Chapter 396: Ground Dragon Evolution

"Axew, come back!"

Iris shouted loudly, and a red light shot forth, recalling the slumbering Axew.

Milotic, who had taken a deep breath, couldn't release that freezing breath and felt a little disappointed.

"Milo~"

This was its first battle against another trainer after evolving, and it had wanted to win beautifully—to take the opponent down in one go—but who would have thought that in the blink of an eye the other side would already be out of the fight like this.

How unsatisfying!

"Don't rush. Watch the opponent's movements."

Baimu spoke up to soothe it, somewhat surprised by Iris's decisiveness.

To be able to switch Axew out so timely and precisely, she must have already conceived the idea of swapping when Milotic had entangled the former with its tail.

Most trainers in the anime fall into the category of not switching until they fall, but this one has clearly stepped beyond the scope of an ordinary trainer.

However.

The gap in strength between the two sides was too obvious.

Although they had only exchanged two or three moves, Milotic had already suppressed Axew very smoothly; if they fought one-on-one, victory was only a matter of time.

Baimu himself was actually more surprised by this than Iris was.

Due to the limitations of its Feebas form, after leaving Greenfield Town he had rarely sent it out to battle, and most of its fights had been internal sparring matches.

Who would have thought it would perform so well—

Or was it that Axew was just too weak?

Baimu realized that the current Axew was still in its growth phase… to put it bluntly, it was at a middling stage—better than some but not outstanding—far from reaching a level where it could shoulder heavy responsibilities.

Its baby phase was too long.

It didn't evolve even after traveling with Ash for a year; the writers nerfed the protagonist and even cut the supporting cast.

He gazed at Iris, who had yet to send out her second Pokémon. "What's wrong? Didn't you say you wanted me to experience the emotions of a Dragon-type Pokémon? At this level of intensity, you might have trouble even losing slowly."

"—Hmph! Just thinking up a countermeasure, that's all! Go! Drilbur!"

The latter threw a Poké Ball.

Pop!

White light flickered.

The plump, round Drilbur landed on the ground.

"Ice Beam!"

Baimu issued the command without hesitation.

"Milo!"

Milotic opened its mouth slightly, and ice-blue orbs of light rapidly gathered into shape and shot out several jagged bolts of lightning, crackling constantly as they passed, as if the very air were freezing.

Iris hurriedly shouted: "Quick, dig underground!"

"Fuka!"

Drilbur swiftly clawed open the ground and burrowed in, narrowly avoiding the ice-blue lightning by a hair's breadth, and the hole it left behind was instantly frozen over by sharp clusters of ice crystals.

Pretty quick on its feet?

Baimu was somewhat surprised; he had thought that strike just now would have finished it off cleanly.

"Stay calm. Watch your surroundings!"

He loudly reminded Milotic; the latter had too little battle experience and might get nervous when faced with this kind of situation.

Fortunately, Milotic remained fairly composed, but with all its attention focused on the ground, it failed to respond to its trainer's words in time—it wanted so badly to put on a good showing.

The ground trembled faintly, indicating that Drilbur was burrowing beneath the surface.

If it were some other Pokémon using Dig, he might have used Haze or Smog to disrupt this guy's and the trainer's judgment, but unfortunately a Pokémon like Drilbur, like Excadrill, can sense the opponent's location through the spindle-shaped fleshy organs on either side of its head.

So using them would be pointless.

Sure enough.

The grit on the ground kept trembling—pausing here, leaping there—indicating that the underground Drilbur was consciously circling around Milotic.

It seemed to want to avoid the latter's direct line of sight and find a suitable opening.

"It can even sense that it's being watched? That's way too broken…"

Baimu watched the ground where the grit was bouncing and muttered softly.

And finally.

Drilbur found that opportunity.

Boom!

It suddenly burst out of the ground from Milotic's rear diagonal, charging upward, its mouth brimming with a fearsome azure dragon flame.

"Dragon Pulse!"

Iris shouted in her clear voice.

Baimu's voice followed right after: "To your rear right! Scald!"

Hiss!

A ferocious energy dragon head burst forth, emitting a roar-like howl as it scraped through the air—but it failed to strike Milotic's body before colliding with a stream of water radiating heat!

Boom!

Azure light flickered within the smoke, and scalding, smoke-like water vapor spread out, enveloping both Pokémon.

Milotic's Scald, boosted by its Mystic Water, actually canceled out Drilbur's Dragon Pulse—the latter was far stronger than expected!

"Blizzard!"

Baimu's shout rang out once more.

The next instant.

