Chapter 766: Capturing the Pillar of Rock

Inside the great canyon.

"Bzzzzzz—Lai! Ji! Lo!"

Regirock raised both arms high, and countless rocks formed of compacted gravel rained down like droplets.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Yellow dust swirled and rose with every falling stone.

Gengar cackled wickedly as it darted back and forth, narrowly dodging several times—its nimble form drawing admiration—but just as it was about to close in on Regirock, a jagged boulder slammed down on its head.

Boom!

"Ghh—"

With a grunt its big face smashed into the sand, and it dropped out of sight in an instant.

Gengar's trainer's face was full of regret.

"How did it end up like this…"

"Bzzzz—"

Regirock didn't pursue, simply "watching" the opponent it had defeated sink into dejection, like some rock golem from a Western fantasy work used to test one's strength.

The onlookers not far off snickered and laughed.

"Told you Ghost-type wouldn't work!"

"Sigh, another one who didn't even get a chance to throw a Poké Ball—let me have a turn, would ya?"

"Save it, you! The one you threw got smashed the moment it got close—how's that any different from not throwing at all?"

"Next contestant, please!"

Amid the clamor Gengar was recalled into its ball by its trainer, yet no one stepped up to take its place.

The trainers exchanged glances, then all looked toward a massive boulder off to the side, where a black-clad figure lounged in a lazy pose.

The Legendary Pokémon Registeel and Lei Jiaisi flanked him on either side like two mysterious colossi steeped in the marks of history.

"It's over?"

Baimu sensed their gazes, hopped down from the boulder, and rolled his shoulders to stretch.

These kids were every bit as mediocre as he'd imagined—not only couldn't they capture it, barely any of them even got the chance to throw a ball.

The notion that civilian trainers were a hidden dragon and crouching tiger really was a false proposition.

Or maybe the capable ones all had rotten luck and never found their way here.

He turned to Registeel: "Our turn—let's go!"

To deal with a Rock-type Pokémon you naturally needed a Steel-type; he wasn't so arrogant as to learn from Ash and use Lei Jiaisi, who was at a type disadvantage.

That guy was a type-disadvantage war god; he wasn't.

"Doooo—"

Registeel's face-LEDs lit up in unison, and it set off toward Regirock with heavy steps.

The trainers watched the scene with anticipation—an internal clash between Legendary giants was bound to be spectacular!

Finally.

Registeel and Regirock, former companions, faced each other across the distance.

Baimu stood at the rear and laughed: "Sorry to keep you waiting—today I'll reunite you three as a family!"

"Charge in! Iron Defense!"

"Doooo—"

Registeel crossed its arms before its chest, its whole body gleaming with a metallic sheen, and in the blink of an eye became a pure silver giant thundering forward!

At the same time.

Regirock raised its thick right arm, piled from boulders; boiling Fighting-type energy turned it a reddish-brown, and it swung a straight hammer punch at the oncoming Registeel!

"Bzzzz—Lai! Ji!"

【Hammer Arm】!

Crash!

An invisible shockwave burst outward!

The rolling smoke from the energy explosion kicked up fine gravel and flung it in every direction; both Regirock and Registeel were driven step by step backward by the reaction force.

Some of the watching trainers were caught off guard and got a mouthful of grit, and one who stood too close was even blown over on the spot!

Gasps rang out continuously.

Unaffected, Baimu had no mind to pay them attention and kept shouting: "Stomping Tantrum!"

"Doooo—"

Out of the smoke, Registeel—unscathed after tanking the Hammer Arm—leapt into the air and crashed down even heavier; with a great "boom" the earth rose in a towering wave!

The earth-yellow energy wave spread across the swelling ground toward Regirock; white bands of light swirled around it as if something were about to coalesce into shape, only to be hit by a double assault from the energy wave and the rising ground.

In an instant.

Regirock lost its footing beneath, its center of gravity unstable as it tipped backward, and a blue current of light signaling a stat drop lit up.

"Now! Iron Head!"

"Doooo—Lai! Ji! Sss!"

Registeel's face-LEDs all flashed bright, and it charged forward with a high-pitched tone!

A silvery-white radiance wreathed its surface like flame, and as it thundered onward it became a dazzling ribbon of light!

Boom!

Silver light exploded!

The jagged rocks Regirock had barely managed to coalesce shattered in an instant, and Regirock itself was driven back step by step under Registeel's charge—until it toppled completely, only to be rammed headfirst into the cliff face by Registeel all the same!

Boom!

The rock wall shattered, countless stone fragments flying in all directions!

"Regirock's attack was interrupted?"

"How did it suddenly get suppressed? Wasn't Registeel the one taking the hit first?"

"Looks like that Hammer Arm earlier didn't land."

"Way too tough!"

The trainers cried out.

