Chapter 550: An Independent Kingdom

In the thick fog.

The group pressed on on foot.

Yurika looked at the unconscious Ice Dragon on Volcanion's back, her cheeks puffing slightly in displeasure. "That's really too much!"

Princess Jimeiya replied in a low voice, "After all, to Pokémon hunters, Pokémon are just tools to make money."

The young Princess clearly could not stand such things.

"Does what happened just now happen often?"

Ash asked sadly.

"Mm, that's why I built a fog wall nearby to drive those guys away." Volcanion moved forward at a pace that would jostle the Ice Dragon as little as possible.

In fact, after Chansey's professional treatment, the Ice Dragon's condition had improved greatly.

Its breathing was now steady, and it had already begun to sleep and heal itself.

This also made it glance again and again at the Chansey walking alongside — on one hand feeling that the latter gave off a familiar sensation, on the other thinking that if such a partner were among them, many complicated matters would be simplified.

"Happy?"

"It's nothing."

Volcanion turned its head, and in its mind unconsciously recalled All Baimu, who had once again borrowed the aircraft; the latter's solemn expression when facing the Pokémon hunters was still vivid even now.

It had to admit that humans were very complicated, very strange creatures.

But also, just as that fellow had said, humans don't become all bad just because there are a few bad ones, nor do they become all good just because there are a few good ones.

The cost of trial and error was far too steep for Pokémon.

"Hmph."

It gave a soft snort.

The fog ahead gradually dispersed.

A secluded paradise of green mountains and clear waters appeared before everyone, the enormous arched tree-gate formed by the overlapping canopies of two great trees especially striking.

"This is the Niebel Plateau, our home."

Volcanion introduced it to the group.

"Wow! So many Pokémon!"

Yurika watched excitedly as the wild Pokémon, upon seeing Volcanion return, gathered into a cluster.

But the moment they spotted humans among them, they either immediately turned and fled, or struck threatening poses — their hostility and rejection were plain to see.

This left Ash and the others quite puzzled.

Magearna hurried forward, calling out to its familiar companions, but to no avail.

Even Pikachu and Dedenne, who took the initiative to show friendliness, were met with wariness.

Chansey looked at those wild Pokémon, and was instantly swept up by countless memories — the way they looked at humans and their movements were exactly the same as the Pokémon around it when it had once been kept in a cage.

"Happy…"

"Everyone…"

Ash, who loved Pokémon the most, felt especially bad seeing this scene.

"Understand now? I'm not the only one who thinks humans aren't worth trusting." Volcanion wasn't gloating, merely stating it calmly.

The group's expressions were either worried or sorrowful; z1 poked its head out from the backpack, silently watching everything.

The Ice Dragon was placed on a soft moss-covered rock; Chansey's singing earlier had let it fall into a peaceful slumber.

"Chansey's treatment is taking effect."

Citron gazed at the Ice Dragon's four feet, noting that the frost clinging to them was the external manifestation of an Ice-type Pokémon slowly healing itself.

Yurika said softly, "That's great, Ice Dragon~"

"Dululu~"

The sleeping Ice Dragon, as if it could hear what she was saying, let out a low murmur in its dreams.

Seeing this, Volcanion also said gently, "Forget those unpleasant things. You're safe here — there's food and companions. Sleep without worry, Ice Dragon."

The words fell.

From within Magearna's body, a pleasant lullaby was timely released.

Peaceful, soft, and beautiful.

The surrounding people and Pokémon immediately relaxed, unconsciously closing their eyes and gently swaying with the flow of the melody.

The Ice Dragon also showed a pleased expression.

"Looks like there's no problem now."

"Mm."

Volcanion nodded at the voice, then quickly turned its head and spotted All Baimu, who had appeared beside it at some unknown moment, and said disdainfully, "Yi! Sneaking around like that, watch me blast you away! And how did you get in…"

"The fog can only block humans' sense of direction, not a compass."

He smiled, sensing Chansey's slightly low mood, and gently stroked its head, saying, "Besides, blast me away or whatever — I'm not an idiot, I'll dodge."

"Baimu-san! You're back!"

Ash and the others, upon seeing him, greeted him one after another.

Immediately afterward, the group also noticed those wild Pokémon watching their side curiously, yet deliberately avoiding them.

The atmosphere, which had been somewhat relaxed just seconds ago, grew heavy again.

"Happy~"

Chansey turned its head to look at its Trainer, hoping he could think of something.

"It's okay, they'll figure something out."

All Baimu smiled and said softly into its ear.

As if in response to his words.

At that moment.

Serena seemed to have made some kind of resolve, and said: "Even when we're with humans, Pokémon are still Pokémon… so please, everyone! Convey to them that we are not bad guys, and our feelings!"

She tossed her Poké Ball high into the air, releasing her Pokémon.

"Yeah!"

