Chapter 720: The Dragon and the Dream

Under Lidi's arrangements.

Everyone easily obtained the coffin containing the remains of "Long He," and rushed to the hospital for sampling and identification.

Out of courtesy.

When the doctor opened the coffin, Shan Nian and Fu Rong stepped out, leaving only Baimu, as a descendant, inside—because, according to Lidi, the coffin contained not only the remains but also some personal effects.

And when the interior was revealed, one object immediately caught his eye.

"It really exists…"

Baimu stared at the palm-sized wooden plaque on the white cloth, and was drawn into memory—

Yes.

It was the dragon-taming plaque he had secretly made, a fake so convincing it won Wu's trust; unlike the counterfeit in his hand, this authentic one bore far more natural signs of time.

If the cursed doll hadn't just randomly swapped a random skeleton for Long He's belongings, the body before him was almost certainly his grandfather's.

Of course, for safety's sake, a DNA test was necessary.

Unfortunately, even in a technologically advanced world like the Pokémon anime, expedited DNA kinship testing still took one to two hours.

Shan Nian suggested everyone take a rest during this time.

After a night of turmoil, though no results had come yet, it was necessary to loosen the taut nerves.

Fu Rong silently watched Baimu finish sampling, then suddenly said:

"Baimu, would you be interested in having another spirit dream?"

"Hm?"

Baimu, who had been pondering how to contact Xijiana, snapped back to attention and asked: "Is it about my grandfather's dream?"

Fu Rong nodded: "Exactly. Our greatest ability as mediums is to let the living communicate with the dead—that is, spirit channeling. And now that we have Grandpa Long He's personal effects, it's still possible to recreate the past within a dream!"

"Spirit channeling… summoning the dead?"

"No no no, in today's terms, it's called extracting memory fragments. In truth, once a soul enters the Spirit Realm, it soon reincarnates—unless it becomes a malevolent spirit."

"Does reincarnation truly exist in this world?"

Shan Nian couldn't help but interject; he seemed deeply concerned about this.

Fu Rong looked at him and said: "Though I don't know what you're thinking, unfortunately, once a soul reincarnates, it has no connection whatsoever to its past life; some mediums once believed reincarnation meant the soul dissolving into heaven and earth, which then gave birth to an entirely new soul—with no link between the two—"

"Of course, some traces cannot be easily erased. The Spirit Realm holds many secrets, and no medium can claim to know for certain what is true."

She seemed to know what Baimu was about to say, and cut him off before he could speak.

Not long after.

In the hotel room arranged by Shan Nian.

Baimu received the disinfected dragon-taming plaque.

"Lie down on the bed and hold the plaque without moving," Fu Rong reminded him, then took out her usual tools again—the prayer beads and bell.

Shan Nian sat beside them, hands clasped beneath his nose, adopting a posture reminiscent of Commander Ikari.

He too wanted to know what happened after Long He returned to the cursed doll—but sadly, he still lacked the technology to project dreams onto a screen, so he could only wait silently.

Further aside.

Hu Pa was fast asleep, sprawled atop the Shiny Haunter's head; the Haunter and Dracovish both wore faint expressions of concern.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to sleep."

Baimu keenly sensed their worried glances, smiled at them, then closed his eyes, clutching the plaque to his chest.

Fu Rong solemnly rang the bell, turning the prayer beads with her other hand, murmuring incantations.

The golden antenna atop the Haunter glowed, channeling light into the prayer beads and bell, which then served as bridges to direct the glow into the plaque.

Finally,

the plaque's light enveloped Baimu's entire body.

Legend says the Haunter's antenna receives signals from the Spirit Realm; once instructed, it guides a living person into that realm.

It is precisely by harnessing this power of the Haunter that mediums enable the living to communicate with the dead.

—

In a pitch-black corridor.

He breathed heavily, too exhausted to wipe the sweat from his brow; his flashlight flickered, as if ready to die at any moment.

"Hold on a little longer, Desert Dragonfly—we'll be out of this hellhole soon."

Long He turned to look at his companion, equally panting, wings limp and drooping, trying to stir the Desert Dragonfly's will with words.

This was his last remaining Dragon capable of fighting.

Flygon and Milotic had both been severely injured and exhausted during the destruction of the arena's ceiling and the escape from the arena's henchmen—too wounded to continue fighting.

Damn it!

He bitterly regretted his foolish decision to bring only three Dragons out when he left Meteor Village—three was far too reckless!

Long He deeply regretted the mistake he'd made when leaving Meteor Village.

"Léi'ō!"

The Desert Dragonfly lowered its long, serpentine neck and affectionately rubbed its cheek against his, signaling its determination to press on.

"My Dragon, as always!"

Long He chuckled, though his smile carried a tinge of bitterness.

