Chapter 350: Lei Gong? Lei-Miao!

The Crystal System.

Manufactured by Team Rocket's Dr. Seiranu, handed to grunts Pursen and Bashou to torment Electric-type Pokémon, and ended up hooking Lei Gong.

It was once destroyed by Kenta—the animated counterpart of Akky—Marina, the animated counterpart of Chris, the original character Junichi, and Suikyō, the expert researcher of the Ho-Oh Guard who chases Suicune.

Never expected to see this thing again in the Hoenn region.

And unlucky Lei Gong has once again fallen victim to it. They didn't even start from the normal mode of passively absorbing electricity—these Pokémon hunters directly activated the black hole mode that actively draws in electricity, forcing the already injured Lei Gong to continuously lose the electric energy within its body.

Baimu recalled that, according to Team Rocket grunt Bashou, once all the electricity inside Lei Gong's body was drained and it entered a state of suspended animation, they could do whatever they wanted with it.

"Roar—"

Amid flashes of lightning, the saber-toothed-tiger-like Lei Gong struggled desperately, yet streams of electricity kept flowing out of its body and into the black crystal.

Seeing himself getting closer and closer, he took a deep breath. Rather than rushing over, he shifted his gaze to the robot farther from the Crystal System.

Its main structure resembled some kind of giant motorboat, with extremely long and slender leg frameworks. If he wasn't mistaken, the Crystal System should be under its control, but even dismantling the robot wouldn't stop the Crystal System.

The anime clearly stated that the two systems could operate independently, and that destroying the control system would even cause the Crystal System to enter black hole mode.

God knows whether this latest version of the Crystal System would come up with some abyss mode—ordinary destruction definitely wouldn't work.

He crept a little closer again.

More information came into view.

The two Pokémon hunters who had abandoned the mountain motorcycle were clearly inside the robot's semi-open-air cockpit, their faces plastered with smug smiles. The other two Pokémon hunters, to prevent Lei Gong from escaping, had two Gravelers and two Vibrava each guarding the mountain path and the sky.

Their preparations were quite thorough…

Not far away.

Several Electric-type Pokémon were trapped in nets, not moving at all.

They had clearly had all their electricity drained by the Crystal System and fallen into a state of unconsciousness.

"Roar! Roar!"

Lei Gong kept letting out angry roars, bracing all four paws against a boulder to keep itself from being pulled in by the Crystal System. Its belly and paws bore several seemingly severe wounds, and it looked extremely weak, barely able to resist.

Logically speaking, given its experience dealing with the Crystal System once before, it should know exactly what to do.

Just how badly was it injured?

Baimu stopped the mountain motorcycle, slightly tugged down his cap, and jogged up toward Shanfeng.

It wasn't that he didn't want to ambush these guys, but the trouble was that from the moment he caught sight of the scene atop Shanfeng, one of the Pokémon hunters in the robot's cockpit had already spotted him.

Lei Gong had chosen its perch too well—the entire mountain was bare, without a single thing to hide behind. Even though the motorcycle engine sound was drowned out by thunder, he inevitably ended up visible to them.

Of course.

The necessary preparations had definitely been made.

Baimu's gaze swept over the four Pokémon hunters. Once he knew most of the cards they held, he could act without any reservations.

Honestly, four measly people and four Pokémon were no trouble for him at all. What he was wary of was the black tech these Pokémon hunters possessed, such as the petrification gun used by Hunter J, or the special Dark Ball used by Team Rocket executive Vicious.

Having confirmed that these guys' reliance for capturing Lei Gong was the robot plus the Crystal System, he was largely reassured.

With Porygon on hand, this trip would most likely pose no difficulty.

He tried hard to make his movements look panicked and nervous.

"I'm counting on you, Porygon."

He patted the phone in his pocket.

At the same time.

The Pokémon hunter in the robot's cockpit who had been watching him suddenly shouted: "Hey! Trainee! What's happening!"

At his shout, the other three people all turned their gazes over.

