Chapter 500: Hoenn Dancing Girl

A reunion after a long parting.

Baimu's eyes were full of pleasant surprise.

He looked at Xiaozhao again and found that her outfit had changed into a jewel-encrusted replica version, especially the headband tied into bunny ears, which looked utterly adorable.

"Let go of me, you bastard! Boys, get him!"

The cursing rang out beside his ear.

He turned his head, abruptly yanked the arm he was gripping, and the tremendous force dragged the other fist the mohawk guy had thrown off course, while the man himself lost his balance in terror.

With a little more force, the mohawk guy spun a full one-eighty in an instant, ending up with his back to Baimu, his arm bent and pinned behind him.

"Ow! Ow ow ow—"

The mohawk guy cried out in pain, which goaded his underlings to shout for the few Poochyena out on lookout to attack Baimu, but the invisible Dragapult was faster.

The Poochyena were charging forward barking when a flash of white light suddenly swept past them, its terrifying speed leaving a clear energy trail in midair, like a dazzling white ribbon.

In an instant.

A string of firecracker-like explosions rang out, and the Poochyena all whined as they were sent flying backward.

The Bikers turned pale with fright; Xiaozhao and Xiaosheng, each holding a Poké Ball in their hands, exchanged a glance—they hadn't even had time to send out their Pokémon yet!

"Where did that attack come from?"

"This guy's really weird—huh? Isn't that the guy from the ship?"

"Holy crap!"

The Bikers seemed to have only just remembered who Baimu was, and burst out in alarmed cries.

Just as the mohawk guy was about to shout something, an ache shot through the back of his knee, followed by a tremendous force from behind, forcing him to stumble about flailing his arms and crash into his underlings in a heap, producing various "oof"s and "ow"s.

"Scram!"

Baimu barked harshly.

As if answering his words, the red and blue lights of a police beacon suddenly flickered on the horizon, the siren growing from distant to near.

Hauled up in a sorry state by his underlings, the mohawk guy turned to look at Baimu, whose features were indistinct in the dark night, and felt a chill crawling up his back. After a brief hesitation of a few seconds, he didn't even dare to throw out a parting threat, and fled in haste with his underlings and Pokémon.

"Tch."

Baimu's brows knit tightly.

Troublesome.

These fly-like guys really are everywhere, yet they only ever commit petty offenses—even Officer Jenny can only lock them up for a few months at most, sometimes they walk free after just a couple of days.

In his opinion, for repeat offenders they should just be shipped off to plant trees in the desert, or failing that, sent down a mine to dig ore.

Olivine is clearly so short on people…

"Baimu, you're amazing!" Xiaosheng's excited shout cut off his thoughts.

Baimu's expression quickly softened; he turned to look at the siblings, especially Xiaozhao—one of the most famous female characters in the Pokémon series.

"Are you two alright?"

He asked.

"Of course we're fine!"

Xiaosheng grinned sheepishly, looking curiously around, apparently trying to find the Pokémon that had just struck, but Dragapult stayed hidden, and Dreepy had its mouth forcibly covered by its older sibling to keep it from making a sound.

Several months had passed since then, and the boy didn't seem to have grown much taller; black-framed glasses still sat on his nose bridge, but his temperament had become much more composed.

It looked like he'd accumulated plenty of precious experiences during his travels in Unova.

"Thank you so much for your help."

Xiaozhao, noticing Baimu's gaze, added her own thanks.

Her changes weren't only in her outfit either; after several years of adventuring across several regions, she had long shed the immaturity of the Advanced Generation… though her height wasn't quite what one might imagine.

Is she even one-fifty?

Probably.

Watching the anime from Ash's point of view, one always felt this girl had to be at least one-sixty or one-seventy.

"Seeing you in such good health puts my mind at ease."

He patted Xiaosheng on the shoulder, then said with a smile to Xiaozhao: "I heard your name from Xiaosheng a long time ago—seeing you in person is better than hearing about you a hundred times… the Hoenn Dancing Girl?"

"Ahahaha, you can just call me Xiaozhao." Being addressed by her nickname directly, Xiaozhao flushed with embarrassment and unconsciously fell back on her trademark vague catchphrase: "I might still be a bit short of living up to that title."

"Maybe," "perhaps," "probably"… even the newborn Manaphy in *Prince of the Sea* got infected by it, going "perhaps perhaps" as naturally as calling for its mother.

Baimu replied: "Not at all—I often watch your gorgeous performances. For this year's Wallace Cup, you're absolutely a seeded contender."

"That's right, that's right, sis, you're a seeded contender! And Baimu is your strongest rival!" Xiaosheng nodded approvingly beside them.

