Chapter 556: One Person, One Dog

Flare Laboratory.

The representative's office, with no lights on at all.

Half of Fladist's face, his legs crossed, was hidden in darkness; the remaining half, made indistinct by the light from outside, listened calmly to the report from the subordinate before him.

"…According to reliable intelligence, this group boarded under the name of an Ore region rescue organization and arrived in Kalos last month. The man leading them has been frequently making contact with Kalos high society lately, secretly inquiring about our affairs."

"Ore…"

The tall lion-head narrowed his eyes slightly. "What is their objective?"

"…The structure of our organization, our partner businesses, as well as your reputation and daily habits, and the like."

"…"

Fladist was silent, and only after a long while said, "Keep watching them. Send a letter on my behalf thanking Count Madra for the intelligence."

"Understood."

The Flare Team subordinate bowed respectfully and was about to withdraw when someone suddenly entered from outside the door.

"Representative! Someone has breached our intranet! They downloaded a massive amount of files!" That person was likewise a Flare Team subordinate in a red suit.

Fladist frowned at the words. "The fake files?"

"They have a technical expert! They saw through all of them!"

That person's tone was panicked—after all, a great deal of what was on the intranet could not see the light of day, and absolutely could not be seen by anyone before their plan was successfully carried out.

Fladist said in a low voice, "Calm down! In that case, then move up the—"

Thud!

The many floodlights outside the window abruptly went out, and the entire laboratory was plunged into darkness.

"The lights are out!"

"Danger! Representative! Come with me to the shelter at once!"

The two Flare Team subordinates each cried out in panic; one of them hastily reached out to shield Fladist, but was seized by the arm by the latter.

At that moment.

The outside lights came back on, but they were not the original floodlights—rather, a series of backup emergency lamps.

"Who are you?"

Fladist looked down at the person whose arm he had seized; there was not the slightest panic in his eyes.

"Representative? You don't understand what you're saying…"

Crackle-pop—

Flashing electric sparks burst between the two; that person swiftly pulled their arm free, and upon seeing Fladist still standing immovably could not help clicking their tongue.

"What kind of monster is this!"

He darted back to the floor-to-ceiling window, and somehow the window shattered open. "Representative, thank you for your care these past days!"

Frobo faced Fladist and gave a flippant bow, then let his body fall backward as if committing suicide.

As he fell.

He said into the communicator on his wrist, "Tactical failure! This guy's constitution is simply inhuman! The stun gun did absolutely nothing!"

"Hold it!"

The other Flare Team subordinate belatedly rushed forward in pursuit, but was stopped by Fladist.

"Don't chase. Use the internal phone to tell the others to act immediately."

The lion-head looked at the disconnected computer on the desk, and the look in his eyes shifted from dim to wild. To be able to so decisively cut power and the network right from the start, these people were absolutely "regular military."

In that case, there was no longer any need to keep hiding.

"Yes!"

The Flare Team subordinate turned and ran off swiftly.

Fortunately, Flare Team had made contingency plans against outside intrusion; the power and network for the important underground facilities were independent, and even the Poké Balls were a special type not bound by the Poké Ball management system.

Cautious planning became the cornerstone of great achievement.

Boom!

An explosion sounded in the distance.

Fladist's expression unchanged, he sat down in his office chair and pressed a button; a strange pack embedded itself into his back, and beetle-like arm bracers clamped onto his forearms.

Immediately a passage appeared beneath him, allowing him to descend rapidly while seated in the broad chair.

And in the second before his entire body descended with the chair, a golden ring opened at his original position.

"Huh? Can't summon it out?"

A small hand reached out from the ring, feeling around, then a strange head poked out, locked eyes with Fladist below, and shouted; its cheeks puffed out.

"Ah! How can you move around! Be good for Hu Pa!"

The ring above closed, and another ring opened right beneath Fladist's seat, waiting for him to come down on his own.

"This Pokémon ability… Hu Pa, is it?"

Fladist raised his hand, and a mechanical arm extended from the pack on his back, a faint blue glow at its tip, firing a red beam downward.

Zzt—

"Eek!"

An incredulous shriek came from the other side of the ring, which was then forced shut.

Fladist gave a light snort, and looking at the retracted mechanical arm his eyes were full of delight. "Mega Evolution energy is truly extraordinary!"

And on Hu Pa's side.

Having failed to grab anyone twice, it was furious—furious enough to turn red in the face.

"Hu Pa! Never have I suffered such disgrace!"

