Chapter 528: Ancient Armor!

Caught completely off guard.

The Dancer and her Pokémon were chased headlong by Murkrow and Houndour.

【You aren't aware you've landed on the Starmobile Team's "blacklist," and assume it's all some kind of misunderstanding】

She explained as she ran, but how could human legs outpace a Revavroom?

With no other choice, the Dancer could only send out Quaquaval to counterattack, and without question, Brother Duck's strength was leagues beyond what those two "ignorant" Starmobile Team grunts could handle.

Murkrow and Houndour were sent flying in an instant.

【You were forced to defeat two Starmobile Team members】

Those two ran off the moment they lost, coming in a hurry and leaving in a hurry — the Dancer couldn't even catch the exhaust fumes of their Revavroom.

But fortunately, even though this Team Star Base — Gang 2 could run, the Monk couldn't run away from his temple.

Following the direction those two had fled, in the blink of an eye the Dancer arrived at the gathering spot of the Starmobile Team grunts, where a familiar but differently colored giant tank stood out conspicuously.

"Every squad has one?"

Baimu thought to himself that this was practically an organization spawned from a bōsōzoku — a group riding "motorcycles," and they'd even rigged out such a massive, gaudy-looking tank.

Then his gaze fell on the man in front of the tank whose pixel model clearly differed from the others — wearing a hip-hop cap, carrying a big backpack, looking like a DJ.

This must be the boss?

His style was clearly inherited straight from Meloetta, brimming with the rebellious air of a dropout student.

On the screen.

The Dancer was blocked by numerous Starmobile Team members and Dark-type Pokémon, with Quaquaval and her other Pokémon guarding her on all sides — both sides were at a stalemate.

【You want to explain that you bear no hostility, but keenly realize that it's actually they who are hostile, which leaves you quite puzzled】

The atmosphere was a little tense.

Fortunately, compared to the taciturn, decisive, and brutish Meloetta, the boss of Team Star Base — Gang 2 preferred to have a chat before throwing hands.

【You hear the other party introduce himself as Pinna and ask why you repaid kindness with enmity, and you hurriedly begin communicating with him】

White speech bubbles popped up over both their heads, with text flickering inside.

Through the narration, Baimu learned that the Dancer had barely managed to explain that she hadn't led Kofu here — she'd only asked him for leads on the Starmobile Team, and that the League had given Kofu an investigation mission, among other things.

Pinna believed her.

This made the Dancer feel that this flippant, seemingly unserious man was unexpectedly easy to talk to.

【You hear Pinna ask if you want to join their Starmobile Team, and you counter by asking whether Starmobile Team members aren't allowed to attend classes】

Pinna nodded.

The reason was that they wanted to wait for their true boss to return, and the school required them to disband the Starmobile Team when they returned to campus life — but everything about the Starmobile Team was a treasure; how could they disband it so casually?

【You express understanding and agreement with Pinna's reasoning, but regret that you can't give up campus life — the teachers at school have helped you a great deal】

The Dancer certainly had no ill feelings toward the Starmobile Team, but skipping classes was something she couldn't accept either.

Baimu: "..."

What a model student!

Didn't Orange Academy also have basic courses like math, biology, and history? Weren't they the least bit boring?

On the light screen.

Pinna, having been turned down, didn't get angry either — as a core figure of the Starmobile Team, he naturally wouldn't do something as beneath him as forcing someone to join, and simply had his grunts let the Dancer go.

The Dancer, however, asked him for Meloetta's current location.

【You feel it's necessary to explain in person — after all, the other party once helped you, and that's an indisputable fact; letting the misunderstanding fester would be a very unpleasant thing】

As for what Meloetta would think after the explanation, the Dancer didn't dwell on it too much — she only knew the misunderstanding had to be cleared up by her.

Pinna and the Starmobile Team members all couldn't understand why the Dancer wanted to do this, when she clearly didn't want to join the Starmobile Team.

【You tell them that not joining the Starmobile Team doesn't mean you don't want to be friends with them】

Does building a friendly relationship require being on the same side?