Among them, the clever ones figured out what had happened—

Registeel stepped forward in a defensive stance to absorb the hit, while Regirock swung a super-effective Hammer Arm that failed to suppress it and instead had its Speed lowered.

Not only was its mobility affected, but the speed at which it could unleash moves also dropped a beat.

A miss by a hair meant a miss by a mile, leading to Registeel using Stomp to lower its Speed further, and at the same time destabilizing its footing—giving All Baimu an opening to exploit.

Therefore.

What looked like a completely illogical combo actually laid the foundation for Registeel to suppress Regirock.

But how did he dare to predict that Regirock would use Hammer Arm?

What if it had used a different move—wouldn't that have been a miscalculation?

That person racked their brains and still couldn't figure it out.

—In reality, it was because of "Intelligence."

Through his understanding over the past few days, All Baimu had discovered that these few Swords of Justice knew a little about how to fight, but not much.

It knew which moves to use against Registeel, yet never considered the traps hidden in the opponent's behavior.

Keep going!

"Regi..."

All Baimu was about to give another order when Regirock's cry came from within the smoke-shrouded rock wall, followed by an H-shaped pattern lighting up.

"Bzzz—Reh! Ji! Keh!"

Red light suddenly erupted, and Regirock, wreathed in crimson steam, physically shoved Registeel back out.

It was unmistakably the Fighting-type ultimate move—Superpower.

As an exceptionally defensive Pokémon, with Registeel's offensive output, a mere Iron Head plus Stomp was far from enough to deal it decisive damage.

Just as it was the same for its offense against Registeel.

But seeing this, All Baimu not only didn't panic—he actually smiled: "Hold onto it! We'll use Superpower too!"

"Dududu!"

Registeel swiftly embraced the Regirock that was pushing it, crossing its arms behind its back to lock it in place, its facial pattern flashing in a cycle.

Crimson steam rose.

Regirock tried to break free from the embrace, but as it gradually lost strength, how could it possibly match Registeel mid-exertion?

When the former's Superpower's downside lowered its Attack and Defense, Registeel tightened its embrace, and immediately a series of cracking sounds of splitting rock rang out one after another.

Lowered Defense is equivalent to an archer cutting off both his own arms!

The accumulated damage finally bore fruit!

The watching trainers cried out—Regirock was about to be crushed?

The next moment.

A surge of powerful earth-yellow energy erupted from Regirock's body, instantly shattering Registeel's hold, and countless shards of rock rained down on the latter like a volley of arrows!

"Dudududu—"

Registeel retreated step by step, its body lighting up with the blue glow of lowered stats.

Someone recognized the move Regirock had used:

"It's Ancient Power!"

"It broke free? What do we do now?"

"What do we do? This is our chance to catch it! Regirock's clearly out of moves! What else is there to do!"

The trainer singing doom received eye-rolls from those around him, and he immediately realized this was about catching a Pokémon, not completely knocking Regirock out.

He chuckled awkwardly twice, closed his mouth, and said no more.

Meanwhile, All Baimu still wasn't in a hurry to throw a ball, and continued shouting: "Zap Cannon!"

"Dududu—Reh! Ji!"

Registeel raised both arms; its once-smooth exterior now bore craters of varying sizes, showing that the earlier Ancient Power and Superpower hadn't done zero damage.

But the Regirock across from it was hurt worse, buzzing away without managing to react to Registeel's attack.

So by the time the massive plasma ball wreathed in electricity took shape, it barely managed to raise both hands, attempting to block with some kind of move—

Too late.

"Dududu!"

Registeel thrust the Zap Cannon forward with all its might!

Bzzz!!

A piercing, low-pitched hum.

The massive plasma ball struck Regirock square in the chest, exploding with a thunderous blast that brought terrifying firelight and billowing smoke!

The ground trembled!

Many trainers covered their ears, and once the dust settled, they immediately saw the rock on Regirock's chest cracked like a web, with countless tiny currents densely covering its body, freezing its movements stiff.

Paralyzed status!

The abnormal status makes it even easier to capture!

Everyone looked at All Baimu in unison, and seeing him hurl a Heavy Ball with such speed, they couldn't help but admire his composure.

If it were them, they would have already impatiently thrown the ball, afraid that Regirock would run off or they'd miss the chance — they wouldn't have considered so much.

"Bzzz bzzz bzzz! Rehh—"

Regirock's voice cut off abruptly, its massive, shattered body sucked into the Heavy Ball.

Plop.

The ball hit the ground and began wobbling.

Everyone's hearts hung in suspense, eyes fixed on the Heavy Ball rocking in the sand.

Theoretically, Regirock is heavier than Registeel, so it can also maximize the effect, and combined with the paralysis status, the probability of a successful capture is very high.

"Lei Jiaisi! Come stand here!"

