Chapter 336: A Trade of Odd Colors? (Mega-Combined Chapter)

All Baimu had to feel grateful that the prelims had landed him on a Water field.

At the same time.

There was also a Toxapex with rotten luck that kept making mistakes — it used Poison-type moves against a Steel-type Pokémon, no less, and was even startled into a brief daze by Aggron's Surf, handing away its chance for nothing.

On paper, it actually had the type advantage.

But it was understandable.

Thanks to the brief adjustment period that fellow brought, plus the openings the two subsequent Water-types kept handing over, Aggron grew more and more in its element, even picking up backstroke along the way.

At the end of the day, Aggron was reckless enough — a Pokémon weak to Water daring to use Surf against Water-types' Surf. Even All Baimu commanding it might not have had that kind of nerve, yet it not only dared.

It even managed to suppress the opponent's STAB Surf to the point where it wouldn't affect itself.

To put it bluntly, even if it awakened a Water-type move on the spot, All Baimu wouldn't find it all that strange.

And given how well it had adapted to water by now, if someone claimed Aggron hadn't built up any resistance to Water-type moves, he definitely wouldn't buy it.

Of course, staying in the water that long had probably worn the former out plenty.

"As expected, there's still plenty of room to grow — lots of space to improve in every aspect."

All Baimu recalled the three Poké Balls and was about to check the countdown in the lower right corner when a window full of text popped up on the screen.

An announcement came through the speakers.

He skimmed through it quickly, his face settling into an expression of "just as I thought."

The reason the Battle Tent's opening three rounds were called "prelims" rather than "qualifiers" was that, based on the participants' performances, two people would be sent straight to the semifinals.

It was called the Prelim Reward Mechanism.

And the Battle Tent's matching system wasn't the traditional tournament style — finish all matches first, then assign. Instead, trainers who finished early were matched against other trainers who finished early, and it kept going until the three prelim rounds were done.

Before the matches, the computer would predict how long each battle would take based on the situation, then adjust according to actual results.

All Baimu's Pokémon had wrapped up three rounds in less than a morning — clearly among the fastest batch — so naturally they fell under the reward mechanism.

So they were only two steps from the championship; Aggron and the others just needed two more matches.

Such a format both sped up the pace of the tournament and amped up the competition — a special rule Scottie had come up with himself. The Battle Frontier side was especially fond of these unconventional battle styles.

But this kind of entertainment mode was surely only played on Scottie's own turf; you definitely wouldn't see it in standard major tournaments.

"Two more matches…"

He stood up, stretched his limbs, and left through the door.

The start time for the main tournament after the prelims would be sent to his phone via text message, and if he wasn't there when the match was about to start, they'd call him. Most other people would probably need to be called a few times — so he could use this chance to swing by the Pokémon Center for a checkup and grab a bite to eat.

And before all that, the most important thing of all —

Cleaning Mawile's body.

Although Sludge Wave was mostly made up of type energy, it also carried a bit of Toxapex's bodily fluids — mixed into Sludge Wave, the smell probably wasn't going to be pleasant.

Fortunately, the Poké Ball's special construction let Mawile put up with it.

Actually, the bathroom in the room could have handled a quick cleanup.

But when All Baimu asked Mawile if it wanted to get cleaned up right here, the latter frantically shook its Poké Ball in refusal — it only wanted to go back to the inn and take a bath.

Outside the Battle Tent.

The benches by the flower beds and the main street were packed with all sorts of spectators and Pokémon, craning their necks to watch the battles inside through the many large screens on the outer facade.

All Baimu glanced over and found that nearly every screen was showing a drawn-out battle.

Pokémon without their trainers were like losing a clear-headed brain — their battles were easily influenced on every front, and their lack of understanding of the enemy led them to make wrong calls on their own.

And in most cases, they'd get bogged down in a slog.

Take the Machoke and Hariyama on one of the big screens, for example — the two Pokémon weren't even bothering with moves, just straight-up brawling with raw strength, and were even about to bring out submission holds.

Rather than calling it a Pokémon battle, a fighting tournament might be a more apt description.

There were also cases like Golduck and Dusclops trading Hyper Beams — neither of these two Pokémon was Normal-type, but they sure loved spamming Hyper Beam; in the end they'd probably get stuck in a grind between type energy and stamina.

Then there were types like Forretress and Shuckle, just staring each other down, neither willing to make the first move — who knew how long they could drag this out.

Probably later on it'd just come down to whose endurance was greater.

Seeing battles like this, it was no wonder Scottie had introduced a reward-and-penalty mechanism — there were always Pokémon that liked to stall.

