Chapter 437: White Wing Badge

「Woo——oh——」

Dragonite felt as though it had been strapped onto an amusement park's giant pendulum ride, forced to spin endlessly around the arena.

Whoosh——

Whoosh——

A heavy, muffled wind howled on and on.

「Happy!! 」

Blissey, gripping its tail, spun along with it without letting go. The thin layer of ice Milotic had left behind seemed to have no effect on its movement at all. Its cute little face was taut, its two bean-sized black eyes squinted almost into slits, and brownish-red energy gathered on its body into a strange orb of light.

Like a deep-blue star spinning in place.

The phantom image of the Earth!

Even though Baimu had seen this thing countless times, he still couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement. He had always assumed that the giant Earth that suddenly appeared when Charizard used Seismic Toss in the anime was just exaggerated special effects.

It was only after he truly got Blissey to learn Seismic Toss that he realized that thing was never exaggerated special effects at all — it was an afterimage formed from gathered energy.

The staff off to the side stared at Blissey in shock. The sight of it casually whipping Dragonite's massive body around once again refreshed their understanding of it.

From Gravity, Minimize, Protect, Toxic, to Seismic Toss — Blissey was practically the "cancer" of this battle, completely controlling all of Natalie's Pokémon.

It was safe to say that if Mawile and Milotic had been able to take down Pelipper and Skarmory, the lion's share of the credit belonged to Blissey.

In this Gym battle, it was the undisputed core.

Without taking it down, it was basically impossible for Natalie to win.

And at this moment, Dragonite's mind was completely blank.

This doesn't make sense, right? There's clearly a Gravity field in the arena, so how did it get thrown around like that!?

It couldn't think through why it had been flung up, because Blissey's spinning speed was so fast that its head was full of mush, making it nearly impossible to calm down and think.

But fortunately, it wasn't spun around for too long.

When the rotational speed reached a certain limit and the force climbed to its ultimate peak, Blissey chose to let go!

Whoosh!

Dragonite desperately tried to flap its small wings to give itself some backward thrust, but the stored energy of Seismic Toss was simply too ferocious — there was no way it could resist.

It could only watch as the trainer's platform where Natalie stood drew closer and closer.

Boom!

Dragonite slammed head-first into a pillar of the trainer's platform. The terrifying force caused the trainer's platform beneath Natalie's feet to shake violently as well.

The latter bit her lip, completely unconcerned about her own safety, simply staring fixedly at Dragonite as it shook its head and tried to crawl up on the ice.

Fortunately, though Seismic Toss looked ferocious, in truth it hadn't dealt enough damage to knock it out.

「Woo-oh! 」

Dragonite steadied itself. The ice beneath its feet was already a complete mess, yet it let out an undaunted, furious roar at the distant Blissey.

Natalie couldn't help but let out a long breath, thinking there was still a chance to turn things around, and shouted: 「Use Extreme Speed! 」

Blissey was already a Pokémon with extremely high Special Defense, and it had just set up Light Screen earlier — that basically amounted to cutting off any possibility of Dragonite dealing damage with special attacks.

She understood perfectly well that Baimu had deliberately done this so that Dragonite would have to fight Blissey at close range.

But given the current situation, she no longer had a choice.

Right now.

「Woo-oh! 」

Dragonite's small wings on its back gave a single beat, its body surface enveloped in intense white light, and its powerful legs surged forward, abruptly leaving behind an afterimage where it had stood.

Blissey's dynamic vision simply couldn't keep up with the opponent's movement. The fact that its trainer hadn't warned it proved the trainer couldn't see clearly where Dragonite had flown to either.

But actually, it didn't need to keep up.

「Protect! 」

Without the slightest hesitation, Blissey raised its little hand, and a honeycomb-patterned barrier of light unfurled, completely wrapping it up.

Boom!

The barrier of light shook violently. It turned its head and could clearly see the Dragonite that had just vanished now appearing behind it. With white flowing light wrapped all around its body, it slammed fiercely into the barrier — yet could only shake it, unable to shatter it.

Realizing this, Dragonite retreated backward the instant its energy ran out, but how could Baimu possibly let it leave.

「Minimize! Stick to it! 」

「Happy! 」

The barrier of light and the white light vanished together. Far from putting distance between itself to dodge Dragonite's next attack, Blissey instead actively lunged at the latter, taking it by surprise and grabbing its tail in one swift motion.

