Chapter 877: Two Horses, One Body

In the courtyard.

Regigigas lowered its head, gazing at the foam box before it.

The radish seeds had long been planted, and the soil was said to have been transported by a follower on behalf of the shallow believer from a place called the Crown Snowfield.

That land had once fallen under its rule.

After ten thousand years, it had become this barren…

Pitifully, it had not yet regained much power; otherwise, a mere gesture could have grown the radishes without such anxious waiting.

The only course now was to slowly infuse its own power into the soil, making it fertile.

But.

—There were two foam boxes!

Regigigas turned its head toward the box placed beside the Ice Giant, containing pale black soil resembling frozen earth, hesitating slightly.

It was well known that the King's beloved horses came in pairs, the radishes it favored came in two varieties, each requiring different soil to grow.

But the King was only one.

Its current power was insufficient to jointly nurture both types of radishes.

It was forced to make a difficult choice between the two.

'Where is my loyal minister?'

Regigigas turned to find the 'culprit' causing its dilemma, hoping to hand over the choice of radish varieties to All All Baimu, as in a game.

The male Mr. Mime standing nearby respectfully informed that the honored guest had gone out to train Pokémon.

Regigigas: '…'

Though it was only the second day after awakening, the wise Sovereign of Abundance had gradually learned, through various channels, the circumstances of this era.

Among them was the newest and most popular Pokémon battle system.

The idea of commanding beasts to wage war for fame and profit was utterly unimaginable to it before its awakening.

Even during betrayal, human survival space had been squeezed by countless varieties of beasts; every journey into the wild was a gamble.

Who would have thought…

The believer must be quite powerful, right?

After all, it wielded the power of the Giants.

Regigigas had once fought the Giants and knew well what manner of power they possessed.

What shall we eat for lunch?

The believer seemed to have bought those delicious red radishes again, and yesterday's soup was quite good—will he return in time for lunch?

Regigigas stared at the foam box, its thoughts in disarray.

It no longer urged All All Baimu to seek the beloved horses, for it knew well that without the special radishes to lure them, the horses would not appear.

—

Paldea Arena.

Several Gym Trainers watched the arena with excitement.

Their teacher, Kiban, was locked in fierce combat with yesterday's opponent—and was gaining the upper hand!

'Gigantamax Gengar!'

'Ruuu—!! Dōng—!!'

The Ultra Mega Alcremie roared to the sky; two black-red energy dragons surged forward, swirling around the panicked Gigantamax Gengar, forming a massive energy wave!

Rōng—!!

Most of the arena was swallowed by the explosive Dark-type energy; the shockwave sent All All Baimu's hair flying.

Then the black light faded.

Gigantamax Gengar's distorted shriek echoed across the arena, then collapsed backward like a crumbling tower, its massive form shrinking, shrinking, until it returned to its original size.

It lay sprawled on the shattered rocks, tongue lolling red.

'Gn~ Ga…'

'Good work, Gengar.'

All All Baimu calmly recalled it into its Poké Ball.

Far away.

Kiban leaned on one hip, his trademark fangs half-exposed, smirking: 'How's that? I told you it wouldn't be easy to adapt!'

As All All Baimu had expected, Gigantamaxing was not a system one could master on the first try.

After Gigantamaxing, Gengar had failed to adapt to its new size within the short time, still subconsciously believing it was in its original state.

When Ultra Mega Alcremie attacked, it chose to dodge.

But the arena was only so large—where was there space to evade a Gigantamax move?

Without the speed granting flexibility, the fragile Gengar, even if tougher after Gigantamaxing, still struggled to stand its ground.

Ash's Gengar?

Definitely not comparable—it could truly take hits; Kiban's Pokémon couldn't even scratch it, and it could even use Ice Punch to deal damage.

It was as if it lived in an era before Physical and Special were split.

Also,

His Gengar didn't have a rare Ultra Mega form like Ash's Pikachu—so he'd need to brew a Gigantamax Soup.

The Ultra Mega Gengar's skin turned from gray to white, its style maxed out.

Its exclusive Ultra Mega move—【Ultra Mega Phantom Phantasm】 carried the 【Black Gaze】 effect, far stronger than the useless Ultra Mega Alcremie.

All All Baimu glanced at the dimmed Gigantamax Band.

After one use of Gigantamaxing, the energy core required twenty minutes to recharge.

This was similar to the Z-Ring and Z-Crystal.

'Hey! Don't forget the condition I agreed to train you in Gigantamaxing!'

