Chapter 553: Reserving the Gengar

"Don't get worked up, this thing floats—it won't fall to the ground."

All Baimu replied casually, then asked, "How's your thinking on what I told you earlier?"

In response to his inquiry.

The Volcanion that had been bristling with momentum just moments ago fell silent at once.

If Jarvis and his men hadn't attacked, it might have been able to put on a brave front and say it had nothing to do with him. But as things stood, even with its cold, stubborn temperament, it could no longer turn a blind eye to everything All Baimu had done.

Whether it could truly keep protecting the Pokémon here—there was already a verdict.

"Beep beep beep?"

Magearna curiously drew closer. It didn't really understand what the two were discussing, but its instincts told it had something to do with itself.

"Magearna…"

Volcanion looked hesitantly at the companion it treasured most.

"Still no answer? Then think about it some more."

All Baimu didn't press it. From this guy's expression, it wasn't hard to see it had already understood those words—it just couldn't get past some barrier in its heart.

In that case, there was no need to send out the Heart of God again.

Meanwhile.

The Lairon in Princess Jimeiya's arms woke up.

"Sis…ter?"

He looked around in confusion, his gaze sweeping past Ash and the others before landing on All Baimu and the kneeling Jarvis, and he cried out, "Jarvis!"

"Lairon! Are you alright?" Princess Jimeiya helped him up and asked with concern.

But this unlucky kid ignored his sister and furiously shouted:

"You bastard! You ambushed the prince and minister of the Azoth Kingdom out of nowhere! Stole our airship! Don't think I'll forgive you easily!"

Because All Baimu had resolved everything before Magearna was taken and its Soul Heart removed.

This little brat still believed Jarvis was working hard to revive the kingdom, so whoever ambushed them was naturally seen by him as a villain obstructing their cause.

"You wanna hit him? If you won't, I will."

All Baimu pointed at Lairon and asked Princess Jimeiya, looking ready to throw two punches at the slightest provocation.

Princess Jimeiya's expression changed. She was certain this young man would absolutely do it, so she grabbed her brother's arm and said, "Lairon! Don't be deceived by this man any longer!

"He only wants to use Magearna's Soul Heart to fulfill his ambitions—he's nothing like the kingdom-reviver you imagine!"

Princess Jimeiya pointed at the kneeling Jarvis.

The latter snorted and turned his head away in humiliation.

"Sister! I think I've said this many times already!"

Lairon broke free from his sister's grip and said righteously, "Jarvis is the science minister who earned our father's deep trust! His innovative mysterious science has already proven it can achieve the kingdom's great revival!"

The moment he said this, before Princess Jimeiya could respond, Citron beside them couldn't hold back any longer.

The young inventor waved his arms forcefully:

"But it's built on the suffering of Pokémon! Look at those Pokémon! Would the mysterious science of Eliphas made them suffer like this?"

In the distance, many Pokémon lay or sat, listless in expression, receiving treatment from Chansey.

"That's right!"

Serena also added, "Does the innovative mysterious science you speak of have to force Pokémon? Did Magearna willingly go along with you people to do this innovative mysterious science?"

"That's… that's…"

Lairon was rendered speechless by the rebuttal. He had never actually approved of such crude actions in the first place—he had only been enduring Jarvis's various deeds for the sake of the kingdom's revival—so when questioned, he naturally couldn't find a suitable counterargument.

But under Princess Jimeiya's worried gaze and the intimidating looks from the people and Pokémon around him, his head spun, and as if making excuses for his past conduct, he argued:

"This is also a necessary sacrifice… ah."

The moment the words left his mouth, he himself felt something was off. And Ash beside him had long reached his limit—he charged at him in fury.

"What do you mean, necessary sacrifice! Doesn't your conscience bother you saying that!? Pokémon are not tools for you to fulfill your ambitions!"

Ash and Lairon rolled into a tangle on the ground.

But in truth, Ash didn't actually want to beat Lairon up—driven purely to the peak of indignation, he was merely trying to suppress the latter through both physical and verbal means.

The surrounding people and Magearna were in a panic, rushing forward to break up the fight.

All Baimu clicked his tongue. "Little brutes fighting—slapping faces, pulling hair~"

"How much older are you than them? Just a bunch of little brats yourselves." The long-lived elder Volcanion said disdainfully, walking over to break up the fight.

Its method was rather hardcore.

It used the arms on its back to spray a blast of water at each of them.

The world instantly returned to peace.

On the other side.

Aggron and the others came back escorting Jarvis, his two subordinates, and a whole army of Mega Evolution Pokémon—a huge, noisy crowd.

