Chapter 38: The Tide Turns

"Maaasii!"

The Galarian Ursaring slammed hard into a massive boulder, and the searing pain from both sides nearly knocked it out on the spot.

At the same time.

A faint, almost imperceptible singing voice rang out.

Then, layer upon layer of pale-pink, solidified sound waves spread out from some shadowy spot, moving at tremendous speed and arriving before them in the blink of an eye.

Not good!

"Use Uproar!"

Ken's face changed wildly.

"Aooo—!!"

The Houndoom did not hesitate. It threw back its head and let out a long, eardrum-shaking howl, sending layer upon layer of visible white ripples blasting outward that completely shattered the incoming pink sound waves.

But the white ripples did not simply dissipate; they spread further toward the Aron and Galarian Ursaring's position, and both could not help but show expressions of utter agony.

Sing!

That Chansey actually knows Sing!

Ken's face was extremely ugly.

In All Baimu's intel, the section on Chansey was the thinnest, because it had never been brought onto the field to battle, so none of its moves had been provided.

At first glance it looked like Houndoom had used Uproar to break through Sing, but in reality Houndoom had also been pinned down by Chansey—after all, once Uproar is used, it cannot be swapped for another move for a short time.

It could only keep using it.

This also gave Aron the chance to press its attack further.

Moreover.

Due to the limits of distance and positioning, he could not use a Poké Ball to recall the Galarian Ursaring.

If he did not want to give up the Galarian Ursaring, the only option was for him and Houndoom to shift their positions and close in, to keep the Pokémon and trainer from becoming separated.

Damn it!

"Iron Head!"

"Get up! Take Down!" Hearing All Baimu's command, Ken shouted out, forced to bring Houndoom closer.

But no matter how short the distance between them actually was, by the time he reached a position where he could use a Poké Ball to recall the Galarian Ursaring, Aron had already lowered its gleaming silver head and was charging forward!

Boom!

A muffled thud.

Smoke billowed and quickly dispersed.

Both Pokémon were sent flying backward.

At the very last instant, the Galarian Ursaring had actually managed to get Take Down off.

Unfortunately, it was not as fast as Aron, and forced to take the hit head-on, its power was much weaker, and the clash put it at a disadvantage.

Luckily, the obstructing boulder that its back had smashed to pieces happened to be right in front of Ken.

So although it tumbled across the ground and kicked up a great cloud of dust, the distance to its trainer was indeed successfully closed.

On the other side.

Aron's condition was still fairly good—despite being four-times weak to Fighting and being in its first stage, it was at an advantage and did not look the worse for wear.

It carved a single mark across the dust-covered ground and came to a stop.

Its expression was quite calm; it seemed not to have expended much stamina. The only thing was that the point of impact was unfortunate, letting the Galarian Ursaring "escape," which made it feel a bit regretful.

Undoubtedly, in this opening exchange All Baimu held the upper hand, and he urgently needed to press the advantage further and expand the lead, to keep Ken from having some trump card to turn defeat into victory.

However.

Just at the instant he was about to give the next order, a small pink egg in the shadows suddenly grew from small to large and let out a faint cry.

"Lucky…"

It was unmistakably the dust-covered Chansey, returned to its original form.

It panted with a touch of exhaustion; it looked as though it had endured to its absolute limit before transforming back.

The effect of 【Minimize】 is to miraculously shrink its originally massive body, but maintaining such a long physical transformation is also an extremely heavy burden on a Pokémon, both mentally and physically.

And its appearance also made Ken's eyes light up.

"Uproar!"

"Aooo—!!"

Houndoom's sound-wave attack shifted from fully spread out to heavily concentrated, gathering its power together, with the target's center unmistakably being the Chansey that had abruptly appeared.

"Use Soft-Boiled! Aron, hurry and help it out!"

"Gu!"

Aron let out a low acknowledging cry, leapt up suddenly, and knocked the Chansey behind a boulder, while itself, carried by momentum, ducked behind another boulder.

Boom boom!

The boulder was shattered into rubble and flying dust by the pale-white sound waves, and a shining light glimmered through the smoke, taking the shape of a beautiful oval.

Once the dust cleared, the Chansey's condition had already pulled free from utter exhaustion, and Aron had not taken much damage either.

But unfortunately All Baimu had missed the optimal window to press the attack—Houndoom's Uproar state had ended, and the Galarian Ursaring was also trying to rally.

"Lucky…"

The Chansey watched all of this, unable to hide the shame and dimness in its heart.

If only it could have held on a little longer, All Baimu might already have taken down this person who clearly looked rotten to the core.

"It's not your fault, don't worry about it!"

The latter caught its expression out of the corner of his eye and immediately chose to speak up and soothe it. Although speaking more invites mistakes, staying silent at this moment could well bring even worse consequences.

And when a mishap occurred at a critical moment, the responsibility actually didn't lie with Chansey itself — the one who failed in his duty was Baimu himself, as its trainer.

Baimu had misjudged Chansey's endurance and its ability to adapt to battle. An excellent trainer isn't made just by standing in place and shouting commands — there are far more things to consider than ordinary people imagine.

"Hold on a little longer! Heal Pulse! Rock Tomb!"

"Not a chance! Taunt! Pin Missile!"

The two once again issued commands almost simultaneously, but in truth Takeshi's side better demonstrated the tacit understanding between Pokémon and trainer.

