Chapter 1121: Capturing

The summer sun blazed.

Baimu slurped a popsicle while filming a beach vlog for Big-Mouthed Baby and Eguier.

Although the construction machinery in the distance was deafeningly loud, it didn't spoil their good mood at the moment.

After all, no matter how noisy it got, could it be noisier than Roaring Tail?

This guy hated meaningless noise and often ran off to roar at engines and such.

But he was tolerant of the Ocean Team people, liking their harmonious after-work gatherings, often dragging Baimu in to join the fun—

It wasn't that it didn't want to act alone; the key was that it had broken a machine at the start, so now whether it was Ocean Team or Magma Team people, if they saw it acting alone they'd immediately report it to their superiors.

Then Porygon-Z would fly over to catch it.

Roaring Tail was furious at first, but after being caught several times in a row it gradually got used to it.

Like right now.

"Ah!"

"Busy, I'm filming a video."

Baimu refused without even turning his head; his calf was being tugged but he paid it no mind, then suddenly felt a violent tremor, "You—huh?"

His field of vision shook visibly; the sea swelled in an instant, and all the surrounding Pokémon showed blank or wary expressions.

Hydreigon acted first, shoving its big head under Baimu's crotch and letting him lie on its back.

"Gyarados!"

It roared at Porygon2 and the other Pokémon, signaling them to return to their Poké Balls quickly.

But no reminder was needed; everyone was already moving.

Even the slowest-reacting Roaring Tail was being dragged aside by Shiny Gengar, "Gengar! Gengar!"

Who knew Baimu would roll over and shout: "Everyone wait! Don't rush!"

The Pokémon stopped instantly; they instinctively trusted their Trainer, even in the midst of an inexplicable crisis.

They looked up and waited for orders; seconds later the trembling continued to weaken until it vanished.

"Looks like my guess was right."

He patted Hydreigon's head signaling it to descend, "Queen Leiguanwang's side is probably finished already."

Earthquakes are normal on an active volcanic island like Nickel Dark Island, but an earthquake while Queen Leiguanwang and Lugia are in control is abnormal.

Porygon-Z: "Shall I go down and check?"

"No need, they'll be up in a bit." Baimu said with certainty.

As soon as he finished speaking, a towering waterspout erupted in the far distance.

Boom!

Immediately after, the waves split in two, revealing a clear path; the Lugia pair and the white steed Queen Leiguanwang were approaching this way.

They were very fast, and behaved extremely enthusiastically.

"Lugia~"

"Long time no see!"

The big Lugia interacted affectionately with Baimu; the little Silver shamelessly wedged itself in between.

Usually, Legendary Pokémon don't like excessive contact with humans, like the Shiny Rayquaza that hasn't been seen in ages.

But the Lugia mother and son don't seem to mind this.

However, before Baimu could finish greetings, an icy horse head suddenly cut in, its cold faceplate lightly brushing his chin.

"Hrulu~"

Glastrier's whinny was low, but full of happy emotion.

Baimu smiled, cupping its thick long horse head, "Long time no see! Did you eat your carrots properly while I was gone these days?"

"Neigh~"

Glastrier's response was quite enthusiastic.

Queen Leiguanwang on its back looked displeased; she had promised all sorts of "humiliating" conditions to win back Glastrier's heart back then.

It took tremendous effort to ease the relationship.

In comparison, Glastrier and Spectrier's favorability toward Baimu was simply incomprehensibly high, especially the latter!

She couldn't help but say in a sarcastic tone:

'My beloved steed has become yours!'

"So what? You're mine too!" Baimu stroked Glastrier's icy cheek, telling her quite rudely.

The little deer's face flushed red instantly.

'Pre... posterous!'

"Hehe."

Baimu laughed and hugged Queen Leiguanwang down; the latter pretended to struggle but actually used no strength at all, let alone the psychic power she trusted.

Her soft fluffy flower-bud head was squashed out of shape, yet she couldn't muster any temper.

No helping it, who told her to have thin skin?

And don't look at her acting angry on the surface; who knows how happy she was inside.

"Good work, I'll make you something delicious tonight as a reward." Baimu held her like a doll, turning to look at the Lugia pair, "Let's go to Platinum Silver Mountain together! There's lots of good stuff I want you to try!"

"Lugia!"

"Woo~"

The Lugia mother and son had no objections.

Baimu's cooking was certainly blown away by Zhi Mi, but is Zhi Mi an ordinary chef?

I'm a legendary chef!

——

Platinum Silver Mountain.

Baimu returned with the treasures in tow.

Queen Leiguanwang discovered Mew's existence early on.

【Wait——】

"It's fine, it's Mew." He explained the situation, including Mew's origin.

Cabinka the Little Deer, however, did not relax its vigilance, frowning as it said: 【Ancestor?】

"Theoretically, that's the case."

Baimu didn't know why Queen Leiguanwang was born, but its genes Mew definitely has too.

