Chapter 551: Favor of the Stars

Afternoon.

Because Princess Jimeiya's airship hadn't been smashed up like in the original plot.

Citron had begun researching how to remove the hunting wristbands from Volcanion and Ash.

"Have to wait another day…"

Baimu thought, thoroughly bored.

He was desperately hoping Jarvis would hurry over so he could take it out in one wave, but unfortunately those guys seemed to need a bit more prep time.

He could only go find Ash to play with for now.

Inside a cavern with a wide field of view.

Citron was trying to use a chainsaw to cut the wristband apart, but the thing was absurdly hard — the teeth had been blunted and he still hadn't sawed through it.

"This is really tricky…"

He pushed up his glasses, looking a touch troubled.

Volcanion glanced over at Baimu and sent via telepathy: "Are you actually any good or what? If you ask me, just blow the damn thing to bits—"

"Wouldn't that put Ash in serious danger? Let me think of another way!" Citron frowned in thought.

"Tch! Useless!"

Volcanion was as cutting as ever with its words, leaving everyone present a bit awkward and at a loss.

Baimu sat down on a jutting rock and beckoned to Pikachu.

Meeting up with Ash and the others.

One of the things he most wanted to do was give this chubby electric mouse a good roughing-up… no wait, the dear Pikachu-god.

He'd thought it was cute just from watching the anime.

Seeing it in person, it was even cuter.

"Pika?"

Pikachu flapped its big ears, not quite understanding what he meant, and curiously leaned in — only to be scooped up in one go. "Pika!"

It was a little startled, and tiny currents of electricity crackled from its cheek pouches.

But it quickly sank into the bliss of someone's remarkably practiced, professional technique.

Spending time with two top-tier Coordinator trainers like Mi Ke Li and Adam, what grew wasn't only the Pokémon — Baimu had grown too.

If his original massage technique had been intermediate level, then after Adam's tutelage he had already stepped into the peak of advanced!

A mere Pikachu was nothing to him!

"Pika~~"

Pikachu's coquettish little cry caught Ash's attention.

"Baimu-san, so you even know how to do Pokémon massages?" he said, looking at Baimu in amazement.

Although everyone here had seen their share of the world, as a battle-obsessed dunce, Ash's logistical skills were basically zero — the lunch he'd made in Sun & Moon had nearly poisoned him to death.

In Ash's memory, the people who knew Pokémon massage were mostly extraordinarily skilled Breeders.

"Coordinators, you know — you've got to know a little of everything. And you can just call me Baimu, we're all pretty close by now, no need to be so polite."

Baimu replied with a smile, his index finger tracing circles around Pikachu's cheek pouches. The latter was so blissed out its lightning tail was about to spasm, and its two front paws couldn't help but grip his finger tight.

"Pika~chirp~"

"Hahahaha, that good, Pikachu?"

Ash watched the delighted Pikachu with fresh wonder and sighed, "That's great."

"Pika~"

Looking back at all the times Pikachu had been petted by various people — some rough, some gentle — most of the time it ended with him having to snatch it back and getting zapped for his trouble.

Scenes where Pikachu actually got to enjoy it could be counted on one hand.

It made Ash relax a little too; the expressions on both of them had a real "your pleasure is my pleasure" vibe to them.

Hmm…

Given how in sync those two were, it really wasn't impossible for the feeling to be shared.

But thinking about it that way dampened Baimu's urge to roughhouse Pikachu quite a bit, so after two more full massage cycles he let it go.

"Pika~~"

Pikachu, back on the ground, swished its tail and stretched its muscles — and suddenly felt a hint of being reborn anew.

That's just how massages work.

They relieve the fatigue accumulated in a Pokémon's body to the greatest extent, letting it reach a better state and grow further — like how athletes soak in ice water after a day of training or use fascia blades to loosen up.

"Pulling back the fist" is for a better "punch."

Baimu looked at Volcanion, which had been sneakily watching since a moment ago. "Want to give it a try?"

"Couldn't care less."

Volcanion turned its head away and added, "Don't come near me, or I'll blast you sky-high!"

This guy really never lets up with that mouth.

He shook his head.

But honestly, Volcanion's 【Steam Explosion】 really was something — as long as it had enough water stored inside, blowing a whole mountaintop flat in one go shouldn't be much of a problem.

The catch was that the move didn't discriminate friend from foe; once it went off, three hundred and sixty degrees, no blind spots — which was why, after once flattening a mountaintop, it had developed a psychological trauma and still didn't dare live alongside other wild Pokémon.