"Guoh!"

"Good work."

All Baimu took the two metal bracelets that released Mega Evolution waves from its claw, thought for a moment, then reached his hand back, and a long metal staff materialized out of thin air.

"Ruluo~"

"Thanks for always holding onto it for me." He smiled at the Dodrio that was too shy to show itself.

Then a gray ghostly shadow poked its head out from the shadow beneath his feet—clearly a Shiny Gengar, its face full of unconvinced defiance yet its eyes fixed intently on the long staff.

Compared to the usual black-purple skin of a normal Gengar, the Shiny Gengar's skin might lean more toward grayish-white—at least the Gengar before them was distinctly very gray.

A big gray fatty.

"You and your Pokémon really don't have any bond at all."

All Baimu gave Jarvis a light kick.

The shiny Gengar hadn't looked at the latter since earlier — and this is what you call a Trainer and his Pokémon?

Clearly Jarvis had used the Mega Evolution crystal on his staff and other means to forcibly control the shiny Gengar, so once the crystal shattered, the shiny Gengar turned and ran without the slightest attachment to Jarvis.

"Hmph, to the victor go the spoils — say whatever you want."

He was clearly not very convinced.

All Baimu sneered coldly: "Sandshrew, this is called justice prevails! And if I were caught by someone like you, my Pokémon would fight to the death to come rescue me."

In his previous life, he might actually have agreed with those four words, "to the victor go the spoils."

Too bad.

You were born in the wrong place! Old man!

He turned down the power on his stun gun and jabbed Jarvis in the waist.

"Yi!"

Jarvis trembled all over and glared at him, saying: "You have no right to judge and punish me! I'll report you for vigilante justice!"

"Do you have proof? I'll just say you kept trying to break free and escape, over and over, and I did this to subdue you." All Baimu shrugged and said mockingly: "Besides, this thing doesn't even leave a mark."

"You—!"

Jarvis nearly fainted from anger.

However, to keep this guy from getting so worked up his blood pressure spikes, he hadn't mentioned that, in order to spread his Mega Evolution wave across the Ole region, he had specially applied to Princess Jimeiya to have the prison relocated to the Ole region.

Go plant trees obediently! We'll put the knowledge of your inventions to good use!

All Baimu looked at him with pity.

Not far away.

After rolling several rounds with Ash in an unstoppable spinning top, and getting his face sprayed by Volcanion's Water Gun, Lakiyel finally came to his senses.

He walked over to All Baimu's side, first glancing hesitantly at the latter, then quietly asking Jarvis.

"Minister, is what they're saying true?"

"Of course it's false! Prince Lakiyel! They're just a bunch of criminals abusing vigilante justice! You must believe me! I did all of this for the revival of the kingdom!"

Jarvis spoke rapidly, as if grabbing a lifeline.

Lakiyel asked again: "Then why can't we ask Magearna to help us? It was once the treasure of our royal family — it just went missing during the turmoil. If we just had a proper talk, we'd surely understand each other."

"You're too naive, Your Highness! How could Pokémon understand our great cause? They're all creatures too stupid for words! You have to properly tame them, or they'll never be of any use to you!"

Jarvis's words made every person and Pokémon around him furious.

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

"Pika pi!"

"Still so unrepentant at this point!"

"I can't take it! Let me blast him away!"

"Gouhou!"

"Everyone!"

Lakiyel raised his hand to stop the furious crowd, looked at Jarvis with lowered eyes, and said: "Jarvis… I'll ask you one last question. Have you been using me all along?"

"How could I—"

Jarvis gave an awkward laugh, but upon seeing Lakiyel's undisguised expression of disappointment, the silent attitude of his two subordinates, the angry glares from the surrounding people and Pokémon, and the mocking gaze of that guy beside him, his expression quickly hardened.

"So what if I did? You naive brat."

Clearly he understood the die was cast — no matter how he argued, the prince before him could not and would not save him.

So this ambitious villain sneered: "Eliphas left behind something so precious — what's wrong with me using it? I am the new generation's leading figure in mystical science!

"Just let me get my hands on that Soul Heart! Even your royal family couldn't do anything to me! Once such a great kingdom, run by useless royals like you into nothing but a tourist city! You and your father should have stepped down long ago!"

Jarvis roared, making no attempt to hide his ambition to rule the kingdom: "As long as I can get the Soul Heart and put Eliphas's legacy to good use! What could the Kalos League even do to me! A bunch of fools!"

Lakiyel hung his head, trembling all over, biting his lower lip with both fists clenched.

A few seconds later.

