Chapter 442: The Mysterious Website

Valley Town.

A unique town full of the western flavor of the League.

At a glance, rows of wooden houses large and small lined up in two columns, and the wide street between them looked just like a set from a western cowboy film.

When Ash and his group were traveling here, a Lunatone—bullied by members of the Pokémon Impossible Club, or "bad guys" for short—broke in and used its strange radio waves to control all the townspeople, including Miss Joo-in, turning the place into a ghost town.

Fortunately, with the protagonist on the scene, every scheme turned out to be nothing but an illusion.

The bad guys were driven away, and the Lunatone was safely returned to its original home. Several years passed in a flash, and the little town remained peaceful and stable—though no one knew how that Lunatone was faring.

"Mm…"

All Baimu sat on a bench beside the entrance to the Pokémon Center, and next to him, less than a meter away, sat his Dragapult, head lowered, lost in thought.

Neither of them spoke. Silence filled the air.

Going to the police station to give a statement had been half an hour ago.

Officer Jenny was as understanding as expected, agreeing not to spread word of the ancient tomb carelessly. That satisfied his private wishes and also let the wild Pokémon in those mountains and forests enjoy some peace.

The only thing to watch out for was the source of those three Pokémon hunters' intel. According to the leader himself, he'd seen it on a secret website, where plenty of people were searching everywhere for legendary Pokémon and sharing sightings with each other.

At first, this lot actually harbored a certain get-rich-quick mentality.

Affected by the upheaval in Iron Town, the Pokémon hunters' main safe distribution channel was gone. Even those once-feared poaching rings were having a hard time of it, sitting on Pokémon with no idea who to sell them to.

The smart ones opened up new markets themselves; the not-so-smart ones tried to open up markets and got caught instead.

The hunting world was now in utter chaos.

Amid the turmoil, one or two always try to rise up. Just like that earlier bunch who'd tried to capture Lei Gong in hopes of making a name for themselves, these three Pokémon hunters had similar plans.

Of course.

If they didn't find anything, they'd naturally detour to the Safari Zone several dozen kilometers away and capture enough wild Pokémon from there.

Who could have expected a wild card to show up halfway and wipe them out in one fell swoop.

Believe it or not, these three were actually famous "big shots" on the wanted list, who'd been causing trouble all over the Hoenn region for years, a long-standing headache for the Hoenn police.

That's why Officer Jenny arrived so quickly once she learned the details.

All Baimu didn't particularly care about those three men's final fate. What he was more curious about was that so-called secret website. Who would have thought it was actually a membership-only site—you needed an invitation just to register and log in.

He could only have Porygon2 try to work around it and see if it could open a back door or something.

Porygon2 did agree, but there'd been no response yet.

Inside the Pokémon Center, a Blissey was helping Miss Joo-in and a group of Blissey, while Aggron and the rest of the Pokémon were getting their routine checkups.

Dragapult was supposed to have one too, but the fellow was hiding and refusing to come out.

All Baimu had initially assumed it was furious inside and didn't want to go in, and was wondering how to talk it around. But the moment he sat down at the door, the fellow appeared right behind him.

It materialized beside him without a sound, its pair of triangular slit eyes showing little expression.

Even so, All Baimu didn't dare move, let alone speak.

He was afraid of startling the fellow and making it vanish and hide again.

The reason was none other than—

It was just too rare.

You had to understand, this was the closest he'd been to Dragapult in recent days apart from recalling its Poké Ball and feeding it—a rare chance that had to be cherished—

Just thinking about it made him feel a little bitter.

The Pokémon at home really were more eccentric than the last. Not to mention the Blissey and Mawile who'd been with him since Iron Town—even one lazy brat of a Luvdisc had cost him who knows how much effort, and if Milotic hadn't found a good spot like Dragon's Gate Waterfall, heaven knew how long it would have taken to evolve.

Thinking it over, only Aggron and Hydreigon gave him the least worry—at most one was obsessed with territory, and the other always liked to act cute.

Now, just when he'd finally managed to settle them in, another "problem child" had shown up.

No, wait—

Three of them.

Fortunately, just like with Mawile and the others, his patience had finally been rewarded with a chance to take the relationship a step further.

And the not-quite-affectionate affection Dragapult was showing right now was, of course, thanks to those Pokémon hunters.

