Chapter 570: Lalus City

「Moo—」

A flock of long-winged gulls swept past.

The train rolled along the elevated bridge over the river.

He gazed out through the window.

The high-tech city built upon the central island came into the eyes of his Shiny Gengar; the never-before-seen bustling spectacle made it turn its head in excitement.

「Geng geng! 」

「That's right, that over there is our destination—Lalus City. 」

All Baimu smiled and rubbed the Shiny Gengar's head.

Yesterday he had stayed a night at his cousin Mitsuru's bed-and-breakfast, and along the way had chatted for a while with the green-haired youngster in Ecruteak City, during which he learned that the fellow had already collected eight Badges.

Just a little over four months, right?

That's fast progress.

Mitsuru had also declared that this time he would definitely win the Silver Conference, and that when he did he would bring the championship trophy to watch him compete in the Suiryu Conference.

Hearing that tone brimming with confidence, Mitsuru clearly considered the Conference championship in the bag.

A Mitsuru who's grown up, then?

All Baimu was still rather looking forward to it.

Although everyone wasn't currently advancing on the same track, they could barely be considered worthy rivals, couldn't they? Besides, Mitsuru would inevitably head to the Oure region in the future to take part in the inaugural Conference.

Ding!

The arrival chime sounded.

「Let's go! We'll get closer and take a better look! 」

All Baimu stood up, put on his mask, and with one hand held back the eager Shiny Gengar, guiding it along with the flow of passengers off the train.

Based on his observations over the past several days, he had found that this grey-skinned big fatty's outward personality was extremely cheerful—loved to laugh, loved to make a fuss, loved to play pranks, and might also enjoy mischief, but since it wasn't yet familiar with them it didn't dare show it.

In short, it was a Gengar version of Hu Pa.

Of course, that was only the outward side.

What this fellow's inner personality was actually like would still need to be confirmed through a longer period of interaction.

In any case, so far All Baimu had no complaints about the Shiny Gengar; he really liked the way this grey fatty's exaggerated grin stretched all the way back to its ears,

And the addition of a little live-wire like it, paired with the equally lively Dreepy brother, also helped boost the team's overall vitality.

Suddenly.

All Baimu, as if possessed, turned his head to the side; at the same moment a slender little hand patted his shoulder.

「All Baimu! What a coincidence! 」

Xi Zi Yin, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, gently waved her left hand, a Piplup cradled in her arms, her eyes smiling into lovely little crescents. 「I saw your back and thought it looked like you! 」

「Pip! 」

Piplup raised its little wing.

The Shiny Gengar looked at them curiously. 「Geng? 」

「It really is quite a coincidence. This is my new partner, Gengar. 」 All Baimu pulled down his mask and patted its head; as the latter blankly tilted its head up to look at him, he asked: 「Where's Brock? He didn't come with you? 」

Xi Zi Yin and Piplup greeted the Shiny Gengar, then said with an ordinary expression: 「He's in the back looking for the attendant Young Lady, no worries, he'll be here soon. 」

Sure enough.

No sooner had he finished saying that than the sharp-eyed Croagunk, with a single claw, dragged the twitching Brock over; the bizarre sight drew sidelong glances from passing pedestrians.

「Croa~」

Croagunk tossed Brock in front of the two of them and puffed out its red cheek sacs like blowing bubbles.

The Shiny Gengar's attention immediately shifted to the two of them.

「B-B-Buh? All Baimu! 」

Brock trembled for a moment, then realized that the tall figure looking down at him was the smiling All Baimu; he immediately scrambled up happily and said: 「You came too! 」

「Of course I had to come—I've been working hard for half a year just for this day. 」

All Baimu laughed: 「Looks like even without Xiaosheng, there's still a Pokémon that'll stop you from spacing out. 」

Brock gave an awkward laugh at that. 「Ahaha…」

The three people and three Pokémon walked together toward the escalator.

Arriving at the first floor.

An inverted-T block robot, made of four small cubes and one large cube, flew up to them.

Welcome to Lalus City?

Its four cubes disassembled and reassembled above its head; as it emitted an electronic tone, a line of text appeared: WELE?

「What a cute robot! 」

Xi Zi Yin, who normally didn't have much of a weakness for cute things, excitedly stepped forward wanting to pat its head.

No one expected one of the small cubes on the block robot to suddenly pop open, revealing a camera lens inside; while she and Piplup stood dumbfounded, it abruptly pressed the shutter.

Click.

The flash went off.

Xi Zi Yin wore a blank face. 「Eh? 」

「It's taking a photo for the pass—this city doesn't recognize Trainer Cards, doesn't recognize the Pokédex, only recognizes this pass that's linked to the League database. 」

All Baimu gave a slight smile; the Shiny Gengar at his side curiously floated up, and the block robot precisely snapped the moment it poked its head out.

Brock, meanwhile, took out the pass he'd registered on his previous visit and said:

「All Baimu's right—this is Lalus City's special feature. 」

Please take good care of your city pass. In this city, no matter what you buy, this card can handle the transaction. The block robot opened the box on the left and handed the two cards to All Baimu and Xiaoguang respectively.

