Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 277 Black Hole, Unknown Totem

Natsume felt as if he were wandering in a maze filled with crystals.

With each step he took, his silhouette would be reflected on the various colored crystals.

"Pica-"

The man with the middle parting stopped in front of a gate.

It looked up at Natsume.

Natsume stepped forward and found that the laboratory door was completely covered by crystals.

Inside the laboratory, there was a strange attraction, like the telekinetic power thrown into the black rod. Natsume's telekinetic power, which he probed into the laboratory, disappeared as if it had sunk into the sea.

"boom!"

The man with the center-parted hair rammed the crystal-encased door with the large diamond on his head, causing cracks to appear in the crystal and debris to fly to Natsume's feet.

Destroying the crystals here isn't difficult; the challenge lies in the laboratory door inside.

The middle-parted hair, like a little bobbing toy, tirelessly and rhythmically tapped on the crystal covering the outside of the door.

The large diamond shattered all the crystals on the door, revealing the deep black door inside.

"Pickup!"

The man with the middle parting stepped back, making way for Natsume.

Natsume fumbled on the laboratory door.

Generally, it is controlled by an emergency switch.
"Kacha~"

After a slight noise, the laboratory door opened a crack.

"what are you doing?"

Natsume discovered that the person with the middle parting was holding its broken-screen phone and had recorded the moment it opened the door.

"Pica~"

The man with the middle parting put his phone into the small backpack that Natsume had customized for him. The line connecting the pouch and the backpack swayed as he nodded.

Of course it's learning how to unlock locks; what bad intentions could a Pikachu possibly have?

"Squeak~"

Pushing open the door, Natsume entered the laboratory, which, as expected, was covered in crystals.

At the very center of the laboratory, a group of black totems formed a large circle, spinning around obliviously, and even if outsiders intruded, they could not attract their attention.

"Pica-"

He stared blankly at the center of the black totem, where there was a large, pitch-black hole.

When Natsume shone his flashlight, the area around the large hole remained pitch black.

The closer you get to the hole, the less light there is, as if all the light in that part of the space is being sucked into the black hole.

Instead of rushing to approach the unknown totem, Natsume pulled out a small sketchbook and began digging.

"Pickup?"

A flashlight was attached to the large diamond on the head of the man with the middle parting. As the man with the middle parting cast his gaze, the scene inside the laboratory was completely illuminated.

As the epicenter of crystallization, the laboratory is where crystallization is most severe.

Almost all the instruments were encased in thick crystals, like raw stones waiting to be mined by future generations.

Each of these crystals was incredibly thick, making the originally spacious laboratory seem like a small room.

But as Natsume worked, the place was soon left vacant.

"That's strange, where's the AI? Why isn't it here?"

Natsume, leaning on his manuscript, stood amidst the debris, somewhat bewildered.

He remembered that his senior colleague Snowton's AI was in the lab!
"Natsume, what are you doing!"

Snowden suddenly appeared behind him.

"As you know, my senior colleague, checking the equipment after entering the lab is a virtue ingrained in my bones."

Natsume quietly slipped the small box that was used to hold the chip back into his backpack.

"Pickup!"

The man with the middle parting turned around and looked at Natsume with a puzzled expression. The light shone on the crystal fragments scattered on the ground, making them dazzling.

"Natsume, you'd better—ah!"

Before Snowden could finish speaking, he was knocked unconscious by a brick thrown by Natsume, who was squinting.

"Boom!"

Snowden fell to the ground and turned into a pile of fragments.

"Pikapi?"

The man with the center-parted hair staggered closer, examining the pile of debris with a puzzled look. The lights flickered, and Natsume, pressing down on the large diamond, turned his head, along with the man with the center-parted hair, to face the swirling, unknown totems.

The unknown totems continued to spin ecstatically, and the hallucination from before seemed to have nothing to do with them.

Natsume tied a rope to the man with the middle parting.

"Pikachu?"

The person with the middle parting seemed to have thought of something. They looked at the black hole, then at Natsume, and shook their head in resistance.

"Go out and tie me to a fixed spot. I'm going in to take a look, understand?"

Natsume's expression was serious.

"Skin"

The man with the middle parting nodded blankly, took the rope, and went outside.

A short while later, Natsume tugged on the rope to make sure it was taut, and then walked toward the black hole.

Although it's unclear whether the rope will be of any use in this dark hole, something is better than nothing.

After bypassing one unknown totem after another, Natsume arrived in front of the black hole.

The source of his psychic power is this black hole.

He slowly inserted his finger, feeling nothing strange, and then Natsume plunged his entire body into the black hole.

Since this black hole hasn't sparked any systematic research, it's definitely not some special phenomenon.

The black hole was not as desolate as Natsume had imagined.

A rainbow of light filled the eye, and there were also some rainbow-colored crystals condensing around it.

Natsume squinted and looked toward the source of the seven-colored light.

Crystal Giant Turtle!
The turtle-like Pokémon was covered in colorful crystals, with its shell, head, and limbs densely packed with crystals that emitted a strong light, resembling a dazzling aggregate of gemstones.

It is the Celestial Burst form of the legendary Pokémon Talebages.

Talebagos floated slowly in the void, bound by a huge rectangular instrument with golden chains.

"That's strange, how come you were able to have an eruption while simultaneously falling asleep?"

Natsume muttered to himself, attaching his telekinesis to his body and drifting towards Talebagas.

Although the opponent was displaying a burst of star crystal energy, their consciousness was dormant.

Generally speaking, the astral burst form of Talebages is a large turtle with a short neck.

In its sleeping form, it is a small turtle with a long neck.

The Talebages in front of us belong to the second category.

It slept in the shape of a giant tortoise.

Perhaps it's related to the device that trapped the other party?

Natsume leaned closer, only to find that it wasn't like that at all.

This device is none other than Snowden's AI brain.

Natsume then realized that the reason he couldn't find the AI ​​was probably because the location where the black hole was created was where the AI ​​was located.

The AI ​​was sucked into it.

The golden chains extending from the void did not trap Talebagos, but instead bound Senior Brother Snowton's AI.

This Talebagos seems to have just happened to appear here.

Natsume could even detect that Talebagos was slowly stealing the power transmitted through the golden chains via the AI.

"That's strange?" Natsume pondered, placing his hand on the AI.

In an instant, the system's voice rang in Natsume's mind, making him freeze.

[Link to virtual vs. virtual battle, start matchmaking?]

[Virtual vs. virtual battle data collection complete, matchmaking failed.]

"Ok?"

Following the AI, Natsume attached his telekinetic powers to the golden chain and extended it outwards, where he saw countless AIs.

These AI systems are like nodes, placed in appropriate positions by humans.

What are the models of these?

Natsume discovered that he had never seen many of these alliance-standard AI models before.

The golden chains stretched endlessly. Even if Natsume exhausted his psychic powers and focused all his energy on exploring just one golden chain, there would be no end in sight.

After a long while, Natsume withdrew his hand, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

The place he entered seemed to be some huge device that linked many parallel universes.

(End of this chapter)