Chapter 461: Rayquaza

Blue sky, emerald sea.

The third day after the Water Veil Grand Festival ended.

Floating ten thousand metres above the ground aboard a plane bound for Kalos, All Baimu gazed out the window at the Hoenn mainland, already long out of sight, and felt a twinge of regret at not having caught a glimpse of Rayquaza…

Well then.

Actually, relief.

As everyone knows, Rayquaza is the sovereign of the skies, and any outside intruder will be attacked by it — just like the two Deoxys from a certain pair of movies, one of which was beaten until its body shattered and its core crystal sank to the bottom of the sea for who knows how many years, and when it finally woke up and went looking for its companions, it got chased off again.

Although in the end the "overbearing and tyrannical" Rayquaza was itself bullied by a bunch of humans with Creation Boxes and the ocean, it still proved just how much it hates anyone who trespasses on its territory.

Under these circumstances, All Baimu had always felt a bit uneasy about taking a plane through Hoenn.

But as it turned out, he'd clearly wronged Rayquaza — even legendary Pokémon in the anime are more emotional than divine, and won't casually cause disasters for hundreds out of selfish whim.

While he was thinking, a few giggles and laughs came from beside him.

All Baimu turned his head, and sitting next to him were, of all things, a Mime Jr. and the Dreepy siblings, all three huddled together watching a comedy variety show on a phone and rolling about in their seats with laughter.

Speaking of which, the planes in the Pokémon anime world are quite interesting — Pokémon are allowed aboard, but there are height and weight limits and they have to buy tickets, and regardless of size each one gets its own seat, with very professional detection equipment checking for smuggled Pokémon before boarding.

This meant he had no choice but to recall the Dreepy siblings, but the two little rascals watched the planes zipping back and forth outside and absolutely refused to go back — one with a pleading face, the other rolling around.

You think you can feel how fast a plane is inside the cabin? Please, it's not a motorcycle.

Unable to win against the two little rascals, and after confirming there were still seats, on the principle that he had plenty of money and wouldn't miss two tickets, he was forced to buy four tickets by himself.

The result, as can be seen now, was that the two little ones were so engrossed in the variety show they couldn't care less how fast the plane was going.

"You two idiots…"

All Baimu shook his head and opened his phone to browse blogs.

In a Pokémon world where black technology pops up left and right, given that there are floating castles and flying airships, the in-flight cabin signal problem that even his previous life had solved was certainly a non-issue.

But whether it was a big-data issue or not, over the past two days the homepage had been flooded with short posts tagged with photos of him and his Pokémon, while the tournament videos, Pokémon research papers, and Professor Oak's senryu that used to show up all the time had vanished.

He flipped over to the trending searches.

His own name was prominently printed in the top ten, followed by an introduction to the Grand Showcase.

Clearly this boost came from the Hoenn region's Contest Bureau — to promote the upcoming Grand Showcase, they had not only highlighted All Baimu, who had been on a winning streak since his debut and repeatedly set impressive records, but also listed a number of other promising Coordinators.

Dawn was conspicuously among them, but May's name was nowhere to be seen — most likely she hadn't been hanging around Hoenn's Contest venues this year.

No big deal.

When the Wallace Cup was held, he'd be able to meet her in person.

He quietly scrolled through the blog interface, but his thoughts drifted back to right after the contest ended the day before yesterday.

Unlike the previous few Festivals where he'd had to hide and avoid being spotted, this time, through Perfume Shop proprietress Kitagawa Ayane, with whom he'd had the chance to meet several times before, he finally managed to leave the Contest venue openly through the front entrance as soon as it was over.

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Although he'd long known she was the original organizer and president of the Mime Jr. fan club, seeing so many fans dutifully step aside under her guidance was still somewhat shocking.

Unfortunately, the media couldn't be stopped.

All Baimu didn't mind much, and for once earnestly answered the media's many questions, to get used to being interviewed ahead of the day he'd climb to the top of Ohra and develop it.

And to thank Kitagawa Ayane and the others for their long-time support and help, he specifically found a restaurant he'd scouted before — one that genuinely tasted good — to treat the fan club's management team to a meal—

Actually, it should be called a Mime Jr. gathering, since three people alone had done Mime Jr. cosplay, while the rest wore Mime Jr. merchandise clothing, and every single person brought a Mime Jr.

All Baimu's Mime Jr. had never seen so many of its own kind, and didn't know how to interact with them — it sat in the seat of honour the whole time with a stiff face, using an extremely haughty attitude to paper over its inner panic, and couldn't even eat without All Baimu feeding it, otherwise its hands would shake.

