Even so, Mawile took a little while to smile again. Not only was it willing to come out of the Pokeball, but it could also giggle while watching variety shows.
"Zhido!"
The call pulled his attention back.
Mawile was holding a phone with a black screen, blinking and watching him together with the other two Dreepy siblings.
"It's out of battery, let's stop here for today." Baimu glanced at the phone notification bar where a miniature Porygon II had somehow appeared, quickly patting the cheeks of the three.
"...Zhido."
The three Pokémon looked upset but didn't say anything.
Since getting the phone, whenever Mawile had free time, it maintained a high-intensity viewing mode. To prevent it from becoming nearsighted, he and Porygon II once forcibly controlled its screen time by the phone's battery level and reminded it that keeping this up would make it unable to see.
Mawile was initially quite unhappy. One morning, it woke up, and its blurry vision scared it so much that it almost cried while searching for Baimu.
But in reality, it was just due to something getting in its eye, which a couple of rubs cleared up.
In the past, Mawile wouldn't have cared about this at all.
Thanks to Baimu mentioning it, it left an impression in its mind.
After this incident, even though the misunderstanding was cleared up, Mawile no longer protested about limiting its phone usage.
After Mawile couldn't play, Baimu also put down the phone, took out a deck of cards to play logic games with it, and pulled in the little Dreepy siblings to cultivate their logical thinking.
However, after a while, Sister Dragapult was upset from losing all along, beating her head several times.
"Xia-xia! Xia-xia!"
"Xia-xia..."
Brother Dragapult was very aggrieved; was bad luck his fault? That's too much!
"Cough, cough, don't get physical, it's just a game." Baimu hurriedly extended his hand to stop, although not agreeing with Sister Dragapult's behavior, Brother Dragapult was indeed being troublesome—
Joining Mawile to challenge his sister when teamed up with it, and still challenging his sister when teamed up with her; he acted quite justifiably when asked why, looking as if saying, "Is there anything wrong with what I want to do?"
"Xia-xia!"
Sister Dragapult pushed the cards aside, angrily asserting she wouldn't play anymore.
Baimu gave his spot to the eager Porygon II and began comforting the aggrieved sister, while routinely practicing Dragon's Heart.
Truth be told.
After many days of pondering and experiencing, he seemed to have vaguely touched something, but was just one step short.
Unfortunately, crossing that step smoothly wasn't that easy.
"Let's practice."
Baimu grabbed the horns on both sides of Sister Dragapult's head, gazing into her eyes, attempting to feel her intensely fluctuating emotions through meditation.
It's said eyes are windows to the soul. Alice initially started by having eye contact with Dragon-type Pokémon.
Of course.
Both were initially uncomfortable with this method, instinctively avoiding eye contact, but after repeatedly trying, it wasn't as awkward.
In a blur.
That elusive feeling in Baimu's heart reemerged; he tried to grasp it calmly, but it scattered like smoke with a wave.
As he was inwardly tormented, darkness suddenly enveloped his sight.
Soon, the light above the seat lit up, and the broadcast requested trainers to manage their Pokémon and fasten their seat belts, among other things.
They also mentioned the plane had encountered turbulence, but it wasn't a big issue, just required cooperation.
Baimu had Porygon II retrieve the phone, fastened the seat belts for the two Dreepy siblings and Mawile, then buckled his own and looked out into the dark window.
Not knowing any better, one might think they entered a tunnel... Turbulence?
He observed the scene—electric storms outside, thinking they might've entered a thundercloud.
Suddenly.
The plane started to jolt up and down, although the range wasn't significant, it caused quite a few passengers to murmur, thankfully the flight attendants calmed them, preventing panic from spreading.
Baimu felt a bit unlucky, encountering such a situation on such a rare flight.
He turned to Mawile and the two Dreepy siblings; the former maintained a calm expression, while the latter two looked unwell, trembling in fear.
"Don't worry, it's alright," Baimu chuckled.
You two live without tension, why be nervous as if you'd "die"? Is it that scary?
He shook his head helplessly and glanced out the window—
"Whoa!"
At just a glance, Baimu's soul almost left his body, as he saw a massive, golden eye occupying the entire window pane, like a bright lamp, filled with indifference and a hint of... curiosity?
The face reflected in the pupil was none other than his.
What is this!? Zekrom?
In a blink.
An eerie, long howl resounded in his ears, Baimu swallowed, continuing to match the gaze of the golden pupil with a kind of "die understanding" momentum, the rear suddenly sounding a voice in terror mixed with trembling.
"Ray... Rayquaza!"
"Is it coming to attack the plane?"
"Ugh... Mom, I want my mom..."
The cabin suddenly became chaotic as if the death knell approached.
Rayquaza?
That voice left Baimu stunned; at last, he saw that the golden pupil was shrinking... No, Rayquaza was gradually moving away from the window, unsure if it planned to attack or just leave.
But finally, he could see its whole body.
Black.
To be precise, grayish-black.
Oh, it's an alternate-colored Rayquaza...
He sighed deeply, gradually relaxing, the Rayquaza in the main animation had a volatile nature, even once fought Da Wu over the legendary giant stone.
But the alternate-colored Rayquaza was an ally of Ash Ketchum in the Hoopa movie, surely its justice attribute was activated, unlikely to attack the plane.
As expected, the creature circled the plane several times then departed without any lingering thoughts.
Soon, the plane broke through the clouds, reemerging into clear blue skies and seas.
Surrounding cheers of survival echoed loudly, yet Baimu had an idea — maybe this fellow found him during its return and voluntarily came closer for a look.
Or perhaps he overthought?
Who knows.
He turned to Mawile and the Dreepy siblings, who returned to normal after Rayquaza left, seemingly frightened by the alternate-colored Rayquaza.
Indeed, it was somewhat terrifying, encountering such a creature capable of knocking down the plane at thirty thousand feet in the air; didn't you see the expressions of the people around?
But thankfully, Desert City was almost there.
Baimu watched out the window, spotting the grand and majestic city below, seemingly set amidst gobi and seaside.
Among them, the island on the ocean had the eye-catching pink giant—
Demon God Hoopa.
Or the liberated form of Hoopa, mastering past powers, now neither arrogant nor troublesome—a good Hoopa.
In the past due to being overly wild, Hoopa often caused damage leading to its powers being sealed, successfully mastering its powers with Ash and friends' help.
Baimu came here to seek an encounter with Hoopa and to find Lugia's whereabouts.
Before long.
The plane landed safely.
The captain informed the tower about the encounter with Rayquaza, drawing a large number of personnel to inspect any casualties of the passengers and check the plane's condition.
However, after checking several times, they found nothing. As if they merely brushed past Rayquaza coincidentally.
"Desert City huh..."
Baimu squinted his eyes; the sun here was quite harsh, likely linked to being built in a desert environment.
Due to Hoopa and Evil Hoopa summoning many legendary Pokémon to battle here, many roads and skyscrapers around were damaged by those creatures.
Like the building hit by Giratina's Shadow Ball, the tower frozen by Kyurem, and the one sliced by Parukia with Subspace Slash, etc...
Therefore, when taking the shuttle, scenes of road repair and building restoration were often seen.
Luckily, no real casualties occurred.
He arrived near the island, unable to use normal means to cross the bridge due to construction above, so he contacted the mysterious contact Shanren found for him here.
"Hello, I've arrived."