Rope looked at the statue in front of him with shock in his eyes.
The head of this statue looked very much like Arceus, but the whole of this statue was humanoid, with a body similar to that of a human.
The body even wore human standardized clothing, the standardized form looked more ancient and rugged. And Arceus's statue, which were used to fuse with the stone slabs to function, had also disappeared, replaced by a single arm...
Rope couldn't even count how many arms were there.
But at a preliminary estimate, there should not be less than a few hundred of them...
What in the world is this...
"Is this the true form of Arceus?"
The legendary god with a thousand hands...
It turned out that the thousand hands didn't refer to that Thousand Zeus Wrists, but the real thousand hands. What's more... those hands under Rope's hair had golden decorations that looked just like the Thousand Zeus Wrist and its similar decorations.
"So the golden cross are really just wrist guards?"
The corners of Rope's mouth twitched slightly... although he had already expected this sight before him, but when he was really confronted with this situation, it still made him feel shocked and appalled.
A true god of a thousand hands.
Just as Rope was surprised, the battle both above and below the lake had also ended. Haunter, Hoopa, Charizard, and Naganadel all flew over from the lake in Rope's direction.
Charizard still had Braviary's wings in his hands.
And on the surface of the lake and floating fainted Basculegion.
The other Pokémon were fine.
But Hoopa, who had direct contact with Arceus, fell into almost the exact same state as Rope when he saw the sight before him...
"I... shit, this is... Arceus?"
Hoopa's eyes had the feeling that the world had been turned upside down.
This statue looked very different from the Arceus they had seen. The overall image was very different. But this statue was such that if you said it wasn't Arceus, then you felt you were wrong.
This has to be Arceus.
Rope nodded, then sort of acknowledged Hoopa's statement.
"It should be Arceus. I can probably guess now why there are other forces that have thoughts about this world. I shouldn't say it's having thoughts about all the Pokémon worlds..."
Hoopa knew something was amiss as soon as he heard that. At the very least Rope was definitely hiding something from them.
Rope wasn't talking. It wasn't that such things couldn't be said to them. It's just that saying it would cause a lot of trouble, and it would also conflict with the company's rules. So it's better not to say anything.
Hoopa watched as Rope stopped talking, and realized that what she was asking probably wasn't a good question. Spitting out his tongue at Rope, he said, "If you don't say it, then don't say it, cheap bastard!"
But he really didn't have the intention of asking again.
Rope also ignored the little kid who didn't know how old he was.
"Rotom, come out and take a picture!"
"Roger that, loto!"
Rotom spoke in a tone that was a few bits perkier. Then it flew over towards this side, followed by a series of sounds of taking pictures.
Between the shutter sounds and flashes intertwined, a series of pictures that were enough to turn this world's perception upside down just stayed in Rotom's memory.
"I didn't upload them to cloud loto!"
Rotom told Rope as he showed them to her after taking them.
Rope nodded in satisfaction; Rotom's sense of preparedness was clearly still over the top. This was a good thing.
"Rope, is this really..."
"It's Arceus, and as for what else is going on behind the scenes, I guess I'll have to wait until I ask and investigate afterward. Right now I can't be sure of anything, so I can't give you an answer either."
"Understood! Loto!"
"Eh, just understand."
Rope added a complex two-layer cipher to this file. Then gave him a name that didn't feature much, much less add any encryption.
Just put him in the file group.
Anyway, if he was the one who was going to read it, then it would be OK to have Rotom just look for it.
"Hoopa, can you sense anything else wrong here?"
Rope looked at the statue in front of him and instinctively still felt that some problems existed.
"There is, there should still be a hidden space down here. It's only blocked off with a stream of energy's..."
Saying that, Hoopa's tone paused for a moment saying, "I don't think I can get through that blockade."
Rope's brows tightened.
If Hoopa didn't have the ability to get through the blockade...
"Any guesses on what's in there?"
