Chapter 687: The

N left.

Baimu ate breakfast listlessly.

When they fought side by side in the past, everyone got along well; a common enemy forced them to band together.

But when the enemy vanished, contradictions inexplicably emerged—even though everyone was kind-hearted and had no ill intentions, differences in stance still led to disputes.

After all.

Some good things are relative; there aren't that many win-win outcomes to be had, and often they end with one side compromising or both sides compromising.

In principle, Baimu should persuade N to agree to the organization's rescue plan for the sake of Orea's harmonious development.

But can he guarantee that every Orea resident who obtained a Pokémon will treat them well?

Will people be willing to spend time and energy healing the Pokémon's wounded hearts?

Even trainers in mainstream regions haven't managed it; Orea's rugged people are even less likely to. At that point, far more manpower and resources will be needed to handle conflicts between humans and Pokémon.

The main issue right now, however, is the burden imposed by hundreds of thousands of Pokémon on the Orea region.

Pokémon unable to sustain themselves require supplies from N and the Rescue Organization; otherwise, they simply can't adapt to Orea's environment and will starve, inevitably sparking unrest.

In the days when Pokémon were called demonic beasts, unrest was synonymous with disaster.

The Rescue Organization has tried to distribute the costs among ordinary Orea civilians, though the general standard of living in Orea hasn't yet matched that of mainstream regions.

But some wealthy families can easily afford to keep one or two Pokémon.

N refuses to do this—he wants Pokémon to remain free, and for that, he must have leverage to negotiate with the Rescue Organization.

Yet without the Rescue Organization's channels, even money can't transport that much food into Orea from outside.

The simplest solution: conjure a vast forest capable of sustaining most of the Pokémon.

If they no longer rely on the Rescue Organization for survival, N won't resist considering other matters as much.

He has no leverage.

No matter how good the Rescue Organization's intentions, they'll only make N wary.

"There are so many things to solve."

Baimu drank the last sip of MooMoo milk and suddenly realized it was his own abrupt departure that had caused a mountain of complications to pile up upon his return.

But he didn't regret it.

Only by going to Hoenn could he grow to where he is today; staying in Orea would have left him like Silver Monkey, ignorant of all external tactics and breeding techniques.

He stood up, found Dracovish hiding among other Pokémon, and asked: "Shall we go find the Spirit World entrance?"

"Ruuu…"

Dracovish looked hesitant, glancing warily at Porygon2.

As clever as Porygon2 was, it cooperated perfectly by diving into the phone to act as translator.

Through its translation, Baimu realized this was indeed not as simple as he'd imagined—just as he'd told Shan Ren earlier, the Spirit World entrance isn't a physical door.

It could be Room 1608 that doesn't exist in the New Zi Jin Hotel, or a mysterious whirlpool that suddenly appeared on the seabed in Liusui City, or even a worn-out glass bottle drifting in from across the sea.

Ordinary people can't see it, because it doesn't exist in the physical dimension; only under extremely rare circumstances can it be observed.

For instance, the ancient script Baimu had previously obtained.

That was the "password" to the New Zi Jin Hotel's Spirit World entrance.

Mediums can use other methods to force the Spirit World entrance to appear.

Dracovish couldn't pinpoint its exact location, only its general direction—and it sensed countless lost souls blocking the entrance completely.

Even if you reached the "reality" where the Spirit World entrance lay, without a way to break through those lost souls, you still couldn't get near it.

"Then…"

Baimu was about to speak, but Dracovish frantically shook its head, preemptively refusing—death and life meant nothing to it.

Besides, the souls here were scarier than the last.

Seeing its head shaking like a fan, Baimu turned to the Gengar beside it and asked: "Can Gengar do anything?"

Gengar looked utterly confused.

It seemed to know nothing about the Spirit World entrance.

Porygon2 kindly asked the Dracovish head-shaker, then explained—not every Ghost-type Pokémon can sense the Spirit World.

Ghost-type Pokémon are a special form of life existing between life and death; only those leaning toward death are more sensitive to the Spirit World.

What does "leaning toward" mean?

According to Dracovish, those who live long-term in graveyards, dark forests with no sunlight, or in close contact with spirits lean toward death; conversely, those who interact too much with living beings or spend long periods in places teeming with life lean toward life.

