playing on a Nintendo Switch. That meant she knew nothing about spin-offs released long ago on the Nintendo DS!
"When you play games, you should catch up on the older titles in the series as well," Hikaru told her. "If I remember correctly, Professor Oak appeared at the beginning of your game, didn't he?"
Wait.
Although Professor Oak appeared during the game's opening, the only Nintendo Switch Pokémon titles featuring him should have been Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!
Akari's expression immediately brightened.
"Ah! I remember that!"
"Professor Oak really was... He was a professor who studied Pokémon. Yes, that's right! I know Professor Oak!"
"Unfortunately, we're currently one hundred and fifty years before Professor Oak's time."
Akari stared at him in horror.
"Eh? What did you just say? That means Professor Oak doesn't exist in this era?!"
"I thought the people here simply didn't know about him because Hisui was so far from Kanto. So that's what was really happening..."
"Back at Galaxy Team, Captain Cyllene told me to conceal my identity so the villagers wouldn't discover I was an outsider."
"No, I suppose I'm someone from another world now."
"When they asked where I came from, I told them I was from Kanto and that I was one of Captain Cyllene's distant relatives."
"Captain Cyllene is originally from Hoenn, but Jubilife Village is filled with people from all over the world. It wouldn't be strange for her to have a distant relative."
"Hmm! You even know the opening scene of the game I was playing... I suppose it makes sense if that glowing Pokémon called Arceus told you."
"If you didn't know about Arceus, you clearly never played the fourth generation," Hikaru said. "You probably don't know about the Azure Flute either."
"Simply put, spacetime explorers are people capable of traveling through time and space. Think carefully. Plenty of stories have characters like that, don't they?"
"For them, traveling through time is as easy as eating or drinking. Most people find such a profession unimaginable."
"Of course, being a spacetime explorer is also extremely dangerous. One careless mistake can turn you into a spacetime castaway who has lost every memory they possessed. If they're fortunate, they may retain their original personality. People like that exist in my world as well."
"But you don't need to worry now."
"I'll be with you."
The moment they began discussing video games, Akari grew enthusiastic.
Although her way of speaking was extremely modern, she still retained part of her original characterization. When certain subjects came up, she spoke more gently and tactfully.
Akari staying up until four in the morning playing games, only to be transported away and put to work by a llama cosplaying as Ophanimon, had been part of the original concept. It survived into the finished game as hidden canonical material and connected seamlessly to the opening cutscene.
Of course, the senior Akari encountered at the beginning of her journey was Rei, who always spoke bluntly without thinking first.
In a timeline like the one depicted in Pokémon Masters EX, where Rei was the one transported through time, he instead met a native Akari who spoke much more gently.
Their dialogue would therefore be considerably different.
For example, the brutally straightforward Rei would begin by saying:
"You're wearing so little that you'll be finished the moment a Pokémon attacks you!"
Akari, meanwhile, would phrase it like this:
"Are you sure you'll be all right in clothes that thin? If a Pokémon attacks you, you could be seriously injured."
There was something else...
"At the beginning of the game, a mysterious voice speaks to you before you're transported through time and space."
"You meet your partner on a beach."
"You join an exploration organization and become a resident of the local settlement."
"You accept missions from a bulletin board and complete them to raise your rank."
"You must prevent a disaster involving time and space."
"Because of a major misunderstanding, you temporarily become unable to return to the place where you've been living."
"To save the world, you must obtain a key item from the three lake guardians."
"After a certain battle, you receive assistance from a Legendary Pokémon."
"The final boss is the god of time."
What Pokémon Legends: Arceus?
Wasn't this just Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky?
They even had true gods of storage space: Bagin in Hisui and Aunt Kangaskhan in Mystery Dungeon.
The boss roster had changed this time, but they could simply treat it as a boss rush.
After all, Kami had King Kai above him, King Kai had Grand Kai, Grand Kai had Supreme Kai, and Supreme Kai had Grand Supreme Kai...
Nesting one higher authority inside another was an indispensable part of power creep.
According to legend, Hisuians became stronger every time they recovered from the brink of death.
