Chapter 484: The Tradition of Divine Beasts

「Summoning went wrong? What went wrong? Hello? Hello! 」

Completely baffled, Miss Xijiana kept calling Baimu on the other end of the communicator.

But all that came back was the short busy tone after a hang-up, which made her originally beautiful brows quickly knit together; uneasy at heart, she gazed up toward the top of the Pillar of the Sky.

She saw the celestial phenomena above the firmament shift — the originally star-brilliant night sky had, at some unknown moment, become filled with grey rolling clouds, giving one a feeling of being unable to breathe.

It's the Air Lock……

Miss Xijiana was very clear on the reason the grey clouds had suddenly appeared, and according to the records of the People of the Meteor, when Rayquaza super-evolves through the organ of the Heavenly King within its body, the celestial phenomena would become even more terrifying — a trait called Delta Air Stream would make the entire sky seem as though it were about to collapse down.

If she did not dare to interrupt the sacred trial midway and anger the Dragon God Rayquaza, she would most likely have rushed up long ago.

And right now, besides waiting for news, there seemed to be no other way.

Miss Xijiana slowly sat down beside the rising bonfire, hugged Gu Niu Niu, and felt deeply vexed, thinking to herself that she should have followed along from the very start.

Not far away, the Salamence that had tucked its head beneath its wings glanced at the dragon-tamer; seeing that she had no intention of going up, it closed its eyes and continued to slumber.

And at this moment, atop the tower.

Baimu raised a hand to shield against the dust whipped up by the gale, and a smell several times fouler than before rushed headlong into his nose, almost knocking him out in one go.

Damn, so this is how stinking high-concentration ozone is?

He forcefully held back the stinging in his nose and eyes, and looked at the shiny Rayquaza that had spiraled to his front — its body's mysterious ring emitted a brilliant golden light like a night-luminescent lamp — and within its golden dragon-pupils that seemed to be inlaid in pitch-black sclerae, there was contained a great deal of faint light he could not read.

The grey-black skin seen up close and the familiar aura proved that it was indeed the one he had encountered on the airplane before.

But how could it have been summoned?

Could it be that his People of the Meteor bloodline was also a shiny version?

No.

Where was the genuine Rayquaza?

Keep an eye on the house, will you? Running off to play with such a carefree heart — do you know the house will be gone!

Baimu's heart was incomparably uneasy; a shiny Rayquaza was handsome, sure, but right now it wasn't his Pokémon.

Besides, the Pillar of the Sky was built by the People of the Meteor for the Hoenn Rayquaza — God knew which patch of starry sky this shiny Rayquaza hailed from. For Pokémon like them, with an extremely strong territorial sense — so strong that once enmity was formed they would chase and kill across a thousand miles — if they ran into each other, it would surely trigger a terrifying war of annihilation.

By then it would not be entirely impossible for the Pillar of the Sky to be torn down, and to be more dramatic, affecting the entire Hoenn region……

No, no!

If something happened because of him, wouldn't his sin be great?

While he was thinking, Baimu's vision suddenly blurred — it was the Hydreigon and Dragapult, having sensed the shiny Rayquaza's terrifying aura, that spontaneously blocked in front of him.

From their tightly tensed bodies and the small half of their faces revealed, it was not hard to see that the two were immensely wary of the shiny Rayquaza, and the older sister and younger brother Dragapult Meshia were, just like last time on the airplane, so panicked they were trembling all over…… but still did not flee.

This let Baimu, in the cold wind, feel a bit of warmth.

Didn't dote on them for nothing.

What's that saying about "adversity" revealing true feelings?

"Don't get worked up."

He slowly walked between the two, reached out a hand to press on their heads and soothe them for a moment, then took a deep breath, and greeted the shiny Rayquaza that was enormous and full of intimidation, looking down at him from on high.

"Hello?"

Although he was unclear why the other had responded to the summoning, the fact that it had not launched an attack at the first moment, nor circled in the sky to observe, but had instead chosen to dive down for close contact, proved that the shiny Rayquaza most likely had no hostility.

And just as he had thought.

The shiny Rayquaza paid no heed to the Hydreigon and the others' faintly hostile attitude, merely gazing at the Baimu before it, without making any sound.

Baimu, feeling a bit awkward under the stare, opened his mouth again: "I'm really sorry, actually…… actually I'm not looking for you."

The shiny Rayquaza presumably had no power to decide the inheritor, and gaining its approval was of no use; in another setting he would be very glad to interact with such a handsome shiny Pokémon.

But in this setting right now……

He truly feared that the Hoenn Rayquaza would come back!

Facing his explanation, the shiny Rayquaza still gave no response whatsoever; its golden dragon-pupils reflected the tiny figure before it, and suddenly it lowered its head, which was about as big as a person.