"The one with the hat! The one with the hat is here! Mikami has already been captured!"

Baimu shouted while gasping heavily, making sure his voice wouldn't give him away too quickly. He deliberately used the term these guys specifically used to address Young Lady and the others, and called out the name of the other trainee he had inquired about earlier.

Sure enough.

Upon hearing that the person they feared most was pursuing them, the four Pokémon hunters didn't even have time to discern Baimu's true identity, and visibly panicked at once.

"Impossible! How could they know about this deep mountain forest!"

"What's the situation at the cabin?"

"Wait! Who are you? Take off your hat!"

Several voices, loud and soft, mingled together. Finally, one of them noticed that Baimu had been hiding his face the whole time, never revealing his features from start to finish.

And faced with this person's wariness.

Baimu chose to pull out his phone and aim it at the robot.

The four Pokémon hunters all froze in unison, unable to figure out what he meant by this.

But the next moment.

A creature that looked very strange to them flew out from inside, darting into the robot's interior like a bolt of lightning. At the same time, the ground shook violently as an enormously huge Steelix suddenly burst through the hard bedrock near Shanfeng.

"Roar—!

"

Steelix roared loudly, its sky-obscuring form like a towering giant beast. Even the rumbling thunderclouds above could not conceal its silvery, gleaming body.

The Pokémon hunters stared at it in terror. Under normal circumstances, seeing this super-giant Steelix would have made them very happy.

Unfortunately, at this moment, they truly did not want to see such an "abnormal" Pokémon.

The desperately struggling Lei Gong hadn't expected something like this to suddenly happen either, its eyes full of astonishment as it looked at Steelix.

"Roar!

"

Steelix raised its thick, long steel tail that radiated a dazzling silver sheen, and swept it like a whip toward the two Pokémon hunters who had the Gravelers with them.

"Quick, block it! Block it!"

The two shouted, but their reaction was a beat too late, and just as their Golems were about to do something, they were all swept off the cliff by Steelix's tail together.

Just like clearing out trash, the two Golems and the two Pokémon Hunters tumbled off the cliff together.

Piercing screams tore through the clouds.

The two Venipede in the sky had wanted to attack Steelix, but upon seeing their trainers fall off the cliff they decisively chose to chase after them, their four insect wings trembling frantically as they tried to catch them.

Who would have thought Steelix would roar and give chase, its horizontal steel bones spinning and whipping up a howling gale, electromagnetic levitation crackling with electric light, its diving speed even swifter than the Venipede's.

"Roar!

"

"Buzz—"

The two panicked Venipede dodged desperately; one failed to evade and took a blue fireball head-on, plummeting trailing black smoke.

A single Dragon Breath sent it crashing down, and the victorious Steelix grew even more arrogant in its bearing.

It recalled those Pokémon it had once met in Iron Town—looking fiercer than the last, but in truth weaker than the last, falling faster than anyone.

Meanwhile.

The two Pokémon Hunters inside the robot's cockpit were frantically pressing every button, but thanks to Porygon's intrusion the entire system had already been taken over by the latter; forget extending a mechanical arm to attack All Baimu, they couldn't even move—

That's smart-motor drive for you.

If this robot had been a purely mechanical-drive design, it wouldn't have been so thoroughly hijacked by Porygon; the latter only needed to block every electrical signal the instruments fed into the system, and these guys would be left helpless.

Not to mention this robot had a ton of networked smart systems bolted on.

Seeing that no matter how he pulled the trigger the robot wouldn't budge, one of the Pokémon Hunters immediately hurled a Poké Ball into the air.

"Go! Stall that guy for me!"

"Glooo!"

Crobat appeared, laden with its trainer's expectations.

But before it could even get a clear look at its target, a fist wreathed in biting cold and blazing with brilliant streaming light came flying at it—radiant as the stars from afar to near.

Boom!

Ice shards flew in all directions.

Crobat dropped like a kite with its string cut.

