Chapter 1334: Blizzard Ghost Shadow

"Regigigas!"

Brandon's call arrived late.

It wasn't that his reaction was slow, he just didn't expect Regigigas to skip him directly and launch an attack on All Baimu.

Cynthia buckled the Poké Ball with one hand, looked at Regigigas returning to the throne, and muttered: "Could the myth be true?"

"What myth?"

Brandon confirmed that All Baimu was safe and sound, and upon hearing this, he immediately showed an interested look.

As an archaeologist and adventurer, he was interested in all myths and stories.

Cynthia said: "It is rumored that on the back of Arceus's stone plates, countless hidden legends are recorded. One of the backs records—'The power bestowed by the stone plate is the power of the giant that was defeated'."

"'The power of the giant that was defeated...'"

Brandon couldn't help but look at the giants around, and then looked at Regigigas, who had returned to the throne.

Could it be that the power of the stone plates originated from Regigigas?

All Baimu didn't commit, he didn't know what the situation was in the game, but the stone plates in the anime background—that is, the life source—had no inscriptions on the back; the inscriptions were likely from Cynthia's ancestors, the ancient people of the Hall of Origin.

They coexisted with the Hisuian Ten Kings on the Hisui land in ancient times, and the stone plates were likely given to the Ten Kings by them.

"So Regigigas saw the Prison Bottle and stone plates held by All Baimu, which is why it attacked."

Brandon paused, "Stopping the attack was because it discovered that the companions were all protecting All Baimu, right?"

He walked to Regigigas, looking up at the tall King of Giants, "Is that so? Regigigas! Sorry for disturbing your sleep!"

For Brandon, Regigigas was still willing to give face; the air holes like the Big Dipper in the center flickered with light, and a low hum echoed through the hall.

"Lei~! Ji~! Qi~! Ka~! Sss~!"

"What did it say?"

All Baimu turned his head to ask the Poryphone.

The Poryphone's screen displayed a large question mark: "Didn't understand; that wasn't 'human speech'."

The Legendary Giants have their own special language; this had already been clear back when he first captured the three Legendary Giants.

Brandon didn't understand it either, but that didn't stop him from realizing that Regigigas wasn't angry.

"All Baimu..."

"Let's leave it at this; being able to see it from afar is enough."

All Baimu didn't make things difficult for the other party.

To be honest, if he were alone, he wouldn't mind trying to "provoke" Regigigas and communicate with it using the Heart of the Divine.

Unfortunately, Brandon and Cynthia were both there; if he angered Regigigas and caused it to go on a rampage, it wouldn't be good for them.

"You should be able to go over; Regigigas won't target you."

He said to Cynthia beside him.

Cynthia naturally wouldn't pass up such a good opportunity, and she gracefully stepped forward to observe this legendary King of Giants at close range.

Of course, it wasn't just the King of Giants.

She was very interested in the other murals and patterns in the great hall, and even wanted to make rubbings of them.

Brandon could well understand her fanaticism: "The Snowpoint Temple has stood at the peak of the snowy mountain for ten thousand years. The human tribe that built the temple can no longer be verified, but they were likely people who worshipped Regigigas."

"It shouldn't be our ancestors."

Cynthia shook her head.

The People of the Crown were a group dedicated to revering Arceus, and most of the ruins they left behind were related to Arceus.

Although the Snowpoint Temple was similar in style, the details were completely different.

Brandon said: "There are still many unexcavated ruins in Sinnoh. I plan to bring them to light next. If the Champion sees familiar artifacts on the market, please show mercy."

"The history of the past belongs to every modern person; no one can monopolize it. But I hope you can keep them properly and not let them, having been passed down for thousands of years, be destroyed in the modern era."

Cynthia only gave a reminder regarding these words.

In the Pokémon world, anyone has the qualifications to excavate historical ruins; just like the Pokémon Fossil Museum in the original series, when people heard that fossils were produced there, a bunch of people came to dig.

Even Gary came to join in, only to dig up a fossilized piece of poop and be mocked for it to this day.

Cynthia certainly didn't approve of Brandon's approach, but she couldn't stop him either.

A short while later.

The three of them left the great hall.

Before the temple doors closed, All Baimu turned to look at Regigigas in the depths, vaguely sensing that it was also looking at him.

He nodded slightly to show his respect.

After all, it was the father of five of his own Pokémon; even if he had nearly been beaten up, he still had to maintain the proper politeness.

"Lei~ Ji~ Qi..."

Boom!

The temple doors closed, completely cutting off Regigigas's voice.

Brandon said: "The two of you should be preparing to start investigating the matter of the Snowy Night Ghost, right? If there is anything I can help with, just ask."

"Okay, we won't stand on ceremony."