Impatient, Kiban shouted.

Ultra Mega Alcremie let out a thunderous roar.

He threw the ball in his hand.

Bam!

'Shiisaa!'

Dragonite growled excitedly—it would win this battle as impressively as it had beaten Bonsly.

All All Baimu raised his left wrist and said softly:

'Rare opportunity—try out the effect of a Z-Move on Gigantamaxing!'

Immediately,

Mysterious dancing lights and brilliant radiance appeared in the arena.

Before the stunned eyes of Kiban and the watching Gym Trainers, the roaring dragon shook the heavens, as if ready to tear everything apart!

—

Time reached noon.

All All Baimu used the arena's bath to wash off sweat and dust.

Kiban, next door, complained: 'Gigantamax battles don't have much else, but they sure have a lot of dirt—sometimes after one fight, you can shake a pound of dust off your clothes.'

'As a Trainer who uses Sandstorm and Gigantamax Rock moves, I get even more.'

'I can tell—you've got several photos with challengers, all covered in dirt.'

He replied.

As the saying goes, Trainers' friendships are forged through battles.

The anime's theme song once described, 'Yesterday's enemy is today's friend.'

Thus, after a morning of battles, their relationship naturally grew closer.

Interestingly, the Galar region had a long-standing bathing culture, so after the battle, Kiban had invited All All Baimu to wash up inside the arena.

After a moment's thought, All All Baimu agreed.

He had something he wanted to ask.

Not long after,

The two, clean, entered the bath.

Kiban leaned back comfortably, turned his head toward the next pool, and grunted: 'Didn't realize you were so built without taking off your clothes! Work out often?'

'I'm always running around.'

All All Baimu squeezed his muscular arm.

The body granted by Arceus, even without deliberate training, constantly moved toward perfection.

Compared to him, Kiban looked quite 'thin,' like a long-distance runner.

After chatting about their muscles, they talked a while longer about Pokémon.

All All Baimu quickly steered the conversation to the point.

'I heard there's a soup that can turn a Pokémon that isn't naturally Ultra Mega into an Ultra Mega one?'

'That's right.'

Kiban turned his head: 'Gigantamax Soup! You want to give it to your Pokémon? But only if your Pokémon already has the potential for Ultra Mega—most Pokémon don't have that talent.'

He said: 'But Gengar can, right? I've watched many Gigantamax battles—I've seen Ultra Mega Gengar.'

Kiban paused. "Now that you mention it, that quiet kid from Suochuan Town who never talks— he often uses Ultra Max Gengar. It's a real pain."

【The Quiet Kid】.

Oonio's Gym Leader title— this slightly girlish boy is the Gym Leader of Suochuan Gym, sharing the arena with Caidou.

It's worth noting.

Both of them attend school as students at a high school in the Galar region.

All All Baimu asked: "Where can I find this soup?"

"You won't find it. It's a secret recipe from Dan Di's master's wife. If you want to drink it, you'll have to go to Armor Island and find Dan Di's master, Ma Ma Shide."

Kiban lazily waved his hand.

Huh?

This isn't like the anime!

In the anime, Oonio made Ultra Max Soup for Ash's Gengar, so I assumed the recipe might not be online, but Gym Leaders should know it.

…Is this a timeline issue?

All All Baimu took off the towel on his head and added a necessary trip to Armor Island to his schedule.

He might not use Ultra Max Gengar, but he can't be without it.

"I'm done soaking."

He stood up and stepped out of the bath, his skin flushed red from the hot water.

Kiban, towel over his face, weakly waved goodbye, signaling they'd meet again in the afternoon.

Back at the estate.

The frozen soil foam box beside Lei Lei Jiaisi was gone; only the darker, damper one remained. After asking Aiguan Shi, he learned it was in the master bedroom.

It seemed that between Lingyou Ma and Xuebao Ma, Leiguan Wang had chosen the latter.

All All Baimu made lunch and asked it why.

'Frozen soil is slightly more fertile than wet soil. With my current state, I have a better chance of growing ice carrots.'

Leiguan Wang's tone was full of self-mockery.

It's ironic that the mighty King of Abundance must rely on the land's natural fertility.

All All Baimu said nothing, thinking Shan Ren must have started preparations.

On the very day he found Leiguan Wang, he informed Shan Ren of the situation, and Shan Ren agreed to send people to worship Leiguan Wang.

But the requirement for worship is belief and reverence.

Others don't know like he does that Leiguan Wang's legend is real—who knows if they'll become even shallow believers?

We have to try!

