Chapter 902: Sparring Team

The next day.

Dark clouds loomed overhead, thunder roaring.

Cold rain pattered softly, releasing a unique scent from the damp soil and grass.

Beside a large rock by the Link Lake.

All All Baimu lounged in a camping chair, peeling peanuts, while his shiny Gengar held a pitch-black umbrella above him, shielding them from the drizzle.

Then came a deafening thunderclap.

BOOM!

In an instant, the world trembled, wind and lightning blazed white across the sky.

Dozens of jagged silver snakes surged wildly, channeling into the twelve coiled, needle-like tendrils of Lei Lei Jiaisi, standing straight as lightning rods toward the heavens.

Zzzzz—

The piercing crackle of electricity continued, its intense glow illuminating the Link Lake beneath the clouds before fading quickly.

"Bip bip bip! Le! Ji! Le!"

It bounced excitedly back and forth, like a happy giant lightbulb.

Gengar watched silently, unable to help but grin, suddenly overcome with the urge to run into the rain and join the celebration.

But it held back.

Gengar knew this creature drew lightning to snack on a little energy—it would only get struck if it barged in, with no ability to taste the salt of lightning.

Besides, it had to hold the umbrella for its Trainer!

"Gaa~"

"Here."

All All Baimu picked up the peeled peanuts on his lap and dumped them all into Gengar's gaping black maw, his peripheral vision catching a pink figure waving from far away.

He stood up. "Happy Egg is calling us. Time to head back."

"Gn~"

Gengar's cheeks bulged as it chewed rapidly, crunching away.

Only Trainer-peeled peanuts tasted this good!

The two packed up and strolled calmly through the muddy, wet grass toward Lei Lei Jiaisi, which sat as if stepping on an electric guitar, its body humming incessantly.

"Let's go!"

"Bip bip bip—"

Lei Lei Jiaisi paused, its facial display flickering in a loop, clearly reluctant.

But All All Baimu ignored it and turned away.

The electric pillar had no choice but to hop after him.

Since yesterday, after being beaten by Lei Guan Wang, its attitude hadn't improved much—but at least it now listened and responded.

A few days ago, no matter how many times you knocked it down, it wouldn't acknowledge you at all.

It'd just run off randomly the moment it got out.

Even Pokémon with the 【Vitality】 Ability weren't this hyperactive.

It was hard to imagine what kind of (broken) AI Ma Ma had programmed into this thing to produce such an electric-type oddity.

Back at camp.

Most Pokémon were huddled under the awning connected to the tent, watching him expectantly.

"Breakfast's ready."

All All Baimu signaled the Pokémon they could stop waiting.

Gengar happily joined the breakfast line.

Lei Lei Jiaisi stayed outside the awning, keeping company with its twin, Long Zhu, and the mysterious third pillar, San Shen Zhu.

As the odd one among the Five Divine Pillars, it was the only one that ate extra food to supplement itself—normally sipping ambient electrons, feasting on thunderstorms when rain clouds gathered.

According to itself, it was just snacking.

It could go without.

After all, it had more electricity than it could ever use.

The Pokédex claimed it could supply all the electricity needed across the Galar region; Porygon2 had crudely calculated Galar's daily power consumption and arrived at an astronomical number.

Could it really do that?

Who knew!

Either way, since last night, All All Baimu had unhesitatingly retired the noisy diesel generator and had Lei Lei Jiaisi charge the battery bank.

He'd truly experienced clean energy.

As for its twin, Long Zhu—the pioneer who sold itself for battle—its temper had also softened rapidly after losing to Lei Guan Wang, and it now loved to loiter near the Three Divine Pillars.

Ice Pillar and Steel Pillar had initially ignored it.

But once they realized Rock Pillar, this lazy slacker, had become a master manipulator, constantly babbling nonsense to Long Zhu, they immediately changed their cold attitude.

One disgrace among the Giants was enough—there could be no second!

Look at that!

How enlightened!

Clearly, even among the Divine Pillars, life thrived with vigor.

Trainer All All Baimu had no intention of interfering in Rock Pillar's conversations with Long Zhu—unless Ice Pillar and Steel Pillar asked him to—

Which was highly unlikely.

These two had always been the ones others begged; how could they possibly beg someone else? That would reverse heaven and earth!

So for now, they decided to handle it themselves. If they couldn't, they'd bring in All All Baimu to directly intervene with Long Zhu, summoning him as referee.

The two pillars exchanged glances, their displays flashing furiously.