【……】

Queen Leiguanwang frowned deeply.

It didn't care for the so-called ancestor, merely felt Mew's existence was very suspicious.

Meanwhile.

Mew flew out of the villa.

Two days to it were equivalent to the snap of a finger; touching here, playing there, it not only messed with Gengar's computer, but also completely emptied the refrigerator.

If not for Alolan Meowth guarding day and night, Mime Jr.'s doll room would likely have suffered the same fate.

Of course, it's not ruled out that it went in, found it boring, and came back out.

"Meh~"

Mew smiled beamingly.

Baimu, on the other hand, had an urge to grab it and rough it up.

Perhaps the gaze was too direct; Mew suddenly drew close, seemingly intending to do something.

This drew Queen Leiguanwang's displeasure.

It formed an ice spear, blocking Mew's path.

"Meh?"

Mew blinked its big eyes, not angry either, circling Queen Leiguanwang several times.

A Pokémon I've never seen before!

Its body surface suddenly surged with blue light, then transformed into Queen Leiguanwang's likeness, crying out happily, "Yoh~ Yoh~"

Cabinka the Little Deer instantly became displeased.

It could not tolerate the majestic "self" becoming so frivolous, let alone this cutesy cry——

【How dare you insult This King!】

Queen Leiguanwang's eyes lit up with blue light, mental power sufficient to warp reality like a ruthless giant hand, grabbing viciously at the bootleg Queen Leiguanwang.

The bootleg Queen Leiguanwang laughed merrily as if unaware; the instant it was trapped it produced a pink-purple light sphere, enveloping itself to defend against Queen Leiguanwang's mental power.

"Yoh~ Yoh~"

【……】

Blue veins bulged at Queen Leiguanwang's temples.

Intense rage even infected the Glastrier beneath it.

"Hihihi——"

Glastrier reared its front hooves, slamming them down fiercely at the fake before it!

But before contact, Queen Leiguanwang pulled the reins and stared at Mew, coldly saying: 【Dare to fight me in the heavens!?】

Having spoken.

It rode Glastrier soaring into the high sky.

Platinum Silver Mountain might not withstand its fury; this was what Queen Leiguanwang did not wish to see.

Mew glanced at Baimu, transformed back to its original form and flew before him, extending a little claw wanting to pat his head, but since it was dodged, could only pat the air twice.

"Meh~"

The meaning was like saying: be good and wait for me to return.

——This thing is really crazy!

Baimu's mouth twitched; he'd long anticipated Mew's uninhibited personality, yet never expected it to reach this extent.

It flew toward the high sky.

Not long after.

Platinum Silver Mountain's firmament lit up with vast stretches of blue light and pink light, air temperature plummeted, mad winds brushed the forest emitting a dull whistling sound.

"Chirp~"

Great Lugia wanted to go up and help, but was stopped by Baimu.

He persuaded: "It's fine, Queen Leiguanwang knows restraint, won't fight too fiercely."

As he spoke, ice chunks bigger than a person crashed down with a boom, smashing an innocent large tree.

Baimu: "……"

Queen Leiguanwang won't really lose its temper, right?

Mew too, truly, genuinely deserves a beating!

Reasonably speaking, Baimu similarly really wants to challenge it, make it submit then stuff it in his arms and rough it up a bit.

Mhm.

Skipping the earlier steps and fast-forwarding straight to the final step works too.

Too bad Mew is the same as him — especially good at dodging; basically very hard to catch.

Unless it's willing itself.

"Go! Help out!"

The Baimu Sect dispatched every flying Pokémon it had to intercept similar ice shards, preventing innocent wild Pokémon and flowers and plants from being caught up in it.

He himself returned to the villa to make dinner; the Lugia mother and son had no small appetites — they were the type who either didn't eat, or when they did, ate a frightening amount.

People often say Snorlax is the Big Eater King; in reality, Lugia is also quite authoritative in the big-stomach department.

Sunset at dusk.

The White Horse Queen Leiguanwang and Mew finally finished fighting.

"Anime world, tsk tsk tsk."

Baimu shook his head. In the games, Mew isn't even fit to carry White Horse Queen Leiguanwang's shoes; so what if there's a ten-level difference? It's nothing more than the difference between one Ice Beam and two Ice Beams.

If push comes to shove, switch to Black Horse Queen Leiguanwang — one Astral Barrage and Mew's ten lives couldn't take it.

Who told it to be Psychic-type?

But in the anime world, game battle power is only a reference; otherwise, every single Legendary Pokémon would probably not even be as strong as some ordinary Pokémon.

"Evil thing!"

Queen Leiguanwang complained to Baimu dejectedly.

Battling Mew was too stifling; attacks would definitely land, but the opponent inexplicably always managed to exert strength equal to hers, forcing a fifty-fifty tie.

You have to know — she's a two-in-one unity of human and horse!

Baimu consoled her: "It's rather special; you can treat it as a rule-based Pokémon."

