Chapter 355: Battle of Lavaridge

Lei Gong really didn't want to talk.

Baimu had no way to force that big mouth to spit out anything sensible either, so he could only give it a look of regret and disappointment.

"Sigh…"

He let out a breath, turned away crestfallen.

Lei Gong: "…"

What is this little brat putting on an act about now, making me feel all guilty.

But some things that don't need to drag him in—there's no way I'll spill them no matter what… Besides, I can't get through to this little brat in a short while anyway, and I can't even speak human words.

After all, the kid still has goals to complete; getting tangled up with those villains is no good thing.

Lei Gong yawned again. This hot spring really is…

The longer you soak, the sleepier you get.

Outside the door.

Baimu, who had been eavesdropping for a while, let out a sigh.

This time it was real—he realized that the Phoenix King's guard, as expected, in most situations was more accustomed to acting independently, never asking any human for help.

When something big came up, at most they'd rendezvous with their other two companions to face it together.

Most of the scenes of cooperating with humans were initiated by the human side—speaking strictly of the anime background; in the specials there were indeed scenes of them going around beating up Gym Leaders, seeking collaborators.

Speaking of which, injured this badly this time, why haven't Suicune and Entei shown up?

Or maybe they already have, just operating elsewhere in the Hoenn region, and he simply hadn't seen them?

Mm.

That possibility wasn't low.

Baimu suspected without end that Lei Gong had come to the Hoenn region specifically to deal with Team Rocket's setup here—after being wrecked so badly by Team Rocket's crystal system before, how could he not get his face back?

And the result was getting screwed over by Team Rocket's black tech again by accident.

Thinking about it that way suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Let's go take a stroll, I've been in Lavaridge Town so long and haven't gone out to look around once." He stretched, planning to spend the morning waiting by wandering the streets with Chansey.

Every town has its own character.

Lavaridge Town, apart from being especially famous for its hot springs, was famous for the series of by-products the hot springs brought.

Things like sand baths and hot spring manju, hot spring milk, and the like.

In any case, anything that could be tied to the hot springs was a local specialty here.

Of course.

There was also the famously renowned Lavaridge Senbei—Baimu bought this stuff the most, because what the inn provided simply wasn't enough for him and his Aggron to eat.

Even the tsundere Lei Gong, after scarfing down two pieces in a row, showed an expression of wanting more, but upon seeing the latter's look of "beg me and I'll give you one," decisively turned his head and went back to soaking in the pool.

Which left him no choice but to split it in two and feed it to Dodrio instead.

What was unexpected was—

The Chinese medicine here was also especially famous.

Perhaps influenced by the factor that hot springs aid injuries and illness, there was even a whole Chinese-medicine street, selling all sorts of herbs—not just Energy Root and Revival Herb either.

When Baimu and Chansey passed by, the latter's little face scrunched up at the strange smell in the air, until he pointed out that the source of the smell was the various herbs, at which she had a sudden revelation and, contrary to her earlier reaction, showed enormous curiosity.

It wasn't her first time handling herbs—she often used them when making perfume day to day—but since she rarely dealt with sun-dried herbs and the step of simmering them together, she didn't know herbs all that well either—

But she was very interested.

Because it was related to healing methods, Chansey always wanted to master all kinds of important information related to treatment; Chinese medicine was admittedly bitter and full of strange smells, but who knew, it might come in handy?

Chansey wasn't exactly cultured, yet she too felt that some things being popular must have their reasons.

Only this fellow wasn't very decisive when expressing her wishes—on one hand she didn't want the trainer to make a special trip just for her sake, on the other she was reluctant to part.

Resulting in looking back three times with every step.

Baimu, helpless, could only pretend he hadn't noticed and ask, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

"Happy!"

Chansey immediately nodded with great delight, and took the opportunity to buy a pile of strange and unusual herbs to take back, the reason being that the trainer said these things could be used to cook porridge—fragrant and nourishing.

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She couldn't help but grow curious.

Herbs could make perfume, could make medicine… and could also be eaten as food?

Noon.

Baimu answered her question with action, letting Chansey taste an incomparably wonderful medicinal porridge.

Nowadays his cooking skills were growing ever more exquisite, no longer confined to stir-frying alone; other dishes were also gradually beginning to show signs of "glowing."

That was all thanks to the various food-making videos the Chef Master posted online.

And taking advantage of the time while Lei Gong was out of the bath eating, Baimu posed his question once more, and once again received an answer of silence.

"Sigh… looks like this mouth is destined to stay shut."

He let out a breath, looked at the three Pokémon preparing to take the field in the afternoon, and said, "Because there's a battle this afternoon, you can't eat too much at noon—wait till we get back to eat, okay?"

