Pokémon, Ash is going to become a perfect man from now on.

They could all be considered Ash's relatives, but just how distantly related they are, only heaven knows.

As for carrying Pikachu with you... don't take it too seriously, it's just for the sake of getting attention.

These days, even Mingyao from "The Legend of the Alpaca" uses Pikachu as his main character!

"In short, the hero blocked the passage to the spirit world and set up an altar here to suppress and seal it," Youlin continued to explain. "After that, he left his companions behind to act as guards, so that no one would accidentally wander into the spirit world."

"The 'guardian' refers to the Night Demon, right?" Xiao Guang quickly realized.

In the previous summer school segment of 'Memory', it was the Night Demon who drove away the Ghost Girl in the end.

Based on the information provided by Youlin, the other party is very likely the hero's former partner, who was specially left behind to guard the altar!

"It is indeed the Night Demon; it has been guarding this place the whole time," Youlin nodded, then added with a hint of doubt, "Strange... Logically speaking, if you had gotten close, it should have jumped out to stop you already..."

"It must have been sealed away!" "Pikachu!"

Ash had by then figured out what had happened, and Pikachu, understanding the situation, unleashed a bolt of lightning that shattered the altar into pieces.

"Roar!!" As stone chips flew everywhere, a terrifying roar suddenly enveloped the entire mountaintop, and then a huge figure flew out of the altar and hovered in the air.

That was indeed the Night Demon, but it didn't resemble the hero's former companion at all. Instead, it had a single, blood-red eye and looked like it was consumed by resentment.

"Roar! Roar... Get out of here!!" It roared incoherently, but the occasional words it uttered were still meant to drive everyone away.

When enraged to the extreme, it will even swing its arms, blasting balls of ghost fire and shadow fists at the crowd.

"Night Demon, what's wrong with you?" While everyone was fending off the attacks, Youlin called out urgently, "Don't you recognize me? I was once sealed away by your master..."

"Roar!!" The Night Demon didn't give Youlin a chance to finish speaking and launched a violent shadow ball at her.

"Flaming Horse, breathe fire! Then charge!" Xiao Guang frowned and immediately signaled the Flaming Horse to breathe fire to block the attack. At the same time, he jumped onto the horse's back and rode the Flaming Horse to charge forward.

Knowing that she wanted to solve the problem herself, Ash stopped interfering and simply instructed his friends to be on high alert to prevent any unexpected situations from arising.

"Xiao Guang... okay!" Seeing this, You Lin also made a decision, taking the initiative to gather all the soul fire into the wedge stone that Xiao Guang carried with him, reverting to the appearance of the Flower Rock Monster.

With its assistance, Xiao Guang quickly approached the Night Demon after a brief probing and even found its weakness!

"Flaming Horse, use Leap after Big Explosion!" Seeing the Night Demon spew out ghost fire again, Xiao Guang immediately commanded Flaming Horse to unleash Big Explosion in response.

As flames exploded, the fiery horse nimbly leaped into the air and landed above the Night Demon!

"Youlin, use Shadow of the Night!"

The Night Demon instinctively looked up, but Little Light feinted and suddenly commanded the Flower Rock Monster below to attack.

A jet-black beam of light shot out from the flower plate, easily bypassing the Night Demon's formidable defense and severely injuring it!

As the delirious Night Demon turned downwards again, Hikari immediately launched a powerful attack.

"Greatsword Demon, gather your energy! Then... Secret Sword: Thousand Waves!"

Clang!

A cold, clear sword cry rang out in the night sky. The Greatsword Demon, wielding twin blades, instantly plunged into the battlefield, unleashing a blood-red sword net at the Night Demon below!

"Wow, that's amazing!" Ash's eyes lit up.

Although Xiao Guang has taken action much less often since he started working with me, he still has the skills, and when he does occasionally show them off, they are truly amazing.

Furthermore, Xiaozhi also knows that she inherited the memories of the previous 'Super Green Man'. If she can turn those experiences into strength, her future will be limitless!

It would at least make Xiao Mao feel a sense of crisis.

Also, the Greatsword Demon with the Emerald Green skin is really cool.

Compared to it, that scoundrel otter... never mind.

In short, Dawn definitely put a lot of effort into raising this one... At the same time, Ash also discovered that the Swordcraft doesn't seem to have the Torrent ability.

The damage from its combo attack was much greater than Ash had anticipated, and Nightmare was now powerless to resist.

Having vented its anger through the battle, its resentment had lessened considerably, though it was still not quite lucid.

Ash then sent out Gengar, which easily restored its consciousness.

"Ugh..." The Night Demon barely managed to sit up and shook its big head vigorously.

"Night Demon, are you feeling better?" Youlin asked immediately with concern.

"Granora... how did you get out of the seal? And who are they...?" Night Demon asked in confusion, looking at everyone with suspicion, and paused slightly when it saw Ash.

But it only happened once... It witnessed the passing of the former hero, and of course knew that Ash was not its original master, but at most a reincarnation.

Having guarded the passage to the spirit world for many years, the Night Demon was accustomed to life and death and all kinds of spirits. Even Xiao Zhi was not as attractive to it as Xiao Guang.

"Human girl, I've noticed you're collecting soulfire... Do you want to become the master of the Flower Rock Monster?" The Night Demon looked at Xiao Guang seriously. "Do you know what it has done in the past, and what kind of mission you will have to shoulder in the future?!"

