Chapter 261: The Light of Bonds

Waves rolled on and on.

A rare good swell rose, yet no one took part in it.

Most of them kept a wide distance — some lying prone on their surfboards, others clinging to their boards as they bobbed in the sea.

On one hand, they were observing the etiquette of not stealing waves; on the other, they were staring in astonishment at the Blastoise riding the waves, and the boy cheering excitedly on its back.

"A Blastoise… surfing??"

A Rock-type Pokémon can surf on the sea too?

They remembered that Blastoise can't resist Water-type moves!

They thought seeing a Machoke and a Hitmonlee go surfing was already the strangest thing under heaven, but a Blastoise surfing…

It was simply beyond comprehension.

But unlike the crowd of surfers whose thoughts were in turmoil, All Baimu and Blastoise were utterly immersed in joy at this moment.

Especially the latter — it had been the one begging and resisting at first, and now it was the one shouting "again, again!" Riding the surging tide and rolling waves with its trainer, it felt as if it had become a lone little boat.

Though it had nothing to rely on itself, the breathing and laughter coming from its back made it feel utterly at ease.

Both mind and body were greatly freed.

Of course.

It wasn't just Blastoise.

All Baimu enjoyed this feeling just as much — as if treading on the spray, body swaying so that at any moment he might plunge into the sea, that floating, unmoored sensation. It was thrilling.

But also reassuring.

Because right beneath his feet was the Pokémon he trusted most — it would never let him fall into danger.

Every time a swell rose and formed an eddy, All Baimu had to lean forward, press both hands against Blastoise's back, and feel the sense of safety that came from the tremor of its body.

And as his skill grew more practiced, he almost had the illusion of having merged with Blastoise, as if the two of them had become a single whole.

"Charge!"

All Baimu shouted, and Blastoise couldn't help speeding up the swaying of its tail, using the force of the rising swell to push its lateral speed faster — and then—

And then it nearly collided with someone who wasn't paying attention.

Fortunately, a sudden gust of wind from the side knocked that person flying a short distance, narrowly avoiding an unnecessary accident.

"Are you okay?"

All Baimu was startled and hurriedly called out to the person.

The person shook their head in the water, wiped their face with an expression of having narrowly escaped death, "I'm fine… I zoned out for a second, sorry about that."

"Glad you're okay."

He shifted his gaze toward where that gust had come from, and immediately spotted a figure over two meters tall — its palms like banana leaves, absurdly huge, its build as bulky and bloated as a sumo wrestler, yet giving off a feeling of boundless strength.

A Hitmonlee…

"Even if you've got the ability, don't just speed up whenever you feel like it when you're new to surfing."

A young man appeared beside it — mid-length hair as wild and billowing as a blue lion's mane, wearing an orange short-sleeved shirt — and said with a smile: "It's dangerous. And I'd suggest you use a surfboard — that's plenty fun too."

"Thanks, I understand."

All Baimu nodded, accepted his advice, and said: "You're Fujisu, right?"

Fujisu froze for a moment, his expression instantly turning awkward. "A challenger? Sorry, today I'm keeping the gym closed for a break — I really couldn't pass up weather this good…"

It looked like challengers came to his door so often that he already had a fixed set of replies ready.

"No worries, I've already booked ahead. As long as you don't skip out tomorrow, that's fine." All Baimu patted Blastoise's head, signaling it to head toward the shore.

"Gugou~"

"Don't keep hogging the waves — they've yielded to us plenty of times. Let's head up and rest, I'm beat."

Hearing his trainer say this, Blastoise slowly made its way toward land.

Fujisu watched the backs of him and Blastoise, and didn't quite dare say that if tomorrow's waves were good he'd keep slacking off again, and that if some force majeure came up there was nothing to be done about it.

His survival instincts forced this gym leader — who often went out to ride the waves in summer — to become quick-witted.

On shore.

All Baimu and Blastoise walked toward the sun umbrella.

The latter shook the water off itself as it walked, noticed that a lot had collected in the hole on its head, and lowered its head to fling it wildly from side to side.

Even after that it still wasn't satisfied, and started spraying sand out.

And although the hole was clearly plugged with a Mega Stone, it still pried it out and tried spraying a couple of times.

Compulsive behavior — it can't rest easy unless everything's evened out.

But just as it was about to shove the Mega Stone back in, it suddenly seemed to notice the Mega Stone flash — yet when it stared wide-eyed for a closer look, there was nothing at all.

Blastoise was a little puzzled.

"What's up?" All Baimu, seeing it hadn't caught up, turned his head and asked.

Blastoise held up the Mega Stone. "Gugou~"

"Huh?"

"Gugou!"

"It glowed… and something like that actually happened?" All Baimu was shocked, hurriedly leaned in to take a look, and said offhandedly: "Are you sure it wasn't the sun reflecting off it — that it really glowed?"

The moment those words were spoken, Blastoise froze.

"Gu…gou?"

It scratched its head a little sheepishly, suddenly thinking it might really have been the sun reflecting.

"You goof… even if we take it as really glowing, so what? What does glowing prove? It proves that you and I are close — not that there's something wrong with it."

All Baimu gave its head a firm pat, listening to the solid thump-thump sounds with great satisfaction.

A Mega Stone usually doesn't glow; when it does glow, either it's already Mega Evolved, or it's been triggered by the key element of Mega Evolution—a deep bond built between Trainer and Pokémon.

Aggron thought that made a lot of sense, and combined with how genuinely fun that surfing had been just now—a feeling like their souls resonated—it tucked the Mega Stone back in and stopped fussing over it.

bidige.

The moment All Baimu sat down, two girls came running over from a distance, their faces full of hope, saying they wanted to take a photo with Mawile, and told him they'd actually noticed and confirmed each other long ago, but since the Trainer wasn't around they felt too embarrassed to come up and chat.

Photo taken.

The two girls left.

All Baimu couldn't help but grumble, "Your fame really is huge now—sunbathing for a bit and you still get recognized."

"Kii~"

Mawile lazily fiddled with its arms, vain as could be.

The encounters of the past two days had made it absolutely overjoyed; it had never imagined that one day it would be this popular—so many people looked at it with faces full of affection and admiration.

"You'll get even more famous later, don't panic." All Baimu reassured it. Right now it might be enjoyment, but later on it might just become a headache.

"Kii~"

Mawile turned its body around with an angry huff.

A headache? Impossible! It would never, in its entire life, find such a wonderful thing to be a headache.

All Baimu smiled, then changed the subject: "Get a little mentally prepared. For tomorrow's battle, I'm planning to send in you, Aggron, and Galarian Corsola."

The three Pokémon called out nodded one after another.

Nearby, Chansey, who had been stroking Dreepy's fur, felt a slight pang of disappointment upon hearing this. Although it had been keeping up with practice, lately it seemed to rarely get sent out to battle.

"Fighting-type Gyms have a lot of physical attackers, so it's not really suited for you." All Baimu had been keeping an eye on Chansey all along; seeing it look a bit dejected, he hurried over to comfort it.

After all, this was already the third Gym, and Chansey had originally been considered a mainstay. To say it wasn't disappointed after going so long without a chance to battle would be a lie.

"Your day to shine is still ahead, don't worry."

"Lucky!"

Comforted, Chansey felt that gentle large hand on its head, and its mood immediately improved quite a bit.