Chapter 412: The One Slowpoke Likes
Bai Feng turned his head and saw a young girl in retro clothing slowly walking out of the mist. She held a lantern in her hand and looked at Bai Feng timidly.
With Bai Feng's current psychic power, he instantly sensed that something was off with the girl, but he still asked calmly, "Is something the matter?"
The girl shook her head and said, "I just saw you were still outside so late, and I was thinking of asking if you wanted to come to my Home to rest."
Bai Feng smiled faintly and said, "You, a young girl, inviting me, a grown man, to your Home... aren't you afraid I have ill intentions?"
The girl said sweetly and confidently, "No, I have Ninetales protecting me!" As the girl's words fell, a Ninetales with beautiful fur and an elegant posture slowly walked out of the mist.
The moment Ninetales came out, Bai Feng sensed that the Meganium beneath him tensed up.
Powerful! Ninetales is powerful!
Bai Feng gently stroked Meganium's neck, then smiled and looked at the girl, saying, "Since the beautiful young lady is so kindly inviting me, I won't stand on ceremony. I do indeed want to find a place to rest."
He knew, of course, that the girl wasn't just kindly inviting him to rest because it was getting dark, but he was a little curious about the reason she sought him out.
"Then please follow me, Mister. My Home is not far ahead," the girl said with a smile.
Bai Feng nodded, dismounted from Meganium, and followed the girl deeper into the mist.
As he walked, Bai Feng asked, "I still don't know the name of the beautiful young lady."
The girl covered her mouth and laughed, "Beautiful... I'm just a normal girl. My name is Luoke. And you, Mister? What should I call you?"
"Luoke?" Bai Feng looked at the girl in surprise.
Seeing Bai Feng's surprised expression, the girl asked in confusion, "Yes, is there something wrong with my name?"
Bai Feng shook his head, "Nothing wrong, it's a very nice name. By the way, my name is Bai Feng." He thought he knew the identity of this Miss Luoke.
When Ash Ketchum was traveling in the Johto Region with Brock and Misty, he had a strange experience. In the Deep Mountains shrouded in mist, they met a young girl living alone, who introduced herself as Luoke.
But in reality, the girl was just an illusion created by a Ninetales that had lived for over two hundred years.
Its Master went on a journey and never returned. Restricted by its Poké Ball, it was unable to leave the vicinity of the mansion, trapped in the old house in the Deep Mountains for two hundred years.
Later, Ash Ketchum and his companions passed by, and it wanted to keep Brock, who resembled its Master, to keep it company. But later, Ash Ketchum and the others accidentally broke the Poké Ball that trapped Ninetales, allowing Ninetales to regain its freedom. After that, Ninetales left the mansion and went traveling.
Ash Ketchum had mentioned this experience to Bai Feng, and with Ash Ketchum's reminder, Bai Feng also recalled that there was indeed such a story in the original anime.
Bai Feng guessed that this girl... no, rather, the Ninetales accompanying the girl was the one Ash Ketchum and his companions encountered back then.
In fact, the moment he saw Luoke, he saw through her as merely an illusion created by psychic power. Although Ninetales was powerful, it was still quite inferior compared to Zhi Huo back then. When Bai Feng first met Zhi Huo, he couldn't tell at all that her true form was Delphox.
Of course, Bai Feng's psychic power now was incomparable to what it was before.
Led by Luoke, Bai Feng arrived in front of a mansion created by illusion, but in Bai Feng's eyes, the so-called mansion was actually just a simple Wooden House.
In the Yard of the Wooden House, there were also a few Pokémon playing: Furret, Hoppip, Sudowoodo, Teddiursa, and Elekid.
These Pokémon were not illusions; they were real.
Seeing Ninetales return, the Pokémon cheered and ran to Ninetales' side, affectionately circling around it. Ninetales also affectionately rubbed its head against each of them. As for Luoke, she was completely ignored by the Pokémon.
But then again, Luoke was just an illusion created by Ninetales, so the Pokémon likely knew the situation.
"Woo~~~" You go play, I have guests to entertain.
Ninetales didn't realize that Bai Feng could understand Pokémon speech, so it didn't realize its words had revealed a flaw.
The Pokémon nodded and quickly ran off. Then, Luoke said to Bai Feng, "Please come in, Mister!"
Luoke invited Bai Feng into the mansion, but in reality, they only entered the Wooden House. She did not take Bai Feng to the other parts of the mansion that were illusions.
After inviting Bai Feng to sit down, Luoke poured Bai Feng a cup of hot tea, but in Bai Feng's view, it was just a cup of clear cold water.
