Chapter 419: Ghost? Ghost!

"You traveled all the way from New Zi Jin City to Meteor Falls, and now you're telling me to go back?"

"Are you sick in the head?"

A blue vein popped on All Baimu's forehead — among all those Dragon-type quasi-legendaries in the Dragon's Nest, not a single one was fated to be with him? Wasn't that just a little too much?

"And the hint content of this clue."

The Shenshan Hotel numbers its rooms by direction, with only four major zones — a, b, c, d — each followed by three digits, such as room b113 where Queen Boni stayed, and room a105 where he himself lived.

"Where did this 1608 come from!"

And on top of that, having him lie in a bathtub at 2:30 AM without making a sound, no matter what noises came from around him… what kind of ghost-story little skit is this!

The kind that would show up in such a bizarre setting — no matter how you think about it, it could only be Ghost-type.

If it's Ghost-type…

"Dragonite?"

But Dragonite doesn't seem to pull off these ghost-story-like scenarios, right? And its pre-evolution Dragonair is classified as a caretaker Pokémon — could later generations have added some new lore to Dragonite's Pokédex entry?

Or maybe in later generations another Ghost-type Pokémon appeared with a base stat total of six hundred.

In any case, no matter who it is, as long as he doesn't want to waste this chance, he definitely has to go back to New Zi Jin City — and before tonight…

"Huh?"

"Seems like it didn't say it had to be before tonight."

All Baimu looked carefully at the conditions marked above — indeed, it didn't say he had to be in the bathtub at 2:30 tonight, only that he had to go to the bathtub in 1608 at 2:30 in the morning.

"So the clue won't vanish in an instant?"

He glanced at the Dragon's Nest where a group of dragons frolicked amid Meteor Falls, thought for a moment, then gently patted the neck of his Triple-headed Dragon and shouted into the wind:

"Turn around! We're heading back to the station!"

"Sha-sang?"

"Qido!"

The Triple-headed Dragon, which had just been preparing to descend, and the Mawile sitting in his lap both froze, twisting or raising their heads in unison to look at him.

"A little situation came up — we need to head back to New Zi Jin City to welcome a new partner."

All Baimu explained helplessly: "The powerful giant dragons here just don't have any fate with me. Let's go back — back to New Zi Jin City to find my destined partner."

"Qido!"

Mawile was absolutely furious — it had finally gotten the chance to descend and find a place to watch TV dramas, and now he was telling it to turn around and go back?

"Sha-sang~"

The Triple-headed Dragon, on the other hand, quite happily turned its head and did as told — for it, as long as it wasn't those guys down below, anything was fine. To be honest, apart from some of the older ones, it looked down on every single other Dragon-type Pokémon.

Way too weak!

"Sorry about that, my fault, my fault."

All Baimu hurriedly lowered his head to apologize to Mawile, then said that although they couldn't watch videos up at high altitude, playing some little games would definitely work.

Shortly after.

Under his hands-on, personal guidance, Mawile started playing a match-3 style mini-game similar to tile-matching, and instantly became addicted.

And seeing Mawile's cheerful mood, and the Triple-headed Dragon bending its left head and straining to peek at the screen, a thought in All Baimu's mind grew stronger and stronger—

Literacy lessons!

Literacy lessons are a must!

——

Shenshan Deluxe Hotel.

A brown-skinned girl in a southern-island style stepped merrily up to the front desk.

"Good morning~"

"Good morning, may I help you with anything?" the front desk Young Lady bowed respectfully, a perfect, courteous smile fixed on her face.

"Please give me a room where a customer has once passed away!"

Furong returned the smile.

The front desk Young Lady's smile instantly froze on her face. "—Eh?"

"If you didn't hear clearly…"

"Furong! That's the kind of thing they can't just decide on the spot!"

Queen Boni cut off Furong's attempt to repeat herself, gave the front desk Young Lady a nod, and said, "Please call your manager over — just tell him that Elite Four's Queen Boni and Furong have business with him. Thank you."

"Y-yes!"

The front desk Young Lady hurriedly picked up a phone nearby to consult her superior.

Queen Boni, meanwhile, quietly lectured Furong — as the youngest member of the Elite Four, the latter, who had been raised on Shenshan by her grandmother since childhood, was rather immature in every respect.

At least socially she could be called reckless — in today's trendy terms, a so-called "social terror."

A short while later.

A middle-aged man in a sharp suit rushed over, apologizing repeatedly the moment he got close:

"What a poor welcome! What a poor welcome! For Elite Four's Queen Boni and Furong to grace our humble establishment with your presence, we are truly honored~ hehehe~ If there's any way we've failed in our hospitality, please do forgive us…"

"Uncle! All that doesn't matter! Which room in your hotel has had a customer pass away in it?" Furong stepped forward, eyes shining, and asked.

