Chapter 293: The World Is Really Small

"Marill!"

The kid anxiously shouted, "Use Water Gun!"

Crackle!

Lightning flickered within the smoke. Baimu came back to his senses and said, "Dark Pulse!"

The next instant.

A beam formed of countless pitch-black rings pierced through the smoke. Marill was right at the tip of the beam, slammed hard against the railing, then dropped down weakly.

"Lili…"

It showed a pair of spiral eyes, and fine currents of electricity crackled across its body from time to time.

Without a doubt, this was the telltale sign of paralysis.

That was why Water Gun couldn't be used successfully. Still, Marill was tougher than Baimu had imagined — one had to remember that the Single Head Dragon had the Ability Vitality, which boosts Attack.

A higher level?

Of course, no matter how high its level, it still couldn't withstand the combo of Thunderbolt and Dark Pulse.

"Marill!"

The kid hurried forward and picked up the unconscious Marill.

"It's fine, it's just paralyzed. Just spray some Paralyze Heal and Potion on its wounds." Baimu patted the Single Head Dragon that had run over seeking praise, then pulled two spray bottles from his pocket and handed them over. "Can you manage it yourself?"

"…"

The kid's expression was a little hesitant.

Seeing this, he crouched down, picked up Marill's body, and sprayed the Paralyze Heal on the clear bite marks on its back.

Within two seconds, the electricity on its body stopped appearing.

Then he sprayed on the Potion, spreading it a little more evenly, and Marill quickly woke up.

"Lili~ lili!"

This chubby water rabbit had clearly regained its vigor.

Seeing Marill healthy again, the kid beamed with joy. "Marill! Thank you, big brother!"

"No problem, I should be thanking you for inviting me to battle."

Baimu patted the kid on the shoulder.

He had been at a loss over how to choose a theme for the Contest, but Marill's Ice Beam had given him inspiration. If he could pull it off as he imagined, getting through the first round of judging probably wouldn't be too hard.

The two cleaned up the traces left by the battle, exchanged a smile, and parted ways.

The kid went off to find other trainers to battle, while Baimu leaned against the railing, sketching out the various dances his Mawile would perform at the Contest.

Thanks to its long-standing efforts, it had happened to stumble upon the knack of Swords Dance a few days ago, and he believed it would master the move within a few days.

For Baimu, this was undoubtedly welcome news.

Swords Dance was not only the core boosting move that made Mawile more offensively capable, but also the core move it needed to use at the Contest.

Not long after.

Baimu had already finished designing the next theme on paper, but when he came back to his senses and looked it over, there were quite a few difficulties.

"Ice Punch fired at range… how on earth is that done? Or is it only Pokémon with the Psychic type that can do it…?" He opened his phone and looked at the videos he'd downloaded in advance, thoroughly puzzled.

Many contact moves, in the hands of anime trainers, always end up being used as non-contact moves — take the classic three Fangs, for example—

Fire Fang especially.

The form it takes is basically constructing a giant flaming maw in front of oneself; even if the fangs don't make contact with the opponent, it still deals equivalent damage.

That's not even the most outrageous part. The most outrageous one is what he's watching right now — the Medicham in it actually uses Ice Punch as a ranged move. It gathers energy into shape and hurls it forward; anyone who doesn't react in time might mistake it for Ice Shard.

And Baimu also knew Medicham's trainer — the older sister Grace whom May met when she got her first Badge. In the anime she shares a voice actress with Jessie, and with their similar hair colors, he had mistaken her for someone else when she first appeared.

Only later did he realize she was a different person.

Baimu undoubtedly wanted Mawile to master this technique, but practice was far harder than conception.

Wooo—

A long ship's horn interrupted his thoughts.

They'd arrived at Kaina City.

——

Kaina City.

A harbor where people, Pokémon, and nature commune.

It was the Hoenn region's premier tourist destination — a major city. While it admittedly lacked the strong technological atmosphere of Kanaz City, it made up for it with an abundance of local markets.

Because of its frequent external exchanges and the many merchants coming and going from various regions, one could see many Pokémon here that weren't found elsewhere in Hoenn, making it ideal for trainers of all kinds hoping to broaden their horizons.

Baimu headed straight for the Pokémon Center as soon as he got off the ship, but was unfortunately told once again that the single rooms were fully booked.

"If you don't mind…"

"Sorry, I won't trouble you."

He politely declined Nurse Joy's suggestion of sharing a multi-bed room.

Kaina City had no shortage of anything else, but beachside resort hotels were as plentiful as could be — the only issue was the steep price. Although he had just come into a sum of money, his instinct was to save wherever he could.

He turned and walked out the door.

Leaning against the pillar by the door, seemingly out of nowhere, was a Blaziken that looked rather tall and imposing, wearing a nurse's cap on its head — a rather comical sight.

Baimu was taken aback for a moment, then quickly realized this was the Combusken that had evolved early because of Ash and the others, before any new trainer could choose it.

At the time, they had come up with terrible ideas and nearly given away May's Torchic, but in the end it was Nurse Joy who took it in and made it the Pokémon Center's guard.

To think it had evolved again — amazing…

His eyes met the Blaziken's.

"What?"

The latter's face flashed with a blank look, then came over thinking he needed help.

"Nothing, nothing."

Baimu hurriedly waved his hand and left the Pokémon Center.

He casually searched for resort hotels on his phone, walked to the nearest one, and successfully booked a sea-view grand suite with a built-in kitchen and a fairly high ceiling.

"Here is your room card. Please contact us if you need anything~"

The beaming young lady at the front desk gave him a slight bow.

Baimu thanked her and headed straight for the elevator. The moment he pressed the up button, the elevator doors opened immediately, and a black shadow lunged straight at his thigh, accompanied by a startled cry.

"Piplup!"

"Pip!"

The round-headed, round-bodied little blue penguin slammed headfirst into Baimu's knee with quite a bit of force, hitting him hard enough to really hurt.

But Piplup, knocked back by the reaction force, looked a little dizzy.

"Are you okay, Piplup!"

A black-haired girl wearing a white soft hat anxiously crouched down. After confirming Piplup was fine, she immediately apologized to Baimu, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

*Sword of Coming*

"It's fine… Xiaoguang?"

Baimu rubbed his knee, took a careful look at the black-haired girl, and couldn't help exclaiming in surprise.

The latter was startled, raised her head to look at his face, and after studying him carefully her expression turned puzzled. "You are…?"

"Pip?"

Piplup, who had rubbed its head and gotten up, also looked over in confusion.

The world really is small.

Baimu didn't know what to say, but figured that since Ula'ula had come to Hoenn to challenge the Contest, Xiaoguang had most likely come to the Hoenn region too.

"I've watched your Contest."

He smiled at Xiaoguang and Piplup.