HBWnovel Chapter 205 205: Ho-Oh and the Unown
Chapter 205 205: Ho-Oh and the Unown
"Hey!"
The roar of an engine came from overhead.
Chen Mo looked up to see a military helicopter slowly descending from the sky. Standing at the cabin door was a familiar figure in a white lab coat, waving his arms down below.
"Thank goodness—you're alright."
The man in the white coat jumped down from the helicopter and, before Chen Mo could even speak, hurriedly asked,
"What on earth just happened? I saw a column of red and blue light intertwined from miles away—it pierced straight through the mountain. My Nidoran froze the moment it felt that aura, completely unable to move inside the helicopter. In the end, it even asked to be recalled into its Poké Ball."
"That…"
As for Giratina, Chen Mo had already shared relevant information and data with Professor Zhou when he first discovered its symbolic markings.
So now, facing someone who already knew part of the situation, Chen Mo didn't hesitate to explain the appearance of Giratina's phantom.
"Giratina…"
The man in the white coat's expression turned extremely grave.
"I've confirmed it—the Unown are indeed being controlled. And the one behind it all, if nothing unexpected has happened, is Giratina."
Seeing the deep concern on his face, Chen Mo smiled slightly.
"Although it looks like Giratina is standing against us right now, there is at least one piece of good news—it's probably not in a normal state. Otherwise, I'd likely already be dead."
Even if Giratina's true body resided in another world, according to established lore, it wasn't incapable of leaving the Reverse World and entering reality.
The most obvious example was in Giratina and the Sky Warrior, where it emerged through a body of water, dragged Dialga—the god of time—into the Reverse World, and attempted to exact revenge.
So the logic was simple. If Giratina truly wanted to eliminate him—a human interfering with its plans—the easiest method would be to find any reflective surface nearby and launch an attack directly from the Reverse World into reality. Even with Zekrom's power crystal and Marshadow protecting him at the time, a top-tier legendary like Giratina could have killed him with ease.
The fact that it hadn't done so, combined with its earlier use of the Unown, led Chen Mo to believe that something was wrong with it.
Perhaps…
Just like in the movie, where Giratina tried to punish Dialga but was instead trapped in the Reverse World by Dialga's manipulation of time—
Giratina might now be in a similar predicament, unable to physically appear in the real world, and thus forced to rely on a projection to attack him.
After hearing Chen Mo's explanation, the man in the white coat didn't relax much.
He hesitated for a moment before speaking seriously.
"Xiao Mo, I know you might not like this, but we really need your help with something."
"I'm thinking of forming a specialized Pokémon combat unit. So I'd like you—since you're so familiar with Pokémon—to recommend some suitable species."
The Growlithe line had already been an official trial.
But in the man's view, given the challenges ahead, the pace of such trials needed to accelerate.
"No problem. It's what I should do."
Chen Mo waved his hand dismissively.
In the past, he might have had reservations.
But after spending so much time interacting with the authorities, and seeing the hidden dangers emerging everywhere, Chen Mo felt that pushing forward a Pokémon unit dedicated to protecting both humans and ordinary Pokémon was indeed necessary.
Moreover, in the current era, there was little concern about strong public resistance.
"I'm glad you understand."
A faint smile appeared on the man's face.
"Oh, right—this time, the Pokémon we recommend don't need to have particularly gentle temperaments like those for civilians. It's fine if they're more aggressive. The most important thing is loyalty and strict obedience to their trainers' commands."
"I understand."
Chen Mo nodded.
Just as he was about to list several Pokémon from memory that met these criteria, the corner of his eye caught a ripple in the nearby space.
"Finally back, huh?"
…
The Unown's search-and-rescue mission took far longer than Chen Mo had expected.
From the moment they left to the time they found the first person, a full half hour had passed in the real world.
Chen Mo suspected that, in their out-of-control state, the Unown had simply tossed the exploration team into a space-time rift—without even knowing exactly where they ended up.
Of course, that was just a bored speculation.
After all, inside a space-time rift, time and space wouldn't flow the same way as in reality.
Fortunately, after several hours of effort—lasting until dawn—the Unown managed to retrieve all members of the exploration team, along with every Pokémon, including the Growlithe group.
Once a large number of official rescue personnel arrived, Chen Mo followed the man in the white coat, escorting Director Hu and the others—still in deep comas—back to the base by helicopter.
In the distance, the sun slowly rose.
Sunlight filtered through thin clouds, illuminating the lush, deep-green mountains.
Although the crystallization disaster had affected at least half of the mountain range, its long-term impact wasn't too severe.
Aside from areas damaged by Suicune and various wild Pokémon, most places looked exactly the same as before they had been frozen in purple crystal.
"How are the casualties?"
Looking down at the devastated land—scarred by energy blasts and missile strikes during the battle with Suicune—Chen Mo asked quietly.
"Sixteen."
The man in the white coat answered calmly.
"…"
Though human forces hadn't engaged Suicune for long, the replicated Suicune had destroyed several tanks in a single encounter.
Naturally, none of the soldiers inside those tanks had survived.
"Don't dwell on it. And don't blame yourself."
The man gently patted Chen Mo's shoulder, gazing at the rising sun.