"Rules?"

Queen Leiguanwang didn't quite understand.

So he explained: "Equivalent to that special power of yours that makes crops bountiful and land fertile."

Queen Leiguanwang understood a little bit.

But it still felt displeased. "I am bored, have no appetite; you all enjoy yourselves!"

It chose to return to the garden to sulk.

Baimu tried to persuade it to stay, but didn't succeed, so he decided to send food over later and keep it company until it finished eating before returning.

— If he weren't also helpless against Mew, right now he really should have seized that little pink thing and made it apologize to Queen Leiguanwang with thorns on its back.

Why not find someone to borrow some black-tech that boosts Special Attack against Pokémon?

Baimu thought it over carefully and gave up on this evil idea of formally becoming a villain.

He enthusiastically hosted the Lugia mother and son; Mew mooched food and drink everywhere, not treating itself as an outsider at all, but everyone found it displeasing.

"Meh-yo~ Meh-yo~"

Mew did as it pleased.

Only now did Baimu understand what is called an existence humans cannot comprehend.

Feel like Pokémon can't understand it either, right?

Forget it.

Anyway, it won't stay more than a few days.

Baimu thought this, but in the blink of an eye a week had passed.

"You've been cyber-stalking me all day — what exactly do you want?"

He asked Mew, baffled.

This week he ran all over Huang Tie Town and the Pokémon Paradise — either sending Loudred to learn singing, or going to Huang Tie Town to teach people battling.

Every day when he left he wondered when Mew would leave; every day when he returned it was still there.

Didn't do anything else.

Just observed him.

Sometimes invisibly peeping, sometimes watching openly.

It made Baimu not even dare to casually open the simulator, though even if Mew found out it wouldn't matter.

"Meh-yo~"

Mew was smiling cheerfully.

As a Psychic-type Mythical Pokémon, it certainly possesses telepathy, but it never does that.

Even if communication efficiency is low, it still chooses to emit its own genuine voice.

Polygon Phone: "Mew says you're very interesting... I feel this guy isn't quite normal."

Even it finds it hard to understand.

Baimu was quite at a loss for words.

That night, in his room he conducted a new round of simulation; Mew suddenly ran in.

"Meh-yo? Meh-yo!"

It approached Baimu's face, staring into the latter's eyes.

"What do you want to do?"

Baimu couldn't even be bothered to dodge; through the light screen he stared back at those watery eyes.

Mew reached a claw to pry open his lower eyelid, carefully examining his eyeball.

Finding nothing, it flew away.

"Nutcase."

Baimu silently continued watching the simulation, Misdreavus and the other Pokémon exchanging glances and communicating through their eyes.

They were even less patient than Baimu—

Mew's presence always draws the trainer's attention, and we already have little time to spend with trainers normally, yet it still tries to muscle in!

It's not even a partner!

Aside from Happiny, all Pokémon are of one mind.

Either Mew joins the team and becomes family from now on, or it gets as far away as possible!

Though the idea is simple enough, there's nothing we can do about Mew—its power belongs to the strange kind of strength.

In response, Ditto II proposed a suggestion.

"How about borrowing human technology?"

Baimu often says that no matter how strong a Pokémon is, it can't surpass technology, and it agrees wholeheartedly.

Precisely because it is itself a human creation, it understands just how impressive human inventions are.

After discussion, Pokémon like Politoed all expressed their agreement.

Immediately.

Ditto II went off to figure out how to get some black tech.

And when Baimu learned of this, Ditto II had already obtained what it believed could counter Mew—

Many black triangular objects.

"Clang-clang~Psychic Magnetic Field Shielding Device!"

It boasted: "This device is supposedly used to control humans or Pokémon whose psychic power has gone berserk, providing a space where psychic power cannot be used."

Baimu: "This thing……where did you get it from?"

"It's an invention by Dr. Akihabara, originally intended to be sold as medical equipment, but too niche—no one bought it, left in the warehouse gathering dust, until I found it!"

Ditto II chuckled hehe, "Today we'll install it at home, wait for it to come in, and then we'll take it down in one go!"

Baimu hesitated: "This isn't right, is it?"

"If you won't do it, we will! We've been putting up with that guy for not just a day or two!" Ditto II snorted.

Baimu added: "I mean, does it actually work?"

Black tech may be super effective against legendary and mythical beasts, but not every black tech works.

Ditto II said: "If it doesn't work, no harm done—we can just scare it off—do you feel sorry for it?"

"I don't!"

Faced with the skeptical looks from our own Pokémon, Baimu's response was especially decisive.

Based on this, the Great Mew Capture Operation officially commenced!

Ditto II secretly installed the device in various corners of the villa, without telling the other Pokémon.

But will it actually work? Bold enough!

The next day.

The Mew on the sofa was turned into hemp rope and hogtied by Ditto II, leaving Baimu staring in shock.

"Done!?"

(End of Chapter)