Chapter 358: The Stink Dragon

"Hiss—"

Baimu, his head finally freed, sat on the edge of the bed gasping for air; he didn't even have time to wipe the drool off his face, his chest rising and falling slightly.

Although the Three-Headed Dragon hadn't used any more force biting his head than it did biting a hand, the thing's drool was genuinely foul-smelling and abundant—one big lick of its tongue had nearly choked him out, almost triggering a second reincarnation.

It felt rather like a revolving lantern spinning before his eyes, just one step away from shouting "no regrets in this life."

Fortunately, Mawile and Aggron had rescued him in time—one pried the jaws open, the other pulled his head out, while the rest tugged at the tail.

They finally forced the Three-Headed Dragon to open its bloody maw.

Speaking of which.

What would happen if he actually died?

Most likely he'd become a lonely wandering ghost like in the anime, then get taken to the mysterious Spirit World by some Ghost-type Pokémon like Duskull.

How does that saying go?

The probability of being murdered by your own Pokémon is small, but never zero.

After catching his breath for a moment, his mood and body had both fully settled; he patted the Blissey beside him and said, "Don't worry, I'm not that easy to kill."

"Happy~"

The worried Blissey set down the water cup in its hands and used a Mao Jin to wipe the drool from his face.

Not far away.

The Three-Headed Dragon was being surrounded and publicly criticized by a crowd of Pokémon—the former's bratty behavior wasn't something new, but things had never gone this far before.

The Trainer had been bitten into convulsions!

How dangerous!

Aggron and the other Pokémon all looked extremely stern; their aggressive gazes made the cowering Three-Headed Dragon nearly hang its heads to the ground.

The Galarian Corsola floated in midair; its usually downturned mouth corners were now secretly tilted upward, its red eyes full of schadenfreude.

Although it had initially worried about becoming "unemployed," thankfully the boss's life was still intact, so it set its mind at ease and prepared to thoroughly mock this Husdrake that usually acted like an idiot.

The usually reserved Porygon also voiced its merciless protest—mainly to settle today's grudge over the fact that, despite being part of the team, it hadn't been allowed to battle Yasha in the end.

Winning just one would have been enough to evolve, yet it had to fight two.

So unfair.

Porygon kept fanning the flames on the side, though it felt a bit guilty; fortunately, no one was investigating its exploitation of the situation.

The Three-Headed Dragon, surrounded in the middle, also knew it had nearly committed a grave mistake this time; the whole dragon became depressed, aggrieved with a touch of guilt, a low whimper escaping its raspy throat.

"Duluu…"

"Gu roar!"

Aggron was full of reproach; if it weren't for having watched the Three-Headed Dragon grow up since it was small, and knowing the thing hadn't done it on purpose, today it would have taught this fellow exactly why the flowers were so red.

But compared to the magnanimous former, Mawile's emotional expression was extremely direct—gnashing its teeth, it smacked the thing's skull three times in a row.

*Slap! Slap! Slap! *

"Duluu…" The Three-Headed Dragon just whimpered and shrank its heads, the petal-like fur around its neck drooping down.

"Alright, alright, why are you all crowding around and scaring it? It wasn't on purpose—just pay attention to oral hygiene."

Having recovered, Baimu stepped forward and comforted the indignant Pokémon.

Seeing how much Aggron and the others cared about him, the "barely escaped death" him was especially moved, feeling that his usual pampering of these fellows hadn't been for nothing.

Devotion to Pokémon really does bring returns.

"Gu roar!" "Cheedo!"

Hearing this, Aggron and Mawile spoke up in unison, wearing matching "you're just spoiling it" expressions.

"Aiya, enough already! That's about enough! Honestly, I know you all care about me…"

Baimu patted each of their heads as a reward, not even sparing the Galarian Corsola; finally looking at the pitiful Three-Headed Dragon, seeing it didn't dare come closer, he pinched its cheeks.

"I'm not mad at you. Don't make that long face on such a happy day—next time remember to leave me some breathing room, at least leave one of the three holes on my face open."

"Sha sang…"

The thoroughly aggrieved Three-Headed Dragon could hold back no longer; it laid its head on the Trainer's shoulder and whimpered softly, as if crying.

It knew it had gotten a bit carried away, but how could it, who loved its Trainer most, possibly have meant to hurt Baimu?

