Chapter 1265

Backyard.

Also known as the Outdoor Research Institute.

Countless Pallet Town Trainers' Pokémon reside here, under the temporary care of Professor Oak.

At first glance the area doesn't seem large, but the Pokémon's activity range actually extends into the vast, boundless forests and mountains beyond.

Most of the Pokémon kept in the backyard are specimens Professor Oak is about to research and examine.

Looking around, nearby are mostly Bulbasaur, Caterpie, Oddish, Psyduck, and Goldeen—Kanto's most classic and common Pokémon.

"Hiss~"

The Hydreigon slowly flapped its wings, feeling rather bored.

The Pokémon here are truly too weak—none dare to meet its gaze.

It's clearly already suppressing its killing intent, acting quite ordinary!

Baimu patted its head, "Your head is right here!"

"Pika~"

Pikachu isn't afraid of Hydreigon, but it also fully agrees with Baimu's statement.

Everyone's stature is generally smaller than its head; staying put already shows extreme trust in the backyard's safety.

Ash walked in front, pointing at a distant warehouse.

He laughed: "Look! That's the Tauros I caught! Guess which one is mine?"

Before the warehouse door, numerous Tauros lazily swung their tails; hearing the Trainer's voice, they all turned attentive gazes.

Then——

"Moo!!"

They roared in unison, charging forward with thunderous steps.

Ash didn't dodge in the slightest, smiling as he waited in place for Baimu's answer.

"I guess all of them."

Bang!

Ash was launched straight up by the Tauros herd, shouting mid-air: "Cor—rect—"

"Pika pi..."

Pikachu broke into a sweat, feeling quite helpless.

But being launched by the Tauros has become an old routine—almost every time Ash visits them, he gets hit.

It seems this is how Tauros express affection.

Whoosh~

The wind howled.

"Hiss?"

Hydreigon sensed something, shifting its gaze toward the sky beside it.

Only an orange-red silhouette silently streaked across the horizon, precisely catching the falling Ash.

"Oh oh—"

Ash and leaves flew through the air as Charizard landed.

Ash laughed heartily, lightly patting its shoulder: "Thanks! Charizard!"

Being launched over ten meters by Tauros and coming away unharmed—Pallet Town residents' physiques are terrifying indeed!

"Oh oh~"

Charizard responded with a smile.

Then, it turned its gaze toward the Hydreigon staring at it; their eyes collided, seemingly sparking.

Hydreigon's restrained aura gradually relaxed, slightly advancing as if threatening.

"Hiss~"

"Oh oh!"

Charizard refused to yield—it had been drawn by the opponent's aura, and now seeing the true master, it wouldn't retreat.

The surrounding Pokémon trembled, assuming a fierce battle was imminent.

Just then, Hydreigon's aura retracted again, ceasing its intimidation, as if voluntarily conceding.

In fact, it had noticed Baimu raising his hand.

"Sp—"

Even Ash and Pikachu, preparing to mediate, froze—like the discomfort of suddenly stopping mid-urination.

Charizard blinked, "Oh oh?"

Hydreigon ignored it; whether they could battle had nothing to do with the current atmosphere, but was strongly tied to the Trainer's intent.

If I'm not mistaken.

"This is your Charizard?"

As Hydreigon expected, the Trainer spoke while approaching, standing before it, scrutinizing it closely with a face full of curiosity and emotion.

Ash replied proudly: "Exactly! My Charizard! One of my first partners!"

Charizard could be said to be his most frequently deployed Pokémon aside from Pikachu.

In the Johto arc, it faced off against the Frontier Brain Brandon's Articuno; in the Sinnoh arc, it battled the Night Shade from the Distant World.

In the Unova arc, it briefly returned to battle Iris's Dragonite.

It also appeared in the Sun & Moon arc and the current Journeys arc.

"Old Char..."

Baimu, lost in memory, clicked his tongue in wonder; Charizard had once been a Pokémon he was extremely fond of during his childhood.

When playing XY, his party included it as well.

During the updates of the Journeys series, many busybodies cited Charizard's past battle record, dubbing it "Professor Big Spray" — a Pokémon that had never won a tournament but had never lost a solo battle.

But Baimu never joined the bandwagon to hate on it; childhood memories always nourished his heart.

"Oh?"

Charizard looked at the man before it in puzzlement.

For some reason, it could sense dense goodwill emanating from the other party, and the way the other party looked at it was like looking at an old friend.

Even though this was clearly the first time they had met.

"Pika~"

Pikachu could sense it too, and had noticed it long ago when it first met Baimu.

This was also the reason why it was now especially close to Baimu.

A Pokémon's instinct told Pikachu that Baimu was a good friend worthy of trust, just like Brock and Misty!

