Chapter 315: Incoming Enemy?

Noon.

Baimu said goodbye to Xiaoguang at the dock.

The fastest and most efficient way from Kaina City to Weibai Town was undoubtedly by boat; one could travel overland, but it required a very long detour.

The latter worried Xiaogang might leave at any moment, so he chose to take a boat to Weibai Town.

Parting brought a sudden pang of sorrow, but the two also made a new promise:

If they didn't meet in the next few Gorgeous Contests, they'd reunite at the Mi Ke Li Cup or a grand Gorgeous festival.

They were not only friends, but rivals.

Unless one of them fell so far behind they couldn't even collect five Ribbon Badges, they'd meet again sooner or later — this was beyond doubt.

"See you later!"

Xiaoguang leaned on the railing and waved down at Baimu.

"Pojiajia—"

The Pochama beside him was in tears, bidding a lingering farewell to a thoroughly bewildered Gulpin — it had been looking forward to traveling with the latter, but who could have guessed the two trainers' paths didn't align at all, and the sweet dream was shattered on the spot.

The love it had so painstakingly regained was about to be severed once more by the vast distance of Tiannandibei.

"Qiduo~"

Out of politeness, Gulpin waved back at it as a farewell.

This response, however—

The Pochama on the ship immediately cried even louder, its little wings flapping as if trying to take flight. "Pojiajia—!

Pojiajia—!

Unfortunately, its cries were drowned out by the ferry's departure whistle.

"Qiduo?"

Gulpin turned its head and curiously asked Baimu.

Baimu replied with a smile: "It said it likes you, and really can't bear to part with you… that's roughly it. I don't actually understand Pokémon speech."

"Qiduo!"

Gulpin shot him a look — you don't understand it, yet you still put on such a solemn act?

But speaking of 'like'… if that was the case, then many of that fellow's earlier crazy-seeming antics suddenly had an explanation. Thinking back carefully, it wasn't much different from those fanatical fan videos its trainer had shown it.

Gulpin, which had absolutely no concept of the emotion called 'like', had its own set of views.

It wasn't that Baimu deliberately failed to explain what 'like' meant to it — rather, its brain simply didn't have the corresponding concept yet at its current stage.

For example, 'love' means — two people being together every day, feeling happy and joyful at the sight of each other, longing for the other to be with them for life.

Then isn't it in love with its trainer?

It felt all of those emotions toward its trainer!

Bossgodora must be in love with its trainer too, and Chansey, and Dodrio… so many Pokémon are in love with their trainers!

Faced with such a self-righteous Gulpin, Baimu found it very hard to explain the difference between the bond formed between trainer and Pokémon and the romantic affection between the opposite sexes. No matter how strong the theory, it was useless against sophistry.

This fellow stubbornly clung to certain ideas — you couldn't drag it back even with nine oxen.

It had to figure it out on its own.

Having a Pokémon like this was quite enough for Baimu.

He watched the ferry gradually recede, then turned and said: "Alright, now that we've seen him off, we should get going too. Whose turn is it today?"

"Qiduo!"

Gulpin raised its two little hands and snapped them together like biting.

"Just happens to be Dodrio's turn?" Baimu was quite surprised — although in his heart he did want to let Dodrio out more often, to show it all sorts of things.

But in principle, the Pokémon accompanying them today was still decided by the usual rotation.

After all, this matter suffered both from having too few and from uneven distribution — unless, like Steelix, the body was so absurdly massive there was no way to bring it along, and besides, it was full of enthusiasm for its tunneling career.

"Qiduo~" Gulpin yawned, pulled its Poké Ball out of the trainer's pocket, pressed the switch, and ducked inside.

loubiqu.

Yesterday Baimu and Dodrio and the others had stayed up too late, so it hadn't slept well.

And now it had to be specially called out to say goodbye — utterly miserable~

Baimu looked helplessly at the Poké Ball in his hand. "You really are something."

Speaking of Steelix.

Recently, with Bossgodora's approval and encouragement, Steelix had begun its mountain-terracing journey, using the 【Tilling】 move to work hard at making its big bro's territory fertile.

Although in fact it had already been cultivating for a long time with Baimu's quiet support, having its big bro's recognition was ultimately different, so it was working especially hard now. At this pace, its level was estimated to rise quite a bit.

Don't think that just because Ash has Professor Oak helping him raise Pokémon, he also has N's help, plus he often calls him over to feed it glowing dishes — Steelix wouldn't fall behind the overall pace.

As for whether Steelix could sweep three in a row like Scizor, that remained to be seen.

If it could Mega Evolve, it probably wouldn't be a problem.

Before seeing Xiaoguang off, Baimu had picked up Steelix's evolution stone from the Pokémon Center, which Lisha had finished cutting.

The value of the first batch of gems sent over earlier had also been estimated — totaling around three hundred thousand, which would be transferred to the Pokémon Bank account in a couple of days.

As for which part of Steelix to place the evolution stone on, he had actually already decided long ago—

The back of its big head.

This fellow had a sunken pit at the back of its head. Embedding the Steelixite together with a metal disc and welding it there meant there was absolutely no chance of it falling off.

Normal opponents also wouldn't get the chance to strike that spot.

And having obtained legendary-grade equipment, Steelix was naturally overjoyed, and worked even harder at its terracing.

Besides the Steelixite, the delivery also included an additional sponsorship contract from Team Aqua.

The day before yesterday.

Though it was a bit embarrassing, he still said that line in public—"Thank you to the Marine Team for their strong personal support of me." He had no choice: either refuse, or take the money and do the job.

Taking the money without doing the job would be too unethical.

After a night of fermenting, this incident brought the Marine Team no small benefit, to the point that they were thinking of adding more money in exchange for a longer cooperation period.

On the other hand, All Baimu, due to extreme embarrassment, really wished he could cut that post-award line, preferring to forgo the money and add years to the contract for free.

After the two sides negotiated, the Marine Team agreed to his request and sent a new contract—increased sponsorship fees and cooperation period, with the post-competition lines removed.

It's not that the Marine Team is stupid and rich; it's just that that line was indeed somewhat jarring, causing both All Baimu's and their own online reputation to drop. Many people said that the Gorgeous Competition is a stage for young people to chase their dreams, and shouldn't be filled with such a heavy commercial atmosphere.

Although after learning that the Marine Team is an environmental organization, the online reputation is gradually recovering, this still taught the Marine Team a lesson.

They had just transformed from an organization full of dark history, and truly didn't dare to casually do things that would affect their own reputation.

Clearly not short on money, why couldn't they do things openly and aboveboard?

Every single member of the Marine Team didn't want to return to that past situation of being universally despised—after all, they were also working hard for a better future.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

In a secret base somewhere deep in the mountains.

A man with a slicked-back red pompadour, wearing glasses and looking refined, dressed in a long red robe, looked at the computer screen showing the Marine Team's reviews. After a long silence, he spoke:

"Captain Huoyan, go meet this man called All Baimu."

"Yes~ Boss~"

A purple-haired girl wearing a bull-horned hood smiled and acknowledged.