Chapter 300: Signs of Evolution

For Baimu, the biggest gain from meeting Xiaoguang was having a sparring partner on par with a Gym Leader.

The latter was clearly used to the role of collaborator.

Even without being asked, she would eagerly come forward and offer to help with sparring.

Of course.

Sparring couldn't be done for free.

Baimu felt bad about always troubling a young girl, so he could only come up with different ways to cook her something tasty as compensation.

Over time, Xiaoguang seemed to be rather enjoying it.

It's just that she might have trouble getting up in the morning, because her hair quality made her hair rather free-spirited, and every day when she got up it would puff up like it had exploded, requiring a certain amount of time to comb and dress.

Baimu thus received the legendary "Sparkle" without special effects.

Honestly, Xiaoguang with her afro really did look like a cute caveman.

Days passed one after another.

And during this period, what was undoubtedly being focused on in practice was transforming Ice Punch from a contact-type move into a ranged move.

Progress wasn't very smooth, perhaps because Munchlax didn't have much experience with ranged attacks; it could even turn Fairy Wind into a semi-contact move, so projecting ice-type energy might have been a bit beyond its scope.

However, not having learned Ice Punch didn't mean there was no gain at all.

It learned a move Baimu had never expected—

【Icy Wind】.

The cause was Munchlax dancing inside the ice cave made by Wigglituff, which both let it feel the coolness of summer and comprehend the flow of ice-type energy.

Unexpectedly, the two plastic fans replacing the wooden fans actually fanned out a cool breeze mixed with ice and snow, accompanied by a sparkle.

This made Baimu suspect it was the result of Munchlax having considerable insight into manipulating wind.

In any case, if Ice Punch couldn't leave the body, then they could only switch to another move for the performance; Icy Wind itself was already a bit more visually appealing than its Ice Punch.

Paired with the two little fans, fanning it out looked pretty good.

"Plans can't keep up with changes…"

Baimu realized that in Pokémon training, things couldn't always go smoothly and be resolved in the short term, but he wouldn't give up on getting Ice Punch to leave the body; ranged release of physical moves held very great significance in battle.

Even if it wasn't needed for the Contest, he still had to work hard to learn it.

Meanwhile.

Xiaoguang knew he was going to change the move used in the performance, and was initially very worried, but after seeing Munchlax actually use it, she immediately had nothing to say and was full of admiration for its performance.

And Piplup, after the visual shock that night, had originally planned to detach from the mortal world and never fall into the web of love again, but after watching the latter's performance… suddenly couldn't hold back a little.

"Piplup~"

With teary eyes it gazed at the sky; the figure that had beaten Mamoswine and the one dancing in front of it kept overlapping and separating in its mind, and in the end the former was abandoned while the latter stayed.

So.

Munchlax, who had thought Piplup's sickness was already cured, saw it in this state and thought the sickness had relapsed, and for a moment felt even more pity for it.

Aside from the gains in moves.

What Baimu was paying even more attention to was Dratini.

Having battles every day, it had become a bit restless these past two days, especially since the most recent ordinary simulation had added two levels for it, as if it had stepped into some stage.

Overall, it was just a bit overly lively.

Not only did it unprecedentedly "trash the house" once, biting the hotel sofa to pieces, it was also more prone to losing its head during battle, and it took him calling twice before it would stop.

And also… not sleeping at night.

Crawling back and forth on the bed like a restlessness disorder, from his left side to the right, then from the right back to the left.

Going to the Pokémon Center for a checkup didn't reveal anything either.

Miss Joy stated that it was very normal for young Pokémon to undergo some kind of mutation in their growth, just like how humans change from infancy to adolescence, gaining physical and even spiritual growth as time passes.

The thing most likely to happen during this period—

"Evolution."

Miss Joy told him with a smile, "It probably won't be long before it gains a new appearance. Evolution is a very natural thing. But after evolution you must take good care of it; some Pokémon feel extremely unaccustomed to their new look."

"Thank you…"

Baimu thanked her, then turned his head to look at the bewildered Dratini.

Evolution was rather unfamiliar to the latter, because when it joined the team Aggron was already Aggron, and Chansey had never evolved into Blissey.

But, this seemed to be something worth being happy about?

In Dratini's small head, evolution was tied to becoming stronger.

It longed very much to become Baimu's reliance, just like the big brother Aggron in the team.

Every time the latter appeared, it would feel the trainer's breathing suddenly steady, as if as long as Aggron was there they definitely wouldn't lose.

It really envied that.

Dratini longed to receive the same feedback.

The pride of being a Dragon-type Pokémon also required it to gain such feedback.

Appear, and victory is certain.

There couldn't be a second outcome.

The desire to become the trainer's trusted partner surpassed the confusion about evolution, just as Professor Yanagi had said: "The beginning of evolution often stems from a human's strong bond, or a Pokémon's ardent desire to become stronger."

Dratini lacked neither.

——

The sea breeze blew, waves rolling.

Finally.

The day of the grand, splendid tournament in Veilstone City had officially arrived.

Baimu rose early, and after making breakfast went upstairs to call Hikari; when Pochama opened the door, he found her twisting and turning in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in a sky-blue dress.

"Ta-da~ How is it? Cute? Pretty?"

Sensing his arrival, Hikari turned around and asked with a smile, holding up her skirt.

Baimu nodded. "It looks nice, but aren't you worried it'll get wrinkled if you put it on before we even reach the venue?"

"No problem!"

No-Problem Young Lady replied cheerfully.

"Fine, but you'd better come down and eat breakfast as soon as you can—if we have to queue up to register later, it'll be a hassle." He offered a reminder, gave Pochama a look, and turned to head downstairs.

"Po-chan!"

Pochama, with a solemn face, resolutely took on the weighty responsibility of urging her trainer to hurry up.

She knew perfectly well that her trainer was a scatterbrained person with no real sense of time, and if left to her own devices, she would almost certainly be late.

This was the moment for the dependable little penguin to step in!

Half an hour later.

Baimu came back up to hurry her along again, and upon seeing Pochama fast asleep on the sofa, didn't know what to say.

Fortunately.

Both of them had gotten up fairly early today; after breakfast and arriving at the venue, they didn't find too many people in line, and the registered contestants were scattered sparsely about.

"Now that we're signed up, we're fine."

Baimu took the pass back from the receptionist. "There's still some time before the contest starts—should we go back and keep practicing to firm things up before the match, or wander around?"

"Of course wander around! The contest is about to start, don't put so much pressure on yourself and your Pokémon!"

Hikari replied with a grin.