All All Baimu, slurping his porridge, had no idea he'd already been assigned the role of backup—he turned to gaze at the Galarian Articuno pecking at its food across from Gyarados.

"You're here on a rainy day too?"

"... Chuu?"

Articuno tilted its head in confusion.

Why wouldn't it come on a rainy day? It wasn't afraid of water!

Seeing Articuno boldly resume eating, All All Baimu suddenly felt a surge of irritation.

It just mooches food and acts so cocky!

But then he remembered they'd be leaving tomorrow, so he let it off.

Listening to the patter of rain, he felt unusually peaceful.

Rainy days were good.

Perfect for hiding in a warm tent and sleeping in.

All All Baimu summoned his Porygon Phone and took several photos of the Five Divine Pillars, their displays glowing beneath the cloudy rain, radiating an almost divine aura.

You could never take too many photos for wallpaper.

"Where's Lei Guan Wang?"

"Still guarding the washbasin."

"..."

This lifetime was sealed.

Before death, it worships faith; after death, it clings to reins—either way, it's always controlled by others.

But honestly, making reins required no skill—use psychic power if your limbs are weak, just expend some mental energy.

All All Baimu figured Lei Guan Wang could make them itself.

"Forget it."

He dismissed the thought.

Once Lei Guan Wang finished landscaping in Oure, its usefulness would be exhausted—what remained would be pure leisure.

Battling...

Not currently on his mind.

Mainly because Lei Guan Wang had little room left to grow; putting it in battle gave All All Baimu zero sense of accomplishment.

He preferred the Pokémon that grew from scratch—like Bonsly and the others.

Dracovish?

Just thinking of it made All All Baimu angry—he deeply regretted choosing the max 600-point Pokémon clue. If he'd raised it himself, would it have been this emotionally fragile?

After all, it had once lost a battle and run away.

All All Baimu would hate it forever!

"Lusuo?"

Suddenly shivering, the socially anxious Dracovish looked up, alert and confused, scanning its surroundings. Once it confirmed no one was hostile, it relaxed.

Due to its low status in the team, it always lived cautiously—

Well.

It was because of its previous habit of running off randomly that All All Baimu ordered every Pokémon to keep watch on it and forbade it from hiding.

For someone with social anxiety, that was a terrifying punishment!

But after a few days of adaptation, it realized no one watched it as long as it didn't sneak away from camp—and slowly, Dracovish grew accustomed to it.

It has never been very noticeable and rarely interacts with other Pokémon.

——

Afternoon.

The rain gradually stopped.

After waking from his nap, All All Baimu removed half the canopy and gazed at the sky still clouded over.

"It'll rain again."

"Pikapi—ji! Pi!"

Pikachu gave a confirming reply.

It has an extremely sharp instinct for thunderstorms, thanks to its love of "snacks."

Link Lake Ball had risen significantly, submerging many large stones along the shore; the shiny Milotic chose a larger one as its throne and sang gracefully, like a siren.

Bubbles broke the surface, revealing countless heads—large and small, in groups.

Without doubt, these were all the Milotic's accumulated "followers" from its daily strolls around Link Lake Ball; whenever it performed, they came to cheer like devoted fans.

All All Baimu even spotted a few wild Haxorus and wild Milotic in the distance.

Unfortunately, they hadn't learned the lesson of loving the person and their belongings—they instantly turned and fled whenever he approached.

You think you stand a chance with Milotic?

Dream on!

He firmly rejected every wild Pokémon that refused to let him touch them, and strongly encouraged his own Milotic to not only refuse advances from others but to strike back!

Milotic indeed did exactly that.

And became even more popular among wild Pokémon—

Strong and beautiful!

He'd heard recently that a Haxorus had invited Milotic to play in the Link Lake's central zone; for safety's sake, All All Baimu sent Bisharp as its bodyguard—its Surf move lets it stay underwater for over ten minutes.

Too bad it can't learn Dive.

"All All Baimu! All All Baimu!"

"Coming."

Amid Reincarnate King's persistent calls and hopeful gaze, All All Baimu cleaned the softened mane of all remaining potion residue, then let it dry before soaking it in radiant petal juice.

He squeezed a large bundle of mane, grinning:

"Look! This much is enough for three strands! Extra extras!"

"Shilulululu!"

"Yuuu!"

Weavile and Spiritomb let out disgruntled whinnies—wool, that is, mane, comes from the horse's body; previously, they got one strand per year, now four strands every two days.

At this rate, they'll be bald within a month!

Not only could Spiritomb not bear it—its vanity shattered—but Weavile, who prided itself as a noble steed, couldn't tolerate being bald on the head and without a mane on its back.

