Xia Huanao looked out of the train window. Although the beam of light in the sky was very conspicuous, Xia Huanao couldn't see anything of value from it.
Returning to his seat, Xia Huanao wondered what the beam of light in the sky was.
"System, what do you think that thing in the sky is?"
The system thought for a moment: "It's probably two Legendary Pokémon fighting in the sky. Otherwise, with humanity's current technological level, it's impossible to create something with such a powerful aura."
Xia Huanao agreed with the system's guess. So what could be causing such a scene in the sky?
Xia Huanao's first reaction was Electric-type Pokémon, as the intense light flashing past was most similar to electric sparks. So, what Electric-type Pokémon are there in the sky?
Xia Huanao took out his phone: "Hmm, Zapdos, Thundurus, Zekrom. What on earth is fighting in the sky?"
The system pondered: "Maybe it's a Pikachu riding on Ho-Oh's head, who knows."
Xia Huanao's mouth twitched. What do you mean, a Pikachu riding on Ho-Oh's head? If Pikachu had that level of electricity, Ho-Oh might not dare let it ride on its back. A world-ending electric shock would surely be a scene where even the gods would retreat!
Xia Huanao thought about it but couldn't come up with any suitable explanation. He simply sat on his chair: "Forget it. With such a bright light, the authorities won't be without an explanation. We'll just wait."
...
After taking the train back to Jinghai City, Xia Huanao got off and, dragging his suitcase, ambled towards his home.
"Damn, the dust and gasoline smell in Jinghai is getting worse. If this keeps up, will my lungs be able to take it?"
Enduring the familiar yet disgusting smell of smoke and dust in this damned city, Xia Huanao returned home, fumbled for his key, and opened the door: "Ah, I'm back."
Just as Xia Huanao had expected, there was no sound from inside the room. Xia Huanao pulled out the key and used his foot to close the door.
Ambling into his room, Xia Huanao collapsed directly onto his bed: "I have to admit, my own bed is the most comfortable. Maybe I'm just used to it. I always feel like the bed at Liuling University is somehow wrong."
Xia Huanao took out all the Poké Balls: "Everyone, we're home. Let's go out and play."
The Pokémon jumped out. Froakie immediately leaped onto Xia Huanao's bed and lay comfortably on the pillow. Rotom, on the other hand, directly burrowed into an electrical outlet and disappeared somewhere. Little Meng sat obediently on a chair, swaying back and forth and playing with a ball on the table. Only Diancie, who was in Xia Huanao's bedroom for the first time, stood there unsure of what to do.
Xia Huanao looked at the somewhat conflicted or rather reserved Diancie: "Diancie, make yourself at home. Just treat it like the Diamond Country."
With Xia Huanao's permission, Diancie happily lay down on the bed, right beside Xia Huanao. Her two little hands were placed on her chest, and she lay still, looking like a sleeping beauty.
The five living beings in the room shared a period of quiet, and then, Xia Huanao fell asleep.
When Xia Huanao woke up, he sleepily glanced to the side. Seeing Diancie's face, Xia Huanao instantly sobered up and repeatedly told himself: "I'm not a beast, I didn't do anything."
After calming down, Xia Huanao only felt his stomach rumbling. Xia Huanao looked down at his stomach and rubbed it with his hand: "Looks like I need to go out to eat. I really miss Jinghai City's food."
Xia Huanao put everyone back into their Poké Balls, then went out to eat.
In a small restaurant, Xia Huanao held his chopsticks, his gaze fixed on the soup dumplings in front of him. But just as he was about to eat, he heard an emergency news bulletin on the restaurant's television.
"This is the latest news. Duos Country has confirmed that the flash event that occurred in the sky this afternoon was caused by a rocket launched by Duos Country. For specific details, please refer to the detailed report."
Xia Huanao was stunned. Duos Country's rocket? What a joke. Could that country's technological tree even develop such a thing? And why would they launch a rocket? Duos Country wouldn't be trying to send something into space, would they?
Thinking of this, Xia Huanao laughed heartlessly. Then he continued to muse: Besides the flame from the tail, where else could a rocket emit light? And it had to be a fleeting light. The only explanation for the intense flash was that Duos Country's rocket exploded in mid-air, causing a huge flash. But it shouldn't have flashed all the way from Duos Country to Jinghai City. That was too absurd.
As Xia Huanao was contemplating, the television continued to broadcast the news. As the news progressed, Xia Huanao finally learned what had happened.
