Chapter 349: Crystal System

The legendary Pokémon, Raikou—one of the legendary beasts—has appeared in the Hoenn region.

This was something Baimu hadn't expected.

What surprised him even more was that not only had this fellow been targeted by a group of vicious Pokémon hunters, but it was actually injured too!

"Why did Raikou come to the Hoenn region?"

He tried to get an answer from the ranger.

Unfortunately, the other party didn't know either, only that when Raikou arrived it was already in an unhealed state, and it had settled on the tallest nearby mountain peak to slowly recuperate.

This group of Pokémon hunters, however, had somehow gotten wind of the news and rushed over to search for Raikou's tracks.

One or two searches turned up nothing.

They actually had the audacity to attack the ranger's cabin, trying to get the latter to reveal Raikou's whereabouts.

The ranger certainly knew where Raikou was, but would absolutely never tell these fellows. No matter how he was tortured, he didn't let it slip. The Pokémon hunters, left with nothing, tossed him aside here to fend for himself.

He had assumed that these fellows would leave once they couldn't find Raikou, but unexpectedly they seemed certain of Raikou's location, and began capturing Pokémon wantonly throughout this forest.

The ranger watched with a bleeding heart, grieving for the mountain forest they were destroying, and grieving for the wild Pokémon they had captured.

This morning.

In his haze, he heard people outside discussing how to capture Raikou. Listening carefully, he realized this bunch seemed to have already located it.

Helpless, though anxious in his heart, he could not even save himself.

The ranger, tormented by his conscience, could only hope that his prolonged silence from the outside world would draw others to search for him. He never expected that in this desolate wilderness, the one who came would be the chivalrous Baimu.

If it had been anyone else who thought the less trouble the better, they probably wouldn't have made their way over.

"Understood."

Baimu nodded, looking at the ranger whose face was slightly pale, knowing the latter had likely suffered plenty these past few days. "You contact Officer Jenny here, I'll sneak over and take a look."

"Wait! Going alone is too dangerous!"

The ranger struggled to sit up, but at this point couldn't even straighten his legs—they were trembling violently—yet he still raised a hand and said: "I'm coming with you!"

"Bringing you along would only make it more dangerous. Don't worry, I'm just going to take a look."

Baimu pressed down on the other's shoulder. "Besides, those two Pokémon hunters outside, and all those captured wild Pokémon—they all need you to take charge of. There's plenty to do."

The ranger looked at his serious expression, listened to the noisy sounds outside, and saw the Pokémon hunters bound by the Drifblim outside the door. Somewhat convinced, he said: "Alright… be careful, don't get too close. Best to wait for Officer Jenny and the others to come handle it."

"Demon-Suppressing Museum"

Looks like reason has returned.

Just now he was still saying to hurry and find a way to stop them.

Baimu nodded in agreement, asked clearly which mountain peak Raikou was on, and asked how much the ranger knew about how the Pokémon hunters planned to capture it.

Learning that the ranger was only half-informed on this matter, he silently walked out the door and dragged one of the Pokémon hunters away.

By the stream.

He splashed water onto the man's face to choke him awake.

"Gah! Cough cough cough! What the hell kind of person are you! Do this to me and just wait till I— gurgle gurgle gurgle…"

A few seconds later.

Baimu pulled the man's head out of the stream. "Awake now? Want a few more sips?"

"I'm awake! I'm awake!"

The man shouted while spitting out water, his eyes full of fear as he looked at him.

"I ask, you answer. Cooperate and I'll let you go. Don't cooperate and you're on your own. Understand?"

He lightly patted the man's cheek. Seeing the other didn't respond immediately, he was about to shove his head back into the water.

"I get it! I get it!"

The man screamed miserably, fully cooperating now.

But unfortunately.

Baimu couldn't get much useful intel from this man's mouth. He and the other one were both probationary new recruits of this poaching gang. Not long ago, a large portion of the gang's main force had been arrested while fencing their stolen goods.

Leaving behind only a few small fry.

And those small fry had recruited him and another even smaller fry, trying to capture Raikou to pull off a desperate comeback for the poaching gang—beyond that, they basically knew nothing.

Those people hadn't truly trusted them either, otherwise they wouldn't have left them to watch the house instead of using every pair of hands worth cherishing.

"Arrested while fencing stolen goods…"

Baimu twitched the corner of his mouth.

He figured this poaching gang was probably one of the "victims" after Rustboro City was turned upside down, habitually bringing their haul to the Orre region to fence, only their intel hadn't been updated in time.

From this man's mouth, he also learned that the Pokémon hunter world had recently been upended, and many Pokémon hunters were scurrying about all over the various regions.

Seeing that time was running short and he had to act quickly, Baimu gave up on continuing to pry more intel from this man. He stripped off the man's outer clothes, put them on, and straddled the mountain bike.

Although relying on Aggron could get him there quickly, it ultimately wasn't as fast as the mountain bike. Any more dawdling and the opportunity might be cold.

"You all stay here, help him out. I'll go take a look and be right back."

He said to the few Drifblim that wanted to follow, and pointed at the ranger who was barely managing to get up inside the cabin.

The Drifblim saw this and called out in acknowledgment.

Baimu put on a hat to cover his face, and drove the motorcycle darting into the mountain forest.

