"I thought it would be a very, very long time before you arrived." Wilma led Sato through the dense forest, her movements agile, nothing like an elderly woman with white hair past her 60's.
When Sato heard her words, he didn't show it outwardly, but his heart suddenly tightened.
What did she mean? Did Wilma already know he would come to the Village of Dragons? But in his previous life, she had never hinted at it.
"Why?" Sato couldn't help but ask.
"Aren't you curious where your special ability came from?"
Rustle...
Sato suddenly grabbed a vine, forcing his running body to stop in place. The dead leaves beneath him scraped loudly against the ground.
"What special ability?" Sato asked with feigned surprise, though even he could tell his expression was obviously fake.
Wilma lightly stepped onto a large exposed tree root and stood firmly atop it. Then she turned to look back at Sato.
"Zoroark should have evolved already, right? How strong is it now? Should be barely at the Elite level?"
Wilma continued dropping bombs, clearly pleased with Sato's forced composure, amused, even.
"Wilma, if you have something to say, please just say it," Sato finally responded. He realized this "ancient" and mysterious woman clearly knew far more than he did.
And more importantly, those things were all related to him: Zoroark, the Dark Energy, Zweilous… he wouldn't give up on any of them.
"Send out Zoroark. Let me see how well you've raised it." For the first time, Wilma showed a gentle smile, and her clouded eyes seemed to be reminiscing.
"You know Zoroark?" Sato asked, though his tone suggested he was already certain.
Since arriving in the Unova Region, he hadn't sent Zoroark out in front of anyone. There was no way Wilma could've learned about it beforehand.
"Zoro~"
Zoroark let out a soft cry, confused as to why Sato had called it. But when it instinctively glanced at Wilma, its eyes froze.
Then, under Sato's stunned gaze, Wilma raised her right hand. From her palm, pitch-black energy slowly began to emerge… a pulse of energy that felt all too familiar.
"Dark Energy!"
"Is that what you call it? Not a bad name." Wilma retracted the "Dark Energy" and waved kindly at Zoroark.
"Zoroark..." Zoroark couldn't help but want to approach, but it turned back to look at Sato, clearly seeking his approval.
"You saw Zoroark when it was still an egg?" Sato nodded slightly. After Wilma released the Dark Energy, he could acutely sense the resonance between the two sources of Dark Energy.
Zoroark slowly walked over to Wilma and finally lowered its head, accepting her gentle touch.
"Yes... Hm?"
Suddenly, Wilma looked at Zoroark with shock, then glanced at Sato, and once again placed her hand on Zoroark. The Dark Energy surged, as if she was probing for something.
"Zoroark's energy seed hasn't disappeared. Then how did you obtain the Dark Energy?"
"Energy seed?" Sato frowned. He had no idea what Wilma was talking about.
"I always thought you inherited the 'Dark Energy' from the energy seed inside Zoroark. But now it seems… that's not the case?"
Wilma remained silent, deep in thought, as the Dark Energy churned in her palm.
Before long, a black seed the size of a fingernail suddenly appeared in her hand, and Zoroark abruptly dropped to one knee, panting heavily.
"Zoroark! What is the meaning of this?" Sato rushed to Zoroark's side, glaring coldly at Wilma. If he weren't certain he couldn't win in a fight, he would never have held back.
"You young people have no patience. Use your Dark Energy and sense Zoroark's condition carefully."
Sato didn't bother arguing. He activated his Dark Energy, slowly letting it flow into Zoroark's body.
"Its potential increased…" Sato murmured under his breath, his eyes filled with joy.
After being nurtured with blood over the past two years, Zoroark's talent had already grown significantly; it had fully surpassed the Elite Four level and was advancing toward Champion.
But the total growth over those two years couldn't even compare to the gain it had just experienced in this one moment!
Soon, an overwhelming wave of emotional feedback returned to Sato.
…Zoroark had just reached the lowest threshold of Champion level.
'Zoroark's potential had risen to Champion level?' Sato stared at the slightly weakened Zoroark in a daze, unable to say a word for a moment.
He hadn't even reached his ultimate goal yet, and Zoroark had already given him such a huge surprise.
A Pokémon with Champion-tier potential… how rare and precious was that? And now he owned one. Sato still found it hard to believe.
"This energy seed is both poison and treasure. If fed with enough Dark Energy, it can rapidly accelerate a Pokémon's potential growth. But if it's not nourished by Dark Energy, the energy seed will begin absorbing the Pokémon's own energy, making it difficult for the Pokémon to grow and eventually draining its potential.
Even more astonishing, if a human obtains an energy seed, they may gain the ability to use Dark Energy themselves." Wilma spoke in a continuous stream, and Sato gradually pieced everything together.
"So, Wilma, you originally believed I gained Dark Energy through the energy seed inside Zoroark. And when you realized that wasn't the case, you were shocked?"
"Yes. Then your Dark Energy…" Wilma nodded and couldn't help but ask about its origin again.
"I don't know where it came from."
Sato shook his head without hesitation. He couldn't explain it… because the Dark Energy in his body came from Zoroark in his past life.
"Very well," Wilma said, nodding blankly. Even with all her years of experience, she couldn't make sense of it for now.
"Then how does that relate to what you said at the beginning? And why did Zoroark end up drifting so far from the Unova Region, all the way to Kanto?"
"What I said at the beginning?"
"About 'how I arrived too early'."
"All I can tell you is that, throughout history, those who have gained the power of Dark Energy eventually come to have a Hydreigon as their partner.
And over ninety percent of all Hydreigon in the world are born in the Village of Dragons. One more thing: the Hydreigon species' primary type is Dark, and only secondarily Dragon."
Sato stood there stunned, unable to speak. He hadn't expected that his Dark Energy might have originated from an energy seed inside Zoroark.
Because of the Dark Energy, he had encountered Zweilous as if guided by fate… in both his past and present life.
As for whether or not to believe it… after experiencing reincarnation and meeting Mark, Sato could only feel reverence for what people call fate.
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Next extra chap = 175 PW