After all, without a trainer's guidance, Pokémon fought entirely according to their own habits — the indecisive, the decisive and efficient, the wildly feral, and so on — all of it on display across the big screens.

All Baimu looked away, and his ears caught plenty of people nearby talking about Aggron.

"What a shame, I wanted to see that Aggron battle more!"

"Right? It's amazing even in the water."

"I really can't tell if it counts as a land Pokémon or a water Pokémon — it actually swims that fast in the water!"

"The key is it's smart — it already has a whole flow going. Use an Electric-type move to paralyze and close the distance, then finish it off with a powerful move! That Mantine at the end clearly wanted to ram in, right? Once it realized Mantine didn't have great resistance to Electric-type moves, it quickly switched up its strategy."

"Right, how on earth does its trainer raise it?"

"I really hope we can see its match this afternoon."

"Hahaha, that's basically impossible, right? With a performance like that, it's definitely getting fast-tracked to the semifinals. The others still have at least another day to go — two days isn't out of the question."

A few passersby walked past, chatting and laughing.

Two days?

All Baimu glanced at the big screens — he hadn't really believed it at first, but watching those Pokémon battles, each with their own dose of drama, he figured dragging it out for a day or two really was possible.

Not long after.

The inn.

He didn't see Manaphy at the front desk — figured it had obediently gone back to catch up on sleep.

"Welcome~"

A girl he didn't recognize at the front desk bowed to him.

"Please prepare one human lunch and six Pokémon lunches, the typings are…"

All Baimu had thought it over on the way: to avoid having matches in the afternoon, he simply wouldn't cook lunch himself, and would try the guesthouse's cooking while he was at it.

Senri's wife Mitsuko had mentioned earlier that Green Field Town's agricultural products were of excellent quality, so the taste probably wouldn't be bad.

"Your request has been noted."

The front desk clerk bowed.

He nodded, went straight back to his room and ducked into the bathroom, opened a Poké Ball and released Mawile.

"Chido—!

"

The moment it came out of the ball, it caught the stench on its own body, immediately ran under the showerhead, didn't bother adjusting the water temperature, just turned it on and frantically doused itself.

Once the slime on its surface was washed away, it finally let out a small sigh of relief.

But when it brought its nose close to its arms and body for a sniff, it showed an expression of utter disgust.

"Chido!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

All Baimu adjusted the water temperature for Mawile, squeezed its special shower gel onto a bath puff and handed it over. "Don't scrub too hard, you'll lose fur. If there's still a smell, we'll do an aromatherapy bath when we get back."

"Chido~"

The moment it caught the pleasant scent, its expression quickly relaxed. It nodded slightly, worked up a mountain of bubbles, and scrubbed itself thoroughly inside and out before it was satisfied.

After finally finishing the bath and blow-drying its fur, he also had to prove to it that the Poké Ball absolutely did not stink and did not need replacing.

All Baimu let out a breath of relief.

The crisis was temporarily averted.

Although Mawile wasn't like Ash's Rockruff in its early days — going berserk the moment its fur got dirty, refusing to listen to its Trainer's commands — leaving it unattended for too long could easily cause it psychological trauma.

And just as he was preparing to head to the Pokémon Center, he pushed open the door and saw Manchu sitting on the flower bed on either side of the main entrance.

The kid had his head lowered, lost in thought.

"Didn't you go to sleep?"

He asked instinctively.

"Ah, All Baimu… I've already slept," Manchu said, dark circles under his eyes, telling a bald-faced lie with his eyes wide open. "How did the Battle Tent matches go? I was just about to go watch…"

All Baimu replied: "Straight to the semifinals."

"That's amazing! Was it some Pokémon I haven't seen before?" Manchu stood up excitedly.

"Just a Pokémon you can find anywhere."

He pressed the boy's shoulder, pushing him back down onto the flower bed. "You should figure out how to get some sleep first. I'm worried you'll drop dead. Hmm…"

All Baimu pulled out his homemade aromatherapy spray from his pocket and spritzed Manchu's face twice.

"Ah!"

The latter started in surprise, then a hint of weariness quickly showed on his face, and his blinking sped up. "Wh-what is this stuff? A sleep spray?"

"You're overthinking it. This is a spray made from a calming-sleep fragrance essence. It only works wonders on the sleepless; someone who's wide awake will just feel clear-headed and sharp. Kids should read less shady books."

"What… shady… books?"

"Never mind. Take this and get back to sleep quick, careful you don't collapse at the door with no one to help you up." All Baimu stuffed the aromatherapy spray into Manchu's hand, thought for a moment, then unclipped the Poké Ball swaying gently at his waist and released Gardevoir.