Queen Boni, who had failed to stop her in time, facepalmed in exasperation.

The middle-aged man's expression stiffened, and he forced out: "You must be joking — how could such a thing possibly happen in our hotel? Hahahaha…"

Furong pouted, about to say something but was stopped.

"You stay put!" Queen Boni pressed down the eager Furong, and said to the middle-aged man: "She is a psychic medium — she can communicate with Ghost-type Pokémon. We've come to look for a Ghost-type Pokémon that's gone missing, and to that end we hope you can help us."

Her words fell.

A small, strange figure suddenly materialized beside her — its body mottled with dark green and deep cyan, sporting a wide, flat head, amber eyes like car headlights, little bent hands with no feet, and a long tail in their place.

The way it floated in the air was rather wondrous.

"Hiyah!"

"Yi!"

The middle-aged man was startled by the sharp cry.

Furong smiled and said: "It's a Ghost-type Pokémon from the Galar region, called Dreepy~"

"Hiyah~"

Dreepy flew to her side and gently nuzzled her cheek.

Furong laughed as she stroked its flat head. "Good, good."

"This……"

Seeing this, the middle-aged man couldn't help but hesitate — for a hotel, having a guest pass away in a room was undoubtedly a blemish; after all, the vast majority of people would be unwilling to stay in such a room.

But the ones making the request right now were Queen Boni and Furong of the Four Heavenly Kings. Even if he refused, wouldn't these two find a way to get Officer Jenny's permission and come back again?

"Fine." The middle-aged man sighed. "Please come with me to the VIP room so we can discuss this in detail."

Under the watchful gaze of the front desk Young Lady, the three of them walked toward the hotel's VIP room.

But she wasn't sure if it was just a momentary illusion.

The three people who had been perfectly fine suddenly became four just as they were about to turn the corner. Before she could get a clear look at that extra figure, the manager had already led the two Heavenly Kings away.

"Hiss!"

She rubbed her arms, feeling an inexplicable chill, and immediately found a Rotom to adjust the air conditioning.

As the warmth gradually returned, she let out a sigh of relief.

Half an hour later.

A black-haired youth walked in with a Pokémon that looked exceptionally cute — a Mawile.

"Hello, I'd like a room, please."

The front desk Young Lady instinctively bowed and took the trainer ID card. "Of course, please wait a moment…… Huh? Mr. All Baimu?"

She looked up in surprise at the All Baimu before her. If she remembered correctly, he had just checked out that morning — she had handled the paperwork herself, and had even gotten an autographed photo along the way.

Why had he suddenly come back?

"Something small came up." All Baimu gave her a smile, then asked: "Does your New Zi Jin Mountain hotel have any other branches?"

The front desk Young Lady shook her head while processing the paperwork. "As for branches, to my knowledge there shouldn't be any."

"Then…… do you have any impression of room 1608?"

He leaned over the counter and abruptly lowered his voice. The front desk Young Lady thought for a moment, then shook her head again. "1608…… I'm not too sure about that either……"

All Baimu couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. "Then could you help me contact your manager?"

Since the front desk didn't know, he'd have to find the manager.

"The manager?"

The front desk Young Lady froze at the words, instinctively recalling Furong who had come to inquire about that matter, as well as the bizarre scene she had witnessed earlier. She couldn't help turning her head toward the corner where the three had left — only to suddenly see a dark grey shadow standing there, motionless.

When she stared closely, a pair of terrifying pitch-black, hollow eyes met her gaze, and an eerie sobbing sound reached her ears.

"Wuwuwu……"

In an instant.

Goosebumps crawled all over her arms and back. Her expression turned visibly terrified, and she couldn't help stepping back. "Yi—"

"Sweet Scent."

A voice suddenly rang out beside her ear, followed immediately by someone gripping her arm tightly. Her knees didn't go weak and buckle, and her nose was filled with a faint, relaxing fragrance.

"Chee-doh~"

The front desk Young Lady turned her head and suddenly saw All Baimu standing there with a strange expression, the giant jaw on the back of the Mawile beside him open, releasing a pink mist.

"Since when did a wild Ghost-type Pokémon sneak into your hotel?"

"Eh?"

"A wild Pokémon. What you saw just now wasn't a real ghost — it was a shadow conjured by a Pokémon. It specializes in scaring people to drain their vitality."

All Baimu said as much.

