Chapter 451: Galar Cuff, Galar Cuff

After quite a bit of effort, the Psychic finally managed to deal with the reporters and audience.

【You, looking utterly exhausted, prepare to leave Hammerlocke City, only to find the Hammerlocke Gym Leader, Kabu, waiting for you at the main gate. He says it's his habit to personally see off every victorious challenger, compliments your well-proportioned physique and muscles, and expresses his hope of meeting you again at the Champion Cup for a rematch】

Standard lines.

Baimu was all too familiar with the word "rematch"—far too many people had said it to him, but so far, not a single one had actually followed through.

Mm, and no one had complimented his muscles either.

Meanwhile, having left Hammerlocke City, the Psychic set his next target as Stow-on-Side, but before that, the matter of the Gigantic Solosis had to be resolved. Having obtained a new Pokémon, he also, as usual, had to put his Galarian Slowpoke through some training, and along the way, make use of the Galar Cuff Twig he'd bought.

Through narration, we learn that during his idle days in Hammerlocke City, the Psychic had actively researched information on Galarian Slowpoke and Gigantic Solosis, and had gone to the local supermarket to purchase the special material required for Galarian Slowpoke's evolution—the Galar Cuff Twig.

As for Gigantic Solosis, because it only grows near Energy Spots, it is exceedingly rare.

But there had been quite a few reports of wild Dynamax Pokémon in the Wild Area, supposedly from temporary Energy Spots created by some unknown influence.

【You decide to head to the Wild Area to try your luck and search for those suspicious temporary Energy Spots】

On-screen.

The Psychic traveled through the Wild Area, teeming with wild Pokémon, with his whole team. Occasionally he ran into wild Trainers, but it was hardly a problem—send out Musharna and the battle was won in no time.

And if he met sore losers who wouldn't stop pestering him or even tried to throw hands, that was fine too—when the Pokémon finished fighting, the Trainers could step in themselves.

When it came to Pokémon battles, the Psychic was a professional. When it came to real-person combat, the Psychic was equally unfazed—having traveled through two regions, he'd seen every type of person there was.

Baimu watched the Psychic traverse the vast open plains, well aware that these so-called temporary Energy Spots were most likely the Pokémon Dens where Max Raid Battles took place in the game.

The only difference was that, unlike the fixed Energy-producing locations in the game, the Energy Spots in the anime were not fixed.

The reason was that these Energy Spots were created by a special kind of stone called 【Wishing Star】—and the 【Wishing Star】 in question was not the Jirachi that Baimu had entrusted to Champion Dawu for research, but rather meteorite fragments brought to Earth when Eternatus descended, as well as the meteors that subsequently fell upon the Galar region.

In the game, a Den that had lost its Energy Spot only needed a Wishing Star frag—Wishing Star fragment to reactivate the dimmed Den.

Rose had been trying to gather all the Wishing Stars in the Galar region to revive Eternatus, hoping to buy the energy-starved Galar region of a thousand years hence another breath of life. In the anime, he called this energy Galar Particles.

However, in the anime, trying to find temporary Energy Spots by one's own efforts was still very difficult.

After many fruitless days of searching, the Psychic decided to stop for now and resolve the evolution issue of his Galarian Slowpoke.

【You find yourself at a loss over whether to weave the Galar Cuff Twig into a bracelet or a wreath—the two items not only require different quantities of Galar Cuff Twig, but also represent two different evolutions for Galarian Slowpoke】

【After careful deliberation, you decide to make both items and let the Galarian Slowpoke decide for itself】

On-screen.

The Psychic quickly crafted both the bracelet and the wreath using the methods he'd learned, which made Baimu feel he was unexpectedly deft-handed…

And a fast learner too—truly a rare find.

Baimu knew very well that, despite many Trainers nowadays traveling out year-round, most of them actually had very limited self-care skills. Those like Ash had basically said goodbye to life skills altogether, and even someone like Paul who looked especially reliable didn't know how to make Pokémon food, relying entirely on buying canned food for his Pokémon.

It was only because today's Pokémon food cans had more reasonable nutritional distribution, and the food standards in the Pokémon anime world were extremely high, that who knew whether Paul's Pokémon could still maintain such high combat power.

After all, food was also an important part of training Pokémon.

And the Galarian Slowpoke, watched by the expectant Slowking, slowly crawled toward the Galar Cuff bracelet with its vacant eyes.

That's right.

Crawled—like a caterpillar.

But when it reached the bracelet, it didn't put it on its claw; instead, it opened its big mouth and tried to eat it.