"Take your Trainer back."

He pushed Manchu into the latter's arms.

A wave of security welled up in his chest, and Manchu's perpetually fighting eyelids could hold out no longer, slowly closing.

Gardevoir carefully picked up its Trainer and sent over a grateful look.

"No need to thank me. When your Trainer wakes up, be sure to tell him to battle me more often."

All Baimu waved it off.

Good.

A favor had been cashed in.

Knowing Manchu's personality, when he woke up and saw the aromatherapy spray, he'd surely feel terribly embarrassed, and the success rate of repeatedly asking him for battles would be much higher.

Besides, the way this guy looked so lost right now, maybe battling more would help him get back to normal.

Maybe.

He couldn't be sure either.

——

Coming out of the Pokémon Center.

Aggron, as expected, had no problems at all — swimming in the pool was no different from swimming in the ocean.

And it had just learned a new move, so it was very happy, very excited.

"Looks like you really could learn moves like Water Cannon."

All Baimu released it in a park, patted its arm, mimed holding a microphone up to its mouth, and asked: "Have you considered continuing to develop in the direction of Water-type Pokémon?"

"Guou."

Yes, it had!

Aggron lowered its body slightly, just like those Pokémon being interviewed on TV, and nodded seriously.

"Hahaha, why are you playing along so well, you big lug!"

All Baimu laughed and kicked it.

Aggron laughed too, swinging its thick tail.

Just as he was about to say a couple more words, a voice rang out from not far away.

"Ah! What a big Aggron! How awesome!"

"It really is!"

The two turned their heads and saw a group of trainers, each accompanied by a Pokémon, crowding over.

They held Poké Balls and kept asking, "Would you trade your Aggron for my Dodrio? A three-headed Pokémon is really fun!"

"Trade it for my Gengar! It'll definitely make you laugh! You can't travel without some fun!"

"No, no, trade it for my Snorlax — it eats a lot, sure, but it's super soft and squishy, really comfy to touch!"

One after another, their words were stuffed full of persuasion.

All Baimu and Aggron exchanged a glance; the former waved his hand and said, "Sorry, Aggron's not for trade, and I'm not taking part in the Pokémon Trade Fair either!"

Hearing him say that, those trainers stopped their persuading one after another, looking a little awkward.

"Oh, just a passerby."

"I thought he was a participant too."

"Sorry, pretend none of this ever happened."

All Baimu was about to say it was fine when shouts suddenly rang out from afar.

"Come look! Someone's brought out shiny Pokémon to trade! So many shiny Pokémon!"

Shiny?

He gave a slight start; the trainers who had been surrounding him immediately scattered, squeezing toward the direction the voice had come from, scrambling like sardines.

"Sure enough, wherever trainers gather in large numbers, something like this happens."

All Baimu turned and said to Aggron.

The latter flicked its tail and gave a noncommittal low growl, "Grrr~"

Shouldn't we go take a look?

It knew trainers had always been chasing shiny Feebas, but lately they hadn't even run into ordinary Feebas much.

"We really should go see."

All Baimu patted its head, recalled it into its Poké Ball, and headed toward the direction of the shouting.

He saw, in the middle of a tightly packed crowd, several Pokémon whose colors clearly differed from those of their kind striking various poses, with a smiling, simple-looking fatty at the center.

"Shiny Wooper, shiny Lotad, shiny Slugma, shiny Pineco… huh? Why are there two?"

He was puzzled at first, then immediately understood — these were probably two Wurmple that had evolved.

Even in the games, this kind of Pokémon makes its evolution path hard to decide, because it's determined by stats; this fatty probably had rotten luck — not a single one evolved into Cascoon.

What a shame.

But in All Baimu's eyes, shiny Dustox looked a little better than shiny Beautifly; the latter's tones felt a bit off, like an old faded photograph, while the former was a perfectly proper "leaf butterfly" wing.

"If you want to trade for my shiny Pokémon, bring out shiny Pokémon of your own to trade~"

The fatty shouted at the surrounding crowd.

Shiny for shiny?

Many trainers in the crowd turned and left on the spot when they heard this; the rest went up stubbornly to negotiate with the fatty, touting the merits of their own Pokémon.

All Baimu watched from the sidelines for about twenty minutes; seeing the fatty still hadn't finished trading and looked quite happy, he figured the guy was probably just out here showing off his Pokémon. It's just that this person's way of showing off had a "professional" name — flexing shinies.

Way too flashy.

Hopefully no one gets fooled by dyed Pokémon.