They pressed further inward, soon arriving at a chamber filled with metal cages of all sizes.

Most cage doors had been opened; the mechanisms restraining the Pokémon had shut down during the power outage, and all the Pokémon inside had long since escaped.

Some of them, in fact, he himself had freed.

If possible—

Long He absolutely did not want to come back — every extra second risked discovery by those arena hounds who hadn't been crushed by the falling rocks — but he knew he had to come.

Because his other scattered companion had very likely returned here.

To this place where they had first met.

"Curse Doll?"

Long He called out softly, slowly making his way inside, until he came upon a two-tier iron cage stacked together.

He raised his flashlight and shone it in, and at once saw a strange cloth doll squeezed into a corner — the faintly trembling figure looked thoroughly creepy.

But Long He smiled.

"You're really here. It's me, don't be afraid."

He switched off the flashlight so that the cloth doll — which could see even in the dark — could make out his face.

Very quickly.

Accompanied by a delighted cry, the Curse Doll ran out of the cage and, trembling, threw itself around Long He's neck.

"Chu pei!"

"Don't be scared, don't be scared. I knew once you got separated from Master Lidi and the others you'd come here. You were looking for me, right?" Long He gently stroked its back.

He did not blame the Curse Doll for running off — he knew that for this timid creature, facing that kind of situation without bumping into any searchers was already no small feat.

The immediate priority was to get out of here.

He looked at Vibrava, about to say something, when it suddenly covered his mouth with a wing and began backing away step by step.

Long He quickly looked outward — a blinding shaft of light came shooting in.

"Heh, hehehehe… look at who I've found. You damn fool, you actually dare come running back!"

A burly man with his head wrapped in bandages stood there, flanked by two greenish-grey-skinned Machoke and two vicious Houndour.

The man pointed at him and Vibrava and bellowed savagely, "Kill them!"

"Ao!"

"Geli!"

The two Houndour and the two Machoke charged in a swarm.

Long He did not hesitate. Clutching the shivering Curse Doll, he retreated quickly, intending to leave by the other side, and shouted at the same time, "Sand Tomb!"

"Rei o!"

Vibrava, enduring its exhaustion, beat its wings furiously, and a vast wave of sand and grit came pouring down from nowhere, sweeping toward the Houndour and Machoke lunging at them!

Screams rang out at once.

And in this narrow, gloomy environment, Sand Tomb performed outstandingly well, successfully intercepting the four Pokémon charging in.

The burly man cursed them furiously as worthless.

But when Long He ran to the other end, two youths with Houndour suddenly appeared and blocked his path, their eyes decidedly hostile.

For a moment.

The Pokémon on both sides had him pinned in a front-and-back pincer.

"Hahaha, you can't run now, can you? Get on your knees and beg for mercy while you can — maybe I'll spare your life!" The burly man's mouth spoke of mercy, but his eyes were full of murderous intent.

He roared suddenly, "All of you, get him!"

Long He's expression turned solemn, his back pressed against Vibrava's, his gaze sweeping over the iron cages around him.

Perhaps he could use these things to escape—

BOOM—!!

A terrifying explosion sounded again, and the violent shaking blurred the vision of every person and Pokémon present.

The blustering burly man and the two thugs' faces changed drastically; they scrambled backward while staring at the ceiling — they had seen rocks collapse from above and crush people into mincemeat before. That scene was too horrifying; they never wanted to see it a second time.

Their Pokémon also showed fear one after another — most of the time, Pokémon could not take much more than humans.

Long He, seeing this, grew bold instead.

He knew that if rocks came crashing down he would certainly die, but staying put was just as certain a death!

Time to gamble!

Long He sprinted toward the two thugs, shouting, "Dragon Breath!"

"Rei o!"

Vibrava, catching on to its trainer's plan, took a fierce gulp of air and blasted an indigo flame at the two men.

The two thugs, their attention fixed entirely overhead, were caught off guard and sent flying by the fire, hitting the ground and rolling about in agony.

Long He seized the chance to dash past them, even remembering to call out to their Pokémon: "If you want, come run with me!"

The two Houndour exchanged glances, but did not give chase.

Long He did not hesitate either, and quickly led Vibrava and the Curse Doll away. He didn't know why there was another explosion, but it had really done him a huge favor!

The burly man belatedly realized Long He had escaped and shouted furiously, "What are you all standing around for? After him!"

The Houndour set off in pursuit, the Machoke hurrying after them.

Inside the mine.

Long He ran for his life.

The baying continuing from behind made his hair stand on end.

Houndour's noses were far too keen — escaping their pursuit was practically impossible. He had to think of something…

"Rei o!"

A muffled grunt cut off Long He's thoughts.