All Baimu turned and called over Lei Jiaisi.

"Squeak squeak squeak—"

"Beep beep beep—"

Two legendary giants stood at his sides, silently watching the wobbling Heavy Ball.

Bang!

The ball burst open.

The trainers cried "Ah!" and were about to show disappointed expressions when a second Heavy Ball flew out — a seamless transition that sucked Regirock back in.

What fast reflexes!

Several people stared blankly at All Baimu, who had made the throw.

Then.

Bang!

It burst open again.

Without changing expression, he threw a third ball while shouting loudly: "Lei Jiaisi! Registeel! Step forward!"

The two legendary pillars stepped forward, their massive shadows falling to envelop the Heavy Ball.

One wobble, two wobbles, three…

Wobble.

Ding!

The five-pointed star of a successful capture sprang out.

You little—!

All Baimu glared, jabbed twice forcefully at the Heavy Ball on the ground, then turned to the trainers who hadn't yet processed what happened: "Sorry, it's mine."

"Ahhh! He caught it!"

"Amazing!"

"So strong, big bro! All three legendary giants are his!"

The trainers cheered inexplicably, as if they themselves had caught Regirock.

They crowded around All Baimu, asking one moment if he planned to enter the League Conference, the next when he'd become the Hoenn region Champion.

The last trainer to gather all three legendary giants was Steven — the world-renowned Battle Pyramid Pharaoh!

All Baimu half-heartedly dealt with them while glancing at his phone.

Not long after dealing with those Pokémon Hunters, Porygon-II had called Officer Jenny and an ambulance; by his estimate, they'd arrive in about ten more minutes.

He had Porygon-II bring the ship over, and under the shocked gazes of the other trainers, dragged out the other batch of Pokémon Hunters who were sleeping peacefully, putting both batches together for Officer Jenny to handle.

Not long after.

Police sirens blared in the distance, and several helicopters approached rapidly.

——

Capturing Regirock was fast.

Filing the statement, however, was slow.

It dragged on until evening before All Baimu could finally leave the police station; by then he had long since been transported by police helicopter to a small town outside the desert.

"Good thing I wasn't exposed."

He touched his veil.

The Officer Jenny who came to handle the situation was understanding enough to spare him from having to remove his veil and expose his identity in public.

But correspondingly, he couldn't just walk away like those trainers — he had to come to the station to file a statement so Officer Jenny and the others could understand the exact situation at the time.

He sat down on a bench by the street.

All Baimu held the three shrunken Poké Balls, rolling them back and forth like walnuts.

With the three original legendary pillars in hand, the remaining Regieleki and Regidrago were within reach; if he pushed the pace, he could gather all five legendary pillars within a week and earn the qualification to battle the pillar king Regigigas.

However.

He was prepared to pause for now.

Because he had set out to raise the strength of the other Pokémon in his team, yet now he had invested far too much energy in a few legendary pillars.

Once the electric pillar and dragon pillar join the team, the daily time allocated to Blissey, Shiny Milotic, and the others would undoubtedly shrink again.

How could that be acceptable?

With the simulator update and the inaugural Ore League Conference and inaugural Pokémon World Championship about to open, he should be doing everything possible to raise his team's overall strength, not chasing legendary beasts all over the world.

Besides, once his own Pokémon grow stronger, they're no worse than ordinary Mythicals.

Most importantly, he's only eighteen.

The days ahead are still very long.

"Take it slow, everyone."

Baimu took a deep breath of the cool night air, and the other Poké Balls at his waist began to sway one after another.

He found a hotel at random.

After dinner.

In a quiet, deserted park, he released every Pokémon he had on him.

The towering three Legendary Titans immediately drew everyone's gaze.

"Doo doo doo—"

"Ji ji ji—"

"Weng weng weng—"

"So noisy, keep it down!"

Baimu waved his hand downward, and the three Legendary Titans' voices immediately shrank as if someone had pressed the volume button.

The shiny Gengar and the Dreepy siblings fluttered around the three of them, curiously looking this way and that, even boldly tapping on their faces.

"Genga?" Three brothers?

"Hi-ya." Possibly.

"Hi-ya hi-ya!" Just like me and big sis!

The three ghosts whispered among themselves.

Blissey enthusiastically pulled out its healing egg, walked up in front of Regirock with a beaming smile, and held it up high. "Happy~"

Baimu said helplessly, "My poor, cute little fool — Regice and Registeel don't eat it, so how could it possibly eat it?"

"Happy!"

Blissey, with an utterly serious expression, insisted that wasn't necessarily so, and kept holding it up high.

Unexpectedly.

Regirock actually caught the egg with its rocky hands, which made Blissey so excited that the wing-like fur at its waist flew up.

It happily turned its head: "Happy!"

See!

"This really is…" Baimu was quite surprised.