At first glance the content was vague, but for companions who spent every day together it was already quite clear.

Still, judging from these two moves alone, it was actually very hard to mislead Baimu — who had a certain understanding of Houndoom and Galarian Ursaring, and was also clear on Takeshi's intent.

In an instant.

Houndoom let out the first eerie howl, the red light covering its body carrying a strange magic of its own, drawing Chansey's gaze toward it, soft pink light brewing between its two little claws.

"Don't look!"

Baimu didn't even have time to warn — Houndoom's action ran almost parallel to Takeshi's command, and even seemed to anticipate it.

Without a doubt, this too was a display of partner coordination.

And Chansey, hearing the sound, stiffened — its gaze just happened to meet Houndoom's strange expression, and a bizarre red light flew up from the latter, swiftly sinking into its body.

Immediately after.

Chansey sensed the soft pink light in its claws gradually dimming.

"Lucky!"

It let out an anxious cry.

At the same time, Aron stomped the ground with all its might, shaking up countless stones of varying sizes before it, and using Rock-type energy to launch them outward!

Swish swish swish—

The massive rocks let out a whistling roar!

"Maa-sii!!"

Galarian Ursaring struggled to its feet, and with a stoic expression fired thick green light-arrows from the short fur on its back, flying precisely toward those rocks.

The two clashed like missiles and interceptors, constantly erupting into deafening explosions in the air, and clumps of choking dense smoke obscured both sides' vision.

Taking this chance.

Baimu decisively recalled the flustered Chansey into its Poké Ball.

When a Pokémon falls into the Taunt state, it temporarily cannot use status moves — either it must find a way to break free from Taunt's energy binding on its own, or return to its Poké Ball to dispel the Taunt's energy.

He decisively chose the latter.

Not long after, the smoke and dust from the explosion slowly dispersed once again.

But what Baimu hadn't expected was that, for some reason, Takeshi was currently with a savage and ruthless expression feeding something to Houndoom and Galarian Ursaring.

"You little bastard — you don't really think you've got this in the bag, do you?"

His words fell.

"Grrr…"

Houndoom and Galarian Ursaring's eyes were covered by something like a blood-net, and they let out low growls like wailing cries — a chilling, berserk aura released from their bodies.

An unexpected trump card!

They took drugs!

Baimu's heart jolted, and he hurriedly sent out Chansey, saying: "Heal Pulse! Rock Tomb!"

"Tear them apart for me!"

Takeshi shouted through gritted teeth: "Something I spent a fortune on — let you savor it properly!"

"Ao-woo!"

"Maa-sii!"

The two Pokémon, looking as if they'd gone mad yet still obeying commands, charged forward, completely ignoring the many rocks tearing through the air, smashing them apart with their heads and continuing onward unscathed — such ferocious behavior truly frightened the Chansey behind.

What tightened Baimu's brow even more was that the slightly slower Galarian Ursaring, while running, released a mysterious crystalline blue glow from its body.

Evolution light!

"Hahaha! Such a tiny probability and I just happened to hit it! Heaven helps me! Even the gods want you to die here!"

Takeshi's face once again showed wild joy, as if he wanted to dance on the spot.

And just as Chansey's Heal Pulse shone down on Aron, Houndoom had already closed in — and behind it was an Ursaluna that had completely changed its posture, from four-legged crouching to two-legged running.

This fellow had grown thick gray-white fur on its elbows, shoulders, and calves, and the black-striped fuzz running from the top of its head down its back stood up in curls like a bending wave.

"Gumaa!"

Ursaluna swept its blood-red gaze over Aron and Chansey, and upon seeing the latter's just-reined-in energy, lunged without hesitation!

"Goo!"

Seeing this, Aron, heedless of Houndoom's lock on it, rapidly retreated to defend, trying to block Ursaluna's pounce.

"Use Iron Head to hit it back! Chansey, use Minimize and dodge over to Aron's side!"

Baimu decisively moved closer to Aron's side.

At this point he could no longer worry about the question of friendly fire — if he stood too far from his Pokémon, Houndoom or Ursaluna would certainly lunge at him and bite through his throat at top speed.

"Lucky!"

Chansey anxiously moved toward its teammate, its plump body shrinking within a flash of blue light, narrowly dodging Ursaluna's pounce.

Aron's support arrived — its silvery gleaming head, accompanied by a dull thud, sent Ursaluna stumbling back several steps in a row, but the moment it landed, it was struck by a vicious claw radiating black light from the pursuing Houndoom.

Boom!

Aron smashed a small crater into the ground.

Fortunately, Chansey's earlier Heal Pulse had restored its stamina, allowing it to quickly flip itself back up — its condition hadn't dropped much either, and its energy was quite abundant.

However.

This time, Chansey's shrinking lasted only a few seconds before it returned to its original form.

Judging by its expression, it was clearly unable to hold out mentally.

All Baimu, who had moved closer, tried to step behind Chansey and Aron, only to suddenly realize that Houndoom and Boldore had silently formed a crude encirclement.

As a result, Chansey and Aron were gradually losing their retreat.

What on earth did Takeshi feed them?

Normally, these two Pokémon should have collapsed long ago; even with the evolutionary "sit-up" perk, it was absolutely impossible for them to take so many moves without flinching.

For a moment.

All Baimu's already racing heart beat even faster.