Pokemon: The Gameboy Effect-Chapter 525: Goodbye Zapdos

Chapter 525: Goodbye Zapdos
Although strange things kept appearing along the way, like milk bottles, fat chickens, and empty Pokeballs, John and Saul still managed to pass through several floating islands within the space rift without any danger, eventually reaching the sanctuary Saul had mentioned.
It was an empty, broken ruin.
Ancient texts and strange murals covered the crumbling walls. John recognized the patterns from Saul’s old research notes before coming here. When arranged in the right order, they revealed what seemed to be a
sacrificial ritual
, an ancient ceremony of humans worshiping Palkia.
"The last time I came here was decades ago," Saul said, looking around with a sigh. "But because of how space works here, nothing’s changed in all these years."
He turned to John. "The rest is up to you."
John nodded. Saul had already dug out everything he could from this place. If John didn’t surpass him in skill, the results would probably be the same.
"Gardevoir, Mega Evolve."
John raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Gardevoir clasped her hands over her chest. Her form changed, draped like a bride in a glowing dress, as waves of psychic energy surged higher and higher.
John wasn’t idle either. He slipped on the
Aura Gloves
he’d taken from the Tree of Beginning, fully activating their power to assist Mega Gardevoir.
A deep
Psychic
spread out around them, exploring the surroundings with invisible waves.
They weren’t aiming at anything specific, just trying their luck.
To help, John took out his
Dowsing Machine
.
Almost immediately, both the detector and Mega Gardevoir locked onto the same point, the center of the island.
"Huh?" John’s eyebrows rose as the device vibrated wildly in his hand. The signal was unbelievably strong, almost like it had found a massive gem.
"Did we actually find a large Lustrous Orb?" John’s eyes lit up. "Gardevoir, teleport us there, now!"
In an instant, Mega Gardevoir waved its hand and teleported John and Saul straight to the island’s center.
At the heart of the ruins, where the ancients once worshiped Palkia, John’s treasure detector pointed into the air, but nothing was visible.
Then, Mega Gardevoir used its spatial power to tear open a shimmering crack.
A whole new world appeared before them.
"The Floating Island already exists inside a space crack... and there’s another layer hidden
inside
that?" Saul was stunned.
It was clear now, John’s Gardevoir far outclassed his Gengar in space manipulation. He’d been here for over a year with Gengar and never noticed there was another dimension nested inside this one.
Like a cosmic nesting doll,
he thought.
John couldn’t wait any longer. He stepped through the glowing portal.
The light flashed, and the world shifted.
John and Mega Gardevoir, along with Saul and Gengar, appeared in a vast open field.
Unlike the dark Floating Island they’d just left, this place was bright as day, though the light didn’t come from the sun.
Looking ahead, John saw tall towers, each topped with a massive bulb glowing gold, flooding the land with artificial light.
Something about them felt familiar.
"I swear I’ve seen those before..." he murmured.
Mega Gardevoir had already figured it out and sent an image directly into John’s mind.
"A space crack?" John muttered, narrowing his eyes.
The towers here were identical to the machines Zapdos used to drain energy from Electric-type Pokemon in that dimension. John had even moved one of those devices to his lab later on.
"Don’t tell me... this is another Zapdos lair."
The last time Zapdos escaped him, it was thanks to its mastery over spatial travel. There was no telling what kind of trouble it had stirred up in other dimensions since then.
"Gardevoir, full area scan."
A moment later, images formed in John’s mind.
Unlike before, this place wasn’t crawling with Electric Pokemon enslaved by Zapdos. There was only one Pokemon here.
Right in the center of eighteen glowing towers, Zapdos lay sprawled out, sleeping peacefully as it absorbed the golden energy flowing into its body, completely unaware of John’s arrival.
"It’s really him," John said with a grin.
Back then, there had been just one tower, and Zapdos had forced thousands of Electric-types to power it. Now there were eighteen. Did that mean it had enslaved millions?
Mega Gardevoir teleported them straight to its location.
The instant they landed, Zapdos’s eyes snapped open.
When it saw John, pure terror flashed across its face.
’Not again!’
It was the same human who had destroyed everything last time! Why was he here? How did he appear so suddenly without being noticed? Zapdos could sense it, the human’s control over space had completely surpassed its own.
But this time, there was no escape.
With the
Lustrous Orb
amplifying her power, Mega Gardevoir sealed every inch of space around them.
Zapdos tried to tear open a rift, but its head smacked into solid ground instead, it couldn’t even lift off, much less flee into another dimension.
"This time," John said coldly, "you’re not running anywhere."
Before Zapdos could react, a massive psychic fist came crashing down from above, slamming it into the dirt of its own lair.
"Come on," John said, cracking his knuckles. "Let’s see how much you’ve grown since last time."
"Zaaah!" Zapdos screeched, feathers sparking wildly as it rose, fury in its eyes.
If it couldn’t run, it would fight to the death.
Lightning exploded across the sky as Zapdos spread its wings and lunged forward,
Dual Wingbeat
roaring like a supercar engine.