Then, right before that Pokémon Hunter's horrified expression, the floating Mawile spun sharply, opened the massive jaws on the back of its head, clamped onto his skull, yanked him outward, and slammed him hard into the ground!

"Ugh!"

The Pokémon Hunter's skull slammed into the ground; although he was wearing a combat suit that could dampen impact force and elemental energy, he hadn't put on the matching helmet.

So when Mawile went straight for his skull with clear intent, the man had absolutely no way to fight back and was taken down very cleanly.

Seeing his companion suddenly dragged away, the remaining Pokémon Hunter nearly had his soul scared out of his body; trembling, he fumbled out a Poké Ball to open it.

But by now Porygon had already completely taken over the entire robot and deactivated the crystal system, manipulating its tentacle-like mechanical arms to grab him up.

"Ah—!" the Pokémon Hunter screamed.

"Roar…"

With the electricity in its body no longer being drained by the crystal, the freed Lei Gong instantly relaxed, lying on the ground without moving.

Wounded and exhausted both, the fact it had held on until now was already quite remarkable—truly worthy of a legendary Pokémon.

"Pree!"

Porygon's voice came through the robot's loudspeaker.

"Nice!"

All Baimu, who had been peering down from the cliff edge, pulled back his gaze and gave a thumbs-up to Porygon, the biggest hero.

Just now Steelix had successfully intimidated the two Golems and one Venipede, not daring to let them resist, letting the former carry off their trainers who had luckily not died from the fall.

Seeing those two Golems hadn't used Self-Destruct, he was somewhat relieved.

Pokémon Hunters' Pokémon really don't have much affection for them—this much was clear from that Venipede that had landed beside its companion and stopped chasing its trainer.

Actually, if Pokémon Hunters treated their Pokémon well, the Venipete would surely have chased them to the end. Maybe the Golems would have used Self-Destruct to try to intercept Steelix for their trainer too.

The four Pokémon Hunters were dealt with in a flash.

"Please."

All Baimu had Mawile fetch the backpack hanging by the mountain bike; it contained a simple medical kit. He himself released Chansey and slowly approached the battered Lei Gong.

The latter had its eyes closed, but sensing someone approach immediately opened them, a low growl-like hiss rumbling in its throat, its gaze full of wariness.

Obviously.

It wasn't about to just trust him because All Baimu had attacked those four Pokémon Hunters; having had extensive contact with humans, it knew perfectly well that dogs eating dogs happens too.

Not to mention this human in front of it was dressed much the same as those humans who had hurt it.

"Relax, I'm not with them."

All Baimu took off his coat and hat, gave it a friendly smile, and the Chansey beside him silently released Heal Pulse and a Heal Bell; the comforting sensation immediately won Lei Gong's trust quite a bit.

"Let Chansey bandage you up."

He took the medical kit from Mawile, opened it and rummaged through the medical supplies inside, then walked over to the Electric-type wild Pokémon trapped in the net beside him.

"Happy~"

Chansey wore a smile, slowly picked up the antiseptic spray and reached toward Lei Gong's wounds, watching its expression all the while.

"Roar…"

The latter's eyes widened slightly, giving off a strong sense of "take one more step and I'll bite you."

However.

The now more assertive Chansey wasn't about to back down just because Lei Gong glared at it; at the fastest speed of its life, it sprayed twice on Lei Gong's wounds in quick succession.

Swish, swish~

"Roar!

"

The sudden stabbing pain from its wounds made Lei Gong let out an angry roar; the sound waves at point-blank range battered Chansey's face, sending its curly hair flying backward.

But Chansey merely squinted, looking completely unafraid, and sprayed twice more on the other wounds.

Swish, swish~

With its fury thoroughly ignited, Lei Gong abruptly raised its paw.

"Happy~"

Chansey fearlessly met its gaze, as if it would rather take a beating than stop the treatment, continuing to spray the disinfectant like it was free, and even picked up tweezers to try to pick out the gravel from its wounds.

Lei Gong looked at the former's resolute gaze, and the raised paw hovered right above Chansey's head, always stopping just a few millimeters short, before finally being lowered gently.

