Chapter 753: The Dream Plan

After recognizing him, the two across from him clearly lowered their guard.

The blue-haired girl smiled and introduced herself:

"I've heard so much about you, Baimu. I'm Asahi, also a Pokémon Trainer."

"Aken."

The red-haired youth was more reserved, giving a slight nod as sufficient courtesy.

Asahi? Aken?

Oh!

At her words, Baimu immediately remembered.

The Dream Plan!

A special operation designed by the anime production team for the Journey arc, aimed at finding Mew to uncover the origins of Pokémon.

Of course, those weren't the focus—the focus was the two people before him.

As two of the original core members of the Dream Plan, the blue-haired girl Asahi and the red-haired youth Aken each possessed a Legendary Pokémon—Braviary's Combo Style and Braviary's One-Hit Style.

Are the clues pointing to them?

No way!

Although Baimu had no expectation of capturing the Legendary Pokémon this clue pointed to, to be told the clue actually led to someone else's Pokémon…

Wouldn't that be a little ridiculous?

He really wanted to flip the simulator off, but considering the situation wasn't settled yet, he held back.

"I'm glad to meet you both, and please don't misunderstand—I was just taking a walk after dinner, saw the salvage ship nearby, and came over to take a look."

Baimu proved his innocence, grateful he hadn't been foolish enough to board the ship.

If he had, he'd have no defense now.

He might even end up in jail.

But these two didn't seem to care about his explanation—when a bright light flared behind them, they quickly stepped aside.

"…"

Baimu and the Dragon siblings on his shoulder squinted, not moving.

The next moment.

The bright light softened into a warm glow.

The figure emerged—a high-tech transport vehicle.

A middle-aged man with messy hair and a hooked nose jumped down from the driver's seat, a tiny Munchlax perched on his shoulder.

"What's going on? Huh? You're—?"

"What's up?"

"Doctor! Don't you remember him? He's Baimu! Last month you said you wanted to recruit him into the team." Asahi said with a smile.

Unsurprisingly, this was Professor Suigao, the initiator of the Dream Plan.

Baimu silently regarded the middle-aged man with an awkward expression.

"I just mentioned it offhand after seeing the news…"

Professor Suigao chuckled, quickly stepping forward and extending a friendly hand. "Better to see once than hear a hundred times. Hello, Baimu-kun. I'm Suigao, a scholar studying Pokémon origins."

"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."

Baimu hurriedly shook his hand.

Although he had little regard for the poorly developed character of Kōta, Professor Suigao was a genuine researcher who had spent years preparing to carry out the Dream Plan—a man worthy of respect.

After hearing the details from Asahi, Professor Suigao smiled. "Looks like we're quite fated. May I ask, do you have time now?"

"Yes!"

Baimu nodded.

And so.

He entered the interior of the salvage ship's cabin.

On the deck outside, Asahi and Aken each sent out their Pokémon to jointly haul various supplies from the transport vehicle's cargo bed.

"Here."

Professor Suigao handed him a cup of hot cocoa; he murmured thanks and accepted it.

The younger Dragon on his left shoulder twitched its nose curiously and leaned forward to taste it, only to be smacked on the head by the older Dragon.

"Hee-yaa!"

"Hee-yaa…"

The younger Dragon pouted, clutching its head.

The Munchlax, finding the scene amusing, mimicked it comically.

Professor Suigao smiled warmly and asked, "Baimu-kun, having been involved with Pokémon for so long, have you ever thought about their origins?"

"Origins? You mean where they came from, and why they exist in this world?"

"Exactly."

"... Created by Arceus?"

"Ahahaha, your view is indeed one possibility. In mythology, Arceus created everything—the first three Dragon-type Pokémon, and the Lake Guardians representing wisdom, emotion, and will."

Professor Suigao paused briefly, then continued: "But in current academia, evolution theory is favored over creationism—that all Pokémon share a common ancestor."

Baimu asked, feigning ignorance: "You mean?"

"Are you unfamiliar with the name Mew?"

Professor Suigao pressed a button on the remote; a blue light flared on a nearby platform, and a 3D model of Mew suddenly materialized.

It drifted about the cabin as if it were a living thing.

Professor Suigao said: "This Pokémon, which should have gone extinct, was once again discovered in modern times, and countless people in academia have followed in its footsteps, only just now catching a glimpse of its secrets — an extremely high intelligence, the ability to use every move, and genetic information containing data on all Pokémon."

