Chapter 466: Facing the Sea God

Aro!

You're actually serious!

Baimu felt the hairs on his body stand on end. If this Lugia turned into a Dark Lugia and lost its mind, rampaging everywhere—could his current strength really hold it off?

Probably not!

Even if it wasn't the sole being under heaven and above earth, the power it possessed was visibly tremendous.

Besides, if Lugia couldn't beat black technology, could it not beat a tiny trainer like him?

Seeing the silver-white feathers of the great bird not far away gradually turn pitch-black, he—who already knew the truth that you don't fight a boss mid-transformation, you run—spun on his heels and bolted.

But after only two steps, he realized Porygon2 was still standing there dumbly.

"Holy crap! It's waiting for the transformation to finish—what are you waiting for?"

He irritably turned back, scooped it into his arms. Just minutes ago he'd been thinking this dead duck had changed with the times, had its own little schemes, and now it was just as dumb as ever.

You think you're a camera? Even if Dark Lugia destroys heaven and earth, it still can't hurt you?

The Mawile on the other side didn't need reminding—after all, it had once charged back and forth through a swarm of Dark Pokémon with him, and knew perfectly well you didn't casually provoke this thing.

The two Dreepy Mei siblings lay on top of his head without moving, obedient as could be.

One person and four Pokémon ran at full speed.

The moment his stride carried him forward, a short sound—unlike any human voice—rang out beside Baimu's ear along with Lugia's pained low roar. Only after he'd run over a hundred meters did he realize the other seemed to have called out "Help me."

But when he thought back carefully, it was vague and indistinct.

He didn't pay it much mind.

Mainly, he wasn't Ash Ketchum—protected by the writers' favoritism, able to do anything without dying, charging between Mewtwo and Mew's energy, tanking attacks from various cover legendaries.

Suddenly.

His steps faltered slightly, his pupils dilating a little, because what appeared before him was a large stretch of pitted, battered clearing in the forest. From the various marks on the ground, it wasn't hard to tell they came from all manner of violent techniques and impacts.

Clearly, after every transformation, Dark Lugia would come here to vent...

No wonder you couldn't spot any wild Pokémon nearby!

They'd all been scared off by it!

The corner of Baimu's mouth twitched slightly. He took out his phone and began contacting Barza or Mei Mei Yali, telling them to hurry and send Hu Pa to pick them up—if they didn't come soon, all they'd get was a pile of mush.

Just as he was about to act, the wailing behind him turned into a terrifying roar.

"Wooo... roar!

"

"Chiddo!"

Mawile's cry and the shriek of air exploded beside his ears.

Boom!

Amidst the earth-shaking upheaval, Baimu's vision blurred—and suddenly he was back by the stream. Hovering in midair not far away was a giant bird half-black, half-white, like a mongrel, simultaneously gulping down massive air currents that ravaged the forest and continuously letting out agonized howls.

It sounded especially wretched.

It had a certain sense of a whale's mournful cry before its fall.

Baimu gazed at that Lugia, and his heart couldn't help but stir.

"Pali!"

Porygon2's cry snapped him back to his senses, and he realized that it had just used Teleport to bring them back to their original position, successfully dodging the first wave of attacks after "Dark Lugia" went berserk.

Honestly, given the other's current state, he couldn't determine whether Lugia's transformation had succeeded or not—half-black, half-white, it looked like a failed transformation.

From its cries, it wasn't hard to hear Lugia's will being ravaged by the changes happening to its body.

Team Shadow really deserves to die!

Did that dragon-boy purify it successfully back then or not?

Baimu was worried enough to go grey, and he truly pitied Lugia. But his current strength simply wasn't enough to clash head-on with it—seeking quick reinforcements was the truth.

So he turned and apologized to Mawile and the two Dreepy Mei, recalling them into their balls.

So far he still hadn't mastered Mawile's Mega Evolution, so the biggest card in his hand remained the Mega Evolved Aggron.

With the latter's durability, it should probably be able to withstand a few hits from Dark Lugia, barely holding on until Hu Pa arrived to pick him up.

Bang!