Xiaoguang's pass photo was fine. Although she did pause for a moment, her expression was far more normal than the unfortunate Xiaoyao's.

All Baimu's one, however…

Hmm.

The intruding shiny Gengar had undoubtedly been captured in the photo as well. Its face happened to take the place of everything below his chin, and paired with that broad grin stretching from ear to ear, the whole composition looked rather… peculiar.

"Geng!"

Seeing this, the culprit immediately and nervously reined in its expression.

Causing trouble around Jarvis earns a beating…

"Hahaha, the photo turned out pretty good."

Contrary to its expectations, All Baimu didn't get angry at all. Instead, he laughed heartily and showed it to Xiaoguang and Xiaogang. "Even a photo like this can be entered into the database — the intelligence system in Larousse City is really something."

Angry?

How could he possibly be angry!

When he played games, he often changed the poses and effects on his Trainer Cards. The fact that Sword and Shield didn't allow you to add Pokémon into them had always been a regret of his.

"You little punk look pretty good in photos!"

All Baimu patted the shiny Gengar on the head. The latter froze for a moment, then its brilliant smile returned to its face. "Geng! Hehehehe~!"

Xiaoguang muttered enviously: "How nice, I want to take a photo with Piplup too~"

"Pipopipo~"

Piplup flapped its little wings in agreement.

That said, she wasn't about to trouble the block robot into making another one.

The three walked out of the station.

Apart from the block robots, Larousse City had another distinctive feature: moving walkways that covered most of the city, allowing people to reach their destinations much faster.

As a battle-obsessed fool, Ash, who had just arrived, once made a fool of himself here, frantically walking against the high-speed moving walkways.

In fact—

Larousse City thoughtfully prepared block robots to guide visitors, as well as block robots that displayed maps directly, located beside the moving walkways.

But with Xiaogang around, there was no need to bother the robots.

He certainly had his share of getting lost, but that was under circumstances where the path ahead was unknown.

"Let's go register first, while there aren't many people yet."

"Good point."

The group stepped onto the moving walkway and headed for the venue of this Grand Festival — the Battle Tower.

As Larousse City's most famous landmark, the Battle Tower, whose exterior looked remarkably like a traffic cone, was extremely well-equipped from top to bottom, with supermarkets, shopping malls, libraries, and all sorts of shops and facilities.

Halfway there—

The giant screens on the buildings on both sides lit up with Miss Liuqi's figure — clearly video footage of her appearing on shows and giving interviews.

"Miss Liuqi! She looks so pretty on TV! So dazzling!"

Xiaoguang said, her face full of admiration.

Although she had a bit of a name for herself in the Contest scene, there was still a certain gap between her and Miss Liuqi, who had a company dedicated to managing her career.

All Baimu was the same.

Without the covert assistance of the two major Qianfan Sect organizations from Mt. Coronet and Hoenn, even if his first entry video had gone viral, it would have been impossible for his fame to skyrocket so dramatically in such a short time. How many Coordinators had earned five Ribbons?

Now, thanks to the buzz from the Wallace Cup, he was even being called the rising star of the Contest scene by many, hot on Miss Liuqi's heels.

Word of mouth has its limits.

Arrived at the Battle Tower.

The pedestrians and Pokémon coming and going around them suddenly multiplied, making the small plaza in front of the Battle Tower crowded.

Xiaoguang gasped: "So many people!"

"They're basically all Coordinators."

Xiaogang held up his notebook filled with information on beautiful older sisters and nodded with certainty.

All Baimu looked around but didn't spot Ursula. He did, however, notice several opponents he'd faced before, such as 【Mira】 from the Kaina Conference, who had sent him and Xiaoguang packing, partnered with a Milotic.

【Coach Ge Man】 and 【Aya】 from the Akiha Conference.

The former claimed to be Miss Liuqi's rival, with a Machoke partner who had a secret crush on Xiao Xiao Qingqing's Altaria; the latter was his opponent in the Akiha Conference finals, whose Gyarados and Pelipper had fallen head over heels for the shiny Milotic at first sight.

Not bad, not bad.

Lots of familiar faces means comfortable battles.

Saves him from having to deal with situations like Ash's — where suddenly a legendary-obsessed weirdo named Tobias shows up, or an old man like Tatsuro appears with an incomplete team, or some forced plot-armor guy like Alain barges in halfway through.

The three squeezed into the Battle Tower to register. All Baimu, who had taken off his mask to confirm his identity, was recognized by the surrounding passersby — as expected.

Gasp!

The already noisy environment instantly erupted.

Many people crowded over asking for autographs, both men and women. Some even came up to introduce themselves, declaring that they would defeat him and win this Grand Festival.

All Baimu hastily dealt with the situation for quite a while before Xiaogang finally called over the Battle Tower's security personnel.