But to Kitagawa Ayane and the others, along with the other Mime Jr., this one really had a queenly bearing — ruby-like eyes, gorgeous fur, a powerful giant jaw, and pearly-white gleaming fangs. Cold and aloof it might be, but it radiated charm at every moment—

Truth be told, it had just been raised too well.

By the end of the meal, not only did they not dislike Mime Jr., they actually liked it even more because of its "queenly air," and even squatted or knelt down to take photos with it from better angles, to show off on blogs and fan groups.

Little did they know that after the gathering ended, the unattainable flower in their hearts furiously tugged at her Trainer's hem, resentfully asking why he hadn't warned her sooner.

At least give a lady a day's notice, won't you?

Hmm.

Mental preparation.

All Baimu looked at his hem, which was nearly twisted into a rope, and could only apologize to her, promising to give her a day's notice from now on.

Even so, Mime Jr. took the better part of half a day before showing a smile again, and not only was willing to come out of her Poké Ball, she could watch variety shows and giggle along at the same time.

"Mime!"

The cry pulled his attention back.

He saw Mime Jr. holding her phone, which had gone black, and blinking along with the two Dreepy as they looked at him.

"Out of battery — that's it for today." All Baimu glanced at the notification bar on his phone, where a miniature Porygon2 had appeared at some unknown point, and quickly patted all three on the cheek.

"…Mime."

The three Pokémon looked glum, but didn't say anything.

Ever since getting the phone, whenever she had free time Mime Jr. had kept up an intense viewing schedule — to prevent her from becoming nearsighted, he and Porygon2 had at one point forcibly controlled her screen time by the phone's battery level, and warned her that if she kept it up she wouldn't be able to see clearly.

Mime Jr. had been very unhappy at first, and one morning she woke up with her vision gone foggy and immediately panicked — when she threw herself onto the bed to find All Baimu, she almost cried.

But in reality, she'd just gotten something in her eye that had misted her vision, and it cleared up after a couple of rubs.

In the past, Mime Jr. wouldn't have cared at all.

But because All Baimu had specifically mentioned it, the impression stuck in her mind.

After this incident, even though the misunderstanding was eventually cleared up, Mime Jr. never protested the phone-time restrictions again.

And once Mime Jr. had nothing to play with, All Baimu put down his phone too, took out a deck of cards and played brain-teaser games with her, dragging the two little Dreepy in as well to train their logical thinking.

But after training for a while, the Dreepy sister, who had lost from start to finish, got hot-headed and whacked her own head repeatedly.

"Hiyah! Hiyah!"

"Hiyah…"

The Zweilous brother felt very wronged—how could it be blamed for having bad luck? That was too much!

"Cough cough cough, let's not get rough, it's just a game." All Baimu hurriedly reached out to stop them. Although he didn't approve of the Zweilous sister's hitting, the Zweilous brother really was a troll—

When teamed with Mawile, he'd trash-talk her sister; when teamed with his sister, he'd still trash-talk his sister. Asked why, he'd act completely self-righteous, with an expression that said, "What's wrong with me wanting to do this?"

"Hiyah!"

The Zweilous sister slammed her cards down and declared huffily that she wasn't playing anymore.

All Baimu gave his seat to the eagerly excited Porygon-Z, then went off alone to comfort the poor sister, doing his daily Dragon Heart practice on the side.

To be honest.

After so many days of thinking and experiencing, he seemed to have vaguely grasped something, but was still just a final kick away.

Unfortunately, getting past that hurdle smoothly was really not so easy.

"Let's practice."

All Baimu gripped the two horns on either side of the Zweilous sister's head, stared into her eyes, and in a meditative posture tried to feel the violently fluctuating emotions within her.

The so-called saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul—Eris had also started by locking gazes with her Dragon-type Pokémon.

Of course.

At first neither side was used to this method and would instinctively dodge eye contact, but slowly, as the number of times increased, it no longer felt so awkward.

In a hazy daze.

That elusive feeling surfaced once more in All Baimu's heart. He steadied his breath and focused, trying to seize it, but it always scattered like smoke the moment he reached for it.

Just as he was being tormented internally, the scene before his eyes suddenly darkened.

Immediately after, the light above his seat came on, and the broadcast played the flight attendant's reminders for trainers to keep their Pokémon under control and fasten their seatbelts.

It also said the plane had hit turbulence, but there was no big problem and they just needed to cooperate.

All Baimu sent Porygon-Z back into his phone, fastened the seatbelts for the two Zweilous and Mawile, then fastened his own and looked out at the pitch-black window.