Following Charizard, Ash's Pokémon arrived one after another.

"Bei li~~"

Bayleef took the lead in rushing over; its love for Ash was in no way inferior to Pikachu's, suspected of transcending the bounds between Pokémon and humans.

Unlike Tauros, its Take Down was remarkably "gentle"; after knocking Ash down, it nuzzled all over him in his embrace, as affectionate as could be.

But honestly, it in the Bayleef stage was far too awkward.

It was neither small and cute like Chikorita, nor elegant and beautiful like Meganium.

The middle stage truly appeared awkward.

However, among Ash's partners, individuals in the middle stage were extremely numerous.

"Ma gu!"

Tepig sat squatting before Ash's legs; beside it were Scraggy, Mantle Rock, Palpitoad, and other partners caught in the Unova region.

Besides these, starter Pokémon were also not few in number, such as Oshawott, Dewott, Snivy, Servine, Corphish, Totodile, and so on.

And this was merely a small portion of them.

Seeing these Pokémon, Baimu felt practically as if he had rewatched the entire Pokémon anime series.

"These are a portion of my partners!"

Ash said proudly.

Baimu nodded, interacting happily with each and every Pokémon.

"Wa ni wa ni!"

The energetic Totodile directly chomped down on his hand, startling Pikachu and Ash into hurriedly trying to stop it, but Baimu waved them off.

The slight stinging sensation did not provoke anger.

"Hello there! Totodile!"

Baimu wore a smile; Totodile was the starter Ash had snatched from Misty's hands, the comic relief of the Johto arc.

The intense goodwill caused Totodile to freeze, then it sheepishly let go, scratching its head a bit embarrassedly, "Wa ni..."

Totodile was undoubtedly a very smart Pokémon; it just got overexcited easily.

"It's fine."

Baimu patted its slightly rough crocodile-skin head, turned to look at Corphish, and generously extended his hand.

"Hello."

"Gari gari!"

Corphish extended its claws, and the two shook friendly-like.

It came from the Battle Frontier in the Hoenn region, and was a mainstay of Ash's Advanced Generation period; its Crabhammer was no joke.

Next to it, the Snorlax Ash had caught during the Orange Islands arc, which had little showing in the Original Series, but in Advanced Generation established meritorious service for Ash clearing the Battle Frontier.

"Bi bei~"

"Hello hello."

Baimu was truly overjoyed, never having imagined that one day he would get to see these childhood Pokémon in person.

Crybaby Scizor, King Bird Staraptor, Darkrai-defeating Sceptile, tsundere Snake Sis Serperior, sunglasses cool guy Unova's #1 fighting force Krookodile, better-unevolved Torterra...

"Muk!"

"Ulu~"

The enthusiastic Muk gave Baimu a big hug; the formerly severely mysophobic Baimu acted as if he couldn't smell the stench, smiling as he hugged back.

Porygon-Z and Hydreigon both stared dumbfounded.

Ash and Pikachu too.

"Baimu... he's... amazing..."

"Pika..."

Truth be told, Muk's stench was unbearable even to Ash its Trainer, yet Baimu actually hugged it back without changing expression.

And what surprised Ash even more was that Baimu soon broke free.

"Where are the other Pokémon?"

He still had more Pokémon he wanted to meet; those appearing here probably didn't even make up half.

Ash scratched his head, "Everyone, they're probably playing nearby?"

Because he'd been running to Professor Oak's house frequently these past two days, some Pokémon no longer deliberately stayed nearby waiting for his arrival.

Baimu found a place to change clothes, then followed Ash to look for the other Pokémon.

The first batch was found quickly.

Why do I say "first batch"?

Because the Pokémon they discovered were a trio — Bulbasaur, Heracross, and Chansey.

Just like that widely circulated image online, Heracross was clinging to Bulbasaur, trying to suck nectar from the flower bud on its back.

"Bulba! Bulba!"

Bulbasaur extended its vine whips, attacking Heracross repeatedly, and Chansey helped pull, yet they simply could not stop its determination to gulp down the nectar.

Pikachu rushed forward to help, while Ash laughed heartily without a care.

"They always like to play like this!"

Are you sure it's playing?

You have to know Bulbasaur is a Grass-type Pokémon, and the flower bud belongs to a plant's... uh.

In any case, Heracross's behavior is extremely perverted!

Pikachu pulled for a long time with no result; the reckless personality inherited from Ash made it choose to flip the table.

"Pika—chu!!"

Zzt!!

A soaring Thunderbolt engulfed Heracross, Bulbasaur, and Chansey all together; after a bang exploded, all three Pokémon turned into "black charcoal."

Bulbasaur accepted it, "Bulba..."