It had chosen to stay in this cavern, watching over them.

After chatting with Ash for a while.

Baimu saw that Citron really did look like he was being put through the wringer, and offered a hint: "If the tools on hand won't work, why not try borrowing a Pokémon's power?"

"A Pokémon's power? Porygon-2?"

Citron froze for a moment, looked down at the Pokémon playing below, and suddenly shouted: "I get it now! Thanks! All Baimu!"

He ran off excitedly.

Ash, still out of the loop, asked in confusion: "What does Citron understand?"

Volcanion gazed at the scene below, and after a long while said in a complex, emotional tone:

"I never thought I'd see humans and Pokémon getting along so well here."

If it weren't absolutely necessary, it would never have brought so many humans here.

The result…

The situation was far better than expected.

But this didn't make Volcanion happy; on the contrary, it had deeper concerns.

"The Pokémon here have all been hurt by humans, haven't they?"

Ash's face showed sadness, and the Pikachu in his arms wasn't feeling great either.

Volcanion nodded. "Mm."

"You too?"

Ash asked softly.

That question caught Volcanion off guard; after a few seconds it said offhandedly: "My own affairs don't matter."

An expression of being hard to speak about.

Ash smiled gently. When dealing with Pokémon, his emotional intelligence was always absurdly high — he knew exactly what to ask and what not to ask.

At this moment.

All Baimu spoke up: "Are you planning to protect them like this for the rest of your life?"

"…Who knows what the future holds?"

Volcanion turned its head, and Ash beside it looked over too, very curious what he wanted to say.

"What the future holds is indeed unclear, but some things can be foreseen."

All Baimu pointed at Magearna below and said: "Everything that's happened these past days, and what you saw after leaving the Nebel Plateau, should have given you some insight.

"Relying on yourself alone, you can't protect Magearna."

He looked at Volcanion and said slowly: "In this world there aren't only bad guys — there are also people like Ash, who simply love all kinds of Pokémon and hope to catch them. And these people will definitely be very interested in you and Magearna.

"Is the Nebel Plateau really that safe? Can the white fog outside really drive away all outsiders? If that were really the case, Magearna wouldn't have been kidnapped."

"All Baimu…"

Ash wanted to say something.

But Volcanion cut in: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say is, in this world, relying on good intentions and being alone, you can't protect what you cherish. If you wait until someone kidnaps Magearna and rips its Soul-Heart out of its body, it'll be too late!"

All Baimu raised his voice slightly: "There's an old human saying: a thief can practice for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days. You are indeed very powerful, but there are plenty of Pokémon and humans out there stronger than you! Can you defeat them all?"

He had no covetous designs on Volcanion and Magearna, but he also didn't want to see them persecuted and separated by others again.

Not all trainers were like him and Ash — able to voluntarily give up catching a Pokémon when they sensed it was unwilling.

The giant steam Pokémon's gaze wavered; clearly it had taken the words in, but in the end it still turned its head away and said in a muffled voice:

"…Those things have nothing to do with you."

It headed toward the cave next door that had a hot spring.

"Volcanion!"

Ash called out. He certainly had some thoughts about All Baimu's "alarmist talk," but responding to clearly concerned words with this kind of reaction was genuinely hurtful. "All Baimu, Volcanion—"

"Pika…"

"It's fine. If it were that easily persuaded, I'd actually find it less reliable." All Baimu waved his hand, watching Ash being forced to leave with Volcanion.

Pikachu took a couple steps in that direction, then turned its head to look back.

"Pika."

"Go on, I'm heading down too."

He waved again.

Volcanion's hostility toward humans was definitely not built up overnight. After seeing so many wild Pokémon tormented by humans, suffering from all kinds of human actions, being able to communicate peacefully with them was already not easy.

As for talk of looking forward — that was too advanced for Volcanion. It couldn't make detailed judgments, and feeling agitated was why it went to soak in the hot spring.

Bathing lets one ponder philosophy.

Presumably soaking in a hot spring would also let Volcanion think calmly.

In any case.

Volcanion wasn't the kind of stubborn Pokémon that couldn't be reasoned with at all. Its mouth might be a bit sharp, but deep down it was absolutely exceptionally kind.

It just had the same sickness as some humans—

Not crying until seeing the coffin.

All Baimu didn't intend to become some kind of saint like that, but he also wasn't going to feel dejected over a cold remark that was most likely unintentional, and give up helping these poor Pokémon.

"I'm back!"

Citron's shout came from afar. Behind him was Luxray, with a green Slime-like Gulpin perched on its head. "Huh? Where are Ash and the others?"

