Chapter 428: The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl

Rumble—

Amid the ceaseless tremors, fierce dragon-flame breath scorched the plaza's stone tiles, sweeping across the surrounding space in search of the "vanished" Dragapult.

Fortunately the plaza tiles were sturdy enough; otherwise they would have been shattered by the dragon wave.

"Shao!"

The three-headed Hydreigon, whose attack had missed, was in no rush. It raised its head to sniff the empty plaza twice, then swiftly whipped its gaze to the left!

Peng!

A sharp explosion rang out in the void.

Within the blazing firelight Dragapult suddenly reappeared, and a streak of azure shadow shot from atop its head like a spark of flint, charging straight at Hydreigon!

It was so fast that Hydreigon had no time to react at all.

But luckily, the moment it caught Dragapult's scent, it had already used Protect.

Dong!

The hemispherical shield of countless hexagons trembled violently; one could clearly see Drednaw—wait, no—see Dragapult's sibling wrapped entirely in azure light, trailing a long plume of smoke behind it, trying like a missile to bore its way into the shield.

But when the Dragon Arrow's energy ran out, it still hadn't completed its glorious mission; instead Hydreigon bit down hard on it and tossed it to its tail.

The trapped younger Dragapult thrashed about wildly.

"Xiya! Xiya!"

"Ya!"

Seeing this, the elder Dragapult, face full of "you useless lump," wanted to rush in and give it a swipe, but was once again stopped by All Baimu.

"Charging into another Pokémon's battle on a whim is very dangerous."

He admonished it: "Your little brother simply lacks a strong sense of danger, which is why he got caught by Hydreigon so easily."

Dragapult's sibling isn't a one-shot missile; after firing the Dragon Arrow it needs to fly back on its own, or have Dragapult come pick it up.

So even though its role in battle is limited to the Dragon Arrow, it still needs solid positioning.

Otherwise the Dragon Arrow would just be a one-use move.

"... Xiya?"

The elder Dragapult showed a slightly blank expression.

Clearly such a complex sentence was rather hard for this Pokémon, which had little contact with humans, to understand; it could only watch its brother in great anxiety.

All Baimu wasn't too disappointed either, muttering, "Only a dozen or so levels… pretty much starting from scratch. Take it slow."

Meanwhile the Hydreigon up ahead seemed to sense the scorching gaze from behind, and decisively flung the younger Dragapult backward.

Of course, more importantly, it had realized that Dragapult's sibling wasn't a very useful dragon-type.

More like a drag.

Better used as bait to muddle the视线.

Sure enough, as the younger Dragapult flew backward, Dragapult's gaze was drawn to it.

Without hesitation Hydreigon beat its wings and rose higher into the air!

"Shao!"

Azure flames ignited atop its three heads and swiftly enveloped its entire body.

Dragon Rush!

Terrifying killing intent descended before Dragapult could vanish and dodge, pressing down on it like a mountain.

Its energy level was clearly a bit higher, but looking closely at this one's various performances, it seemed far inferior to Hydreigon.

Behind.

"Xiya!"

The elder Dragapult rushed forward to catch its brother, then couldn't help glancing at All Baimu—it had expected to be stopped again.

After grabbing its brother, it raised a paw and whacked him twice—bam bam—making him cover his head and scurry away.

"Xiya?"

The younger Dragapult covered its head in grievance, completely clueless as to why its sister was angry.

Angry that he "defected"? But which Dragapult's sibling doesn't want to be launched by Dragapult?

The younger Dragapult figured its sister wanted the same, she was just holding back—"Xiya!"

Don't hold back then, what's there to hold back!

The elder Dragapult grew even angrier—this troublesome little idiot—

Boom!

A tremendous roar rang out as surging azure dragon flame and dust billowed outward together.

While the two little Dragapults were squabbling, the ferocious energy dragon Hydreigon had transformed into collided head-on with Dragapult's Dragon Rush.

The clash between the two produced this result.

"Shao!"

Hydreigon emerged from the thick smoke, its spirited state proving it had gained the upper hand in the exchange.

On Dragapult's side, despite the hazy smoke, one could faintly see the fellow covered in dragon flame, panting hard.

The plaza's stone tiles had cracked from the two Pokémon's mutual attacks, but All Baimu had already prepared himself to pay for the damages.

"Careful! Phantom Force is coming!"

Spotting Dragapult vanish into the smoke, he called out a warning.

He hadn't given many instructions in this battle on purpose, to see how autonomously Hydreigon could act.

So far this fellow's performance was quite satisfactory.