"Roar…"

It flopped down in a huff. Clever as it was, how could it not know Chansey was treating its wounds? The thick goodwill didn't seem feigned either. But the other's being so "domineering" left it, usually the one who dominated others, somewhat unaccustomed.

Clearly, any other Pokémon seeing it would, no matter the situation, be afraid first. Who would have thought Chansey would be so "rough"?

Once the other finished spraying the medicine, Lei Gong instinctively wanted to stick out its tongue and lick.

But the moment it lowered its head, a pair of thick long fangs was grabbed by Chansey, who refused to let it lower its head.

"Happy!"

Chansey looked at Lei Gong sternly.

Wild Pokémon always have the habit of licking their wounds. Without medicine, licking wounds is the only method they have that helps recovery.

But in Chansey's view, with its professional medical knowledge, what's the need to lick once the medicine has already been applied?

Though admittedly, this medicine also has some effect when taken orally.

"Roar…"

Lei Gong, with its fangs held, looked at Chansey in disbelief.

Has this pink thing gone mad?

If a tiger doesn't show its might, you'll think it's a sick cat—

Lei Gong had just been about to roar to scare this insolent fellow, but the moment it opened its mouth, something with a strange taste was stuffed in, leaving it dumbfounded for a moment.

"Happy~"

Chansey patted Lei Gong's head, as if soothing a restless big cat, casually picked up bandages and started wrapping Lei Gong up, and while working it began singing a gentle song.

The practiced manner dealt a multi-layered blow to the latter's spirit.

Already weakened, Lei Gong, seeing it had no way to deal with the insolent Chansey—unable to scare it, nor truly attack this fellow treating it—simply resigned itself completely to compliance.

It turned its head to look into the distance. All Baimu was also carrying out extremely attentive treatment for the wild Pokémon.

Lei Gong's wariness gradually crumbled.

It knew very well that beings like Pokémon hunters could never possibly care for wild Pokémon so attentively, let alone check their condition and heal their wounds.

Even if they did treat wild Pokémon, it couldn't be so gentle.

They would only treat them like objects.

Lei Gong knew well how cruel humans could be when they were bad, and also knew deeply that humans possessed a sincere kind side. It was always chased by the bad ones, and saved by the good ones.

And when All Baimu and his Pokémon acted together, in Lei Gong's eyes, these fellows were radiating a moving light.

"Roar…"

It let out a low growl and slowly closed its eyes.

—

By the time All Baimu finished tidying up the chaotic cliff.

It was already about half an hour later.

Officer Jenny, as expected, hadn't been able to arrive in time; it would probably still take a while.

And during this period.

He had largely figured out why Lei Gong had chosen this bare Shanfeng—natural lightning struck frequently here, convenient for it to absorb electricity to recover.

Thunderclouds gathered here with unusual frequency.

Too bad it hadn't been able to absorb for a few days before Pokémon hunters caught up.

"Sigh…"

All Baimu looked at the settled group of Electric-type wild Pokémon, then turned his head to look at Lei Gong, wrapped into half a white rice dumpling by Chansey, sleeping soundly.

"Did you use singing on it?" he asked.

"Happy~"

Chansey, smiling, raised the syringe in its hand, nodding as it poked Lei Gong's butt; the latter, despite being asleep, couldn't help its tiger-body shudder.

"Ow~"

Its throat instinctively let out a drumbeat-like growl.

Then it buried its head and continued sleeping.

"You fellow… feeling more and more pink-but-black…" All Baimu twitched the corner of his mouth. He knew that in Chansey's eyes, all injured and sick Pokémon were the same—treated equally.

But from his perspective as a trainer, a legendary Pokémon ultimately carried a halo of specialness.

"Happy?"

Chansey was puzzled, not quite understanding what All Baimu was saying.

"Handing Lei Gong over to you was indeed the right call." The latter didn't explain, just gently stroked its curly hair that had been ruffled by Lei Gong's roar.