He turned around, said no more and didn't look at Jarvis again, only saying coldly: "Jarvis, in the name of the Prince of the Azoth Kingdom, I strip you of your ministerial position and citizenship on behalf of my father. Don't let me see you again!"

For Lakiyel, Jarvis was not only the minister he trusted, but also his teacher — the person he respected most.

And yet.

Every filter had been torn away completely by Jarvis's words just now.

The shock to his heart was no less than in the original storyline when he was hypnotized by Gengar and forced to become a puppet — in fact, it was even greater because it was a face-to-face confrontation.

In the original storyline, Jarvis never dragged things on that long with him, nor did he ever break down.

"You're really cooperating so well, I almost feel bad zapping you."

All Baimu sighed, gagged Jarvis, ignored his resentful expression, walked over to the two subordinates, cuffed their hands, and stripped them of all their Poké Balls and personal belongings.

"You two are cooperating pretty well too. Former mercenaries? Names?"

"…Pretty much. I'm Dorka."

The male subordinate said in a low voice.

"Yisha."

The female subordinate couldn't help but ask: "What will happen to us?"

"Execution by firing squad, probably," All Baimu said offhandedly.

Dorka/Yisha: "…"

"Just kidding, just kidding. It's not up to me what happens to you two — it's up to the International Police tribunal. Pray they don't dig up your old debts."

He burst into laughter.

These two probably won't be sent to the Orei region — they have basically no value.

Don't be fooled just because All Baimu wants to send every villain he meets to Orei to plant trees — if you actually tried to send him, he'd refuse. Who wants the Orei region to become the world's prison?

Every single villain gets dumped there.

Ambitious schemers like Jarvis, who make a living off inventions but have no real brains, are better suited to that environment — a few months of sun would straighten them right out.

Dorka and Yisha, on the other hand, clearly look like they've suffered before — they're not suited for it.

"If the charges aren't serious, then think hard about turning over a new leaf. You planning to eat this bowl of rice for the rest of your lives?" All Baimu didn't gag the two of them either, leaving them room to think.

For villains you can't execute, all you can do is persuade them to mend their ways.

If persuasion fails, then we'll talk.

Then he used the Poké Balls on the two of them and recalled his entire Mega Evolution army, the shiny Gengar included.

The three villains were also sent aboard their own giant airship, to be taken back to the Azoth Kingdom and locked up shortly.

With that, the matter was thoroughly concluded.

Although the unlucky kid Lakkie got beaten up by Ash and then mentally shocked into going completely silent, at least he managed to keep his transformable walls intact.

Congratulations all around.

And although Volcanion failed to blow up the walls, showing off its strength as a Mythical Pokémon, Magearna also didn't have its Soul-Heart stolen and nearly restored to factory settings.

Even more congratulations.

Evening fell.

All Baimu decided to personally cook dinner, both to calm the nerves of the Pokémon on Niebel Plateau and to celebrate his soon-to-be-acquired shiny Gengar…

Going through proper channels might take a while longer.

The shiny Gengar was, after all, Jarvis's Pokémon — if it hadn't escaped, it would need to go to court together for sentencing. If the judge ruled it guilty, off to Orei to serve its sentence; if not guilty, still proposed to send it to Orei.

How to deal with a criminal's Pokémon has always been a tough problem — Orei has N there, so it's actually a decent place for them to live.

Harsh environment is harsh.

The meat will definitely fall apart in the pot anyway.

Of course.

Pocketing it directly is also an option.

But this operation at least borrowed the International Police's name, so even if it's fundamentally still self-interest, it can't be done too outrageously.

"Then I'll wait a bit longer."

All Baimu cheerfully whistled as his wok kept tossing, and in the distance Volcanion was presenting Ash and the others with the title of 【Honorary Pokémon of Niebel Plateau】.

Cheers rose one after another.

After the ceremony.

Volcanion slowly walked over, sniffing the mingled aromas of food and spices from the wok, and asked while staring at the pot: "Everything you said before, I understand now. So what should I do?"

This Pokémon, always stubborn and tsundere, finally softened up and was willing to ask this human, All Baimu, for advice.

"Good question. I think there are two strategies, upper and lower."

All Baimu replied with a smile: "The upper strategy — cooperate with humans to set up Pokémon sanctuaries, and let humans check other humans.

"The lower strategy — move somewhere humans can't reach. Your choice."

"…"

Volcanion fell silent, then asked after a few seconds: "What about you? If you were me, which would you pick?"

All Baimu answered: "I'd pick both, and neither."

Volcanion: "?"

Playing word games!