The Dancer thought not necessarily.

【...】

Pinna was left dumbfounded by the Dancer, then burst out laughing; the other Starmobile Team members each reacted differently.

Clearly, she was the first person to befriend them as a non-Starmobile Team member since the Starmobile Team's 【Operation Star】 declaration of war against the delinquent students.

This long-awaited touch of warmth made Pinna very happy.

【You learn that Meloetta took the Wang Liangsi Starmobile to find the vehicle's designer】

The team vehicle — that giant tank stuffed full of speakers — was currently in a trial state, and the battle with Kofu had exposed many problems with it, prompting Meloetta to go find the designer for improvements.

The designer's name is Ortega, captain of the Starmobile Team's Gang 3, whose base is located in northern Paldea —

North Province Area Three.

The Dancer and Baimu outside the screen looked at the map together and found that the place was on the seaside side of Glaseado Mountain, and passing through Icebound Village would let her challenge both the Glaseado Gym and the Icebound Gym.

As it happened, Meloetta wouldn't be leaving the Gang 3 base for a while, so she had plenty of time to challenge the Gyms.

【You bid farewell to Pinna and the other Starmobile Team members with great excitement, and arrive at Glaseado City】

Glaseado City.

An oasis and water city adjacent to the Asado Desert, its urban area is divided into three tiers — upper, middle, and lower — due to the terrain, with a massive elevator used to travel between them.

The Dancer hurried straight to the Glaseado Gym, only to learn that Gym Leader Grusha was hosting guests at his restaurant.

The front desk staff accepted her registration.

【You are told to head to the Chinese restaurant Hassel Club to receive Hassel's little test】

"Wait! What?"

Baimu was stunned, his eyes wide as he stared at the light screen in disbelief.

Chinese Restaurant!

The term "Chinese" here is different from the Japanese "China"—it's a name that belongs solely to his homeland from his previous life.

But he quickly calmed down, realizing this didn't really prove anything. This world could have woks, tofu, Come-Come-Come Pavilion, and all sorts of things—so what if there was a restaurant named "Chinese"?

Although in the world he currently found himself in, he hadn't heard of any region modeled after "China," maybe some parallel world had one?

No big deal.

He gave a "calm down" look to the astonished Bouffalant beside him, and noticed on the screen that the Dancer had already found Haidai, who was stir-frying wild seafood over high heat.

【You learned from the diner that Haidai is the chef of Surging Sea Flavors】

The Dancer seemed to be getting a little greedy watching, and Haidai—who had been about to post a mission directly—had a big laughing emoji pop up over his head: a broad-shouldered, thick-waisted, bearded, blue-aproned, bald uncle.

She went along and enjoyed Haidai's extremely warm hospitality.

Well-fed and well-drunk.

The Dancer received a small trial task: go to the Grand Market of Ziqin Town to purchase a certain rare ingredient.

"Good lord, they can make students run errands for them?"

All Baimu clicked his tongue, but he also knew that given the meal Haidai had just treated the Dancer to, wasn't running an errand or two only natural?

And so.

The Dancer left Bottle City, following the map's guidance to cross the Toasty Desert and head for the seaside Ziqin Town.

But for the Dancer, whose travel experience was still lacking, a desert—such an extremely special environment—was hardly easy to cross.

As expected, even with map and compass in hand, she still got lost somewhere in the desert.

【You clearly followed the direction indicated by the map and compass, yet you keep veering off the road—this leaves you quite puzzled】

"That's just how deserts are."

All Baimu nodded in agreement. If he hadn't had Porygon2 on his phone constantly reminding him of the direction, he probably wouldn't have gotten through so easily either.

Fortunately, the Toasty Desert wasn't particularly large. After getting a little lost for a while, the Dancer quickly found a landmark building to use as reference—

A crumbling watchtower.

【You excitedly hugged Froslass, and couldn't help but break into a tap dance with it】

Froslass was the only Pokémon in the Dancer's team that could more or less handle the desert climate. The sun's dryness and heat were too much even for Sirfetch'd, and Oricorio was too small and easily sank into the sand, impossible to find.