It looked toward Balza nearby and shouted: "Balza! Release Hoopa completely! Hoopa's going to fight that guy to the very end!"

"No!"

Before Balza could speak, Mei Mei Yali spoke up first to refuse, looking at it seriously: "Didn't All Baimu say they have a strange device that can be used to control Pokémon minds? That red light just now should be it, right?

"If you recover your strength but get controlled by them, who knows how much trouble it'll bring. What you should do most is carry the captured enemies out!"

Hoopa, wronged: "Mei Mei Yali…"

"That's right, you've already done more than enough. Everyone was transported over thanks to your help."

Master Liu Ge, who was directing a group of International Police to occupy key positions throughout Fradari's laboratory and capture enemies one by one with stun guns, also spoke up. "Please, Hoopa, logistics work is also very important. We can't do without you."

"…Fine~ Since Hoopa is that important!"

Hoopa nodded contentedly, but also clicked its tongue inwardly.

It would never tell anyone that All Baimu had told it earlier that if it caught that boss called Fradari, he'd make it a year's worth of donuts.

What? Joking?

Hoopa doesn't joke around here!

It cupped its cheeks in both hands, wondering how things were going on All Baimu's side.

——

Time rewinds ten minutes.

After successfully obtaining a series of secret documents.

Hoopa then began transporting each group of operatives into important facilities of Fradari's laboratory, such as the network center, hangar, and power station.

And All Baimu, who had been waiting for a long time, raided the underground research lab together with Z1, which had transformed into its 10% Doberman form.

Straight for Z2!

To be safe, he didn't have Hoopa send him directly inside the research lab.

Because Hoopa's rings have a wind-up animation and don't work like teleportation, arriving instantly. If the Flare grunts saw the rings preparing and then rushed in to attack, he'd undoubtedly become a target.

So he asked Hoopa to transport the others first, and to open a ring later in the corner of the warehouse closest to the research lab.

"I'll be right back, just stay calm."

All Baimu waved to Ash and the others, then rubbed Yurika's head. Meeting her worried gaze, he said: "It's okay. I'll bring Xiaoruan back safely, and along with its companions too."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you for no reason?"

"Then I believe you, big brother!"

A smile finally returned to Yurika's face.

"Xiaobai! You're up!" Hoopa flew over from afar. Opening so many rings in such a short time, it didn't look tired at all — on the contrary, it looked especially excited.

Seeing this, All Baimu laughed: "Good work, Hoopa. You're really amazing."

"Of course Hoopa is amazing!"

Hoopa swelled with pride, then asked with shining eyes: "Last time Xiaobai said if Hoopa caught Fradari, he'd give Hoopa lots of donuts?"

"Huh? I was just full and bored and joking around! Don't do anything stupid!"

All Baimu froze for a moment, hurriedly waving his hands: "That guy has a tool that can control Legendary Pokémon on him. Don't act rashly!"

He stepped into the ring Hoopa had opened, one foot already halfway out, and turned back to shout: "Don't go! Mei Mei Yali, keep an eye on Hoopa! Don't let it go! Fradari is very dangerous!"

Fradari possessed a device called the Neuro-Control System, developed from Mega Evolution energy, which allowed him to freely control the two darkened Zygarde, as well as the mindless Legendary Titan that had the instinct to chase energy.

Even Ash and Greninja had almost been controlled by him.

Fortunately, Bond Evolution was powerful enough and directly blasted those two red beams away.

Hoopa's Unbound form was indeed very powerful, but due to the existence of the Neuro-Control System, All Baimu didn't really dare let it appear in front of Fradari.

It itself played a pivotal logistics and support role in this raid. If it got controlled, that would truly be a crying shame.

To catch Fradari, they first had to suppress all the high-tech in his laboratory. That Neuro-Control System must have a master system switch stored somewhere.

Anyway, with Hoopa around, Fradari couldn't run anywhere no matter where he went.

"Awoo!"

Z1 tugged impatiently at All Baimu's trouser leg, so he had no choice but to step into the golden ring.

His vision went dark.

He found himself suddenly inside a pitch-black warehouse.

However.

Before All Baimu could open his mouth to say anything to Z1, the warehouse door suddenly opened, and a researcher-dressed person carrying a box made eye contact with him.

"You—"

*Crack! Zap! *

"Ugh!" The researcher collapsed, limbs paralyzed. All Baimu swiftly caught the box in his arms.