Especially the habit of popping Protect first when things looked bad—proof enough that Hydreigon had inherited his battle habits.

"Sizzle!"

"Not being able to smell it is normal — this guy is in another dimension!"

"Sizzle?"

The Three-Headed Dragon showed considerable surprise upon hearing its trainer's words.

Another dimension? Is it the Spirit World the trainer visited yesterday?

Can Dragapult come and go as it pleases?

While pondering, a narrow, elongated red light suddenly flared in the shadow beneath it.

Whoosh!

Dragapult burst out from the shadow and slammed hard into the unguarded back of the Three-Headed Dragon!

"Luu-ta!"

However, the instant it was about to collide, the Three-Headed Dragon abruptly spun around, and the heads on its left and right clamped down on either side of its triangular head.

Immediately after, Dragapult's tail stabbed into its chest, and Ghost-type energy Peng De exploded into a cloud of smoke — yet the other acted as if nothing had happened, still clamping its head without letting go.

"Sizzle!"

The Three-Headed Dragon's middle head roared sharply upward, an orange-yellow orb of light rapidly gathering at its chest and belly, then flying skyward amid Dragapult's terrified expression!

Screech—

The energy orb let out a hiss like a firework shooting skyward, then exploded thunderously into a volley of small meteors trailing long tails of flame!

【Honestly, I've been using the source-switching app to read and catch up lately — switch sources, lots of reading voices, huanyuanapp works on both Android and Apple.】

Dragapult struggled nonstop, but found its strength was no match for the Three-Headed Dragon; before it could spew Dragon Breath at near-zero distance, its mouth was clamped shut by the opponent's largest head as well.

The absurd bite force directly robbed it of most of its ability to resist, forcing it to become a meat shield as the Three-Headed Dragon rolled.

Those fire meteors also fell upon it one after another, scrambling to be first.

Boom boom boom—

The smoke and dust of the explosions rolled upward.

"It's over." All Baimu said with great certainty to the two Dreepy.

With Dragapult's build, it definitely couldn't withstand that Meteor Swarm.

A Dragonite with scales would be more like it.

The two Dreepy blinked, and just ahead, as the gunpowder smoke cleared, they saw the unconscious Dragapult.

"Hi-ya!" The older Dreepy sister was shocked, with a trace of joy.

The younger Dreepy brother, meanwhile, was deeply worried.

All Baimu recalled the fallen Dragapult into its Poké Ball. "Now that we have the foundation of a direct victory, the follow-up communication will surely go much more smoothly."

The earlier capture had borrowed Lady's strength; Dragapult may not have been convinced.

He found the plaza manager, paid the repair fee and fine, then went to the Pokémon Center and had all the Pokémon that had taken part in the battle healed.

Half an hour later.

He went to a nearby park and released the bandaged Dragapult.

The younger Dreepy brother, as usual, wanted to fly over, but this time the older Dreepy sister didn't let it have its way, pressing it firmly down atop All Baimu's head.

Seeing this, Dragapult let out a threatening low growl.

"Luu-ta!!"

"What are you growling about? An older sister managing her younger brother is perfectly natural — but you, the kidnapper, do you even know what you've done!"

All Baimu's words reached it, and Dragapult actually showed a human-like expression of panic and guilt, and turned its head to the side.

This guy must have had contact with the human world before, so it has a deeper understanding of human language than the Dreepy do; its high level also helped its comprehension.

The older Dreepy sister beside them saw this, flung her brother aside, and smacked Dragapult's head twice — slap slap.

"Hi-ya!"

How dare you lure my brother away!

Facing the older Dreepy sister's glare, a flash of inexplicable grievance passed through Dragapult's narrow, slit-like eyes.

Afterwards.

With Porygon2's help, All Baimu learned a winding and coincidental account.

Affected by certain factors, the two Dreepy that Dragapult once had left it, forcing it to search for new partners.

The younger Dreepy brother had been discovered during that search; the two met in a forest, with the younger Dreepy brother looking lost.

The result was, upon seeing it, it had dived into its launch hole without the slightest hesitation.

This delighted Dragapult, who took it as fate, and it hurriedly set off with the younger Dreepy brother to look for another Dreepy.

By the time the younger Dreepy brother realized it was about to be taken far from its sister — before it could even say goodbye — they were already aboard a ghost ship bound for the Hoenn region.

"Come to the Hoenn region to look for Dreepy?" All Baimu's head was full of question marks.

Porygon2 told him this was possible — current academic circles believe Dreepy are a special existence born after the death of some ancient Dragon-type Pokémon.

