Chapter 30: It’s a New Player, Bro!
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“Cough, cough. Although I have no idea how you came by that information, what you mentioned is actually a new subject I plan to research in the future.”
Once the conversation turned academic, Bill’s expression grew serious as well.
After all, he was the supergenius who had developed the Pokémon Storage System several years ago.
The computer storage system and Pokémon transfer device currently used throughout the Kanto region...
Strictly speaking, still owed him royalties.
“But this technology, which transfers human thoughts into a Pokémon’s mind, is merely a conceptual model of mine. There’s no way it could be completed in such a short time.”
“Besides, I still have something very important to do here. I can’t spare the time to research anything else for now.”
Bill was a scientist, not a philosopher.
Naturally, he had not remained in this lonely, dilapidated lighthouse—one without any other scientific equipment—to contemplate philosophy.
“I’m waiting for a Pokémon...”
Seeing the puzzled looks from the other three, Bill’s eyes flickered as he slowly explained.
“Actually, a gigantic Pokémon lives deep within this harbor. Its size... is probably much greater than this entire lighthouse.”
At that, the three of them wore expressions of disbelief. They had never heard of a Pokémon that enormous.
It would have to be about the size of a small mountain.
“It’s true. Although I’ve only seen it once, I saw its silhouette with my own eyes in that dense fog!”
Bill spoke with absolute certainty.
It wasn’t a machine, and it wasn’t a projection. It was a real, living Pokémon!
“As for what kind of Pokémon it is, I don’t know either. But I do know that if it appears here, it must be yearning for something. That’s why I’ve stayed here—to meet it face-to-face and understand what it wants.”
“Keep talking. We’re almost convinced,” the three said.
Bill suddenly turned toward them. His eyes narrowed, and his expression became deep and aloof as he barked:
“Hmph. I’m sure you’ve noticed that tonight is a very special night...”
A strange, chilling wind swept past. Under that all-seeing gaze, the three of them shuddered.
Misty was the first to react. She answered cautiously:
“That’s true. The fog is especially thick tonight. Could it be...”
“I mean that the crab roe is particularly plump and delicious tonight. This is also when that Pokémon is most likely to appear. I conducted a survey of eyewitnesses, and that Pokémon may feed on Krabby.”
Bill suddenly chuckled and explained.
The three of them: “?”
...
...
After dinner, the three of them made their way to the beachside cliff outside.
Bill followed half a step behind, saying that he needed to bring out a machine to assist them.
Ash gazed out over the distant cliff. Everything was pitch-black.
The endless ocean rolled mercilessly, and the smell of the sea, carried on the violent wind, slapped him right in the face.
“The fog really is thick tonight...”
Ash could not help sighing.
When they had arrived at dusk, the fog had not been nearly this dense.
Now, however, it had grown absurdly thick. Beyond a distance of roughly twenty meters, there was nothing but a hazy gray blur.
“Oh, right. I choose you!”
Ash suddenly had an idea and tossed out a Poké Ball.
It was the Krabby he had caught only that very evening!
If that giant Pokémon really liked eating plump, delicious Krabby, then what better Krabby could there be than his own?
Ash remembered that, back when he had suffered from a poor appetite, he had listened to several of Professor Oak’s lectures while eating.
On one occasion, Professor Oak had introduced a marvelous move that could release a sweet, succulent scent from the user’s body and attract nearby wild Pokémon.
What was that move called again...?
With that thought, Ash swung his arm and shouted, “Krabby, use Sweet Scent!”
Krabby: “?”
I’m going to hit you with my claw.
...
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Bill arrived just then, dragging a machine nearly half his height behind him.
As he walked over to the three of them, the first thing he noticed was the Krabby by Ash’s leg, struggling to break through the limits of its species and release the aroma of its crab roe.
Bill instinctively blurted out:
“A Krabby? Let me see, let me see. Its shell is flushed and glossy, its gray belly is bulging with rich, golden roe, its brown bristles and white claws are sturdy and well-fed, and the meat is truly top quality...”
“But it’s not even three months old. Judging by its size, it weighs about four hundred grams. Tsk, tsk, still a little lacking. Give it another three months, and even the Creator God would suffer if it came across this... No, ahem, I’ve said too much.”
He hurriedly clamped his mouth shut.
Krabby: “?”
The three of them: “...”
A true old hand at food.
Ash quickly returned Krabby to its Poké Ball.
He had no intention of actually offering his own Krabby as someone else’s meal. He had only brought it out to release its scent.
“Speaking of which, what kind of machine is this?”
After asking, Ash still felt uneasy and added:
“Mr. Bill, you should wipe your mouth first.”