Although he hadn't made any name for himself, ever since he found Baimu's Contest performances online, he'd been following closely, and often sent them to his sister to watch.

"Maybe… maybe so."

Xiaozhao was still a little embarrassed; she had confidence in her own strength, but she wasn't yet at the level where she could casually accept others' praise.

At the same time.

Officer Jenny arrived on her motorcycle, looked at the three people present, and asked: "Who called the police?"

"I did." Baimu raised his hand under Xiaosheng's puzzled gaze, took out his phone, and walked over to Officer Jenny. "Take a look at these guys—when I was on the ship earlier, they came to cause trouble…"

In reality it was Porygon2 who had called the police, but there was no harm in him being the one to explain.

He showed Officer Jenny the photos Porygon2 had taken via public surveillance cameras; after hearing the story and confirming it with Xiaozhao and Xiaosheng, she accepted the relevant photos from Baimu, then saluted and said she'd definitely keep an eye on them.

A verbal dispute would at most earn those guys a night in the cells, but once Officer Jenny has you on her watch list, it's a different story.

Baimu watched Officer Jenny ride off, then looked back at the Xiaozhao siblings and said:

"It's too dark here, and the wind is a bit chilly—shall we find somewhere to sit down and have a proper chat?"

"Sure, sure!"

Xiaosheng was dying to chat with the first friend he'd made after setting out on his journey.

As for Xiaoyao, she had long been curious about All Baimu, the person who kept appearing in her family's conversations and on their phone screens.

——

Welcome Coast Café.

It was a coffee shop that had been wildly popular over the past two years, frantically opening branch after branch all over the world.

Deeply loved by many young men and women and urban white-collar workers.

All Baimu didn't come here often, because the group of Pokémon at home preferred restaurants that suited their tastes, and even Mawile preferred sweet shops with a wider variety of desserts.

Coffee?

Wouldn't touch it even if you paid me!

Right now, however, he was holding a glass of lemonade, and in front of him Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng were fighting over a plate of spicy potatoes, the two of them snatching and grabbing, neither giving way, noisy yet showing a certain closeness.

He asked in surprise, "You two haven't had dinner?"

"Yeah, Baimu-ge, we were just looking for somewhere to eat, but we accidentally got lost…" Xiaosheng replied between bites of potato, casting a subtle glance at Xiaoyao.

Clearly the getting lost was because of the latter; the female leads of the past few series all seemed to be as directionally challenged as Ash.

"Hehe."

Xiaoyao laughed awkwardly, then looked at All Baimu with curiosity.

At first she had actually found him a bit scary; the clean, efficient way he'd dealt with those thugs was undeniably cool, but he gave off an inexplicably ferocious air, like the dangerous Pokémon she'd encountered in the wild.

As she got to know him better over time, she discovered that All Baimu was actually very kind, always smiling as he watched her and Xiaosheng, like he was looking at long-lost old friends, giving her a warm feeling, and she couldn't help but become familiar with him.

What a complicated person.

Xiaoyao thought to herself, and at her little brother Xiaosheng's urging went to buy something else to eat, but unconsciously tapped in five orders of cheese pies on the self-service kiosk, and by the time she realized, she already had five small tickets and some change in her hand.

"Ah!"

She cried out in surprise, Xiaosheng beside her both annoyed and helpless.

"Sis! How are you still so careless!"

"Sorry!" Xiaoyao stuck her tongue out at her brother, not taking it too seriously — five measly cheese pies weren't even enough to be an after-dinner dessert for little Snorlax.

The three of them kept chatting, the main topic still revolving around each other's experiences.

Upon hearing that All Baimu had already met Brock and Dawn, the siblings couldn't help teasing that once he ran into Ash too, he'd probably have collected an entire circle of friends.

"I'm looking forward to it."

All Baimu said with a smile.

Later, when he went to the Kalos region to deal with Lysandre, there would most likely be a chance to run into this anime protagonist.

Mm.

When the time came, he must give Pikachu a proper thrashing — he'd been wanting to do that for far too long.

"Your cheese pies~"

The server approached carrying a huge tray, on which sat five heaping plates of two-piece triangular pies, the cheese inside overflowing, the ham slices tucked between them a vivid red and truly lovely to look at, the aroma rushing toward them.

Without a doubt, the ham in the anime world was made from soy protein, flour, and various spices — it was absolutely vegetarian.

"Wow! I might not even need little Snorlax's help!"

Xiaoyao pressed her hands together in delighted surprise, laughing: "I'm starting — huh?"

Her hand hadn't even touched the cheese pie when the latter suddenly flew up into the air.