Presumably, thanks to his opposition to those guys and his decisive fighting, he'd successfully won Dragapult's favor. In a game, that'd be at least three pink hearts of friendship, right?

That was what All Baimu thought.

So he felt the chance was right in front of him—even though he hadn't yet mastered the Dragon Heart, he couldn't just do nothing.

If nothing else, at least try to strike up a conversation with Dragapult!

His mind was made up.

Little did he know that the Dragapult beside him actually harbored thoughts similar to his own.

It had already known long before that the human youth before it was different from those bad ones it had encountered in the past, and the battle just now had confirmed its thoughts.

It was also quite grateful to Hydreigon for stepping up to save it. Charging into Lin Zili in a fit of rage had been far too reckless, and looking back on it later, it had been so embarrassed it shut itself in, hiding in Lin Zili and refusing to come out.

If the other Pokémon weren't all away right now, Dragapult probably wouldn't have dared to stay this close to All Baimu either.

The reason was none other than—

It was thin-skinned.

Watching those Pokémon act cute with All Baimu, it found it amusing, but if it had to do it itself… it really couldn't handle it.

So even though it had quite a bit of goodwill toward All Baimu and even had thoughts of reaching out first, when it came time to act, Dragapult could only hover nearby.

【Currently the most complete and best-sounding audiobook app, integrating 4 major speech synthesis engines with over 100 voices, and also supporting offline reading—source-swapping marvel, huanyuanapp. Source-Swap App】

Then outwardly it stayed silent, while inside it twisted itself into knots of conflict.

What should it do next?

Is there anyone who can come and Jiao Sect me?!

Dragapult instinctively glanced to the side and happened to meet All Baimu's eyes as he turned his head.

It froze, then entered stealth mode and vanished.

"Hey! Don't!"

Baimu raised a hand in frustration, thinking how whatever you fear is sure to come, only to see Dragonite reappear a moment later—though its gaze drifted, still unwilling to meet his eyes.

Hmm?

He watched Dragonite's evasive gaze and couldn't help feeling a little puzzled.

He'd originally thought this fellow's temperament was too unruly and reclusive to be easy to talk to or get close to, but now, looking closely up close, he instead got the illusion of a shy little boy.

Come to think of it, it's only been four or five days since he caught Dragonite, and his understanding of the latter was limited to the Pokédex, the check-up form from the Pokémon Center, and those first few exchanges.

He didn't even know what food this fellow liked—Dragonite accepted anything, eating whatever it was given.

Baimu fell silent for a moment.

A short while later.

He smiled and said, "What would you like for dinner?"

Thoughts of wanting to ask Dragonite about its past, wanting to ask how Dragonite truly saw him, wanting to pat Dragonite on the head—all sorts of ideas and plans kept welling up.

But in the end, he realized there was actually no need.

This fellow clearly wasn't good at communicating; whether unruly or timid, not being able to speak for half a day was surely just its personality.

So what was there to force?

Strong feelings and bonds need time and experience to slowly ferment; a few probing questions wouldn't mean much. Dragonite had fought so many Pokémon today and chased two Pokémon hunters—rest was more important.

The rest.

Let it take its course.

Dragonite heard those calm yet warm words, recalled everything it had seen and heard these past days, and its chaotic, uneasy heart suddenly calmed. Its eyelids trembled slightly, and its huge triangular head turned to look into the distance.

Just when Baimu thought he wouldn't get a response, it let out a soft cry.

"…Loo, tuo."

…Yesterday's meal was pretty good.

Even without Porygon2's translation, he somehow understood Dragonite's meaning, just as he'd previously read the look in Dratini's eyes.

He smiled gladly. "Alright then, we'll cook today's menu the same as yesterday's."

"Loo tuo~"

Dragonite responded again, this cry far more fluid than the stiff one just now.

The relationship between the two had quietly progressed a little.

They exchanged no more words.

They simply watched in silence the people coming and going on the street below, children playing with their Pokémon, like two mute observers.

Dragonite really enjoyed this feeling; what made it even happier was not having to rack its brain figuring out how to talk to the person beside it, or what to say.

Though nothing was said outright, it understood the message the person beside it conveyed—

You don't have to force yourself.

For the first time, it felt that staying by Baimu's side might be something worth being happy about.

Not long after.

Chansey pushed a little cart out of the Pokémon Center, wearing the nurse cap Baimu had knitted for it back in Greenfield Town. "Happy~"

On the cart, apart from the Poké Balls containing Aggron and the others, lay a big black-faced, white-furred cat with curved horns.

