Chapter 16: First Battle

"Clown!"

"Playing to the crowd!"

"Who does he think he is?"

"He absolutely wouldn't dare — how could he possibly have that kind of nerve!"

A rustling murmur of conversation rose up.

Talking tough was a common sight in the Quicksand Team.

After all, it was just trash talk — who couldn't do it? Was spewing garbage the moment you opened your mouth really that hard?

But faced with All Baimu, calm and composed as if he hadn't said a thing just now, no matter how much they tried to convince themselves this guy wouldn't dare act on it, no matter that they had no chance to make a move, they still couldn't help starting to worry.

Wasn't he supposed to have no background?

Lady Ayana actually came to fetch him personally? And held back Otsuka?

What if he really did it?

What if I got dragged down with him?

What if he wasn't just talking trash, but was serious?

They do say a biting Poochyena never barks, but this guy really looks like he could bite at any moment!

When it comes down to it, do I even have a conflict of interest with him?

The guy just wants to coexist peacefully — why the hell would I single him out? Is there some benefit to it?

Right!

Many of them felt a sudden flash of clarity in their hearts — if it was a case of live and let live, why go provoke this kind of stubborn fool who'd sooner die than yield? Once the tournament was over, they'd never see each other again.

After exchanging glances, these fellows one by one tucked away or hid their hostility toward All Baimu.

Nothing happened.

The atmosphere returned to its original state.

But among them, a pair of unwilling eyes also drew back in — going against the current when things weren't going your way would only expose yourself; play the long game, and sooner or later there'd come a day to finish that guy off.

Clasping the shoulder of Otsuka, whose lips had gone pale, All Baimu looked around, a little surprised at how instantly effective his words had been.

The effect was astonishingly good — were they all "smart people"?

Honestly, he'd always thought the Quicksand Team thugs lived only for the bravado and face of lip service, with no such thing as looking to the future — today he'd really broadened his horizons.

Fine, then.

Saved him the trouble of more talking.

"Let's battle, Otsuka — but remember to have your Pokémon go easy, okay? I've only got this one Aron, and if something happens to it I won't be able to enter the tournament."

All Baimu patted the shoulder of the boy beside him.

"Why should I!"

Otsuka gnashed his teeth indignantly.

"Why… aren't we good friends, Otsuka?" He looked at the other boy in surprise. "If you act like this, I'm not going to be happy!"

Since when are we good friends!

Otsuka's face almost twisted into a mask of agony, but faced with All Baimu's low-level threat, after much internal struggle he still chose to comply obediently, being pulled along by an extremely gentle force.

He looked just like an elementary schooler getting his allowance snatched by an older grade.

The gazes directed at Otsuka from all around were filled with pity — no one wanted to swallow their pride and compromise, but reality was often helpless that way.

The Taoist dies, the fellow Daoist doesn't — I'm counting on you! Otsuka!

——

Although Aron had joined the team five days ago, due to the injury on its right leg, All Baimu hadn't been able to let it have a proper battle.

Today, by a fortunate twist of fate, he'd found a decent sparring partner.

He figured battling Otsuka's Pokémon would be more likely to give it a chance to level up or evolve than battling Naruhiro and the others'… what level does Aron evolve into Lairon at?

All Baimu couldn't remember.

Actually there was no need to remember — Pokémon evolution here mainly relied on opportunity, on a flash of inspiration, like the Bulbasaur Evolution Festival in the Mysterious Garden, or the mass evolution of Cascoon into Masquerain and their migration in the Viridian Forest.

When the time came, it would evolve — there was some relation to level, but it wasn't necessarily absolute.

Easier said than done — seizing that opportunity was harder than hard.

"Go — this is our first battle." All Baimu cheered Aron on. More battles, more practice, and eventually the chance for evolution would come.

Not far away.

Otsuka, wearing a long face, held two Poké Balls and shouted resentfully, "Hey! Which one are you picking!"

All Baimu: "Show them both! How the hell would I know what Pokémon you have? Hurry up!"

"You—"

Otsuka ground his teeth in fury and opened the two Poké Balls in his hands.