"Happy~"

"Pory~"

Chansey and Porygon2 both had no objections—the former was the most obedient, and the latter had no problem not eating.

Only Dodrio, before agreeing, insisted on acting a little spoiled—because over the past two days the trainer had been paying more attention to that big fellow who couldn't smell a thing, and even though he hadn't neglected her, she inevitably felt a bit jealous.

Besides.

The afternoon was her big moment.

Feeling the explosive power within its body, the Double-Headed Tyrant was brimming with confidence and eager to greet its brand-new self with a victory.

One step closer to becoming an Ace!

After acting cute, the Double-Headed Tyrant inevitably turned around and shot a provocative glance at the Bouffalant beside it.

"Hee-woo!" "Hee-woo!"

See that?

This gaze of mine, brimming with killing intent and fighting spirit?

Bouffalant heard the sound and slightly turned its head, seeing the Double-Headed Tyrant straining to stretch its neck straight: "……?"

Immediately.

It used its claw to push aside the fur covering the Double-Headed Tyrant's eyes, and upon seeing those two pairs of eyes, it suddenly understood, "Gu-ji~"

Bouffalant patted the latter's head with one claw each.

"Gu-ji~"

Keep at it, keep at it — doesn't the trainer always say, the rear wave pushes the front wave? Keep it up!

The composed and unhurried Bouffalant was full of big-brother aura.

In the water tank.

Feebas happily wagged its tail — being Bouffalant's greatest admirer, it especially loved seeing scenes like this, and as expected, it too got a pat on the head.

—Today's wish fulfilled.

Feebas felt that even the food the trainer had specially made for it no longer smelled appetizing; just being patted had filled it up beyond capacity.

All Baimu laughed and played around with his Pokémon, quite happy.

Lei Gong looked at the people and Pokémon before him, growing ever more certain that it should not involve them. After all, everything it and the other members of the Ho-Oh Guard had done was for the sake of protecting all of this.

To protect the peace and beauty of the world.

To drive out evil…

And wipe it out completely!

A thousand meters away.

On top of a building.

A black-haired girl, now wearing a tattered gray cloak over a summer combat outfit with spiral anklets on her calves, held a telescope and watched the hot spring hotel in the extreme distance.

Behind her was Gu Niu Niu spinning in place, and a Salamence staring at Gu Niu Niu spinning.

"All Baimu… didn't expect him to actually end up together with Lei Gong, interesting, interesting — the younger generation of dragon tamers nowadays are really making something of themselves."

The black-haired girl turned her head with a grin and said to Gu Niu Niu: "Did you know, Miss Xijiana, there's a dragon tamer in the distant Unova region about to become a Champion! That'll make two dragon-tamer Champions in the world!"

"Yo-yo~"

Gu Niu Niu stopped spinning, waved its little hand at the black-haired girl, its voice especially tiny.

"You're happy too, right?"

Miss Xijiana held Gu Niu Niu in her arms, tossed aside the shirt with a red "r" printed on it that lay nearby, and stomped on it hard. "If only there weren't so many bad guys trying to destroy all this beauty, things would be even better."

She looked up at the clear sky.

Sure enough, no matter when, she deeply loved this vast expanse of azure heavens.

——

Afternoon.

All Baimu once again arrived at the Panpour Gym.

Yasha hadn't stood him up either, waiting in the gym as promised for his challenge; from her expression and state, it seemed she hadn't found any gains in that secret base.

Since Lei Gong knew about it, the Team Rocket members inside had probably withdrawn.

However.

When he asked Yasha whether any Team Rocket members had been left behind in that secret base, the latter gave an affirmative answer.

"There were… but they were all taken care of."

"Eh?"

"When we went in, the people were already collapsed on the ground. But judging from the wounds and the traces at the scene, it wasn't done by Lei Gong… ah, sorry, I shouldn't have said too much."

Yasha scratched her head and laughed awkwardly: "Don't mind it! Let's have a gym battle! Grandpa—"

"This old man is here."

Mura walked out from the passage beside them, wearing a kimono.

This person had always been the referee of the Panpour Gym, but in earlier years he had still stood in the position of Gym Leader, conquering all comers with an exceptionally powerful Simipour.

He didn't rush to announce the battle rules, but first shot a glance at his granddaughter Yasha.

Yasha belatedly realized and said to All Baimu: "You've already obtained three badges, right? I've looked at your records — the first three Gym Leaders had high praise for you, all saying you're very strong, so we can appropriately raise the difficulty."

"You're too kind. The difficulty is entirely up to your consideration."

All Baimu slightly nodded in acknowledgment.