"Roar~"

Aggron landed, and the first thing it saw was Lugia less than a hundred meters away. It knew that familiar aura on the other's body all too well.

Dark Pokémon!

Having once charged at the forefront as a mount, it knew exactly how formidable these things were, so it immediately steeled itself to the utmost.

"Mega Evolve!"

"Roar!"

Surging energy poured forth from the small, exquisite Mega Stone like a tsunami, flowing over Aggron's entire body in an instant, causing its appearance to change at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After a few short breaths, a land fortress radiating a silvery-white sheen under the sunlight suddenly appeared.

These days, Aggron might not have appeared in Gym battles or Pokémon Showcases, but it hadn't been short on street battles. Its body, honed bit by bit over time, was gradually drawing closer to a true Wall of Sighs.

Of course, it hadn't been idle on the offensive front either—physical and special attacks both blooming. If Baimu hadn't given up hope on its speed, this guy would clearly be trending toward all-around development.

"Roar!

"

The lofty roar turned low like muffled thunder, and successfully drew the frenzied Dark Lugia's attention. It first took a deep breath, then violently spewed out a storm-like black turbulence!

【Dark Pulse】!

Rumble rumble——!

Between the trees it was as if mountains had crumbled and the earth had split; massive trees were ripped from the ground and shredded into fine powder by the storm, and a deep trench was gouged into the ground.

"Hold the line!"

All Baimu shouted. Mega Aggron's sapphire-blue eyes lit up, and its two claws slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up dirt and sand while also causing a glowing blue honeycomb-shaped barrier to materialize before it.

The next instant.

The dark storm blasted through the dust and struck head-on the barrier of flowing glowing-blue light before Mega Aggron, making it tremble incessantly with a teeth-grinding creak!

Vast clouds of smoke and dust billowed up, instantly swallowing everything around!

"Ooo—"

Pain that was difficult to suppress showed in the eyes of the Dark Lugia spewing the storm. It struggled desperately to turn its head, shifting the storm to blow elsewhere.

And this action of its successfully let the terrified All Baimu beneath the dust breathe a sigh of relief.

Bang!

The honeycomb-shaped barrier before Mega Aggron was seen shattering, turning into a skyful of light particles.

It was clearly just a hair's breadth from failing to hold.

Earlier he had nearly poured all the previous level rewards into Mega Aggron, forcibly stacking defensive power to keep it alive. He hadn't expected Lugia to be able to turn its direction at the very last second.

It seemed there was no need to knock it down; forcibly controlling its body would suffice.

The distress message had been sent.

If fast, Hu Pa would arrive the next second; if slow, definitely no more than half a minute. As long as Mega Aggron could endure, then everything would be fine!

While All Baimu was thinking this, madness once again seized Lugia's brain. The creature became like a zombie again, filled with destructive desire toward the living, and took a deep breath, gathering airflow in its chest and belly.

He hurriedly shouted:

"Cannon Photon!"

"Roar!"

Mega Aggron raised its head. Countless streams of light gathered before its bloody maw, condensing into a wildly pulsating shining energy orb, which it fired before the Dark Lugia's airflow could spray down!

Boom!

A bright silver-white pillar of light tore through the air with a rumble, colliding with the dark vortex Lugia had just spat out, and for a short time they fiercely stalemated.

Unfortunately this situation didn't last long. The Cannon Photon ultimately couldn't overcome the dark vortex, and was scattered by the drill-sharp gale, which surged forward once more.

Seeing this, Mega Aggron not only did not dodge or defend with its trainer, but instead threw all its strength into charging straight at the dark vortex. A twisted metallic sheen clung to its body, as if brewing something.

Dong!

The airflow slammed violently into it with a muffled thud, yet failed to break its forward-charging stance. Instead, countless amounts of energy were all absorbed by the twisted sheen across its surface, tirelessly drawing in every bit of energy.

All Baimu's face was taut. Gripping a Poké Ball, he was ready to recall Mega Aggron at any moment, but watching the latter's fierce momentum, he couldn't help shouting.

"Hold on! Big monster!"

"Roar!

"

As if answering him, or as if truly about to run dry, Mega Aggron somehow raised a brand-new power from nowhere. Even while forcibly withstanding the dark vortex's assault, its charging speed actually increased!