The golden ring on its forehead grew ever brighter, making it somewhat hard to keep one's eyes open.

What does this mean!

Baimu had just raised his hand, preparing to shield against the dazzling light, when he felt something on his back suddenly lift him up, and then an intense sense of weightlessness shot through his entire body.

"Eh? Eh——"

The gale slapped his face, and the helpless him cried out in panic, his voice carrying far, "Again! You guys again!?"

Dragapult stared dumbfounded as Rayquaza bit the person and flew straight up into the sky; beside its ear, the cry of Hydreigon suddenly rang out.

"Shoooo!"

What are you standing there for! Hurry up and follow!

It saw Hydreigon had, at some unknown moment, already death-gripped the shiny Rayquaza's tail, and they flew high and far away; only belatedly did it react, summoning every ounce of strength it had to madly chase after them.

With its 142 base Speed stat pushed to the limit, plus Quick Attack and Phantom Force, it only just barely managed to touch Rayquaza's tail.

They turned into a streak of flowing light.

At the base of the Pillar of the Sky.

Miss Xijiana, whose neck had grown sore from looking up, blinked her eyes, and through the haze saw a golden ribbon of light that the eye could almost not keep up with slicing across the horizon; the abnormal celestial phenomena also dissipated along with it.

"It's over? That was fast — looks like it should have gone smoothly and gained approval."

She murmured softly, and could not help but think back to that "summoning went wrong," truly unable to figure it out no matter how she thought about it; she also felt he should be on his way back, so she simply took the initiative and called Baimu.

Five seconds later.

"Hoo hoo hoo hoo—— save—— hoo hoo hoo hoo——"

The strong wind, mixed with indistinct sounds, rushed into her ears.

Miss Xijiana could not help but say: "Why is the wind so damn loud on your end? Find somewhere without wind!"

The other end: "No… huff huff huff… no… huff huff… did you hear me…"

What the heck is with this guy—

Hm?

Miss Xijiana, who after all was no fool, suddenly froze, and asked tentatively: "Where are you right now?"

What answered her was a synthesized mechanical voice.

He was currently being carried in the mouth of the shiny Rayquaza, with no idea where it was heading.

"Shiny Rayquaza… wait! Who are you?"

I am his Pokémon Porygon2. We met before at Meteor Village, but you've probably forgotten.

"Porygon…"

The moment Miss Xijiana heard that name, a strange blocky duck immediately surfaced in her mind. "It's you! You can actually talk—no, wait!"

She realized she'd been led off track. "What shiny Rayquaza? Why did it take All Baimu away?"

That's a question I'd like answered too — honestly, this isn't the first time! What's the difference between these legendary Pokémon and common thugs and bandits!?

Porygon2's voice grew a little hurried, then suddenly softened. My apologies, once we arrive at the specific location, All Baimu will naturally contact you again. For now, please wait a moment, bye-bye.

"Wait! Hello? Hello?!"

Miss Xijiana stared at her phone, hung up on unilaterally once again, and nearly smashed it on the ground in fury.

It was clearly supposed to be a simple test — how could it turn into something this complicated!

"Goo~"

Gu Niu Niu beside her didn't know what was going on, but out of habit it softly comforted Miss Xijiana, and the latter's emotions gradually settled down.

Young as she was, it had been a long time since anything had pushed her blood pressure this high.

Hard not to get a little worked up.

And once she calmed down, she began considering other very serious questions.

Shiny Rayquaza.

The incident over Desert City had caused a huge stir, so Miss Xijiana had naturally heard of it, but since there was very little visual material on it, she only had a very basic understanding.

For example, that it also possessed the ability to Mega Evolve, and was in no way inferior to the Rayquaza revered by their Meteor People in every respect; and that it lived beneath another sky of this very planet…

Could it be that the ancestor of All Baimu's lineage had gone to that Orea region precisely to seek out the shiny Rayquaza?

Thinking about it that way, it really did seem to be the case. The other party being carried off by the shiny Rayquaza might just be proof that his ancestor had successfully established communication with it!

Miss Xijiana speculated wildly for a while, until she ended up laughing at her own guesses.

Nothing to be done about it.

Surely it couldn't be that All Baimu himself had attracted the shiny Rayquaza, causing it to fly over and carry him off — is that even possible? Maybe, but definitely not likely.

——

All Baimu was nearly frozen numb.

He had assumed Rayquaza didn't feel the cold because of a layer of ozone protection, but the facts proved his guess was completely wrong.

This guy was purely weathering the high-altitude chill on its own brute strength.

Fortunately, the Magma Suit didn't just resist lava but also worked against the cold, so only his face was frozen numb… or rather, blown numb by the high-altitude air currents.

Where would the shiny Rayquaza take him?

