Chapter 338: The Smiling Devil

"Just pick one head to release it from."

Baimu said so.

This basically wasn't something that required too much thought, but seeing that the Dual-Headed Tyrant hadn't responded to him right away, he understood this fellow might have come up with a bold idea.

"Stop."

He pressed down on the Dual-Headed Tyrant's head and told it very seriously, "Those things can wait until after you've learned it. For now, rein in that wild imagination of yours."

"Heywu!" "Heywu!"

Hearing its Trainer's command, the Dual-Headed Tyrant had no choice but to dispel that half-baked idea from its head.

Thanks to having only one core consciousness, the Dual-Headed Tyrant didn't waste time arguing over which head should release Meteor Swarm, and with one head releasing while the other helped, it could better control the stability of the move.

Of course.

Everything still had to start with completing the first step.

Baimu still broke Meteor Swarm down into three steps—focus the mind to gather energy, release the gathered energy, and guide the released energy to detonate and fall on the designated location.

Given the Dual-Headed Tyrant's talent, it might be able to complete one step per day.

Meanwhile, Mitsumane, upon learning his method for teaching moves, fell into deep thought.

Although he'd long relied on sheer presence to learn moves, that didn't mean he'd reject this seemingly more "scientific" approach to learning techniques.

Just as Baimu thought about learning Mitsumane's idealistic techniques, Mitsumane also wanted to learn Baimu's method of breaking moves down into steps.

"My Healing Game"

Only by exchanging what each had could they improve together.

Furthermore, teaching Baimu's Pokémon moves also helped deepen his Pokémon's understanding of those moves. When the Dual-Headed Tyrant finally completed the first step of gathering energy, Garchomp's control over Meteor Swarm had also improved.

"Heywu!"

The Dual-Headed Tyrant could not resist guiding the orange energy orb it had finally gathered onto its left head, then watching from its right head as it shot skyward!

Boom!

The orb of light flew high.

Under the Dual-Headed Tyrant's expectant gaze and Baimu's unsurprised look, it didn't explode—instead it plummeted straight down, smashing a small crater into the ground like a mortar round.

Thud!

"Heywu!" "Heywu!"

The Dual-Headed Tyrant couldn't hide its disappointment. It, who prided itself as a little genius at learning moves, hadn't managed to complete the entire lesson in a single day and impress its Trainer?

"Getting this far is good enough. The parts you're missing can be worked on later." Baimu rubbed both of its heads.

Mitsumane also nodded and said, "Yes, learning moves requires a lot of patience."

"Kabu~"

Garchomp growled softly.

Three mouths against two—of course whatever you say goes.

The Dual-Headed Tyrant didn't argue back, just buried its head in its Trainer's arms, nuzzling and acting cute.

Baimu rubbed its fur while chatting with Mitsumane.

And in a house far in the distance that neither of them had noticed—one whose rooftop overlooked the park—someone lowered the binoculars in their hands.

"A Garchomp and a Dual-Headed Tyrant that know Meteor Swarm... hmph! Searched high and low only to find it right here! Let's see who can still compete with me for the title of number one in the thief underworld!"

"Boss! We've tracked down where those two are staying! It's at that guesthouse not far from here!"

An excited voice rang out beside him, "Shall we make our move tonight?"

"Not so fast!"

That person shook his head, "Let's keep watching for a while. Wait until that Dual-Headed Tyrant learns Meteor Swarm. And besides, caution above all else. What do we rely on to make our way in the world?"

"Uh… picking on easy marks?"

"Idiot! It's caution!" That person smacked his companion on the head, "You're the real fool here!"

The companion shrank back, not daring to argue.

The fat sheep they'd caught today had sent their confidence skyrocketing. Not only had they failed to leave Greenfield Town right away, they were now planning to exploit the advantage of hiding in plain sight and pull off another big score!

As for whether that "hiding in plain sight" was truly hidden, it would depend on whether Officer Jenny could successfully catch them.