"In that case, I'll have a good look at whether you and your Pokémon are hot enough!"

Yasha gave Mura an OK gesture, and the latter, upon receiving the signal, immediately raised the two-colored flag in his hand.

"Now, the Panpour Gym Challenge is about to begin. The two sides are Gym Leader Yasha and Challenger All Baimu. Three Pokémon will be used, and only the Challenger may freely swap Pokémon. Both sides, ready!"

Both sides took out their Poké Balls.

"Begin!"

The Poké Balls were hurled forward with force.

Bang bang!

Light flickered.

In front of Yasha, a humanoid Pokémon landed — flames leaping across its entire body, its chest and belly round like a giant egg patterned with fire, and its arms like cannon barrels.

"Don't charge!"

The Pyroar let out a low growl.

Not far away, the Doublade answered with two resounding roars.

"Roar!" "Roar!"

Both trainers were somewhat surprised by the other's Pokémon; on one side, they hadn't expected Yasha to also have a Pyroar, thinking to themselves that a Gym Leader's Pokémon pool was indeed deep.

On the other side, they were surprised that All Baimu possessed a precious Pokémon from the Unova region… wasn't he originally from Hoenn?

Yasha had assumed he was from Hoenn.

The moment of distraction was extremely brief — barely an instant.

After a short breath, commands from both sides burst forth.

"Flame Charge!"

"Earth Power!"

The Pyroar moved first; one could tell its reaction speed was extremely fast, its massive body suddenly transforming into a ball of flame as it charged toward the Doublade.

At the same time.

As it sprinted, its speed grew ever swifter, the friction between fire and air producing a rumbling, muffled roar.

Fortunately, the Doublade had long since adapted to this kind of movement speed — it could even easily track attacks from the far faster Gallade — all four eyes fixed intently on the incoming Pyroar, its front claws slamming violently into the ground.

Boom!

The earth split into tree-like fine fissures shooting straight forward, bright attribute energy gathering within, and surging up the instant the Pyroar collided with it.

Boom!

The surging attribute energy blasted apart the cracked ground and roared out, swallowing the Pyroar in an instant!

Flame and yellow light clashed against each other, a massive explosion sweeping across the entire field.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

Gunpowder smoke rose.

But the next moment, the Doublade retreated out of the flying dust, wisps of white smoke rising from various parts of its body.

"This Pokémon…"

Mura watched the Doublade in surprise; as a former Elite Four member and a Gym Leader of several decades, his eye for judging people or Pokémon was always exceptionally sharp.

That move just now — not a second more, not a second less — struck the Pyroar with perfect precision; the prediction of the Pyroar's arrival position and speed had already demonstrated the Doublade's tremendous strength.

Was this result due to the training of this trainer named All Baimu?

Just as Mura was planning to observe more carefully, the latter swiftly issued a second command.

"Meteor Beam!"

Huh!?

He even knows Meteor Beam? Not bad! But using a move without observing where the enemy actually is?

Mura watched the Doublade gather a ball of orange-red high-energy fluctuation at its chest and belly, then split into two and transfer to its two heads, and as it tilted its head back and opened its mouth, shoot skyward!

Whoosh—

Two energy projectiles shrieked up into the sky, exploding with a boom into countless sparkling meteors that plunged straight down, their long fiery tails piercing through the dust that had not yet fully dispersed.

Within the smoke.

The Pyroar, which had only just barely recovered from the Earth Power, looked up and saw several meteors smash through the smoke overhead, falling toward it.

"Smog!

"

Yasha's command reached its ears.

Unfortunately, by the time the Pyroar raised its cannon-barrel-like arms to spray outward, it was already a little too late; the first meteor fell and blasted up a ball of indigo flame, followed by the second, the third—

Dense meteors certainly reduced the power of each individual hit, but they also caused the Pyroar to be struck more frequently.

Dragon flames rolled and surged.

After they dispersed.

The fallen Pyroar suddenly came into view of the three people inside and outside the field.

"This…"

Yasha looked at the fainted Pyroar, her gaze unable to hide her surprise at the Doublade and All Baimu.

And Mura, who saw even more clearly than the former, couldn't help sighing inwardly that his granddaughter's judgment had been mistaken.

How was this merely a fairly excellent challenger?

Clearly a powerful trainer requiring her to bring forth one hundred percent of her focus to deal with!

"Gyaoo—!

""Gyaoo—!

"

The Doublade roared loudly at the sky.

And a premonition suddenly arose in its heart.

Just a little more.

Just a little!

It looked at Yasha in the distance, thick fighting spirit surging up, its mind filled with the desire for the next victory!