【Seeing this, you swiftly snatched up the Galar Cuff bracelet, slipped it onto the Galarian Slowpoke's left front claw, and brought it to the riverbank】

Once at the riverbank, the Galarian Slowpoke, as if guided by instinct, placed its left front claw—adorned with the Galar Cuff bracelet—into the stream, staring blankly as if waiting for something.

The Psychic wasn't anxious either; he sat down beside the Galarian Slowpoke along with Slowking, waiting for something.

The footage flew by.

He didn't keep Baimu waiting long. The Galarian Slowpoke suddenly shuddered all over, and its left claw, which had been dipped in the stream, jerked back violently—but on that left claw, a giant blue clam had somehow appeared—

A Shellder!

A string of ellipsis floated above the Galarian Slowpoke's head, while the Psychic and Slowking wore expressions of pure delight.

In the anime, Slowpoke very much follows the Pokédex's setting—that is, being bitten on the tail by a Shellder to evolve into Slowbro—while the conditions for Slowking are relatively stricter, requiring it to be bitten on the forehead by a Shellder while wearing the King's Rock.

The Galarian Slowpoke was no exception; the key to its evolution, besides the Galar Cuff bracelet, also included the bite of a Shellder.

Now was the perfect moment for two Pokémon to become one.

A brilliant blue light flared, and the Galarian Slowpoke, its left claw bitten, swiftly shifted from a prone posture to a standing one. The golden portion on its forehead turned purple, as if invaded by some venom.

And the Shellder on its left claw transformed into an enormous, purple-glowing Tian Luo.

【Your Galarian Slowpoke evolved into Galarian Slowbro】

The Psychic and Slowking both wore very happy expressions, but the newly evolved Galarian Slowbro was as vacant as ever.

It seemed evolution hadn't boosted its IQ.

And…

It seemed to have lost the ability to swim.

Baimu watched the Galarian Slowbro flailing in the water and felt rather speechless.

You can forget an innate ability to swim? Especially when the front and back legs are less than two minutes apart.

But on this one, it also felt entirely reasonable.

On the light screen, the Psychic officially began training the two new Psychic-type Pokémon he'd caught in the Galar region.

As for the Orbeetle—clearly a Pokémon with a very big head—the Psychic, after careful consideration, decided to train its ability to take a hit.

His previous battle with Gloria had given him inspiration.

As for the Galarian Slowbro…

The Psychic was very interested in its exclusive Ability 【Quick Draw】.

Baimu was also very interested, but unfortunately the simulator seemed to think this segment of training wasn't worth dwelling on, and fast-forwarded straight to the end of the training.

【You have completed your target special training, but during this period you failed to locate any wild Dynamax Pokémon. You decide to set off on your journey】

The Psychic, carrying a trace of regret, crossed the boundless plains and headed for Stow-on-Side, located to the north.

Not long after.

The gates of Stow-on-Side came into view — a colossal dragon-head sculpture stood in silence yet radiated grandeur, the towering Crown of the Tower stretched like a dragon's spine, and the corridors layered skyward resembled a dragon's wings.

【You have arrived at Stow-on-Side. It is said that the most detailed ancient history of Galar is preserved here; it is the central city of the Galar region.】

As usual, an overhead shot.

On the surface, Stow-on-Side shared a similar architectural style with Motostoke, but in truth the former was considerably older.

Upon entering the city, the Psychic made straight for the Stow-on-Side Gym, only to be turned away by an employee of Macro Cosmos.

【You overhear the staff member say that only challengers who have obtained seven Badges may apply for a challenge, and you cannot help but feel a twinge of regret.】

Clearly, as Champion Dan Di's self-proclaimed nemesis, Bea was not someone just anyone could casually challenge, hence the Badge requirement.

The Psychic had no choice but to head for Ballonlea to challenge its Gym.

However, to reach Ballonlea without taking the train, one had no choice but to climb over those towering, bare, massive rock formations.

But what the Psychic had never anticipated, despite all his calculations, was encountering on Route 6 a wild Dynamax Pokémon he had searched for in vain across the wilds.

And even less expected was how bizarre the scene would be upon meeting it.

At the far end of the frame, a strange giant snake — standing upright like a spinning top, whirling endlessly like a sandstorm — spat out gravel as it tried to evade the fierce assault of a blue humanoid octopus.

The size difference between the two was like a toy versus a real person, yet the strange giant snake was utterly unable to gain the upper hand against the former.

"Gigantamax Sandaconda and Octillery, Bea?"

All Baimu raised an eyebrow, and sure enough, spotted an extremely blurry pixelated little figure near the blue humanoid octopus.

This one was one of the very few trainers during Ash's animated journey who actually handed him a defeat. Granted, most of the journey's content had been crafted by the writers into a terrible film, but now that the terrible-film plot had become reality, he could only accept it.