——

The next day.

The morning still brought no message about the match.

It wasn't until the afternoon that the battle notification finally arrived.

During this time, Baimu had searched for the Battle Tent on the blog and discovered that it actually had an "official account," which regularly posted highlight recordings of matches.

Unfortunately, it didn't get much attention.

The Battle Tent was like a village-rules tournament—only really popular within Greenfield Town. In this slow-paced life, having a competition like this was quite fun.

But outsiders, accustomed to fast-paced Trainers, probably didn't have the patience to watch two Pokémon battle with no "technical content." Seeing a Pokémon use a less-than-ideal move because it wasn't familiar with its opponent wouldn't strike them as funny—it would give them high blood pressure, make them absolutely furious.

Combined reasons led to this competition having little fame outside.

And this low profile was exactly what Baimu needed.

"An afternoon should be enough to finish two battles, right?"

He deliberated and once again called out Steelix.

To be safe, he had to prepare for the worst in the upcoming matches—for instance, if one of the three originally planned couldn't continue fighting.

He squeezed his way through the crowd of outside spectators gathered around the Battle Tent.

Led by a staff member, Baimu arrived at a Trainer waiting room more than twice the size of the previous one.

Perhaps it was an exclusive perk for the semifinals—every facility in the room was noticeably better. Even the viewing screen was bigger than before and hadn't become blurry; in fact, it was even clearer.

"If you have any other needs, please notify me at once."

The staff member bowed and retreated out.

The procedure is the same as the preliminaries.

Baimu leaned back on the sofa and waited in silence; when the screen displayed the match-ready message, he placed three Poké Balls into the transmission device.

The lead, without question, was still Mawile.

Its mobility could handle any situation, and it could also pass its boosted abilities on to its teammates — there was no Pokémon more suited to taking the field first.

The type of battle field appeared on screen—

A sand terrain.

Seeing the familiar gravel and rocks, Baimu couldn't say whether the god of luck was on his side.

Perhaps the opponent also had a bunch of Rock- or Ground-type Pokémon?

Bang bang!

The machine fired out Poké Balls.

When he saw the Pokémon the other side had sent out, he realized his guess had been correct.

On the battlefield.

The moment Mawile landed, it used Magnet Rise to float into the air.

Based on the intel it had gotten from Aggron, whether it led off or came in mid-battle, it was best to move quickly after entering the field, to avoid being locked onto the instant it appeared.

Fortunately, by the time it had risen into the air, the fellow on the other side had only just entered the field as well.

"Chee-doh?"

Mawile sized up the opponent, recalling the Pokémon knowledge it had crammed the day before. Although it couldn't remember the name of this strange Pokémon covered all over in orange-red crystals, it was clear the other side should be a pure Rock-type.

Very good.

On the type matchup, its side had the advantage!

The thought had only just risen when it saw the Pang Yan Guai in the distance suddenly roar, countless fine grains of sand lifting from the ground and, along with a gust of wind, rapidly spreading toward it.

The speed was so fast that Mawile had no time to react at all, instinctively retreating backward and raising a hand to shield its eyes.

And when it came back to its senses, it was shocked to see the surroundings already filled with a dark yellow hue, the entire field enveloped by a swirling sandstorm, as if some invisible force was confining the flowing sand.

A sandstorm?

Or a Quicksand Hell?

Mawile didn't dare hesitate too long, knowing perfectly well that without a trainer's commands, the only advantage it possessed was one thing — speed!

It had to be faster than the opponent!

Mawile suddenly stomped on a rock behind it, adding a burst of speed to its forward charge, its whole body abruptly transforming into a streak as fast as lightning.

In an instant.

The Pang Yan Guai in the distance, just launching its attack, felt its vision blur, and a piercing shriek of air suddenly rang in its ears, coming from far to near!

"Roar!"

