Chapter 70: The Counter-Provocation

He said fight, and so they fought.

Before Baimu could even give the order, Loudred—who'd had it in for Yoshioka for a while now—suddenly stomped the ground, electricity crackling around its body, and shot forward as a blur!

The bosses shrieked and dodged; tables, chairs, and benches were sent crashing every which way, and the long white table in the middle collapsed with a sharp crack.

Yoshioka and his lackeys behind him went pale and scrambled aside too, but Yoshioka—Loudred's main target—couldn't get out of the way in time.

Loudred's fist came from far to near, swelling huge in front of him in an instant—

"Hold the line!"

"Loudred!"

One high shout, one low shout, that was all.

Boom!

The air let out a deafening roar. Red and green light flared bright, surging into a blazing pillar of flame that swelled and exploded in midair, and the entire dance hall shuddered violently.

Then, white smoke curled up.

Loudred emerged from the smoke and returned to Baimu's side.

Naruhiro and the others stared dumbfounded at this Pokémon that had always seemed so cute and not very combat-ready, rapidly racking their brains to recall whether they'd ever offended it.

Those who'd once thought about patting its head were quietly repenting.

"Loudred!"

Loudred paid them no mind at all, just let out a rather solemn cry.

Baimu had been about to scold Loudred for attacking without a signal, but on hearing its cry he somehow understood at once, and looked toward the thickest smoke at the very back of the dance hall.

Through the hazy dust, several dark figures emerged as the smoke thinned.

It was Yoshioka and the others, still shaken. On each of their shoulders sat a creature with yellow tentacles and a body like red pottery.

Magcargo, the Lava Pokémon.

A miraculous being with absurdly high Defense and Sp. Def.

A long string of data flashed through his mind as naturally as could be.

"What the hell… do you have any idea what the rules are?! Did your boss never teach you not to throw hands indoors?!"

Yoshioka roared, his face a mix of relief and lingering fear, his bellowing voice extra loud: "Where the hell did some punk like you crawl out from?!"

"Yeah, that's right!"

"So young and already no manners! How the hell did your boss raise you?!"

The Quicksand Team members behind him joined in, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Rules?

Although Baimu didn't want to fight indoors either, he genuinely had no idea what rules they meant, so for now he simply sidestepped the topic.

"Let me teach you a lesson you'll remember first."

Since the enemy wasn't down for the count, he obviously couldn't keep scolding Loudred right now—publicly dressing down a Pokémon in front of a crowd would make Loudred lose face completely.

Pokémon have their dignity too.

Yoshioka was still cursing in the distance: "Damned mud-crawler, you're nothing but a mud-crawler—if your boss won't teach you, I will!"

Naruhiro seemed to realize Baimu really didn't know what rules they were talking about, and quietly filled him in.

Within a few sentences, the latter had a rough idea.

Basically speaking.

It all came down to Pokémon battles to decide victory. Both sides agreed on the rules and the stakes, then fought—anything went, as long as nobody died—

Listening to Naruhiro's explanation and then looking at Yoshioka and his crew acting all solemn about it, Baimu sighed inwardly. As expected, hoping for some fierce, bloody internal turf war was unrealistic.

Even when they were already badmouthing their own top boss, they still had to keep up the bare minimum of "friendly" appearances.

It was a lot like those Hong Kong movies where two sides with a sea of cheering lackeys finally find a place to throw down, and then the leaders just flash a knife, trade a few barbs, and call it a night.

But there was nothing for it—the rules for settling internal conflicts had been set down by the Quicksand Team's boss, and no one dared defy them, not even the three top executives.

"Back in the Poké Ball for now."

He quietly discussed it with Loudred, then recalled it.

——

They arrived at the battleground on Tongxuan Street.

Baimu's squad and Yoshioka's squad took opposite sides, glowering at each other.

Crowd after crowd of onlookers gathered—besides the many bosses, there were also plenty of idle Quicksand Team members, and ordinary folks sneaking a break from work.

"Yo! The Sand Faction and the Crystal Faction are at it again!"

"Who's leading each side?"

"Who else—Baimu and Yoshioka! They've been the hottest names these past two days!"

"Fight! Fight!"

Ignoring the noisy chatter of the onlookers, Baimu and Yoshioka stepped closer to each other to negotiate the so-called wager.

As expected, the latter demanded that Baimu give up the territory in Districts One and Two and return it to the Crystal Faction—perhaps knowing he was using underhanded schemes to seize it by force, his tone wasn't loud.

"I refuse."

Baimu didn't hesitate at all. "I'm not betting anything else with you—I want every tooth in your mouth."

"You—!"

Seeing the kid wasn't biting, Yoshioka tried the same old trick: "Who'd bet on something that small?! Or are you scared? Worried you can't win and you'll lose your turf? Like that sissy—"

"Fine! I'll bet you!"

Baimu suddenly raised his voice, drowning out the guy's tired provocation while making sure every onlooker heard: "Everyone here, bear witness! We've agreed—the winner gets to pull out every single one of the loser's teeth!"

"Who the hell agreed to that with you!"

Yoshioka froze for a beat, then roared furiously, "You're full of shit!"

"Everyone! Did you hear that? He's scared! The moment I mentioned it, Yoshioka of Crystal Squad got scared! Scared of our Sand Squad brothers!" Still ignoring him, he shouted even more energetically.

The Quicksand members from Sand Squad in the crowd couldn't help but cheer along loudly.

The Crystal Squad people, on the other hand, cursed and grumbled.

"I'm just asking you! Do you dare or not! Say you don't dare to bet and we'll turn around and leave!" Baimu turned his gaze back to look at Yoshioka, whose face was flushed red with rage, "Your whole Crystal Squad can't all be the type whose mouths are tougher than any other part of their bodies, right!?"

The moment those words came out, before the person involved could even react, the onlooking masses of Crystal Squad couldn't hold it anymore.

"Fuck your mother! Accept him!"

"Yoshioka, don't be a coward!"

"Just go fight him, what the hell are you hesitating for!"

Under the onlookers' urging, which could only be described as devilish whispers in his ears, even though Yoshioka was a thousand times unwilling, he had no choice but to agree.

Finally.

A one-on-one, three-versus-three match, with the bosses of both sides as the players, officially kicked off.

It was already a far cry from what Yoshioka had originally planned.

"Idiot."

Baimu was almost amused by this guy. Say he wasn't smart — well, he at least knew how to coerce and bribe those bosses, and knew how to provoke people like this, forcing him to fight.

Say he was smart — he'd boxed himself into a corner he couldn't back down from. He wanted to take back the territory his big boss had carved out, but felt it was a bit embarrassing, so he didn't dare raise his voice?

Just like Crystal Squad's boss Chester, ridiculously vain.

A few shouts from his own squad and he agreed to it.

"Baimu, no problem, right?"

Narihiro looked at the returning Baimu with some concern. "Although this guy is also a newly promoted squad leader, I heard he could have been promoted several years ago — he just didn't have enough merit."

"It's fine."

He shook his head, reassuring Narihiro and the others.

Loudred's quality far exceeded the average level of Pokémon in Iron Town; as long as Yoshioka wasn't some fake executive-level figure, victory was foreseeable.

Besides, Rhyperior wasn't just eating dry rice either. Over a week on its own, it had leveled up once, and with yesterday's three levels,

Its energy level alone had already reached the threshold of level forty.

Of course, Pokémon battles are ever-changing, and no one dares to say for certain they'll be the one laughing at the end.