They linger in the places they were active in life, and those places aren't limited to the Galar region alone.

And they might also be in some deep sea.

In short, Dragapult had followed a calling from within and run to New Zi Jin City.

It never expected this trip to be a case of losing the Lady as well as the soldiers — not only did it fail to find the last Dreepy, it ended up losing the one it already had.

And it itself was captured too — utterly inexplicable.

Yet Dragapult had no choice but to accept this wretched fact.

"So why exactly did your former partners leave you?" All Baimu was very interested in this key point that Dragapult had deliberately concealed.

Reluctantly, when it came to this, the other absolutely refused to say.

He wasn't the type to force Pokémon either — sooner or later, he'd find out anyway.

"So what's your plan next? Those two have decided to throw in their lot with me."

Baimu scooped up the two Doubaku Meshia and, under Doubaku Baruto's envious gaze, perched them on his head.

As for what he said… Doubaku Baruto had no intention of answering.

Not to mention it had already been caught — with two Doubaku Meshia right in front of it, would it pretend not to see them and leave?

Thinking too much!

Doubaku Baruto wanted to persuade the other Doubaku Meshia…

Otherwise, it might end up with neither.

Additionally, it bluntly stated that it hated humans. Although caught, it wouldn't be like Hydreigon, obeying Baimu in everything.

In short, it possessed a strong will of its own—

A very common mindset among high-level wild Pokémon. Iris's Dragonite was the type with a strong will of its own.

Until it suffered a few setbacks later and was privately lectured by Iris using Dragon Heart, at which point it gave her its full trust.

Baimu planned to replicate Iris's approach.

But hating humans?

He wanted to get the reason from Doubaku Baruto's mouth, but was refused.

This made him think it might be related to the original partner the other didn't wish to mention.

Caught by humans? Snatched by poachers?

If Baimu had Dragon Heart right now, he could fully explore Doubaku Baruto's past memories — it wouldn't matter if it didn't want to talk.

Too bad he didn't.

On the other hand, after learning the full story of the incident, the elder Doubaku Meshia's gaze toward Doubaku Baruto softened considerably, but still remained mostly排斥.

Even though this incident was indeed caused by her younger brother running off, Doubaku Baruto bore an inescapable share of responsibility.

Therefore, regarding the younger Doubaku wanting to burrow into Doubaku Baruto's launch port, she firmly opposed it.

Just like a mother refusing to marry her daughter off to some outsider brat.

Between Doubaku Baruto and the younger Doubaku, a sorrowful barrier named "Big Sister Says No" rose up.

Only, both of them were male.

Pokémon version family ethics drama? Cowherd and Weaver Girl?

"Hahaha, looks like we both have to give it our best shot, huh?"

Baimu laughed heartily.

A flash of displeasure crossed Doubaku Baruto's rather lewd triangular slit eyes.

But upon seeing the elder Doubaku holding her brother as they rested on Baimu's head, displeasure turned to envy.

——

On the way back to his room, Baimu ran into Furong.

"Yo! How are you getting along with them, Baimu?"

Furong said with a smile.

"Still in the very earliest stage of磨合. To put it in affection points, it might be zero."

He shook his head regretfully and looked at the Doubaku Baruto beside him, but the latter completely refused to meet his eyes and looked away.

Furong replied: "Bring out the skill you used to quickly get close to Doubaku Meshia, and I think you'll get familiar with it soon enough."

"Hopefully so… Is Champion Furong preparing to leave?"

"Of course, New Zi Jin City no longer has any need of me. I'll be heading back to Shenshan — if you have a day free, drop by and visit!"

Furong winked at him. "Shenshan's Distortion World is even more interesting than the Ghost Hotel!"

The Distortion World…

To be honest, unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to go to a place like that where danger lurked everywhere, but since she'd invited him, he politely exchanged a few pleasantries.

Afterwards, he also learned that Queen Boni had gone to the League headquarters to report on this Distortion World trip.

Apparently, the group of Ghost-type Pokémon Furong had gathered had caused a bit of a stir.

Then why was it Queen Boni going to report instead of Furong, the one who gathered the Ghost-type Pokémon?

Baimu felt this question was worth pondering carefully.

Perhaps the reason Furong didn't return to the League but went back to Shenshan was that she'd been grounded… very possible!

Baimu parted ways with Furong. A few seconds later, he glanced outside through the window and clearly saw the latter being picked up by a sedan.

The expression on her face didn't look too pleased.

Looks like his guess was right!

Baimu offered a silent condolence for her, and thought that he too should set off for the next Gym's location — Yinyu City.