In its terror it let out a bellow, the orange-red crystals jutting from its body like horns lighting up with a dark silver gleam, a terrifying ball of energy rapidly gathering into shape and suddenly firing forward!

【Power Gem】!

Boom!

The enormous recoil made its body shudder violently, dust billowing.

But clearly, without having seen clearly where its opponent was, no matter how powerful such an attack was, it couldn't deal effective damage. The energy ball, as expected, landed on empty air, exploding with a thunderous boom and releasing a pillar of dazzling light into the sky.

Rolling dust rapidly spread over, shrouding its figure.

It missed!?

Pang Yan Guai's gaze swept rapidly.

Little did it know that this layer of light and smoke provided cover for Mawile's movements. It hadn't realized at all that the instant its energy ball exploded, the former had already flashed past its front, spun around, and stomped a foot on a rock behind it.

Bang!

The sound of the rock shattering finally drew Pang Yan Guai's attention, but before it could turn its head, Mawile — its descending forward momentum replenished a second time — had already slammed headfirst into its back!

Dong!

Mawile, enveloped in a silver ring of energy, was like a speeding bullet. Beneath the bell-like thud of the impact, the terrifying shock, even for something as heavy as Pang Yan Guai, still sent it skidding back four or five meters, gouging two deep furrow-like tracks into the sand.

The searing pain left Pang Yan Guai dizzy, nearly passing out on the spot, its mind a blank haze, its awareness still stuck on the confusion of how Mawile had been able to attack from behind.

The sandstorm hadn't affected it, fine, but Power Gem hadn't hit either?

The waves of weakness welling up layer by layer let Pang Yan Guai understand that it no longer had the ability to keep fighting, and at this point there was only one path left.

Self-

The moment a dazzling light lit up across its body, a brown-red fist suddenly struck its skull, taking away the last shred of stamina and causing the energy that had just gathered inside to dissipate.

"Chee-doh!"

Mawile let out a breath of relief.

That guy was about to use Explosion just now, right? Right? It hadn't seen wrong, had it?

Sure enough, being on guard in advance was absolutely the right call — it didn't want to get blown up again.

Recalling the scene not long ago when it had been hit by Mega Camerupt's Explosion, Mawile couldn't hide the indignation in its heart. What should have been a complete victory had been forcibly turned into a losing position by that Explosion.

Seeing Pang Yan Guai being recalled by the machine in the sky, Mawile immediately began spinning without pause.

To finish off Pang Yan Guai with Power-Up Punch, plus Swords Dance.

Two boost moves had already raised its attack power to a terrifying level. Mawile clenched its fist and looked toward the opponent released not far away, knowing that if things went smoothly, it wasn't impossible to cut straight through three opponents in its current state.

Of course, it had to see clearly what Pokémon the other side was first.

Light flickered.

A short-legged elephant appeared, its body dark grey overall, its back and head covered in a thick layer of black, rock-like keratinous skin.

Ah!

I know this one well!

The moment Mawile laid eyes on Donphan, memories of the one it had often battled back in Iron Town came flooding back — it couldn't have been more familiar.

And what it would take to take down this Pokémon…

"Chee-doh!"

Frost covered Mawile's hands, two sharp ice blades swiftly taking shape; lightning crackled at its feet as it spun and charged at the just-landed Donphan!

Shhhhhhh—

The cold air current mingled with the sand swirling across the field, forming a storm woven of brown-yellow and ice-blue that rolled forward!

"Don!?"

Before Donphan could even get a clear look at its surroundings, its opponent had already launched a fierce assault.

Fortunately it reacted with decent speed, curling up at once into a spinning black tire and rolling forward, narrowly dodging the onrushing ice-sand storm by veering to the side.

Rumble rumble—

The ice storm instantly shattered the rocks at the field's edge, mixing them with the flying sand.

And Donphan, having dodged the attack, didn't stop there — it even sped up its rolling and charged full tilt.