"Nope, can't probe anything. But I'm guessing there's some other kind of organ around here."
Hoopa said seriously, because this thing was designed to let people in. Otherwise it would have been fine to just build it solid. Since there was space, there had to be a way to get in.
Rope pondered for a while, then said, ''Let's go back first. They should be worried if we don't go back, and exchange information with the two of them as well."
"And Diana's Donphan should be good at searching, we'll just have to rely on it for a bit."
With that said, casually retrieving Haunter and Naganadel back into the ball, Rope then rolled over and sat on top of Charizard. That's when he noticed the Braviary Charizard was carrying in his hand...
"What are you carrying that around for?"
Rope asked, a little confused.
"Roar!!! (For you!)"
Charizard said directly without hesitation.
Rope also understood what Charizard meant, and was about to say that he didn't dare to be interested in this Braviary, but Diana's figure suddenly flashed in his head.
Flying, fighting ability, and good qualifications...isn't this what the main Pokémon looking for Diana looks like!
"All right! It's it!"
Rope muttered, then patted Charizard's neck to signal that he could start flying.
Charizard flapped his wings and took off. Behind them, Hoopa and Rotom hurriedly followed, and the group just flew towards the entrance of the cave.
And the hidden secrets of this cave...were still far from being explored.
————————————
It's nearing dusk, and even Whitley, who trusts Rope, is starting to have some bad guesses. But Rope still hadn't come back from the cave side.
"Whitley, stop spinning in circles, or let's just go over to the cave and take a look."
Diana was speechless as she looked at Whitley who was spinning in circles without any fun then opened her mouth and said.
Whitley heard this but flatly refused.
"No, if something happened to Rope, for the two of us to go to the cave would be like giving away food. If Rope encounters any danger, we might be a drag if we go there now."
Although Whitley was flustered, he still didn't let go of his skill of analyzing.
"Wait for a while, if there's still no movement after the sun sets, I'll go to the cave to check the situation, Diana, stay here and contact Cynthia and the others, and call for backup. If Rope runs into trouble, it's impossible for the two of us to solve the problem for him alone."
Whitley still had a very clear perception of the gap between Rope's strength and her own.
If Rope encounters something dangerous, then if he encounters it himself, there is absolutely no chance of survival.
"En, okay. But since you've made a decision, you shouldn't panic for now." Diana said with some heartache as she looked at the forcibly calm Whitley in front of her.
It was hard to imagine that this girl in front of her, who was quite a bit younger than herself, could still analyze things so calmly when faced with such a situation. It seemed almost unbelievable to Diana.
But the two's worries didn't last long, and soon the sound of whistling wind came from outside.
Whitley relaxed immediately upon hearing it as well.
"It's the sound of Charizard's wings. It looks like nothing major is happening."
With that, Whitley got up and headed towards the house.
Diana once again marveled at Whitley's meticulousness before following closely behind.
As soon as the duo stepped outside the house, they were sure to see Charizard and their shadows cast on the ground.
Looking up, Charizard was carrying Rope, followed by Hoopa and Rotom who were slowly landing.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Whitley was able to finally breathe a long sigh of relief before saying, "Rope! Hurry up and come down! We've made quite a few discoveries!"
Rope laughed out loud when he heard Whitley's shout, "Haha! The discovery on my side is also significant! Very amazing!"
With that, he dropped to the ground.
And outside of this house that had been arranged for them, a child was crouching against the wall, listening to their conversation with his sideways ear.
After a few moments, the child got up and ran towards a house sticking out of the village.
"You mean to tell me that they did make some extraordinary discovery?"
Eiichi looked at the brat-head in front of him and opened his mouth to ask.
The little kid head nodded and said, "That's right, that's what I heard them say, but I didn't hear exactly what they were saying. That sister named Diana has a Tonkinese armor, I didn't dare to get too close for fear of being discovered by them."
From the clear logic of this speech it was also clear that this little brat was not an ordinary brat either.
