Chapter 377

Dragon's Nest.

There was still time before nightfall.

After Baimu and Old Qingliu observed the three-headed dragon's daily behavior, they did not leave the "kindergarten."

Instead, they pulled out the saddle they had made.

"Shasong!"

Upon seeing the saddle, the three-headed dragon's eyes instantly brightened—unlike the slightly sluggish trainer, it recognized the object at a glance.

"Want to try it out? Still got energy?"

Baimu asked with a smile.

The three-headed dragon nodded all three heads rapidly, twisting its body toward the trainer, its tail swinging like a propeller, its back heaving as it edged closer, "Shasong! Shasong!"

Come on! Come on!

"Don't rush." He studied the front and back, the headhole position, and quickly found the correct way to use it.

The saddle's material was synthetic leather and thickened fabric—extremely sturdy, able to withstand pulling—and for safety, it had special restraint straps; the only metal part was a horizontal bar, meant to serve as a handhold.

It worked similarly to Alola riding Pokémon, but was lighter and more foldable, perfectly suited for him as a traveler.

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Sitting on it was stable; his buttocks didn't feel uncomfortable yet.

Whether that would last long was uncertain.

"Uncomfortable?"

Baimu leaned down, bringing his head close to the three-headed dragon to ask how it felt—anywhere it felt uneasy or painful—

Not at all.

Only uncontrollable excitement.

"Shasong!"

The three-headed dragon let out a long roar, like a unleashed hound, ignoring the stares of surrounding dragons as it swiftly flapped its six membranous wings and soared into the sky.

It had long wanted to fly with its trainer.

But its body structure wasn't suited for safe riding, so it had always watched other Pokémon carry their trainers—now, at last, its wish was fulfilled, and it spun joyfully in midair.

Like a spinning top.

At first, Baimu felt the same exhilaration as a rollercoaster—something he'd never gotten from riding Sandaconda or Steelix.

But as the spinning speed increased, the three-headed dragon showed no sign of stopping.

Exhilaration turned to discomfort.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Baimu shouted loudly; seeing the three-headed dragon still wouldn't stop, he reached out and grabbed the flower-like tufts of hair on its neck, forcing its middle head to tilt back, "Stop!"

The three-headed dragon, its scalp taut and face contorted, finally slowed its spin.

"Idiot! You trying to kill me so you can inherit my estate and return to your dragon homeland?"

He sharply slapped its head; only when it let out a pitiful whimper did he release its hair. Some Pokémon, if not closely watched, do stupid things—the three-headed dragon was one of them.

At this moment, he looked around.

Baimu realized he had reached great altitude—perhaps just a few dozen meters higher and he could touch the clouds.

Looking down, the Dragon's Nest had shrunk from a basin-like mountain terrain into an irregularly shaped bonsai; the mountain range where Meteor Falls lay had become tiny, and craters of all colors filled his view.

Even the nearby ancestral land was clearly visible.

"High up really does offer a panoramic view…"

He murmured softly, but noticed many Qingmian Birds swiftly darting past, and higher still, several Jianzi Grasses drifting in the wind, overtaking them.

Undoubtedly, this was because the three-headed dragon deliberately flew slowly to savor the moment.

"How about we pick up the pace a bit?"

"Shasong~"

The three-headed dragon responded softly, yet its speed didn't increase at all.

Baimu: "..."

Fine.

Flying slow was fine—better for serious talk.

Cold upper-air currents whistled past his ears, producing a faint noise like a giant fan spinning—flying too fast made conversation impossible.

He rephrased his words, adjusting them to a level the three-headed dragon could understand, warning it that from now on, it must never go into dark caves with any female Dragon-type Pokémon, or any Pokémon in the Dragon Egg Group.

Not even into small forests!

If it disobeyed, he would be extremely angry.

Hearing the trainer's unusually stern tone, the three-headed dragon, already annoyed by being scolded, nodded all three heads frantically, firmly vowing to keep clear of unfamiliar female Dragon Pokémon.

"Good. You're still too young—you're not ready for this kind of thing."

Baimu nodded in satisfaction.

He never imagined he'd one day have to consider his Pokémon's lifelong partner—when he himself was still single.

Poliwag?

That thing was different—he knew Poliwag was purely comedic, and besides, Gyarados's personality made it unlikely to find a suitable mate.

The three-headed dragon was still too young; its body and mind hadn't fully matured. Even though it showed no interest in female dragons now, that was only because it hadn't reached the age of awakening. Pokémon under anime logic were still biological creatures with normal reproductive urges.

He didn't want his own Pokémon to become a breeding dragon.

It was strange that the three-headed dragon was so popular—was it handsome? So clingy, and with bad breath.

Come to think of it, didn't Ash's Charizard get the same treatment in Charizard Valley?

"Lay an egg…"

Baimu gazed at the horizon, where the village of Meteor Falls was slowly emerging, and his thoughts swirled.

——

Several more days passed in uneventful calm.

The Meteor Falls remained peaceful and still; the absence of Team Rocket left Baimu deeply troubled.

Had he not trusted Lei Gong, he might already have gone to apologize to Champion Dawu and the elders, wasting their time for nothing.

To be honest.

Team Rocket not showing up would've been better—but now he found himself wishing they'd just come once already.