"Happy~"

The Happiny revealed a happy smile.

It was very glad that the trainer could affirm its efforts.

It turned its head.

All Baimu praised and thanked Steelix and Mawile once more.

"Sorry for the trouble — every time something like this happens I always have to bother you, especially you, Steelix, constantly making you rush back and forth between two places. My apologies."

"Rooar~"

The hill-sized Steelix smiled and shook its head — being relied on was a good thing; besides, although it spent most of its time in Iron Town, the trainer had never been lacking in care toward it.

He would often call it to his side and use a steel brush to scrub his own body.

It didn't feel troubled at all.

If even Steelix was like this, then there was no need to mention Mawile — "Chee-doo~"

The latter yawned, indicating it wanted to go back into its Poké Ball to sleep more, and to be called again when there was other business.

All Baimu then recalled the two.

He came to the robot's side.

He had Porygon wake these four people up and use its mechanical tentacles to bring them to the cliff's edge for interrogation.

"I ask, you answer. If I'm not satisfied, I'll strip you naked and throw you down the mountain." All Baimu looked at them, his tone carrying no emotion whatsoever.

Someone had just let out a cold snort, preparing to retort, when All Baimu waved his hand and had Porygon throw them down.

The latter very cleanly released its mechanical arm.

"If you've got the guts then you— ah!

"

The words in that person's mouth abruptly turned into a scream.

But fortunately this time it was only meant to scare him.

That person, halfway down, was caught by Porygon manipulating its mechanical tentacle.

"This is a warning, and you only get one chance — grasp it well. There are no surveillance cameras here, and I wouldn't mind taking any one of you out, then disguising it as an accident."

All Baimu smiled as he looked at the remaining three, his body emanating a scent the three found extremely familiar.

'The smell of blood.'

They stared at him in shock — they had all once hung around in the Ohre region and even Iron Town; perhaps they hadn't heard the name Baimu, but they were more than familiar with the people from there.

Exchanging glances, they suddenly understood.

After all this fuss, it turned out not to be some madman playing the hero — it was a case of black eating black!

No wonder the methods were so ruthless and showed no mercy!

"Did you escape from there?"

Someone couldn't help but ask: "Someone actually escaped from that place!?"

"Guess?"

All Baimu asked back without changing his expression, then said: "Alright, I won't waste time with you. What happened to Lei Gong's injuries — who did it? Was it you?"

The four shook their heads frantically, "No no no no — it wasn't us! We gathered the intel from the black market!"

"What about that Black Crystal and the robot?"

"We also bought those together from the black market! Really!"

"Do you know who the seller was?"

"We don't — we do! We do!" The few quickly changed their tune before the robot loosened its grip, "Team Rocket! Team Rocket sold the stuff to us!"

All Baimu's expression eased slightly — these people were more honest than expected. "The intel too?"

The few hesitated for a moment.

"Right now I'm going to pick one of you to play bungee jumping—"

"Yes! That's right! They provided it to us! Team Rocket wanted us to chase down these legendary Pokémon and make trouble for them! If we caught them, they'd buy them back at a huge price!"

The four vied with each other to spill everything, holding nothing back.

All Baimu finally learned that Team Rocket had long been coveting these legendary Pokémon, and at the same time was troubled by their constant pestering of him, so they had specifically arranged these Pokémon hunters to chase them — just as these guys made trouble for him, he would treat them by their own methods.

Facts proved it.

They really had been thrown into complete chaos by the frenzied Pokémon hunters.

"Poor things, really." All Baimu shook his head slightly, and had Happiny use Sing to put these four to sleep.

The reason Lei Gong had suffered such serious injuries was still unclear, but it most likely had something to do with Team Rocket. In the end, why had it come to Hoenn? Could there be a Team Rocket base in Hoenn?

All Baimu was pondering, when Lei Gong's low growl suddenly reached his ears.

It woke up awfully fast!

He was about to say something to Lei Gong, when a sparse, light rain began to fall from the sky.