Pokémon, Inkaros, my starter Pokémon

"Click!"

A burst of bone-chilling cold air instantly froze the waterspout, along with the Arbok within it, turning it into a contorted ice sculpture that crashed heavily to the ground, completely incapacitated.

……

Witnessing this final scene, Athena's last ember of hope was extinguished, replaced by an abyss of despair. Not only had her plan failed, but her last-minute attempt to launch a sneak attack had thoroughly enraged her opponent...

Athena stared blankly at Shidou, the fierceness and pleading on her face gone, replaced by a numb fear. Her lips trembled as she tried to make a final attempt to salvage the situation.

"Mr. Shi... Mr. Shi... I'm... I'm sorry... I was... I was too loud and my attitude was bad. Please... please forgive me..."

Athena began to stammer incoherently, hurriedly saying, "I...I'm a high-ranking officer of Team Rocket, and I know many secrets. If you release me, I can give you countless riches. What the League can give you, Team Rocket can give you double, no, ten times! There are also rare Pokémon, ancient secrets...As long as you nod your head, we can talk about anything!"

With her last ounce of strength, she forced a smile that looked more like a grimace and asked cautiously:

"Can...can we reconcile like this?"

"We can't trust her," Xiao Zhi shouted immediately.

"You can't believe a word she says."

Xiaoxia quickly chimed in.

Although Xiao Gang didn't speak, his furrowed brows showed his attitude.

Looking at the woman before him, who had no moral compass in her desperate attempt to survive and whose words and actions were inconsistent, Shi Dou felt a sense of absurdity and speechlessness. He gently shook his head and calmly said:

"Excuse me, Ms. Athena, I am a Gym Leader."

Tokito was quite speechless about Athena.

Not to mention that Shidou doesn't care about your little reward at all... In front of so many people, you openly deceived a pillar of the righteous path who takes it upon himself to protect order and guide trainers into accepting a bribe to release people?

Even if she might actually be interested, where would that leave his pride as a gym leader?

If you talk about this kind of thing privately, maybe you can still negotiate.

just now……

Hehe!

Hearing this resolute rejection and seeing Tokito's unwavering gaze, the last trace of color drained from Athena's face, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

It's over... Is it too late to say anything now?

Athena was terrified; the shadow of death had never loomed over her so clearly.

Giving Athena no further chances, Tokito nodded slightly to Hilda.

Hilda, who had been holding a scythe to Athena's throat, merely flicked her wrist slightly, not cutting with the sharp edge, but striking Athena's nape with the hard back of the blade.

"Uh……"

Athena only managed to let out a short groan before her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed limply to the ground, completely losing consciousness.

Looking at the unconscious Athena, Tokito couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.

As expected... in the wild or in this kind of environment where there are fewer rules, attacking the trainer directly is the most efficient solution...

With this, the Team Rocket threat within the Pokémon Tower was completely eliminated.

"That's amazing, Mr. Tokito." Ash exclaimed sincerely as he looked at the Team Rocket members lying on the ground.

"Thanks to you, we were saved." Xia thanked him sincerely, her eyes filled with admiration as she looked at Shi Dou.

Tokito waved his hand and calmly said, "It's nothing, just my duty. Ash, you guys contact Officer Jenny in Lavender Town and tie these guys up first. I'll go up to the top of the tower to check the situation."

"clear."

Ash and his friends immediately sprang into action and began searching for a rope.

Tokito, along with Hilda and Balus, quickly ascended to the top of the Pokémon Tower.

This area is more spacious than the lower floors. In the center stands a machine that looks very complex and gleams with an ominous light. Energy conduits extending from the machine connect to the tower walls like blood vessels, seemingly drawing energy from something. Beside the machine, an elderly man with gray hair, wearing a researcher's white lab coat, is tightly bound by ropes.

Tokito stepped forward, deftly cut the rope with Hilda's scythe, and helped the old man up.

"Grandpa, are you alright?"

"No, it's alright... Thank you, young man."

The old man stretched his stiff limbs and said gratefully, then looked at Shi Dou with surprise and understanding in his eyes, "You were the one fighting Athena down there just now, weren't you?"

"Yes, the Rockets have been taken care of by us."

Shi Dou nodded in confirmation.