All Baimu agreed, even though he felt Brandon probably couldn't help much.

He returned to the hotel with Cynthia.

The video of the Giant's civil war had also been uploaded to the internet, and Cynthia started watching it without a word.

"A very interesting battle; will I have the chance to see them?"

"As of now, yes. When the time comes, not necessarily."

All Baimu had actually already decided on his selection, but being the cunning and crafty person he was, he didn't want to reveal it so early.

Cynthia smiled: "I'll look forward to it."

Not long after the video was uploaded, Shanren called again, asking why he hadn't told him about pulling off such a big stunt.

"It was a decision made purely by coincidence; besides, to do publicity, I would definitely have to notify Mr. Brandon in advance, right?"

All Baimu's excuse was very sufficient.

Shanren: "... Forget it. Let me tell you again: the Hisui Ecological Research Institute has decided to build a branch next to your house. Also, that travel photographer, Sha Li, has arrived as well."

Inviting Sha Li to Mt. Silver was All Baimu's decision.

He had specifically notified the Alolan Meowth, saying that if she came, he should help entertain her.

"Alright, I know."

"Get lost! I'm not your subordinate!"

"You're my big brother, a good big brother, okay?"

"It's really not easy being your big brother; I have to be more diligent than Wormadam and Indeedee."

The call ended.

Shanren's resentment had been growing recently, which showed that many of his own actions had indeed kept him busy to the point where his feet barely touched the ground.

However, All Baimu believed that Shanren would definitely be able to find a second person to back him up.

He looked out the window; the sky had already turned into a vast expanse of white, and the temperature had also begun to drop gradually.

He hoped the snowy night would arrive soon, and he hoped this trip would go smoothly.

All Baimu pressed his palms together and prayed devoutly.

During dinner.

Lei Jiaisi found an occasion when Cynthia wasn't around and, together with Registeel, escorted Regirock away.

About ten minutes later, the three Legendary Giants returned.

The intact Lei Jiaisi and Registeel brought back the Regirock that had been shattered into pieces.

All Baimu felt his scalp tingle; sure enough, the most ruthless in the world are brothers. It was fortunate that Regirock had extremely strong self-healing abilities and could recover even after being shattered into slag.

Of course, he couldn't help but complain to Lei Jiaisi and Registeel: "How could you lay such a heavy hand on it!"

"Ji-ji-ji—Lei! Ji! Luo!"

"Du-du-du—Lei! Ji! Sss!"

"They said they couldn't help it; Regirock kept laughing while it was being beaten, provoking them unscrupulously."

"..."

All Baimu looked at Regirock, which was shattered all over the floor, and the pity in his eyes dissipated.

There was no one else to blame for this.

——

As if it had heard his wish.

That night.

A continuous heavy snow began to fall in Snowpoint City, completely turning the already silver-clad city into a vast expanse of white.

All Baimu's door was suddenly knocked on.

"How do you plan to investigate?" Cynthia appeared outside the door.

All Baimu laughed: "Aren't you already prepared?"

Cynthia, who wore a trench coat all year round, was now wearing a down jacket, wrapping herself up like a rice dumpling; she was clearly prepared to go out.

She said: "Then let's set off?"

The two hit it off immediately and moved from the hotel to the Pokémon Center.

Since they judged it to be the work of Darkrai, they had to find a way to figure out its location.

However, Snowpoint City covered a vast area.

Darkrai had the blizzard as cover, and searching by the two of them alone was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.

All Baimu said: "We can borrow the power of Pokémon."

He dispatched the Poryphone to lurk in the network and sent Lei Jiaisi to the high points of Snowpoint City to search for abnormal temperature changes outside of indoors.

Cynthia pondered where she could help, but found that she really didn't have any good methods for blizzard weather herself.

She could only search manually along with Garchomp.

All Baimu certainly wouldn't stay idle either, releasing all the Pokémon that could move in the current weather, such as Gengar and Dragapult.

They hadn't come to the Pokémon Center for nothing either.

In her capacity as the Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia obtained a list of young children in Snowpoint City from Nurse Joy.

The Poryphone used the network to focus on the surveillance cameras near these homes.

However.

Until the time reached the early hours of the morning, and the flying snow turned from black to white, the two still had nothing to show for it.

Let alone Darkrai, they hadn't even seen a few Ghost-type Pokémon.

The omnipotent Dragapult had also snuck into the Spirit Realm of Snowpoint City, but unfortunately, there were no clues about Darkrai there either.

Could it be that they had thought wrong, that Darkrai didn't exist, and that the ghost was the one that actually existed?

"It doesn't matter; this is only the first day."

All Baimu didn't lose heart and said to Cynthia: "Thank you for your hard work; please go back and get some good rest."

