Chapter 724

In darkness.

Countless fragmented images flashed before Baimu's eyes.

He felt as if he were experiencing the dreams of countless others, assuming countless identities, living countless dreams.

Yet strangely, from start to finish, he clearly knew who he was—these memories were like playing a game with VR: deeply immersive, yet only immersion.

Was this the simulator's doing?

His first thought turned to his golden finger, and this experience matched his simulation dreams almost exactly, confirming it.

In reality.

Shan Ren nervously half-supported Baimu, while Fu Rong stood solemn, shaking her bell continuously, murmuring incantations, pressing her prayer beads against his chest.

The circular antenna atop the Dark Spirit hovered like a lantern.

Many of Baimu's Pokémon gathered around, all visibly anxious.

Bishokudora gripped the Cursed Doll siblings with its massive paws, its thick tail coiled around the giant Steelix's tail to keep them from struggling.

In truth, had it not feared disrupting Fu Rong's healing, and being the trump card, it would have torn the Cursed Doll apart itself without waiting for others to act.

But the trainer's safety came first—retribution could wait.

Gulpin shared its thoughts, squatting coldly atop Bishokudora's head, its usually fluttering red ribbon drooping listlessly.

The normally noisy Garchomp, however, was unnaturally quiet—even eerily so—causing Bishokudora to keep glancing at it, worried it might do something foolish.

Happiny and Shiny Milotic devoutly prayed for Baimu, while Dragonite forgot to hide, anxiously flying back and forth.

Galarian Sunflora opened its eyes irritably, a stifled rage building inside it, preventing sleep no matter how hard it tried.

In the phone, Polywhirl frantically searched for terms related to souls, then began considering electrotherapy.

"Hu Pa, Hu Pa, go find Grandpa Guli—"

The Divine Hu Pa, frantic and helpless, tried to summon the mighty Guli for help.

Haunter swiftly intercepted this fly without a head, preventing further chaos; as the source who had released Bishokudora and the others from their Poké Balls, causing this mess, it must maintain order.

Marshadow huddled in the corner, silent.

Suddenly.

Fu Rong, chanting, let out a soft "Hm?"—her bell stopped, her eyes piercing through Baimu's flesh to see his true soul.

She had intended to erect a barrier against the soul fragments invading Baimu's spirit, but it had no effect; yet before she could act further, she suddenly noticed that after merging with the fragments, his soul had not gained any strange hues.

Instead, it had grown stronger and purer.

Neither the silver-white glow of sunlit snow-capped peaks nor the pale blue halo-light resembled the chaotic soul corruption described in her spirit-medium scriptures.

"This situation…"

She did not explain to Shan Ren, turning instead to the Divine Hu Pa: "Hu Pa, can you open a light wheel to Shenshan? I need to find my grandmother."

"Grandmother?"

"Yes. She looks like this." Fu Rong pulled out her phone and showed a photo of herself with her grandmother.

The Divine Hu Pa nodded urgently: "Leave it to Hu Pa!"

The light wheel opened.

The Cursed Doll, sensing something wrong, tried to intervene—but one glance from Bishokudora silenced its petty movements.

Shan Ren urgently called out to Fu Rong as she stepped toward the wheel: "What should I do?"

"If he wakes up, hold him down—don't let him do anything!" Fu Rong told him, then turned to Bishokudora and the others, solemnly adding: "Don't worry—I will save your trainer!"

"Gurrr!"

"Kichido~"

Bishokudora and the others watched her leave with longing eyes.

Not long after.

Fu Rong helped an elderly, hunched grandmother emerge from the light wheel; the old woman scanned the surroundings, her gaze passing over the Cursed Doll on the ceiling and Marshadow in the corner, finally settling on Baimu.

"Y-You, please take a look."

Shan Ren, supporting the unconscious Baimu, spoke politely.

The grandmother said nothing, crouching before Baimu and placing her palm on his forehead. Amid the hopeful gazes of all present and the Pokémon, she murmured: "No serious harm—he's merely processing those fragmented memories."

Fu Rong: "So Baimu won't be affected by those soul fragments?"

The Cursed Doll trembled inwardly.

The grandmother nodded: "Mm. I've never seen such a powerful, stable soul. These fragments mean nothing to him."

As a spirit-medium stationed at Shenshan who occasionally helped others resolve difficulties, her grandmother had seen more souls than most people encountered in a lifetime—humans and Pokémon alike.

No wonder I thought Baimu's soul was unusually beautiful from the start…

Fu Rong's eyes gleamed with wonder.

Just then.

Baimu slowly woke, his first sight the elder and Fu Rong, surrounded by anxious Pokémon—he murmured: "I—"

"Shasong!"