An icy blue current mixed with pure white snowflakes dispersed the scalding steam, coating the ground in a layer of white frost—

It missed the Roundjaw Shark.

This thing had hidden inside the burrow it dug, evading Minas's blizzard.

Alice flashed a radiant smile, as if everything were perfectly planned, "Meteor Swarm!"

The Roundjaw Shark opened its mouth, spanning nearly half its body, and a dark purple orb instantly formed, shooting skyward—*Peng! *—then shattered into countless dark purple meteors raining down.

Though it was also a Meteor Swarm, this one's speed far exceeded that of the Three-Headed Dragon; though its power was much weaker, Baimu knew the damage must correlate with the Roundjaw Shark's Special Attack stat.

More importantly—

"The color's different?"

Baimu studied the falling meteor shower, then shouted, "Spread Water Ring, intercept!"

"Miglo!"

Minas, tense and focused, responded instantly—its body glowed with a soft blue light, and three pale blue spiraling currents coalesced from thin air, spinning rapidly, growing larger, then tilting toward the falling meteor shower!

*Peng! Peng! Peng! *

Water and dragon flame exploded, sending up another cloud of white smoke that covered the battlefield, only to be blasted apart by subsequent meteor impacts.

"The Water Ring can be used like this?!"

Alice exclaimed in surprise.

It was a recovery move, yet now it functioned like a defensive technique, effortlessly blocking the immensely powerful Meteor Swarm.

This reminded her of another person who also loved "reckless improvisation" and "wild ideas."

After using the Water Ring—

Minas unconsciously felt mental fatigue, curling in place, lowering its head slightly as it panted. Frequent use of high-power moves was a heavy burden on its energy reserves and physical condition—it lacked battle experience.

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In short—

Too young.

After all, this thing is only level forty-six—by energy level, it's the weakest on the team; don't expect too much.

Baimu realized this too, pulling a Poké Ball from his pocket.

"Dragon Claw!"

Alice's voice came through.

Though unclear whether she'd noticed Minas's condition, clearly she wouldn't let it withdraw so easily.

"Fuka!"

The Roundjaw Shark had slipped out of its burrow unnoticed; its short hind limbs kicked with explosive force, closing the distance in an instant, appearing before Minas.

Its foreclaws glowed with a vivid green light, striking mercilessly!

"Block it!"

*Clang! *

A crisp clash rang out, followed by a faint haze of Dragon-type energy dispersing.

"This is—"

Alice's eyes widened as a red light shot from afar, sucking Minas inside.

Baimu looked at the Poké Ball in his hand and murmured praise, "Don't worry—you've done excellently. Rest well, and prepare to return."

Though it lacks the Regenerator ability, any Pokémon returning to its Poké Ball naturally recovers HP and type energy—Regenerator just restores far more.

On the other side—

Alice and the Roundjaw Shark exchanged glances, confirming she hadn't misseen it: Minas had indeed blocked the Roundjaw Shark's Dragon Claw with its tail fin.

She hadn't expected an attack launched during its "weakness" to miss…

What a terrifying Pokémon.

No.

What a terrifying Trainer!

She knew Minas's flawless defense came from Baimu's daily training—this stirred her heart.

Wasn't battling such a powerful Dragon Trainer one of her main reasons for traveling?

Thinking of this, Alice couldn't help feeling excited, "Good! Let's push harder, Roundjaw Shark!"

"Fuka!"

The Roundjaw Shark, sensing its Trainer's emotion, couldn't help but grow excited too, raising both small claws and roaring upward.

Meanwhile—

Baimu released his second Pokémon.

*Bang! *

Bai Guang flashed.

The Three-Headed Dragon landed on the field.

"Huh? Not Bisharp?" Alice blinked.

Earlier, Baimu said he'd send out three Pokémon most like Dragons—he'd sent Minas first; she'd assumed the next would be Bisharp.

After all, this Pokémon learns so many Dragon-type moves.

From Dragon Claw and Dragon Rush down to Dragon Pulse and Outrage—it's like Charizard, dragon-like but not quite a dragon.

She never expected he'd send out the "ace," the Three-Headed Dragon, as the second.

Strange.

Alice silently wondered.

Regardless of her misconception, sending out Dreepy so early was a decision Baimu had carefully considered.

The original plan had been to send out Bisharp second, but...

Alice was weaker than expected.

The purpose of this battle was to understand the feelings of Dragon-type Pokémon, but given the current situation, the future Unova Champion would likely lose before he even grasped Dreepy's emotions.

Especially since Bisharp had already entered—the Dreepy wouldn't even get a chance to appear.