However, listening to the news, Xia Huanao found it too far-fetched. The news report stated: Duos Country's rocket encountered a mysterious Pokémon as it flew out of the atmosphere. The mysterious Pokémon initiated an attack and collided with Duos Country's rocket. There were some scrapes, but fortunately, the rocket successfully exited the atmosphere and reached outer space. The troublesome mysterious Pokémon was eliminated, and its body fell, landing directly in the Duos River.
Xia Huanao picked up a xiaolongbao and threw it into his mouth: "I'll believe anything those Duos guys say. I've been in this world for over ten years, and I've never heard of their rockets flying out of the atmosphere. What Pokémon did they get the inspiration from for this?"
Taking another bite, Xia Huanao also began to think. In the atmosphere, there should only be... only the Rayquaza species, right?
The system shook its head: "You forgot, besides Rayquaza, there's another Pokémon in space that runs extremely fast and is said to have fought Mega Caterpie."
Xia Huanao realized: "You mean Deoxys? If we really have to compare, I'd rather believe it was Rayquaza. After all, with Deoxys's maximum speed, what rocket could hit Deoxys?"
Xia Huanao poked the plate in front of him with his chopsticks: "But you saying it was Rayquaza is too ridiculous. Rather than believing Duos Country's rocket shot down Rayquaza, I'd rather believe Rayquaza was shot down by Groudon's Precipice Blades..."
Groudon, appearing for the first time and not knowing what it was doing: It seems someone is talking about me...
However, looking at the news playing on the TV, Xia Huanao felt something was a bit off. Because everyone knew that Rayquaza was a Pokémon with green as its main color, and Shiny Rayquaza was black. This white was definitely not Rayquaza's color. You couldn't say Rayquaza had albinism, could you?
Xia Huanao looked at the familiar four long legs on the TV screen, the yellow ring encircling its waist, and the green spots on the yellow ring. How did it look so much like an alpaca?
As this thought emerged, Xia Huanao's chopsticks suddenly clattered to the ground. Xia Huanao slapped the table and stood up: "What kind of joke is this? You're telling me Duos Country killed Arceus?"
Hearing Xia Huanao's voice, the surrounding diners looked over, curious to see what this kid was going on about.
Xia Huanao ignored the gazes of the surrounding diners, slapped the money for his meal onto the table, and then rushed out of the restaurant to make a phone call.
"Hello, Elder Zheng, did you see the news just now about the flash in the sky? Was the Pokémon Duos Country shot down actually Arceus, the Creator?"
Zheng Hongde had been busy with his research and hadn't paid attention to the news. But after hearing Xia Huanao's words, he quickly asked Lu Kunwu to search for news from Duos Country. After a thorough search and finally seeing the news, Zheng Hongde and Lu Kunwu were both stunned. After a long pause, Zheng Hongde replied to Xia Huanao's question: "Yes, that should be Arceus..."
Xia Huanao hung up the phone, returned home, sat in front of his desk, and asked the system: "System, how likely do you think Duos Country's news is just to attract attention?"
The system was also bewildered. Arceus was the creator of the Spiritual Beast Star. The idea of a creator being killed by its creation sounded like a joke.
The system finally replied to Xia Huanao: "I think we should wait and see. Perhaps in a while, this matter can be confirmed."
Xia Huanao nodded. Until the final specific information was obtained, everything was still uncertain. He still had great faith in the power of Arceus, the Creator.
Time flowed by, and trainers all over the world wanted to know what kind of mess Duos Country had gotten into. Arceus was considered the faith of all trainers. If Arceus were gone, the entire Pokémon system of the Spiritual Beast Star would be severely damaged.
However, those who were not trainers felt it didn't matter. They could still live on the Spiritual Beast Star without Pokémon. Whether Arceus existed or not made no difference to them.
Xia Huanao kept a close eye on the official announcements from the Minglong Country Pokémon League, wanting to see how things would develop. But concerning Arceus, the Pokémon Leagues of various countries did not casually provide an answer. The news on television only repeated the progress of the investigation: Pokémon Leagues from various countries had dispatched expert investigation teams to Duos Country for an inquiry.
Xia Huanao stared intently at the computer screen, his eyes soon becoming dry and weary. The system sighed: "Close your eyes and rest for a while. I'll wake you up when the official announcement is released."
At midnight, the system woke Xia Huanao: "Wake up, the official announcement is out."
Xia Huanao woke up in a hurry, grabbed the water cup on the table, and gulped down two mouthfuls of cold coffee: "How is it? What happened?"
Xia Huanao opened the official website and saw the following announcement at the top:
"After joint confirmation with the Pokémon Leagues of multiple countries, it is now officially announced to all trainers of Minglong Country that the Mythical Pokémon Arceus, known as the God of Creation, has been confirmed dead."