Pokémon: Who told him to come out of Pallet Town!

Chapter 744 No chance to mediate, but a pro at stirring up trouble

A pure white, void, and chaotic "primordial" world.

"here it is?"

Natsume paused for half a second.

After fully integrating into the Rotom mech, what he saw was different from anything he had ever seen before.

This is his rules-based battle space... but it's completely different.

Data streams are everywhere, and there are priests in what looks like pure white spaces... What kind of place is this?

Natsume doesn't know, but the enemy certainly does.

He looked up at Rainbow Natsume across from him. The relaxed and carefree expression on Rainbow Natsume's face had vanished completely.

cold.

A chill that seeps into your bones.

The confrontation between Natsume and Rainbow Natsume was forcibly interrupted by a will that transcends comprehension and is irresistible.

It was not sound, nor light, but the arrival of "existence" itself.

Space itself is in worship.

Natsume suddenly looked up, his pupils contracting sharply.

Above, seemingly endless, a figure of immeasurable size, shrouded in a soft glow, appeared out of nowhere.

His form resembles the outline of the legendary "Arzetus," yet it is so grand, sacred, and ancient that any legend seems pale in comparison.

His mere presence tamed and ordered the chaotic flow of primordial data.

On Arceus's vast back, there is not fur, but a reflection that holds an endless, star-studded "world sea".

Arceus, carrying the universe, came over.

The myriad worlds, like bubbles or stars, float and sink, rise and fall on His back.

Natsume can "see".

Most of the world radiates an aura of prosperity, with life and civilization twinkling like stars.

Some worlds are bleak and desolate, their surfaces scarred by plunder and destruction—the remnants of what Team Rainbow Rocket "harvested."

Some worlds present an extremely bizarre state of flatness, pixelation, and simplified rules, as if they have been compressed into...

The two-dimensional picture sank to the "bottom" of the world's ocean and slowly decayed.

In that brief moment of his gaze, a once vibrant and normally functioning world, without warning, as if its internal rules had suddenly collapsed, instantly "collapsed" into a two-dimensional, lifeless "image," sinking to the bottom of the sea, never to be disturbed again.

This is definitely not the work of the Rainbow Rockets; it's a more fundamental "withering"!

"Did you see that?" A voice rang out directly in the deepest part of Natsume and Rainbow Natsume's consciousness.

It is not ancient and obscure, but rather contains a simplicity and straightforwardness that is as truthful as the truth of all things.

Arceus slowly "lowered his head," and his eyes, which reflected the birth and death of the world, looked at them.

"Heh, are you going to fool him again, just like you fooled me?"

On the other end, Natsume Rainbow made no attempt to hide his aggression, looking mockingly at Arceus.

Natsume ignored him; the alpaca that had just appeared was clearly more credible than this guy.

He looked up at Arceus.

At this moment, Natsume clearly perceived that the "system" that had been lurking in his consciousness, sometimes active and sometimes feigning death, had a faint, supreme connection at its deepest point that was completely of the same origin as the alpaca before him who was carrying the world on its back.

The system is Arceus! Or rather, it is a tendril of observation cast by Him.

"I am 'Divine Authority'," Arceus's voice echoed like the background music of the universe.

"Creation, endowment, and the maintenance of rules. The world I bear operates within the framework of my 'divine authority.'"

"But 'theocracy' is not perfect."

"It can also get tired and stiffen."

His gaze swept over those two-dimensional, necrotic worlds.

"When a world's inherent possibilities are completely confined by the framework of divine authority, when the path of evolution reaches its end and no new variables emerge, it will be internally 'degraded,' losing its dimensions and depth, becoming nourishment for authority, or a...still painting."

He called this world the primordial world.

Arceus said, looking at the rainbow Natsume not far away.

"I tried many methods to slow down the process. To offer more possibilities, to adjust the rules... but ultimately, I was just going around in circles with 'theocracy.' Until..."

For the first time, Arceus's gaze, truly and with complex emotions, fell upon Natsume Rainbow.

"He was born."

"He represents technology," not something I bestow upon it, but rather the power of life's own wisdom to analyze, dismantle, reshape, and recreate the rules. He is my opposite, my mirror image, and the first truly meaningful "second pole" I have seen in my long life.

There was a hint of reminiscence in Arceus's voice.

"Okay, you can continue."

Suddenly, Natsume's phantom appeared on the machine god, holding a handful of sunflower seeds that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"I was ecstatic. I thought that by balancing the two extremes, eternal equilibrium could be achieved. I became the system," guiding him, observing him, hoping he would grow strong enough to counterbalance me, injecting all worlds with new vitality and variables independent of what I bestowed upon them."

But I was wrong.

Arceus's radiance seemed to dim for a moment.

"Pure opposition does not bring balance, but annihilation. He went to extremes."

He believed everything I represented was a shackle. He wanted to dismantle everything, including himself, to find an absolute...

The cold "origin"—he became a "plunderer," accelerating the world's decay rather than healing it.

The Natsume's Mech remained silent, but its fuselage trembled slightly, and its data stream became disordered.

"If two poles don't work, then a third pole is needed."

Arceus's gaze, as if bearing the weight of countless worlds, finally fell upon Natsume.

"An existence that is neither purely bestowed by 'divine authority' nor purely dismantled by 'technology.'"

"A mediator who can understand, accommodate, and even organically integrate the two..."

