"Woohooo—"
The flock of Wingull flew by.
The train traveled over the river on a high viaduct.
Gazing out the window.
The high-tech city built on Central Island came into Gengar's altered-color sight, and the bustling scene it had never seen before made it excitedly turn its head.
"Gengar!"
"That's right, that's our destination, Larus City."
Baimu smiled as he patted the altered-color Gengar's head.
Yesterday, they stayed overnight at cousin Mann Chong's guesthouse, and chatted with the young green-haired guy from Johto, who mentioned that he had already collected eight badges.
Just a little over four months, right?
His progress is really fast.
Mann Chong also expressed confidence that they would definitely win the Silver Conference this time, and then come with the championship trophy to see him participate in the Ever Grande Conference.
Hearing that confident tone, it seemed Mann Chong was determined to win this tournament.
The grown-up Mann Chong, huh?
Baimu was looking forward to it.
Although they weren't progressing on the same track currently, they barely counted as fierce rivals, right? Besides, Mann Chong would definitely head to the Ore Region for the inaugural conference in the future.
Ding!
The station arrival announcement sounded.
"Let's go! Let's get a closer look!"
Baimu stood up, put on his mask, and guided the eager altered-color Gengar off the train with the flow of people.
From his observations over the past few days, he found that this gray-skinned, chubby Pokémon had a very outgoing external personality: it loved to laugh, play, and joke around, and might even enjoy playing tricks but probably didn't express it outright due to unfamiliarity.
Simply put, it was the Gengar version of a Hoopa.
Of course, this only referred to its outward personality.
To truly understand this Pokémon's inner personality, it would require more time spent together.
So far, Baimu had no issues with the altered-color Gengar; he really liked this gray fatty's exaggerated grin that reached its ears.
Moreover, having such a happy-go-lucky Pokémon aboard, along with the equally lively Brother Dragapult, would help boost the team's overall vitality.
Suddenly.
Baimu, as if guided by a ghostly force, turned his head, simultaneously feeling a small delicate hand tapping his shoulder.
"Baimu! What a coincidence!"
Xiaoguang, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, waved her left hand gently, holding Piplup in her arms, her eyes curving into delightful crescents, "I thought it looked like you from behind!"
"Piplup!"
Piplup raised its little wings.
The altered-color Gengar curiously looked at them, "Gengar?"
"Sure is a coincidence, this is my new companion Gengar." Baimu lowered his mask and patted its head, asking, as it looked up at him in bewilderment: "Where's Xiaogang? Didn't he come with you?"
Xiaoguang and Piplup greeted the altered-color Gengar, and casually replied: "He's at the back, looking for the attendant, but it's fine, he'll be here soon."
Sure enough.
Just as she finished speaking, Croagunk with its sharp gaze approached, dragging the twitching Xiaogang with one hand, drawing the curious looks of passersby.
"Croa~"
Croagunk tossed Xiaogang in front of the two, puffing its cheeks like blowing a bubble.
The altered-color Gengar's attention shifted to the two immediately.
"Ma-Ma... huh? Baimu!"
Xiaogang trembled for a moment, then noticed the tall figure beaming at him, and quickly got up, delighted: "You came too!"
"Of course, I had to come, I've been looking forward to this day after working hard for half a year."
Baimu chuckled, "Looks like even if Xiaosheng isn't here, there'll still be Pokémon to stop you from ogling."
Xiaogang laughed awkwardly at the remark, "Ahaha..."
The three individuals and their three Pokémon headed towards the escalator together.
Reaching the first floor.
A T-shaped block robot, made of four small blocks and one large block, flew ahead of them.
『Welcome to Larus City♬』
After its four blocks disassembled and reassembled above its head, it displayed the electronic text while emitting a sound: 『WELCOME♬』
"What a cute robot!"
Though normally not too captivated by cute things, Xiaoguang eagerly moved forward to touch its head.
Unexpectedly, one of the small boxes in the robot suddenly opened up to reveal a camera, and snapped a photo of her and Piplup while they were in surprise.
Click.
The flash went off.
Xiaoguang looked baffled, "Huh?"
"It's taking a photo for the pass. This city doesn't recognize Trainer Cards or Illustrated Guides, only this pass that's linked to the alliance database."
Baimu smiled slightly, while the curious altered-color Gengar floated up beside him, with the block robot capturing an image of its emerging head precisely.
Xiaogang then took out a pass from his previous visit, saying:
"Baimu's right. This is one of Larus City's features."
『Please hold onto your city pass; you can use this card to purchase anything within the city.』The block robot opened a box on its left side, handing a card to each Baimu and Xiaoguang.
Xiaoguang's pass photo was decent; while she was startled, her expression was much better than Xiaoyao's unfortunate one.
Baimu's card...
Well.
The unexpectedly included altered-color Gengar was certainly captured as well, its face coincidentally replacing the area below Baimu's chin, and together with that ear-to-ear grin, the whole composition looked rather amusing.
"Gengar!"
The culprit immediately pulled back its expression in apprehension.
Making trouble beside Jarvis would surely get it into trouble...
"Hahaha, it's actually taken quite well."
Much to Gengar's surprise, Baimu wasn't angry at all, instead laughing heartily while showing it to Xiaoguang and Xiaogang, "Even such photos can be recorded in the database, Larus City's smart system is really impressive."
Angry?
How could he be angry!
He often liked to change the poses and effects of his Trainer Card when playing games, and it had always been a regret that he couldn't add Pokémon to it in Sword and Shield.