Chapter 401

Once a person gains fame, the world seems to shrink.

At least Baimu never expected Zheye would know him, and that the latter had a younger sister who was his fan.

"Let's… go somewhere else to talk."

Sensing the stares around him, he decisively turned and led Zheye away from the Pokémon Center's lobby; as they stepped outside, Rotom's announcement still echoed in his ears.

"Thank you for coming, Rotom~"

Outdoors.

Thanks to Queen Boni's presence, no one paid attention to these two minor figures.

Baimu took out a notebook from his pocket, wrote his name on it, tore off the page, and handed it to him. "Is this enough?"

"Thank you so much!"

Zheye eagerly took the slip of paper. "Ah! If only I could take one more photo with you and Gyarados…"

He pulled out his phone, looking hesitant—as if struggling to voice the request. Probably his first time doing something like this, a fan's act—but for his sister, he swallowed his shame and asked nervously.

"Sure, but I need your help too."

Baimu glanced toward where Queen Boni stood.

The Four Heavenly Kings' popularity was simply too high; even if he rushed over now, he'd have no chance to fight her. Better to settle for the previous champion, Zheye.

Besides, the Pokémon he'd use tomorrow were already decided—he just needed to pick the three strongest from the rest.

Upon hearing this, Zheye agreed without hesitation. "Help? Whatever I can do, just tell me!"

"Don't worry," Baimu said softly. "I just want to fight you. You're a former champion, right? I've always wanted to battle someone like you."

Baimu said quietly.

Zheye paused at the battle request, then sheepishly scratched his head. "Battle? Of course! But I can't accept the title of champion—I'm only a regional league winner."

"A winner is still impressive."

Baimu replied while releasing Gyarados, whispering to it: "Take a photo with your little fan."

"Kichido~"

Gyarados nodded knowingly, wearing a modest, ladylike smile.

It had long mastered such promotional tactics, even pinpointing camera positions with precision. Even if Zheye's self-shot hands trembled like Parkinson's, and the two men appeared blurry in the photo, Gyarados still looked stunning on its own.

"This…"

Zheye stared at the photo, troubled—wondering if he should just submit this one.

"If you don't mind, let me take it," Baimu suggested, snatching the phone and snapping a crisp, clear group photo in an instant.

As someone who loved keeping all sorts of beautiful and silly photos of his Pokémon in his phone and camera, he had considerable skill in photography.

Zheye beamed at the clear photo. "I'm eternally grateful!"

Now he realized—if he brought back that earlier photo, his sister would kill him. He'd finally met his idol, gotten a signature, yet the crucial photo was like that.

The two exchanged a few more words and agreed on a three-on-three single battle.

But before starting, Baimu said he needed to reserve a challenge against New Zi Jin's Gym; luckily, Zheye was waiting for his Meowth to finish treatment, so the timing would be perfect.

On the way to New Zi Jin's Gym.

Baimu asked Gyarados if it wanted a smartphone, remembering how interested it had always been in selfies and photography.

"Kichido?"

Gyarados's eyes brightened slightly—it truly loved admiring its own beautiful photos and often flipped through the ones Baimu took of it.

But then it remembered it couldn't operate such human-made devices, and sank into gloom.

Baimu chuckled. "Worried? Don't you remember Poliwhirl? Just tell Poliwhirl what you want—it'll activate the features for you."

"Kichido!"

Gyarados suddenly understood. It had forgotten it had an artificial intelligence "expert" among its companions. So that's how—could it really have a phone?

Overjoyed, Gyarados hopped forward in tiny leaps, its hair and massive jaw bouncing up and down like a happy little rabbit. "Kichido~ Kichido~"

But after two hops, it resumed its usual dainty steps, sensing the stares of passersby.

A lady must remain dignified in public.

Ten minutes later.

Baimu returned with Gyarados, meeting Zheye at the Pokémon Center's entrance.

"Sorry for the wait."

"I didn't wait long—Meowth just finished treatment. And Queen Boni's teaching battle just ended. Let's start ours right there."

"It's over already?"

Only then did he notice the crowd that had once crowded around Central Park had dispersed.

So fast!

No wonder the Four Heavenly Kings clear out ordinary trainers like weeds.

