Chapter 1230: Spirit Communication Past_2

However.

Regret and sorrow were inevitable.

The gentle demeanor of the man in the dream when facing the Banette, and the silhouette fighting alongside the injured Salamence… everything he did deserved a good ending.

Furong said nothing, just softly patted Baimu’s back, while thinking that if her grandmother were here, she would surely have some comforting words to say.

She still felt a little immature.

The three of them moved deeper into the mine.

Baimu did not dwell in that melancholy. He looked at Furong and said, “Analyzing from the dream, the Banette was not the Gatekeeper Pokémon at that time. How did it do it? Did it snatch the original gatekeeper’s position?”

“That’s impossible. It’s only that when that arena was destroyed, too many lives withered away, leading to the Spirit Realm’s entrance absorbing souls. And coincidentally, that entrance didn’t have a gatekeeper, and the Banette just happened to meet the gatekeeper’s conditions.”

Furong raised two fingers, shook them, and said, “So we might as well boldly speculate the reason why Banette blocked the Spirit Realm’s entrance.”

Shanren said, “To prevent Baimu’s grandfather’s soul from entering the Spirit Realm?”

Furong nodded, “That’s possible, oh.”

“Then why did it say ‘I finally came’ upon seeing me? Could it be that what’s waiting for me is not Banette, but my grandfather?” Baimu proposed another possibility.

Furong nodded again, “That could be possible, but typically, a soul loses consciousness after losing its body, gradually disappearing, only becoming an entity that can repeat fragmented memories like a lost soul.”

The mystery had not been completely unraveled.

It seemed that only by meeting Banette would all veils be lifted.

The three reached the “end” of the mine, several engineering machines were digging in full force toward the direction Furong pointed. Britto’s tablet showed their current location.

And the approximate location Furong was pointing to.

“Sure enough, it’s at the bottom arena.” Shanren drew a circle on the tablet with his finger, just overlapping with the approximate range of the Spirit Realm’s entrance, “This area is the site of the bottom arena, which Euya’s Shadow Team once dug up and re-used. But due to safety hazards, it was eventually abandoned.”

Euya, wasn’t he the final boss in the Ore Region’s “Circular Arena” chapter?

Compared to Ergin’s unabashed ambition and methods, Euya at least maintained the facade of being a mayor on the surface, only meddling secretly.

Furong looked at the tablet and said, “In that case, that bottom arena should be the medium for the Spirit Realm’s entrance. Hmm… let me think about how to connect the Spirit Realm’s entrance to reality.”

Baimu thought silently, feeling that the dream communication with Banette might have hidden motives. What was the message they wanted to convey?

Shanren glanced at Baimu discreetly, feeling infinite emotions within.

He never thought there could be such a connection between the two sides. It’s a pity that he couldn’t link them together when searching Baimu’s records back then—

Who would have thought Teacher Lidi’s elder brother from the Rescue Organization was actually from Hoenn’s Meteor People.

Why didn’t he tell Teacher Lidi?

Perhaps back in that era, there were too many reasons inconvenient to expose oneself.

Shanren, who understood world history, knew that even in other regions, the mass acceptance of Pokémon’s existence happened only in the past hundred years.

Before the Pokeball emerged, Pokémon were more commonly referred to as Demon Beasts, frequently used in wars, thereby manifesting the public’s fear towards Pokémon.

Dr. Da Mu, as the leading figure in Pokémon academia, largely contributed by classifying and belonging Pokémon based on attributes, educating countless people about them.

——

Several hours later.

The construction crew reached a hard gray rock wall, and the obvious man-made wall structure lifted the spirits of everyone present.

“The site of the bottom arena!”

Shanren compared the location on the tablet and gave a confirmed answer.

As the wall was dug open, revealing the dark passage inside, a heavy burden was lifted from everyone’s heart.

Finally found it!

Several workers in the construction crew breathed a sigh of relief, looked at each other with delight.

Having worked an afternoon and almost the whole evening, finding it was the best outcome; the deeper underground they worked, the more stifling it felt.

“Check the oxygen circulation system for any issues; it hasn’t seen daylight in decades and might have accumulated a lot of toxic gases.”

He turned to others, making sure everyone’s protective gear was on before entering the passage in sequence.

Maybe because it was used before, the passage wasn’t messy.

Along with Britto and a worker, Baimu reached the arena’s power control room to check the generator and other equipment inside.

“There’s still stored energy! The ventilation system and others are all functional, great!”

Britto said joyfully to him, then went to work.

Isn’t this guy a construction major?

Baimu was ready to take out his phone to ask Porygon II for help, seeing Britto skillfully operating the dusty machines felt quite novel.

After a while.

With a loud rumble, the sporadic lights illuminated the power control room.

Indeed, being rebuilt by the Shadow Team back then, the place looked quite modern; if it had maintained its appearance from decades ago, it would’ve been heartbreaking.

Baimu turned and went out, discovering that the passage was also lit by the lights, the glaring white light at the far end particularly dazzling.

He felt something and went straight there.

In an instant.

Familiar metal platforms and a huge fan came into view, silhouettes flickering in the audience seats everywhere, like the frenzied audience in the dream.

He even felt like he heard the shouts of these figures.

“Baimu!”

Shanren’s voice interrupted Baimu’s thoughts.

Holding a phone, he stood at the side, hesitated a moment and said, “I think there’s something I must tell you. Like your grandfather Long He’s remains…”

“Let’s meet Banette first.”

Baimu patted his shoulder and looked at Furong standing at the center of the metal platform.

The other raised her head and gazed at the slow rotating huge fan, lost in thought.

Suddenly.

Dusknoir took out numerous Pokeballs from its large mouth in the front and released a swarm of Dusclops that flew out and circled around Furong.

Furong clasped the Prayer Beads, solemnly folding her hands.

Jingle~

Jingle-jingle~

The sound of ringing echoed within the empty arena.

Baimu saw countless white figures suddenly appear and filled the audience seats, an unusual feeling surged suddenly.

Furong, with closed eyes, turned and shouted to Shanren, “Get everyone to exit! Move far away from this site until you can’t see it, then you won’t enter the Spirit Realm!”

“Okay!”

Shanren responded and summoned the workers scattered around checking the arena’s safety, herding them back into the passage.

He hesitated a bit, wanting to return to the center of the arena, but unexpectedly, as he re-emerged from the passage, he suddenly lost sight of Furong and Baimu.

Only numerous Dusclops remained spinning in their eerie posture.

“Went inside?”

Shanren didn’t expect to be left behind; he sighed regretfully and took out his phone.

He actually wanted to ask Teacher Lidi about matters concerning Long He over in Silicon City, though disturbing an old man’s sleep wasn’t ideal, but some things are best clarified now.

He had a hunch that this matter wasn’t simple.

Meanwhile in another world.

Severe vibrations took over everything.

Baimu and Furong witnessed the huge fan above the arena breaking, falling down, the entire dome collapsing and crashing everywhere, the white shadows screamed and fled in all directions, but couldn’t escape.

“Furong!”

He rushed towards Furong who was guarded by Dusknoir.

Just halfway through, everything seemed to freeze like time was halted.

The dark dome materialized a gray-purple vortex Baimu had seen before, blood-red eyes coming from within, followed by a lingering voice.

“You… finally… no! not right! You’re not him!”

Before finishing, as if realizing Baimu wasn’t the one it’s waiting for, it became shrill suddenly, “You’re not him! Get out! Get out of here!”

What was once frozen trembled again.

Is Banette looking for Long He? Wasn’t Long He already sacrificed underground in Pyrite Town?

Baimu looked at the equally shocked Furong, feeling bewildered by the situation.