After this ridiculous thought arose, Baimu quickly muttered a sin.

Seeing how Zhenya and the others, even the villagers of Meteor Falls, had inevitably lowered their guard, he couldn't bring himself to warn them again—after all, when they asked him when Team Rocket would come, he had no answer.

Pretend it never happened?

After all, the elders had never blamed him…

This faintly anxious mood inevitably affected the Pokémon—

The happiness of Happiny and Makuhita's coordination had broken down.

Under the enhanced training of the Seven-Colored Swellow, Happiny's singing had indeed improved, successfully creating a leap note with weakened hypnosis but extreme light effects, raising both Makuhita's and Baimu's musical sensitivity considerably.

But their synchronization in melody and dance was terrible.

Happiny always instinctively accommodated Makuhita; whenever the latter jumped faster, Happiny would speed up its singing rhythm, causing Makuhita, who tried to dance to the song's beat, to speed up too.

Eventually, both spiraled into frantic acceleration.

The absurd part was, when Baimu tried to use his guitar to control the rhythm, he himself got swallowed by the "clash" between Happiny and Makuhita, utterly failing in his role as leader.

Clearly, inheriting the guitarist's memory of the instrument didn't mean he inherited the musician's musical talent.

Of course.

Baimu had considered removing Makuhita's dance entirely, relying solely on singing and other moves to produce a colorful performance, to keep the act flowing smoothly.

Rejected by Makuhita with a threat of stomping.

Looking closely, this situation was only natural—Happiny and Makuhita had always worked together with Happiny in a supporting role; now, suddenly thrust into leadership, even though it knew it shouldn't follow Makuhita and should take control, it couldn't help itself.

Cover your eyes and look away?

That would be abandoning the root for the branch—singing and dancing serve to create a more dazzling performance, not merely for the sake of singing and dancing.

Everything was deeply frustrating.

The three of them often sat in a row after practice, sighing, silently watching the date of the upcoming Grand Festival draw nearer—down to just three days.

Could three days be enough?

Baimu had already begun considering delaying another seven days.

Yet, during these days, something worth celebrating had occurred: the Shiny Gyarados's jumping height kept rising, now only a hair's breadth from the top of the Dragon's Gate Waterfall.

Its progress compared to just days ago was extraordinary.

It would likely succeed in scaling the Dragon's Gate Waterfall within a few days.

Baimu had never imagined that the Pokémon which had once troubled him most was now the most diligent and least troublesome.

Ah, and Poliwhirl.

This one, who at first couldn't even maintain balance, now raced at forty miles per hour over uneven dirt roads—ordinary Dragonite couldn't catch its tail; only Flying-type Pokémon like Skarmory and Wurmple could.

In a short while, it might as well become a mini motorcycle.

In short, the Pokémon with autonomy were progressing smoothly in every way, while Happiny and Makuhita, influenced by him, had stalled.

"When will this ever end?"

Baimu thought.

Meanwhile, high in the sky, kilometers away, inside a hidden massive airship, another group held similar thoughts.

"I can't endure this any longer!"

One Team Rocket member groaned, sprawled on the floor; upon hearing this, the other Rocket members in the control room all showed expressions of weary agreement, sinking into dejection.

They had hovered above Meteor Falls for nearly two weeks.

Their delay stemmed from two reasons: first, the Pokémon in the Dragon's Nest were too alert, offering no opportunity; second, more and more suspicious figures had appeared near Meteor Falls lately.

Though they themselves were the most suspicious, the sheer number of unknown individuals made even Team Rocket hesitate to act.

Had word leaked?

Theoretically unlikely—but these past two days, deep within Meteor Falls, villagers carrying powerful Dragon-type Pokémon had been wandering about.

It made them hesitate again.

If possible, they truly didn't want to make a big show.

Moreover, the so-called Super Stone deposit, according to current findings, was purely the delusion of a few incompetent scientists—no trace had ever been found.

Earlier, the Chimney Mountain outpost claimed to have detected massive Super Energy, yet produced nothing for half a year, even drew Lei Gong's attention, and was later destroyed by a mysterious woman.

Aside from collecting an extremely rare few Super Stones and Key Stones, the organization's investment in the Hoenn region had yielded no return.

This led them to gamble everything on targeting the people of Meteor Falls—

Precisely speaking, stealing.

According to research by one of their scientists into Hoenn historical texts, the people of Meteor Falls were the earliest group to master Super Evolution and were deeply connected to it.

"Stop complaining. I want to get back on land and have fun too—but completing the mission matters more." On the main command seat, a muscular, blond, sunglasses-wearing man had his feet propped on the console, hands clasped behind his head as he lay back, his voice deeply low.

Clearly, he wasn't as calm as he appeared.

"Yes…"

The Team Rocket members responded weakly.

Suddenly.

A silver-haired man walked in from outside, "Pusen! It's time to switch targets!"

"Hm?"

Pusen quickly stood up and looked at his old partner Bashu, "Switch targets? What do you mean? Didn't you go inspect the super stone mine?"

The silver-haired man didn't answer his question, quickly went to the computer and tapped a few keys, causing a map to appear on the windshield, "Look to the southeast of Meteorite Waterfall, the village there."