Reincarnate King quickly soothed: "I shall treat them properly, do not worry!"

The two horses ignored it.

They knew perfectly well that the one truly deciding how much mane was consumed was the human sitting on the stool, rubbing away—without his approval, using three strands tonight wouldn't be surprising.

"Relax, I've got taste too—I hate seeing you bald even more than you do!"

All All Baimu swore.

He wasn't lying; when Reincarnate King was first captured, the promise to release the two horses once its power was restored had been quietly dropped.

Since they were family now, he planned for the long term.

Hearing this, the two horses finally relaxed, shaking their heads.

Reincarnate King, with no status at all, puffed out its cheeks.

"All All Baimu—"

"No more 'All All Baimu.' We're sparring soon. From now on, you're our team's training commander—these two horses and those five Giants are under your command!"

All All Baimu had wanted to pat its shoulder to emphasize the weight of responsibility, but after searching for a while, he couldn't find a shoulder—so he patted the dark green bud instead.

"Impudent!"

Reincarnate King swatted his hand away, squinting at him: "You think I'm stupid? Training partner? You call it 'training commander'?"

It had seen those Pokémon fight the Three Pillars—it understood their hunger for strength all too well.

All All Baimu felt no embarrassment at being caught out.

"You understand—that's good. An opponent as strong as you is rare; you'll greatly accelerate their growth. The importance of the training squad rivals their own development!"

As he spoke, sudden pain struck his forehead.

Weavile was chewing his hair again!

All All Baimu punched its face, slamming its head sideways, threatening: "Next time you chew my hair, I'll pluck every spike off your head!"

"Shilulululu—"

Weavile shook its head, shamelessly—no one knew where it learned that behavior.

It nudged its muzzle toward where Gulpin was standing, pawing the ground impatiently.

All All Baimu realized: "You want to fight it?"

"Shilulululu!"

Weavile nodded wildly.

He chuckled: "Fine! Volunteering for battle? I love Pokémon like you!"

More training partners were welcome—Weavile's combat strength was even slightly higher than the Three Pillars', making it perfect as Gulpin's sparring partner.

So.

Under All All Baimu's arrangement,

the first afternoon battle began with Weavile versus Gulpin.

"Mega Evolution!"

In Weavile's stunned gaze, dazzling light engulfed the short, seemingly harmless figure before it—sudden, overwhelming energy surged outward!

Mega Gulpin stared coldly at Weavile, fists clenched with a crunching sound.

It had wanted to punch this horse for a while.

But never found the chance.

Now the fool had come to it willingly—so it wouldn't hold back.

"Kichido!"

Smack!

Mega Gulpin cried out, instantly becoming a blur as it charged forward!

Weavile barely raised its hoof to react when a tiny fist expanded before its eyes—

Boom!

A heavy punch to the face!

Brown-red light exploded across Weavile's face; the tremendous force flipped the nearly one-ton beast clean off its feet!

"Sssss—"

——

Ten minutes later.

Weavile lay on its side; Mega Gulpin held its top ice spike in one hand, slamming it repeatedly into the ground, leaving irregular craters all around.

"Kichido?"

"Sss…"

Weavile was utterly defeated.

It lost again—to a short, harmless-looking creature.

Its fists were smaller than Weavile's hooves, yet nearly punched its lungs out—this world was insane!

Actually, Weavile was quite unlucky.

When Gulpin beat Spiritomb, Weavile had been recalled into its Poké Ball early due to injury and overpressuring Reincarnate King.

Had it seen that fight, it would never have doubted Gulpin's strength.

Spiritomb was also a jerk.

It knew exactly how strong Gulpin was, yet stayed silent when Weavile challenged—now it was hiding behind All All Baimu, snickering.

Reincarnate King…

No one knew why it hadn't warned them.

"It's fine! Cry if you want to!"

All All Baimu comforted Weavile, whose ice mask was cracked badly—the remaining fragments hid its sorrow and stubbornness.

Seeing it remain silent, its expression one of utter despair,

he pulled out a frozen carrot.

"What's the rush? You haven't fought all the Pokémon yet—no need to panic until you've fought them all!"

Perhaps the frozen carrot's allure was too great, or perhaps it agreed with him—he was right, there were still many Pokémon left to fight.

Weavile finally stood up, crunching the carrot, regaining its composure.

It looked toward the watching Happiny.

"Sliiiiiii!"

You're the one!

Fat little shorty!

Snowstorm Horse locked onto its next target, determined to make a comeback.