At a speed like that, it surely couldn't be anywhere close.

Do legendary Pokémon all like grabbing people by their clothes? It really seems possible — otherwise how would it use the same method as Lugia to abduct someone? Speaking of which, the last time he went to find Lugia was two days ago; he didn't know how it was doing, or whether the darkening had been successfully suppressed.

All Baimu was really looking forward to Orea Lugia going to find the Lugia mother and child!

For some reason, it gave him the feeling of being a matchmaker.

Even though he clearly knew Orea Lugia was seeking out the Lugia mother and child to borrow their power, in order to completely eliminate the effects the dark modification surgery had on its body.

He squinted his eyes, enduring the gale, and with his slightly stiff body tried to relax so his limbs hung naturally, thinking that at this rate he'd soon be used to high-altitude conditions.

Hu Pa hadn't contacted him yet — he hoped the shiny Rayquaza wasn't dragging him back to its nest to eat him.

The Hydreigon and the others should have caught up. Huskidding — to say nothing else — was definitely clever; its stupidity only existed from a human perspective and set of values.

In a daze.

All Baimu felt the shiny Rayquaza descending in altitude.

The smoky cloud layer gradually approaching below proved he hadn't guessed wrong — the shiny Rayquaza was indeed landing.

How far had it flown?

Probably not that far, if it was already preparing to land…

He first rubbed his hands together, and once they'd warmed up, he rubbed his eyes — the scene below the clouds immediately came into view.

He saw, amidst the boundless night, a stretch of brilliantly lit land. Cities large and small, like candle flames in the darkness, faintly illuminated the outer outline of this continent.

And judging from the positions of the various cities, below should be the Johto region.

What was the point of coming to Johto in the middle of the night?

Huh?

It couldn't be…

When the shiny Rayquaza descended toward the massive island where Cianwood City lay, the small guess in All Baimu's heart was confirmed.

—【Tomb of Tower】.

Legend has it that a tower built by a group of people from Hoenn, similar to the Sky Pillar, its height claimed to touch the sky — except that in the games, a large portion of the Tomb of Tower is already embedded in the cliff face.

Another portion is submerged beneath the sea surface.

Its special construction meant this tower simultaneously connected 【the earth】, 【the ocean】, and 【the sky】.

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the Hoenn legendary trio were caught here. He hadn't expected the Tomb of Tower from the anime backdrop to still exist — it was probably also built by the Meteor People for Rayquaza, right?

Holy crap.

Lao Lie! Your overseas villa's about to be taken too!

Baimu muttered under his breath, and after a few rounds of circling, the shiny Rayquaza found the buried tower that had almost blended into Gaoshan, perched beside the strait.

It let out a long howl, like shouting "I'm back!", and shot in through the hollowed-out section in the middle of the tower's body.

"Aaoo—"

Baimu's vision went dark, then bright again, and at the bottom of the tower he immediately saw a massive platform glowing green, covered in mysterious ring-shaped patterns.

The shiny Rayquaza landed on the platform and gently lowered its head so his feet could reach the ground and stand steady.

"Finally…"

Baimu's legs had just gone weak with relief when the cries of the Hydreigon and the Dragapult siblings reached his ears.

"Sha-sang!"

"Hii-ya!" "Mii-hii-ya!"

He turned his head, only to be knocked flat by the Hydreigon, while the Dragapults pounced on his face and wriggled around.

"Alright, alright, it's fine… it's fine for now."

He reached out and rubbed them all over, then looked at the Dragapult Barud who was too shy to come closer, patted its head lightly, and said, "Good work."

"Lu-tuo~"

Dragapult Barud nodded shyly.

While soothing his Pokémon, Baimu naturally hadn't forgotten the big fellow beside him that had dragged him all the way to Johto. After steadying his emotions, he looked up at the shiny Rayquaza and asked, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Sii-aang—"

The shiny Rayquaza finally spoke, feeding back a string of hoarse, low howls.

What a blast of breath!

"Holy—!"

Baimu nearly got blown to the ground by its voice, thinking no wonder this guy never talks — get close and a casual puff sends people flying, where's the desire to chat in that?

At the same time, Porygon-Z's translation also reached his ears.

"Rayquaza says… Rayquaza says it's very curious about you."

"Curious? Curious about what?"

Baimu froze slightly, forcing himself to look straight into those golden dragon pupils. "Which part of my body are you curious about? Hmm… curious… Mega Evolution? Heart of the Soul?"

He thought it over and over, and only this strange special ability on him seemed worth the shiny Rayquaza's curiosity.

—It couldn't possibly be the emulator, right?

He recalled again that last time he met the shiny Rayquaza, it seemed to be when he was trying to use "Dragon's Heart," and that guy had even deliberately leaned in closer to look.

Scared him and the Dragapults half to death.