Chapter 743

Food doesn't have to glow to be delicious.

Although the restaurant markets itself with chef Lokomoko as its selling point, even without magical glowing dishes, it still leaves customers with expressions of satisfaction.

Baimu also enjoyed the pleasure of his taste buds being stimulated, but the Three-Headed Dragon and the Shiny Haunter were far from impressed.

The former, due to its size, movement style, and eating habits, was once again politely and apologetically denied entry by the doorman; the furious Three-Headed Dragon nearly burned the restaurant down.

The latter's overly "solid" build nearly prevented it from getting through the door—

After the meal, the Haunter said it would have been better not to enter at all.

How much is this even enough for?

Another serving! One per second!

Unfortunately, such pig-feeding behavior couldn't possibly occur in a restaurant dedicated to offering guests a variety of delicacies in a single meal—the head chef simply didn't have that much time.

The Haunter, its request unfulfilled, retreated into its shadow and sulked.

Baimu couldn't help but laugh and sigh; a non-Pokémon-themed restaurant trying to accommodate Pokémon needs was pure fantasy. In the past, when he encountered restaurants that barred Pokémon, he'd usually just walk away, but over time he learned to accept it.

Sometimes it was due to objective limitations; sometimes it was for the guests' better experience.

Not everyone wants to dine alongside Pokémon like Sludge or Bellossom that emit pungent odors, and singling out certain ones for restriction could appear discriminatory.

So just ban them all!

Equal discrimination against all Pokémon!

Well, in truth, restaurants, malls, and pedestrian streets that restrict entry by type are the norm.

Zark and his companions, however, greatly enjoyed the quirky gray fatso, amused by its behavior and all expressing willingness to pay for it to go back and eat again.

Not that the Haunter hadn't actually considered persuading its trainer to do exactly that.

Too bad it was only an idea.

Midday.

Baimu accompanied Zark and the others to a quiet bar, where they spent their time when the grounds were unusable due to the recent heavy rains.

It's said many high-ranked trainers also come here, sharing tips and strategies on Pokémon training—a kind of small salon.

As he chatted with Zark and the others, Baimu recalled sitting with Liuqi and the others during the Milotic Cup, the Grand Festival, and the League Conference.

How are they doing now?

Still at home, or off to the next region?

As he thought, Baimu sank deeper into memories of his travels; though he had no fixed home and often ate outdoors and slept under the open sky, he always encountered many novel things.

He smiled wryly to himself—he once missed Hoenn while in Sinnoh, and now he missed Sinnoh while in Unova.

Time changes everything.

"What are your plans after this, Baimu? Keep teaching in Huang Tie Town until the League Conference starts?" Zark suddenly asked, breaking his thoughts.

Baimu snapped back and said, "No, next month—I plan to resume traveling."

"Any destination in mind?"

Zark's question drew everyone's attention.

Baimu replied, "For now, I'm heading to Alola."

Alola has Z-Moves unrestricted by region—this incredibly powerful system must be obtained somehow, otherwise how will I ever battle Ash?

Ash has all three systems!

"Alola… it's a great vacation spot, but if you want to keep growing stronger, it might be lacking—apparently, they don't even have a League there. Have you considered Unova?"

One of them urged, "I heard recently that Champion Adik is thinking of retiring—if you come to Unova, your chances of becoming regional champion are still very high!"

Zark scoffed, "What nonsense! Baimu must become champion of his own homeland!"

Another joked, "You can become Unova's champion first, then come back and claim Sinnoh's title—become the world's first dual champion!"

But everyone knew it was impossible; even if you wanted to, the other League wouldn't allow it.

Baimu laughed along.

At this time, there were too many places to aim for champion—Unova, Alola, Sinnoh, even Kanto and Hoenn—where wouldn't work?

Don't be fooled by Kanto and Johto sharing the same Elite Four and Champion—if a trainer beats Agatha and is willing to become champion, both Kanto and Johto Leagues will split apart in an instant.

Hoenn needs no mention—Champion Dawu, Mi Ke Li, and Shi Yuan Zhi have all hinted to Baimu multiple times.

Ultimately, with strength, you can thrive anywhere.

"But seriously, you don't have to become champion—traveling to Unova is no problem at all. Our seasons are distinct, the environment is beautiful, technology is advanced, and most importantly, there are many Pokémon you won't find anywhere else."

Zark said earnestly, "Like my hometown, Fanba City, located by the sea and incredibly bustling, or Feiyun City, Lei Wen City, and others. If you're interested in teaching, there's a popular Blueberry Academy out at sea right now—you should check it out."

Blueberry Academy?

Baimu was unfamiliar with the name, vaguely recalling having seen it online before, and Shan Ren had mentioned it briefly recently.

