The surrounding streets and trees disappeared, replaced by an endless, pure white dreamscape.
These mists isolated everything, leaving only a passage connecting to a quaint and elegant courtyard.
Clearly, the person who invited Bai Luo was there, waiting for them.
"Boss!"
"Master!"
Delta, Koyo, Yugiri, and Nekomusume appeared around Bai Luo simultaneously.
Even Okidogi, due to this bizarre phenomenon, summoned its verdant thorny stick, ready to attack at any moment to protect its trainer.
"This mist is very strange!"
Yugiri was the first to speak. As someone who also possessed the ability to control mist, she knew exactly what was happening.
Some being had dragged everyone into this independent space.
"You all go back for now."
Bai Luo stopped the girls, while also reassuring Okidogi and Charmander, signaling them not to be nervous.
"I didn't expect to be discovered so quickly. I thought I could hide it for a little longer."
Bai Luo sensed the power of time and space within this mist.
If nothing unexpected happened, the moment he stepped into this illusion, not only Kitakami, but the entire Pokémon world's time had stopped.
Note that the Pokémon world here isn't just the timeline where Cynthia is.
But the entire Pokémon multiverse was frozen because of Bai Luo alone.
"That's certainly unexpected."
"I didn't think there would be such a powerful human like you outside of this world."
"Well, I suppose you can be considered human?"
"At least in terms of your heart, you still maintain a human's inner self."
The voice sounded like it belonged to a very gentle woman in her twenties.
But when Bai Luo stepped into the courtyard and saw the owner of the voice, the person's appearance surprised him slightly.
"Volo?"
Appearing before Bai Luo was a woman with silver, medium-length hair, wearing a women's noble hat, and an elegant and mysterious black dress.
The other party's appearance was almost identical to that of the incredibly mysterious Volo from the game Bai Luo had once played, *Legends: Arceus*.
"Ara~~"
Volo sized up Bai Luo with great interest, a faint smile on her face, as she asked curiously, "You seem to know me very well."
"You're not her."
However, Bai Luo's next sentence made Volo's smile even more obvious.
"...Arceus?"
The woman before him could be said to be Volo, but also not.
When Bai Luo was playing the game, he had speculated about Volo's identity, believing that there was a high possibility that she was a fragment of Arceus.
Now, encountering Volo made Bai Luo completely certain of his guess.
"Yes, and no!"
"To be precise, I am merely one of the main body's divided selves."
Arceus has no gender. It has many divided selves, such as that alpaca that was almost killed by a meteorite, and the Volo that Bai Luo was meeting.
Every time a world is created, Arceus leaves behind a divided self to protect and manage that world on its behalf.
And to differentiate between the two, Arceus's main body is called the Original One throughout the entire Pokémon multiverse.
As for Volo, she is more like a certain individual of the Arceus species.
They are born from the Original One, just like children born from the Great God.
Of course, there are also differences between Arceus.
Among them are those who are so embarrassing that they are almost killed by asteroids, and those like Volo, who can make Bai Luo's eyes light up.
In Bai Luo's perception, the Volo before him had a strength of around the mid-six figures.
This level, while not comparable to the real Original One.
Is truly a whole universe stronger than a certain embarrassing alpaca.
In addition, Bai Luo did not underestimate Volo because her strength was inferior to his.
Volo was here to welcome Bai Luo, which was obviously the result of the Original One's behind-the-scenes instructions.
Being invited by a four-digit powerhouse, unless Bai Luo immediately withdrew from the Pokémon world and did not enter it again until he had grown strong enough to defeat the Original One.
Otherwise, having an open and honest conversation with the other party was the best choice.
"So, Miss Divided Self of the Original One."
Bai Luo sat down opposite Volo and asked, "Is there something you need me for?"
Neither humble nor arrogant, not looking down on the other party because of the Original One's powerful four-digit strength.
This surprised Volo, and also made her more and more interested in Bai Luo.
"We have no malice."
"I just..."
A faint light flickered in Volo's eyes. Through it, Bai Luo seemed to see that noble, sacred, and majestic figure: "Want to be friends with you."
