Chapter 37: The Absolute Scum

All Baimu had imagined many times the possibility of encountering Ken.

But being "ambushed" genuinely caught him off guard.

However.

What he found stranger was that since Ken had confirmed his location, why hadn't he launched an attack right away, instead standing there brazenly, chatting for a while before applying for a battle.

Confidence in his own strength?

He could only think so; people cannot understand one another, and no one can completely see through another.

At that moment, another thing that puzzled him happened.

The battle application succeeded, yet Ken still didn't attack. Instead, he glanced from afar at All Baimu's feet, at the Hound Squad member whose cheek was pressed tight against the scorching ground, and said, "Just one?"

"Not just one."

All Baimu placed his hand behind his back and secretly gave a downward hand signal to the Kokodora in the shadows.

The latter understood and burrowed into the ground without a sound.

"In that case, let's exchange hostages." Ken seemed not to have noticed his little movement and uttered a string of meaningless words.

Exchange hostages?

Setting aside whether Ken even had a hostage, the loser could be disposed of by the winner however they pleased — was there any need to exchange hostages in advance?

As All Baimu was puzzling over it, the other party pulled out a bloodstained headscarf with mottled, strange patterns on it.

This is—

"I think you should recognize this? Hehehehe, this guy here, his mouth was especially tough."

Ken swung the headscarf back and forth, his face full of smug smiles. "I beat him for over ten minutes, and he still wouldn't tell me where you were. He could've just made something up, said 'I don't know,' and I'd have let him go, but he just kept his mouth shut.

"So I smashed his teeth, crushed his fingers, and broke his legs. Hahahaha, this guy actually cried, you know that? Hahaha, it killed me laughing."

All Baimu: "……"

"He's still got a few breaths left in him, but if we keep him roasting out here much longer, that's no guarantee, you agree?"

Ken casually tossed the headscarf onto the ground and ground it viciously under his foot a few times. The thick malice seemed about to take physical form and spill over, and he said with utter arrogance: "So, are you going to trade now? Hehehehe…"

Calm down.

Stay calm.

All Baimu worked hard to steady his emotions.

He more or less understood why Ken was doing all this pointless stuff — 【Entertainment Value】.

Using every means to make the opponent lose composure, thereby creating dramatic highlights in the livestream, boosting eye-catching appeal to earn tip rewards.

This guy really was a clever one, and he had a tight grip on what plenty of Huang Tie Town viewers enjoyed — violence, humiliation, hatred, and hysteria.

And the act of exchanging hostages was, in a sense, also a show of goodwill toward his affiliated organization.

'Look, I'm rescuing my own people! A reliable guy like me — shouldn't I be rewarded and cheered?'

Therefore.

Dig past this guy's sludge-like exterior brimming with malice and distortion, and you'd see the essence hidden within — the assimilation of money and power.

A maggot that would stop at nothing to climb the ladder.

What was even more terrifying was that in Huang Tie Town, this sort of trash wouldn't just escape censure — on the contrary, they'd be met with a flood of adulation…

Revolting.

All Baimu felt a genuine, deep-seated irritation — perhaps because of Otsuka, perhaps because of the arrogant Ken… or even because of the Huang Tie Town that bred such scum.

After all, it was hardly unique; this kind of bastard was probably beyond count.

Just thinking about that…

"It's enough to make me puke."

He watched Ken shift part of his attention to the camera, then suddenly raised his hand and opened the Poké Ball.

Bang!

Buzz—

A noisy flapping of wings sounded beside his ear.

"Watch your left!"

All Baimu's gaze didn't shift; he pointed decisively toward the shadow at his rear-left.

And the very next instant after he spoke, a pitch-black great bird abruptly materialized from the shadows and swooped in like an arrow!

"Screee—"

Honchkrow let out a piercing shriek.

"Lafu!"

The warned Vibrava reacted a beat slow, but fortunately the two still had a fair distance between them, giving it time to accelerate its wingbeats to an ultra-high frequency!

A cyan shockwave that distorted the air suddenly blasted forward.

Bug Buzz!

Boom!

Acrid smoke billowed.

Did he get it?

No, he didn't.

As the deafening sound waves faded slightly, All Baimu tilted his head and saw Vibrava and Honchkrow flying upward into the sky.

The two chased each other back and forth, clearly locked in some kind of aerial tug-of-war.

"Oh ho? Stuff from the executives really is something else — Honchkrow's gonna have a good time."

Ken didn't seem worried in the slightest that Honchkrow would lose. He even looked like he'd already seen the inevitable victory, and said leisurely: "Such a fine Pokémon, paired with you — what a waste."

Baimu gave no reply, recalling the panicked Chansey back into its Poké Ball.

The opponent was a rare vicious sort, having hidden his Pokémon in advance and deliberately selling a small flaw; had Baimu's senses not been so sharp, he really wouldn't have spotted the Murkrow tucked away.

The remaining two Pokémon might well be hiding somewhere too.

As for the intel, Ken had said before the match began that someone had tipped him off, so knowing Vibrava's origins was perfectly normal.

Baimu took out another Poké Ball.

Who knew Ken would wave his hand in particular disgust, "Alright, alright, I know you like using Dig, I know your Aron was lying in ambush ahead of time—who are you trying to fool with an empty Poké Ball?"

As he spoke, he abruptly retreated backwards.

Boom!

