Chapter 337: Double-Header Meteor

"Let's stop here."

All Baimu called a halt to the Double-Header Tyrant's explosive sprint.

"Hee-wooh!" "Hee-wooh!"

The latter bellowed to show it could still keep going, then lowered its heads slightly, panting hard.

"Too much is as bad as too little. Daily training has to be perfectly combined with real combat to grow faster and more efficiently." He patted both heads of the Double-Header Tyrant. Even if he didn't fully understand its thoughts, he could tell from this attitude that the creature longed to grow stronger.

Although he clearly understood the Double-Header Tyrant's thoughts, his golden finger couldn't satisfy this creature's needs in the short term.

He still had to progress step by step at his own pace.

The Pokémon could be impatient.

A trainer absolutely had to stay calm during training and think about the Pokémon future.

"Hee-wooh…" "Hee-wooh…"

Seeing that the trainer absolutely wouldn't let it keep running, the Double-Header Tyrant immediately relaxed its four trembling legs and collapsed to the ground, panting.

The frequent explosive short-distance sprints had undoubtedly accumulated quite a bit of fatigue.

"Just as I thought, it was pushing itself."

All Baimu stroked the Double-Header Tyrant's fuzzy neck.

As his Pokémon gradually grew stronger and he encountered more trainer experiences online, with all these things accumulating, he developed a new understanding of the Pokémon from the anime background.

Whether in personality, habits, or growth.

A fairly intuitive point—short sprints were undoubtedly one of the best ways to train speed. Combined with long-distance running, he believed it could make the Double-Header Tyrant's speed less awkward.

Unavoidably, real-life training couldn't precisely match effort values like in the games.

For example, when you use running to train speed, stamina also unknowingly increases. The possibility of only raising speed without raising stamina doesn't exist.

But from a practical standpoint, while each Pokémon certainly had different focus directions, reaching a bottleneck in one stat didn't affect progress in other areas.

In other words, it wasn't "effort values" but "level of struggle." The difference between the two was that the former aimed for extreme development, choosing at most two stats, while the latter allowed every stat—including both offenses and both defenses—to be trained to their limits.

There existed the possibility of developing multiple aspects together.

Therefore, the reason physical attackers in the anime also trained special attack was partly a legacy issue from previous settings, and partly related to the same principle as achieving all-round development in "morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor."

Of course.

This didn't overturn All Baimu's earlier hypothesis that the damage result was "move power superior to the Pokémon's dual offenses." It only proved that the reason Hyper Beam was everywhere in the anime wasn't just one factor, but a result of multiple causes.

And the impact of this discovery was that he needed to work even harder to raise his Pokémon, striving to push every one of their stats to the limit.

Suddenly.

He looked toward the not-far distance and smiled.

"Go back to your Poké Ball and rest. The person we've been waiting for has arrived."

"Hee-wooh?" "Hee-wooh?"

The Double-Header Tyrant raised its heads, and before returning to its ball to rest, spotted a green figure slowly approaching.

Another battle?

It grew somewhat excited, determined to redeem itself.

However, as its trainer, although All Baimu shared the same thought, he couldn't appear so eager.

"Awake now?"

"Mm…" Mitsumochi nodded shyly. His hair, which he hadn't carefully tended to, looked messy. After coming closer, he held out an aromatherapy spray with both hands and said, "I'm really sorry for the trouble! Here's this back to you!"

"Keep it. You lost sleep because of what I said, so you'll definitely need it later. Besides, it's nothing particularly precious."

All Baimu waved his hand and smiled. "Rest well and conserve your energy. I'm looking forward to battling you again."

Mitsumochi opened his mouth, looked down at the aromatherapy spray, and understood that he might really need it from now on.

"Th-then… thank you very much!"

He bowed deeply.

But strictly speaking, his sleep quality had actually never been that good—it was absolutely not a problem of just a day or two. Ever since he lost his goal and couldn't find a new one, he'd had trouble falling asleep every night. Fortunately, his previous travels had slowly restored his health, so he hadn't collapsed.

Last night's insomnia was just the result of fatigue accumulated over a long period bursting out all at once.

Luckily, thanks to the spray's sleep-inducing effect, after sleeping for several hours, his spirit had recovered considerably.

Mitsumochi clenched his fist and volunteered, "If you don't mind, I can battle right now! My Pokémon are also in peak condition—oh, sorry, you just finished practicing…"

He belatedly noticed the sweat on All Baimu and the messy state of the field.