And the twisted metallic sheen on its body finally completely transformed into another form—

As deep as a black hole, as terrifying as the core of a collapsing planet!

In an instant.

Mega Aggron charged up to Dark Lugia. After baring it a ferocious grin, it no longer held back that energy capable of destroying heaven and earth, spreading its claws wide and letting it pour out completely in all directions.

All Baimu, who had stayed in place, only saw a flash of black light, followed by a terrifyingly intense light too fierce for the eye to face. A shockwave like a wall of air rolled in, dirt carrying towering dust along, and with unmatched might caused countless trees to be swallowed up!

Rumble rumble—!

!

The skull-splitting roar only reached his ears now, but thankfully Porygon2 was no mere toy; seeing things go bad, it immediately teleported the trainer away.

By the time All Baimu stabilized, a massive mushroom cloud was already rising slowly before his eyes.

Unlike the earlier small-fry explosions, this time Mega Aggron used the dark vortex as its base energy, transformed its metallic explosion into a "nuclear bomb," and doubled all its power back. This feat was enough to rival the Pokémon of those Elite Four or Champions.

Even bullying those second-tier gods without special powers wouldn't be a problem.

Of course.

This energy-absorbing counterattack tactic still demanded a lot from Mega Aggron itself; if it couldn't withstand it, all talk was pointless.

But then again, after this strike, can Dark Lugia recover its state?

All Baimu didn't ask to take it down, only to speed up this bout of its episode.

Hmm~

A strange sound rang out beside his ear.

"Little White?" The familiar doll-like voice of little Hu Pa appeared beside him along with its pitiful yet slightly mischievous face.

After asking that one question, this fellow's gaze quickly turned to the distant mushroom cloud.

"Wow!"

Hu Pa was a little surprised. "What in the world happened here?"

"Lugia suddenly went Dark. The purification back then apparently wasn't thorough enough." All Baimu stood on a rock, looking at the gradually dissipating mushroom cloud with lingering fear. "Can you first help me bring my Pokémon back? It's inside there."

The telepathic link had severed; presumably Aggron had exhausted itself. If nothing unexpected, there shouldn't be any major problem.

Hu Pa hadn't understood at first—something about going Dark, something about purification—but the moment it heard a ring would be needed, without a second word it stuck out its tongue, directly opened another ring, and reached its hand inside to fish around.

The unconscious Aggron was forcibly dragged out of the ring by it.

All Baimu gave it a quick check and breathed a sigh of relief.

No big deal.

"Good work, nicely done."

He recalled it into its Poké Ball and looked again at Mo Gu Yun, only to find that the Dark Lugia's figure had vanished — faintly, it seemed to have returned to the mountain stream, lying by the creek and trembling softly.

"Wooo…"

【Help…】

The voice, as if guided by providence, sounded once more.

All Baimu looked at the tormented Lugia with a complicated expression. Whatever the exact situation was, he would have to ask in person the 【Dragon-Tamer】 who had taken down the second-generation Shadow squad leader, Dead Gold, and rescued Lugia.

For now…

To be safe, he decided to keep watching.

Hu Pa seemed to want to go over, but he grabbed its arm.

"Easy now, let's wait and see!"

The instant his words fell, the whimpering of the Lugia by the mountain stream stopped.

He hurried to look, and saw Lugia sprawled on the ground in a state of utter exhaustion, while the black qi that had clung to its body like a tattoo, turning it mottled, had vanished without a trace — as if it had never existed at all.

It's over?

He and his Pokémon exchanged glances, and only dared to approach after waiting half a minute.

Hu Pa was the fastest, flying to its side and pacing back and forth, a worried look on its face. "Xiaobai! What's wrong with it?"

"Darkness… simply put, there's a power beyond its control that brought it pain."

All Baimu explained softly.

Hu Pa, who had only recently made peace with Shadow Hoopa and had once been tormented by it, immediately empathized. It flew in front of Lugia and gently shook its head. "Lugia~ Lugia~ Are you okay?"

