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Central Temple.
Li Xiang jolted awake, a wave of panic surging through him.
But soon, he realized someone was pinning him down—not his parents, but an unfamiliar Snow Cult member. Pushing the person aside, his vision was immediately flooded with blinding light.
Gritting his teeth, Li Xiang turned his head with difficulty and saw Suicune still standing at the forefront, bracing against an invisible barrier, enduring the relentless shockwaves of radiant energy raining down from above.
'The Crystal Wall is up?'
His pupils contracted slightly as he glanced around Suicune. The people who had been standing nearby were all knocked unconscious by the shockwaves, scattered across the ground. Most seemed relatively unharmed, though some had unnatural bends in their limbs—likely fractures.
As for him, because he had tried to escape earlier and had someone cushion his fall, he was the farthest from the impact and suffered only minor injuries.
'A stroke of luck in misfortune.'
But now that the Crystal Wall had formed, escape might be impossible. Their fate was now tied to Suicune—if it fell, so would they.
'Where are Mom and Dad?'
Twisting his body, he spotted them about five meters away, unconscious but seemingly unharmed from what he could see.
Trembling, Li Xiang flipped onto his stomach and began crawling toward them on his elbows.
He didn't dare stand up.
Five meters wasn't far. With the last of his strength, he could make it, but just before he reached them—
His hand pressed against something solid and transparent.
'The Crystal Wall.'
A barrier, unbreakable, now separated him from his parents.
First came shock. Then disbelief and frustration. Then anger and hatred.
Finally—relief.
'At least… you're on the other side.'
If the deus ex machina his father had mentioned was real, maybe they could still be saved.
Li Xiang exhaled, a mix of resignation and relief.
'Fate works in mysterious ways.'
The past few days had been more intense than any movie, and yet, in the end, he still couldn't escape. He had been so close—just a few meters away.
With one last longing glance at his parents, Li Xiang turned away. He wouldn't just wait for death.
'Never.'
Even if all he had left were his teeth, he'd find a way to survive!
Pushing himself up, he began assessing the situation.
At the very front, Suicune was still holding out, struggling against the onslaught.
'When will that Ultimate Weapon stop firing?'
He tried to look at the giant egg, but the light was too blinding. He had to avert his gaze—
'Huh?'
His eyes caught something in his peripheral vision, and his expression froze in shock.
'A corpse.'
Half of a mangled, bloodied body lay nearby. Blinking, he could almost smell the metallic stench of blood.
Unlike the exaggerated gore in movies, real corpses assaulted multiple senses—sight, smell, even touch. It was an entirely different kind of horror.
That said, Li Xiang wasn't about to vomit. He just found it hard to look at, his eyes stinging with disgust.
'Why is there a dead person? Even those who took the shockwave head-on only ended up with broken bones!'
Unable to suppress his curiosity, he forced himself to look again—and recognized the upper half of the corpse.
'It's Lu Zhong!'
One of the villains… just died like that?
Li Xiang's eyes widened in disbelief. But then it hit him—the upper half of the body was inside the Crystal Wall.
'Did Suicune kill him when it activated the barrier?'
Maybe it sliced him in half, then kicked the corpse away because it was disgusting.
'That… makes sense.'
He recalled the ice clones from the Pokémon Adventures manga—if those had been real people, they'd have been bisected too.
'Good riddance.'
Clenching his jaw, Li Xiang felt nothing but hatred for these people. If he could, he'd have personally cut Lu Zhong in half.
'If not for them, I wouldn't be suffering like this! We were just here to vacation!'
Now, looking at the bisected corpse, he no longer felt disgust—just the urge to stab it a few more times.
'Wait. I should loot the body.'
Inside this Crystal Wall, the only variable was Lu Zhong. There was a chance he had something that could turn the tables.
Li Xiang began crawling toward the corpse, dragging himself across the floor. The distance wasn't far, and he reached it quickly.
Then came the unpleasant task of searching a dead man.
Forcing himself to ignore the gruesome wound, Li Xiang stared at Lu Zhong's face—eyes wide open, frozen in despair and agony.
'He suffered before he died.'
Pulling aside the red robe, he found a silver bodysuit underneath, identical to the ones the two fat cultists wore. It was covered in strange patterns, but nothing stood out.
The problem?
'Neither the robe nor the bodysuit have pockets. What kind of idiot wears clothes with no pockets?! Where's the damn PokéBalls?!'
Furious, Li Xiang flipped the corpse over, and there they were. Four shrunken PokéBalls, nestled near the severed lower half.
PokéBalls!
His heart leaped. Something was better than nothing. Even if the Pokémon inside didn't obey him, they could still be an option.
Looking closer, three of the balls had designs he'd never seen before—custom-made, likely by whatever company Lu Zhong had mentioned earlier.
The fourth, however, was familiar.
Yellow base, red stripes.
'A Breeder's Ball.'
A variant of the standard PokéBall with the same functionality, just a different appearance—more of a collector's item.