"No problem, let's do it now." The latter cut off Mitsumochi's apology in advance and said, "Just changing the format—one-on-one, is that okay?"

"My pleasure!"

The green-haired boy nodded vigorously. Though naturally introverted, he always maintained his most polite demeanor, and this moment was no exception.

——

After this battle.

All Baimu and Mitsumochi's relationship had advanced another step.

And the continuous Pokémon battles deepened their understanding of each other, gradually making the somewhat introverted him become more outgoing.

Although he hadn't reached the level of being socially anxious around strangers and manic around acquaintances, Mitsumochi's attitude toward All Baimu had indeed undergone quite a change.

The latter often held admiration for the former, even though he won more of their battles.

Because Mitsumochi clearly understood that All Baimu would eventually grow stronger than him. After all, in terms of battle attitude and pursuit of goals, he fell far, far short.

His current victories relied solely on the accumulation from traveling through two regions.

This was evident from the fact that when he brought out Pokémon of roughly equal level to battle, he would quickly lose. Being unable to defeat an opponent under equal conditions couldn't count as an excellent trainer.

What he admired even more was that All Baimu always hoped he would bring out strong Pokémon to battle, as if more than winning, he cared about how much growth he could absorb from fighting a strong opponent.

People with goals really are different!

The more time Mitsuru spent with All Baimu, the more respect he felt for him, and the more he regretted that he couldn't have battled alongside him at the Colorful Leisure Tournament.

Or even further back… become rivals who pushed each other to the limit…

Mitsuru began fantasizing about some unrealistic scenarios.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

All Baimu was caught up in a very real joy.

Mitsuru's Pokémon pool was considerably deeper than expected; he had originally assumed the boy only had the few Pokémon he'd used in the game, but it turned out those in-game ones were his main team, and Mitsuru had even more reserves.

The many different types of Pokémon broadened his and Boldore's horizons, and also brought some good news—

The possibility of move tutoring.

Mitsuru's talent for raising Pokémon was beyond question; his Pokémon knew a wide variety of moves, including some All Baimu particularly cared about.

The most typical example was Magnezone, which happened to know 【Reflect】 and 【Hidden Power】.

For instance, Garchomp knew 【Meteor Beam】 and 【Earthquake】.

For instance, Azumarill knew 【Substitute】 and 【Knock Off】.

All Baimu could fully use these Pokémon as tutors to teach his own Pokémon these moves, just like the results brought by that wild Boldore earlier.

It was admittedly a bit troublesome for Mitsuru to do this, but in order to grow as quickly as possible, he still brazenly asked the former if his Pokémon could tutor these moves.

Mitsuru agreed very generously, without the slightest hesitation.

His clean, decisive manner made All Baimu feel a little ashamed, after all he had previously "schemed" against this young man just a little.

During their exchange.

Cousin Amane stood in the corridor many times, gazing into the distance; seeing them chatting and laughing, she smiled with immense relief.

The family member she worried about most was this cousin of hers.

Sickly as a child, his personality had once become extremely introverted; later, after getting into Pokémon and traveling, he gradually recovered, only to soon encounter a new source of confusion.

He even thought about giving up being the trainer he'd worked so hard to become, going about each day in a daze, like a walking corpse.

Now, at last, he had returned to normal.

A Mitsuru who could laugh was the familiar Mitsuru!

As expected, he should interact with trainers more, and battle more; how could shutting himself away alone ever find a way out?

She hummed a little tune as she left happily, as if a weight had been lifted from her heart.

Night.

After dinner, All Baimu went to the backyard.

Although they had agreed to train Pokémon together in the evening, Mitsuru didn't want to give up his front-desk work at the inn; in his own words, having troubled his cousin for so long, he couldn't just do nothing.

"Let's tackle Will-O-Wisp in one go."

He rubbed the gradually smooth shell of his Galarian Corsola; a month of effort had worn down most of the rough spots. But this was only the beginning—he believed it would become very smooth and glossy later on.

Even glowing faintly like jade.

Galarian Corsola revealed its red eyes; in its view, the trainer's fondling was no different from a kid upstairs running around the wooden floor in slippers.

Except with one you could rush up and argue, and with the other you couldn't.

Unable to resist, it could only silently endure; at first it wasn't quite used to it, but later it adapted a great deal, and even couldn't sleep well without that vibrating sensation.