Seeing the Trainer take its side, apologizing and explaining.

"I know, I know you're a good boy." Baimu hugged its big head and patted it, forcibly turning the page on the matter, then ordered the other Pokémon, who were bored out of their minds, to go do their own things.

If you've got nothing to do, go soak in the hot spring.

The Galarian Corsola, which had been preparing to watch a good show, saw its upturned mouth corners droop down again, and went to sleep in utter exasperation.

After waiting half a day without seeing the scene it wanted to see—just how much does the Trainer spoil this thing?

Porygon, whose fanning the flames had failed, was equally disappointed; with a regretful face it turned to fly away, only to find the Trainer blocking its path, apologizing for not letting it battle today.

"Next time I'll definitely let you fight, it's a promise."

Baimu patted its head.

"Pali!"

Comforted, Porygon immediately broke into a smile, the disappointment in its heart swept away; it cheerfully swung its blocky legs and ran off to practice Shadow Ball.

One more type of move, and it could have one more variation through textures, becoming a bit stronger.

Presumably the chance to battle would increase along with it.

Turning then.

Baimu then individually comforted each of the other Pokémon in turn, to prevent these fellows from thinking he especially favored the Three-Headed Dragon and developing ill will and resentment toward the latter.

Aggron was fine—it had long since passed its troubled phase; with its strong territorial desire, its temperament had always been very generous, and it didn't really hold grudges.

Mawile, however, was much more solemn.

It strongly urged All Baimu to properly discipline this fellow, to prevent the Three-Headed Dragon from being spoiled and becoming increasingly presumptuous in the future.

"Chidori!"

"Understood, understood, don't worry. If you can't trust others, can you still not trust me?" All Baimu soothed.

"Chidori?"

"Of course it's true."

Facing the trainer's smooth talk, Gulpin chose to believe it for now.

As for Happiny, compared to those meaningless things, it was more concerned about the trainer's condition, worried whether he had been hurt earlier, suggesting he go to the hospital for a checkup and the like.

"I'm not made of paper, making such a fuss~"

All Baimu smiled and reassured it, then went to the bedside to look for Galarian Corsola.

This fellow showed no reaction the entire time.

Not seeing the Three-Headed Dragon's misfortune, it only wanted to bury its head and sleep. Of course, if one had to speak of resentment, there was surely a little, but not much—it mainly just wanted to watch the excitement.

Watching the drama also counted as a small pleasure in its slacker life.

"Alright then."

After several attempts at conversation with no response, All Baimu stopped bothering this fellow, and finally turned his gaze to the Feebas in the fish tank.

Perhaps due to its Oblivious ability, this one appeared rather dazed, not having come to its senses even after everything ended, choosing to respond to the trainer's communication by blowing bubbles.

"Pretty good."

He nodded.

In order to evolve Feebas through beauty, he specifically looked up information online and found that most trainers who owned Milotic emphasized the need to cultivate Feebas's confidence.

It wasn't the kind of confidence that stubbornly insisted ugly was beautiful, but rather the confidence of correctly recognizing one's own flaws and shortcomings, and striving to transform into a better self.

Supplemented with Blue or Rainbow Pokéblocks, Feebas's growth could be accelerated.

All Baimu had been feeding the latter Rainbow Pokéblocks for about half a month now, but Feebas's confidence had yet to be successfully cultivated—it was necessary to let it battle more and gain more experience.

As for Pokémon Contests.

If possible, letting it take the stage wouldn't be bad either.

"Looking forward to your future." All Baimu reached into the water, stroking Feebas's smooth and cool fin.

Feeling the tenderness in the trainer's tone, as well as the undisguised favor in his gaze, Feebas flicked its tail and happily blew bubbles at him.

The more it felt the warmth of the present, the more it felt the past lonely self was not worth it and filled it with dread.

If only it could have met the trainer sooner—Feebas had thought this more than once. As for its former trainer—that little boy—within less than a month, it had completely forgotten what the other even looked like.

The breeder who had once fed it was about the same; the only thing it remembered was that the other was a woman.

Successfully finished communicating with the other Pokémon.

All Baimu rubbed his shoulders.

"Then next... there's only one thing left to do." He took out a rather oddly shaped toothbrush from the bathroom.

The Three-Headed Dragon, which had been following behind him like a little shadow, saw this and its wings on its back stiffened.