"That's wonderful, thank you so much! You saved me and stopped their evil plan." The old man excitedly grasped Shidou's hand.

"You're too kind. I'm Tokito, a trainer from the Goldenrod City Fighting Dojo. What brings you here?" Tokito introduced himself and then asked.

Upon hearing the identity of "Gym Leader," the elderly Fuji visibly relaxed, his trust in him greatly increasing. A complex and regretful expression appeared on his face as he sighed deeply and said, "My name is Fuji… To my shame, all of this stems from a wrong choice I made in the past…"

"I...I once collaborated with Team Rocket for an impossible obsession, participating in...a blasphemous plan. We...we created an 'artificial god'..."

Artificial God...

really!

The old man from Fuji was talking about Mewtwo, the artificial Pokémon created using Mew's genes, whose power is comparable to or even surpasses many legendary beings!

For example, Lugia, the ocean current god of the Johto region, and Ho-Oh, the rainbow god...

In the Kanto region, where the original Legendary Pokémon are missing, Mewtwo is practically the ceiling of power, arguably the strongest legendary Pokémon, having forcibly created life through technology, even reaching the realm of gods...

This sounds outrageous, but it actually happened in this world.

This is simply a new world myth created by technology!

The old man continued his confession: "That was the biggest mistake of my life... That Pokémon was too powerful, completely obedient to Team Rocket. Only after that did I realize I shouldn't have researched that Pokémon, so I fled Team Rocket. I never expected they would still find me and force me to continue serving them..."

“The past cannot be changed, what matters is the present, Dr. Fuji,” Tokito said, offering words of comfort.

"Yes, you're right." The old man Fuji suddenly came to his senses, then pointed to the still-running machine and said urgently, "I have a favor to ask you. This is the 'Soul Extraction Device' developed by Team Rocket. They are forcibly extracting the soul energy of the Pokémon that are sleeping here to create evil 'Dark Balls.' It must be stopped immediately, otherwise these peaceful souls will not find peace and may even dissipate!"

Shi Dou nodded, his gaze falling on the control panel of the complex machine, preparing to step forward and find a way to shut it down.

However, just as his finger was about to touch the control panel...

The strangely shaped black bracelet on his right wrist suddenly began to vibrate violently. The dark patterns on the surface of the bracelet seemed to come alive and began to emit a deep, dark purple light!

Immediately afterwards, a tremendous suction force erupted from the bracelet, targeting not the physical objects, but the pure Ghost-type energy and countless remaining soul imprints of Pokémon that had been forcibly extracted from the tower by the device.

The dense, dark energy surrounding the device surged wildly toward Shi Dou's bracelet. Even more surprisingly, while absorbing this energy, the bracelet seemed to sever the device's forced extraction of the soul's essence from within the tower. The originally painful and restless soul imprints gradually calmed down and returned to slumber.

The bracelet acts like a filter, absorbing the dissipated, harmful negative energy and freeing the bound souls. However, in return, it absorbs a portion of the purest ghostly and soul essence as a form of "reward."

What's going on?

At the same time, the system interface, which only Shi Dou could see, began to flash wildly, displaying a series of startling prompts.

-

-

PS: This matter will affect the attribute of the spirits summoned later. Which attribute do you think is suitable?

Chapter 70 Evil Spirits, Chaos, and Shadow-type Seraphim?

At the same time, the system interface, visible only to Shi Dou, began flashing wildly, displaying a series of startling notifications:

[WARNING!! High concentration of ghost-type primordial energy and vengeful spirit aggregate detected!]

[Special procedure activated! The bracelet is absorbing energy autonomously...]

[Energy Type Determination: Ghost, Shadow, Soul, Curse...]

[Absorption complete! Most harmful resentment has been purified, and the pure essence has been extracted!]

[Note: The nature of the energy absorbed this time will greatly affect the attribute tendency of the summoned spirits, with a very high probability of summoning a spirit of the corresponding attribute!]

Shi Dou stared blankly at the bracelet on his wrist, which was gradually calming down but seemed to have become even darker, and at the system interface notification in front of him:

"????"

what's the situation? !

This bracelet... can even "recharge" itself and reserve the next summon type?!

The bracelet's unusual activity gradually subsided, and the system notification disappeared.