With a cry of desperate emotion, Garchomp, tears streaming, suddenly lunged and pinned him beneath its body, rubbing its head frantically against his neck and cheeks: "Shasong~ Shasong!"

Everyone was startled, then each wore a helpless expression.

Seeing Baimu clearly conscious and soothing Garchomp, Shan Ren and Fu Rong both relaxed; Bishokudora and the others rushed forward in a circle.

"Sorry for worrying you."

Baimu's hands brushed over each Pokémon, including the Sunflora whose smoke-like tentacles were fully exposed yet still pretending to sleep.

The Divine Hu Pa had been about to mimic Garchomp, pouncing fully onto him—had Haunter not reacted swiftly and absorbed its force with the Punishment Urn.

"Oh! Xiao Geng is biased!"

Hu Pa, who had bumped headfirst into All Baimu's chest, pouted in displeasure, but it had only meant the prank as a way to cheer everyone up.

The atmosphere was too solemn.

All Baimu casually tidied the ribbon on Bignn's hair, then looked up at the Banette on the dome above — it was silently squeezing its way out.

*Snap. *

At a soft sound, under Furong's astonished gaze, the Banette actually wrenched itself free of the Spirit Realm entrance. Countless lost souls hiding in every corner, as if they had found their destination, surged toward it silently and joyfully.

The Banette paid them no heed; it propped itself up, took small steps, and ran toward All Baimu.

Hydreigon and the other Pokémon had intended to stop it from approaching, but were held back.

All Baimu half-squatted down, looking calmly at the Banette beaming before him.

Seeing him look over, the Banette said happily, "Long He! I finally waited for you! I waited so, so long—"

"Banette, I've told you before, I'm not Long He," All Baimu said calmly.

The Banette's expression stiffened for a moment, then, as if it hadn't heard, it went on, "You know what, Master Lidi came here once before. That guy looked different, and I didn't quite trust him, so I just brushed him off…"

"Banette."

"Do you remember those people who chased us? I tortured their souls into evil spirits, made them live in agony forever, those scumbags! You must feel great about it!"

"Banette!"

"…" The Banette slowly lowered its head.

A few seconds later.

It raised its head again, still wearing that brilliant smile, and said, "I remember the meteor shower in Meteor Village was beautiful. You said you'd take me to see the meteor shower — see, isn't my memory amazing?"

All Baimu said nothing, silently watching the Banette.

Suddenly.

He extended his right hand and gently rubbed the top of the Banette's head.

A familiar gesture, a familiar face, a familiar warmth.

Everything was so familiar.

But…

The Banette's smile gradually faded, its body trembling slightly, tears slipping unconsciously from the corners of its eyes, and it pleaded:

"Let's go traveling together, okay?"

In a pitch-black mine.

Long He, buried beneath the rubble, had regretted with all his heart that he could not travel with the Banette, and this became his dying wish.

"…I'm sorry."

All Baimu withdrew his hand and said softly, "I can never be the person you've been waiting for."

What is inheritance?

Bloodline, soul, knowledge, and power — many things can be inheritance.

And All Baimu happened to inherit Long He's bloodline, soul, and knowledge, but no matter how you put it, he could never be Long He.

Even without the part from the other world, he was still only Long He's "next generation."

Failing to get the answer it wanted, the Banette collapsed weakly to the ground.

Shan Ren sighed silently; Furong, seeing this, also showed a touch of sorrow.

Although the Banette had caused them a great deal of trouble, as trainers, who could remain unmoved by such a scene?

Who has never imagined the scene of themselves passing on before their Pokémon, or their Pokémon departing before them?

Furong's grandmother took her granddaughter's hand and patted it twice in comfort.

The many Pokémon wore varied expressions — those with strong empathy like Blissey and Milotic set aside their hostility toward the Banette, while the more rational ones, or those who only cared about their trainer and themselves, like Hydreigon, were dismissive.

At this moment.

Marshadow also walked out from the shadows in the corner.

"Mahsu…"

It silently pressed its palms together before the Banette, the shadow beneath it spreading out beneath the light, once again beginning to play out shadow pictures.

One could see the scene where the bones and feathers together turned to ashes.

The Marshadow in the picture seemed panicked, circling around the ashes.

Clearly, the resurrection had failed.

But just as it was about to leave in dejection, a pillar of light fell from the sky, sweeping up the ashes and gradually shaping them into the form of an infant.

The Marshadow in the picture looked up, raised its hands, and caught the infant.

"What does this mean…" Shan Ren didn't understand.

Hu Pa shrieked, "Hu Pa! Hu Pa has seen this before! It's Arceus!"

"Arceus?"

Its words drew Shan Ren and Furong's attention — compared to Marshadow, Arceus, as the supreme being in the creation myth, was far more famous.