In the past, it lived near graveyards, steeped in heavy death energy, so it was highly sensitive to the Spirit World entrance.

Now, as it spends more and more time with Baimu, constantly surrounded by people, its sensitivity to the Spirit World entrance has gradually dulled.

Knowing the general location is already its limit.

"Ghost-type Pokémon have this kind of specialty."

Baimu frowned, thinking he'd still have to leave this to a professional.

He sent Dracovish's description to Shan Ren, along with the approximate direction; seeing no reply, he didn't care.

The first thing to do today—

Clock in at work!

—

After the new planning of Huang Tie Town.

The town center, where the Huang Tie Arena once stood, was now designated as the commercial district.

Major aid corporations established branches here, renting one after another office building with wildly different appearances; the influx of outsiders made the commercial district bustling.

The headquarters of Team Rainbow is here too; its corporate logo is a rainbow-colored unknown glyph: "R".

Baimu stood downstairs, gazing up at the massive logo and nearly spat out his blood.

"Who the hell designed this?"

"This genius did!"

Otsuka, whom he met on the way, beamed and said, "To design this logo, I specifically searched online for rare scripts. I finally found an ultra-ancient unknown totem language where 'Rainbow' was called 'Rainbow,' so I took the first letter 'R.' Supposedly, this script holds mystical power!"

Baimu: "..."

It had the vibe of a middle-schooler crafting elaborate backstories from half-understood junk.

But.

Aside from the right foot being slightly shorter, this logo was identical to the one from the Rainbow Rocket Team in his memory!

"Isn't this logo good?" Otsuka, seeing his silence, looked slightly hurt. "Everyone thinks it looks great..."

Baimu slapped Otsuka's shoulder hard and murmured, "No, it's fine. Just remember to be careful of a guy named Sakaki—he'll come after you for copyright fees."

"Sakaki? Copyright fees?"

Otsuka looked utterly baffled.

Baimu smiled. In the anime, there was no Rainbow Rocket Team, but its logo was derived from the regular Rocket Team. If the Rocket Team trio saw this, they might think this was Rocket Team's branch in Orei.

They entered the building.

Most people he met were familiar faces from yesterday's welcome banquet; all greeted him respectfully with "Boss," and a few turned beet-red with excitement.

"Boss, you finally showed up at the company! Lady Ayana went crazy today and reappointed a bunch of people! The whole company's in chaos!"

The Rainbow Group had one president and one vice president.

The president was unquestionably Baimu.

"Take me to see it."

It was his first time at Rainbow Team HQ. Hearing these reports, he guessed Ayana was acting on last night's decision.

This woman always moved swiftly—she probably feared he'd refuse.

The men, hearing this, assumed Baimu was about to make a splash with his "new official, three fires" routine and eagerly led the way.

Otsuka watched their backs, his expression uneasy.

Though everyone had transferred from the Salvation Organization to Rainbow Team, Otsuka's group, who joined Salvation later from the Sandflow Team, had always had minor friction with those who joined earlier.

Mainly cliques.

Ayana's "lack of ambition" had angered some who weren't from Sandflow Team.

Baimu sensed the odd atmosphere in the company and sighed inwardly. Troubles kept piling up—Shannian and N were already giving him headaches.

Rainbow Team? He had no time to care.

He'd find a chance to step down.

He followed the men to the conference room. From the half-open door came Ayana's voice: "Effective today, I am stepping down as vice president."

The eager men froze in place, mouths agape.

They'd only resented Ayana's laziness and hoped Baimu would push her, guiding Rainbow Team toward a bright future—not to oust her.

Otsuka reacted just as strongly, assuming some blind group had pressured Ayana. He stormed inside, furious.

The next second.

He was kicked out by Ayana's long leg.

"Hmm? You're just in time—I've already arranged everything."

Ayana spotted Baimu outside the door, her face breaking into a relaxed smile. "When are we going to the Yellow Iron Arena?"

"... You didn't say you were quitting yesterday."

He sighed helplessly.

If Ayana quit first, how could he resign? Shan Nian would never agree—president and vice president resigning together would be a disaster.

"I'm just stepping down as vice president," Ayana corrected him. "I'm still a member of Rainbow Team. A regular one."

Was that a big difference?

