Chapter 716: A Dream of the Bottom

A vast yet sweltering arena, frenzied and warped spectators, roars hoarse from boiling excitement.

"Chirp peh!"

Jet-black, razor-sharp claws gripped the metal railing as it gazed out at the distant, blazing battle.

In the cage next door, a Pokémon was saying that some tough customer had shown up recently.

Tough customer?

Someone especially strong?

It felt a flicker of interest, but the feeling faded just as quickly.

Stuck in this hellhole, what did it matter how strong anyone else was? If only one day it could get out — how wonderful that would be.

It curled up in the shadows until the distant roars grew faint — the sound of a battle ending.

Not long after.

Footsteps rang out nearby.

It heard several cages around it rattling violently; the usually quiet Pokémon inside were barking loudly, clearly vying to be picked.

It didn't follow suit, after all—

"Huh? Why is there a beat-up doll in here?"

"Hehehe, my lord doesn't know this, but this is a rare Ghost-type Pokémon!"

"A Ghost-type Pokémon, huh… then I'll take it."

Creak.

The iron cage door swung open; it saw a stick tap against the cage's surface, and the violent clang of metal left its head spinning.

It scrambled out in a panic, and the next moment saw a pair of gentle eyes.

"Oh~ so it's a Shuppet." The man laughed.

"My lord has a keen eye — picking it is sure to satisfy you!"

——

"You're saying you just saw a vortex, and inside the vortex there was a pair of eyes that might recognize you?"

Furong listened to All Baimu's bewildered account of everything that had just happened, her expression strange as she asked, "That was the Guardian Pokémon! You've been to the Distortion World below before?"

He shook his head firmly. "Absolutely not. At most I'd been to the Underground before — once you go further down you generally don't come back up, let alone the Distortion World…"

The bottom-level mines were a place blacker than a black-coal kiln. The Crystal Team squad leader who had once tried to persecute him but failed had been abandoned by his superiors, stripped of everything, and thrown in there.

He probably hadn't survived until the organization that would save and liberate Olore arrived; in any case, All Baimu never heard any news of him afterward—

Could it be that guy turned into a Ghost-type Pokémon?

No no no.

No matter how you looked at it, that was impossible.

"That's strange. Even if the Guardian Pokémon blocked the gate, unless it's in a special environment, it shouldn't be able to see people and Pokémon from the real world…" Furong murmured, choosing her words carefully.

Seeing All Baimu about to say something, she quickly explained, "Just now it was because of the ritual and the special timing of the Hour of Bewitching. You'd been to the Distortion World before, so your body carried traces of its aura — a rather special condition. All of these factors combined caused your soul to briefly leave your body and be glimpsed."

"I told you before, didn't I? Any strange occurrence must be reported to me — I was worried about your soul leaving your body… Last time in New Zi Jin City, was that your first time entering the Distortion World?"

"It was my first time."

All Baimu answered. If his body's memory had no gaps, or if the matter had occurred before he had memories, then the trip to New Zi Jin City was definitely his first contact with the Distortion World.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "What about the possibility of a case of mistaken identity?"

"There is that possibility, but in my view it's not very likely. Your soul is extremely special — like a silver-white snow mountain under the sun, yet radiating a halo of pale cyan light. With such a unique soul, the Guardian Pokémon couldn't possibly mistake you for someone else."

A smile tugged at the corner of Furong's lips. "Things are getting interesting~"

Where's the fun in that!

All Baimu was at a loss.

The Pokémon animated world was just like that — depending on how far the writers let themselves run wild, they'd toss in one or two plot holes they never bothered to fill, and then unlucky transmigrators like them had to choke down all these bizarre bits.

"I'm… going to go sit quietly for a bit."

He decided to search his past memories thoroughly.

There couldn't possibly be a past-life-and-present-life angle to this, right? Like with Ash?

All Baimu hoped he didn't have that many complicated entanglements on him.

Seeing him walk off to one side, Furong was also curious about why the Guardian Pokémon knew him.

A lost soul certainly couldn't be communicated with, but from the fragments of information, combined with what she'd learned from Yamatsumi, it wasn't hard to judge that the Distortion World entrance below had been blocked for at least several decades.

All Baimu wasn't even twenty yet, right?

Furong was seized by an inexplicable detective-solving anticipation, staring eagerly at the bustling construction site, wishing she could burrow straight down.

Time rolled into night.

Yamatsumi and several others brought condolence supplies and sleeping bags and the like; spotting All Baimu sitting in the open ground with his head bowed, she asked in confusion, "What's wrong with him?"

Furong told her about what had happened during the Hour of Bewitching.

"Recognized!?"

Yamatsumi startled, hurriedly asking, "Is he okay? Will that Guardian Pokémon thing hurt him?"