'Why would he have one of these?'
'Ah! It must be one of the Rotom or Porygon that Bian Zhen brought back!'
That had to be it. Otherwise, why would a cultist be carrying a Breeder's Ball?
Unless he just liked the design—but then he'd have swapped all his balls to match.
'So these guys were hoarding Pokémon for themselves too? Tch. Greedy bastards.'
Ignoring the three strange PokéBalls, Li Xiang wiped the Breeder's Ball clean on the corpse's clothes and stuffed it into his pocket.
He kept searching but found nothing else—either the rest was in the lower half, or Lu Zhong had been carrying only the balls.
Once done, he glanced back at Suicune. The light bombardment hadn't stopped.
Twisting his body, he crawled back toward where his parents were, clutching the Breeder's Ball.
'How can I use this Pokémon—whatever it is—to escape? Should I release it now?'
But if it didn't obey him—or worse, attacked him—he'd be finished.
'It can probably hear me through the ball, right?'
Pressing the button to enlarge the PokéBall, Li Xiang began talking to the Pokémon inside.
He explained the situation, their shared interests, their mutual life-or-death predicament. He needed its help.
He kept speaking, trying to persuade it.
Then, the distant white light suddenly intensified.
'The output just increased?!'
His heart lurched—
Crack.
A faint, splintering sound reached his ears.
'No way. The "unbreakable" Crystal Wall is cracking? Just from blocking the residual energy of the Ultimate Weapon?'
Fear flashed in Li Xiang's eyes as he frantically scanned the area for other conscious people, but no one else was awake.
'Why?! How are you adults worse at this than a kid?!'
Gritting his teeth, Li Xiang made a terrible decision—he positioned himself behind an unconscious cultist, using them as a human shield.
He knew it was wrong. He knew it was cruel. But he didn't want to die.
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry.'
Just as he trembled behind his makeshift shield—
The light dimmed.
Like a switch had been flipped.
The Ultimate Weapon's sudden surge had been its last gasp. Now, it had nothing left.
The bombardment ceased.
Suicune, exhausted, collapsed to the ground.
The Crystal Wall vanished as well and Li Xiang's face lit up with hope.
'The barrier's gone! The weapon's stopped! We can escape!'
He spun around, ready to wake his parents and get them out, but then, two voices echoed from the depths of the temple.
"Why did it stop?! It's not done yet!"
"Lu Zhong was right! It's still short—probably by a few dozen people's life energy!"
The two fat cultists.
Li Xiang froze, slowly turning his head.
The two men were gathered around the giant egg, arguing.
The smaller one groaned, "What do we do now? Where's Lu Zhong? Hiding? Lu Zhong! Get over here and calculate the deficit!"
"Stop yelling," the larger one snapped. "You pushed him earlier, his robe got caught on the Crystal Wall's edge, and when it retracted—it sliced him in half. I saw it happen, but what was I supposed to do?!"
"H-He's dead?!"
The smaller cultist paled. "Then who's gonna calculate the deficit?! I can't do that!"
'Their comrade dies, and all they care about is the math.'
Li Xiang clenched his teeth.
"Doesn't matter. We've got another powerless thing right here. Just drag it over—one of the Legendary Beasts? Heh. Bet it's packed with energy! Way easier than hauling those other guys."
The larger cultist sneered. "Too bad most of those idiots are already dead, and the ones still in their seats are paralyzed. Otherwise, we could've sacrificed them too."
"Nice thinking, bro!" the smaller one cheered.
With that, they ordered their giant Gengar and two Malamar to carry Suicune's weakened body toward the stone pillar.
Li Xiang didn't dare move. The Malamar were still active—if he got up now, they'd control him instantly, so he could only watch as the three Pokémon hauled Suicune toward the pillar.
Suicune didn't resist, as if truly drained of strength, its once-majestic form now limp and helpless.
The cultists grinned.
Then—Suicune moved.
In one swift motion, it opened its mouth and unleashed a frigid blast of ice and snow!
Sheer Cold.
The absolute-zero attack instantly froze the giant Gengar and both Malamar solid, leaving them encased in ice.
The cultists' faces twisted in horror. Though only half their bodies were frozen—their upper torsos still free—they were powerless to act.
"Dammit!"
"That bastard was holding out on us!"
They cursed, trembling as they glared at Suicune—only to see it collapse again, completely spent.
"Good!"
"Can't move? Perfect! Once the god awakens, you're dead! That pillar's gonna drain you dry, you piece of trash!"
The two immobilized cultists hurled abuse at the equally immobilized Suicune, now slumped against the stone pillar as it siphoned its life energy.
Their emotions had been yanked back and forth like a rollercoaster—but now, they were certain.
Suicune was doomed.
They grinned in triumph, but at the temple's entrance, Li Xiang slowly rose to his feet.
A mix of joy and hatred burned in his eyes as he surveyed the scene.
"Finally, it's my turn.!"