He had to admit this bunch of Pokémon hunters had excellent gear—the motorcycle's power was terrifyingly strong—and he had also scrounged up a gun.

Only the gun didn't fire bullets; it fired electrified extending nets.

Holding to the principle that it might come in handy, he brought it along.

Best if he didn't need it.

When it could be used, he'd naturally use it decisively.

But something like an electric net... probably isn't much use against Lei Gong.

When all is said and done, was it that group that injured Lei Gong? The person from earlier said he didn't know clearly, only that the current leader of the poaching gang told him to follow along to capture Lei Gong; no other important intel was disclosed.

And judging from how clear-cut their objective was, it's entirely possible. Who knows if they have some unknown black tech on hand. Don't be fooled by how amazing legendary Pokémon are supposed to be — in the anime, they've been victimized by all sorts of human inventions countless times.

Even Kyogre couldn't escape it.

In XY it was fighting Champion Dawu and Groudon in its Primal Reversion form, freezing a huge stretch of the ocean with a single Ice Beam — yet in Sun & Moon it gets chased down by poachers using tech, and only escapes with Ash and Lana's help.

Of course.

Another severely victimized target — Suicune. After using its power to purify a water source, it was surrounded and injured by Pokémon Hunters. That's actually nothing — the absurd part is that it got caught in an ordinary net, and the ones pulling the net were just two humans, not even Pokémon.

A scene where it looks like it could break free with a kick, yet it just lies on the ground wailing. Those two hunters really give off super-Shinji vibes.

Afterwards, cornered with no way out, it was caught in one ball by some unmentionable guy. In principle it was meant to be a rescue, yet at the end it actually became that guy's Pokémon — a massive load of crap.

The main point is that this completely overturns the shared understanding most Pokémon fans have: that Suicune, the incarnation of the north wind and one of Ho-Oh's Rainbow Warriors, will help people, will fight alongside them, but absolutely will not be caught by anyone or become anyone's Pokémon.

But after all is said and done, it still comes back to that one line—

Legendary Pokémon really have it rough — always being targeted.

All Baimu sped through the forest, gazing at the towering Shanfeng in the distance, only hoping Lei Gong wouldn't end up like Suicune — like getting caught in a net or something.

Along the way.

He kept an eye on the surroundings of the jungle and found that these guys had been catching things almost the entire way forward. Every so often, he could spot one or two wild Pokémon tangled in nets, struggling nonstop.

And he had originally assumed the reason these people hadn't retrieved the wild Pokémon they'd caught right away was that they planned to collect them all later — but it turned out they were actually after Lei Gong... and even so, they were still catching wild Pokémon along the way.

Greedy as hell.

Not long after.

He, who had been flooring it and tearing along at full throttle, finally reached the vicinity of the foot of the mountain. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted two mountain bikes parked in the forest, covered with branches.

Those guys actually left two down here...

Should he wait here for them to catch Lei Gong, then ambush them from behind?

It might be a decent idea, but the mountain bike was way too loud when he came, and the surroundings were too quiet — they'd most likely already been heard by those guys up the mountain.

To avoid tipping them off, it was better to head up the mountain and take a look.

Just as All Baimu made up his mind, dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky. Amidst a raging wind, a bolt of lightning resembling a thunder dragon crashed straight down onto Shanfeng.

Boom—!

The terrifying tremor could be felt clearly even at the foot of the mountain. The black clouds overhead somehow made one's heart uneasy.

The next instant.

A thunderous roar came down from Shanfeng, thick fury nearly impossible to suppress.

It's started!

All Baimu's heart jolted.

Hopefully these guys get taken out by Lei Gong's lightning.

He silently prayed, twisted the throttle, and charged up the mountain, seeking only to reach Shanfeng's location as fast as possible.

But on the way up, besides the mountain bike tire tracks, All Baimu also noticed much clearer tread marks on the ground — apparently left by some kind of heavier machine.

"So they really did bring out the black tech..."

He recalled the words of that poaching gang member from earlier.

The other party said that in order to better capture Lei Gong, they had long ago arranged the various components of a large combat robot at the foot of the mountain where it dwelled, waiting only for the real operation to begin before activating it.

A large robot.

When All Baimu heard the other say that, he was quite shocked for a moment, but then immediately recalled that the thing was probably about the same quality as the robots Team Rocket makes.

With that, he was instantly reassured.

He had originally pictured the thing as something powerful like a Gundam or a Transformer, and inevitably felt a little nervous.

If it's only at this level, it probably can't do anything to Lei Gong.

All Baimu knew that since the other party dared to come capture Lei Gong, even if its injuries weren't caused by them, they most likely had something to rely on, so he couldn't afford to be careless — lest he capsize along with them.

So.

Riding up to the halfway point of the mountain.

He decisively slowed his pace, listening to the thunder roaring not far away, and carefully made his way toward Shanfeng.

And at this point, from All Baimu's vantage, he could already roughly make out the scene of the battle above.

In an instant.

A hazy, semicircular purple dome came into view.

Lei Gong stood on the peak, lightning constantly being drawn from its body into the dark, prism-shaped jewels within the purple dome.

And it was fighting desperately to resist.

"—The Crystal System!?"

Isn't this Team Rocket's stuff!? How did it end up here, and Lei Gong is being tormented by it a second time?