"Me too!"

Ash and Clemont hurriedly followed suit upon seeing this.

In an instant.

Countless Pokémon began playing and laughing together — some performing tricks, some greeting each other in silly ways, even sniffing one another, communicating with sparks, and so on.

"Happy!"

The harmonious scene made Chansey happy; it glanced at its trainer, and with the latter's encouraging gaze, joined in.

"Happy~"

"Have fun."

All Baimu smiled and waved, thinking that although Serena usually centered on Ash day to day.

At the crucial moment when Ash and Clemont were at a loss, it was her turn to take the lead and guide the way.

Just like the three snowballs Serena had hurled at Ash when he was stuck in a rut after losing to Wulfric.

They had directly knocked some sense into him.

It's just that her aim still needed work — she'd only knocked open the half of the boy's sense that concerned Pokémon, without loosening a single bit of the half about romance.

"Tch!"

Volcanion turned its head and said loudly: "Magearna! Don't go near the flower fields lately, okay!"

Having said that.

It walked off into the distance.

Ash was forced to leave with it; Bonnie excitedly followed along, "Where are you going?"

"Bonnie!"

Clemont hurriedly chased after his sister — as her older brother, he knew very well that Bonnie was actually quite the troublemaking brat.

All Baimu watched Volcanion and Ash's group leave, knowing that what came next was Clemont's invention-explosion scene, and there was no need to go join the commotion.

The key point was.

"Let's make lunch, shall we? We've been traveling so long, everyone must be hungry by now."

He looked at Serena and Princess Jimeiya, set down his backpack, and began pulling things out of it.

"Baimu-san, can you cook?"

Serena watched in surprise as All Baimu pulled out pots, bowls, ladles, and various seasonings; she could cook too, but she was even better at making all sorts of sweets, especially Poké Puffs.

Usually she just assisted Clemont.

"So many seasonings."

Princess Jimeiya's gaze fell on the round, hefty pot and the wok spatula, and she cried out in surprise, "A wok! Do you know Lumiose-style cuisine?"

"Ahahaha… I know a little, I know a little."

All Baimu replied casually, then turned to look at the curious-faced Magearna beside him and said: "Could you gather some Berries for me? The ingredients I have on hand might not be quite enough."

"Beep beep beep~!"

Magearna nodded, and went to call over its larger companions to gather food.

Not far away.

Chansey, seeing its trainer begin preparing lunch, hurriedly set the Meowstic in its arms down, gently patted its head, then trotted quickly back.

"Happy~"

"Playing a little longer wouldn't hurt… alright, alright." All Baimu looked at Chansey with affection — his own Pokémon being so considerate occasionally gave him trouble too.

He took the Poké Balls from his pocket and released the rest of his Pokémon.

Pop pop pop!

Serena looked at the Boldor and the other Pokémon, first awed by the Pokémon she had seen and those she hadn't, then asked in confusion: "Baimu-san, don't you have more than six Pokémon?"

"I prefer to take care of my Pokémon myself, so unless there's something special, I generally keep them by my side."

All Baimu explained with a smile.

The reason the League recommended trainers keep no more than six Pokémon on hand was that they worried trainers wouldn't be able to take good care of so many.

And this rule wasn't a hard regulation.

Princess Jimeiya surveyed the Pokémon, her gaze lingering for a long while on the shiny Milotic, "Amazing… you must be a very powerful trainer, right?"

"I suppose so."

All Baimu focused on making lunch, when suddenly a boom rang out from the horizon.

Serena immediately looked over with concern, worried: "What happened over there with Ash?"

"Probably that outfit on him blew up."

He showed a slightly teasing smile, "If you're really worried, why not go take a look?"

Serena was still a young girl after all; her cheeks flushed slightly, but she still nodded, set down the vegetable-washing basin in her hands, and walked toward the cliff, "…y-yes, alright."

"Youth."

All Baimu clicked his tongue, then looked at Princess Jimeiya and said: "Princess Jimeiya, since there happen to be no other people nearby, there are some things I'd like to chat with you about."

Princess Jimeiya saw his expression turn serious, recalled what Ash and the others had said about his connection with the International Police, and after a few silent seconds, nodded, "Alright."

——

Waiting for Serena and Citron's return.

All Baimu had already finished his discussion with Princess Jimeiya, the main topic revolving around the Wave Mew uses to Mega Evolve.

From what he understood.

The kingdom system under the League's framework possessed a certain degree of autonomy, and in the plot's final stages, it was Princess Jimeiya who dealt with Jervis and his two subordinates, rather than handing them over to Officer Jenny.

So if Princess Jimeiya claimed the Wave Mew uses to Mega Evolve was an unfinished product of the Aizuno Kingdom, then the Ohara region would have no proper way to utilize it.

