Underground City

The Underground City was huge.

Baimu had spent a long time wandering around with Aron, yet he still couldn't figure out exactly what districts it had or what they were for.

Many places were locked up. Neon lights of unclear purpose kept flashing nonstop, and they probably wouldn't open until nighttime. They didn't look like normal shops, either—

The bunny girls and gold coins on the signs proved that much.

"Ah! There you are!"

The sudden shout startled Baimu. When he turned, two blurry figures were rapidly approaching.

He had just been about to escape with Aron when the newcomers' faces were revealed beneath the flashing colored lights.

She had brown hair and a tan complexion, with a slightly large mouth and ordinary features. Yet her long legs supported a height of one hundred eighty centimeters, and her athletic build resembled a human Liepard. A wild, uninhibited smile spread across her face.

But Baimu paid more attention to what was behind her.

What a huge Quagsire!

He couldn't help sighing inwardly. Quagsire that grew to one hundred eighty centimeters were exceedingly rare. Its body was even broader than a human's, making it look as thick and heavy as a wall. At first glance, it was quite intimidating...

Well, actually, it was just more simple-minded than ordinary.

"Good morning, Lady Ayana."

Baimu quickly greeted the woman in front of him. She was one of the four executives of the Sand Group, and since she was fairly amiable, she was rather well-known among the underlings.

"Your name is Baimu, right?"

Ayana looked him over. Without waiting for an answer, she stepped forward and grabbed his arm. "Come with me! You're the only one missing!"

"Lady Ayana—"

"Call me Big Sis! And stop wasting words! Just follow me obediently, and it'll be over. Keep talking and I'll beat you!"

Her serious tone made Baimu shut his mouth. He glanced back at Aron and found it being held in the arms of the enormous Quagsire, waving its four short legs in slight panic.

When their eyes met, Aron gradually calmed down.

Clearly, after only a few days together, the two had already formed a certain degree of trust.

A short while later.

Ayana led Baimu through numerous alleys toward an area resembling a basketball court. Huge floodlights illuminated it from every direction, while neat wire fencing separated it from the surrounding walkways.

It was a Battle Arena.

Baimu looked inside and was suddenly greeted by a sight of numerous men and women in team uniforms battling one another with their Pokémon.

Unlike the conventional style in ordinary anime, where Trainers stood at the edge of the field, these people stood inside the arena, not far from their Pokémon.

He knew this was a distinctive feature of Pyrite Town and even the entire Orre region—the kind of battle seen in Pokémon Adventures, where Trainers and Pokémon took hits together.

"Stop! All of you, stop!"

Ayana released Baimu's arm and clapped loudly. "Come over and assemble!"

Hearing her, the Quicksand Team members in battle ordered their Pokémon to stop and quickly gathered over.

Baimu took Aron back from Quagsire and exchanged glances with the young men and women standing in a line.

There seemed to be more than a dozen of them.

They looked around his age, roughly fifteen or sixteen. Their eyes were bright and their builds were well-proportioned and upright. Most had rough, dark skin marked by wind and sun.

Clearly, they weren't all from powerful or wealthy families.

Their Pokémon were all different species. Their strength was unknown, but they were full of energy. Even though their battles had been interrupted, none of them showed signs of panting or exhaustion. Every one of them radiated the air of having seen countless battles—the result of careful training.

The Special Operations Unit?

No, this was a team assembled specifically for next week's battle against the Hound Team.

Baimu suddenly understood why he had been dragged over here. But had his joining the team been planned from the beginning?

He had only just become a full-fledged member. Was he really worth that much?

He couldn't figure out what the Sand Group's leaders were thinking. He could only assume the best, such as that they admired him or something.

"What are you standing there for? Say hello! Do I have to remind you?"

Ayana lightly kicked him in the calf.

"Uh, good morning, everyone." Baimu greeted the group of young men and women, whose gazes were full of mixed emotions.

Immediately afterward, a chorus of synchronized applause rang out.