"Sha..."

"No running. If you run, I'll press you down and hit you."

All Baimu looked at the Three-Headed Dragon with a smile.

Question:

When does the Three-Headed Dragon hate its trainer the most?

Answer:

It never hates the trainer! The only thing it hates is the toothbrush!

Good All Baimu, bad toothbrush!

"Shaao..." The Three-Headed Dragon floated in place without moving, while its central head kept tilting backward, looking as disdainful as could possibly be.

Unfortunately, that stinky mouth of its was something All Baimu absolutely had to brush.

Originally, holding its breath earlier had only been a minor issue, but this fellow's breath had unfortunately caused him to choke and lose his breath.

"Open your mouth!"

"Shaao—"

"Three!"

"Wuu..."

The Three-Headed Dragon reluctantly bit down on the toothbrush, and together with All Baimu went to the shower room by the hot spring pool to brush its teeth.

"How can your mouth be this stinky? I don't usually feed you anything heavy either, could it be that Dragon-type ingredients are more prone to causing bad breath?"

He pried open the Three-Headed Dragon's teeth.

The causes of bad breath were many and varied; at least the latter had no health issues, so it could only be a food problem.

Each Pokémon's food was based on glowing cuisine, with various supplementary foods suited to their types added on top, such as the steel ingots that Boldore frequently needed to eat.

"Wuu?"

"Just a little more."

"Wuu?"

"Didn't I say just a little more?" All Baimu brushed back and forth on its fangs; the latter asked every two seconds whether it was done yet, annoyingly so.

Finally finished after much difficulty.

He took a sniff, and was barely satisfied. "But I still have to think of another method, it can't keep being this stinky."

The newly freed Three-Headed Dragon dove into the hot spring, putting as much distance between itself and the toothbrush as possible.

All Baimu briefly washed up, then got into the hot spring pool and used his phone Pokédex to look up the moves the Three-Headed Dragon had newly learned—most Pokémon would master one or two new moves when they evolved.

This fellow was no exception—when it evolved into a Zweilous, it had automatically grasped 【Screech】 and 【Crunch】.

But compared to last time.

This new move was far more exaggerated.

"Trick… Dragon Rage… hiss! Hit the jackpot!"

He sucked in a breath of white mist, never expecting the Hydreigon to bring him such a huge surprise. Dragon Rage aside—【Trick】, that was a super-strong boosting move on par with Sword Dance.

It was perfectly suited for the Hydreigon, which he had positioned as a special-attack battery. If it had known this move back in its Zweilous days, there would have been no need to use Roar to force a switch on Magcargo, then trade Dragon Dives and Overheats head-on with the Slugma line.

It could adopt a steadier method of fighting.

Instead.

He pressed down his restless heart again. The current Hydreigon had indeed evolved to its final stage, but it was still some distance from its ultimate form—it still needed to learn more moves that could cover its blind spots, such as Fire-type, Water-type, Fighting-type, and so on.

Moreover, a certain move he had been hoarding for so long could finally be taught to it.

Baimu patted the purple-checkered belly of the Hydreigon beside him and gave it his trump-card move, 【Roost】.

"Sha-saur?"

The Hydreigon, receiving a move from the simulator for the first time, froze for a moment. A white light unconsciously lit up across its body, and countless feathers formed of energy materialized from the void, drifting down. As they sank into its body, a brilliant halo was released.

It was as if, the instant it learned the move, it used it on its own.

"Mm, not bad."

He looked at the Hydreigon's bewildered expression and gave a slight nod.

To be honest.

The Hydreigon's appearance was actually quite ferocious—the kind that would make most wild Pokémon's little hearts go thump-thump. But because the one at his home was rather dopey, its demeanor was mostly not very bright-looking, which let it quickly convert that ferocity into cuteness points.

Combined with its other two heads, it gave off a fierce-yet-cute, fierce-yet-cute vibe.

It would probably be more serious during battle?

Probably.

——

Evening.

Baimu and Chansey had just finished making dinner when Lei Gong hopped in over the stone wall surrounding the hot spring pool right behind them.

It happened to come face-to-face with the former, who was carrying two food bowls.

Lei Gong: "……"

Nothing was more awkward than sneaking out and then sneaking back in only to be caught red-handed.