Furthermore, even if Jervis were captured, Princess Jimeiya's help would still be needed to gather all his research data from these past years.

This matter should be informed in advance.

And Princess Jimeiya seemed to have misunderstood, thinking he was about to do something else entirely, and was terribly nervous at first—until All Baimu said he wanted Jervis's research data, at which point she relaxed.

Could she be worried he'd arrest her brother?

Thinking it over carefully, her brother Lakiere had admittedly been deceived by Jervis, but in principle he still fell into the category of an accomplice.

If he really were an International Police officer, could he make the arrest?

He could.

It would simply be a matter of how heavy or light the sentencing was.

"Wow! Milotic! A differently colored Milotic! So pretty!"

Yurika spotted the oddly colored Milotic in the stream at a glance and ran toward it excitedly. "Is that one Big Brother's Pokémon too?"

"Yurika!"

Citron called out helplessly, "That's very rude!"

Serena's cheeks flushed slightly as she ran over to the cooking counter. "Sorry we're a bit late—leave the food prep to me!"

"It's fine, it's pretty much done already."

All Baimu cast a glance toward the cave in the distance.

Since the chain around its waist hadn't been removed, and Volcanion liked to guard that spot, Ash probably wouldn't be coming down anytime soon.

This thing was smart-structure black tech—hardly a problem for Porygon2.

But once it was removed, Volcanion would shoo people away, so better to wait for Citron to figure out how to deal with that thing.

Half an hour later.

"Done!"

All Baimu tapped the ladle against the pot, shaking off the grains of rice clinging to it. "Everyone, get ready to eat!"

Yurika, who had been nuzzling the oddly colored Milotic, twitched her little nose at the sound, her eyes lighting up as she shouted excitedly, "So fragrant! What delicious thing is it?"

"That's amazing, All Baimu-san! You can actually make Master Lockwood's glowing cuisine!"

Citron truly was a "local big shot" of Lumiose City—he'd presumably taken his sister to enjoy those star-rated restaurants there, and recognized at a glance what All Baimu had made.

"Whoa! It's really glowing!"

Though Serena was also a Kalos native, since she didn't go to Lumiose City much, this was naturally her first time seeing genuine glowing cuisine.

She took a portion from All Baimu and hurried off to bring some up the mountain for Ash to taste.

"Hold on—these few portions are for Ash and the others."

All Baimu stopped Serena, handed her the prepared portions, and laughed at her blushing expression. "Go on, it'll taste a bit worse once it gets cold."

"Thank you…"

Serena, a little embarrassed, ran off with her Braixen.

Damn it.

Ash, you damn—!

Such a thoughtful girl! The first thing she thinks of when she sees something delicious is you!

All Baimu was nearly moved to tears by a Serena like this—so much so that he almost forgot the combined ages of these two little brats was still smaller than his shoe size.

So young, so very young~

He ate a mouthful of fried rice that Chansey had scooped up for him and sighed, "So sweet!"

"Happy?"

Chansey looked blankly at the ladle in its hand, then at the bowl in its hand.

Sweet? How could that be!

It's clearly salty!

Just to be safe, it tasted some itself and confirmed it was indeed salty—could its Trainer have a problem with his taste buds?

Chansey began to panic a little.

Suddenly.

Yurika's shriek came from not far away.

"Big Brother, come quick! Trihydreiger threw up for some reason!"

All Baimu hurried over at the sound and saw Trihydreiger's three heads continuously making "gak gak" noises at a rock while spraying purple liquid that corroded a sizable chunk off it—and he relaxed.

He said to the panicked Yurika, "Did Yurika feed her portion to it too?"

"Uh… um…"

Yurika heard this, immediately realized it was her own fault, and hung her head in shame.

Citron apologized nonstop at the side. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…"

"It's fine, I'm not blaming Yurika."

All Baimu smiled and waved his hand, pointing at the corroded rock as he spoke:

"This guy recently just learned a move called Belch. Since it hasn't quite mastered it yet, once it eats too many berries it'll unconsciously regurgitate like this. It's not a big problem—and throwing up like this is actually a good thing."

Once it throws up, Trihydreiger's breath won't stink anymore.

How strange.

So the reason this guy's mouth stinks isn't his oral cavity, but a gut problem?

"Really?"

Yurika asked worriedly.

She especially liked Pokémon that looked fierce but were actually very gentle, so after making contact with the Hydreigon, she quickly became good friends with it.

When they were eating together just now, seeing how much it liked the food, she couldn't help but feed it her own portion as well.

Never expected…

"Of course."

All Baimu nodded.

The Hydreigon, vomiting nonstop, also barely turned its largest head and managed a faint smile when it looked at Yurika.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Do two idiots resonate with each other too?

All Baimu looked at Yurika, then at the Hydreigon — though they weren't the same species, their styles were actually quite similar.

Both restless, and very mischievous.