"There was once an unlawful organization that used its eyelashes to create an extraordinarily powerful Pokémon, and to this day Kanto still holds legends of that man-made Pokémon."

He pressed the remote again, and the illusory Mew disappeared. Turning to All Baimu, he said: "My ultimate goal is to use Mew as a key to decode the mysteries of Pokémon origins."

"Mew…"

All Baimu fell into thought.

The beginning of the Mew Project was Professor Suigao's detection of an unusual spiritual energy fluctuation on an island at the edge of the world, but as things stand now, this event probably has not yet occurred.

"How about it? Interested in joining us?"

Professor Suigao tossed out the olive branch with a smile.

He did not pick up the thread, but instead asked: "Professor Suigao, then are you currently searching for Mew's trail? A salvage ship… an undersea ruin?"

"That's right! As long as you're willing to join, we'll tell you all the details! Tempting, isn't it?" Asahi walked in with a beaming smile, while Aken closed the door with a calm expression.

Professor Suigao thanked the two, then said frankly: "Mew's whereabouts are truly hard to track. Until we can discover its trail, we plan to start with other Pokémon."

Other Pokémon…

All Baimu was startled by the words and pressed: "Which kind of Pokémon?"

Before Professor Suigao and Asahi could open their mouths, Aken beside them suddenly spoke up:

"The legendary giants, the eternal Pokémon — Regirock, Registeel, and Lei Jiaisi."

"Aken?"

Asahi looked at her partner in surprise.

The usually cold, taciturn Aken actually took the initiative to reveal the objective of their operation — it was completely out of character!

Professor Suigao was equally surprised, but said nothing more, and turning to All Baimu said: "That's right. According to legend, they are Pokémon created by Lei Lei Jiqi. I believe traces of origin can also be sought upon them.

"If we can prove they too originate from Mew, this will be a world-shaking discovery!"

The Regi series originates from Mew?

All Baimu was a bit startled by Professor Suigao's bold hypothesis, but understood why the man would hold such a thought.

The Mew-origin theory and the Arceus-creation theory are two holes deliberately left by gf to make the Pokémon world feel more real, deliberately offering multiple possibilities to provoke players' thought and discussion.

Players are already like this.

How could proper researchers jump to conclusions outright?

One must remember that many people in the Pokémon world do not believe Pokémon like Arceus exist, and the professors, with access to more material, certainly would not be so rash.

Yet they would also treat the mythological legend of Arceus creating the world with greater caution.

However.

Professor Suigao and the others actually came for the Sealed Chamber too?

Was the simulator doing this on purpose?

Knowing he had designs on the Registeel in the ancient tomb, it deliberately arranged "teammates" for him at this point in time.

Or perhaps it was pointing straight at Registeel.

Originally, All Baimu had planned to first go to the Alola region to obtain the Z-Ring and all-type Z-Crystals, then consider the matter of Registeel once the second system was in hand.

But the legendary clue had led him straight to Hoenn, forcing him to move ahead of schedule.

And according to Asahi's addition, they had already been here for nearly two months, and the seabed of Route 134 had nearly been explored by them from end to end; they believed the ruin recorded in the ancient texts would be found very soon.

"If you're interested, why not join us!"

The blue-haired girl was like the head of a pyramid scheme, ceaselessly egging him on to join.

Professor Suigao could only laugh wryly.

They really were rather short-handed, short of sufficiently suitable partners; otherwise they would not have specially held the pre-selection for the "Mew Project" later on to screen for trainers who met their requirements.

And All Baimu, receiving such a warm invitation, very much wanted to agree on the spot, but he had no interest in the Mew Project, and even less desire to team up with Sou to go to the island at the edge of the world and take a beating from Mew.

Forget it.

Going to the Sealed Chamber wasn't the ultimate goal anyway — as long as Professor Suigao and the others deciphered the ancient Braille, they could open the ancient tomb just the same.

He was about to refuse when Aken, silent beside him, spoke again:

"Don't misunderstand. Inviting you to join is one thing; testing whether you qualify is another. It's not that just because you nod, you're guaranteed to formally join our project — many examinations are required to confirm it."

His tone sounded a little sharp.

As if rebuking him for remaining unmoved by Asahi's and Professor Suigao's two invitations.

Only All Baimu sensed no hostility whatsoever from the man, and the hidden Dragapult showed no reaction either.