After pouring the tea, Luoke sat opposite Bai Feng and asked hesitantly, "Excuse me, Mister Bai Feng, are you a Psychic?"
Bai Feng feigned surprise, "How did Miss Luoke tell?"
Luoke smiled slightly and said, "My Ninetales is quite skilled in psychic abilities and can sense the powerful psychic power surrounding Mister Bai Feng."
"So that's it." Bai Feng said, feigning sudden understanding.
At this point, Miss Luoke spoke with a troubled expression, "Actually, the reason I invited Mister Bai Feng back today is that I have something I'd like to ask for your help with..."
Bai Feng readily nodded, "Please speak, Miss Luoke. I will definitely help if I can."
"Actually, it's like this. My Ninetales had a bit of an accident during its training, and its psychic power was injured. It needs someone skilled in psychic abilities to help regulate it..."
"So that's what this is about." Bai Feng said, "Can I inspect Ninetales' condition?"
"Of course." Luoke nodded.
Bai Feng stood up and walked to Ninetales' side, placing his hand on its body. At the same time, he controlled his psychic power to inspect its body. As expected, he found that Ninetales' psychic power had suffered very serious injuries.
It seemed this truly was the reason Luoke invited him back.
"Don't worry, it can be healed," Bai Feng said to Luoke.
Luoke looked delighted upon hearing this, "That's great! Then I'll trouble Mister Bai Feng."
Bai Feng activated the power of the Mind Plate within his body to help regulate Ninetales' chaotic psychic power. Before long, it returned to normal, and its mental state looked much better than before.
After sitting down again, Bai Feng looked directly at Ninetales and said, "Actually, Miss Luoke is an illusion you created, right?" Now that he had figured out the reason Ninetales invited him back, Bai Feng stopped pretending to be foolish.
Ninetales was startled, then continued to control Luoke and said, "So Mister Bai Feng had already seen through it. That makes sense, your psychic power is so powerful, there's no reason you wouldn't see it. I've made a fool of myself."
Bai Feng asked in confusion, "Why did you create an illusion of Miss Luoke? If you had just asked me for help directly, I would have agreed. There was no need for such trouble."
Ninetales smiled and said, "Humans like to catch powerful Pokémon. The moment I saw you, I knew you were a powerful Pokémon Trainer. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I created Luoke to pretend to be my Pokémon Trainer. A Pokémon with a Master is less likely to be caught, right?"
"So that's it." Bai Feng nodded in sudden understanding. "If you travel alone and don't want to be caught by Humans, this is indeed a good method. Don't worry, I won't try to catch you by force. Besides, I already have a Ninetales at Home."
Upon hearing this, Ninetales truly breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, your strength is good, so how did you get such serious injuries? If I'm not mistaken, your injuries weren't caused by an accident during training," Bai Feng asked in confusion.
Ninetales sighed deeply upon hearing this, "It's like this..."
Recently, an Archaeological Team arrived near Azalea Town. They discovered a set of Ruins here, but a strange power was leaking from the Ruins.
Originally, Ninetales was only temporarily staying near Azalea Town and planned to leave and wander around after a while, but it unexpectedly sensed the existence of that power.
When it followed the sensing to the location, it happened to see an unknown power emerging from the Ruins and attacking the Archaeological Team. It secretly intervened and repelled the unknown power, but it didn't expect the unknown power to be too powerful. While being repelled, it also injured Ninetales.
After listening to Ninetales' story, Bai Feng fell into thought. Archaeological Team? Could it be the one Cynthia was going to meet? Or was Cynthia inviting him here this time also for the matter of the Ruins?
Bai Feng then chatted with Ninetales for a while longer. During their casual conversation, Ninetales also learned that Bai Feng was actually Ash Ketchum's Uncle, which made its attitude towards Bai Feng even closer.
When it learned that Bai Feng might be going to those Ruins, it proactively suggested:
"How about I accompany Mister? We can look out for each other. Although I know that with Mister's strength, you certainly don't need me to go out of my way, I also want to see the problem with the Ruins resolved with my own eyes. Otherwise, I always feel a bit uneasy."
"Okay, then I'll trouble you." Since Ninetales said so, Bai Feng had no reason to refuse.
"It's getting late, Mister. Why don't you stay here tonight? Although it's simple here, staying for one night should be no problem," Ninetales suggested again.
Knowing that Bai Feng could see through its illusion, Ninetales had already withdrawn the illusion of the mansion, revealing the true form of the Wooden House.
Although the Wooden House was simple, the furnishings inside were almost no different from a Human residence. Staying for one night was indeed no problem.