"If the chance arises, I'll definitely go," he could only say.

—

Time moved to afternoon.

Baimu fought two more rounds, rising from rank 936 to 856.

The Yellow Gold Tower's ranking system appears to be a hidden point-based system, so even defeating the number-one trainer won't instantly make you number one; typically, staff only assign opponents close to your rank.

No name requests, no scheduled battles—private matches are allowed but don't count toward the rankings.

In short, climbing to number one overnight is virtually impossible.

For Baimu, it was regrettable that he didn't see Jian Tai and the others again—he'd caught only a glimpse of them before. Meeting such "acquaintances" in Unova was rare, and he'd wanted to get to know them.

Fate was not kind.

Well, then, we'll see later—making the rankings means they've been at the Yellow Gold Tower for a while; the opportunity will come eventually—

Baimu's hope remained unfulfilled a week later.

Every few days he would go to the Realgam Tower to participate in ranking battles, occasionally bringing trainers from the Ironworks Arena along. Every time he ran into Zack and the others, and his ranking had climbed from 856th to somewhere in the 400s. As for the Kenta trio, they had vanished without a trace.

Had they already left Realgam Tower and gone somewhere else?

Very likely.

Trainers who are traveling won't stay in one city for long unless there's a special reason. They were probably just trapped here by the heavy rain before.

Baimu felt it was a bit of a pity.

And as time flew by, the Ironworks Arena once again welcomed an exchange battle between the two regions.

This time it was he who led the Ironworks Town trainers to Silica City. Silverback didn't come, and since the home match had become an away match, quite a few people felt nervous about it.

The important thing was that they had grown up their whole lives never once leaving the boundaries of Ironworks Town, and were now heading to Silica City, which was completely unfamiliar to them.

Many of them even developed a stress response — going from gang members who were experts at street racing and trash-talking to weaklings whooping and vomiting all over the long-distance bus, so fragile that Baimu couldn't comprehend it.

Naruhiro and the others, though, could empathize quite well.

When they had gone to Hoenn alone to find Baimu, their condition hadn't been much better than the others. When they discovered they'd gotten off the ship at the wrong place, several of them collapsed on the spot and were sent to the hospital, where they were diagnosed with illnesses like being unaccustomed to the climate.

It wasn't until they met Baimu on Lilycove Island that their churning emotions finally settled down, so much so that they could even run off and catch wild Pokémon they normally never saw.

"These guys…"

Baimu shook his head helplessly and looked at Lady Ayana and Kendall. The expressions on their faces were still relatively calm.

But only Lady Ayana, who in the true sense had seen much of the world, was genuinely calm. Kendall was putting on a calm front — his forehead was even slightly sweating, clearly a bit nervous himself.

It seemed hoping to redeem their previous disgrace was going to be difficult.

He muttered a complaint to himself.

A short while later.

The vehicles arrived at Silica City.

Unlike the desolate scene when Masayoshi led his team here with no one to greet them, the Silica City side was extremely courteous. Not only did they send a large number of people to line the streets in welcome, they had also prepared a reception and cleansing ceremony.

As a result, the first stop after Baimu and the others got off the vehicle wasn't the Silica Arena, but an entire luxury grand hotel that had been booked out.

A complete package of food, drink, and entertainment had all been arranged.

In short, the relentless barrage of sugar-coated bullets left some of the Ironworks Town trainers dizzy and disoriented, quickly sinking into it and losing all sense of direction, nearly forgetting the very purpose of coming to Silica City.

Baimu, who had been unable to see Masayoshi for a long time, was very displeased.

In the hotel lobby.

"Get them down here and assembled within two minutes!"

Baimu frowned and said this to Otsuka and the others, as well as to Kendall and a few other arena trainers.

Lady Ayana stood beside him. She had put down her luggage and come straight to find him, completely ignoring the guidance and superfluous services offered by the other staff.

The same went for Otsuka and that small group of core underlings.

Kendall and a few others arrived a little slower.

Two minutes later.

A group of Ironworks Town trainers, some disheveled and some wearing bathrobes, arrived in the lobby, awkwardly lowering their heads, not daring to meet Baimu's gaze from the front.

Seeing everyone had assembled, Baimu didn't blame them and said: "Go back, change into proper clothes, bring all your Pokémon, and come back down. This time I'll give you ten minutes. Remember the purpose of our coming here! If you want to play, next time I'll bring you here to play until you're satisfied!"

"Yes!"

Everyone shouted in unison and hurried back to their rooms to prepare.

