Chapter 445: Miss Formidable Opponent

Pokémon Cube Specialty Store.

Baimu pushed the door open. Rows upon rows of Pokémon cubes in every color were neatly stacked on the shelves, filling the view for him and the Dragonite Meshia siblings.

"Hiyah~"

"Hiyah!"

The elder sister Dragonite's face was full of wonder, her teal tail swishing back and forth. The younger brother Dragonite stared longingly at those jars, crystal-clear drool unconsciously spilling from the corner of his mouth.

Letting Pokémon into a Pokémon Cube shop is like letting a starving mouse into a granary full of grain. If he hadn't just been beaten, the younger brother Dragonite would probably have vanished by now.

Snap!

The sound of a finger-snap drew the younger brother Dragonite's attention back.

Baimu forcibly turned its head. "We'll be making some in a bit, so stop staring at other people's stuff, got it?"

"Hiyah?"

The younger brother Dragonite tilted its head. Up to now, it still had a hard time fully understanding human speech, unlike its elder sister, who had gradually begun to grow familiar with and comprehend it.

This also proved from another angle that its learning ability was inferior to its sister's.

Seeing its blank expression, Baimu pinched its small triangular head and brought it beside the Berry Blender, then took out the many berries from the bag—some sliced, some juiced, some stuffed whole into the machine.

Unlike the portable Berry Blender, the one in the specialty store could hold more berries and also produce a large batch of Pokémon cubes at once.

At the same time, it could run multiple recipes in parallel. Unlike the portable type, which could only make one flavor at a time.

And with the arrival of the internet age, many people were keen on sharing their Pokémon cube recipes online—a hundred flowers blooming, a hundred schools of thought contending—each person solemnly insisting that their own recipe was the most effective.

The recipe he currently chose was the one obtained from the cheap teacher Miss Liuqi. The output quality of the Pokémon cubes was relatively stable: out of ten Pokémon cubes, at least five were Excellent Pokémon cubes, and occasionally an Excellent Rainbow Pokémon cube—the best quality—would appear.

Unlike others who, after running batch after batch, couldn't even get a single Excellent Pokémon cube.

It was also better than Mi Ke Li's recipe.

He had previously tried the recipe Mi Ke Li had published on his blog, and the effect was far less impressive than Miss Liuqi's.

Not long after.

The machine only had to hum for a while, followed by the clatter of falling cubes, as Pokémon cubes of various colors continuously piled up across the entire tray like arcade tokens.

A heart-penetrating fragrance wafted out, making both little Dragonite Meshia drool nonstop.

"Not bad."

Baimu sorted them: Excellent Pokémon cubes and ordinary ones each made up half, while the rainbow ones accounted for about fifteen percent of all the colors.

"Stop drooling, here."

He picked up a sour one and a sweet one, stuffing them respectively into the mouths of the two Dragonite Meshia.

Their mouths were very small, so a sudden mouthful was a bit too much to hold. They hurriedly raised their little claws to prop up the Pokémon cubes, turned around, and buried their heads, chomping away.

"Eat slowly, don't dirty other people's floor."

He spoke casually as he continued stuffing various berries into the Berry Blender.

Suddenly.

A sigh of admiration sounded from beside him.

"Such fragrant Pokémon cubes! What recipe is this?"

Baimu turned his head and immediately saw a rather familiar-looking woman with long dark-green hair standing behind him, dressed in a fitted athletic outfit that gave off an indescribable air of heroic spirit.

A cute Murkrow floated by her shoulder, watching the Dragonite Meshia siblings nibbling on Pokémon cubes, seeming a little envious.

Their eyes met.

"Hello, my name is Miss Xiao Feng." The other party extended her hand quite generously, her voice unexpectedly deep and resonant, lacking the usual feminine softness and clarity.

Miss Xiao Feng!

Hearing this name, the relevant memories immediately surged up in his mind. He politely shook her hand. "Hello, hello, my name is... Baimu."

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Unlike the Miss Xiao Feng who was the twin Gym Leader of Greenfield City, the Miss Xiao Feng before him was the opponent Ash had faced in the top thirty-two of the Lily of the Valley Conference. Although she ultimately lost to the latter, she was a rather well-known Trainer in her hometown of Petalburg... no, wait—her hometown was Sootopolis City.

She had even made it into Brock's Pretty Girl guidebook.

But why would she appear in a Pokémon Cube specialty store? Could it be that the path of Trainer wasn't working out, and she was preparing to try the path of Coordinator?

While he was pondering, the Miss Xiao Feng before him revealed a surprised expression, then, looking utterly excited, was about to cry out, only to stop abruptly when her gaze fell on the face mask.

She suddenly lowered her voice.

"Baimu!? Are you Baimu?"

"... I suppose I should be."