All Baimu knew well that in the anime world, plenty of trainers liked dyeing their Pokémon's fur, and there were even criminals who dyed them and then passed them off as shiny Pokémon for sale.

This trick doesn't boost a Pokémon's battle power, but being different from the crowd can bring a sense of superiority, so plenty of people still chase after it — trainers who set collecting every shiny Pokémon as their goal have even appeared.

He looked away and regretfully returned to the inn.

Lunch happened to be ready; he and Aggron and the other Pokémon ate their midday meal while waiting.

——

Afternoon.

Since there wasn't much to do.

All Baimu began training Pokémon that didn't battle, like Galarian Corsola.

The main goal was to have them learn more useful moves and gradually raise their energy levels.

Galarian Corsola's most important task was undoubtedly learning 【Will-O-Wisp】 and 【Protect】; the former would give it a better chance against physical attackers, and the latter would keep it from being swiftly knocked down by a Roserade switched in like yesterday.

Even in the instant right after using a move, it could still put up a fight.

If it managed to get Protect up, that'd be a huge win.

And Galarian Corsola, aware of its trainer's resolve, had long since steeled itself for "overtime."

Nothing to be done about it.

Even a life of slacking off is complicated.

Sometimes putting in a little effort is for the sake of slacking off better later on.

All Baimu strictly followed Dr. Kukui's teachings; in learning moves, he didn't take a hands-off approach, but actively took part.

So how does one take part in learning Will-O-Wisp?

He bought some white phosphorus, planning to do chemistry experiments beside Galarian Corsola and develop "Will-O-Wisp" himself.

But following Ash's Gengar's learning method, maybe letting Galarian Corsola watch more Pokémon use Fire-type energy would also be a good choice?

Just try both.

Perhaps this method really worked.

When All Baimu set the white-phosphorus-soaked gauze alight and managed to produce a green Will-O-Wisp, a small wisp of bluish ghost flame also flared up in front of Galarian Corsola.

It vanished in a flash, but All Baimu caught it precisely.

"... Ha, looks like the two of us have figured out the trick." He said with a smile to Galarian Sunflora.

The first step is always the hardest; once you have one and two, three will follow.

Galarian Sunflora, whose mouth corners turned down, glanced at him and, rare for it, gave a response: "Thro…"

Now it was Porygon's turn.

To be honest, All Baimu had absolutely no clue how to learn the move 【Trick Room】.

Leaving the former to force it out on its own would definitely get nowhere.

He had even wanted Professor Akihabara to just design a skill-learning patch directly, so Porygon could learn it on the spot — and this wasn't just his wild fantasy; Professor Akihabara had genuinely considered it.

But due to various factors, that patch was never successfully designed.

However, the assistant fellow had recently pointed him down a clear path.

Have Porygon design a program inside the computer similar to Trick Room, making fast things slow and slow things fast.

It was said this could stimulate the learning unit within its body, thereby letting it automatically comprehend Trick Room.

The idea was pretty good.

So All Baimu splurged on a laptop.

Currently Porygon is in the middle of enthusiastically learning programming, so Trick Room is set aside for a bit, and the move target is switched to Ice Beam.

Ice-type offense is still quite respectable.

The learning process is also very simple.

Stuff Porygon into the refrigerator, stimulate the Ice-type program loaded inside its body. Once it can call upon Ice-type energy, Ice Beam will be learned.

That's how artificial Pokémon are — in every aspect, they're not quite the same as normal Pokémon.

Learning moves is no exception.

And now it was Zweilous's turn.

All Baimu hesitated slightly.

He felt that rather than learning moves, Zweilous should focus on raising its level —

The latter thought the same way.

Yesterday's loss to Roserade, which belonged to Manchu, left it deeply frustrated. It believed that if it had been Bastiodon facing Roserade, it definitely wouldn't have lost.

Where exactly was it lacking?

Energy level!

Or to put it even more bluntly, stats!

Zweilous was well aware that precisely because its stats and level were vastly inferior to Roserade's, which had been battling for years, its Dragon Rush not only failed to pierce the latter's Pin Missile, but was actually canceled out by it.

If Dragon Rush could have landed, and then followed up with Fire Fang, Roserade definitely wouldn't have needed Steelix to come in for the cleanup to go down.

Just a little bit short.

And "just a little bit short" means a lot short — means you can't win.

Zweilous didn't want things to go on like this. It wanted to level up, it wanted to get stronger, it wanted to evolve into an even more powerful form.

A firm resolve circled through both of Zweilous's heads, and together with the fight over Bastiodon's ace position, it was filed away under the most important matters.

Evolve! Evolve!