Shi Dou stroked his wrist, which seemed even more profound than before, lost in thought.

Shidou roughly understood... This bracelet was like a special energy collector, capable of attracting specific spirits. His righteous actions on the Saint Anne had attracted Gag, who also valued justice, to join him.

This absorption of such a vast and pure amount of soul and ghost energy is equivalent to sending a powerful signal in the "otherworld channel," which may attract corresponding elemental spirits or spirits from other star systems to actively link up...

As for attributes related to the soul...

In the world of Seer, it's highly likely to be a being of mysterious, dark, or even forbidden power, like Shadow, Evil Spirit, or Chaos. If one of these attributes were to actually appear... what would it be?

A demonic spirit king?

Blake, Cassius?

Or something else... I'm a little excited, but also a little worried.

"Mr. Tokito, Ms. Officer Jenny and the others have arrived and are handling the scene downstairs!"

Suddenly, Ash's voice came from the stairwell, interrupting his thoughts, and Ash and his friends returned to the top floor.

Tokito nodded and walked down the tower with Dr. Fuji.

In Lavender Town, Officer Jenny is directing officers to put silver bracelets on the unconscious Athena and her henchmen.

Upon seeing Tokito, Officer Jenny immediately stepped forward and gave him a solemn salute, filled with gratitude and admiration. "Gym Leader Tokito! Thank you so much for your heroic actions. This is Athena, a senior member of Team Rocket. Her capture is of great significance to our fight against Team Rocket. You have once again made a great contribution to the peace of the Kanto region!"

“Miss Officer Jenny, you’re too kind. I’m glad I was able to help,” Tokito replied modestly.

"Please rest assured, we will immediately escort these criminals back to headquarters and report your achievements to the Alliance in detail as soon as possible," Miss Officer Jenny assured her.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work," Shi Dou nodded.

The matter came to an end, and everyone left the eerie yet peaceful Pokémon Tower.

The cool night breeze is invigorating.

"Great! The Rockets' plot has been completely foiled!"

Xiao Zhi said happily, but then his expression froze as if he remembered something.

"Wait... Ash, have we forgotten something important?"

Xiao Gang, who was standing next to him, suddenly slapped his forehead.

"Ah—! We came here to catch Ghost-type Pokémon!!! How come we were so focused on battling Team Rocket that we forgot about our main mission!!!"

Xiaoxia also realized what was happening and let out a mournful cry.

"Oh no! We don't have any Ghost-type Pokémon, how are we going to go back and challenge Sabrina?!" Ash crouched down, clutching his head, looking utterly devastated.

Seeing the trio instantly transform from heroes back into gloomy, dejected youths, Tokito couldn't help but chuckle.

"It doesn't matter."

Shi Dou stepped forward and said in a relaxed tone.

"Huh?" Ash looked up at him blankly.

Shi Dou said deceptively, "The key to dealing with Sabrina is to disrupt her concentration of psychic powers, not necessarily to use type advantage. That special Gastly is able to make Sabrina laugh and distract her precisely because of its pranks and illusions."

"Believe me, even without Ghost-type Pokémon, with the bond between you, Pikachu, and Bulbasaur, and with unexpected tactics, you still have a chance to defeat Sabrina. The important thing is to trust your partners, rather than blindly pursuing the so-called 'correct answer'."

"Moreover, through this Pokémon Tower experience, your experience and courage have been honed, which is a valuable gain in itself. Carry this growth with you when you take on challenges, and the results may not be bad."

Hearing Tokito's words, Ash's confusion gradually faded, and his fighting spirit was rekindled. He stood up and nodded vigorously: "I understand, Mr. Tokito. I believe in Pikachu and the others. We will find a way to defeat Sabrina through our own strength!"

Seeing Ash and the others regain their confidence and prepare to challenge Sabrina on their own, Tokito smiled with satisfaction.

Just then, Cain, who had been lurking in the shadows, slowly revealed himself. Even more surprisingly, behind him floated two purple Pokémon with wide-open mouths, emitting strange "hehehe" laughter!

One of them was a Pokémon with a blurry, ethereal form, connected to two independently floating white ghostly hands; the other was a large, rounded Pokémon with a deep purple body, cunning eyes, and a hint of a wicked smile...

They are...

Gastly and Gengar!!!