A Pokémon's adaptability is truly terrifying.

Galarian Corsola thought, and decided it really was necessary to successfully learn Will-O-Wisp tonight—

Otherwise tomorrow it would have to smell that stinky flame again, which it really couldn't handle.

The trainer even said that was the orthodox Will-O-Wisp.

Sigh.

Life is not easy.

As Galarian Corsola silently sighed, it noticed the trainer suddenly pick it up and walk toward the house, saying something to a green-haired human who looked deeply worried.

Rare-colored Pokémon stolen? A thief appeared in town? What is all this about?

It felt a little puzzled.

At the same time.

All Baimu frowned as he listened to Mitsuru's account.

When he had earlier seen that fatty brazenly flaunting his rare-colored Pokémon, he had thought such showiness might lead to being tricked; fortunately, he hadn't actually been tricked.

They were all stolen, not a single one left.

"They stole all the Pokémon and left behind a postcard?"

"Yes, someone calling himself the Phantom Thief Mask Guest—it's completely tarnishing the Masked Messenger culture!" Mitsuru's face, rarely, showed a few hints of anger.

Green Shade Town had an extremely fervent Masked Messenger culture, originating from a once very active Coordinator trainer who often participated in Contests as a Masked Messenger and was well received by many.

This Coordinator trainer had appeared in the main anime series, and he had passed down his costume to his son.

That watermelon-headed kid sticking watermelon leaves on his face earlier was imitating a Masked Messenger.

Just rather poorly.

"We can only hope Young Lady Jenny solves the case soon—they're the professionals at this."

All Baimu said so.

Hearing this, Mitsuru's anger quickly turned to helplessness, and he nodded: "Yeah, I hope those Pokémon can return to their trainers soon."

After adjusting his mood.

The two began their evening training.

The first to break through was undoubtedly Galarian Corsola's Will-O-Wisp, and Mitsuru had a Pokémon that surprised All Baimu—

Talonflame.

"Fwaa~"

A spirited flame hawk-eagle circled in the air, its wings beating and scattering sparks like stars; touching them, however, didn't feel especially scorching.

"This little one I got from a breeding house — supposedly a Pokémon from the Kalos region." Mitsuo smiled broadly as he looked at the Talonflame, raising his hand.

"Fwaa~"

The Talonflame beat its wings, took half a day to adjust, and finally landed on its Trainer's hand — but the thing was simply too big; its down completely buried Mitsuo's entire head.

Watching from the side, All Baimu: "……"

Mitsuo was barely 1.6 meters tall, and this Talonflame, with its wings folded, standing tall, was probably a good 1.2 meters — even with its body built leaning forward, it looked extremely disproportionate.

"Fwaa!"

The Talonflame let out a friendly cry toward him and the Galarian Corsola.

This one's appearance was undoubtedly meant to help the latter learn Will-O-Wisp; when it came to learning moves, Mitsuo had his own set of experience and theory.

"Just let the Pokémon feel the same type-attribute energy over and over, and it'll naturally grasp it! You don't really need to dig too deep into the principles and methods!"

Mitsuo was the type who learned moves entirely on sheer momentum.

Yet somehow his Pokémon learned them fairly smoothly.

All Baimu couldn't help but start wondering if his own method had a problem — well, looking at how long he'd been a Trainer, his current learning progress actually wasn't much slower than Mitsuo's.

Experience had to be slowly accumulated on one's own; rashly copying others didn't really do much good — what suited you was the best.

Move learning began.

The Talonflame released flames, guiding the Galarian Corsola to release flames in turn.

Feeling that wave of heat right at close range, the latter fell silent for a moment, then suddenly found some motivation from who-knows-where, and earnestly tried to light a fire in front of itself.

"Looks like the Talonflame's fiery passion has been passed into the Galarian Corsola's heart!"

Mitsuo laughed happily.

"Hehehe…"

All Baimu returned a smile, but in his heart he knew that was most likely not the case — that one probably found the Talonflame's fire too hot, and was in a rush to learn quickly so it could escape its misery.

Having spent so long with this fellow, he pretty much understood its personality by now.

Only when it encountered something it disliked would the Galarian Corsola choose to give it its all — all to resolve or get away from the source of its annoyance as quickly as possible.

Truly a representative Pokémon of "less talk, more action."

