Chapter 585: Ash Takes the Crown!

"Shadow Ball!"

"Hehehehe—"

The shiny Gengar floating in mid-air cackled strangely, its plump ghostly claws kneading the empty air before it.

Hum!

A sphere of dark energy crackling with pitch-black currents rapidly formed and expanded, then the Gengar raised both claws high and hurled it toward the distant Blastoise in a slam-dunk pose!

The latter couldn't dodge in time, flustered as the Shadow Ball smacked it right in the face.

Boom!

"Kame…"

A wail of agony rang out from the rising smoke.

The red-headbanded fatty trainer turned pale with fright. "Blastoise!"

Seconds later, the giant tortoise, its face scorched black, staggered out through the dust and collapsed onto the ground with a thud, spiral eyes spinning.

Ding!

The commentator's excited voice came through the broadcast. "It's over! Blastoise is unable to battle!"

"Geng geng geng!"

The shiny Gengar bounced excitedly back and forth through the air like a rubber ball, then flew back to its trainer's side for a high-five.

Smack!

"What a fantastic match!"

Across the field, the defeated Shota recalled Blastoise into its Poké Ball, waved a distant farewell to All Baimu, and the competitor's seat elevator—decorated with a Poké Ball pattern—activated beneath his feet, carrying him out of the arena like a lift.

The packed spectator stands erupted in waves of cheers.

This was the Battle Tower.

And that red-headbanded fatty who had just battled him was, without a doubt, one of the supporting characters who appeared in the movie *The Visitor of the Sky-Splitting*.

Shota, whose partner was Blastoise.

The day after the festival ended, the Battle Tower returned to its daily operations.

With some of the grand festival equipment dismantled, this high-tech tower finally revealed its high-tech side—

Including, but not limited to, the composite-material floor beneath their feet that could withstand most moves.

"Come back. That's it for today."

All Baimu recalled the shiny Gengar into its ball and applied to the referee to leave the field.

A wave of disappointed cries and dissatisfied boos came from the spectator stands.

The Battle Tower had no entry threshold.

Anyone could submit an ID card, pass the review, and participate; after winning, they chose between continuing or leaving; after leaving, their win points would be tallied, and those points could be exchanged at the front desk for special items, rare berries, or souvenirs and the like.

Participants came in an endless stream.

Yet compared to the rewards, what truly drew trainers to participate was the Battle Tower's official website leaderboard.

Every participant who had ever taken part was registered, and one could even search their ranking with an ID card.

Although the highest score didn't necessarily mean the strongest, in a certain sense a high score did prove one's strength.

As the most competitive bunch, trainers from Tiannandibei naturally wouldn't pass up a chance to compete.

Therefore.

The scores of the top few on the leaderboard had already risen so high that All Baimu, a mere sightseer, could only look up at them.

He did want to take the chance to make a name for himself in one go, but spending several months grinding for points… the sunk cost was too high; in the old days he might have had the patience for it.

But fortunately, during these days of "seeing the world" at the Battle Tower, he had battled almost every character who appeared in the movie.

The boy who used Metagross, the Alan who used Blaziken, Alan's two younger sisters…

Even the little super who battled alongside Plusle and Minun.

These people were regulars at the Battle Tower; among them, the boy and Alan both had notably high scores, sitting in the top twenty, and received thunderous cheers the moment they appeared.

All Baimu took the elevator back down one floor.

When the doors opened.

Familiar faces came into view.

"Why'd you come down? Alan just went up."

The bespectacled purple-haired older sister, the boy, asked curiously, laptop in hand.

Behind her stood two girls who had grown into lovely young ladies—Audrey and Catherine, Alan's sisters.

The two had been clinging to the little super, who was radiating an awkward, pushover vibe, but the moment they saw him they hurried over and called out in delighted unison: "my lord All Baimu~!"

"Hello, you two. I'm done battling for today; I've got an important match to watch when I get back."

All Baimu smiled at the two little fans of the Grand Festival and waved to the little super, offering a brief explanation.

Trainers got acquainted easily, and with the acquaintance Brock around, after a few battles he had quickly become friends with the boy's group.

The boy asked, puzzled: "A match?"

"Yeah, the Kalos League Lumiose Conference opened a few days ago."

He replied with a smile: "Today is Ash's finals."

Ash!?

The moment that name came up, the boy and the others—including Shota, who had just come back from the restroom—all wore expressions of shock.

Then the shock on their faces shifted into eager excitement.

The boy quickly opened the laptop in her arms, connected to the internet, and searched for the Lumiose Conference.

"It really is!"

She cried out in pleasant surprise.

But whether it was a network issue or not, the livestream looked laggy.

"I… I'll go find the TV!"

Xiao Chao turned and ran off without a second word.