"Your Majesty, could you give me the other box to cultivate?"

All All Baimu asked Leiguan Wang for permission.

Leiguan Wang looked up at him: 'Minister, you wish to grow black carrots? Not impossible. These two carrots were originally offered to Me by your kind… handle them as you see fit.'

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

He decided to send the box to the Orei region and give it to the people of the Valley of Creation to accelerate its growth.

If Leiguan Wang's ice carrots fail to grow, the black carrots could at least summon Lingyou Ma; if the ice carrots do grow,

the black carrots can still be used to summon Lingyou Ma as Leiguan Wang's secondary mount.

Two horses, one body!

Either way, he won't lose.

'I am tired.'

Right after lunch, Leiguan Wang gave another sleep warning. All All Baimu said nothing and pushed the serving cart away.

While washing dishes with the two Foam Mice,

the Polyphone suddenly flew over excitedly.

"All All Baimu! All All Baimu! Leiguan Wang is dancing!"

"Dancing?"

He turned to the phone screen and saw a clearly surveillance-style short video: Leiguan Wang was wiggling its hips toward the foam box.

And faint, glowing light bloomed from the soil inside the box.

But Leiguan Wang soon collapsed from exhaustion on the bed, letting out a sound like a fawn's whimper.

All All Baimu's lips curled slightly.

In the games, this Swords Dance appeared—it's how Leiguan Wang used its dwindling power to accelerate carrot growth, nothing like the legendary image of waving one hand to make the land fertile and harvests abundant.

This Leiguan Wang is even worse than the game version.

It danced for half a day just to sprout a seedling.

The Polyphone marveled: "It looks like Leiguan Wang truly has the power to bring bountiful harvests!"

Huh?

"You thought its legend was just bragging?"

All All Baimu couldn't believe the Polyphone had never believed in Leiguan Wang's power from the start.

The Polyphone chuckled foolishly, "Mainly because your description was too exaggerated. If it had that power, ancient humans would've had surplus crops ages ago."

Believe, and harvest follows.

Modern humans can only say they have abundant crops—not surplus.

The food Orei imports isn't especially cheap either.

It couldn't imagine Leiguan Wang single-handedly solving a problem humanity took centuries to address—such a society would be grotesque to contemplate.

"Who knows? Much of the past is buried under dust."

All All Baimu felt that doing serious archaeology in the Pokémon anime world was extremely difficult.

Cultural gaps were everywhere.

Many strange civilizations seemed to come from another planet.

Like the odd Gengar, odd Hypno, and odd Jigglypuff that appeared in the original series—each formed from a pair of eyeballs, a soup spoon, and a bronze bell.

Their existence remains a massive hole dug by the anime production team.

Afternoon.

All All Baimu took his Pokémon to Quan Guan Gym again.

Soon he'd have to go to the Crown Tundra to find horses.

One day at a time, as long as he could.

Kiban welcomed him warmly—this guy looked like a social butterfly who knew how to party and Swords Dance, but privately worked harder than anyone else.

No wonder he became Dan Di's top Gym Leader.

And he loved taking selfies.

All All Baimu fought him less than ten times, and Kiban took nearly twenty photos—only two were posted on his blog.

The other eighteen were all saved on his phone?

Impossible to understand.

And so this peaceful life continued for several days.

Pokémon like Bonsly and others were astonished to find Leiguan Wang was as reclusive as Dragonite—barely leaving its room, only dancing before the foam box.

Even when it came out to sunbathe, it stayed near the estate, and only after All All Baimu strongly insisted.

It was hard to believe it was a Grass-type Pokémon.

"Your Majesty, can't you gain power from sunlight?"

All All Baimu couldn't hold back—Grass-type Pokémon are usually the ones who love basking in the sun the most.

Leiguan Wang shook its head. "My power comes from only one source: faith."

So precise!

Legendary Pokémon are indeed strange.

More disappointing to All All Baimu was that after much effort, Shan Ren still hadn't produced even one shallow believer like him.

Instead, the Polyphone became one.

"Can Pokémon become your believers?" This surprised him greatly.

Leiguan Wang also found it strange.

It asked the Polyphone: 'What do you seek?'

"I wish you could fulfill All All Baimu's wish," the Polyphone replied.

Even this works!

All All Baimu was stunned, but Leiguan Wang grew uninterested.

It said that in the past, few Pokémon had ever asked anything of it—only those it had once saved formed shallow faith.

And that faith slowly faded over time.

Very strange.

For lasting power, humans are still the best.