Baimu pulled his face mask down a little.

Miss Xiao Feng saw his face and instantly became extremely excited, unable to restrain herself from grabbing his hand. "It's really you! Baimu! I'm your fan!"

"Mm, thank you."

Baimu casually picked up the jar to prevent the situation from becoming awkward, while inwardly complaining once more.

He really didn't know whether to credit the Lucky Scales or the Contest—how did it end up that the entire Hoenn region had fans of his everywhere—of course, compared to Mr. Qianli's fans filling an entire city, it paled in comparison.

But was this one really going to develop in the direction of Coordinator?

The heroic-spirited girl's excitement on her face did not fade. With an expression full of admiration, she said: "It was only after watching your Contest that I realized Trainers like Mi Ke Li, who can both battle and perform, aren't isolated cases, so I decided I want to become a Coordinator too!"

"You're too kind. It's my honor to have been of some inspiration to you."

He nodded slightly, placing the freshly made Pokémon cubes into the prepared jar and sealing it.

Seeing that he seemed about to leave, Miss Xiao Feng's heroic brows furrowed slightly, and on a sudden whim she said: "Would you please have a Pokémon battle with me?"

Baimu's movements paused, and he raised his head to reply:

"... Of course."

——

Arriving at the nearest battle arena.

All Baimu had a Duolong Messiya perched on each shoulder, gazing at the visibly excited Miss Xiao Feng in the distance. "I didn't bring many Pokémon with me when I left—how about a one-on-one this time?"

"Sure!"

The other party had no objection, and even took the initiative to send out her first Pokémon first.

Bang!

A flash of light.

A Pokémon appeared—scarlet all over with a metallic sheen, resembling a warrior wielding crab pincers, with a pair of translucent wings on its back.

The pincer Pokémon, Scizor.

Its speed wasn't fast in the games, but in the anime, its powerful explosive ability gave it decent mobility, and it was used as a high-speed Pokémon.

"I've decided to use Scizor to compete in the Pokémon Showcase!"

Miss Xiao Feng, who had sent out her Pokémon, stood with arms crossed, declaring confidently in a clear voice: "Please, Duoduozhi Sect!"

"Hasa!"

Scizor let out a steady, low cry.

All Baimu had no choice here—he'd only brought Blissey out, and the Duolong Messiya siblings were two beings with virtually no combat ability to speak of.

Bang!

The Poké Ball opened.

The round Blissey landed on the ground. "Happy~"

Miss Xiao Feng's eyes lit up. "It's Blissey! The one that took down its opponents using only status moves!"

As a fan, she had carefully studied All Baimu's performances and battles at every Pokémon Showcase over and over, and Blissey was already a Pokémon she knew inside and out.

Of course.

Only limited to the moves and techniques it had displayed during those few appearances.

And although Miss Xiao Feng had been stopped at the Top 32 in the Sagiyou Conference, her strength was absolutely not weak—otherwise she wouldn't have been able to push Ash to a final one-on-one.

She decided on the spot: "Scizor! Use Quick Attack!"

Based on her understanding of Blissey, the latter was quite nimble, able to use various status moves with ease; to defeat it, she had to use absolute speed to confuse its perception.

"Hasa!"

Scizor's body was wrapped in a pale white flowing light, its cicada-thin wings beating, its metal-cast body suddenly vanishing from the spot.

Peng!

The sound of breaking wind was like a wind cannon roaring.

All Baimu's gaze was calm, two Pokémon munching on Pokéblocks perched on his shoulders, and he suddenly spoke:

"Minimize."

"Happy!"

Blissey paid no attention at all to the vanished Scizor, and the instant the trainer's command was given, it quickly shrank its not-particularly-large body.

A scarlet pincer wrapped in white light grazed past its forehead.

"Hasa!?"

Scizor stared in shock at the Blissey, now no taller than a knee, unable to believe its own ferocious strike had been so easily dodged.

Miss Xiao Feng was equally startled, but she reacted quickly too.

"Bullet Punch!"

"Sing!"

The two commands were nearly simultaneous.

But just as Scizor swung out its other pincer, now coated in a silvery-white metallic sheen, Blissey's short-range hypnotic sound waves had already been released.

"Hahaha~ hahapi~"

Peng!

Bullet Punch struck Blissey's body with the speed of lightning, Steel-type energy exploding into a burst of silver light that sent it flying.

But at the same time, Scizor also closed its eyes and dropped to its knees with a thud, clearly having been successfully put to sleep by Blissey's Sing.

Miss Xiao Feng's brow furrowed quickly, and she pulled out a Poké Ball to try a switch—only to realize when she raised her hand that this was a one-on-one.

She couldn't help but sigh.

Not far away.

