He had been licked for nearly four minutes.
Baimu finally won his freedom—along with a giant shadow. Hydreigon held the corner of his shirt in its left mouth and whined whenever he moved too far away.
As a result, wherever he went, the Draconids and some of the smarter Dragon Pokémon followed him with teasing looks.
"Feels like I'm right back where I started."
He sighed. The whole week he had spent fostering Hydreigon's independence seemed to have gone to waste.
It couldn't be helped.
Something unexpected had happened, after all.
Baimu returned to the Team Rocket members. He had already searched their airship without finding anything interesting.
The rocket packs?
They were good for getting yourself killed, and little else.
So once Porygon had finished reviewing most of the files and systems aboard the Team Rocket airship, he came down and began questioning its crew.
Basho and Buson in particular.
He woke them one at a time and asked about Mega Stones and Key Stones.
How many had Team Rocket acquired, where were they stored, and where had the ones currently in their possession come from?
The answers came in fragments. Buson revealed a little more, while Basho, the deserter, was harder to crack.
If the other Draconids hadn't been watching, Baimu would have liked to see whether Basho could stay so stubborn after losing all his teeth.
What he learned left him regretting that he couldn't keep the Key Stone Basho had carried.
For one thing, too many people had seen it. If Officer Jenny checked the airship's recordings for evidence, she certainly wouldn't pretend to have missed it.
For another, it had been stolen from some unfortunate person. It was stolen property.
If it had belonged to no one, he could have had Porygon alter the footage