"In disasters of this scale, casualties are inevitable. Given the situation, this is already a fortunate outcome."
He understood clearly.
If not for Chen Mo stepping forward—and for the early warning that allowed evacuations and preventive measures—the death toll would have been far higher than sixteen.
Glancing at Chen Mo's profile and the Pikachu perched on his shoulder, the man couldn't help but think—
Sometimes, it felt as though this young man had been sent by the heavens as a gift to their world.
Even someone like him, who rarely felt admiration for others, couldn't help but develop a sense of respect for this young man barely in his twenties.
The vibration of his phone interrupted his thoughts.
He took it out.
On the screen, two words appeared:
Teacher.
He answered the call.
"…I understand. Xiao Mo is fine."
"…Old Hu has already come out of the space-time rift. The doctors checked him—nothing serious. He should wake up soon…"
"Hm? What!?"
Chen Mo, who had been absentmindedly stroking Pikachu's fluffy head, suddenly heard the man's voice rise sharply.
Then—
After a quick operation on his phone, the man turned the screen toward Chen Mo.
"Xiao Mo, take a look at this."
"Huh?"
Puzzled, Chen Mo looked at the displayed footage.
A familiar scene.
Beside the wreckage of tanks destroyed by Suicune, several small Pokémon with dark gray bodies, armor-like exteriors, and bright blue eyes were clinging to the scrap metal, gnawing on it frantically.
"Aaron?"
Chen Mo recognized them instantly.
Since it was a video, he couldn't use his Insight Eye, but thanks to a certain champion known for digging rocks all over the world, Chen Mo was quite familiar with the Aron line.
Aron were Pokémon that fed on iron. They typically lived deep in the mountains but occasionally appeared near human settlements.
Not because they liked humans—but because human activity meant infrastructure.
Bridges, railways, towers…
To a hungry Aron, all of it was food.
In short—
They were quite troublesome Pokémon.
"That said, while Aron can be a nuisance, they're also fairly rare. Their final evolution, Aggron, is extremely powerful and well-suited for combat."
Chen Mo smiled.
"The only drawback is that Aron are hard to get along with, so they're not suitable for large-scale pairing. But I think we could select a few suitable individuals and try raising them."
"Mm, I'll—"
The man in the white coat paused mid-sentence.
"No—that's not the point. Look further back."
"Further back?"
Chen Mo kept watching.
Soon, the Aron—who had been happily devouring scrap—suddenly seemed to sense something. They raised their heads, looking around in confusion.
After hesitating briefly, they abandoned their feast and ran toward the forest on their short, sturdy legs.
Chen Mo's expression turned serious.
Wild Pokémon generally had simple instincts—especially unevolved ones like Aron.
Under normal circumstances, they would never abandon food they were already eating.
Unless…
They sensed something dangerous approaching.
At that moment—
The space beside the tank wreckage rippled.
A familiar distortion appeared.
In the next instant, numerous Unown emerged from a torn space-time rift.
"Hm?"
Chen Mo froze.
Weren't the Unown searching for the exploration team? Why were they here?
Before he could figure it out, he noticed something off about them.
The Unown hovering over the wreckage began moving in a patterned formation, gradually forming a strange, rainbow-colored light curtain below.
"This is…"
Chen Mo frowned—
Then his eyes widened.
Within the cascading rainbow light—
Figures in military uniforms slowly appeared.
Not more, not less.
Exactly sixteen.
"They've… been revived?"
Chen Mo was stunned.
At first, the revived soldiers looked terrified, but soon, noticing their surroundings and the rainbow light above, their expressions turned confused.
Chen Mo knew that Unown possessed the power of creation.
But this…
This looked more like resurrection.
The man in the white coat spoke softly from beside him.
"After receiving the report, my teacher immediately had them brought back. After initial testing, we found that their memories stop at the moment the replicated Suicune attacked them. As for earlier memories, according to those around them, there's no discrepancy at all."
After reviving the sixteen fallen soldiers, the rainbow light slowly faded.
The Unown disappeared just as quickly as they had come, slipping back into a newly opened space-time rift.
"…"
Chen Mo fell into deep thought.
When it came to resurrection, the Pokémon that came to mind most strongly wasn't the Unown—
It was Ho-Oh.
And Ho-Oh's representative color…
Was also the rainbow.
Soon, Chen Mo recalled something else.
The Ruins of Alph—closely connected to the Unown—had a final puzzle depicting Ho-Oh.
And in Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver, if you tuned into a specific radio channel near or inside the ruins, you could hear a mysterious sound—
Amid the static—
There was the cry of Ho-Oh.
All of this pointed to one conclusion:
Ho-Oh and the Unown shared a deep connection.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Mo suddenly felt a bit foolish.
He hadn't known before—but now, wasn't there a guardian of Ho-Oh right inside his shadow?
If he had questions about Ho-Oh, he could just ask Marshadow.
As if hearing his thoughts, Marshadow's youthful voice echoed directly in his mind.
"The power the Unown used is indeed closely related to Lord Ho-Oh. But as for the exact relationship between the Unown and Lord Ho-Oh… don't ask me. I don't know either."
"…"
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