So what he meant was to brief him on the specific procedure after agreeing, urging him to think it over?

Tsundere, huh!

He certainly knew from the anime's plot that the man was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, but hearing Aken speak like this now, he couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for the guy.

Being unable to express one's feelings straightforwardly is no good thing.

It easily drags others down with you.

Sure enough.

Asahi hurriedly covered for Aken: "Everyone has an entry test. Aken isn't singling you out — we all went through Professor Suigao's many trials before finally qualifying!"

"That's right, Aken passed the selection as a Chaser with the highest score, and he's a very warm-hearted person!"

Professor Suigao also stepped in to smooth things over, patted Aken on the back, and laughed: "Since fate has brought us together like this, why don't you give it a try, All Baimu-kun? Even if you ultimately still can't join, we can still leave each other with a beautiful memory."

All Baimu had no room left to refuse, and nodding said: "I'm honored by the Professor and the two of you for thinking so highly of me. To keep hesitating would make me seem terribly ungracious. Then please look after me well in the days to come."

"Welcome!"

Professor Suigao and Asahi both laughed and applauded.

A-Jian gave a polite couple of claps, then said bluntly: "Since you've already chosen to join, you'd best get into working mode as soon as possible. I'll show you around everything on this ship. Come with me."

He turned and pushed the door open to leave.

That left Asahi and Professor Suigao standing beside him completely at a loss.

A-Jian really was an enthusiastic person, but he'd never been this eager to give anyone a tour before — that job was usually Asahi's!

Watching Baimu follow him out the door, the two couldn't help whispering to each other.

"A-Jian isn't really looking forward to Baimu joining, is he?"

"Very likely. He's always especially admired strong Trainers. Last time I casually mentioned wanting Baimu to join, he started paying attention to news about Baimu all the time."

"Ehh — what a surprise."

"This kid's cold on the outside but warm on the inside, you know that. Still, his way of communicating does have a bit of a problem. Please go along and keep an eye on things."

"Understood! Professor!"

Asahi went clip-clop out the cabin door.

——

The various pieces of equipment on the salvage ship far exceeded Baimu's imagination.

To cope with different situations, from excavation machinery down to small submarines — if he couldn't think of it, he couldn't see it.

"This is the manual for activating the relevant equipment. I hope you can finish reading it as soon as possible, so that when the moment comes to use it you won't have any idea how to operate it."

A-Jian handed him a thick operation guide; from the side it was clearly pieced together from several manuals.

Baimu took it, just about to ask whether the other man knew how to operate every piece of machinery.

The other man had already begun letting him watch a live demonstration.

That was ridiculous!

He silently watched A-Jian operate each one in turn, then discovered that in fact a lot of the equipment wasn't as hard as he'd imagined — it could even be called idiot-proof.

This reminded him of Team Rocket's high-tech airship, which didn't require much education to operate at will.

What a relief.

Baimu felt an inexplicable sense of gratitude.

The rest cabin A-Jian arranged for him wasn't small; setting aside the somewhat low ceiling height, it was enough to stuff most of his Pokémon into.

The only one that wouldn't fit was a giant Steelix — once it was in, there was no room for any other Pokémon.

"If you have any dietary restrictions normally, you can write them down and stick them on the fridge."

Browsing to the end, in front of the dining area A-Jian said: "The team takes turns cooking, one shift every three days. Can you accept that?"

"I can."

How could Baimu possibly have any objection to something he was good at?

A-Jian then said: "Then that's it for today. We set out sharp at six tomorrow morning. Don't be late."

"Thanks."

Baimu thanked him.

Though this young man's tone was rather cold and stiff, as if he'd only just learned to speak like a human, he was extremely responsible and enthusiastic — he even explained which way to twist the hot-water tap in the bathroom.

A-Jian neither confirmed nor denied, saying: "Searching for Mew and exploring the origins of Pokémon is a complex and tedious process that requires enough patience, carefulness, and superior teamwork. Personal strength alone isn't enough. I hope you can meet the final requirements."

The way he said it, paired with that face, was practically the same as pointing at Baimu's nose and saying you only have a bit of strength, don't get too cocky.

"I'll do my best."

Baimu chose to selectively ignore the implications in those words, and felt a slight anticipation for the upcoming exploration of the Announcement Stone Chamber.

The road to catching the legendary — New Game Plus was finally about to begin!