Chapter 208

Chapter 208: Chapter 208

The next morning, Mike woke to the sound of fighting in the courtyard.

He rubbed his eyes, carefully pulled the blanket back over the still-sleeping Hatenna and Glameow, then grabbed his toothbrush and headed outside.

From the balcony, he immediately saw two Kleavor fighting in the courtyard, their stone axes crashing together hard enough to make his scalp tingle.

Roark’s Kleavor was clearly a little stronger than Aaron’s.

That made sense when Mike thought about it.

Roark’s Kleavor had evolved from one of the two Scyther that had originally been kept at Professor Oak’s laboratory before being released, while Aaron’s had come from the wild colony.

Professor Kukui stood at the edge of the courtyard with dark circles beneath his eyes, enthusiastically recording data from the battle as though sleep were an optional human activity.

Lucian and Cynthia sat at a stone table drinking tea, while Professor Oak and Professor Rowan were nowhere to be seen.

Mike brushed his teeth while watching the fight.

Just as he had expected, Roark’s Kleavor gradually took the advantage.

Mike finished washing up, returned to his room to rinse away the toothpaste foam and wash his face properly, then came downstairs with Gengar and the others.

By the time he arrived, Lucian pointed toward the breakfast on the stone table.

"There’s still some left. We haven’t ruined it yet."

Mike sat beside Lucian and Cynthia and began eating.

"Where are Professor Oak and Professor Rowan?"

"Still resting," Lucian explained. "We all stayed up far too late last night."

Mike glanced toward Professor Kukui, who was still full of life despite looking as though he hadn’t slept in days.

"Does Professor Kukui just... doesn’t need rest?"

"Maybe his physical condition is simply better than ours."

Lucian took another sip of tea before asking, "Do you have anything planned this morning?"

"If there’s nothing else scheduled, I wanted to visit the shrine of the Celestic Ruins. I heard there are records there concerning Sinnoh’s myths. Maybe I’ll find something useful."

Cynthia looked over.

"If you’re going to the shrine, I can take you."

"That’d be great."

Mike finished breakfast and followed Cynthia toward the shrine.

...

Inside the Celestic Ruins, Mike immediately noticed how old everything felt.

Below ground, the entrance was formed from thick slabs of ancient stone.

The chamber beyond wasn’t large or elaborate, but enormous gray rocks surrounded the cavern walls, their surfaces cracked by countless years of weathering.

Thin vines crept through the gaps, while two ancient stone tablets stood near the entrance, covered in vague and heavily worn patterns.

"These ruins have been preserved for a very long time," Cynthia explained.

She had changed into a blue sleeveless vest and fitted wide-leg trousers that morning, a more relaxed outfit than her usual black coat.

Mike smiled.

"You can really smell the ruins."

Cynthia paused.

Then she laughed.

"Come on. I’ll show you the deeper section."

Cynthia led the way down the passage.

The interior opened into a circular stone chamber with a very low ceiling.

Weak light filtered through cracks above, illuminating dust drifting through the air.

Seven thick natural stone pillars supported the cavern roof, while carvings and faded murals covered much of the surrounding stone.

"You grew up around this place," Mike said, looking toward Cynthia. "No wonder you became so interested in mythology."

"This shrine was one of the biggest reasons," Cynthia replied. "It was always an important part of my childhood."

"Myths have their own kind of appeal." Mike looked around the chamber. "I like them too. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time digging through stories about Hisui."

Cynthia glanced at him.

"That much was obvious. Otherwise you wouldn’t know so much about Enamorus."

Mike smiled and moved closer to one of the stone walls.

The sound of a wooden cane striking stone came from behind them.

Mike turned around.

An elderly woman in a white lab coat was watching him beside Cynthia.

"Grandma," Cynthia called.

Mike immediately realized who she was.

Professor Carolina.

"Hello, Professor Carolina. I’m Mike."

He greeted her politely.

"So you’re Mike?"

Professor Carolina looked him over with open curiosity.

"I heard you were the one who led the research that brought Wyrdeer back into the modern world."

"I mostly just provided the initial clue. The professors did most of the actual work."

"And you were the one who pieced together much of the information about the Hisui era?"

Mike nodded.

Professor Carolina’s gaze shifted toward the scale associated with Enamorus.

"And that scale came from your investigation too?"

Mike nodded again.

A gentle smile appeared on the old professor’s face.

"Then thank you. Because of you, I learned that during the Hisui era, this land was once watched over by another Legendary Pokémon whose story had almost disappeared from history."

"You’re too kind, Professor. Finding traces of those Pokémon and learning what happened to them is something I wanted to do anyway."

Professor Carolina smiled and turned toward a deeper passage.

"Would you like to see what lies farther inside?"

"Absolutely."

...

The deepest chamber of the Celestic Ruins contained an enormous stone relief covering most of the wall.

Mike slowed his steps the moment he saw it.

Three distinct figures had been carved into the rock.

On the right was Uxie, its eyes closed, representing knowledge.