"Next door, go on."

He pointed in the direction, then jumped straight down from the cave entrance. His tough body combined with the protective power of his Magma Armor let him easily take the shortcut and land.

Citron poked his head out from the cave entrance, watching All Baimu run off with a horrified expression. "He can jump down from that high? All Baimu-san is way too much of a monster, isn't he?"

——

Back to the original spot.

Serena was sewing clothes for Ash, her focused expression making it hard for anyone to bring themselves to interrupt her.

Princess Jimeiya, meanwhile, was contacting her secretary aboard the airship, trying to keep tabs on her brother's and Jarvis's movements, but unfortunately the secretary wasn't a professional intelligence operative and had very little information to offer.

This left her sighing endlessly.

All Baimu was actually quite curious — as a princess of a nation that enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy under the Alliance system, didn't Princess Jimeiya have even one or two reliable Trainer subordinates under her?

Strictly speaking.

This minister Jarvis was pretty shabby too — just two underlings, and both of them looked like total small fry.

"Big brother! One of your Pokémon is missing!"

Yurika ran over from a distance, a Dedenne perched on her head going "nyah nyah nyah," chattering nonstop.

"Which one?"

"The one with a triangle-shaped head that can hide two smaller Pokémon inside!"

"Oh, that's normal — it's more introverted and doesn't like showing itself in front of others."

All Baimu replied offhandedly, then asked, "Where's Z1?"

"Over there sunbathing!"

Yurika pointed at a large boulder in the distance, where Z1 was sprawled resting, as if carrying out photosynthesis.

He walked over.

"Pulu?"

Z1 raised its head and glanced at him, then lay back down.

All Baimu thought to himself that as long as it didn't run off, and put on a proper smile.

"Revered Order Guardian, Zygarde, might I trouble you to answer a question of mine?"

"What does big brother want to ask Z1?"

Yurika followed behind him, her face full of curiosity.

All Baimu glanced at Z1, which showed no reaction at all, and replied, "Last time when I asked Z1 for help, didn't it say I was the Will of the Earth? I want to know what this Will of the Earth means."

"I see!"

The little loli struck her fist into her palm as if suddenly enlightened, and smiled at Z1. "Z1~ could you help explain?"

"Pulu…"

Z1 still didn't answer.

Seeing this, Yurika simply picked it up and started scratching the weak spots under its chin and all over its body. "Hee hee hee hee hee—"

"Pulululu…"

Z1 was tickled into total surrender, its whole body going limp as if broken.

Unlike a comfortable massage, Yurika's technique could only be called a master of torment — when she was first discovered, it was precisely by this skill that she had tamed Z1.

It was set back down on the boulder, its single eye giving Yurika a very helpless look before turning to All Baimu.

"I have said it before — it was simply my own dim-sightedness. These words are true and absolutely no falsehood."

A sharp voice rang out.

"Truly dim-sighted…" All Baimu murmured softly.

Z1 glanced at the beaming Yurika, then added, "Recently, might there be water from the ley lines to bathe in?"

"Ley lines?"

He paused for a moment, ran to where his backpack was, took out a flask of water, opened the mouth, and asked, "Is it this?"

"Precisely this thing. Pure water springs from the root of the ley lines; consuming it is beneficial."

Z1 nodded, then continued, "Your body has drunk the water of the ley lines, so you must do good deeds and avoid evil ones, lest you disgrace the Scroll's favor of the Stars…"

This thing really did love to lecture.

All Baimu listened to every word without missing a single one, and understood that this flask of water might be even more precious than he'd thought — after all, in Z1's mouth it had been equated with the Scroll's favor of the planet.

Still, did it know there was a hole beneath the Awakening Temple?

Probably not.

He quietly put the flask away, while Yurika beside him was practically bursting with curiosity, several times on the verge of opening her mouth to ask.

Suddenly.

All Baimu frowned, and Z1 also raised its body.

He looked toward the horizon and said to Yurika beside him, "Quick, get on the airship with Serena, go find your brother and Volcanion, and tell them the enemy is here!"

"Enemy?"

Yurika followed his gaze but saw nothing; seeing how serious his expression was, however, she hurriedly ran toward Serena.

"They actually came a day early… is it because of me?"

All Baimu murmured softly. By all rights, Jarvis and the others shouldn't be arriving until tomorrow morning.

The words had barely fallen.

In the extreme distance, a great mass of pitch-black smoke gradually spread toward them, a sky-darkening sight that made the heart tremble with dread.