Chapter 741

The rainstorm lasted nearly a week.

Despite Huang Tie Town's drainage system working overtime, it still failed against such massive rainfall.

The mine was flooded, the warehouses were flooded, and many low-lying residential buildings were completely submerged.

Fortunately, rescue efforts were timely enough that losses weren't catastrophic—but Shan Ren had been in a foul mood these past few days, glaring at Baimu as if he owed him hundreds of millions.

But Baimu was innocent—Lugia had volunteered to bring the rain, and many saplings he and the Barza siblings had planted had also drowned.

Who isn't a victim here!

Seriously.

Given the current situation, he had reason to suspect Lugia was retaliating against the Orai Continent—otherwise, why would it rain nonstop for a full week?

Do you think you're Groudon in its primal form?

"And after the rain, it just leaves everything as is—so irresponsible…" Baimu recalled how, days ago, he'd used Hu Pa's Orb to find Lugia and ask it to stop the rain, nearly getting swept away by ocean currents and crushed by water pressure.

Luckily, he'd been cautious—he sent Multivolt II ahead first to scout, avoiding disaster.

According to Multivolt II's observations, Lugia were severely depleted and in deep sleep; even if awakened, they'd likely be unable to halt the rain covering most of the region.

Moreover, they probably weren't just causing rain.

The facts proved it.

Baimu's guess was entirely correct.

In the days after the rain stopped, temperatures across southern Orai gradually rose, yet midday highs remained far lower than usual.

Air humidity also exceeded past levels—even the Shiny Metang, sensitive to moisture, said it felt more comfortable lately and spent less time in its pool.

The sky was no longer bare, with only the sun hanging high—cloud cover had increased significantly.

Even the winds blowing between towns had grown gentler.

Of course.

Short-term climate changes held little persuasive power and couldn't prove the deeper impact of the storm on Orai.

Yet the rain had left behind numerous lakes of varying sizes across the south, one of which lay near Platinum Silver Mountain, attracting many Water-type wild Pokémon.

More surprisingly, vegetation had begun growing in several desert areas surrounding human settlements—raising questions about when and by whom the seeds had been planted.

"Altered monsoons and ocean currents… hopefully this is good for Orai."

Baimu quickly stopped dwelling on climate issues.

Because his planned trip to Cinnabar Tower had been delayed over a week—now, at last, he could head there.

——

Cinnabar Tower.

Built with investment from the first-generation Shadow Team.

Located between Huang Tie Town and Silicium Beryllium City, it was a high-tech arena combining entertainment and battle facilities; a small town had grown around it over the past half-year.

And in some ways, it symbolized Orai's technological advancement.

Baimu's purpose in coming here was to replicate the periodic battle cooperation agreement he'd made with Silicium Beryllium Arena, and to assess the strength of Cinnabar Arena trainers.

"Truly magnificent."

From far away, he'd spotted the tower, shaped like a wineglass, its top composed of four platforms—three small, one large.

Upon these platforms stood many towering buildings; in the game, you couldn't enter them, so they seemed like useless decorations—but now that the game's textures had become real architecture, a closer look revealed—

Aren't these all skyscrapers?

After a short ride on his hoverbike, the bustling town came into Baimu's view.

"So many people!"

He stared in surprise at the town entrance—Pokémon of all sizes mingled freely with humans entering and leaving Cinnabar Town, a sight rarely seen in Huang Tie Town or Silicium Beryllium City.

Were they all visiting trainers?

Baimu parked his hoverbike, thought for a moment, and released Dragonite.

"Raaaah!"

Dragonite let out an excited low roar, nuzzling its trainer's face, then, after being pushed away, began scanning its surroundings.

When it spotted Cinnabar Tower, it paused for a moment.

Baimu smiled: "How's that? Impressive, right? Come on—let's go inside!"

He strode ahead, and Dragonite hurried after him, curiously gazing around.

Usually, accompanying trainers on shopping trips was Gyarados's exclusive role—not because Baimu favored it, but because most of his companions had little interest in crowded places.

Dragonite loved sticking close to its trainer but hated shops that barred large Pokémon or outright forbade Pokémon entry.

Every time it was turned away, it grew furious, burning with the urge to torch those places.

The town was lively.

Baimu and Dragonite wandered around twice without being recognized, finding no difference from ordinary city streets, then headed straight for Cinnabar Tower.