Hu Pa nodded repeatedly and shouted, "Hu Pa saw Arceus before! Hu Pa and Balza were saved by Arceus!"

It was referring to the time in the desert city battle when it had lost its powers and ended up summoning Dialga, the Time Pokémon, and Palkia, the Space Pokémon — two beings that could not coexist in the same place — causing space-time to distort.

Shan Ren and Furong were still completely lost, and looked toward Marshadow.

Marshadow, however, shook its head, indicating it didn't know. It hesitated for a moment, glanced at Furong, then began to call out softly.

Furong, who could understand what Ghost-type Pokémon were saying, went from puzzlement to sudden realization, and then, upon looking at the dejected Banette, felt unbearable heartache.

She said, "Long He… he was Ho-Oh's Rainbow Hero, granted a Rainbow Wing by Ho-Oh as recognition, possessing the qualification to challenge it. Marshadow, meanwhile, is the Pokémon that guides the Rainbow Hero to find Ho-Oh. But Long He did not carry the Rainbow Wing on his person — he left it at Meteor Village.

"As a result, by the time Marshadow followed the Spirit Realm entrance and found him, he had already passed away, and the Rainbow Wing had turned to ashes and vanished along with the Rainbow Hero's death. To save Long He, it took the remains carrying most of Long He's soul and rushed to the Sacred Forest to find Celebi, but Celebi had long since left the place. It had no choice but to return to where Ho-Oh might come, waiting for it to save Long He.

"It never expected to wait decades. It finally waited until Ho-Oh flew over from above Ecruteak, and only then did it use the example of Long He sacrificing himself to save others to induce Ho-Oh to grant a second Rainbow Wing imbued with great power, to help resurrect Long He. But unexpectedly, it failed.

"It believed that too much time had passed, that too much of the soul within the remains had dissipated, and that it no longer possessed the capacity for resurrection—until that beam of light shone down and reshaped the ashes into an infant. But it knew that Ryuka was no longer Ryuka, so it sent the infant—that is, All Baimu—to Yellow Iron Town, watching over him in secret until a certain age before leaving."

Mountain Rinn questioned, "If Marshadow is the Pokémon meant to guide the Rainbow Hero, why didn't it go find Ho-Oh directly instead of choosing to wait?"

Marshadow seemed to understand his words and shook its head slightly. "Masa, masa!"

"It says it also found Ho-Oh through the Rainbow Wing, and only has a faint sense of where Ho-Oh might go. The departed Ryuka is no longer the Rainbow Hero, so it has no way of actively finding Ho-Oh—and besides, the more you go searching for Ho-Oh, the less likely you are to see it."

Furong did not know how to describe this tragedy.

She looked at Banette and said, "Marshadow told Banette that blocking the entrance to the Spirit World could stop scattered souls from returning to the Spirit World, and it did so only to keep Ryuka's soul fragments from leaving."

All Baimu recalled the scenes from the dream just now—parts of Ryuka were conspicuously present within them.

Once a person dies, their soul slowly begins to lose its memories; if it cannot reach the Spirit World in time, it becomes a lost soul with only a small portion of its memories remaining.

The Distortion World.

The Spirit World entrance, now without its guardian Pokémon, was shrinking step by step as massive numbers of lost souls pressed in, and was about to disappear.

The purpose of this trip had already been achieved, yet everyone and every Pokémon present looked at the distracted Banette, and a complex, indescribable feeling welled up in their hearts.

Suddenly.

Banette leapt up abruptly, as if about to return to the Spirit World entrance.

All Baimu, quick of eye and hand, grabbed it in one swift motion. "Don't do this! Banette!"

"Let go of me! I want to wait for him to come back! Ryuka hasn't come back yet! You're not him! You're all liars! Marshadow is a liar too! Let go of me!"

Banette, voice choked with sobs, struggled desperately.

But in order to break free from the Spirit World entrance, it had wasted far too much strength—it couldn't even leap out of this human All Baimu's embrace, nor muster any elemental energy.

All Baimu opened his mouth, about to say something, when several roars suddenly came from behind.

"Shaao!"

"Reeo!"

"Churu!"

Everyone turned around in unison and saw, to their astonishment, Hu Pa had opened the light ring and guided out Ryuka's Salamence, Flygon, and Altaria from within.

The weakened Pokémon roared loudly at Banette, their expressions unusually solemn—but not in reproach.

And Banette, upon hearing their roars, actually gave up struggling and began to sob softly.

Porygon-Z told him.

Salamence and the others were trying to help Banette accept Ryuka's passing.

All Baimu, upon hearing this, looked at the three Dragon-type Pokémon with trembling eyes; he opened his mouth but could not utter a single sound.

They, who hadn't even been able to see Ryuka one last time…

Had been forced to accept their Trainer's death.

Just how painful a thing must that be.