"Mm."

Cynthia nodded.

Although her constitution was also very strong, she wasn't as special as All Baimu; having searched all night with Garchomp, she was exceptionally exhausted.

All Baimu felt a bit embarrassed, so he sent Blissey to give Cynthia a massage.

He figured she would probably take a bath before sleeping as well.

With his abundant mental energy, he stayed at the Pokémon Center, waiting for people to come during the day to ask if there had been any incidents of the Snowy Night Ghost abducting people.

The result was—

None.

The reason why the urban legend of the Snowy Night Ghost was a legend was precisely because it didn't happen often and had no harmful nature.

Thus, when it snowed again that night, All Baimu and Cynthia searched for another whole night.

Still with no results.

The two, unwilling to give up, waited for another night.

"Something's not right." All Baimu muttered to himself; according to the story's plot development, a situation should have occurred on the night they arrived.

Cynthia said: "Could it be that our actions caused Darkrai to be unwilling to show itself?"

Although the two weren't making a big fanfare, they had indeed been searching everywhere for three nights.

If Darkrai had discovered them, it certainly wouldn't appear casually.

All Baimu said: "Since that's the case... we won't go out tonight; we'll just let Porygon2 monitor and see."

"Mm!"

Cynthia expressed her agreement.

She hadn't been idle these past few days either, collecting more information about the Snowy Night Ghost everywhere to confirm exactly when it would appear.

The time was indeed locked to these few months of winter.

Why?

Why must Darkrai be active in winter? Trying to use the blizzard to cover its figure?

If it wasn't Darkrai, what other Pokémon could have caused all of this?

Cynthia couldn't find the answer.

She could only wait, waiting for All Baimu to find the result.

The two had a rare warm night, and as expected, nothing happened that day.

"Waiting like this feels like a complete waste of time."

The Poryphone said: "Why don't we just go directly to Newmoon Island; it saves us from waiting bitterly for a Snowy Night Ghost that we don't even know is real or fake."

All Baimu looked at the heavy snow outside the window and said: "Let's wait two more days; if it doesn't appear after the snow stops, we'll leave."

This heavy snow would last for another two days, and by then, Snowpoint City would welcome a short period of outdoor activity.

Time flew by like flowing water.

One night, the snow suddenly stopped before eight o'clock, and at ten o'clock sharp, the clouds in the sky dispersed, revealing the bright moon.

All Baimu let out a breath of stale air: "Is it over?"

The week-long wait had reached an ending he didn't want to see.

He had thought it would be exceptionally smooth like the trip to Iron Island; he hadn't expected to come away empty-handed.

He lay down on the bed helplessly, lost in thought as he looked at the ceiling.

As he thought and thought.

All Baimu gradually fell asleep.

Outside the window, the moonlight illuminated the large bed, faint and soft, like flowing water, dotting the floor with mottled light.

All Baimu's face was covered in silver light, as if his appearance had been washed, revealing a holy posture.

The city was shrouded in white mist, as if an invisible life was shuttling through it.

The clock at the head of the bed stopped abruptly.

All Baimu opened his eyes.

"... Mm?"

He sat up and looked out the window, then looked at the Pokémon surrounding him, keenly sensing that something was wrong.

"Hydreigon? Porygon2? Blissey?"

There was no response.

Every Pokémon on the bed was sleeping exceptionally deeply.

He took out the Poké Balls to check on Steelix and Aggron, only to find that they were asleep too.

They were in the same state of being unable to be woken up no matter how much he called them.

Only the three Legendary Giants were still awake.

"Du-du-du—"

"Hum-hum-hum—"

"Ji-ji-ji—"

"Alright, I can't understand you without Porygon2." All Baimu pressed his hand against Regirock's chest, using the Heart of the Divine to communicate with it.

But there were no results; the three Legendary Giants didn't know what had happened either.

All Baimu recalled all his Pokémon into their balls, looked at the Poryphone that could still be used but lacked Porygon2, and went out to knock on Cynthia's door next door.

After a short while.

Cynthia opened the door, her face also carrying a hint of seriousness.

"Your Pokémon?"

"Mm, except for Lei Jiaisi and the others, they're all asleep."

All Baimu nodded: "The kind that can't be woken up."

Cynthia said: "It shouldn't be that only we have this situation; have you contacted the outside?"

"Not yet."

"The internet is down; someone must have destroyed the signal base station."

Cynthia shook her phone, which had no signal.

All Baimu looked at his own phone; the signal on it was indeed blank as well, and he frowned.

The two put on their clothes and went downstairs, suddenly realizing that there were quite a few people in the hotel lobby as well.

Upon asking about the situation, it was exactly the same as theirs!