The Psychic went up to meet them, but he had no intention of stealing the kill — he wanted to look for the presence of a Max Mushroom—

And he really did find one!

However, the Psychic's rash approach drew the attention of Bea and a group of Macro Cosmos employees. Before he could collect it in peace, they came over and drove him off on the grounds that the area was dangerous.

Even though the Max Mushroom's location was far from the battle site, and even though he had made his intentions clear.

Worried that if he came back later the thing would have already been collected by them, the Psychic was reluctant, but he had no intention of starting a conflict with Macro Cosmos either, so he obediently withdrew to the side and waited for Octillery to take down the Gigantamax Sandaconda.

【You gaze at the uniformly dressed, heavily guarded Macro Cosmos employees, and for some reason are inexplicably reminded of Kanto's evil organization, Team Rocket.】

Associating them with Team Rocket — fair enough.

Is it because these people are too overbearing?

All Baimu could also understand the Psychic's pain at having something right before his eyes yet being unable to collect it. As for the rule that whoever discovers a wild Gigantamax Pokémon owns all the byproducts it produces… such a rule did not exist.

Fortunately, Bea was quite capable — the Gigantamax Sandaconda was taken down quickly — and the Macro Cosmos employees smoothly discovered a Wishing Star in the crater beneath it.

This kind of highly purposeful action, which on the surface did not appear to belong to any "official" organization, increasingly gave the Psychic a sense of déjà vu with Team Rocket.

Kanto has suffered under Team Rocket for far too long!

【You stare at those people, thinking you should keep your distance from them. To your delight, the Max Mushroom is still right where it was.】

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The delighted Psychic quickly collected all the Max Mushrooms in the vicinity — five in total — just enough to brew the first pot.

As for whether other Pokémon would still have Gigantamax forms later on, the Psychic decided to cross that bridge when he came to it.

Time to cook soup.

All Baimu had grown interested and very much wanted to steal a trick or two, but the problem was that the narration — which just moments ago had been chattering away, eager to explain every single one of the Psychic's moves — had stopped producing text!

Gone mute?

Simply outrageous!

He sulkily watched the screen. Inside, just like playing a game, a pot of red-glowing red broth was made, and after it was poured down Oranguru's throat with a gurgle, the Psychic immediately excitedly flipped over two mountains in succession and arrived at Ballonlea.

【You have arrived at Ballonlea, a countryside town that prospered because of ancient arts.】

Ballonlea's houses and the Stadium were all in a yellowish, sand-textured style. To someone who had once lived in Ironworks, this felt oddly familiar — though of course that was merely an illusion; the two places were worlds apart.

The Psychic hurried toward the Ballonlea Stadium, but no matter how rushed he was, the Stadium still required tickets, and there was still a three-day wait.

From All Baimu's perspective, those three days, which were rather cruel for the Psychic, were in fact only a few seconds for him.

Stepping out the door is the same as stepping in.

Stepping in is equivalent to having begun.

The Psychic and Bea locked eyes from nearly a hundred meters apart. The latter effortlessly judged from the other's stance that he had trained in martial arts, and combined with the intelligence she had gathered, she could not help but feel even more wary.

Both sides' lead Pokémon were interesting — the Psychic chose Oranguru, while Bea chose Hawlucha.

The former decisively Gigantamaxed, and hurled its signature Max Move over 【G-Max Chi Strike】. The after-effect activated Gravity, which to a certain extent countered Bea's Hawlucha, which excelled at leaping and pouncing.

Of course.

That still required Hawlucha to be able to withstand it in the first place.

With the Psychic's dedicated guidance, and tempered by the Elite training talent, Oranguru's strength was steadily catching up to that of the other team members. Under a super-effective hit, it actually took down Hawlucha outright.

This greatly shocked Bea, who then solemnly switched in her second — no, her second swarm of Pokémon: Falinks.

As a formation Pokémon, they cleverly chose to split up, and under the lead Falinks's direction, they caused tremendous trouble for Oranguru, which could not land its Max Move.

In the end, it was the Psychic who was clever enough — he had Oranguru attack the leader, which caused the Falinks to collapse without a fight.

"Hmm… when the leader falls, shouldn't they immediately pick a new leader? How strange." All Baimu voiced his thoughts, but soon saw the Gigantamax Oranguru explode with a boom and collapse like a deflating balloon.

It lost the ability to battle!?

The one that attacked it was Octillery — the very one that had taken down the Gigantamax Sandaconda a few days ago.

"Impressive…"

All Baimu murmured softly. His words were identical to the narration at the bottom of the screen.