Furong laughed and waved a hand. "It probably isn't hostile. If the Guardian Pokémon had hostile intent, All Baimu's reaction would definitely have been more intense. Even if it really were hostile, it's fine — I'll protect him!"

She patted her slightly heaving chest.

"That's good then…"

Yamatsumi was relieved.

Furong was both a professional spiritual medium and a Hoenn Elite Four member — if she said there was no problem, then there was definitely no problem.

And after several hours of memory-searching, All Baimu, having found nothing, gave up on self-investigation entirely. After all, it had only been a few hours; the truth would reveal itself naturally once they reached the underground tomorrow.

He took a disposable sleeping bag from Shanren, and said goodnight to Furong.

"Goodnight, Baimu~"

Furong's brows curved into a smile; surrounded by Lost Souls, her energy was still abundant, and even without adjusting for jet lag she didn't mind, and even started taking notes.

Clearly preparing to find usable clues from the Lost Souls' account.

Baimu, rather than guessing, preferred to find the answer directly; he found a relatively clean shack nearby and prepared to nap for a few hours to rest up.

Of course.

He didn't forget to ask Hu Pa to bring Bouffalant and the others back from the mountain range.

These past two days Bouffalant had been planting shrubs with great enthusiasm; a shiny Milotic and Chansey were also helping it, mainly responsible for watering and carrying saplings.

Hydreigon had designs on seizing the position of Tyranitar's alpha, becoming the boss of those wild Pokémon.

When not training, Mawile had put aside all the TV dramas and movies and become addicted to social apps; her selfies had become rather frequent.

Recently she seemed to be planning to film a personal vlog, and was asking Porygon2 and Baimu for topic suggestions.

Porygon2's answer was that perhaps she could film some exquisite dance videos; on the internet, Pokémon like Flabébé and Steenee dancing was very common.

Baimu, on the other hand, suggested Mawile film some pastoral-life videos of planting flowers and grass together with Chansey, aiming to be the Pokémon version of Li Li Ziqi.

Mawile didn't know Li Li Ziqi, and had no interest in pastoral-life videos either.

She leaned more toward filming those aesthetically beautiful, exquisite afternoon-tea videos, so lately she'd been egging Porygon2 into learning the relevant poses for filming movies.

Without a doubt.

Mawile was no longer satisfied with just watching TV dramas; she kind of wanted to become a TV-drama leading lady.

Dragapult spent its days withdrawn, preferring to hide near him even more than Gengar did, secretly observing his every move; Galarian Corsola slept without end, as long as no one disturbed it.

Gengar and the Dunsparce siblings… those guys had gone wild playing with Hu Pa, and after coming back, without Baimu needing to say anything, they found places to rest on their own.

Hu Pa, however, pulled at Baimu reluctantly, wanting to keep playing.

"There's still serious business later, really can't." He pressed down on Hu Pa's head, then burrowed into the sleeping bag and closed his eyes.

"Guujou~"

"Shaasa!"

Bouffalant and the other Pokémon called out to each other a few times, each finding a clean spot to rest; the shiny Milotic went straight back into its Poké Ball — the space inside was far more comfortable than the dry outdoors.

Hu Pa was deeply disappointed; after squeezing into the sleeping bag and lying there for a while without any sleepiness, he simply opened the Radiant Ring of Creation Valley and went.

Over there the sun hadn't set yet — a fine time with the blazing sun high overhead.

——

"Wake up, wake up quickly."

His body being jostled, Baimu suddenly jolted awake.

Seeing that he was awake, the man before him — towering like a giant — smiled, his downward gaze brimming with tenderness: "Did you have a nightmare? Don't be afraid, Shuppet. We'll be able to leave here very soon."

Shuppet?

Was he calling him?

Baimu's mind was sluggish as if rusted, until a boy appeared from the side and called out to the man.

"Big brother! Everyone's already prepared!"

"Well done, Lidi. Remember to keep everyone calm, tell them not to be nervous, and wait for my signal. The dawn of victory is right before us!"

"Yes!"

The boy shouted excitedly in a low voice and trotted away.

Lidi.

Lidi…

Such a familiar name.

Baimu had just tried to recall the scene when he'd heard this name, only to find his body moving of its own accord, stretching out pitch-black claws to grab the man's trouser leg.

"Chu-pei…"

Such a thin, shrill voice.

Baimu thought instinctively, then saw the man turn around, crouch down, and grasp his claws, saying gently: "I have to go, Shuppet. Only this way can everyone have a chance to leave here."

Through the man's light-brown eyes, he saw his own appearance clearly.

Shuppet!

He'd turned into a Pokémon!

In his panic, his brain seemed to finally start working, and he remembered everything.

This is a dream!

A memory dream from the simulator?

No.

He had never obtained a Shuppet's dream, so where did this dream come from? Why was he dreaming of becoming a Shuppet?

—A Gatekeeper Pokémon!