"Souu!"

Absol, now properly treated, tried to jump off the bed, only to be sternly blocked by Chansey.

The two Pokémon locked eyes—and Absol was the first to back down.

Unbelievable.

"Happy!" Chansey told the trainer that Absol's hind-leg injury was neither light nor truly heavy; after treatment at the Pokémon Center and one more day of rest, it would be mostly fine.

"That's pretty fast."

Baimu stepped closer, looking in surprise at Absol's better-bandaged hind leg.

Chansey's technique was actually decent, but the wound had been treated in the rain under very crude conditions, and the bandage had been soaked black by rainwater in no time.

"Souu…"

Absol responded to his voice, casting a slightly fearful glance at Chansey and the Pokémon Center behind it. In just a few short hours, everything it had endured felt like a nightmare.

It really wanted to go back to the mountains…

"You can go back tomorrow, don't rush. I'll personally take you back then." Baimu reached out and, as he'd hoped, gently stroked the white-furred big cat.

"Souu."

Absol, feeling the goodwill, nodded. The distinctly human-like gesture and smooth response both signified that it possessed an intelligence no lower than a human youth's.

Being able to understand human language and being able to understand a trainer's meaning were, after all, two different things.

Beep beep.

The vibration made Baimu lower his head.

Under the curious gazes of the surrounding Pokémon, he opened his phone.

The first thing he saw was Lai Sha's reply to the photo of the ancient Braille on the tomb door.

Lai Sha: I've already consulted people who know about this stuff. They say ancient Braille is different from the modern optimized and simplified version—you can only judge the content by touch; you can't read the meaning just by looking.

Baimu: Only by touch? Why would ancient people create such a strange writing system…

Lai Sha: The history of human development is very complicated. For instance, the origin of this ancient Braille is believed to be a group of people who lived deep in caves year-round without sunlight and identified things using senses other than sight.

Cavepeople?

Baimu suddenly recalled that in the texts about the Three Pillars, there was a record of the ancient ancestors of the Hoenn region multiplying and thriving in caves with the help of the Pillars.

And although the later ancient ancestors did express gratitude to a few of the pillar Pokémon, they then sealed the three pillars away on the grounds that their power was simply too terrifying.

It could practically be called repaying kindness with ingratitude.

Poor pillar Pokémon.

At this thought, he asked Lisha where he could learn ancient Braille.

Lisha: You've got me stumped there. The people I've contacted only have a superficial grasp of ancient Braille — if you're talking about actually understanding it, I don't think that's possible. Champion Dawu doesn't know this stuff either… How about this: I'll help you look around, and I'll get back to you if anything pans out.

Baimu: Alright, alright.

Of the famously renowned archaeologists in the Pokémon world, he could only recall one — Cynthia.

But her expertise was in Sinnoh history, and besides, an archaeologist wasn't the same as a linguist, so it would likely be difficult to smoothly decipher the contents on the door.

Night.

Porygon2 brought him a piece of good news.

Done! Now you can browse without leaving a trace!

"Awesome!"

Baimu praised it in a low voice, opened that website, and quickly browsed through its contents, finding that it was actually far more proper than he had expected.

Most of the website was data on various legendary Pokémon — including folklore, legends, and even sighting reports.

Disturbingly detailed.

"Looks like the International Police's intelligence database…" Baimu quipped offhandedly. Of course, he had never actually seen the International Police's internal database — he was just thinking that.

The International Police's database wouldn't have a discussion forum like this either.

He clicked into the forum, and the very first thing he saw was the title "The Legendary Giant, Slumbering in 【Ancient Tomb】." Clicking in, he discovered a large amount of ancient Braille.

The poster stated that, by consulting materials, poring over various documents, and self-teaching ancient Braille, they had barely deciphered a passage.

The general content was, just as Baimu had previously guessed, some records of the ancient Hoenn ancestors cowering in caves under the protection of the pillar Pokémon.

It read.

【We have sealed the eternal Pokémon here, hoping that future descendants will never have the day when the seal is opened.】

He found the ancient Hoenn ancestors' way of thinking hard to comprehend.

Setting aside the fact that they had protected humanity, how could they be so afraid while holding the power of sealing in their own hands?

What's the difference between that and shouting "so scary, so scary" while swinging an iron palm and knocking someone's head off?