As expected, the entrance plaza was packed with trainers eager to enter.

Human voices and Pokémon roars mingled chaotically.

He found a staff member assigned to direct crowds and learned there were two ways to enter Cinnabar Tower—

One was as a tourist, but the recent rainstorm had closed the tower for a week; many tourists who arrived before the storm had been stranded, and new tourists kept arriving these past two days, so tickets had sold out two days ago.

The second was as a challenger—but challengers needed a Cinnabar Tower exclusive membership card.

Membership cards were obtained through a referral system: old members bringing in new ones.

Too complicated.

Baimu didn't hesitate—he immediately pulled out his phone and called an insider at Cinnabar Tower. The number was one he'd specifically gotten from Shan Ren, just in case he couldn't get in.

The call connected.

The administrative director of the Yellow Arsenic Tower, who had introduced himself as such, immediately grew respectful upon hearing his name, saying he would ask him to wait a moment while he came out to greet him personally.

The slightly awkward tone made Baimu wonder—was he being overly polite? He wasn't some superior.

Had Shanren warned them ahead of time?

Possibly.

Let's go in first.

Baimu found a spot with few people but a clear view of the entrance and exit, trying to avoid having his Three-Headed Dragon crushed by passing Pokémon—when suddenly he heard a familiar name.

"Wait up for me, Kenta! Marina!"

Kenta? Marina?

He turned toward the voice and saw a young man with a rooster crest hairstyle emerging from the crowd; slightly ahead stood a lively youth wearing a baseball cap backwards, and a blue-haired girl with twin tails.

Wow!

Aren't these the protagonists from the anime version of Gold and Silver!

Baimu was surprised to see them in the Orre region.

The young man named Kenta was modeled after the male protagonist of the second-generation Gold and Silver games, Akihiko; Marina's prototype was the female protagonist, Chris; as for the brown-haired rooster-crest boy…

He was one of the NPCs from the anime series, remembered as "Junichi," who had once battled Ash in the Silver Conference, losing in the preliminaries.

All three appeared in a special OVA tied to Lei Gong, where they destroyed the Crystal System—once damaged by Baimu himself—and rescued Lei Gong from Team Rocket's capture.

Who would've thought we'd be this lucky.

Baimu was just considering whether to go introduce himself when the three already walked into the Yellow Arsenic Tower with their membership cards.

"…"

My apologies for the interruption.

He quietly shifted his gaze elsewhere, searching for the next possible "acquaintance."

Yet until a group of staff members who seemed to be here to meet him appeared, he found no second "acquaintance"—evidently, the Orre region still couldn't draw in famous figures from around the world.

"I'm over here!"

Baimu approached with his Three-Headed Dragon.

The group clearly recognized his appearance; the moment their eyes landed on him, they rushed forward, ignoring the curious glances of others, and bowed in unison: "Our sincerest apologies for failing to greet you! Welcome, Director Baimu, for your esteemed visit and guidance!"

Director… and esteemed visit and guidance…

His lips twitched—had these people once been from Shadow Team?

"No need for such formality," Baimu quickly steadied the lead man, saying, "I'm just here to meet Mr. Eltis, the arena's administrator, to discuss something. Shall we go inside?"

More and more people were turning to look—he didn't want to be gawked at like a rare Pokémon.

They entered the Yellow Arsenic Tower smoothly.

The group boarded an automated humanoid pathway heading toward the core area; the translucent glass walls revealed lush flora and trees outside.

In the game, the view from the corridor was barren wasteland—now transformed into thriving vegetation, it was quite pleasing to the eye.

"My name is Herbert…"

The leader among the staff was none other than the administrative director from the phone call; he claimed to have long admired Baimu's name and enthusiastically introduced every facility of the Yellow Arsenic Tower.

One could only say it was truly a marvel of high technology—aside from lacking accommodation, the Yellow Arsenic Tower was no different from a small city.

Arriving at the core area, they entered a vast, open hall.

Compared to the bustling entrance, this place was far quieter; visitors were directed to take special elevators to the aerial platforms, while trainers sat in assigned spots, calming their Pokémon, occasionally glancing upward at the multi-faced silver screens above.

The screens displayed tournament schedules and footage of Pokémon battles.

They rode the elevator upward.

