Chapter 312: Swanna: Consider the Radiant Vegetables

"Eh?! Why am I on a team with Guangtai? I wanted to fight too!"

Skyla looked at the small slip of paper in her hand, the girl who soared through the skies wearing a dissatisfied expression.

What she had wanted was to battle the traveler, not team up with him!

Elesa, meanwhile, held up two fingers in a 'V' sign: "Haha! Luck is on my side!"

"Skyla, don't sigh so much! Drawing lots is absolutely fair and just, wahahaha!" Clay laughed heartily, adjusting his hat.

Skyla was displeased: "Clay, I was hoping you'd be the one teamed up with Guangtai."

Clay huffed: "My luck is excellent! That kind of thing would never happen to me!"

"But isn't this perfect? Let's go, Flygon!"

Elesa was surprised: "Not Excadrill?!"

Clay: "Don't joke around. My Excadrill was confused just a moment ago. Even though it's recovered now, I still need to let it rest!"

Skyla took a deep breath, adjusted her mindset, and smiled sweetly at Guangtai: "Then, I'll be using Swanna! Please treat me well!"

"Flying through the skies with my Pokémon, bringing out their strengths in battle... Alright, since it turned out this way, I have no choice! Let's have a good match!"

*Flash! * With the light of a Poké Ball, Skyla's ace, Swanna, appeared in mid-air!

Just as its name suggested, Swanna looked like a swan with pure white feathers!

But the next moment, Swanna froze as it stared at Guangtai's face.

"Sawa!"

Hey! Isn't this the human friend of Calyrex?! We watched the live broadcast from the Sinnoh ruins!

Although it had felt familiar hearing the voice from inside the Poké Ball earlier, it hadn't been summoned yet. Now, it was completely certain!

"Oh! Hello, you're a friend of Calyrex, aren't you!"

Guangtai had met many Pokémon maintaining Calyrex's vegetable patch when he last returned to the Dream World; he'd heard they were all lured there by Calyrex's speeches.

Skyla was astonished: "Eh? You know my Pokémon?"

Guangtai laughed: "I met it in the dream. The Dream World, that is."

Skyla tilted her head: "Ha? That kind of thing... No, wait, it's not impossible?!"

She had wanted to retort, but immediately thought of the soul-projection incident earlier.

That's right, there were all sorts of souls in the Celestial Tower, and they'd even been to the Spirit Realm, so the Dream World...

"So! That legend is true?! There really is a Dream World where Pokémon live!"

Skyla's eyes lit up: "I've heard legends about the Dream World from my grandfather since I was a child! But many people in Unova just thought those were stories!"

Guangtai held up his C-Gear: "A device that can connect to the Dream World has already been made. Of course, humans can't enter it—or rather, only specific people can."

"The Dream World...! More new material! Note it down, note it down!"

Elesa scribbled frantically in her novel notebook, recording the conversation so quickly that her Pokémon felt quite speechless and had to climb out of their Poké Balls on their own.

The Pokémon that appeared on the field was one of Elesa's signature Pokémon: Golurk.

Golurk resembled a giant clay golem, covered in mysterious spiral patterns, with a crack-like mark in the center and button-like joints.

It was a special existence created by ancient people to guard Pokémon and humans, powered by mysterious energy!

"Eh! Elesa, you're not using Chandelure? Hmm... Worried about Swanna's Water-type, I suppose? But Golurk isn't advantageous either."

Clay looked at Guangtai: "It's your turn. Of the remaining three, which two will you send out?"

"Three-minute time limit."

Guangtai was thinking about sending out Deoxys, Rotom, or Entei.

But then he heard a whisper from a Pokémon.

Please... let me go. I want to fight too.

"Axew?"

This Axew wasn't his own Pokémon, so Guangtai had originally intended to ask Entei for help.

"This little one has the desire to fight... Stepping out from the shadows of loss and regret is a good thing. It's fine, I'll give it the chance."

"And, it's about time for it to... evolve, isn't it?"

Entei sensed the energy accumulating within Axew; as a creation of heart and dream, the phantom Entei was quite sensitive to energy.

Especially after fighting alongside Guangtai, Entei felt a strange energy inject itself into its body after the battle ended.

Guangtai: "It's the growth of the Emerging Power... I see."

