Chapter 552: Who Is the Villain?

「Wooo~！」

「Hah-sss！」

The many Pokémon scattered in panic, but they were no match for the speed at which the black mist spread.

In no time at all.

Beneath the arch-like giant tree, a vast stretch of flat ground near the lakeside was swallowed by darkness; the Pokémon cries of panic rose one after another, and the boom-boom of the ground splitting kept sounding without pause.

Serena, Princess Jimeiya, Lillie, and Magearna and the others had gathered, but instead of boarding the airship as All Baimu had instructed, they were searching for the scattered Pokémon.

Within the black mist.

Aggron suddenly seized a flat mechanical tentacle that had poked out from underground, and just as it was about to exert force and tear it apart, a wave of numbing energy pulsed through it from above!

「Gugou！」

Its expression changed; it flung the thing aside as if shocked, and at the same time loudly called for its companions and the other Pokémon to evade this thing. 「Gugou！」

The trainer had just told it to protect the Pokémon nearby; had it not been for that, it might have long since dug its way underground to rejoin Hydreigon and the others.

「Happy? 」

The Blissey about to make a move immediately tried to use its psychic power to control them upon hearing this, but discovered that this thing's strength was far fiercer than it had imagined—its psychic power could barely get a grip on it.

It glanced at the young Pokémon gathered around it, steeled itself, and chose to blast these things away rather than control them. 「Happy！」

Run far away!

Blissey directed the group of Pokémon, anxiously looking this way and that for any sign of Porygon2.

The trainer had once told them that much of human technology was something Pokémon were helpless against; even legendary Pokémon were powerless before human technology.

But Porygon2, which was also human technology, was the bane of much of that same human technology.

Where was it?

A little farther away.

A shiny Milotic was just about to lead a portion of the Pokémon into the lake when it suddenly heard muffled explosions and a familiar roar from the distance.

It hurried over, only to find Hydreigon lying on its back, biting down on a broken mechanical tentacle, twitching uncontrollably.

「Milo! ？」

Wasn't it said that one mustn't engage this thing?

The shiny Milotic was utterly shocked, but it didn't dare linger; it scooped Hydreigon up with its tail and turned to flee.

Without a trainer's command, the first priority was to stay away from danger.

On the Pokémon side, it was total chaos.

The situation on the human side was equally unclear.

「Lillie! Serena! Where are you！」

Clemont called out loudly, and after wandering about he barely managed to find the others near the tree roots.

「Onii-chan！」

Lillie, with Dedenne on her head, quickly hugged her brother and pointed, slightly flustered, at a spot not far away.

「Quick, think of something！」

Despite Aggron and the other Pokémon rushing back and forth to help, a few scattered Pokémon were still seized by the centipede-like mechanical tentacles.

Among them were Pokémon belonging to Ash and the others.

Serena clenched her fists and immediately gave orders to the Pokémon that had dodged clear. 「Braixen! Talonflame！」

「Luxray! Greninja! You too, go！」

Clemont issued his own orders in turn.

The four Pokémon fired a volley of ranged moves at those strange machines; amid the boom-boom of explosions a little smoke rose, but it seemed to trigger something, causing the crimson glow inside to flare brightly.

The Pokémon trapped within let out cries of pain.

「Woo—

」

How could this be!

The group couldn't help panicking at the sight.

Aggron's gaze darkened; it exchanged a look with Blissey beside it. If attacking wouldn't work… could they dig them out?

Could the main body of this thing be underground?

At this moment.

「Where are you！」

Ash, shouting as he ran, arrived from the distance together with Volcanion; Serena, who had been at a loss moments ago, immediately showed a relieved expression as if she'd found her backbone, and hurriedly waved him over.

「Ash！」

「Bagoo！」

A muffled, low bellow rang out from another direction; a Camerupt leapt out from behind the great tree, and the two craters on its back suddenly erupted with terrifying flames and a shockwave!

Boom—!

In an instant, a gale swept in!

Caught off guard, Serena and the others were blown this way and that by the fierce wind, crying out in alarm one after another; Ash nearby couldn't help but retreat several steps, and only the heavy Volcanion and Aggron stood firm against the storm without a change in expression.

The black mist shrouding the area was scattered clean away.

There, clearly revealed beneath the great tree, were a number of Pokémon with hostile looks, and at their head a man and a woman.

They were not Team Rocket, but the two subordinates of Jarvis who commanded the Mega Evolution Pokémon army, now looking down on everyone from on high.

Princess Jimeiya knit her brows. 「You—！」

「Beep beep beep—」

Still echoing with screams in her ears, Magearna was furious for the first time, raising her wrist that had suddenly bloomed into an attack configuration, firing a crimson energy pillar from within!