At the center was Mesprit, its form rounded and flowing, representing emotion.

On the left was Azelf, its sharper silhouette representing willpower.

The three Lake Guardians.

Mike walked closer and carefully studied the carvings.

According to Sinnoh mythology, after the creation of the world, Arceus brought forth the three Lake Guardians and granted humanity the capacity for knowledge, emotion, and will.

Uxie represented knowledge.

Mesprit represented emotion.

Azelf represented willpower.

Symbols carved around the three reliefs hinted at even older legends.

Professor Carolina watched Mike’s reaction.

"You know that story?"

Mike nodded.

"Yeah. Because... I’ve actually seen Mesprit before."

Cynthia immediately turned toward him.

"You’ve seen Mesprit?"

Mike nodded again and gestured toward Gengar.

Gengar pulled out the tablet, and Mike searched through old photographs and videos until he found footage taken shortly after leaving Sandgem Town, on the way toward Lake Verity.

He handed the tablet to Professor Carolina.

"That was taken by accident when I was traveling toward Lake Verity."

Professor Carolina studied the photographs and video carefully.

After a while, she nodded.

"My guess is that the bond between you and your Pokémon briefly stirred Mesprit and caused it to reveal itself."

"That’s what I think too."

Mike grinned.

He looked around the chamber again.

"Are the Lake Guardians the only legends recorded here?"

"Yes," Professor Carolina replied. "If you want records concerning the deities of time and space, you would need to go to Spear Pillar."

"Spear Pillar?"

Mike nodded.

"I know about it. I’ll probably visit eventually."

Cynthia looked toward him.

"You’re planning to go there?"

"Yeah. Once the summit is over, I’m going back to Eterna City. After that, I’ll head into the Mount Coronet range and travel north. If the route works out, I should eventually be able to visit Spear Pillar too."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow.

"You’re going into Mount Coronet first? I thought your original destination was Crown City."

"It is, but Lucian pointed out that Eterna City is already close to Mount Coronet, so I might as well travel through the mountains first, reach Snowpoint City farther north, and then continue north from there."

Cynthia’s lips curved slightly.

"Are you sure Lucian didn’t trick you?"

Mike laughed.

"I know exactly what he’s doing. He wants me to go into the mountains so I’ll film Ice-type Pokémon and make more material."

He shrugged.

"But he wasn’t wrong. My destination is north either way. I might as well enjoy the journey instead of obsessing over the fastest route. The result isn’t the important part. The process is."

Cynthia nodded in approval, then abruptly asked, "Want to become one of Sinnoh’s Elite Four?"

Mike fell silent.

Professor Carolina looked between them.

Mike eventually turned toward Cynthia with a completely serious expression.

"Sorry, Champion Cynthia. I’m not ready to become a corporate workhorse yet. Don’t even think about making me work overtime the way you do with Lucian!"

Cynthia gave a regretful sigh.

"What a shame."

Mike: "..."

After a moment, he asked, "Speaking of which, isn’t Lucian alone enough?"

Cynthia looked at him.

"If you were in my position, would you ever complain about having too many people to share the work?"

Mike had no response.

She had a point.

...

Mike spent the rest of the morning exploring the ruins, where he found another section recording an old story concerning the Lake Guardians.

Before they finished their visit, Professor Carolina invited Mike to lunch.

Afterward, she brought him and Cynthia to her research institute, where the conversation eventually turned toward Enamorus and the surviving records from Hisui.

"Team Galactic? I know about them," Professor Carolina said. "They once forced their way into the ruins and tried to steal the Old Charm."

"If Cynthia hadn’t arrived in time, they probably would have gotten away with it."

"Old Charm?"

Mike remembered the item kept at the Celestic Ruins.

The charm itself didn’t possess any special effect. Its importance was symbolic: it served as proof of the bond between humanity and the people who had protected these ruins for generations, as well as a symbol of that duty.

"Why would Team Galactic want to steal something like that?"

Professor Carolina shook her head.

"You already studied the Old Charm yourself. You know it has no actual power. Nowadays it mostly remains here as evidence of the people who have protected these ruins."

Mike looked toward Cynthia.

"Which of Team Galactic’s commanders came to steal it?"

"All of them," Cynthia answered.

Mike blinked.

"They sent every one of them over an Old Charm?"

He thought for a moment.

"My guess would be that Charon believed the charm had some connection to a Legendary Pokémon, so he wanted to investigate it personally."

Professor Carolina nodded slowly.

"According to the latest information we’ve received, that Charon is currently desperate to determine where Enamorus disappeared to."

She leaned back slightly.

"If we ever need to lure him out and arrest him, perhaps that obsession will give us an opening."

Mike and Cynthia looked at one another.

Then both of them smiled.

Apparently, they had arrived at exactly the same idea.

----

New stream on Chapters 243-250, i already put regular readers and people that has not been in the chat, also the next few Chapters might be boring since it was about discovering hisui evolution, please bear with it for a while.