Wherever it passed, sand flew up like surging waves of air; it swung in a huge arc from the field's edge to adjust its bearing, its whole body wrapped in a dazzling spiral of white and purple airflow, and crashed ferociously into Mawile!

The violent wind and terrifying surge of energy made the sandy ground tremble without cease!

Giga Impact!

Meanwhile, on the other side.

After the ice storm missed, Mawile used the force of its spin to abruptly twist its body and, without hesitation, charged once more toward Donphan's position.

In an instant.

Giga Impact and the ice storm collided with a thunderous crash at the center of the field, like a meteor striking the earth, sending up a terrifying shockwave; the materialized gust instantly swallowed the entire field, and the explosion's flames effortlessly destroyed every standing rock, while the machine in midair was battered by fire and earthen smoke all the way to the edge of the arena.

A scene like a nuclear blast filled the eyes.

The screen went blurry.

But All Baimu, watching the battle, wasn't overly worried — he knew that after this exchange, the victor was sure to be Mawile.

Sure enough.

As the smoke slowly cleared, a semicircular crater appeared at the center of the field where the sandstorm had died down.

Inside the crater, Mawile stood perfectly fine on one side, showing little sign of pain on its face, only a little panting; nearby, Donphan lay collapsed on the ground, its eyes turned into black spirals.

Clearly, in the clash with Giga Impact, Mawile — boosted earlier by Sword Dance and Power-Up Punch — was the stronger, finishing its opponent with an ice blade formed from Ice Punch.

"Chee-doh!"

It waved its fist, declaring its victory.

But after calling out, Mawile turned its head and called twice toward the machine in midair, "Chee-doh~"

"Mmm… want to come off the field, do you…"

Although All Baimu couldn't communicate with it, he still understood what it was trying to express.

This one felt the match was already in the bag, and wanted to save enough stamina and type-energy for the next round — the direct consequence of a sharp rise in physical attack was a heavier drain on type-energy.

Inside the field.

Mawile wasn't sure whether its message had gotten across; seeing the opposing machine recall Donphan, it hurriedly raised its right fist.

Baton Pass!

It turned into a streak of Bai Guang and flew back into the Poké Ball on the machine, and then Chansey entered the field.

At the same time.

The opposing machine also sent out its last Pokémon —

a节制-class Pokémon with a massive square rock on its back, a pair of large pincers, and six legs — Crustle.

Seeing it, Chansey instinctively recalled its typing and ability.

Without a doubt.

Little Egg was the most studious of all the Pokémon; to better heal the wounded, it had learned a great deal of Pokémon knowledge back at the Iron Town Pokémon Center, and usually studied alongside its Trainer as well.

Even though it couldn't read, there were hardly any Pokémon it didn't recognize.

"Lucky~"

Chansey looked at Crustle and thought that on its own it should be able to take the opponent down smoothly, without needing to trouble Aggron to step in.

While its teammates were all growing strong, it had to work hard too.

Whether in support, or in battle!

And Crustle, seeing Chansey, unhesitatingly raised its pincers, gathering energy to pull together the sand and stones scattered around it into glowing giant rocks, and fired them off like cannonballs!

Rock Blast!

Peng Peng Peng Peng!

Continuous dull thuds, accompanied by the whistle of giant rocks tearing through the air, rang endlessly in Chansey's ears.

The latter broke into a stride, seemingly ignoring the rocks raining down in parabolic arcs, lifting its little hands as it closed in on Crustle.

The giant rocks slammed down and shattered into countless pebble-like fragments, yet not a single one so much as grazed Chansey.

Leaving Crustle wide-eyed.

Then an invisible wave of psychic energy struck suddenly, swiftly binding every part of its body and lifting it uncontrollably off the ground.

"Eewa!"

Crustle flailed its pincers and six legs in panic, desperately trying to break free of the Telekinesis's hold.

However, this force was simply too powerful, pinning it dead in the air — no matter how it thrashed, it couldn't break free.