Zheye apologized: "Earlier, I happened to meet Queen Boni at the food plaza. I got excited and challenged her—never thought I'd cause her so much trouble."

"Food plaza?"

"Yes! Queen Boni ordered New Zi Jin's mixed noodles—extra large bowl. The way she devoured it in record time was truly impressive!"

"Extra large bowl…"

Baimu recalled Queen Boni's appearance and attire, struggling to imagine that elegant, icy beauty holding a steaming giant bowl of mixed noodles and eating ravenously.

If only he'd arrived sooner—he might've seen it.

He felt an odd pang of regret.

At the battle arena, scattered trainers lingered—some still eager, others disappointed they hadn't gotten a spot. When they saw Zheye, they turned to look.

And when they saw Baimu and Zheye take their places on opposite trainer benches, they all gathered around together.

The matches of the Four Kings aren't worth watching, but the battles of past tournament champions are quite interesting.

Suddenly.

A Rotom flew in from afar.

"This battle will be judged by Rotom—Roto~" It spoke from above.

The two fighters about to compete locked eyes, both expressing blank expressions.

"Did you call it?"

"No, I didn't."

Zheye shook his head frantically; though he was a native of Violet City, he had no way to summon a Rotom from within Violet to be the referee.

Fortunately, the Rotom provided its own answer: "Traveler, I will prove to you that Rotom is not a troublesome Pokémon, but a powerful one—Roto!"

It spoke loudly toward Baimu.

"It's you!"

Baimu instantly recalled the guy he'd met upon entering—he never expected this guy had followed him here and even transformed into a Rotom.

But since it's acting as referee…

He touched the Poké Ball of Poliwhirl, but the latter gave no response—whether it was resting or simply didn't hear, he couldn't tell.

"Then I leave it to you."

He replied.

The Rotom smiled. "Leave it to me—Roto~"

——

"The upcoming match is a three-on-three single battle. Both sides, choose your first Pokémon to enter."

The Rotom's voice echoed above the park.

Baimu and Zheye each pulled out a Poké Ball.

"Don't hold back—give me your full strength in this battle, please."

"Don't worry—I've never known how to hold back."

As they exchanged words, the Rotom gave the command.

"Begin!"

Both Poké Balls shot forward simultaneously.

Boom! Boom!

Light flashed.

"Chu-ge!"

A deep green, humanoid lizard landed—its tail, thick and lush like a thicket—

The Forest Pokémon, Sceptile.

It lifted its head toward a gray-white ordinary round stone that had landed far away, a question mark flashing across its forehead.

This… this is also a Pokémon?

"It's a Sunflora from the Galar region, a Ghost-type! Don't lower your guard!"

Zheye held up his Pokédex, relaying all the displayed information and issuing an order: "High-Speed Move!"

"Chu-ge!"

Sceptile's gaze sharpened, it crouched and lunged forward.

Swish!

Dust flew up!

Through the sudden burst of High-Speed Move, it revealed terrifying speed—its movement left afterimages trailing behind, and in the span of a breath, it crossed over ten meters to stand before Sunflora.

"Ye Ren!"

Sceptile raised its arms; the two blades at its elbows merged into one, emitting a blinding green light, forming a emerald-colored light blade that slashed downward, tearing the air with a shrill shriek!

Baimu remained calm and gave the order: "Protect."

The Sunflora, like a stone, slowly opened its crimson eyes, floated upward, and extended smoke-like tentacles; a spherical blue-white light shield naturally formed before it, blocking the emerald light blade!

Squeak—

The light blade collided with the spherical shield, sparks of electricity exploding between them!

"Didn't break through."

Baimu watched this scene, gaining a rough sense of Sceptile's physical attack power.

In the anime, the move "Protect" differs from the game's absolute defense—it can be shattered by sufficiently powerful moves—this lack of absoluteness is a key special feature of the anime.

So he didn't issue a command immediately, deciding instead to first use Protect to test Sceptile's offensive capability.

Unexpectedly… the tournament champion's main Pokémon was surprisingly "weak"? Or was this Sceptile more focused on special attack?

He continued: "Black Smoke."

Protect and Ye Ren held against each other, then both dimmed and faded away.