Only Froslass's long legs could overcome every difficulty.

"The dancing started again… does this mean a new Pokémon is about to join?" All Baimu saw the dance wasn't speeding up, and understood a new Pokémon was about to appear.

But he searched all around and didn't find any wild Pokémon.

Suddenly.

【Bang!】

The screen shook violently, and along with the Dancer and Froslass suddenly being lifted off the ground, it seemed some kind of explosion had occurred nearby.

【You exchange a glance with Froslass and decide to go over and check】

All Baimu was also a little curious. "An explosion in the desert—what wild Pokémon could it be… holy crap?"

He rubbed his eyes.

On screen, a massive creature resembling an armored mammoth was charging through the desert with astonishing momentum—even Wailord looked a little inferior by comparison.

Not far from the thing, a patch of collapsed rubble was quite eye-catching.

【You figure the explosion sound from earlier was probably it slamming into the rocks】

"Donphan? No, Donphan doesn't have horns that long… and Donphan doesn't have that many red spines on its back."

All Baimu suddenly recalled that before his transmigration, a promotional video had shown a type of Pokémon called Paradox Pokémon, among which was one that looked like Donphan.

Players called it Ancient Donphan, and correspondingly there was also a Future Donphan that looked like a mechanical creature.

But as for the specifics, he hadn't had time to actually play the game, so he really didn't know—

Were all Paradox Pokémon this huge?!

Wait, no.

This seemed to be another setting called Titan…

All Baimu frowned deeply, while Porygon2 told him there was simply no information about Titans or Paradox Pokémon to be found online.

All hidden away?

In the simulation, facing the colossal creature, the Dancer likewise didn't dare get anywhere close. She wasn't stupid—a Pokémon that big could just trample right over her with barely a rise in its step.

She wasn't the kind of hot-blooded idiot who would charge at any powerful wild Pokémon she encountered.

But just as she was about to turn and leave, Froslass suddenly pointed toward a pile of rubble in the distance.

【Your Froslass seems to have spotted a Pokémon under the rubble】

A buried Pokémon?

The Dancer hesitated only briefly.

Obviously, someone blessed with the Good Nature talent would never stand by and do nothing in such a situation, even if it meant taking on some risk.

【You quietly approach, and while the wild Pokémon isn't paying attention to you, you and Froslass quickly start moving the stones】

To avoid drawing the attention of that Paradox Donphan, the Dancer didn't even send out Quaquaval.

The atmosphere was a little tense.

All Baimu inexplicably felt his heart pounding, and some kind of suspenseful plot-keypoint BGM seemed to ring in his ears—

Hmm?

There really was?

He whipped his head around, and saw that the TV drama not far away was just then playing a similar scene—Mawile and the others were watching with nervous emotions, little fists clenched tight.

"Ah, this…"

All Baimu twitched the corner of his mouth, then looked back at the simulation and saw that Wuzhe was hugging something Bai Huahua like an egg thief, being chased by the Paradox species Dunsparce that had discovered her.

【Given the current environment, this site may shut down at any time. Please move to the permanently operating source-switching app as soon as possible.】

However, the Paradox species Dunsparce didn't chase for too long, as if guarding something, and stopped from a distance.

【You look at the Burnt Bug covered in wounds in your arms and let out a huge sigh of relief】

Holy crap! A Burnt Bug!

Can this thing just be picked up casually?

All Baimu remembered that in the anime, Burnt Bug was quite a rare Pokémon, but in the games… aside from version exclusives, the other two starters, and legendaries, there really weren't many Pokémon that could be called rare.

But Wuzhe didn't seem to care much about the value of the Burnt Bug, and simply left the desert as fast as possible, finding a Pokémon Center to heal it.

During this time, she ran to the Stain Market and bought the precious seasoning Haidai needed from inside—

Golden Kelp from Alola.

Haidai buying kelp…hmm…very fitting, seafood dishes really do need kelp broth to bring out the flavor, nothing wrong with that at all.