Fortunately, it had a thick enough skin. It acted as if nothing had happened and began searching to see whether its food had been prepared. After so many days, eating had already become a habit.

Even though, in essence, it didn't need to eat or drink—absorbing natural lightning was already enough.

"You actually know to come back."

Baimu set the food bowl on the ground and looked at it with a gaze of disdain. "I do know why you came to the Hoenn region to go after Team Rocket."

The intel regarding the Mega Stones was laid out.

"Am I right?"

"……"

Lei Gong did not answer. It silently came over to the food bowl and began eating dinner, though inwardly it was rather surprised at how well-informed this kid was—figuring out so much in just one afternoon.

But admitting it was impossible. It would keep mum and let him guess.

And Baimu, watching the tail swishing behind Lei Gong, knew he had hit the mark—the fellow only swung that lightning-shaped tail when it was vexed.

So the question arose—

How did Lei Gong know that Team Rocket intended to seize the power of Mega Evolution? Where did its intelligence come from?

This point truly made Baimu curious.

Instead.

He added: "Actually, you don't need to be too nervous, because their plan is doomed to fail. Listen, let me tell you why…"

Lei Gong silently ate its food on the surface, but inwardly it was paying attention.

After hearing the whole thing, it still gave no opinion either way.

It wasn't only to stop Team Rocket from seizing the power of Mega Evolution that it had come to make trouble for them. No matter the reason, as long as it was related to wrongdoing, it would definitely intervene.

Speaking of which.

It had clearly sensed the aura of that fleeing Team Rocket member earlier—why, after chasing out, had it searched the whole afternoon without finding them?

Sure enough.

Was it because the scents in human towns were too muddled…?

Lei Gong, whose peripheral vision had suddenly caught an unfamiliar figure beside it, raised its head. It stared at the Hydreigon in a brief daze, and only after several seconds did it match it up with the Zweilous in its memory.

It evolved! How did it get more heads? And it can fly now too?

"Sha-saur…"

The Hydreigon, noticing Lei Gong's attention on itself, very friendly greeted it.

"Rrr…"

Lei Gong swallowed the last morsel of food, gave a slight vocal response, glanced at the hot spring, and didn't get back in—it had soaked in enough already.

It looked around, then lay down beside the bed in the most spacious part of the space, resting its head on its two front claws for a short nap.

Seeing this, Baimu quickly finished the food in his own bowl, washed his hands, and prepared to pet the cat.

This stretch of time after dinner was when Lei Gong's vigilance was at its weakest—a little boldness wouldn't cause too much of a problem.

So he decided to seize this chance to break through the barrier of not being allowed to touch its head—

At the very least, he had to touch its chin.

Clutching a certain expectation, he sat cross-legged in front of Lei Gong, rubbed his hands together, and reached out.

*Zap—*

The sudden static shock made him flinch and pull his hand back. After Lei Gong used Electric-type moves, its fur would be covered in static electricity, so getting shocked was only natural.

All Baimu had long grown used to it, and slowly placed his hand on its warm, smooth back.

Lei Gong, eyes closed, slightly lifted its eyelids, glanced at the former, and showed not the slightest resistance. It, too, had grown accustomed to this little ritual after every meal.

Having had very little contact with humans, in these past days it had truly experienced from All Baimu all the tenderness a human caretaker could offer — that wordless, delicate care was an experience it had never known before.

So much so that, after failing to track down the fleeing Team Rocket members, it had found itself involuntarily returning to this hotel.

Its injuries were nearly healed; it could have simply left just like that.

That was what it had always done in the past.

But something special drove it back here, drove it to leap over the stone wall, and to choose silence in the face of All Baimu's slightly resentful yet pleasantly surprised gaze.

Why was it lying here, letting a human brat pet it?

Lei Gong couldn't say either.

Perhaps this was why Ho-Oh had always placed its hopes in humans — they always brought all sorts of unexpected things.

Lost in thought, a sudden tingling sensation surged from beneath its chin straight up into its brain. Lei Gong's eyes went wide, lightning flickered instinctively across its body, and its tail shot rigid.

It snapped back to its senses and realized that at some point All Baimu's hand had already reached beneath its chin and was gently scratching.

And faced with the electricity it had unconsciously released, the latter showed no reaction at all.

"Insulated gloves, kid!"

All Baimu proudly raised his left hand.