After most of the reluctant crowd was persuaded to leave, he took the chance to slip away and change his entire outfit, successfully regrouping with Xiaoguang and Xiaogang outside.

"All Baimu, your fame really is enormous."

Xiaogang recalled that among the people surrounding All Baimu were quite a few beautiful older sisters, and felt both envy and emotion,

Xiaoguang nodded along. "Exactly, I got pushed aside immediately."

"Geng!"

The shiny Gengar's face was full of lingering fear; too many people had rushed over at once, and due to its poor position, it was one of the ones shoved aside.

If it weren't a Ghost-type, it would probably have long since been trampled underfoot.

"So far it's only an empty title; it doesn't prove anything."

Baimu, patting the shiny Gengar's head to soothe it, glanced at her — among her fans was a princess of a nation, and the Chatot in the party had also been a gift from that princess.

Ash only assumed he meant victory in the tournament was in the bag, and said with full confidence:

"Hmph! This time, whether it's Miss Liuqi or you, I won't lose again! Absolutely no problem!"

She had lost to Miss Liuqi at the Mi Ke Li Cup, stopping at the semifinals.

Once again stepping onto the moving walkway.

The few deliberately found a hotel near the nature park, in a relatively remote location where one could still faintly make out the outer silhouette of the city on the opposite bank.

Despite being a high-tech metropolis, a very large area on the north side of Lumiose City had been set aside as a lush nature park.

Countless wild Pokémon lived within it, often running over to inhabited areas to play — the movie version's plot had featured Plusle, Minun, and Munchlax, among others.

Afternoon.

Baimu prepared to head to the Pokémon Beauty Salon.

Although the various maintenance methods at the Glittering Gym were no worse than most salons on the market, Mawile had taken a particular shine to the atmosphere of that place — having surfed the net too much, it had started to enjoy taking selfies and posting them online.

Since it was its hobby, and it was also beneficial for relaxing before the competition,

how could he possibly refuse?

Upon learning this, Ash responded enthusiastically and tagged along, ruthlessly abandoning Brock, who was in the middle of organizing data on all the pretty older sisters among the contestants.

The two quietly arrived at a Pokémon Beauty Salon located inside the Battle Tower's shopping mall —

packed to the brim.

Baimu had long been mentally prepared for this, but Ash looked thoroughly dejected.

"If we wait our turn here, what time would it even be?"

"Relax, I have other means."

He smiled, gesturing for her not to panic.

A short while later.

A bespectacled man walked over from afar and asked in a low voice, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Baimu and Young Lady Ash?"

"That's right."

"Thank you for your patience, please follow me."

The man led Baimu and the bewildered Ash via elevator to the fifteenth floor, where another beauty salon came into view for the latter two.

Ash exclaimed in surprise, "This place is—"

"A Pokémon Beauty Salon similar to a private club; it normally doesn't accept non-members. The two of us only got to come up thanks to Miss Liuqi."

He turned his head to explain.

The guiding man turned his head and said, "Please don't put it that way. Serving Mr. Baimu and Young Lady Ash is our honor. Director Robert has always greatly admired the two of you, and he also hopes you can become our members."

Robert.

If Brock were here, he would definitely have reacted, because the other party was a Coordinator who had once participated in the Hoenn Grand Festival together with May.

He had also won the final championship, becoming a top Coordinator.

Several years had passed, and Robert had long since founded his own apparel and cosmetics brand; this Pokémon Beauty Salon was also one of his assets.

The two saw Miss Liuqi in the inner room, her hair wrapped up in a Mao Jin like a zongzi.

"You finally made it!"

Miss Liuqi excitedly stood up, grabbed Ash's hand and shook it up and down, "Ash! Long time no see!"

"Yeah! Long time no see, Miss Liuqi!"

Ash was equally delighted, matching the rhythm of the shaking as she said, "I saw your interview — you looked absolutely radiant!"

Miss Liuqi laughed, "Thank you~!"

Shortly after.

She also quietly wrinkled her little nose at Baimu in annoyance, her mouth opening and closing slightly as if secretly cursing some "ungrateful disciple."

The latter simply pretended he hadn't seen it.

Shinan had even specially called over to tell him to focus on the competition, no need to specially appear on shows or give interviews — how could he be sweet-talked into going to the TV station by you, little Teacher Liu?

One Pokémon Idol for the Contest circuit is enough.

The Hoenn Grand Festival would be the final hurdle on his path as a Coordinator, and after clearing it there would basically be no second playthrough.

He would ultimately rise together with the Orre region as Champion.

Baimu released Mawile and the other Pokémon, found a sofa to sit on and play with his phone, while Miss Liuqi chatted happily with Ash about everything under the sun.

Compared to him, a guy, Miss Liuqi clearly had far more common topics with girls.

"Plu!"

"Pla!"

Delicate cries sounded beside his ears.

"Hm?"

Baimu looked left and right, and clearly spotted a Plusle on one side of his shoulder and a Minun on the other, curiously staring at his phone.

Their tiny, plush-toy-like bodies and faces looked extremely cute.