But Lugia at this moment didn't even have the strength to make a sound. It tucked in its broad wings, its silvery-white plumage dull and lusterless, lying on the rocky shore by the water and breathing with difficulty — looking just like a beached whale.

This gave All Baimu a sudden idea: since it was the embodiment of ocean currents, would tossing it into the deep sea help it recover faster?

……Better check the specifics first.

He walked slowly to Lugia's side, intending to ask Hu Pa to call n over to see exactly what was going on, so they could think of a solution together.

Two brains always come up with more ideas than one — and besides, leave professional matters to the professionals.

But before he could speak, the great bird before him suddenly opened its eyes. Its azure-blue pupils met his, reflecting his entire figure while also revealing some indescribable meaning.

"This…"

All Baimu swallowed, not knowing why he suddenly didn't want to call n over anymore.

Bizarre.

Did Lugia influence him? It seemed so, but why? He couldn't figure it out.

Sigh… after all, it's a Psychic-type Pokémon, being all mystical is perfectly normal — its same-generation "brother" Ho-Oh is just as mystical too.

He thought for a moment, and could only release Chansey first.

"Your medical knowledge is greater than mine — help me see what its condition is."

"Happy!"

Nurse Chansey nodded. Although it had only interned under Young Lady Joo-Eun for a few months, it already had all the basic medical knowledge it should have —

Practice yields true knowledge. Back then, Iron Town was in ruins with chaos everywhere — what kind of patient wasn't there?

But it circled Lugia once, boldly leaned in to pry open Lugia's eyelid, then pulled open its mouth to examine the oral cavity, and even plucked a feather to check the root.

Throughout this, Lugia didn't move at all, letting it do as it pleased, as if it had fainted again.

It really couldn't tell what was wrong with the latter. Sick? Didn't seem like it. Injured? Where were the wounds? Exhausted? Obviously!

That's all it was?

If it were really that simple, the trainer definitely wouldn't have called it out.

Nurse Chansey's pride was a little hurt, so it pulled out Heal Pulse and poured it into the other, preparing to use the process of elimination to figure out what was wrong with Lugia.

Anyway, when in doubt, Heal Pulse.

Unexpectedly, after the pink wave of light was cast down, Lugia quickly opened its eyes, then raised its head as if nothing were wrong, blankly observing its surroundings.

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"Wooo…"

Seeing this, how could Nurse Chansey not realize that the other had no ailment whatsoever — it was simply exhausted.

"Happy…"

Nurse Chansey, unable to show off its prowess, was deeply regretful. Ever since winning that gorgeous Ribbon for All Baimu at the Sootopolis Conference, it had grown increasingly eager to properly demonstrate all the abilities it possessed.

Of course.

Although it coveted the Ace position, being inwardly sensitive, it couldn't directly challenge Aggron like Hydreigon did, so it only planned to show itself off as much as possible.

What is an Ace? The Pokémon that comes to mind first when the trainer is in crisis — that's the Ace!

Chansey wholeheartedly agreed with this.

Too bad this Lugia wasn't giving it a chance to shine.

It felt secretly dejected.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Lugia, having regained its senses, once again fixed its gaze on All Baimu. Its slender, graceful neck drooped down again, as if its earlier spirited look had all been an illusion.

"Wooo…"

A cry rang out, like a whale's song — long and drawn-out yet tinged with a low note, as if it could stretch for a hundred miles.

It lay on the rocks, its sapphire-like eyes seemingly glistening with moisture, as if weeping. But looking closely, one would realize this was merely a normal physiological phenomenon for aquatic Pokémon — keeping the eyes from drying out.

Porygon translation back online.

"You… forget it, is there anything I can help you with?"

All Baimu thought for a moment, and simply cut all the nonsense, deciding to get straight to the point and ask Lugia what it wanted.

The whale's cry rang out again, mingled with broken, intermittent human voices.

【Help… help…】

I do want to help, but I have no idea how.

He looked down at his phone helplessly, hoping to get more information from the Polygon Beast 2, but the latter's eyes flashed, and it spoke words that left him utterly astonished.

"Lugia says it wants you to help find its kin to save it."

Kin?

Ah! Lugia and its young?