Although he hadn't been in touch with Xiao Zhi for a long time, he still remembered this friend who had once helped Rayquaza alongside him and restarted the Rampaging Robot.

Xiao Tong and the others, seeing this, immediately chased after him.

Xiao Chao's father was one of the administrators of Lumiose City; following him would surely be the fastest way to find a place to watch the match.

Baimu didn't join in the excitement and went straight back to the hotel.

After the celebration ended, everyone left one by one.

Hu Pa and the Balza siblings returned to Kalos to continue building their tower; Ulala, like Miss Liuqi, was unwilling to accept it and prepared to undergo special training for a few weeks.

Coach Ge Man disappeared after losing in the second round; no one knew where she had gone.

The tourists had also grown tired of this not-particularly-large high-tech city and carried away the bustling atmosphere with them.

At present, only Baimu, Xiao Guang, and Xiao Gang remained here.

Inside the hotel room.

Xiao Guang, now changed into a cheerleader outfit, wore an expectant look, the pom-poms in her hands swaying unconsciously; on the sofa beside her, Piplup was trying every way to curry favor with Mime Jr.

Xiao Gang was busy in the kitchen with Chansey, preparing snacks for watching the match later.

Although they could go to the venue to watch the match, and if they really couldn't get tickets, just finding some place to hide would do, Xiao Guang said she didn't want to trouble Hu Pa, and never wanted her and Xiao Gang's presence to disturb Xiao Zhi's match condition.

But if they went and didn't see Xiao Zhi, what would be the point of going to the venue?

She wasn't picky about how she watched.

Xiao Gang thought much the same as her, so he didn't go either.

"Kalos region specialty Bofu Lei—it's ready! Kalos specialty paired with a Kalos match, perfect!"

He walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of colorful cake-like food, paused in surprise upon seeing Baimu come in, "You're back!"

Xiao Guang turned her head accordingly and complained, "Where did you go? The match is about to start!"

"Had a quick battle with someone."

Baimu explained casually, walked behind Mime Jr., who was eagerly reaching for the Bofu Lei, and covered its line of sight with four fingers.

The latter frowned in displeasure, pushed his hand away, "Chirido~!"

He insisted on keeping his four fingers in front of it.

"Chirido!"

Mime Jr. puffed up its cheeks in anger, flopped backward, and began sulking.

Encountering delicious sweets and not being able to eat as much as it wanted was truly miserable; could just eating four even let it taste the sweetness?

Why did it only get two days a month to indulge in sweets?

It picked up the Bofu Lei and began eating them in a huff.

Baimu shifted his gaze, poked the worried-looking Piplup beside him, and warned, "Don't you dare indulge it!"

"Plu…"

Piplup forced a smile in return.

This little penguin had a prior offense: when he had forbidden Mime Jr. from eating popsicles excessively, it had tried to sneak popsicles to it—a classic case of being blinded by love.

Fortunately, the surveillance of Porygon-II had caught him in time.

One popsicle was a small matter, but self-control was a big one; Mime Jr. had a nickname called the Sweet Destroyer, originating from the time it ate sweet Bofu Lei equivalent to twice its own body size paired with a pot of black tea.

Aggron was silent for a long time, Dragapult declared it unbeatable, and Chansey was ready to call an ambulance at any moment.

Baimu…

After that incident, Baimu rarely dared to make large quantities of similar sweets.

At the same time, he strictly controlled Mime Jr.'s daily intake.

He really didn't want Mime Jr. to turn into a fat blob.

"It's starting!"

Xiao Guang's voice drew his attention.

On the TV.

Xiao Zhi made his entrance with a beaming smile; his confident expression proved he had great confidence in the upcoming finals.

And his opponent—

"Shota-kun is really amazing. I heard he was originally a trainer from the Hoenn region and went to the Kalos region to explore the secrets of Mega Evolution."

Xiao Gang took off his apron and sat down to the side, sighing in admiration.

That's right.

Shota, who should have faced Xiao Zhi in the semifinals, became Xiao Zhi's final opponent all the way through, since Alain ultimately didn't make it in time to participate in the League Conference.

Unfortunately, Professor Sycamore was still running around trying to clear Alain of the charges.

"This should be in the bag now, right?"

Baimu muttered.

Alain didn't even get a chance to appear; if Xiao Zhi still couldn't take the final conference championship, he'd have to rush over and give this kid's head a couple of knocks.

Of course, there was no need to worry that Xiao Zhi winning the conference championship would end this guy's journey.

First, Fire-type Elite Four Malva had been brought to justice, and the Kalos Champion League was short one member that couldn't be filled in a short time, so naturally it wouldn't be convened.

Second, in his mind, Pokémon Master was far beyond what a conference championship could compare to.