Pop pop!

With soft thuds, a sharp-eyed Graveler and a hunchbacked Sandshrew landed on the ground — judging by their full, alert appearance, they were quite different from the Pokémon held by many Quicksand Team members.

"Hmm… why didn't you trade-evolve your Graveler? Were you waiting for something?"

All Baimu looked at Otsuka curiously. "Or does a Graveler lose value after evolving, making it inconvenient for you to sell?"

"Who's selling Pokémon! And what's this trade-evolution nonsense!" Otsuka shot back, then immediately caught sight of that gaze filled with contempt laced with disdain.

"Huh — you don't even know about trade evolution? What a disgrace of a trainer!"

"You — I — none of your business! Are we fighting or not, so much nonsense!" Otsuka's face went from green to red and back.

All Baimu waved his hand and said, "Of course we're fighting — let's have Graveler go first."

The other guy had been a trainer for quite a while now, yet didn't know about trade evolution — the Quicksand Team definitely wouldn't lack trading machines either, so maybe Otsuka simply lacked the knowledge?

A little strange.

Then, on Otsuka's command, the half-person-tall boulder rolled to a spot not far from Roggenrola.

"You attack first!"

When the battle began, Otsuka seemed to have regained his confidence and said quite arrogantly.

"Fine."

Baimu didn't yield either—after all, this was his first time properly commanding a Pokémon battle, and he wasn't very familiar with some things. "Iron Defense!"

"Gugu!"

Hearing his voice, Roggenrola's body surface immediately lit up with a deep silver halo, and orange-red waves of energy rose from beneath its feet, symbolizing the boost in its defensive capabilities.

The opponent had the Ground type, which four-times countered Roggenrola's Rock and Steel typing—fighting head-on could easily get it killed on the spot. Using Iron Defense at the start to raise its defense, no matter how much, would put his mind at ease.

Seeing this, Otsuka burst out laughing: "Hahaha, turtling up won't win you the match! Geodude, use Defense Curl and Rollout!"

"Houlong!"

Geodude roared as it pressed its two thick arms tight against its body, and the instant the orange-red energy wave surged up, it suddenly flipped forward into a roll!

This combo was clearly one Geodude had used many times before, so it executed it extremely fast.

Rrrrrumble—

The ground trembled constantly from its high-speed rolling, but Baimu was not flustered.

"Dig, and wait for the right moment!"

Shhh shhh…

A great cloud of sand and dirt flew sideways as Roggenrola vanished as if sinking into water, just barely slipping past the rolling Geodude—a pity.

A look of relief crossed Baimu's face. Although Rollout, being a Rock-type move, wasn't especially effective against Roggenrola, who knew how much damage it could deal.

He was about to keep giving orders when he saw Geodude's momentum hadn't slowed—it was rolling straight at him!

In the crisis, he suddenly rolled to the right to dodge, getting covered in dirt but evading Geodude's Rollout attack.

"You had Geodude attack me? Seriously?"

Baimu looked at Otsuka, whose face was full of schadenfreude, his expression solemn.

"Ga!" Otsuka's smile froze on his face. For some reason his heart was pounding wildly; he turned his head away, unwilling to meet Baimu's eyes. "You just happened to be in Geodude's path—blame me? Besides, that's what battles are like. Trainers never get any consideration—getting hit is just your bad luck!"

Damn it, at least look at him when you say that!

The few people secretly watching the battle cursed inwardly, and found it strange—Otsuka had never been this cowardly before. Why was it that today, facing Baimu, he was like a Rattata seeing a Meowth?

"... Fair enough, my fault."

Baimu's stern expression softened. Since the trainer was also on the field, getting caught up in the Pokémon's attacks was inevitable. Thinking it over, his position really was right on Geodude's path.

It's just that he was somewhat on guard against Otsuka, which was why he'd assumed it was deliberate.

He turned his head and immediately saw Geodude, bristling with momentum, take a huge turn, its edge scraping against the wire fence and sending up a shower of sparks.

It was moving even faster now.