"A new cornerstone that weaves together 'creation' and 'analysis,' 'rules' and 'change' through the will and connection of life itself."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

The illusory image of Natsume threw away the melon seeds and looked up, interrupting the real Arceus.

"You mean, just like the balance of mythical beasts in each region, it's always '3': two conflicting entities and one mediator."

"You two represent 'technology' and 'theocracy,' respectively. Are you lacking a mediator?"

As Natsume spoke, his expression grew increasingly strange.

Arceus paused for a moment, not minding that Natsume had interrupted him, and nodded directly: "Yes."

"Prove it to me, Natsume."

Arceus's voice carried his final expectation and decision.

"Demonstrate your qualifications as a 'third force' in your own way."

"It's not about imitating him, nor is it about begging me."

"Show us...a path that is uniquely yours, one that connects, harmonizes, and even merges us!"

Natsume was stunned.

As soon as Arceus finished speaking, Natsume Rainbow couldn't sit still any longer.

"What mediator? What third force?"

"Theocracy has no inherent meaning. By expanding outwards in my own way, I can prevent the world from returning to its original state."

o

"I located his universe, which proves I was right!"

"You're nothing but superfluous, a cancer in the universe!"

Rainbow Natsume let out a sharp screech.

The Divine Relic Mech was completely unleashed, transforming into a "technological singularity"—a cold, silver data storm—that devoured, analyzed, and annihilated everything. With an absolute will to erase all "impurity" and "harmony," it swept towards Natsume.

pressure.

Pressure at the level of fundamental cosmic forces.

Natsume could feel the entire machine trembling.

He watched as the "technological singularity" storm, carrying endless coldness and analytical will, swept towards him, and then glanced at Arceus beside him, who carried the world on his back, radiant and waiting to watch the "Third Pole" perform.

Do you know what a researcher hates the most?

Without any preparation or prior notice, you're suddenly forced to do something!

A thought flashed through Natsume's mind, which was stiffened by immense pressure, like a bolt of lightning.

Mediation? Prove I can mediate between the two of you?

We're barely able to protect ourselves, let alone try to reconcile the two fundamental forces of the universe.

But...who says "mediation" necessarily means standing in the middle and trying to break up a fight?

He's not Rayquaza, he's not Giratina...

A smile suddenly appeared on Natsume's illusory face, a curve that seemed completely out of place with the style of the apocalyptic crisis depicted before him.

"Hey! System!" Natsume used telekinesis to "shout" his voice on a conscious level, aiming directly at Arceus.

"Does your description of the 'third force' include...helping one side beat up the other?"

Arceus's eyes, which reflected the birth and death of the world, seemed to blink slightly, and his majestic voice carried a subtle pause: "The way of balance lies in harmony, not in favoritism."

"Oh, so that doesn't include taking sides."

Natsume nodded, looking as if he had just realized something.

"But it doesn't say you can't 'incite conflict' or 'create opportunities,' right?"

Arceus: "?"

Before Arceus's mind, which contained the truth of the universe, could understand this "flaw" in human logic, Natsume made a move.

He neither chose to confront it head-on nor tried to evade it.

He poured all of the machine god's computing power and most of its energy into its propulsion system, instead of using it for defense, making an extremely bold, even crazy, move.

Reverse injection, overload short-distance jump!

Target: A "safe" area directly below Arceus!

"Boom boom!!!"

The Rotom Machine left afterimages as it appeared in an almost instantaneous manner.

It darted through the storm of the "technological singularity" with an incredibly close and precise angle and speed, and then "drilled" into the direction of Arceus's massive body.

The "Technological Singularity" storm, formed from the rainbow Natsume and filled with destructive obsession, which was originally heading straight for Natsume, experienced a very brief deviation and delay in its attack trajectory and lock-on due to Natsume's extremely abrupt and bizarrely targeted maneuver.

The storm continues to rage, and destruction continues to rage.

But directly in front of it, on Natsume's "slipped away" arm, suddenly transformed into Arceus, a figure radiant with light, symbolizing "divine authority," who had just delivered a speech on the "Third Pole" and was slightly puzzled by Natsume's actions.

Rainbow Natsume's cold and crazy data consciousness obviously did not expect Natsume to pull such a "scapegoat" move.

But with the arrow already on the bowstring, the urge to destroy and the long-standing hostility towards Arceus were "cleverly" guided, amplified, and induced by Natsume at this moment.

"Tearing it down first won't change anything!"

Instead of turning to pursue Natsume, the storm became even more frenzied and its speed increased due to Natsume's "evasion" and Arceus's "blocking". It mercilessly and shamelessly blasted towards Arceus's back, which was the burial site of the thousand worlds!

Arceus: "??????"

In that instant, in the eternally calm eyes of this embodiment of supreme divine authority, who bore the weight of the universe, a rare and clear emotion flashed across Ji Zhe's eyes, reflecting the birth and death of the world. This emotion could be described as "astonishment," "speechlessness," or even a touch of "absurdity."

Is something wrong with this drama's twist?

"Natsume!!!"

For the first time, Arceus's majestic voice carried a barely perceptible fluctuation, something akin to "frustration."

However, the attack had already occurred.

Containing the extreme "technology" authority of Natsume the Rainbow, it shamefully crashed into the protective glow of the "World Sea" on Arceus's back!

Mediation... Natsume won't do it.

They're quite good at stirring things up.