Chapter 90
: An earthquake? It turns out the Rock Pillar God has awakened.
"Dununu dununu pa!"
Get it!
A Dream Eater gestured twice beside Joggs, indicating that everything was going according to plan.
"Well done, Baku! Now all we have to do is wait for the Pokémon to awaken the Rock Regiment, and then..."
Joggs stood on a mountaintop.
He paused for a moment as he spoke, then turned his gaze to Xia Ming, who was tending to his crops in the fields in the distance.
"So, will the Stone Pillar God acknowledge you, Xia Ming?"
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Xia Ming had no idea what had happened in the valley, because Jun Shalan and the others had taken a different route into the back mountain of his farm, which came from the edge of the town.
He was unaware that Officer Jenny's negotiations with Gallade had been sabotaged by a malicious individual.
He noticed that the back hill of the farm was unusually quiet today, and even the chirping of the Bobos was much less frequent.
Something unusual must be going on, but Xia Ming didn't pay much attention to it. Unless some evil organization brought a first-level god to attack, it would be difficult for him to be affected even if something went wrong in the whole valley.
Before he is affected, Miss Skirt, who has always been a member of the Pokémon community in the mountains, will come to inform him in advance.
If some evil organization suddenly attacks with a first-level god, there's no way to escape; we might as well just give it to them.
So Xia Ming continued doing what he was supposed to do for the next few days.
In the morning, he tends to the crops; in the afternoon, he helps Sophia with chores and then trains alongside Young Gilas; in the evening, he tells Sophia stories to lull her to sleep as usual.
Hmm, now we should also add Ralts.
The little guy is so small that he can lie down and sleep between the two of them. Ever since he started listening to Xia Ming tell stories, he has refused to leave and automatically reappears between him and Sophia every night.
And so, peaceful life continued until a week later.
Early in the morning, just as the sunlight streamed through the window and covered Ralts' head, which was nestled between Xia Ming and Sophia's chests, a roar woke the two who were still fast asleep.
Rumble~ Rumble~
Rumble~ Rumble~
The sounds came in waves, the violent noise rising from the depths of one's heart and spreading throughout the body. It was clearly not an earthquake, but it gave one the feeling of a super earthquake.
"What's going on!?"
Startled awake, Xia Ming opened his eyes wide and instinctively took out his phone, only to realize it was just five in the morning.
Looking around, nothing in the room shook because of the "earthquake," but the tremor that rose from within continued to reverberate, calling out, and warning.
Rumble~ Rumble~
"Xia Ming, what happened?"
Sophia also woke up. Her clothes were a little disheveled. She instinctively hugged Ralts to protect him, then nestled next to Xia Ming and looked up at him.
But Xia Ming didn't know what had happened either.
Where does this strange vibration come from?
Rumble~ Rumble~
The vibrations grew louder and closer, as if some great being was awakening, announcing its arrival to the world.
"Since things have come to this, let's get dressed and get up. Miss Skirt might know something."
Since we don't even know where the source is, what else can we do? Let's get dressed first, and then go ask Miss Skirt; maybe she knows something.
Perhaps this is just a once-in-a-century, low-probability event?
Xia Ming sincerely hoped that was the case. He didn't want his life, which was just starting to improve, to be disrupted. He was a winner in life, destined to have a wife, children, and a warm bed in two years.
Sophia did not object to Xia Ming's decision.
Both of them are capable and efficient, so getting dressed is a piece of cake for them.
Soon, Xia Ming walked out of the room with one person and one Pokémon. As soon as he opened the door, he found a group of Pokémon gathered at the door.
"Yuichi Yuichi~?"
Xia Ming, Xia Ming, what happened? Why do I feel uneasy?
Leading the group was Young Gilas, who looked at Xia Ming with a puzzled expression and a face full of annoyance.
The vibration brought him intense unease and agitation, as if something was suppressing his existence from the root, causing him to feel a sense of "surrender" and "obedience" from the bottom of his heart.
But no!
He will not obey anyone other than Xia Ming, not even if he is forced to!
So he resisted, but the more he resisted, the more fiercely the vibration suppressed him, to the point that all the rock-attribute power in his body was no longer under his control.
This made him very uncomfortable!
Like Larvitar, Rockruff is another example. Other Pokémon simply instinctively sense that "something is wrong" and want to seek help from their leader.
"It's alright, Larjura, and everyone else, let's go outside and see what's going on."
Xia Ming first squatted down to comfort his Pokémon, and Sophia did the same, reaching out to scoop up Rockruff and hug it together with Ralts.
Soon, they came out of the house with a large number of Pokémon.
Outside the house, many Pokémon from the farm were already waiting. Standing in front of them were Miss Skirt and a Gardevoir that Xia Ming recognized.
It's the Gardevoir that he talked to last time.
"We meet again, Xia Ming."
"Gardevoir? Do you know what happened?"
Xia Ming had some doubts, but he already had a vague guess in his heart that Gardevoir's appearance seemed to be just to inform him.
Gardevoir's next words directly confirmed Xia Ming's suspicions:
"Please don't worry, this is just a sign that the Stone Pillar God is about to awaken, nothing will happen."
"You've awakened the Stone Pillar God! Hasn't the Alliance chosen to reconcile with you?"
Xia Ming was shocked, not by the awakening of the Rock Pillar God, but by the Alliance's choice!
Logically speaking, Pokémon shouldn't make excessive demands, but even so, is the League still choosing to stand up to Pokémon head-on?
"That's not the case."
Gardevoir shook her head, denying Xia Ming's answer:
"It's because humans can't control each other. They're willing to make compensation and explanations for this, but we can't trust them."
"So you awakened the Stone Pillar God? What will He do?"
Xia Ming didn't understand what it meant to say "humans cannot control humans." But now he was more interested in figuring out what the Rock Pillar God would do after awakening.
This time, it wasn't Gardevoir who answered Xia Ming, but Miss Skirt:
"Doli, doli doli~"
Please don't worry about Xia Ming. Everyone in Stardew Valley will be fine. He's just going to punish the bad guys and, incidentally, warn humans to restrain themselves. That's all.
Miss Skirt spoke very casually.
Xia Ming didn't think so; he just looked at the Stardew Valley mountains with a slight tremor in his heart.
At that moment, the Stone Pillar God was completely awakened from his slumber!