In its desperation, a terrifying red light flared across its body, and the massive boulder on its back suddenly exploded!

【Hatching】!

"Eewa!"

Crustle let out a great cry, and the powerful energy wave actually managed to disrupt the psychic force locking it down; it landed back on the ground with its shell exposed.

Red light shrouded its carapace as an astonishing aura burst forth.

Crustle, resolved to fight to the death, watched Chansey charging toward it, gathered a terrifying boulder between its pincers — far larger than its own body — and hurled it with all its might.

【Rock Blast】!

Rumble rumble—

The boulder, likewise wreathed in red light, screamed through the air far faster than the earlier Rock Blast, like a small mountain flying in from the distance.

"Lucky!"

Seeing this, Chansey's face showed not a trace of panic; the instant the Rock Blast was about to hit, it used Minimize without hesitation.

Its suddenly shrunken body slipped past the Rock Blast in a flash; the latter crashed to the ground behind it, shattering with a terrifying thunderous roar, the scattered stones flying out like bullets.

But Chansey dodged those as well.

Crustle stared at the scene in disbelief, utterly unable to imagine that its opponent's evasive ability could be this absurd; the unease of having its boulder shattered weighed on its heart, and when it tried to flee, it realized it was stuck in Rock Blast's recoil pause.

For the moment, it couldn't move.

"Eewa!"

It shrieked, trying to intimidate Chansey into staying away.

But Chansey had finally gotten such a perfect opportunity and absolutely would not let it go; after running up to Crustle, it blushed and raised its tiny fist, shoving it straight into the latter's mouth.

"Mm!"

Crustle's eyes went wide; its throat bobbed instinctively, and it felt as though it had swallowed something especially bitter and irritating. "Eewa!"

What did you just feed me?

Wait! Who fights a battle like this?! Just because it's a battle, can you go around feeding people stuff?!

"Eewa! Eewa!"

Panicking, Crustle tried to spit out what it had swallowed, but the poison took effect quickly, and everything it coughed up turned into purple bubbles.

The searing pain in its belly left it dizzy and faint.

It tried to run, only to see Chansey smiling lightly as it once again used Psychic to lock it firmly in midair.

And this time—

Under the opponent's intense control, Crustle found that neither its pincers nor its claws could move; it could still channel its elemental energy, but it basically couldn't aim.

After firing off several Rock Blasts at the cost of everything and still failing to hit Chansey, Crustle could only watch in despair as Chansey, still smiling, slowly poisoned it into unconsciousness.

In the final second before it passed out, that faintly shy smile of its opponent's was seared deep into its memory.

A demon!

That pink thing is a demon!

What Pokémon fights a battle like this?! It was clearly just torturing it!

The fragile-hearted Crustle nearly cried in its dreams.

And from then on, every time it saw Chansey smile at it in the Pokémon Center, it would tremble three times over, too scared to even cry out.

It left the Chansey nurses thoroughly baffled.

But of course, that's all later.

Back on the field, Chansey, seeing Crustle pass out from the poison, let out a huge sigh of relief, and the terrifying fixed smile caused by nervousness vanished from its face.

As expected, having no real attacking moves just doesn't cut it.

It thought, a little troubled, and very naturally used Heal Bell on Crustle, curing the latter's terrible poison.

Just as it was about to release a Heal Pulse, the machine overhead recalled it.

Only then did Chansey come back to its senses, waving a tiny hand at the machine behind it.

With its trainer holding it in such high regard, having only Toxic as an attacking move really didn't feel right. It would have to try to find a new breakthrough.

It watched the machine fire a red beam to draw it back into its Poké Ball, thinking this.

In the room.

All Baimu slowly relaxed.

"Just one more round, just one more and I'll get the Pokémon Egg. Hopefully it's a cute and interesting one."

He began to consider what the probability was of pulling a shiny Ralts…

Dreaming big is dreaming big, but a person has to have dreams.