Before coming, Master Liu Ge had equipped him with a standard-issue International Police stun gun. Although it wasn't exactly a large-scale lethal weapon, as long as the target wasn't a monster-level physique, one shot was basically enough to drop a human.

"Stay low, take a quick peek outside to see if anyone's there."

All Baimu carefully set down the box, pulled out a map of the laboratory's various facilities, confirmed his location, and gave Z1 a look.

The latter didn't quite understand why he had to do it this way — wouldn't it be fine to just charge in? But it ultimately understood that All Baimu was leading this operation, so it obediently peeked outside.

No one.

"Woof."

"Good, we're about to rush in. Remember, don't worry about your companion first — go bite anyone making suspicious moves, don't let them touch any devices.

"Even if your companion is being attacked by some kind of force, stay calm. I'll handle any Flare grunts that might be there."

All Baimu said in a low voice, stun gun in one hand and phone in the other.

"Awoo!"

Z1 responded in a low voice.

He took a deep breath. "I'll count to three. Three, two, one…"

"Go!"

Man and dog burst out of the warehouse, charging toward the lab where Z2 was.

Bang!

All Baimu kicked open the lab's big door, his stun gun raised high and aimed at all the busy researchers, and shouted: "Hands up! Nobody move!"

The sudden turn of events left the researchers looking stunned, staring at him in blank confusion.

Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any security personnel here.

"Awoo!"

Z1 charged straight ahead, frantically searching for its companion, using telepathy to shout: "Where art thou! Answer me!"

This guy! Didn't hear a single word, did it!

All Baimu's forehead popped with veins — absolutely zero teamwork!

He swiftly fired stun rounds at two sneaky-looking researchers, dropping them with the shock while shouting orders and sending out Dubious Disc II to hack into the system here.

"And who might you be, you little brat?"

That snide, mocking tone rang out from not far away.

He clearly saw a red-haired fat man in a white lab coat standing in the distance, looking at him rather oddly.

Cuthilosqi!

All Baimu didn't even think — he immediately fired two shots at him, but the stun rounds hit his body and went *pap pap*, bouncing right off.

"Stun rounds? How dull."

Cuthilosqi glanced down at the spent rounds on the ground, then slightly opened his white lab coat and the fiery red uniform beneath, revealing an oddly colored inner lining. "Do you know what this is?"

E-Suit?

Did he make this thing in the anime too?

All Baimu didn't answer. In the game, Cuthilosqi had designed a reinforced outer garment called the E-Suit, which could give a skinny little Miss the mobility of a fast Pokémon and the defense of a high-defense Pokémon.

It was an utterly outrageous piece of gear.

The anime never mentioned it — he'd assumed Cuthilosqi hadn't invented it.

"I suppose you wouldn't know, either."

Cuthilosqi's tone was as bizarre as ever, just like his appearance. "Those who cannot appreciate… have no right to exist. Go, Malamar."

Right above All Baimu's head.

"Ma~"

A huge, deeply unsettling squid dropped down, its body emitting an eerie glow that radiated waves seemingly capable of lulling people to sleep.

But what greeted this fellow was the even more bizarre eerie light perched on All Baimu's shoulder.

Despite launching the first strike, the Malamar ended up being the one dazzled by that eerie light, and turned the patterns on its abdomen toward the surrounding researchers, hypnotizing them en masse.

The previously composed Cuthilosqi's face changed drastically.

"Malamar!"

"Stop yelling, it's confused, and you're not out of the woods yourself either." All Baimu pointed at him and said: "Look behind you?"

"What?"

Cuthilosqi turned his head, and two Dreepy screeched as they slammed into his face.

Boom! Boom!

Two heavy thuds, and the red-haired fat man dropped without a sound.

"How could… this be…"

"Because you're an idiot — who wears a combat suit without a helmet?"

All Baimu clicked his tongue as he spoke, then pointed at the spinning, leaping Malamar: "Don't let it keep spinning — finish it off."

Corsola and Dragapult moved together.

Two Shadow Balls slammed into it.

Boom boom!

Two clouds of smoke burst open.

The Malamar collapsed, unconscious.

All Baimu swept his gaze around, only to find that every single researcher had been hypnotized by the Malamar. He couldn't help but sigh: "Is this what they call luck?"

He ran in the direction Z1 had gone, and soon spotted Z1 nearby, gnashing its teeth and looking fierce and vicious — and on the wall, Z2, looking half-dead.

"Humans… shall not be forgiven…"

It said in a low voice.