By the time she returned to the Pokémon Center, the Burnt Bug had mostly recovered, it just needed a period of rest, and Wuzhe naturally took on the responsibility of caring for it.

【You comfort the Burnt Bug and dance for it】

Oh ho.

Oh no.

All Baimu knew well that once Wuzhe did her little dance, the Burnt Bug was sure to fall, and indeed that was exactly what happened,

When the Burnt Bug met the release conditions, this little fellow decisively followed in Wuzhe's departing footsteps. There are many reasons Pokémon chase humans, and gratitude and admiration are among them.

【You caught the Burnt Bug, your immature dance partner has increased】

Huh? The Burnt Bug is also a dance partner?

How does it dance?

After evolving does it do the Quiver Dance? Seems like there isn't that dance style… but thinking about it carefully, it probably could.

With a new companion joining the team, the Frantic Dance Duck and other Pokémon were naturally very happy, so they held a dance party exclusive to themselves.

The Burnt Bug couldn't dance, only wiggle along, but it was cute enough.

Returning to Bottle City.

Haidai and Wuzhe began the Gym Challenge.

The battle took place on the very bottom floor of Bottle City, with many onlookers coming and going, but Wuzhe was no longer nervous like she used to be.

First round begins.

Haidai sent out the Three-Sea Diglett, a Pokémon whose appearance is quite similar to Diglett but is actually a completely different species.

Wuzhe sent out the Oricorio that had transformed into its Pom-Pom form, and the Electric-type Wake-Up Dance took it down smoothly with overwhelming force.

The Three-Sea Diglett didn't even have much chance to fight back.

The subsequent Pelipper was the same, four-times weak to Electric, facing Oricorio it simply couldn't escape, they were both Flying-type Pokémon after all.

The third Pokémon, the Light-Body Cods, entered the field, and the situation finally reversed somewhat.

This guy seemed to be a Psychic-type Pokémon, so even though it's a fish, it could still freely "swim" on the ground, but why it doesn't suffocate is very strange.

What All Baimu found even harder to understand was that this guy could also use a move called 【Shed Meat】, making itself look like a fish skeleton, greatly boosting its Speed and offensive stats, and its appearance became so terrifying it gave him quite a fright.

He looked it up online and learned that the meat on a Light-Body Cods is like the bananas under Tropius's neck or the claws of a Klawf, a body part that can rapidly regenerate.

And it's also edible.

"Pokémon heresy… which designer came up with this?" All Baimu's face darkened.

In the end, this bizarre Light-Body Cods fought the Oricorio to a draw, both sides losing their ability to battle simultaneously.

It's just that the reason the Light-Body Cods lost—

【You hear Haidai say the Light-Body Cods suffocated and fainted, and quickly take it to a fountain in the distance, not knowing what to say】

So after all that you still can't breathe on land!

I thought you were an amphibian!

All Baimu was completely speechless.

Haidai's last Pokémon, Klawf.

Not a Water-type Pokémon, but clearly he would use a Tera Orb to turn it into a Water type.

Wuzhe chose to send out Tsareena for this, and likewise brought out the trump card of Terastallization, a Tera Grass and a Tera Water Pokémon thus began their great battle.

However, Klawf's own boosts as a Fighting plus Ice-type Pokémon wouldn't change because of this, and what it excelled at was mostly Ice-type moves, so it gave Tsareena quite a bit of trouble.

That was the case at first.

But later, as Tsareena's Trop Kick landed hit after hit, each one lowering Klawf's Attack, and Synthesis frequently restored her stamina, the originally super-effective Ice-type moves gradually became less and less effective.

Seeing this, Wuzhe immediately had Tsareena press the advantage, and soon finished off Klawf completely with a Power Whip.

"This battle style is basically an SM queen at a ball…"

All Baimu clicked his tongue inwardly.

Wuzhe's Pokémon each had different battle styles based on their favorite dances and personalities, and Tsareena belonged to that lofty queen style of a ballroom dance.