When the front desk Young Lady looked over again, the terrifying shadow had already vanished. "P-Pokémon?"

"What else could it be?"

Recalling her expression from earlier, he asked: "Did something else happen?"

"It's like this!"

The front desk Young Lady didn't hesitate for a moment, spilling out everything — Furong's visit and her request — in one go. After finishing, she added through gritted teeth: "It must have been brought in by her!"

A normal person scared like that would lose some vitality and inevitably feel dazed for a while; with their condition worsened, their temper naturally couldn't be good.

Taking it out on someone was only natural.

All Baimu listened with a thoughtful expression, then thanked her. "Thanks. I'll find a way to catch that Ghost-type Pokémon. You should rest for a bit — best to hand off to a coworker."

Having said that.

He couldn't wait to chase after Furong and the others with Mawile in tow.

Just as he passed the corner, a little boy whose clothes looked filthy came into view. The other party, whose face was hard to make out, revealed a twisted "smile" and let out a cry like wailing.

"Uwah!

"Oh oh!"

Seeing the bizarre boy, All Baimu was delighted rather than startled. "You delivered yourself right to my door — you won't get away now! Bite!"

"Chee-doh!"

Without a trace of fear, Gloomy charged forward, twisted its body, and thrust open its enormous maw — a mouth that could rival a bloody basin — to viciously clamp down on the startled "boy" who tried to flee.

The opponent thus revealed its true form — a Dusclops, hair fluttering like flames, its entire body a dark green like a big-headed rag doll, a ring of red beads hanging around its neck.

"Muma!"

Under the gnawing of Gloomy's massive jaws, the Dusclops let out a shrill cry like a child wailing in the night, which prompted a door not far away to open and reveal a sleepy, thoroughly irritated face.

"Hey! It's early morning! Don't have battles in the hotel corridor!"

"My apologies."

All Baimu nodded apologetically and gave Gloomy a look.

The latter took the hint; a sweet, pink fragrance wafted from its massive jaws, and the bitten Dusclops's expression quickly turned sluggish.

Seizing the chance.

He walked forward with Gloomy and arrived at the lounge area in the middle of the hallway; the large floor-to-ceiling windows opened onto a spacious balcony, and looking down one could see the park in the center of New Zi Jin.

After some confirmation, this Dusclops was indeed the wild Pokémon he had initially judged it to be — and to think he'd actually believed the front desk Young Lady and assumed it was one of Furong's Pokémon.

"Stop scaring people for no reason!"

All Baimu had Gloomy release the Dusclops.

But the other party clearly wasn't grateful; after flying off for some distance it even turned around and stuck out its tongue. "Muma!"

Though the Dusclops was probably just as frightened by Gloomy, seeing that the latter still seemed to be coming closer, it hurriedly turned tail and fled for its life, not once looking back.

"Chiyido!"

Gloomy curled its lip in disdain.

It was the least afraid of these spooky things — let alone Ghost-type Pokémon, even if a real ghost appeared before it, so what?

So when its trainer told it to beat up that "boy," it didn't hesitate for a single moment.

All Baimu knew this well, which was why he felt at ease letting it attack.

The two turned and went back into the hotel, continuing toward the VIP room, thinking they might be able to eavesdrop a little.

Unfortunately, by the time they arrived the VIP room was already empty; neither the manager nor Furong nor Queen Boni were anywhere to be seen — they had most likely already gone to the room Furong was looking for.

However.

Why would the companion of the missing Dreepy need to go to a room where a deceased person once stayed?

Was there something special about it?

And the medium…

Of Furong, this Hoenn-region Champion, what All Baimu actually knew wasn't much; combining the intel from his previous life with what was currently online, she was undoubtedly a psychic as well.

It's just that her psychic abilities were rather special — their main function was to communicate with Ghost-type Pokémon and even real ghosts, which was greatly tied to her having grown up at Shenshan, the place where the souls of deceased Pokémon were laid to rest.

Being able to speak with the departed — calling her a medium was no exaggeration.

"The boundary between life and death…"

All Baimu sighed in lament, and once again thought of the Dreepy the front desk Young Lady had mentioned.

A Dreepy was still two stages away from Dragapult — the final target the simulator pointed to couldn't possibly be this thing, could it?

Or perhaps the companion it had lost?

A Dragapult?

He walked on, when a voice suddenly rang out beside his ear.

"Hmm… seems like this isn't the place."

All Baimu quickly looked up, just happening to come face-to-face with Furong and the others as they walked out of a room.

But before he could even open his mouth to speak, Furong suddenly said in surprise:

"Oh my! What a peculiar soul you have!"