Most likely, after winning the conference championship, he'd release the Pokémon that should be released somewhere, send those that should go back to Pallet Town back to Pallet Town, rest for a while, and set off for the next region.

All Baimu watched for a while and found that the battle between the two was pretty much the same as the one in the anime from his memories.

Only the real battle before his eyes was more detailed, no need to rely on imagination to fill in the frames.

The Salamence that was evenly matched with Noivern, the Goodra that was evenly matched with Pachirisu, the Aegislash whose shield couldn't combine into a defensive stance because it was jammed by a wooden block, and so on.

Pikachu, who had consecutively taken down Shota's Aegislash and Steelix's Scizor, performed very well but couldn't be called dazzling.

After all, the Kalos League's "ace" was Greninja.

Sure enough, once Greninja and Sceptile took the field, the atmosphere of the arena changed, and Ash and Shota's expressions proved that both were now extremely focused.

What truly surprised All Baimu was that the Water Shuriken Storm, which in the original plot should have ended things, ultimately turned into a Golden Healing Shuriken!

"This—"

He stared at the dust and smoke filling most of the screen on the TV, and his heart began to pound.

Although the animation director had once explained on Twitter that the reason the Golden Healing Shuriken changed color was energy boiling, who knew whether that boiling might just evaporate it entirely?

He turned to look at Dawn and Brock; the latter two were equally nervous, staring unblinkingly at the TV.

Finally.

The dust cleared.

The very first shot went to the fainted Sceptile.

"Yes!"

"We won!"

Dawn jumped up happily, Brock also punched the air hard, and Piplup leaped off the sofa in agitation.

As companions who had once traveled with Ash, they understood too well what winning this tournament meant to him.

Especially Brock.

He had walked four regions with Ash, entered four League Conferences, and every single time returned empty-handed.

Being able to witness with his own eyes Ash's victory in the Kalos League, Brock felt like he was about to cry.

"Not easy at all, really not easy."

"Yeah."

All Baimu empathized deeply — in the world he came from, the Golden Healing Shuriken had finally gone from being a synonym for a letdown to a genuine finishing move!

On the screen.

Ash confidently held up the trophy amid thousands of cheers, Pikachu squatting on his shoulder and Greninja beside him both beaming with smiles.

"How wonderful…"

Dawn looked at Ash on the TV, her gaze slightly unfocused.

All Baimu noticed and asked with a smile, "You want to meet Ash?"

"Yeah! I really want to congratulate him in person!" Dawn nodded without hesitation — between her and Ash existed a diamond-like friendship and pearl-like memories.

Such a glorious moment for him, of course she didn't want to miss it.

As her words fell.

A ring of light appeared in the void.

Hu Pa poked its head out, covering its mouth with a mischievous laugh, "Hu Pa's here to take you guys to find little Ash and Pikachu! Did I scare you? Hehehe—"

"Hu Pa?!"

Dawn looked at it in surprise, then turned to All Baimu.

"I didn't call it, it came on its own." The latter shrugged — Hu Pa and the Barza siblings had already been following Ash's match, so of course they'd rush over the moment he won the championship.

So.

The group changed locations.

When they met up with the Barza siblings, the older brother leaned in and whispered, "My Ceng Zufu wants to meet you, and invites you to be a guest at the Valley of Creation. I wonder if you have the time?"

"Your Ceng Zufu?"

All Baimu was taken aback for a moment, then recalled that the other party was the Gourgeist who had once freed Hu Pa's seal.

This person actually hasn't passed away yet?

Could the power of nature actually prolong life?

He let his imagination run wild for a few seconds, then asked, "What does the old gentleman want with me?"

"Not sure…"

Barza shook his head.

"Then I'll pay a visit after the Lily of the Valley Conference is over." All Baimu didn't refuse — he was also quite curious about Gourgeist himself and the power he wielded.

In the end, as a righteous character, Gourgeist was unlikely to do him harm.

He hadn't done anything shady, what was there to fear?

A short while later.

The group met Ash in the lounge, surrounded by a crowd of people; the trophy sat on a cabinet nearby, and Clemont's Chespin was curiously poking at it.

The latter suddenly noticed a bunch of extra people in the room, and in his fright knocked the trophy off.

Fortunately All Baimu was quick and hooked it with his foot, preventing it from crashing to the floor.

"How could you leave something this important lying around like that?"

He waved at Ash.

The latter stood up, blinked in confusion at the two people beside him, then a brilliant smile spread across his face as he shouted excitedly, "Dawn! Brock! Long time no see!"

"Pikachu~!"

Pikachu excitedly threw itself into Dawn's arms, overjoyed.

Dawn nuzzled its cheek affectionately, "Pikachu, long time no see~"

"Congratulations! Xiaozhi!"

Xiaogang said with deep emotion: "Finally, we've finally won the tournament!"