Sand and earth burst apart!

The silver-glinting Aron burst out, but bit empty air; looking up, it saw only the white light of an opening Poké Ball.

Bang.

"Crunch!"

"Awooo!"

A howl rang out—a chilling, bloodthirsty maw drew near from afar, swift beyond compare, dark gloomy light oozing along its surface.

In an instant, Dark-type energy coated it!

"Iron Defense!"

Crack!

Amid the urgent cry, Houndoom's fangs bit viciously into Aron's head; even as the energy exploded it did not let go, the savage aura it released sending chills down the spine.

But no matter how hard it tried, its canine teeth could not break through Aron's silver-glinting steel armor.

Seeing that its bite could only leave small marks, Houndoom began to think of retreating.

Ken's command arrived in time: "Fall back!"

"Rock Tomb!"

Baimu shouted.

Aron raised its heavy front paws and slammed the ground; countless shards of rock, driven by some unseen force, flew toward Houndoom.

But the latter retreated too fast—eight or nine out of ten stones missed, only a few landing on its head and belly, and the distance was too great to cause any appreciable damage.

"Hoo…"

Arriving behind Aron, Baimu inwardly breathed a sigh of relief; the moment Ken retreated, he had rushed out as well, to keep his Pokémon from being separated from their trainer.

After all, Chansey had no capacity to fight alone; if Aron were also pulled away by Ken's Houndoom like Vibrava had been, he'd have no choice but to fight on his own.

Brawling with a Pokémon bare-handed?

Possible.

But unnecessary.

And compared to him easing up, Ken's expression was not a pleasant sight.

Although Aron's ambush had been seen through, Houndoom's Crunch had failed to take it down—sure, Iron Defense was part of the reason…

The former's reflexes and endurance were more than enough to prove Baimu was no ordinary small fry.

"You really piss me off!"

Ken's arrogant expression turned dark; he pressed the switch on his second Poké Ball and released the Galarian Linoone inside.

"Maaasi!"

The strange black-and-white creature stuck out its slender tongue, letting out a malicious cry.

Baimu dared not take the enemy lightly, and had Chansey come out to back Aron up.

"Lucky~"

Chansey stood behind Aron, uneasy at heart yet no longer trying to hide as in the past. It wasn't stupid—on the contrary, it saw at a glance the malice radiating from those fellows opposite.

It couldn't run.

For a moment.

Four Pokémon watched one another, the tense atmosphere rising of its own accord.

"Pounce on Chansey! Use Swagger to stall Aron!"

The standoff lasted no more than five seconds before Ken issued the first command.

Clearly he had little patience, and a clear understanding of Chansey's healing ability, so he made a snap decision to try to take it down first.

But to mislead Baimu, he didn't specify which Pokémon used which move.

The words had barely fallen.

Houndoom charged ferociously toward Chansey's position, Galarian Linoone close behind.

"Ao!"

"Gu!"

Aron could not hold back and wanted to charge forward, but Baimu shouted it down.

"Fall back! Back in front of Chansey! Rock Tomb!"

The moment it heard, it decisively gave up the head-on clash with Houndoom, retreated to stand before Chansey, and its heavy front paws stamped the ground!

Boom!

Swish swish swish—

Countless shards of rock flew toward Houndoom; a dark-red halo lit up over the latter's body, and even as the stones struck it showed no panic, letting the rubble pound its body with an utterly wild expression.

Aron, seeing the sight, felt an inexplicable surge of angry fire within, nearly burning away its reason.

Fortunately, the flying shards of rock not only blocked Houndoom's path but also partially obscured both sides' line of sight, causing Swagger to fail to activate.

But behind the Houndoom, the Galarian Obstagoon leaped up in a single bound, wreathed in red light, displaying terrifying leaping power — it easily skimmed over the top of Aron, narrowly brushing past Rock Tomb.

"Grrh!"

It lolled its crimson tongue, its target aimed straight at the Chansey hidden in the swirling smoke—

Huh?

Where's the egg?

It froze for a beat, landing behind Aron and coming face-to-face with All Baimu not far away; the massive Chansey had suddenly vanished without a trace.

And so.

It was sharp enough not to keep dwelling on the Chansey, and instead leapt forward again to pounce.

If you can't catch the Pokémon, catching the trainer works just as well.

Capture the king before the bandits!

"I've been waiting for you."

But All Baimu seemed to have foreseen its plan, covering both eyes with his arm and hurling some object in his hand hard onto the ground.

Boom!

Blinding light and a deafening blast erupted!

Even though it was high noon and the surroundings were quite bright, the nearest Galarian Obstagoon still had its vision severely affected, and a constant buzzing rang in its ears.

The Houndoom and Takeshi farther back were a little better off thanks to the greater distance, but they were affected too.

This gave Aron — its back to the flashbang, only its ears troubled — an opening to exploit.

Iron Head!

All Baimu's command flashed through its mind, and it acted at once; beneath a silver halo, its mask-like head shone with an unusual gleam.

"Houndoom, get back here!"

Takeshi kept blinking his stinging eyes, his body retreating wildly backward.

How could he have guessed this bastard was carrying flashbangs on him — the next thing he knew, one might be coming straight at him.

But the instant his vision recovered the next moment, the Aron he had expected to come charging at him had somehow turned around at some point and slammed headfirst into the Galarian Obstagoon's flank!

Thud!