At least mentally he was quite a bit more mature than his actual age.
People like this were very good trainer or researcher seeds. With more cultivation, they could always achieve something.
Only... right now in the village, this child's future would be limited to farming, marrying a wife from a neighboring or local village, and then getting married and having children.
The so-called future could be seen to the end at a glance.
Eiichi stroked this little one's head with regret and apology in his eyes.
"You go ahead, I'll take care of this myself."
Eiichi spoke gently.
The little boy looked at the tall Eiichi in front of him and spoke, "Uncle Eiichi, isn't it true that as long as these big brothers and sisters find something, we can leave the village?"
"Do you want to leave the village?"
Eiichi smiled and opened his mouth to ask.
"I want to! Diana-san and Whitley-san they're so pretty and wear beautiful clothes. Yusha must look pretty in those kind of clothes too. So I'm going to go out and make money and buy pretty clothes for Yusha!"
The little boy said seriously.
"Hahaha! Good little boy! There will be opportunities!"
Eiichi laughed out loud, with tears sliding down from the corner of his eyes.
————————————
"So there's still a curse on this village?"
Rope looked at Diana with a serious face.
Diana nodded and said, "At least that's what I've heard the villagers say..."
Rope fell into silence. This curse came inexplicably. It was important to realize that the world of Pokémon didn't seem to have a concept like curses at all. While it was true that there was a curse as a skill, it was something completely different from the ones he understood in the previous world.
"What kind of curse?"
Rope then asked.
One must know that if it really was a curse, then it would be a big probability that apart from the existing power system, this other set of power system existed in this world Shanghai.
Or it could simply be an alternative form of energy manifestation that had nothing to do with curses or anything at all. It was only because of the form of action that the villagers misunderstood.
"It's..."
"We will age rapidly."
A thick male voice came from the doorway.
Diana looked in the direction of the doorway.
"Brother Eiichi? What brings you here?"
Diana got up and asked with some confusion.
Eiichi waved his hand, then looked towards Rope, "I heard that Professor Rope had a great harvest in the cave."
Rope doesn't deny it and nods, "A lot of gains indeed. And it's significant."
"What is it?"
"Can't tell you."
Rope's comment made Eiichi's feet skip a beat.
"What did you say?"
The atmosphere was instantly tense.
Diana looked at this brother and her boss in front of her, and for a moment there was a bit of a dilemma.
Whitley, on the contrary, did not change his face. Only his hands went from the table to under it.
"Why?"
Eiichi's tone wasn't very nice.
"I don't know why it's you guys, but your duties are far more important than you think."
Rope didn't hold back, "In a sense. This village you are guarding is guarding one of the world's most essential secrets."
Diana and Whitley were shaken by this. The two of them knew that the odds were that Rope wasn't being flippant when he spoke like that.
Eiichi, on the other hand, was initially lost in laughter, intending to question Rope to make him find a better excuse. At least not as lame as the one in front of him.
But when he saw the shock and horror on Diana's face, he couldn't say anything for a moment...
He and Diana were familiar people. Even if Diana hadn't been going to school outside, then the odds were that they would have gotten together under the arrangement of their elders, right?
So he knew this look on Diana's face...it wasn't hypocrisy.
The anger in his heart instantly gave out most of it. Not to mention, this person in front of him was League's PROFESSOR, a famous, powerful, influential, and rich person.
If such a person really wanted any treasures, then no matter if they came soft or hard, the probability was that they would not be able to resist.
Such a person, what is the point of deceiving them?
Eiichi quickly reacted.
So he brought a bitter smile on his face.
"Then we who guard this secret...why don't we even have the qualifications to see the outside world?"
"Why is it that everyone is the same village, and Diana and the others get to do their own thing, any she gets to be a researcher, and everyone else gets to be a trainer, to be something else..."
"And we, we're going to be stuck locked in this village?"
"That's... why?"