He turned his head and saw Vibrava kneeling on the ground — there was a fresh wound on its right leg, clearly bitten by a Houndour just before it had used Sand Tomb.

Long He quickly pulled out a Poké Ball and recalled it, saying in a low voice, "Good work. Vibrava."

Misfortunes never come alone.

Even the desert dragonflies had basically lost their fighting ability; the cards in his hand…

Long He lowered his head to look at the Curse Doll, then laughed self-deprecatingly. Setting aside the fact that he didn't understand Ghost-type Pokémon at all, the timid Curse Doll couldn't even stand in front of those Pokémon, let alone fight?

Just as he thought.

He still had to think of some other way.

Long He ran all the way, heading for the nearest escape point in his memory. As the saying goes, a ground-digging mouse has many burrows; for this day they had secretly dug quite a few tunnels leading to the surface, so that if they were discovered or something went wrong, they still had backups to use.

When he reached a certain fork in the road, he suddenly saw some bomb bundles that had been pre-planted but were now half-exposed and had not yet detonated, and immediately hit upon an idea.

"Curse Doll."

Long He set the Curse Doll down on the ground, tucked the bomb bundles into his arms, then took out three Poké Balls with screws on top and handed them to it, saying softly: "In a bit, you keep running down that road. I'll be responsible for drawing them away, using the bombs to ambush them, and blocking the road along the way."

Eliminating the pursuers and blocking the road was the only way to escape safely at present.

At the same time, it would also ensure the escape route wouldn't be discovered. Without some tricks, even if they blew up the mine, it would be easy to be caught up to.

Some Pokémon were far better at digging holes than humans; rashly using the tunnels to leave would easily draw pursuers and implicate Master Lidi and the others.

And the only uncertain part at this moment was that he didn't know the effect of the explosives, or what would happen when they were lit and detonated—

He had originally thought the power wouldn't be too strong, but looking at the miserable state of the mine, he really didn't dare to make any guarantees.

"Chuu pei…"

The Curse Doll held the three Poké Balls, looking at him with immense worry.

Long He smiled gently, his right hand stroking its face. "Don't worry, go wait up ahead for me. We'll definitely get out. Remember what I told you?

"Once we're out, I'll take you back to my hometown, a place called Meteor Village. You'll definitely like it there, and the children there will definitely like you too. You won't be lonely anymore. Then one day, we'll go traveling together! Everyone together!"

"Chuu pei—"

"Alright! Go! Go to the escape exit and wait for me! Don't worry, I'll definitely come!"

Long He gave the Curse Doll a firm push. The latter, clutching the Poké Balls, looked back at him with one step and three turns of the head.

And as the sound of barking drew near, Long He quickly ran toward another tunnel, shouting as he ran: "If you've got the guts, come chase me!"

He quickly disassembled the flashlight, using the components inside to make a simple ignition device.

This had been prepared in advance. Everyone was worried that remote detonation might fail, or some extreme situation might occur, so they had found a way to get a batch of flashlights whose internal components could easily produce a spark.

Never expected they'd really come in handy!

Long He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The barking behind grew closer and closer. He listened carefully for a moment to guess the distance, then decisively lit a bomb bundle and tossed it on the ground, quickly running forward.

A few seconds later.

He suddenly dove forward!

Boom!!

The deafening explosion echoed through the mine, and amid the rolling dust came a great number of anguished screams.

The power really was great!

Long He, covered in dust and dirt, scrambled to his feet. Without a word he kept running forward, planning to circle back to the fork from earlier according to the directions in his memory.

Only he had never expected that, having barely dealt with the pursuing Pokémon and pursuers, the sound of the explosion had drawn another group of people.

"Hey! You over there! Are you a miner?"

The other party shone a blinding light his way and opened their mouth with a scolding tone.

Long He's heart stirred. Just as he was about to reply, a shrill shout came from behind: "Don't trust him! He's the one who caused the explosion!"

Not good!

His expression turned stern.

The newcomer before him unhesitatingly ordered the Camerupt beside him to attack. "Flamethrower!"

"Buu ba!"

Raging flames surged forth, nearly engulfing the entire mine.

Long He had nowhere to dodge, despair in his heart—

"Chuu pei!"

A Shadow Ball flew in from another side, colliding with the flames and detonating violently before it could reach Long He, the shockwave sending the latter flying.

"Why did you come back!"

Long He quickly got up and saw that the one who had helped him was none other than the Curse Doll.

But now wasn't the time for anything else, especially having just been saved. He quickly scooped up the Curse Doll and ran toward the escape exit, shouts coming from behind once more.

"Rock Tomb!"

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The sound of cutting through the air came.

Long He's waist went numb. He let out a muffled grunt but didn't dare linger, continuing to run forward.