"What the hell... What's with this mysterious fog?" Terrance muttered as he walked out of the room with his mouth covered.
"Where are they?" The Rancher also emerged at that moment.
As soon as he spoke, they heard a heart-rending and chilling cry resembling a person's wailing.
"Ah..." Rancher exclaimed in shock.
"Uncle, calm down. I know which Pokémon it is," Terrance was mentally prepared for this, though he too felt a sudden jolt, he recovered quickly.
"Non….Nonsense! Am I someone who'd be scared by a cry? There's something grabbing my hair from behind!!! And it's still pulling!!!" Uncle couldn't hide his distress.
"I... I can't touch anything," the Uncle was on the verge of tears.
"Girafarig, where's Girafarig..." Terrance's vision was completely obscured by the fog, and he couldn't see anything clearly.
"Grrrr..."
"Stop shouting... I can't find you either. Quickly, find a solution and catch Misdreavus!" Terrance shouted.
"Beautifly, Swablu, come out and help. Uncle, Misdreavus might be right behind you, don't worry, it's just one of its mischievous tricks!"
"Hurry up..." Rancher urged.
"Grrrr..."
Next, a long-necked, deer-like Pokémon ran over. From the dim light of the room, Terrance could faintly recognize the Pokémon; it was indeed Girafarig.
"Don't point your tail at me," Terrance sighed. "Quickly use Odor Sleuth to find Misdreavus."
Odor Sleuth was Girafarig's specialty move, capable of pinpointing the location of Ghost-type Pokémon that were hiding.
The thing that will use the "Odor Sleuth" move would be the grinning black head on Girafarig's tail. When approached, it will immediately react to the scent and instinctively attempt to bite it.
Receiving Terrance's command, Girafarig immediately ran toward the Rancher and sniffed his backside.
"Grrrr..."
Found it!
Rancher breathed a sigh of relief. After Girafarig approached, it kicked out with its hind legs…..and the sensation of his hair being tugged disappeared instantly.
"Where's the Misdreavus?!" Terrance reacted.
It seemed Girafarig had done quite well.
Not only had they successfully found the Misdreavus, but Girafarig had also used its move to drive it away.
"There it is," the Rancher exclaimed, pointing.
On the eaves of the house, a dark green Pokémon with a string of conspicuous red bead around its neck was looking at them in panic.
"Swablu, use Astonish!" Terrance quickly commanded.
Using Astonish to deal with Misdreavus, known for frightening people, was a clever move on Terrance's part. Astonish was also a Ghost-type move, and it might take Misdreavus by surprise.
And the result... a piercing scream erupted out from Swablu's beak, causing Misdreavus to immediately turn and flee into the distance.
"It... It ran away," the Rancher was dumbfounded.
"If it ran away, it probably won't come back. You can relax now, Uncle," Terrance said. That Misdreavus earlier didn't seem to be scared at all. Perhaps Swablu's "Astonish" doesn't have much intimidation power.
"The fog is dispersing. I need to check on Mareeps... I thought I heard their cry earlier."
Click!
They hurried over, opened the fence, and Rancher and Terrance didn't even get a chance to examine the Mareep closely before the scene in front of them left them stunned.
Whoosh...
Countless flashes of white light enveloped them.
"This light is..." Terrance looked at the scene before him with an incredulous expression. It was no different from what they had seen before. Mareeps were still running around in a frenzy, continuously ramming into things, and occasionally releasing random Thunder Shocks. However, when Terrance and the others arrived, one of the Mareep began to emit a bright white light from its entire body...
Next, two, three, five... until all of them were shining.
All the Mareep were emitting a white light. This light, Terrance recognized very well—it was the glow that Pokémon emitted when they evolved.
"They...why are they all evolving into Flaaffy..." Rancher exclaimed, his mouth wide open in astonishment.
"But... that's great! Flaaffy's fur is even rarer than Mareep. It seems like Misdreavus did something good!" He continued, his surprise turning into delight.
However, before his joyful mood could last more than a few seconds, his mouth opened wide once again.
All the Flaaffy once again emitted white light, evolving in unison into bare Ampharos!
"Gaaah..." Rancher was left speechless.
Even Terrance, while wearing a frown, couldn't help but be dumbfounded.
"Ampharossss..."
"Ampharossss..."
Ampharos, the Light Pokémon, with its tail light that could shine far and wide, had made significant contributions in the field of railways, earning the affection of many. But when their tails were charging with fierce lightning, ready to unleash a Thunderbolt, Rancher and Terrance found it hard to appreciate their tails.
"It seems like they're looking at us angrily," Rancher said, "and they're adopting an attack stance..."
As they looked at dozens of Ampharos gathering lightning, glaring fiercely at them, Rancher shivered all over.
…
"Uncle..."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you find anything strange from the beginning?" Terrance asked. "My Beautifly and Swablu seemed a bit sluggish."
"Really?"
"And I remember Mr. Kamigata staying here too. We were so focused on Misdreavus that we didn't notice... But it's been quite a while, and there was Swablu's loud scream. Why haven't Mr. Kamigata appeared yet?...."
Upon hearing Terrance's words, Rancher's expression also froze.
It seemed to be really the case.
Mr. Kamigata lives the furthest inside. Even if Mareeps commotion didn't wake him up, Swablu's scream was certainly loud enough. It was impossible that he was still sleeping.
Moreover, all the Mareep evolving into Ampharos together simply didn't make sense!
"It's an illusion!" Terrance said decisively.
"It's an illusion created by Misdreavus. We've been in an illusion from the very beginning. Misdreavus... never actually ran away!"
An illusion!
Once they calmed down and thought about it, the inconsistencies and irrationalities all pointed to them not being in the real world right now.
"We've been completely fooled," Terrance said, looking at the incoming Thunderbolts without batting an eye. Since they knew it was an illusion, they knew what to do.
To break the illusion, all they needed was strong enough willpower.
"Uncle, keep repeating in your mind: these are all illusions, and you will snap out of it," Terrance shouted.
...
Dizziness, heaviness, darkness...
Terrance's hand touched the cold ground and he quickly got up and realized that he was still lying outside the room.
"It was indeed an illusion... This Misdreavus is quite interesting," Terrance muttered, patting the Poké Ball that hadn't been used at all, piquing his interest.
At this moment, the uncle also groggily woke up. He was still in a shutdown mode. Given his knowledge of Ghost-type Pokémon, these experiences would be enough to digest for a while.
Chapter 74 Breaking the Illusion
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