The Legendary Pokémon, Raikou, a member of the Ho-Oh Guard, has appeared in the Hoenn region.
This was something Baimu had not anticipated.
What surprised him even more was that this creature had been targeted by a group of vicious Pokémon hunters and was even injured!
"Why would Raikou come to the Hoenn region?"
He attempted to get an answer from the forest ranger.
Unfortunately, the other party was also unaware, only knowing that when Raikou arrived, it was already in a state of yet-to-heal injuries, and had settled on the highest peak nearby to slowly recuperate.
Yet somehow, these Pokémon hunters received information about it, and rushed over to search for traces of Raikou.
Once or twice they failed to locate it.
Then they recklessly attacked the forest ranger's cabin, trying to extract Raikou's whereabouts from the latter.
The forest ranger did know Raikou's location, but would obviously not tell these people, no matter how much they tortured him, he kept silent. Frustrated, the Pokémon hunters abandoned him to his fate.
It was expected that if they couldn't find Raikou, they would leave. To their surprise, they seemed certain of Raikou's location and started capturing Pokémon rampantly in the forest.
Watching them, the forest ranger's heart bled with sorrow for the forest being destroyed by them and for the wild Pokémon they captured.
This morning.
In a daze, he heard people outside discussing how to capture Raikou, and upon listening closely, realized that they seemed to have found its location.
Though anxious, he was incapable of helping himself.
Suffering internal turmoil, the forest ranger could only hope his prolonged lack of communication with the outside world would trigger a search, never expecting to meet the righteous Baimu in this remote wilderness.
If it were someone else, preferring to avoid additional trouble, they likely wouldn't have ventured here.
"Understood."
Baimu nodded, noticing the slightly pale forest ranger, knowing that the latter likely had a rough time these days, "You stay here and contact Miss Jun Sha, I'll sneak over and take a look."
"Wait! It's too dangerous for you to go alone!"
The forest ranger struggled to support himself, but sadly, his legs couldn't straighten and trembled violently, yet he still raised a hand saying, "I'll go with you!"
"Bringing you along would probably be even more dangerous, rest assured I'm just going to have a look."
Baimu pressed on his shoulder, "Moreover, you have to handle those two Pokémon hunters outside and the many captured wild Pokémon, there's plenty to do."
The forest ranger looked at his serious expression and listened to the noise outside, as well as the Pokémon hunters bound by Drifloons outside the door, feeling somewhat persuaded, "Alright... be careful, don't get too close, preferably wait for Miss Jun Sha and her team to handle it."
It seemed like rationality returned.
Just now, he was still suggesting to quickly find a way to stop them.
Baimu nodded in agreement, asked which mountain peak Raikou was on, and further inquired about any details the forest ranger knew regarding the Pokémon hunters' capture plan.
Learning that the forest ranger had only a vague understanding, he quietly walked out the door and dragged away one of the Pokémon hunters.
By the creek.
He splashed water onto the person's face to wake them up.
"Ugh! Cough, cough, cough! Who the hell are you! Doing this kind of thing you'd better just... ugh grug glug..."
A few seconds later.
Baimu pulled the guy's head out of the creek, "Woken up yet? Or do you want another drink?"
"I'm awake, awake! I'm already awake!"
He shouted while spitting water, looking fearfully at him.
"I ask, you answer. Cooperate and I'll let you go, otherwise you see to yourself, understand?"
He lightly slapped the person's face, seeing no immediate response from him, he prepared to plunge his head back into the water.
"Understood! Understood!"
The man shrieked, completely cooperating.
Regrettably though.
Baimu couldn't extract much useful information from him. He and another were trainees of this poaching team, and not long ago, a major part of the poaching team's main force was captured while fencing their goods.
This left just a few small fry.
The small fry then recruited him and another even smaller fry, trying to capture Raikou to turn the tables for the poaching team—but otherwise knew almost nothing.
The others didn't really trust them, or else they wouldn't have been told to stay and guard the place, instead of making good use of every capable hand.
"Captured while fencing..."
Baimu curled his lips.
Thinking that this poaching team was likely another "victim" after Pyrite Town was overturned, habitually taking their earnings to the Ore Region to fence them, resulting in them not updating their intel in time.
From this person's mouth, he also learned about the recent upheaval in the Pokémon hunter community, with many Pokémon hunters fleeing chaotically across various regions.
Seeing that time was running out and he had to act quickly, Baimu gave up on extracting more information from this person, removed his jacket, put it on himself, and mounted the dirt bike.
Though riding on Aggron would also be fast, it wouldn't be as quick as the dirt bike, and delaying any longer might alarm the foes.
"You stay here, give him a hand, I'll go have a look and return."
He told the Drifloons who seemed eager to follow, indicating the forest ranger who struggled to stand inside the cabin.
The Drifloons responded accordingly.
Baimu donned his hat to conceal his face and drove the motorcycle into the forest.
Gotta admit, these Pokémon hunters had some impressive gear. The motorcycle had scary power, and he even found a gun.