Fortunately Heracross finally let go, allowing it to run over to Ash's side.

Baimu greeted it opportunely, "Hello there, I'm Baimu."

"Bulba? Bulba!"

Bulbasaur nodded its head.

It treats strangers with relative coldness, after all it fancies itself a solitary wanderer at world's end, with a lofty personality.

But this guy is cold outside, warm inside; otherwise it wouldn't have become the Pokémon manager of Professor Oak's backyard.

When the child of Pallet Town's mayor prepared to journey, he once wanted to take it away as his own starter Pokémon.

Naturally it didn't succeed in the end.

Heracross ran over still wanting to keep sucking; Baimu fished a Pokéblock from his pocket and handed it over.

"Heracross?"

Its attention was quickly drawn away, and Bulbasaur was spared.

Bulbasaur completely set its mind at ease, and a trace of approval and closeness surfaced in its gaze toward Baimu.

Ash said to it, "Bulbasaur, we want to go find other partners; do you know where they are?"

Bulbasaur naturally knew, and led the two to search for the other Pokémon.

They gradually moved away from Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Beneath a certain cliff.

Baimu saw Donphan rolling rocks, and Phanpy learning to roll rocks.

"Hmm~ hmm~"

"Squeak~"

These two Pokémon were both hatched from eggs by Ash, so they acted relatively close.

Ash greeted them loudly, and as expected was knocked to the ground again.

Pokémon hatched by hand have innately higher intimacy than others; these two were no exception.

Toward Baimu, the two Pokémon were also very friendly.

Phanpy was no longer the greenhorn it used to be, the kind that had to intimidate everyone it saw, then headbutt them.

If Ash keeps raising it, Baimu feels its probability of evolving is very high.

In a certain forest where bird Pokémon gather.

All of Ash's remaining Flying-type Pokémon are here.

Shiny Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant, Hawlucha, Talonflame — six great Flying generals.

To put it bluntly, every time Ash reaches a new region, he can lack any type of Pokémon, but Flying-type absolutely needs one.

In the Alola arc, for the sake of keeping a Flying-type, Rowlet even refused to evolve.

In the Journeys arc, he likewise caught a Flying-type Dragonite.

To put it bluntly, the former Drake was a Flying Elite Four, while Ash belongs to the Flying Champion.

Unfortunately, Ash's Flying-type Pokémon generally have poor records.

The best might be Pidgeot; its fusion move with Pikachu — Thunderbolt and Wing Attack combined into Golden Wing Attack — remains unforgettable to this day.

"Are all your bird Pokémon here?"

Baimu turned his head and asked Ash.

Ash nodded at first, then froze for a moment, and said, "No, I still have a Pidgeot living in Viridian Forest."

Good!

You didn't forget it!

Baimu nodded, moved.

Because the later production team never mentioned Pidgeot at all, coupled with Ash once saying he'd eventually bring Pidgeot back, it nearly became a scumbag.

Now hearing it from Ash's own mouth, he was satisfied.

However, in the final closing arc of Journeys, Ash actually brought Pidgeot back personally.

Resolving the regret of many Ash fans.

Passing through the forest where the bird Pokémon were, the next one found was the crying coal turtle, and the most handsome senior brother among the Pokémon—Blaziken—was comforting it.

"Pika?"

"Oh..."

"Pika pika?"

"What's wrong?"

Pikachu and Ash stepped forward to inquire about the reason.

It turned out that Ash's other Pokémon, Garchomp, had snatched its fruit.

Garchomp!

Baimu's eyes flickered slightly.

This little guy could be said to be the most restless one in Ash's team.

Its Aura Sphere not only has the function of locking onto Wave Guidance, but it also often likes to nibble on Ash's head, and its lower jaw is quite fierce!

Baimu, as usual, pulled out a Poké Block, and also squeezed the sachet in his bosom, stabilizing the coal turtle's emotions.

He turned his head to look at Blaziken, and Blaziken also looked at him, then nodded.

"Pika!"

"Hello! I've long admired your name!"

Baimu extended his hand.

Blaziken was somewhat confused, and Ash and Pikachu were equally puzzled.

"Long admired your name?"

Is it famous somewhere?

Baimu explained: "When I previously looked up the match records of Takuto, I happened to see your performance in the Lily of the Valley Conference, and Blaziken's performance truly amazed me."

"Ah~ I see~"

Ash suddenly understood.

Blaziken then seemed somewhat dazed.

The Lily of the Valley Conference—such a distant phrase—it couldn't help but recall its former trainer, Shinji.

Where is he now? And what is he preparing to do?

——Shinji is preparing for the Gym Leader's test, didn't even participate in the World Championships, but seeing Ash's relentless progress, he thought of lending him a hand.