Baimu didn't bother arguing. He thanked the men who led him, called Otsuka, and prepared to leave.

Ayana's capricious move would throw Rainbow Team into chaos for a while.

Underlings squabbling, ready to drag him into every dispute—what could a pure mascot do?

Better to leave early, pretend he never came.

People poured out of the conference room chasing Ayana, then spotted the stunned men outside. "What are you doing here?"

"We... ah! Boss is here! President Baimu is—where is he?"

They frantically scanned the area—but Baimu had vanished.

The group stood dumbfounded.

President and vice president both fleeing faster than each other—was Rainbow Team even functional?

The newly appointed Terri and Hu Wu exchanged glances, both seeing the same helplessness in each other's eyes.

Though promoted and empowered, being led by these two bizarre bosses made joy impossible.

Outside the building.

Baimu was immensely glad he'd run fast enough—the noise from inside was clearly audible outside.

"Otsuka, stay here for now and wait for Cheng Hong and the others. Then head to the Yellow Iron Arena together. Don't reveal our whereabouts to anyone."

He told Otsuka.

Otsuka nodded, glancing repeatedly at Ayana, lips moving as if to speak but holding back.

The boy didn't understand Ayana's motives. He'd assumed she'd been driven out by those troublemakers—but now their leader beamed, radiating pure relief.

There wasn't a trace of humiliation or resentment from being forced out.

But if he stepped down on his own...

Why?!

Lady Ayana ignored Otsuka's gaze, swiftly swung onto her hover-bike, looked at the rugged mechanical contraption beneath All Baimu, and asked, "How is it? Satisfied?"

"The horsepower's a bit stronger than before. I can't really tell anything else."

All Baimu had always been the type who only needed a vehicle to move; performance didn't matter to him.

Lady Ayana scoffed, "Wasted all my effort."

Vroom!

She put on her helmet and goggles and sped toward the arena; All Baimu shrugged and followed behind her.

In no time at all.

The two arrived at their destination.

The arena's exterior was still the familiar half-sphere, its outer walls made of silvery semi-transparent glass. It wasn't as dilapidated as before, but it gave off an inexplicable sense of age.

Wasteland punk, huh...

All Baimu pulled out his phone to contact Silver Ape. The other party seemed to have been waiting eagerly; less than half a minute after receiving the call, he came out together with his younger brother Did Did Yin Ma.

"Boss All Baimu, you've worked hard! Please, come in!"

Did Did Yin Ma acted unusually enthusiastic.

His own travel plans were still in the preparation stage. Upon hearing from Silver Ape that All Baimu was preparing to train the other trainers at the Iron Arena, he immediately asked to join in.

All Baimu, operating on the principle that herding one sheep is the same as herding a flock, agreed.

Teaching more people would also benefit future instructional work.

Inside the arena.

In the spacious individual battle fields, many trainers were enthusiastically commanding their Pokémon in combat.

These people were basically all former subordinates of Silver Ape and Did Did Yin Ma. After Orei's liberation, they still stuck with the two of them to make a living.

Currently, the Iron Arena no longer hosted gambling. It mainly earned its keep by renting out fields to outside trainers for battles, and occasionally holding one or two small tournaments that required an entry fee.

It couldn't break even, but Shanzhên seemed to have ideas about the arena.

From time to time, he would allocate a sum of money to Silver Ape and Did Did Yin Ma, allowing them to keep the arena running. So far, no problems had arisen.

Silver Ape said, "I'll go call them over."

"No need."

All Baimu shook his head. He planned to first observe these trainers' battle techniques before judging their talent and that of their Pokémon.

His time was tight; he only intended to focus on cultivating a few talented trainers.

Spreading the love equally could wait until later.

Seeing this, Silver Ape said no more. Did Did Yin Ma followed excitedly behind, while Lady Ayana trailed by one body-length the entire way, putting on the full posture of an attendant.

The group wandered around, getting a general sense of the situation inside.

"Hmm..."

All Baimu frowned.

The quality of these trainers at the arena... was even worse than he'd imagined!

He felt it would be better to count on Otsuka and the others. Those guys had spent half a month as sailors, and both their own quality and that of their Pokémon had improved by leaps and bounds across the board.

Having them come crush the trainers here would be no problem at all.