And under this rare persistence, the Galarian Corsola — which had already made breakthrough progress on Will-O-Wisp — surged forward, and finally, on the fourth time the Talonflame breathed fire, accomplished the feat of lighting a ghostly blue flame out of thin air.

Seeing the moment the flame ignited, even the Galarian Corsola couldn't help getting excited,

Finally!

Finally, it could get away from this sun-like nuisance!

"It worked!" Mitsuo shouted excitedly, stretching out his hand to high-five All Baimu beside him.

He hadn't expected the other to be so calm — just verbally praising the Galarian Corsola and picking it up; standing there empty-handed, he was a bit at a loss.

The actual owner was so calm; him, a mere helper, getting excited was awkward.

But just as he was about to laugh it off and pull his hand back, All Baimu, who had turned his head, lightly patted him, and his voice followed.

"Thanks."

"No problem at all, didn't really help much anyway. Heh, hehehe…"

Mitsuo twirled the hair at his forehead, the smile at his lips impossible to hide; his previously somewhat low mood lifted once more. "Let's keep going and learn new moves!"

"Mm."

All Baimu recalled the eager Galarian Corsola, not letting it stay by the Talonflame's side any longer — letting it off the hook.

Originally, he'd planned to push on and learn Protect as well in one go.

But this "boss" of his still had some conscience, in the end, and let the Galarian Corsola "clock out" early.

If you won't work overtime, there's plenty of Pokémon willing to —

Ahem.

Suddenly getting abstract.

All Baimu sent out the Dragapult, which had waited a long time, and Mitsuo also switched in his Garchomp.

"Hee-ough!" "Hee-ough!"

The Dragapult, full of energy despite training nearly all day, let out roars at the Garchomp.

"Kabuh!"

The Garchomp responded with a cry.

Without a doubt.

The original plan was to let the Dragapult focus on grinding levels — it had that intention too — but during the battle with the Garchomp, this fellow took one look and fell for the move Draco Meteor —

Because it had been blown up by Draco Meteor.

After learning from All Baimu that it could learn this move too, it resolutely declared it must learn Draco Meteor.

However.

This move had fairly high venue requirements during learning; one careless moment could easily damage equipment, and it was far noisier than normal moves. To avoid disturbing the other guests at the inn, All Baimu, after discussing with Mitsuo, decided to practice in a more open area.

The park next door, for instance.

There were three adjacent battle courts there; linked together they formed one large field, perfect for the Dragapult to unleash freely.

"The technique of Draco Meteor is gathering energy in one go, then releasing it toward the sky — very simple."

Mitsuo said seriously, waving at the Garchomp. "Draco Meteor!"

"Kabuh!"

The Garchomp let out a low roar; as it tilted its head back, a brilliant orange light lit up at its chest and abdomen. After gathering to its peak, this light rose into its mouth, and then it violently fired it up into the sky.

Peng!

An orange orb of light flew high into the sky, and upon reaching a critical altitude, it suddenly exploded!

Boom!

Countless blazing meteors trailed long tails of flame, shrieking down like fireworks, then slamming into the ground with a thunderous roar like mortar shells, bursting into plumes of thick smoke.

"Once you've mastered it, you can control where the meteor swarm lands," Manchu said seriously.

All Baimu turned to look at the Dual-Headed Tyrant, casting a hopeful expression at it. "Give it a try?"

"Heiyu!" "Heiyu!"

The Dual-Headed Tyrant nodded heavily and, following the procedure, gathered Dragon-type energy at its chest.

A deep blue light slowly lit up, and then—

It transformed into a Dragon Wave of overlapping crimson and indigo and flew toward the sky.

"Wuu…" "Wuu…"

The Dual-Headed Tyrant turned to look at its Trainer.

"A meteor swarm… really isn't supposed to look like that," All Baimu replied helplessly. "Let's try again. Relax, focus your mind."

Manchu, meanwhile, cheered it on. "It's fine! It's perfectly normal to fail at first! Just try again!"

"Kab!"

Salamence responded with a low growl.

The Dual-Headed Tyrant began its experiment once more.

But just as it had gathered energy this time, a very important question suddenly arose in its mind.

Salamence only had one mouth, so it only brewed up one orb of light.

So what was it supposed to do with two mouths?

"Heiyu…" "Heiyu…"

The Dual-Headed Tyrant stopped what it was doing and decisively called its Trainer for help.