“Cough, cough.”
Bill swiftly wiped his mouth and gave a fake cough, forcing his thoughts back to the matter at hand.
“This is a device I invented to simulate the sound waves of a special Pokémon. Through sampling, quantization, and encoding, it can achieve real-time communication with Pokémon.”
The three hurriedly applauded, so as not to reveal the fact that they had understood absolutely nothing.
They simply stared wide-eyed and blankly watched Bill operate the machine.
“I’ve already sampled that Pokémon’s special frequency several times in these waters. Now, once I activate this machine, it will emit similar sound waves and draw the Pokémon here so that I can meet it.”
“Nice!”
The three applauded once again, impressed despite themselves.
...
“Bzzzzzz...”
Sure enough, after Bill pressed the activation button and the machine shuddered, a special sound wave began spreading from the cliff toward the depths of the ocean.
“Pika?”
Ash and the others could not sense it, but Pikachu twitched its ears and leaped down from Ash’s shoulder.
“Bzzzzzz...”
The machine began vibrating more violently, and the range of the sound waves continued to expand...
One hundred meters...
Five hundred meters...
One thousand meters...
...
“Grrr—roar!!”
At last, a tremendous dragon’s roar rang out from the depths of the ocean.
For a moment, it seemed as though the air around them had frozen solid.
They heard its voice before they saw it.
Then, a dense, icy dragonlike chill enveloped the entire scene, as though some ancient ferocious beast had emerged from the depths of time.
The people standing at the cliff’s edge felt their hearts grow cold, and even breathing became difficult.
The waves of the sea churned more violently as well!
“It’s coming!”
With Bill’s low cry, a gigantic silhouette suddenly burst through the endless, heavy fog.
It stood forty or fifty meters tall—higher even than the lighthouse behind them. Its towering pressure was overwhelmingly intense!
It was a bipedal Pokémon.
In proportion, it was even more massive than Pikachu, yet a pair of tiny wings grew from its back.
But with the pitch-black surface of the sea and the gray, murky fog, they could not even make out the giant beast’s face.
“Gasp... Is that the giant Pokémon?!”
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Confronted by that ancient-looking beast, even Ash—bold as he was—found it difficult to breathe, and felt a chill in his chest.
Clearly, an existence of this level was far beyond his current strength.
“Have you finally agreed to come out and meet me?”
Beside him, Bill bit down hard on his own lip, forcing himself to regain his composure.
He walked all the way to the very front of the group, right to the edge of the cliff.
“Tell me! What is the meaning of your existence here?!”
He roared furiously toward the sea.
Somehow, he understood that there was something akin to a bond between them. He knew that the giant beast was yearning for something, and discovering what that was had been the reason he had remained here all this time.
“Graaah—roar!”
The giant beast threw back its head and released another earth-shaking dragon’s cry.
Even the clouds overhead were torn open, forming a gigantic hole, while endless waves and mist churned and boiled around them.
“What are you yearning for?! Answer me!” Bill bellowed.
“Graaah—roar!”
“Answer me!!!”
“Graaah—roar!!!”
...
“?”
Watching this unfold, the three slowly formed a question mark with their expressions.
Could Mr. Bill understand the language of dragons, or was he expecting the thing to speak human language?
Was this some kind of telepathic conversation?
If they did not do something, this man and this beast might well spend the entire night roaring at each other into the void.
A voice suddenly rang out in Ash’s mind.
“!”
His confidence immediately surged. The corner of his mouth lifted, and he decisively took action.
“Mr. Bill, you said that once you understood what this giant beast was yearning for, you would begin researching the technology for transferring human souls, right?”
Bill: “?”
He had already roared several rounds. His voice was hoarse, his brain starved of oxygen, and his head was spinning. He had no idea what Ash was trying to say.
“Then I’ll help you catch this giant beast. You can take it home yourself and discuss everything properly with it. You don’t object, do you?”
Ash’s words were astonishing.
Bill: “???”
Had this child been frightened senseless by the giant beast?!
Ash completely ignored his expression and pushed past the others.
Summoning his courage, he walked to the edge of the cliff. His tiny figure faced the enormous Pokémon, which looked like a small mountain, across the distance.
Then he slowly closed his eyes and whispered inwardly:
“Your turn, old man...”
...
The next second, Ash opened his eyes again.
He raised his head. The clear, bright gaze had vanished, replaced by a pair of cold and stern eyes.
All fear had disappeared from his face. He did not even show the slightest emotional fluctuation toward the giant beast.
There was only the look of someone sizing up a lesser prey destined to be captured.
The person standing here now was the strongest Trainer from another world!
Red!
---------
This time, for sure.