Baimu quickly thought of this possibility, and at the same time, a wave of sadness suddenly welled up in his heart, as if something important was about to slip away from him.

His gaze followed the man as he rose, as if trying to etch him into his heart.

What was this man about to do?

Where exactly was this place?

Baimu really wanted to look around at the situation, but this dream, like all the simulated memories before it, was completely beyond his control.

He could only passively, as Shuppet chased after him, gather everything his eyes could see.

"Chu-pei—"

Before his eyes, everything lit up.

Then a frenzy of shouting came flooding in.

The first thing he saw was the enormous ventilation fan set into the dome, and after that an immensely wide yet unusually gloomy metal platform, with scattered seating sections spread about and thick pipes twisting every which way.

This was a place that, after staying too long, would make it hard to breathe.

Classic Rust Town style.

But in All Baimu's memories, no such place existed in Rust Town.

The past?

Had a Guardian Pokémon once lived in Rust Town?

All Baimu didn't know why he would dream all of this; the only possibility at present was that the Guardian Pokémon who knew him was trying, through the dream, to pass some kind of message to him.

His attention returned to the man who seemed to have some sort of plan.

The man walked straight onto the metal platform.

An Aggron, its single horn resembling a drill bit, its grey-rock-colored stone-armor skin thick and heavy, had been waiting for some time; further behind stood a bald giant whose face was twisted in a string of cold sneers.

The two exchanged a few words, but the distance was too far and the shouting too loud to hear anything at all.

All Baimu vaguely saw the man pull out a Poké Ball of somewhat odd appearance, fiddle with it for a moment, and release from it a Salamence with cyan scales and blood-red wings.

Only—

The Salamence's condition was clearly off; even at such a distance, he could still make a rough judgment of the Pokémon's state.

It bore wounds, more than ten or so in number.

Why send a Pokémon into battle without treating it and letting it fully heal?

Was it unwillingness, or inability?

Everything before his eyes grew ever more bewildering.

And soon the Salamence engaged the Aggron in battle. To All Baimu's surprise, the man and the bald giant not only did not keep their distance from the two Pokémon, but instead moved continuously in step with the creatures' actions, striving to always remain behind them.

This was…

All Baimu was somewhat bewildered, but before he could keep watching, the shout of the boy from earlier came from behind him.

"Banette! We should go!"

"Chupeh…"

"You don't want to cause trouble for big bro, right?"

He could feel Banette's reluctance, but the boy's words were very persuasive, and Banette turned around and followed the boy's footsteps.

They came to a dim passage, and through a black hole behind a crude shelf they reached an even darker underground cavern.

From the structures on either side, All Baimu recognized at a glance that this was a mine.

A mine?

An underground mine, an unnamed battle arena…

Was that place just now the Undercolosseum!?

He suddenly recalled that beneath Rust Town there had once been an Undercolosseum that had been closed for unknown reasons; if this dream was not false, then this must be the very place he had seen.

"Master Lidi! You've finally come! How's big bro's side?"

The unfamiliar voice pulled him back.

Following Banette's line of sight, All Baimu saw pair after pair of eyes shining with a rapt look; they came from humans or Pokémon whose features were blurred and indistinct, and without exception a flame seemed to burn in the depths of their gaze.

"Big bro has already begun the fight. We just wait for our side to move, and he moves too—destroy the whole underground in one strike!"

Master Lidi gritted his teeth and called out low, then said with full hope: "Freedom is within reach! We're no longer the dust of the underground. Big bro said the facing world outside is ten thousand times more brilliant than this place!"

"Alright! Blow it up! Blow this whole place to smithereens!"

"Roar!"

"Damn this underground city, damn everything—let it all die! We were born free!"

"Meow!"

"B-but, but what about those spectators?"

The abrupt words brought a hush over the mine.

Master Lidi did not hesitate; he seized the one who had spoken and said: "You have to understand, the spectators who come here to watch this kind of thing are not good people! They're all scoundrels whose deaths are no loss! Big bro also said normal people don't get pleasure from this kind of fighting!"

This kind of fighting… similar to the charity tournament model?

Hearing him say that, All Baimu couldn't help but recall that nauseating Team Shadow charity tournament.

And after Master Lidi's account, the gathered humans and Pokémon steeled their resolve.

"Let's do it!"

"Do it!"

They exchanged glances with one another, then carried out some kind of action.

As All Baimu felt puzzled, an earth-shaking, violent tremor came from every direction; everything visible to the eye blurred, and an explosive roar like the fury of Lei Ting filled this narrow space!

Rumble rumble rumble—!!

They had used bombs!

Very powerful bombs, underground!

Screams kept ringing out. All Baimu had no time to react when he suddenly felt a stinging sensation from overhead!

He, or rather Banette, raised its head and at once saw a massive boulder plummeting down!

"Banette—"

Master Lidi let out a scream.