Anyone who didn't know would think they'd entered a tunnel… turbulence?

He watched the lightning and thunder outside and thought they'd flown into a thundercloud.

Suddenly.

The plane began to bump up and down. Although the amplitude wasn't large, it still caused many passengers in the cabin to let out low cries. Fortunately, thanks to the flight attendants' soothing, the panic didn't spread.

All Baimu felt he really was a bit unlucky—rarely taking a plane and running into this kind of situation.

He turned to look at Mawile and the two Zweilous. The former was fine with a calm expression, but the latter two weren't doing so well, scared into trembling and curling up.

"Don't panic, it's fine." All Baimu said with a helpless laugh.

The two of you who are "dead" are nervous—what are you nervous about, when the two who are alive aren't even tense?

Are you really that scared?

He shook his head helplessly, his gaze drifting to the window—

"Holy shit!"

In just one glance, All Baimu's soul nearly left his body, because outside the window he saw an enormous golden pupil, so large it filled the entire window, like a bright lantern, filled with indifference and a hint of… curiosity?

And the face reflected in that pupil was unmistakably his own.

What the heck? Zekrom?

The next instant.

In a daze, a long, drawn-out howl rang out beside his ear. All Baimu swallowed hard and, with the resolve to die knowing why, kept his gaze locked on the golden pupil—only for a terrified, trembling voice to suddenly ring out from behind him.

"R-Rayquaza!"

"It's not coming to attack the plane, is it?"

"Waaah… Mama, I want my mama…"

The cabin instantly descended into chaos, as if the bell of death were drawing near.

Rayquaza?

Hearing this, All Baimu was stunned, then saw the golden pupil shrinking… no, Rayquaza was gradually moving away from the window. He had no idea whether it was preparing to attack or to leave.

But at last he could see its whole body clearly.

It was black.

More precisely, grey-black.

Oh, so it was a shiny Rayquaza…

He let out a long breath and gradually relaxed. The green Rayquaza from the main anime was rather temperamental and had once fought with Champion Dawu and the others over the Megastone.

But shiny Rayquaza, as Ash's helper in the Hu Pa movie, definitely had its justice attribute maxed out, so it probably wouldn't attack the plane.

Sure enough, the other circled the plane a few times and then left, with no intention of lingering at all.

The plane soon broke through the dark clouds and reappeared in the blue sky and azure sea.

Loud cheers of having survived a disaster rang out all around, but All Baimu had a feeling that this guy had spotted him on its way back and deliberately came over to take a look.

Or maybe he was overthinking it?

Who knows.

He turned to look at Mawile and the Zweilous siblings. After Rayquaza left, the Zweilous siblings had returned to normal—looks like they'd been scared by the shiny Rayquaza earlier.

It was indeed a bit terrifying. Encountering a creature at ten thousand meters that could shoot down a plane with a single open mouth—didn't he see the expressions on the people around him?

But thankfully, Desert City was right before their eyes.

Through the window, All Baimu clearly saw the massive, magnificent city below, as if built between the Gobi and the sea.

Among them, on the small island out at sea, the pink giant was especially eye-catching—

Hoopa.

Or rather, Hoopa in its Unbound form—Hoopa who had successfully mastered the power of the past, no longer arrogant and troublesome, no longer causing trouble for others.

In the past, Hu Pa was so wild that it often caused destruction, so its power was sealed; with the help of Ash and his group, it successfully mastered its power.

All Baimu came here also to meet this person and to search for the whereabouts of Lugia.

Not long after.

The plane landed safely.

The captain informed the control tower about the encounter with Rayquaza, causing a large number of personnel to come near the plane to check whether there were any casualties, and to inspect the damage to the aircraft.

However, after they inspected for a while, they found nothing. It was as if they had merely brushed past Rayquaza by sheer coincidence.

"Desert City, huh…"

All Baimu narrowed his eyes; the sun here was still rather scorching, probably related to the fact that it was built in a Gobi environment.

Affected by Hu Pa and Malicious Hu Pa summoning many Legendary Pokémon to wage great battles here, many nearby roads and high-rise buildings were damaged by those guys.

For example, buildings struck by Giratina's Shadow Ball, buildings ice-sealed by Kyurem, buildings sliced by Palkia's Spacial Rend, and so on…

Therefore, when he took the shuttle bus, he could often see scenes of road and building repairs.

Fortunately, there were hardly any casualties.

All the way to the edge of the small island, because construction was underway on it, All Baimu was unable to cross the bridge by normal means, so he had no choice but to contact the liaison that Miltank had found for him here.

"Hello, I've arrived."