Was he counting on that angry Dragonite to take down Bisharp? Maybe, but if Dragonite got easily crushed by Bisharp, it'd be ridiculous.

A Dragonite with Multiple Scales that could be taken out by Milotic's Hypnosis and Iron Head?

Don't you remember it has the Multiple Scales ability?

The battle resumed.

Since Alice hadn't seized the initiative by switching out before her opponent could act, Baimu now had the chance to issue commands alongside her.

"Meteor Swarm!"

"We'll use Meteor Swarm too!"

The two Dragon-type Pokémon tilted their heads upward, each charging an orange-red energy orb and a blue-purple energy orb—the latter gathered and launched into the sky far faster, while Dreepy's orange-red orb lagged slightly behind!

Boom! Bang!

Like two fireworks exploding high above, violet meteors and orange-red meteors fell in succession, each emitting an ear-splitting shriek as they plummeted toward their opponent's half of the field!

But the orange-red meteor was clearly much larger and emitted far stronger energy fluctuations; upon impact, it continuously exploded into deep craters, forcing Gastrodon to retreat into its burrow for cover.

Thud-thud-thud—!

The explosions sounded like falling artillery shells, thick smoke blanketing Gastrodon's half of the battlefield.

In comparison,

Dreepy didn't need to burrow—it could dodge effortlessly. Gastrodon had already used Meteor Swarm once; its power had dropped drastically and posed no threat to Dreepy.

"Earth Power!"

"Sand Tomb!"

Dreepy lowered its head and spat a mass of earth-yellow light; the light surged into the ground, instantly cracking it open and racing toward Gastrodon's position.

Alice gasped in alarm, "Get out!"

Even without her trainer's warning, the underground Gastrodon sensed a powerful energy surge approaching.

But by the time it tried to flee, it was too late.

Earth Power came too fast!

Boom!

The ground split open in an irregular hole, and terrifying Ground-type energy erupted like a volcanic geyser, blasting Gastrodon skyward!

"Gastrodon!"

Alice screamed.

Then,

Gastrodon, covered head to tail in smoke, crashed heavily to the ground. Earth Power had left numerous wounds across its body, making it look pitiful.

But to Baimu's surprise, it didn't collapse—it struggled to its feet.

"Fuu—Ka!"

」

Gastrodon looked up at Dreepy in the sky and roared, its body engulfed in brilliant sky-blue light, countless glowing motes swirling around it!

It was evolving!

"Sand Tomb?"

Dreepy's poised attack froze in its mouth; both Baimu and Alice wore expressions of shock.

Clearly, even Alice hadn't expected Gastrodon to evolve today.

By an unwritten rule, regardless of how long the opponent's Pokémon took to evolve, both trainer and Pokémon must wait in silence—it was respect for the opponent and reverence for the leap of life.

The once-ball-like Gastrodon rapidly grew stronger limbs and a far more muscular body; its head no longer dominated two-thirds of its frame.

It had transformed from a chubby shark pup into a ferocious, dinosaur-like beast!

Soon after,

The light dimmed.

Garchomp appeared on the field, letting out a sharp hiss at the Dreepy above, "Gaa-bu!"

」

"Sand Tomb..."

Dreepy frowned.

What's with this little brat? So rude? Why are you growling?

"Dragon Pulse!"

The trainer's voice rang in its ear—it decided to teach this overconfident Garchomp how to be a Dragon!

In an instant,

All three of Dreepy's heads glowed with three-colored dragon flames, roaring as they blasted toward the Garchomp below; the three flames merged midair into a fearsome energy dragon!

"We'll use Dragon Pulse too!"

Alice's excited voice rang out.

"Gaa-bu!"

With its new body and power, Garchomp tilted its head, its mouth full of sharp teeth boiling with dragon flame, instantly forming an energy dragon head that slammed into the energy dragon!

Boom!

Two energy dragons slammed into each other midair, tearing at each other's bodies as they devoured one another.

It must be said that perhaps some change came with the evolution, or perhaps it was the newbie protection period. The power of Gabite's Dragon Pulse was quite impressive.

If it were any other Pokémon, it might really have been unable to deal with it.

But unfortunately, the one facing it now was Hydreigon; a mere post-evolution newbie protection period was nothing before the "head-bump love" Dragon Pulse unleashed by all three heads working together!

The far more massive energy dragon was seen instantly swallowing Gabite's Dragon Pulse whole, then carrying that energy with it as it slammed brutally into Gabite's body!

Boom!

Dragon flame surged skyward!

"Grrr—!"

»

Three-headed Dragon raised all three heads and roared long and loud!