Boom!

Unfortunately, she rarely fought, and her aim was absurdly off, causing this 【Petal Cannon】 to hit the tree trunk instead.

"Oh-yo?"

The male underling raised his brows contemptuously, wearing a face that said "you scared me," and whipped out a remote-like device in his hand, pressing it rapidly.

Bzzt—

The strange device restraining the Pokémon below immediately activated, the scarlet light stimulating the Pokémon into expressions of agony, and the rocks bound by the same device beside them even shattered across the ground.

Displaying the damage they had taken.

"Happy!" Chansey was startled for a moment, and the psychic power she had quietly extended was immediately detected by the enemy's Kadabra.

The two briefly clashed.

Bang!

A muffled thud rang out in the air.

"Hm? Still dare to resist?" The male underling pressed the button again nonchalantly, and the successive cries of pain made Aggron and the other Pokémon hesitate to act rashly.

"This is too much!"

Serena was furious to the extreme.

Ash gritted his teeth and shouted, "So despicable!"

"This is what humans are, they don't treat Pokémon lives as anything at all!" Volcanion held back his anger, yet did not dare to take a single step forward.

"Hehehe…"

The male underling on the high ground was about to open his mouth to threaten them, when the female underling beside him suddenly said: "Why is there one person missing?"

"Missing?"

The male underling frowned, looked around the surroundings, and saw no trace of All Baimu.

They had specifically chosen to act early precisely because they feared the unknown All Baimu would draw more people, and now the person had vanished?

"Hey! Where's your other person?"

He asked coldly, raising the switch in his hand: "If you dare hide anything—"

Click.

The male underling pressed it again.

Who would have thought that just as Ash and the others wore expressions of pity, and the restrained Pokémon prepared to endure the pain, the mechanical tentacles that had originally glowed purple instead dimmed.

"Hm?"

The male underling, bewildered, pressed it again.

This time the mechanical tentacles simply disengaged, retracting underground like long snakes, as if nothing had happened.

Ash and the others wore expressions of shock.

After a brief hesitation, Chansey finally went forward to check on the condition of the Pokémon, and Aggron followed slowly, trying to shield her.

High ground.

The two villainous underlings wore expressions of utter disbelief, and the female underling pulled out a walkie-talkie: "What's going on? Lord Jarvis—"

"Stop yelling, I'm right here."

A voice suddenly rang out from behind Ash and the others.

The group turned their heads and saw All Baimu had somehow appeared behind them, a pale raw stone perched on his left shoulder, and a gaunt, long-haired man with glasses restrained single-handedly.

The latter's mouth was sealed, while the former held something like a stun gun in his hand.

"All Baimu!"

"This person is…"

"Jarvis!"

Princess Jimeiya let out a scream.

"Went to raid your base briefly, sorry to keep you waiting."

All Baimu nodded to the group, then glanced at his own Pokémon, frowning when he saw the Hydregion collapsed beside the Shiny Milotic, and finally looked up at the two on the high ground.

The moment those two saw Jarvis in his hands, they fell into disarray.

The male underling shouted: "Kadabra—"

"Oh-yo?"

All Baimu raised a brow, and the stun gun suddenly jabbed into Jarvis's waist; the intense paralysis made his whole body convulse, his expression savage as if in hysterics.

Seeing this, the male underling's command caught in his throat.

"So loyal? Wow, then I have to give you the right to speak." All Baimu emotionally tore the paper off Jarvis's mouth.

This not-so-professional villain gasped for breath, turning his head to say: "Let me go! Whatever you want, I can give it to you! Fame! Status! Money!"

"I want to be the World Champion."

"…That's not impossible…"

"If you don't have the ability, don't brag!"

All Baimu jabbed his waist a second time, and Jarvis was immediately zapped into clenched teeth and a flushed face, his knees going weak.

It'll take a while to recover from this.

After all, it's a stun gun that even Pokémon say is good.

Zapping a person is a breeze.

"Ugh…"

"All Baimu, you…"

Xiaozhi and the others had been especially indignant at the conduct of the two people above just moments ago, but now seeing Jarvis being electrocuted again and again, and those two up top wearing faces full of outrage yet helpless about it, the many opposing Pokémon wanting to charge in yet not daring to—

Their feelings suddenly turned strange.

Why does it feel like…

They're the villains on our side? The sides switched awfully fast, didn't they?

"Hey, you two, just surrender already! Your boss has been captured, what's the point of holding out? Confess and be treated leniently, resist and be treated strictly — don't you know that!?" All Baimu shouted up at the two.

Princess Jimeiya shouted along as well, "Surrender! I'll fight to get you lenient treatment!"