Xiaosheng's face showed astonishment; All Baimu's expression was blacker than the bottom of a pot, and he swiftly reached out and grabbed the little thief that had stolen the pie, giving it a firm pinch.

"Hiiya!"

Dreepy let out a wail and revealed its form.

Thinking the food had been snatched, Xiaoyao had instinctively been about to transform into a vengeful spirit, but instantly reverted, exclaiming in surprise: "A Pokémon?"

"Is this Baimu-ge's Pokémon?"

Xiaosheng whipped out his phone, took a photo of the twisting, struggling Dreepy, and quickly searched up its name: "The Grudge Pokémon Dreepy?"

"That's right, Dragon and Ghost type."

All Baimu and Dragapult, which had likewise revealed itself, tried to snatch the cheese pie back.

So young and already learning bad habits, daring to steal things!

Beat it, beat it!

Xiaosheng said excitedly: "There's another one!"

"Ah…"

Xiaoyao, on the other hand, casually waved her hand and tried to persuade him: "It's fine, let it eat, we have that many servings anyway, right?"

"Thanks, but I still can't let it have them. Feeding it stolen stuff would be spoiling it too much. Besides, this guy overeats and gets indigestion, then at night it suffers and won't sleep, just grunting away."

All Baimu explained.

Last time at Champion Dawu's place it had eaten too much and couldn't digest it, grunting like a pig in the middle of the night, forcing him to spend ages giving it a digestive massage.

The trouble was, this one never learned — naturally mischievous and a real headache.

*Slap! Slap! *

Dragapult, unable to hold back any longer, smacked Dreepy once so it dropped the pie, and smacked it again so it crouched down holding its head.

The crisp, forceful sounds made Xiaosheng and Xiaoyao wear strange expressions of shared empathy.

"They're siblings; the older sister has a bit of a temper."

All Baimu explained with a smile.

Hearing the word "sister," Xiaosheng couldn't help glancing at Xiaoyao, who huffed, "Have I ever treated you that badly?"

"Actually, even worse…"

"What!?"

"Why are you yelling so loud? I'm just telling the truth!"

"What truth?!"

The two of them fell into their habitual bickering again.

Siblings close in age seemed to be like this — squabbling every day yet extremely close, which made him a little envious.

After things quieted down.

Koharu watched All Baimu, who kept smiling, her neck turning a shy pink, and silently began eating her stuffed flatbread.

Masato, equally puffed up, ate two big pieces, and finally couldn't hold back, asking: "The Pokémon that beat the Poochyena just now — was it Dreepy and them?"

"No, it was a different one."

All Baimu looked around, intending to summon Dragapult out to meet them, but couldn't find it anywhere. "Dragapult?"

This guy seemed to have slipped off somewhere else.

"It's a bit shy," All Baimu said to the disappointed Masato.

In fact, the moment Dreepy and its sibling had poked their heads out, Dragapult had already hidden far away, because it knew its trainer would definitely introduce it to those two strangers.

But it had zero interest in showing its face, so it simply sneaked off to a place its trainer couldn't "see."

Koharu asked between bites of stuffed flatbread: "Is All Baimu-san still a strong trainer?"

"Just call me All Baimu."

All Baimu replied: "I've been collecting Badges to prepare for the League. The Ecruteak Gym is the eighth one I'm planning to challenge."

"That's amazing!"

Koharu finally found a chance to praise him — being complimented the whole time had been so embarrassing.

Masato said in surprise: "So All Baimu already has seven Badges? Plus four Ribbons… wow! In just these few short months, you've done so much!"

"It's nothing special. What about you?" he asked back.

Masato scratched his head sheepishly at the words. "I-I only have four Badges."

Four Badges… his progress really was a bit slow. It looked like there was no way to enter this year's Cypress Stage League — in game terms, that would be the bare-minimum reward.

But Masato was still young, so there really was no need to rush.

Like Ash's first time entering the Shi Ying League — it felt like he hadn't prepared his Pokémon at all, figured they were ready enough, and entered the competition, ultimately losing because of Charizard's laziness. That was only natural.

"Want to battle?"

All Baimu noticed Masato's eager expression and asked first.

Masato said delightedly: "Can I?"

"Of course, but we'll have to wait until your Pokémon have all had dinner and digested for a while," he said with a smile, then looked at Koharu beside him. "Koharu, do you want to join too?"

"Me? I… I get to battle too?"

Koharu hadn't planned to drain her own Pokémon's energy too much before the Mi Ke Li Cup, but on second thought, not every Pokémon would get a chance to appear anyway, so she simply agreed.

"My pleasure."

All Baimu smiled in anticipation.