"I... don't want to become Yulin's master, but to become her trainer and become her partner!" Xiaoguang replied earnestly. "I don't know what she did, and I don't want to know at all... She came to me on her own initiative, hoping that I would reseal her. I don't think she is an evil Pokémon!"

"From now on, I will fulfill my responsibilities as a trainer and properly restrain her behavior... As long as we are together, everything will be alright!"

"Is that so... It's good that you've come to your senses." The Night Demon seemed satisfied with Xiao Guang's answer and stopped pursuing the matter of the Flower Rock Monster escaping the seal.

"Nightmare, can you tell me what you know?" Ash asked, stepping forward. "Why were you sealed inside the altar?"

"It's the spirit realm...something strange has happened there!"

Chapter 1163 Final Preparations, Heading to the Spirit Realm!

The Night Demon didn't know much about the strange changes in the spirit world.

After all, it was just guarding the passageway outside, and it got caught in the attack without even realizing it.

"I don't know what happened, I just discovered that resentment from the spirit world was leaking out through the cracks in the seal... I tried to seal it, but I failed, and I don't know why I was sealed in the altar..."

“You sealed yourself away,” Ash said in a deep voice.

When Gengar helped it regain consciousness, it saw this part of the memory.

The Night Demon was originally able to fight against resentment, but it was manipulated by an unknown force, dug a hole and crawled into the altar... and even placed several tight seals on itself.

"Me... um, it seems so." The Night Demon clutched his head. "I only remember... having a really terrible nightmare..."

"Nightmare?" Xiao Guang was startled.

When this topic comes up, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely Darkrai!

“It should be Darkrai,” Ash nodded in agreement. “I’m even starting to think that the Cresselia that appeared in your dream was actually Darkrai in disguise!”

Nightmare God impersonating Dream God... Ash is all too familiar with this tactic.

The spirit world is being invaded by an inexplicable world, and in "Dark Space," the villain Darkrai, who orchestrated everything, is nothing more than a cunning little man who enjoys deceiving people in dreams.

“Night Demon, you know the situation now… We’re about to enter the Spirit Realm. If everything goes smoothly, we should at least be able to contain that anomaly,” Ash said seriously to Night Demon. “But this journey is extremely dangerous, and I need your assistance!”

"Please speak!" the Night Demon immediately replied, perking up.

In its eyes, Ash is the hero of this era, and it is willing to cooperate with Ash's actions unconditionally as long as it is to solve the problems of the spirit world.

"Take this." Ash handed Nightmare a special crystal, which contained a small red fragment that looked like a link in a chain.

"From now on, I need you to hide here and monitor the movements of the Spirit Realm from beginning to end!" Xiao Zhi ordered in a deep voice. "Once you detect any serious anomalies in the Spirit Realm, immediately crush this crystal and then blast open the Spirit Realm passage!"

"Blast open the passage? But..." The Night Demon was taken aback. Opening the gate to the spirit world on his own initiative was not something a hero would do.

"Just do as I say! Have you forgotten my identity as the Rainbow Hero? I specialize in dealing with spirit world issues!" Ash simply invoked the identity given to him by Ho-Oh as a guarantee. "In short, I will arrange reliable companions to assist you and ensure that the resentment of the spirit world will not affect Shizuku!"

"Well... alright." Since things had come to this point, the Night Demon had no choice but to agree.

It clearly doesn't yet know what kind of powerful beings Ash meant by his 'reliable companions'.

"Alright, I'm counting on you now! Be sure to keep a close eye on any unusual activity in the spirit world, and crush the crystal and open the passage as soon as possible!"

Ash repeatedly instructed Nightmare many times, making sure the other party remembered the procedure perfectly, before leading his friends away from the mountaintop ruins.

...

"I thought we were going to enter the spirit world from here," Xiao Guang asked, puzzled, as they descended the mountain.

"I can't explain right now, just trust me," Xiaozhi said apologetically and helplessly.

The Night Demon was actually a safety net left by Ash. In case Arceus really had some wicked intentions, he could at least help people escape from the Spirit World.

Since Xiaozhi knows nothing about the spirit world, let's assume the worst-case scenario.

Once they enter the spirit world, they may not be able to use the ring, nor will they be able to enter the dream world through the Light Stone!

Arceus is currently powerless, and the only scheme it can devise is to lock Ash and the others in the Spirit World.

Therefore, the role of the Night Demon is crucial!

Ash gave it a Red Chain Fragment and used the Reverse Super-Strike Power to create a crystal that encased it, so that neither Palkia nor Arceus would likely be able to sense the existence of that fragment.

Once the Night Demon crushes the crystal and violently opens the existing Spirit Realm passage, Ash will be able to immediately sense the location of the red chain fragment no matter where he is in the Spirit Realm, thus giving him a chance to escape!

"Here, you guys take these too. They'll help us locate each other in the spirit world and prevent us from getting separated." Ash took out another handful of red chain fragments and distributed them to Dawn, Shellder, and all his friends.

He had no intention of acting alone; Arceus, in order to restrain him, would certainly negotiate for him to bring all his companions with him.

Ash is the same as Palkia; regardless of whether Arceus comes in person, Palkia and the three lake gods must go to the spirit world together!

In short... if you dare to mess with my people, I'll mess with yours!

"Everyone, get some rest tonight. We'll set off for Unova tomorrow!"