At this rate, they could fast-forward to everyone reaching a power level of 150 million.
Akari understood once again.
As someone from another world, this was all remarkably easy for her to comprehend.
She smiled, and her mood brightened.
Although the sun was setting, the moon and stars had begun shining across the night sky.
They were extraordinarily bright.
"I see," Akari said. "Different worlds and different eras require people to speak differently. Everyone is frightened of people who aren't like them, and the entire village is filled with tension. That's what's happening."
"I felt so lonely after arriving in this world by myself. I didn't understand anything about Transcendence, Hisui, or Sinjoh. I only joined Galaxy Team because I needed to survive."
"Even when Captain Cyllene and Professor Laventon helped me, I wondered whether I could really trust them."
"I had no idea what I should do or how I was supposed to live from now on. Captain Cyllene said she wanted me to become someone like the sun, and my Arc Phone was filled with strange messages."
"When I first arrived, everything felt fresh and exciting. After a few days, however, it became painful."
"I was surrounded by people I didn't know..."
"I've played plenty of games, but I understand that this isn't a world inside a game. It's a real universe. I've already lived here for several days. If this were merely a dream, I would have woken up by now."
"But I feel much better now!"
"So there really are other people in this world who can travel between worlds like me!"
"It feels wonderful to have someone I can speak with naturally, someone who understands me and whom I can understand in return."
"Captain Cyllene and Professor Laventon said they would bring me to search for the Lightning-Slaying Swordsman. They wanted me to find you because of this!"
"Thank you. My heart has finally calmed down."
"The villagers say that when they encounter danger, speaking with the Lightning-Slaying Swordsman calms their hearts and restores their courage, allowing them to face another day."
"Their feelings may be different from mine, but I think the sadness and loneliness we experience are sometimes the same."
Akari believed Hikaru.
Whether the subject was prophecy or video games, the past or the future, or even things belonging to another world, the swordsman could discuss all of it.
More importantly, the two of them understood each other remarkably well.
Just as Hikaru had said, if he could travel freely between worlds and possibly had some connection to the creator deity itself, what possible ambition could still tempt him?
Even if Akari possessed a power level of 150 million, she probably could not stop him.
Besides, if he were a traditional villain who wanted to conquer the world or seize every Pokémon, what meaning would that have in the land of Hisui?
The only meaningful ambition she could imagine would be restoring the lost people and history of a bygone era.
If Hikaru had come from Sinjoh intending to rebuild his homeland, it did not seem completely impossible.
But something like that...
Judging solely by the rumors Akari had heard, if the swordsman truly wished to conquer Hisui, was there anyone in this land who could defeat him?
"There are people with ambitions," Hikaru said.
Akari stared at him in surprise, then jokingly asked, "Eh? There really are?"
"Is that included in the tutorial too?"
"Is this also guidance from the heavens?"
She had almost completely returned to the person she had been before crossing worlds.
There were still doubts and traces of anxiety within her heart, but she no longer felt as miserable as before.
As for the boss battle against Volo, Hikaru planned to take Akari directly to meet him after this.
"To fight for Hisui and Sinnoh, you must gather the power of every legend," Hikaru said.
"It is a ritual. You must surpass the hero of ancient mythology and transcend the boundaries of life, death, time, and space."
"That is the true meaning of Transcendence."
"The battles of this age will be entrusted to you."
"You were chosen to bear this responsibility because you already knew about Pokémon, understood them, and did not fear them."
"Perhaps it is also because, in this world's distant future, there will be a girl who looks exactly like you and embodies an unbreakable will."
"So take this."
Hikaru handed Akari an item.
It was a pair of Safety Goggles.
"Goggles?" Akari exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm seeing something like this in this era. They were obviously manufactured with modern technology!"
"This feels so nostalgic!"
"Goggles are a symbol of courage," Hikaru said. "They protect against not only damage caused by weather, but also the effects of powder-based moves."
"In this world..."
"Some people will give you warmth and gentle sunlight."
"Some people will shelter you from the wind and rain."
"And my duty is this."
"No matter where you go, I'll be with you."
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]