Perhaps due to Director Herbert's prior notice, Baimu had no trouble finding the administrator of the Yellow Arsenic Arena—

Eltis, one of the second-generation Shadow Team officers.

This middle-aged man with red hair and sunglasses had abandoned his bizarre game outfit and now wore a plain suit.

"Baimu?"

He looked over.

Baimu nodded: "It's me, Mr. Eltis. Apologies for the unexpected visit."

"Your name has been quite prominent in Orre these past few months. The real you is even more extraordinary than the rumors. So, what brings you all the way from Iron Town to the Yellow Arsenic Tower? A battle?" Eltis asked curiously.

He replied swiftly: "I do have that in mind, but I also hope to establish a cooperative exchange between our arenas."

"Like the Silicon Beryl Arena?"

Eltis clearly knew about Zhengyi's delegation visiting Iron Town for battle exchanges.

That was normal—Orre wasn't that big.

Baimu wasn't surprised: "Yes."

"I'm afraid that will disappoint you," Eltis shook his head. "The trainers formerly affiliated with the Yellow Arsenic Tower were disbanded several months ago."

"Disbanded?"

"Yes. After Orre was fully liberated, the Yellow Arsenic Tower no longer needed so many armed personnel for defense. I'd rather transform it into a pure Pokémon battle tower."

Battle Tower!

Baimu hadn't expected to hear that familiar term from Eltis—but indeed, as the man said, the Yellow Arsenic Tower was perfectly suited to become a Battle Tower.

"I'm sorry, but I can't assist you with battle exchanges," Eltis said calmly, hands clasped behind his back. "But I can provide you with some membership cards, so your arena members can come here to train and battle."

That was indeed a good solution.

He nodded: "Thank you, Mr. Eltis. And about battling you?"

"The Yellow Arsenic Tower recently instituted a rule: only those who reach the top of the ranking tournament may challenge the arena's master for the final honor. And I have no plans to leave recently…"

Eltis fully demonstrated the cunning of middle age, smiling: "I believe if you entered our ranking tournament, you'd attract many stronger trainers to the Yellow Arsenic Tower."

"... Actually, if you'd just said it straight out, I would have agreed anyway." Baimu said, exasperated.

The cooldown time of the Simulator required stable, high-volume, high-quality battles to shorten.

The noobs in the Arena were far from enough to satisfy him, so upon learning of Realgar Tower, a place popular with outside trainers, he certainly wouldn't pass it up.

It's just that this so-called threat-that-barely-counts-as-a-threat from Eltais was genuinely a bit grating.

"Ah~ put that way, it really was my fault. In that case, let this card serve as my apology."

Eltais took out a black card and smiled politely: "All paid services inside Realgar Tower are completely free with this card—no cap, no extra conditions. It's nothing especially precious, but I hope you'll look at the face of it and not mind my little offense just now."

This guy.

He'd probably prepared this long ago.

Baimu wanted to roll his eyes. Compared to some people he'd known before, this former Shadow executive Eltais was slick as a mud loach.

It was hard to believe that back in the day he had actually said something so uprightly righteous to his dad Dead Gold and his brother Aldus—something like "let's all go turn ourselves in and accept legal punishment."

Fortunately, although only half the goal had been achieved, the result was better than planned.

Isn't coming to the Battle Tower to battle better for growth than the exchange battles that only happen once every half-month? Those guys over at Iron Arena are in for a treat!

Baimu took the black card, said his goodbyes and left, then under Hebe's guidance arrived at yet another great hall.

"You may complete registration and submit a battle request at the front desk. If a match is found, a staff member will come guide you in."

Hebe said deferentially.

Baimu felt bad taking up too much of his time, so he first thanked him for the guidance, then said he'd familiarize himself slowly.

Hebe tactfully took his leave.

In the center of the hall was a multi-faced screen, just like the one in the ground-floor hall.

He saw a ranking board and found the names of Kenta, Junichi, and Marina.

Huh?

Isn't Marina a top-tier Coordinator Trainer? To think she'd actually take part in a Trainer's competition... well, he was a top-tier Coordinator Trainer too.

Baimu inwardly mocked his own bias as he read all the way to the very bottom of the rankings: "The last place is nine hundred thirty-five—fewer than I imagined."

There must be over ten thousand trainers in the town outside Realgar Tower—do the participants in this Realgar Tower ranking have to go through strict screening?