"Then I'll impose," Bai Feng nodded in agreement.
And so, Bai Feng stayed at Ninetales' place for the night.
The next morning, Bai Feng and Ninetales set off together towards Azalea Town.
Before leaving, Ninetales instructed Furret and the others to take good care of the Home and that they would leave Azalea Town together when it returned.
Furret and these other Pokémon were all found by Ninetales during its traveling.
Soon, Bai Feng, riding Meganium and accompanied by Ninetales, arrived outside Azalea Town. Not far from the Town Entrance, he saw a little girl directing a Slowpoke to pick a fruit using psychic power.
It was an Apricorn. Apricorns are materials used to make Poké Balls. They come in different colors, and each color can make Poké Balls with different effects. For example, Red Apricorns can make Level Balls, Yellow Apricorns can make Moon Balls, Blue Apricorns can make Lure Balls, Green Apricorns can make Friend Balls, and so on.
Many different types of Apricorn Trees grow around Azalea Town, which is why Mister Steel, who is skilled at making Poké Balls, lives here.
Bai Feng and Cynthia had agreed to meet at Mister Steel's Home this time.
Mister Steel and Professor Oak are friends, so Professor Oak suggested that Bai Feng go to Mister Steel's Home after learning that Bai Feng was going to Azalea Town.
Recently, due to research on fossils, Bai Feng often met with Professor Oak, and thus had casually mentioned to Professor Oak that he was coming to Azalea Town.
Bai Feng walked up to the little girl picking Apricorns and greeted her, "Hello, little sister."
The girl had actually seen Bai Feng a while ago. Seeing Bai Feng approach, she politely greeted him, "Hello, Big Brother. Is something the matter?"
"It's like this, I'd like to ask where Mister Steel's Home is," Bai Feng inquired.
The little girl was startled upon hearing this, "You're going to my Home?"
Now it was Bai Feng's turn to be surprised, "Your Home? You are?"
The little girl covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "My name is Qianhui, and Mister Steel is my Grandfather."
"What a coincidence," Bai Feng also laughed.
Qianhui's Father, who is Mister Steel's Son, is an Employee of Silph Company. He is extremely busy with work and lives in the Kanto region, so Qianhui has lived with her Grandfather since she was young.
"You're looking for Grandfather, could you be the Bai Feng that Professor Oak mentioned?" Qianhui suddenly remembered something.
"Yes, that's me." Bai Feng nodded, "So Professor Oak told you I was coming!"
"Yes, Brother Bai Feng, hurry and come with me!"
Qianhui stopped picking Apricorns, picked up the Basket on the Ground, and said to Bai Feng. The Basket contained several Apricorns of various colors.
"Little Slowpoke, let's go Home."
Qianhui then looked down and said to Slowpoke. This Slowpoke was given to Qianhui by her Father, so she cherished and loved it very much.
"Yadon~~"
Slowpoke responded, its gaze vacant, and slowly followed behind Qianhui. Although its speed looked particularly slow, it didn't fall behind at all, which was truly amazing.
On the way to Mister Steel's Home, Bai Feng saw many Slowpoke. Almost every household had a Slowpoke lazily basking in the sun by their Entrance.
Azalea Town has a place called the "Slowpoke Well," where a large number of Slowpoke reside. Slowpoke is also the mascot of Azalea Town. If anyone dares to harm the Slowpoke, the Residents of Azalea Town will definitely not let them off lightly!
Strangely, the moment Bai Feng stepped into Azalea Town, all the Slowpoke he encountered along the way would involuntarily look at him. This new situation caused the residents of Azalea Town to look at Bai Feng a few more times.
When other outsiders came to Azalea Town, the Slowpoke would not have this reaction. Most Slowpoke have a lazy nature and are slow to react. When faced with strangers, they generally adopt an attitude of ignoring them.
Qianhui clicked her tongue in wonder, "It's amazing! Do the Slowpoke particularly like Brother Bai Feng?"
As soon as Qianhui finished speaking, she saw her Little Slowpoke slowly crawl towards Bai Feng, wrap its two front limbs around Bai Feng's ankle, and then gently rest its head on Bai Feng's foot.
Bai Feng: ...
Qianhui: ...
Bai Feng was also surprised and wondered in his heart: Could it be because of the Arceus Plate (Mind Plate)? Or perhaps because he is a Psychic?
Facing the eager gaze of the residents of Azalea Town along the way, Bai Feng felt his scalp tingle.
Slowpoke really were special in Azalea Town. Even he, someone who received special attention from the Slowpoke, was getting everyone's collective attention.
(End of Chapter)