Sceptile leaped sharply backward, creating distance from Sunflora—but saw the latter trembling slightly, black smoke gushing from the numerous Kong Dong across its body, instantly flooding over half the battlefield.

Under the black smoke, its initial speed boost instantly returned to normal.

So fast a move transition!

Unable to see the battlefield clearly, Zheye's scalp tightened, and he quickly ordered: "Use Leaf Storm to clear the black smoke!"

"Chu-ge!"

Sceptile obeyed—a swirling hurricane of fluorescent green leaves rose from the ground, dispersing the surrounding black smoke, then rapidly gathered onto its thicket-like tail, sweeping across the battlefield as it swung its tail left and right.

Yet even after clearing the black smoke, Sunflora seemed to have vanished entirely.

Watch out for places with shadows!

Tetsuya shouted: Ghost-type Pokémon generally have the special ability to vanish within shadows, but removing the shadows will expose them.

Unfortunately, Baimu is not a Gym Leader and won't give Tetsuya and Lizardon a chance to carefully search.

Will-o'-wisp.

Sunflora emerged from the tiny residual black mist, its body coated in a crimson glow; nine ghostly-blue spherical flames ignited in midair, then suddenly contracted and spun toward Charizard!

Behind you!

Tetsuya shouted in time: "Use See Through to dodge!"

Chuuu!

Lizardon whipped its head around, its eyes blazing blue; it skillfully dodged left and right, leaping back and forth, successfully evading all nine Will-o'-wisps.

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The onlookers applauded Lizardon's ghostlike movements.

But though the Will-o'-wisps missed, Baimu didn't look disappointed or frustrated—he smiled instead. "Curse."

Sssss…

Sunflora let out a long sigh; black energy surged from beneath it, forming a grotesque spectral shadow that lunged forward with clawed hands toward Lizardon.

Ye Ren!

Lizardon raised its emerald-green blade-arms and charged fearlessly at the spectral shadow.

The blades slashed down—

Swish!

But unfortunately, they missed.

It stared in disbelief as the grotesque shadow sidestepped the Leaf Blades, then let out a piercing shriek of delight and surged into its body.

Chuuu!

Lizardon knelt in pain; the Curse continuously drained its HP, severely impacting its combat ability.

Tetsuya swiftly raised his Poké Ball. "Come back, Lizardon—"

Water Spout!

Baimu gave a rapid command.

With a thunderous roar, a glowing blue inverted triangular water vortex formed above Sunflora's head; as it charged forward, the vortex shot out and instantly submerged Lizardon, smashing the red beam from the Poké Ball!

Boom!

Chuuu—

Lizardon cried out in agony, struck by both the water current and the Curse.

Too fast!

Tetsuya gritted his molars and shouted: "Lizardon! Break free! You can do it!"

Before the battle, he had considered that Baimu, as a Coordinator who rose to fame through Brilliant Competitions, likely possessed considerable battle skill—otherwise he wouldn't challenge Gyms.

But he never imagined he'd be this strong!

He was completely being dominated!

Fortunately, they had years of training behind them, and the resilient will forged through countless battles.

So, under the Trainer's cry, Lizardon slammed its tail hard against the ground, using that force to break free from the Water Spout.

Only to immediately fall into another hell.

Will-o'-wisp.

Around Sunflora, nine ghostly-blue spherical Will-o'-wisps spun, as if alive, one after another rushing toward Charizard.

Tetsuya shouted anxiously: "See Through!"

Charizard's eyes flared blue, but before it could clearly track the Will-o'-wisps' paths, the ghostly-blue flames struck one after another against its body.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames splattered.

By the time the final flame hit Lizardon, its body was already covered in numerous charred burn marks, with smoke steadily rising.

After the Curse, Lizardon had now entered the Burned status.

Fortunately, Tetsuya seized the chance and successfully recalled it into the Poké Ball; though the Poké Ball's interior couldn't remove the Burn, it stabilized its current condition.

Seeing this, Baimu couldn't help but feel a trace of regret.

"Lacks a decisive finishing move…"

If it had been any other Pokémon, it would have already knocked out Lizardon in this situation.

Unfortunately, Sunflora's offensive power is limited—or rather, its fighting style is built for sustained attacks, not explosive bursts.

Still, it's quite impressive.

Every Pokémon has its own way of fighting.