Chapter 119 The Original One Wants to Join the Group (Seeking Subscriptions)
"Make friends?"
Volo's words were somewhat beyond Bai Luo's expectations: "Is this your intention, or the Great God's intention?"
"Both."
Volo said, "First of all, it's me. I am very interested in you, and the Great God is the same."
"..."
Bai Luo knew that the Original One was looking at him through Volo's eyes.
It did not appear, but its will was here.
So in a disguised way, every word of Volo can be regarded as the meaning of the Original One.
"Why?"
Bai Luo: "You should already know my origin, right?"
"We do."
Volo: "An outsider, from other worlds that we did not create."
Before Bai Luo appeared, Volo, or rather the Original One.
They always thought that all the worlds were created by them.
And in this world, there is only the Original One, the one and only true god.
The Pokémon multiverse is very vast, and it also has urban worlds similar to the one Bai Luo transmigrated from.
There, Pokémon are fictional products, with only related games, anime, and manga, and no real Pokémon exist.
Volo even knows that Nintendo and Switch exist.
But now, the facts are in front of them.
There is an existence completely detached from the Original One's cognition, descending from outside the world.
"Aren't you worried then?"
Bai Luo: "Although you are very strong, you shouldn't be able to exert your full strength in this world, right?"
The Original One's situation is very similar to the Magic Gods in *A Certain Magical Index*.
The only difference is that the Original One is four-digit, but can only exert five-digit strength.
And the Magic Gods' main bodies are five-digit, but can only shape avatars that reach six-digit at most.
There's no way around it, the Original One's main body is above the entire multiverse.
Its size is too large.
Once it descends, the damage to the main Pokémon universe would be too great.
A careless move could directly crush the main universe.
Not to mention a battle breaking out with Bai Luo.
The clash of two five-digit powerhouses would be enough to completely destroy the main universe.
Even the surrounding parallel universes would experience a large number of collapses.
"I don't like or excel at fighting."
Volo shook her head, expressing her attitude to Bai Luo: "Besides, you don't have any malice towards our world, do you?"
"Yeah."
Bai Luo picked up the black tea in front of him and took a sip: "I come from a world without Pokémon, but with related media."
"To be honest, I really like Pokémon, and I think they are very cute."
As he spoke, Bai Luo stroked the Vulpix that had jumped into his arms at some point.
Okidogi also nodded vigorously, indicating that Bai Luo was a good person.
"I can see that."
Volo: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to you, would I?"
Volo had actually been observing Bai Luo all along, and had noticed him since he came to Kitakami.
Don't ask her how she discovered Bai Luo.
It is true that the Chat Group's smuggling methods are amazing, and even the Original One failed to detect it.
But as long as Bai Luo was active in the Pokémon world, Volo, as the manager of the main universe, would sooner or later discover the clues and find Bai Luo along the way.
Like this time, Bai Luo appeared in Kitakami, not only taking Okidogi away, but also placing some kind of curse on Pecharunt.
Such a big commotion obviously exceeded the trajectory of the future that Volo had captured.
Volo does not formulate any inevitable fate.
But predicting some possible future trajectories in advance does not affect anything.
"No matter which timeline, you are not there, and no one has taken Okidogi away from Kitakami at this time."
Volo gave Okidogi an apologetic look, but Okidogi did not have the slightest bit of blame.
There are so many things in the world, and Volo, as an observer, should not arbitrarily interfere because of her preferences.
Otherwise, wouldn't the whole world be in chaos.
"Is this where I slipped up?"
After listening to Volo's explanation, Bai Luo understood where the problem was.
But Bai Luo did not regret it.
Even if he did it again, Bai Luo would still risk attracting the Original One to help Okidogi escape from the sea of suffering in advance.
"It seems that you really like this child."
Volo saw Bai Luo's love for Okidogi, and she showed a gentle smile: "In that case, we can rest assured."
"The Great God doesn't plan to expel me?"
Bai Luo did not expect that the Original One would be so generous and willing to accept him, an outsider.