Blissey flipped itself up in front of it, nervously rubbing the cheek that had been hit; its condition was much better than All Baimu had expected, so it seemed Scizor's attack power wasn't particularly high.

Just to be safe.

"Soft-Boiled!"

"Happy~"

Blissey placed its two small hands before its belly, warm light glowing from the white egg, quickly spreading across its entire body and bringing out specks of pale green light.

On the other side, Miss Xiao Feng shouted loudly trying to wake Scizor up, but the latter was sleeping extremely deeply, with every intention of sleeping until the end of the world.

All Baimu didn't give it the chance.

"Psychic!"

"Happy!"

Blissey's eyes flashed blue, and invisible force transformed into a storm of will that lifted Scizor up, then slammed it down hard!

Dong!

The ground trembled, dust flying.

"Scizor! Wake up!" Miss Xiao Feng tried to use the impact to rouse it, but the latter remained as asleep as a dead pig—in game terms, it would probably need to sleep through the full count of turns.

This gave Blissey the perfect chance to press the attack.

"Earth Toss!"

At the trainer's command, Blissey puffed up its little cheeks and sprinted toward Scizor, grabbed its massive pincers, shut its eyes, lifted one foot off the ground, and used its body to start spinning.

As its rotation sped up, a phantom image of the earth gradually took shape, signaling that the attack's power had reached its absolute peak.

"Release!"

Baimu shouted, and Blissey suddenly let go.

Whoosh!

The gale howled as the unconscious Scizor flew off like a meteor, crossing the boundary of the battlefield in the blink of an eye, and slammed headfirst into the trunk of a large tree!

Boom!

The trunk shook, and branches and leaves fell.

Scizor finally woke up under this barrage of attacks, staggering as it tried to get up.

"Use Roost!" Xiao Feng's face lit up with joy, but she didn't dare slack off, shouting as she tried to get Scizor to recover its dwindling stamina. Unfortunately, the latter swayed a few times and collapsed forward in defeat.

Thud!

The two Dreepy Mecias, hugging and gnawing on Pokéblocks, both jolted at once, as if startled.

And Scizor, with spirals in its eyes, lost consciousness.

Xiao Feng's joyful expression turned to astonishment.

Without a doubt.

This was a battle with virtually no suspense. Blissey, with its absolutely keen sense of timing and rapid move execution, had effortlessly taken Scizor down.

Xiao Feng, who had a certain confidence in her own strength, took what amounted to a ten-thousand-point critical hit.

To think it ended that easily—

"Nicely done."

"Happy~"

Baimu lightly high-fived the returning Blissey.

Smack!

Seeing this, the Dreepy brother on his shoulder, with a Pokéblock still in its mouth, swam over to Blissey and gave it a high-five too. "Hiyah~"

"Happy~"

The Dreepy sister silently watched the scene, her heart stirred but too shy to join in. But seeing everyone looking at her, she bashfully went along with it and high-fived as well. "Hiyah~"

"Happy!!"

Blissey was overjoyed.

Baimu pulled his gaze back and looked at Xiao Feng in the distance, thinking that a top-thirty-two finisher at the Contest was nothing special — after all these years, she didn't seem to have improved much.

Hit her limit?

Possibly.

He knew well that not every trainer could be like Ash, rising stronger with every setback and always pushing toward higher scores. Most people, even if they won a contest, couldn't necessarily replace one of the Elite Four or the Champion.

Gym Leader was about their limit.

Just as this so-called utopia had its dark side, the trainer world had its brutally realistic side too.

"You're even more outstanding than I imagined!"

Xiao Feng came up to Baimu, first expressing her admiration, then asked expectantly, "The four days from now at the Pacifidlog Contest — you'll be entering, right?"

"Mm."

He nodded.

"When the time comes, I won't lose to you that easily!" Xiao Feng declared, as if making an announcement, and extended her hand.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Baimu shook her hand again, and suddenly felt that Xiao Feng most likely didn't see him as an idol — she very likely considered him a formidable rival.

Thinking about it that way, everything she'd said and done so far was exactly like a rival character in a game who suddenly pops up to challenge the protagonist.

... Well, a slightly small-fry one, at that.

But thanks to Xiao Feng.

Baimu had finalized his preparations for the first round of this contest — letting Blissey take the stage solo.

Mawile had already appeared in three consecutive performances, while Blissey, also a participant, had only appeared a handful of times at the Autumn Leaf Contest as a red flower complementing the green leaves.

The Mi Ke Li Cup was bound to be Milotic's home turf as a Water-type Pokémon's event.

If he didn't let Blissey perform solo soon, it would really start to feel like it was just there to make up the numbers.

As for whether Mawile would protest...

Baimu figured that rather than entering this kind of small-scale Contest, that one would be better off mastering Mega Evolution with him first, so it would have something to show off at the Grand Festival.