Hey, hey, hey!

I was just saying it off the cuff!

All Baimu glanced at Princess Jimeiya — his "confess and be treated leniently" was a joke, but hers definitely wasn't.

Yet the male and female subordinates up top exchanged a glance, and neither continued commanding the Pokémon to resist as All Baimu had guessed, nor disarmed and surrendered as Princess Jimeiya had hoped — they simply turned tail and ran.

As they ran, they tried to take those Pokémon with them.

"Don't run!"

Seeing this, Xiaozhi hurriedly tried to give chase.

"It's fine, they can't get away!"

All Baimu waved his hand to stop him. The next second, with a Peng De sound, several mechanical tentacles shot out from beneath the two's feet and bound them in place.

"How can this be!"

The male and female subordinates struggled frantically; a Pokémon beside them tried to rescue them and charged headlong into the trap.

Peng!

Sizzle—

In an instant, a crimson glow completely enveloped the two, stimulating them into letting out screams.

That well-intentioned but ill-fated Pokémon froze in place, exchanged a glance with its companions nearby, and without a second thought prepared to flee.

"Block them!" All Baimu shouted.

Pokémon like Boldore immediately stepped forward, surrounding those guys from all sides — especially the Pokémon from the Nebel Plateau, whose gazes were particularly unfriendly.

Xiaozhi and the others were completely dumbfounded.

Volcanion and Magearna looked this way, looked that way, question marks practically popping up on their foreheads.

"What exactly…"

Citron looked into the distance — a huge, somewhat battered airship was sailing toward them.

On the deck, Mawile looked down on everything from on high, and beside it was the dim-witted little Prince Lakil, kneeling on the ground unconscious.

"To put it simply, I used Porygon2's Teleport to sneak directly onto their ship, took out Jarvis and his Gengar first, then had Porygon2 take control of the airship, and remotely triggered the underground device to disengage…"

All Baimu's smile was especially bright. "Ahahaha~ The bad guys' tech being all smart tech is just too great!"

If it had been ancient tech, then he and Porygon2 would have been completely out of luck.

Jarvis was weak as anything, and that shiny Gengar wasn't much stronger either — and to think he even brought Mawile, Luvdisc, and Dragapult up there to ambush the guy.

After all that vigilance, Dragapult took it down with one Phantom Force!

So you're the shiny Gengar, huh?

Way too trash!

Gotta get to him quickly and give him some proper training!

Seeing All Baimu's casual manner, even Xiaozhi and the others couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

Where was any of that simple?

In the blink of an eye, he directly raided their home base…

Is this a movie shoot?

"I really have to thank you for being so unalert."

All Baimu gripped Jarvis by the back of his collar. The guy still stubbornly let out a cold laugh. "Hmph! Winner takes all… EEEEEK—"

The shock gun started zapping again.

Princess Jimeiya sighed and said, "All Baimu… you don't really have to go that far…"

"When dealing with bad people, you have to strike hard — only that way can you protect the good and promote justice. Compared to the evil they've committed, what is this little bit of pain? I'm not taking out personal grudges either, just making them behave."

All Baimu said with a smile.

Most people from the mainstream regions are genuinely kind at heart and can easily accept others turning over a new leaf… to put it bluntly, a redemption arc — compared to someone like him from the wilds, their values differ a little.

He's always liked a line from some evil little mage — "If we swapped roles, I'd let you know what cruelty means."

Do to them everything they've done to others.

That will absolutely make them empathize in no time.

Can't empathize?

Then they just haven't done it enough times.

Citron swallowed hard. He had figured out fairly early on that this person older than them held ideas completely different from theirs, but he hadn't expected it to be so…

Brutal?

He felt that wasn't quite right either.

As a science student, he struggled to find the right adjective.

Serena looked at Xiaozhi, saw that the latter was in a contemplative pose, and couldn't help but call out worriedly, "Xiaozhi…"

"Huh? I'm fine, I'm fine."

Xiaozhi heard her, laughed brightly, and said with feeling, "I just think All Baimu-san is really amazing. Unlike me, he acts for his own justice, just like those people I've met before…"

Countless images flashed through his mind — both humans and Pokémon.

"Lakael!"

Princess Jimeiya's startled cry cut off his reminiscence.

He saw, from a giant airship parked not far away, a Bibarel dragging a tiny figure as it leapt down, hovering sharply in midair, and flying toward them.

"Chiyu~"

Bibarel tossed Lakael into Princess Jimeiya's open arms, returned to All Baimu's side, and gave a small yawn.

"Good work."

He said softly.

Boukalion came to his side and protested, "Don't bring every bit of junk back to our home!"