Only a few people didn't need to go back. Did Did Yin Ma was one of them. He hesitated for a moment, came to Baimu's side, and said: "Boss Baimu, everyone's carsick and feeling unwell, that's why…"

"I know. Otherwise, why would I have only just now called them? If it were really that bad, I could have called them half an hour ago." Baimu glanced at Did Did Yin Ma.

He wasn't running a military-style operation. It was perfectly normal for everyone to need rest when they were carsick and feeling unwell.

Recovery time had already been given. If they still couldn't recover, they should go to the hospital. Staying here enjoying the hotel's various services wasn't going to help sick people.

"Alright, alright."

Did Did Yin Ma laughed sheepishly and withdrew upon hearing this. He had just had diarrhea, otherwise he would have been one of those who assembled early. When he heard Otsuka come calling him to assemble, he almost ran out without even putting his pants on.

At the same time.

A middle-aged man in a suit, sweat visible on his forehead, hurried over, bowed apologetically to Baimu, and said: "So sorry, so sorry, Mr. Baimu. If there's any way we've failed in our hospitality, please be magnanimous."

"There's nothing lacking in the hospitality. Are you from the hotel, or are you in charge of the exchange battles between the two arenas?" he asked calmly.

Seeing no sign of anger from Baimu, the middle-aged man's bent waist slowly straightened, and he said respectfully: "I'm sent from above to receive everyone. I'm only in charge of the Ironworks Arena side — that is, our side."

"Then where is Masayoshi?"

"Gym Leader Masayoshi, he-he's still selecting people." The middle-aged man showed a helpless expression.

Baimu frowned: "Hm? Selecting people?"

"That is, choosing the members to participate in the exchange battle."

"Can't everyone participate?"

"I'm afraid not. You don't know, but recently the total number of members at the Silica Arena and the Trainer Training Center has exceeded… exceeded five hundred."

Five hundred people.

Baimu and the others beside him were stunned for a moment.

Last time only a little over thirty people came. Even if you picked and chose, the total was only a hundred or so, right? How could it have exceeded five hundred in just half a month!

The person in charge sighed: "The higher-ups attach great importance to the exchange battles between the two regions. Many people saw it and wanted to join in. Your side isn't taking new members… so basically all of them joined the Silica Arena and Training Center side."

"What about Realgam Tower? Not going to Realgam Tower? They don't lack trainers over there, do they?"

"That place mainly has a lot of outside trainers going there. Also, Realgam Tower is currently only responsible for receiving trainers for battles — it mainly provides the venue and isn't responsible for managing trainers or letting them join, so not many people go."

Is the problem of forming cliques too entrenched to resolve?

Baimu realized this was trainers wanting to band together like they used to. They probably didn't have any special intentions, but they were used to doing things this way.

Everyone had always lived like that. Ironworks Town and Silica City might seem to have different living environments, but in essence there wasn't much big difference — both ran roughly the same set of rules.

"Five hundred people."

All Baimu frowned. With over five hundred participants in the exchange battles, two days wouldn't be enough—two weeks wouldn't be enough either!

Set up an elimination format for the alliance tournament?

That might work for an exam, but the main purpose of the exchange battles is to use real combat to raise the trainers' strength, to put the knowledge they'd learned into practice.

Better go find Zhengyi first.

All Baimu knew that rather than waiting around at the hotel, going straight to Zhengyi might resolve some issues faster.

If the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain!

—

Silicon Beryllium Arena.

A noisy crowd stood before Zhengyi; the subject of their squabbling was the arrangement of members for the exchange battles.

"Ha…"

He pressed a hand to his forehead.

Last time they'd argued, sure, but the participants had been decided quickly. This time they'd been at it for nearly three days and still couldn't settle it once and for all.

What was the reason?

The reason was that after returning last time, he'd taken on quite a few new students and new teachers at the training center, and the arena had also welcomed a good number of new trainers.

The trouble was, each of these people had different backers behind them, themselves representing the various factions within Silicon Beryllium City, which led to them trading barbs with one another over the exchange with the Iron Sulfide Arena led by All Baimu.

Even over the pettiest of gains, they wanted a bigger slice for their own side and a smaller slice for the other.

Zhengyi was simply too young—or rather, too inexperienced in handling this sort of thing. If not for his strength backing him up, he probably would have become a puppet before long.

No good.

If things kept on like this, how could he focus on raising Pokémon, how could he challenge Master Bartras and All Baimu?

Considering All Baimu had already arrived, he couldn't let him keep waiting—Zhengyi decided to man up.

Bang!

He slammed the table and barked, "All of you, shut up!"

The bickering crowd turned to look at him.

"I'll decide the personnel myself! That's final! If you don't like it, get out!" Zhengyi made the call without another word.

Someone said, "But—"

"You're fired!"

Zhengyi jabbed his index finger toward the front door, every word ringing with finality.