Pokémon: Join Team Rocket at the Beginning

Chapter 834 Fusion

The stone slab fragments hovered above the Temple of Origin, like a miniature, static galaxy. They emitted a hazy glow, their light pulsating slightly, as if resonating, as if calling out to each other. Then, all the fragments—regardless of size or nature—began to converge on the massive, ancient vault above the temple's main entrance.

It's not a simple stacking, but a kind of... fusion.

Just as Yang Ming had predicted, the smaller "fragments"—jade—also joined the fusion process. Gradually, the fragments of the same kind began to attract each other, seemingly about to merge into one.

The two magical stone tablets that Yang Ming had previously obtained from the random ruins were also among them. They turned into two relatively large fragments and began to attract other fragments, seemingly to merge into one stone tablet.

A truly magical stone slab.

“I didn’t expect someone from out of town like you to know so much,” Cattleya said, arms crossed. “Even I, a native of Sinnoh, didn’t know so many secrets.”

Yang Ming rolled his eyes at her: "Heh, that's just because you didn't study hard. Before entering Tianguan Mountain, I studied a lot of documents related to the sky and stone slabs in Shenhe Town."

"Who wants to study such boring stuff!" Gadrilia pouted. "Among my friends, only Cynthia is interested in archaeology. Why don't you and her become a couple?"

"...If you make that kind of joke again, I'm going to break off our friendship."

While Yang Ming was arguing with Cattleya, his eyes were fixed on the stone slab fragments hovering around the Temple of Origin, because so far, these stone slab fragments only had 17 colors.

But the last stone slab—the Clear Sky Slab—never appeared.

"Does the Clear Sky Slab really not exist in this world?" Yang Ming muttered to himself.

As the stone slab fragments continued to merge, the halos gradually coalesced, outlining a breathtaking silhouette above the temple. Yang Ming could even see tiny, jade-like rays of light flowing into it like fireflies, filling the minute gaps between the stone slabs.

Finally, when all the fragments were fully integrated, seventeen complete stone slabs floated silently above the temple. Each of them radiated primordial and pure energy fluctuations, and seventeen colors intertwined, like a magnificent constellation suspended in the sky. The ancient patterns on the stone slabs were clearly visible, traces of laws engraved at the beginning of creation.

"Is this the complete stone slab?" Chi Ri's eyes burned as he stared intently at the seventeen stone slabs.

“It seems Yang Ming’s guess was correct. Arceus’s power has long been scattered throughout Sinnoh, and it has only returned to the Temple of Beginnings today.” Cynthia’s eyes flickered as she secretly sized up Yang Ming. She had thought that the helper that Gadria had invited was just a trainer with considerable strength, but she did not expect that he was also quite knowledgeable about Sinnoh legends. This made the young female champion look at him with even more respect.

"I don't know why, but I always feel like there's some kind of connection between him and me, even though I never had this feeling before..."

Further away, Apollo was directing his men to meticulously record the process of the stone tablets merging.

“We’re only here to hunt down traitors, and the manpower we brought is probably not enough to compete for all the stone tablets,” Apollo thought to himself. “However, just recording the process and data of the stone tablet fusion is already of great significance. Next, we just need to send the relevant records back to headquarters, and the rest is up to the leader to decide.”

Just then, something unexpected happened!

The camera that was recording the merging of the stone slabs suddenly exploded. As Apollo watched the camera billowing thick smoke, his expression instantly became uncertain.

"How is this possible? This is a specially made device from the organization, made from a 'meteorite' from Mossdeep City in the Hoenn region. Even a full-power attack from a Champion-level Pokémon couldn't destroy it. Why would it suddenly explode!?"

As Giovanni's right-hand man, Apollo brought with him the organization's most advanced and custom-made equipment. The camera's casing incorporated trace amounts of a special alloy extracted from a "meteorite," which was rumored to be related to a mysterious Pokémon from outer space. It was discovered by Devon Corporation during a rocket launch mission in the Hoenn region and subsequently fell into the hands of the Hoenn conglomerate, Devon Corporation.

Team Rocket, despite its strength, cannot snatch the meteorite from Devon Corporation. After all, Devon Corporation's eldest son is Steven Stone, the strongest fighter in the Hoenn region. Even with Team Rocket's abundance of powerful fighters, aside from their leader Giovanni, no one else in the team has a chance of defeating him.

Therefore, in order to obtain a small number of meteorites, Team Rocket secretly made some deals with Devon Corporation. Two years ago, Steven was able to break into Team Aqua headquarters, severely injure Archie, and eliminate most of the Team Aqua members, which was also due to the assistance of Team Rocket.

But now, the specially made camera made from meteorite fragments has inexplicably exploded. How could he not be surprised and angry?

Faced with this sudden turn of events, Apollo quickly suppressed his shock and coldly ordered, "Everyone, immediately enter combat readiness! Check the surrounding environment, prioritizing the possibility of enemy attack!"

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the seventeen stone slabs above the Temple of Origin suddenly shone brightly! The originally stable energy field began to fluctuate violently, and beams of light of various colors shot out from the stone slabs, not attacking any part of the ground, but shooting towards the center of the vault above the main entrance of the temple.

There, a visible, twisting vortex is slowly taking shape.

The center of the vortex wasn't pitch black; instead, it possessed an indescribable sense of emptiness, as if something should have existed there but had been forcibly erased. The seventeen beams of light that entered the vortex were swallowed up without causing even the slightest ripple.

Yang Ming's pupils contracted sharply: "That's... a spatial rift? No, something doesn't feel right..."

"What's wrong?" Cattleya asked with concern.

"It's nothing... I just feel a little uncomfortable..." Yang Ming covered his head, feeling a splitting headache. This wasn't the first time he had experienced this headache; he had encountered the same situation before when he was studying the stone slab in Shenhe Town.

Even earlier, when Yang Ming first entered the Reversal World, he also experienced the same headache in the Divine Capital Ruins.

That time, he was in so much pain that he almost lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he had lost part of his memory.

"The same feeling... Could it be?!"

A thought flashed through Yang Ming's mind.

Gadriya, who was standing nearby, wanted to use her superpowers to heal him, but Yang Ming stopped her with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about me," Yang Ming said, his face pale and large beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. "Keep your eyes on the stone slab, keep your eyes on the Temple of Origin!"

"If I'm not mistaken, we are about to witness an unforgettable sight."