Entei: "Emerging Power?"

"Yeah," Guangtai nodded slightly, explaining to Entei in his heart: "A power given by the Entree Forest. It's a form of Release Power, I suppose. Hmm, how should I describe it? It's like a high-end version of the Exp. Share."

Speaking of which, the Exp. Share device had been upgrading too.

Starting from the sixth generation, having the Exp. Share in your bag would affect the whole team, which greatly lowered the difficulty of clearing the game.

However, that item disappeared starting from the eighth generation, and by the Scarlet-Violet era, it had become a passive effect where as long as one Pokémon participated in battle, the whole team gained experience and effort values. Looking at it that way, isn't that just a form of ancient power for everyone?

Guangtai muttered to himself.

Entei found it novel: "A capability to synchronize growth? How convenient. This is ancient power."

Guangtai finished chatting with Entei and placed his hand on the Poké Ball behind him.

"Oh, not using that Master Ball?" Clay looked puzzled.

"Yeah, because a Pokémon told me it wanted to participate in the battle too." Guangtai opened the Poké Ball!

Axew!

Skyla's eyes lit up: "Oh, an Axew! A quite rare Dragon-type!"

Swanna chirped at Guangtai.

The opponents are a combination of an Elite Four member and a Gym Leader! You'd better fight with everything you've got!

If we're being commanded by a super-Sinnoh-person, we should be able to win, right?

As it thought this, it glanced to the side!

Gastrodon...! Isn't that the guy who hangs out with Calyrex all day? I never expected to see it in the real world!

Maybe we'll see Calyrex somewhere sometime! If we could lure the Big-Headed King to Mistralton City, the vegetable sales here would explode!

With this in mind, Swanna suddenly made a request to Guangtai!

If we win this battle, how about considering investing in a Radiant Vegetable project in Mistralton City?

"Swanna, what's wrong?" Skyla rubbed her head, looking confusedly at her swan.

Guangtai laughed helplessly: "It's negotiating terms for you and me... Hmm! Fine! If we win, I'll consider bringing Radiant Vegetables here for cultivation! The price will be a bit cheaper!"

If Radiant Vegetables could open up a market in the real world, wouldn't it be better to use Calyrex's image as the logo?

This would also help Calyrex gain popularity and reclaim its faith.

"Sawa~" Swanna felt very happy and turned to Skyla to claim credit!

Look, look, I'm really racking my brains for the vegetable sales here! As long as we have Radiant Vegetables, Mistralton City's output value could double!

"Eh, what are Radiant Vegetables? Sounds like a new variety... could it be?"

Skyla rubbed her chin, striking the classic pose Hilda often used, but then her eyes lit up!

"Although I'm still a bit confused, it sounds like a good thing! In that case, we can't lose even more!"

"Sawa!"

"What's with this, starting to talk business in the middle of a fight!"

Clay was speechless: "Can we start fighting now! Flygon, use Rock Slide!"

Skyla's Flying-type was weak to Rock, and there were rocks everywhere underground!

Rock Slide was an area-of-effect move!

Watch me take them both out with one Rock Slide!

Elesa also smiled confidently:

"Phantom Force."

The tall Golurk instantly vanished into the shadows, disappearing from the field!

Elesa's Golurk didn't have No Guard, but Iron Fist!

So, even though there were four Pokémon on the field, only one was actually taking damage, but...

Jump!

Guangtai commanded in his heart. Axew leaped up, dodging the massive amount of falling rocks, its proud tusks glowing with green light.

It charged straight at Flygon!

Flygon, busy using Rock Slide, didn't expect Axew to jump straight over; the strike was powerful and full of force!

Flygon let out a pained cry!

First Impression!

A powerful move with a priority of +2, but it only succeeds if used immediately upon entering battle!

Speaking of which, for Axew to learn this move, its parent must have been a Trapinch!

As a Pokémon used by Team Plasma and hailing from Opelucid City, Axew had a high starting level and a wide variety of moves.

After eating so much experience and growing, although it had only fought once in the process, its power was no longer what it had been!

But the next moment, the giant from the shadows appeared right behind Axew!

The moment it punched Axew away, Elesa immediately issued a command, shifting the target:

"Use 'Bulldoze' on Swanna!"

(End of chapter)