Except the gun didn't fire bullets, it shot electric nets that extended and retracted.
Upholding the principle that it might come in handy, he took it with him.
It's best not to use it.
When it's time to use it, one should use it decisively.
But such an electric grid... shouldn't be much use against Lei Gong, right?
In the end, was Lei Gong injured because of that group of people? That person just now said he wasn't clear, only that the current leader of the Poaching Team told him to go catch Lei Gong, without revealing any other important information.
And from the clarity of their goal, it's possible. Who knows if they have some unknown black technology? Legendary Pokémon are all impressive, yet they are frequently persecuted by various human inventions in the animations.
Even Kyogre is not exempt.
In XY, it even battled in its Primordial Return state with Da Wu and Groudon, using a Frozen Beam to freeze a large area of the ocean. However, in Sun and Moon, it was pursued and attacked by Pokémon poachers using technological power, until Ash Ketchum and Shui Lian helped it, only then was it successfully rescued.
Of course.
Another severely persecuted target—Suicune, after using all its power to purify the water source, was cornered and injured by Pokémon Hunters. That's actually nothing, the frustrating part was that it got caught by a normal net, and the ones pulling the net were just two humans, without even using Pokémon.
It felt like a scene where you could break free just by kicking, yet it fell to the ground howling, making the two Pokémon Hunters seem like true Super True Newbies.
Later, out of helplessness, it was captured with a Pokéball by someone inconvenient to mention. Although it was aimed to be a rescue, in the end, it actually became that person's Pokémon, it felt like a huge blow.
This was very subversive to most Pokémon fans' mutual understanding that the Divine Beast Suicune, the embodiment of the North Wind and one of the Ho-oh Guards, would help humans and fight alongside them but would never be captured by anyone or become anyone's Pokémon.
But after all is said and done, it's still that phrase—
Legendary Pokémon are really pitiful, always being targeted by people.
Baimu sped through the forest, gazing at the towering mountain peak in the distance, just hoping Lei Gong wouldn't end up like Suicune—caught in a net or something.
Along the way.
He watched the surroundings of the jungle and discovered that this bunch was catching as they went along. Every now and then, he could see a few Wild Pokémon struggling, caught in nets.
Moreover, initially, he thought the reason these people didn't retrieve the captured Wild Pokémon right away was to do it all together later. Unexpectedly, they were actually targeting Lei Gong... even capturing Wild Pokémon along the way under such circumstances.
They are quite greedy.
Before long.
He pushed the throttle to the limit, finally reaching near the foot of the mountain, catching sight of two mountain bikes parked in the wooded area covered with branches out of the corner of his eye.
Those guys actually left two below...
Are they waiting here to ambush them after they catch Lei Gong?
Perhaps it is a good idea, but the sound of his mountain bike was too loud when he arrived, and the surroundings were too quiet, which the guys on the mountain likely already heard.
To avoid alerting them, it's better to go up the mountain to take a look.
When Baimu made up his mind, a large mass of dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky, with a gust of wind, a lightning bolt resembling Dracozolt struck straight down upon the peak.
BOOM—!!
The terrifying tremor could be felt even at the foot of the mountain, and the ominous black clouds over the dome made people uneasy.
The next instant.
A thunderous roar came from the peak, an intense anger almost unable to be restrained.
It's starting!
Baimu's heart trembled.
Hope these guys get knocked out by Lei Gong's thunder.
He silently prayed, tightened the throttle, and rushed towards the mountain, aiming to reach the peak as quickly as possible.
But on the way up, besides the tire marks of the mountain bike, Baimu also noticed clearer track marks on the ground, perhaps left by some heavier machine.
"Looks like they've brought out the black technology..."
He recalled the words of that Poaching Team member just now.
The other party mentioned that in order to ensure the capture of Lei Gong, they had already arranged various components for a combat-use large robot at the foot of the mountain where Lei Gong resides, ready to be used when the real action starts.
Large Robot.
When Baimu heard this, he was shocked for a moment and then thought that it was most likely similar in quality to the robots made by Rocket Team.
This instantaneously eased his mind a lot.
He initially associated it with powerful things like Gundam and Transformers, so it was inevitable to feel a little anxious.
If it's just at this level, it should have no way to deal with Lei Gong.
Baimu knew that in order for them to dare to capture Lei Gong, even if Lei Gong's injuries were not caused by them, they must have some reliance, so he could not be careless, lest he himself also capsized.
Thus.
As he rode to midway up the mountain,
He decisively slowed down, attentively listening to the thunderous roars not far away, cautiously advancing towards the peak.
And at this time, from Baimu's perspective, the scene of the battle above was nearly visible.
Suddenly.
A hazy, semicircular violet shield came into view.
Lei Gong stood at the peak, with lightning continuously being sucked into dark, prismatic crystals inside the violet shield.
Yet it fought desperately.
"—The Crystal System!?"
Isn't this Rocket Team's thing! How could it appear here, tormenting Lei Gong a second time?