Ayana watched the scene with satisfaction. "This is Baimu. He'll be participating in next week's battle, and he'll be your temporary teammate. Remember to get along with him."

With that, the Big Sis left together with Quagsire. She didn't bother introducing Baimu to the others, nor did she tell him what he was supposed to do.

The young men, women, and Pokémon maintained their neat formation until the very second Ayana disappeared. The moment she was gone, the formation immediately fell apart.

"Ugh, what a pain."

"My move had already been launched just now. Count that as your loss, got it?"

"Loss my ass! Who saw it? Where's the evidence? Bring out the evidence!"

The group turned and left, with no intention of paying Baimu any attention.

Baimu took the initiative to speak to them, but not one person responded. They all ignored him completely.

Are they shutting me out?

Did I offend them?

He led Aron to the edge. When he suddenly heard a mocking laugh, he gained a clearer understanding of his situation and silently observed their battles, occasionally lowering his head to say a few words to Aron.

Aron often nodded as if it understood, its luminous blue eyes darting around. It was impossible to tell how much it had actually grasped.

More than ten minutes passed.

This self-amusing behavior gradually drew the others' attention.

Whether the earlier rejection had been deliberate or spontaneous, Baimu now once again attracted scrutinizing gazes from all around.

"Hey! What are you doing?" A buzz-cut blond approached and demanded aggressively.

Baimu replied, "Watching you battle."

"Who allowed you to watch? Who allowed you in here? Get out!" the man barked. Donphan beside him let out a threatening growl.

"Duoh!"

"Guh!"

Aron fearlessly shouted back at it. The two Pokémon differed greatly in size, yet there wasn't the slightest trace of fear on Aron's face.

"Yo! You even know how to protect your master. Not bad, this Pokémon of yours. If you give it to me, I'll forgive you!" The man chuckled, his eyes never leaving Baimu.

Clearly, he wasn't interested in Aron. He had only used it as an excuse to pick a fight.

What a bunch of gangsters...

Although Baimu had never held high expectations for the Quicksand Team's internal order, being harassed again and again was still tiring.

"I'm not giving it to you. What are you going to do?"

His tone was indifferent.

The near-contemptuous tone immediately ignited the provocateur's anger. The man strode over and grabbed Baimu by the collar. "Huh!? You're pretty arrogant, aren't you? Who do you think you are? Some rookie who crawled out of some godforsaken hole!"

"Heh. Then which stinking ditch did you crawl out of?"

Baimu grabbed the man's wrist in return. His hand tightened like a pair of pincers, and the man's face quickly flushed red. He clenched his teeth and stubbornly remained silent.

If I can't beat Machamp, does that mean I can't beat you? Do you really think the title of Azure Iridium Street's top dog is just for show?

"If you've got the guts, go cause trouble for the Hound Team! Think you're guaranteed to win next week's match? You're only tough against your own people! You're nothing!" Baimu yanked the man's hand away as easily as snapping the joint off a plastic toy.

"Duoh!"

Realizing that its Trainer had been hurt, Donphan charged over, only to be knocked back by a silver figure the instant it approached.

Bang!

The two Pokémon differed in height by more than half, yet they were locked in a stalemate.

"You son of a—" The man clutched his aching wrist. His eyes reddened as he roared and raised his fist to punch Baimu in the face.

Baimu had intended to catch it and punch back, but something suddenly caught the corner of his eye. He immediately stopped moving.

The incoming fist was caught by a hand.

"Otsuka, you seem to enjoy treating our words as if they were falling on deaf ears." The eerie voice drained the blood from the man's eyes, and cold sweat gradually trickled down his temples.

"B-Big Sis..."

Otsuka lowered his head, not daring to look at Ayana's cold face.

"Or do you have a problem with the boss's arrangements? Do you have your own ideas? That's fine. Be bold and say them out loud. You can say anything."

"I'm terribly sorry! Please forgive me!"

Otsuka dropped straight to his knees, pressing his forehead against the ground as he screamed desperately.

His Pokémon, Donphan, had also been pinned down by the enormous Quagsire's good-natured smile, leaving it completely unable to move.

The mountain-like pressure made Aron stop in its tracks.

Ayana ignored Otsuka on his knees and looked toward Baimu, who had remained uninvolved. "And you?"

He froze for a moment, then pointed at himself. "I have to kneel too? All right, if that's what you want..."

"Tsk, all right, all right. Stop pretending." Ayana waved impatiently. "You're as annoying as that glasses-wearing guy!"

Baimu, who had never intended to kneel, immediately straightened his back.

"Listen up, you little brats! I don't care who you like or hate, and I don't care who's backing you. If you lose the match against the Hound Team and let others laugh at our Sand Group, every last one of you—"

Ayana pointed at each of them. "You're all going underground to mine! You'll mine until you die! No exceptions! If you're unhappy, come to me! Or have whoever's backing you come to me! Do you understand!?"

Her voice was as loud as a lion's roar, making everyone's heart tremble.

"Understood!"

Their replies rang out in perfect unison.

And so.

Ayana left with Quagsire once again, but the lively atmosphere that had filled the arena had sunk into utter gloom.

Otsuka was still kneeling, his entire body trembling.

Baimu noticed that many of the surrounding gazes had shifted from indifference to displeasure. It seemed Ayana's warning had left these people with nowhere to vent their anger, so they had chosen to direct it at him.

The hostility would probably unite them against him, after which they would make things even worse.

In that case...

Suddenly.

He had an idea.

Baimu crouched in front of Otsuka and poked his arm. "How long are you planning to kneel?"

Otsuka turned his head, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes brimming with tears. "This is all your fault. It's all because of you—"

"Right, I did it all. So what?"

He spread his hands indifferently. "What can you do to me? Beat me up right now? Can you even beat me?"

Otsuka was furious. "You!"

"You can't beat me, can you? You have no way to deal with me, right? Doesn't that make you angry? In that case, come and curry favor with me."

Baimu smiled. "Otherwise, I'll ambush you during the match. I'll ruin everything."

"...Huh?"

"Besides, I have nothing to lose anyway. Some of you are hoping to rise to the top in one step, aren't you? Some of you come from well-off families and are hoping to advance even further this time."

He raised his voice and stared straight into Otsuka's stunned eyes, though he knew everyone in the arena was watching.

"So let's all get along. Let's make things a little happier for one another. Otherwise, I have no idea what someone as furious and desperate as me might do during the match.

"Of course, you can find a way to kill me within the next two days and gamble on the consequences, as well as how the bosses will react to being humiliated. Either way, I die or spend the rest of my life mining."

Baimu's threat left the many displeased gazes stunned. Everyone had thought about such a mutually destructive approach before, but no one had ever dared to use it to threaten someone else.

Because nine times out of ten, it was just bluster—nothing more than stubborn words from people too proud to back down.

Yes.

Absolutely.

An odd atmosphere gradually spread through the arena.

"—I'm joking. Don't be so tense. You're making it seem like I'm threatening someone. We're teammates! Brothers! Isn't it only natural that we get along?"

Baimu spoke again with a broad smile, ignoring the surrounding silence. He helped the dazed Otsuka to his feet and brushed the dust from his clothes.

"Look at you. You've gotten yourself all messy. You're sixteen at least, right? How can you go on like this?"

He shifted his gaze.

At last, he looked toward everyone. Facing their varied expressions, he smiled with blazing sincerity.

"Let me introduce myself again, everyone! I'm Baimu! Baimu from Azure Iridium Street! I look forward to working with you over the next week!"

Baimu gave a slight bow. His clear voice echoed throughout the arena, surrounded by expressions of tension, astonishment, seriousness, and vigilance.

Since being targeted by the group was unavoidable, he might as well set everything off.

Things couldn't get much worse than this.

In the distance.

Beneath a shadow-shrouded building, the reflection in a pair of lenses vanished.