Natalie's expression changed drastically. 「Not good! Use Slam to smash it down! 」

「Woo-oh! 」

Dragonite's tail flicked up swiftly and tried to slam down, but who would have thought that the instant its tail rose, Blissey suddenly let go with the little hand gripping the tail, its body shrinking continuously until it was only the size of a Happiny, and using inertia and gravity, it climbed onto its back.

And rapidly made its way toward the head!

Dragonite struggled frantically, but Blissey was like a stubborn patch of plaster — no matter how much it shook, it just wouldn't come off.

How could it know that the latter had specifically practiced grappling on Pokémon like Aggron and even Hydreigon — even Aggron couldn't shake Blissey off, let alone a mere Dragonite.

And seeing this, how could Natalie still not understand Baimu's plan. She shouted once more: 「Outrage! 」

She hadn't wanted to use a move like Outrage that hurt the enemy a thousand while damaging oneself eight hundred, but the situation left her no room to keep hesitating.

「Woo-oh! 」

Dragonite threw its head back and roared. A blood-colored thick smoke rose from its body surface, then a chilling aura gathered around it, and its eyes rapidly turned the crimson red that symbolized raging fury.

When it began struggling again, the range of motion was far greater than before — it even threw itself to the ground with the posture of one determined to perish together with Blissey, rolling back and forth.

【Honestly, I've been using the Huanyuan app to read books and keep up with updates lately. Switching between sources, lots of voice options for read-aloud. huanyuanapp. Works on both Android and iOS.】

「Toxic! 」

All Baimu knew that the latter would most likely be unable to hold out much longer under such an onslaught, so he simply took a step back.

"Happy!"

Blissey opened its mouth and sprayed the venom onto Dragonite's body.

Despite the fine, dense scales acting as a barrier, the venom was still rapidly absorbed in, causing a faint dark-purple halo to bloom across the enraged Dragonite's face.

Having achieved its goal, it quickly let go.

"Woo-oh!"

You poisoned me and still think you can run!?

The furious Dragonite was utterly unwilling to let Blissey off so easily; the instant the latter released its little hands and broke away from its back, it threw a punch without the slightest hesitation!

Peng!

Shattered ice and dust flew into the air!

Blissey stared, heart pounding, at the claw that had come within ten centimeters of itself, thinking how fortunate it was that it had used Shrink twice, which had sharpened its instinctive dodging reflexes considerably, letting it dodge clean.

God knew how much damage that punch would have done had it landed head-on.

The egg probably would've been smashed to bits.

"Roll out and use Reflect!"

Blissey rolled sideways like a ball, a layer of blue light shining across its body. The blue light transformed into a massive square barrier, while the Dragonite, frenzied under Outrage, chased madly behind, continuously spitting out large amounts of purple bubbles from the corner of its mouth.

The Toxic status had already begun taking effect; unlike ordinary poison, Toxic's damage would intensify over time.

So even if Dragonite held a recovery move like Roost, the Toxic damage would sooner or later grow to a point even Roost couldn't withstand.

Therefore.

Unless Dragonite and Natalie suddenly pulled off a miracle like the friendship mechanic described, where five hearts gave a chance to cure status conditions, all Blissey had to do was stall for time.

The outcome was already decided—

The observing staff members all showed looks of regret. Shota clenched his fist and stayed silent for a long while, while the director, lost in thought, had no idea how this match should be edited.

But neither the two trainers in the trainer box nor the two Pokémon on the field showed the slightest slack; they were fighting with everything they had.

They both knew clearly that until the very last moment, even the safest of plans could still fall apart.

And Natalie, seeing All Baimu's solemn expression, felt both admiration and regret. They always said a Gym was a good place for challengers to learn things, and it also bore the heavy responsibility of teaching them.

But she had absolutely nothing to teach the latter — he already possessed every quality of an excellent trainer, and was even better at it than she was.

In that case.

All she could do was hold on until the very last second to repay All Baimu for that seriousness.

"Chase it down! It's not over yet!"

Natalie's voice echoed across the field, jolting the surrounding staff members awake with a start, as if their dulled brains had received a strong stimulus.

The director's eyes lit up; staring at her resolute face, he shouted, "Quick, quick, quick! Close-up! Give me a face close-up!"

Numerous cameras swiveled in unison.

On the field.

Blissey ran for its very life, dodging Dragonite's attacks with everything it had, not giving the latter even the slightest chance to counterattack.

And when it saw Blissey had rolled nearly a full circle and finally rolled back to a spot not far in front of All Baimu, the latter decisively pulled out a Poké Ball, recalling Blissey and sending out Mawile in its place.

"Kyui-kyo… Kyui-kyo!"

The instant Mawile hit the ground, it saw an enraged Dragonite charging straight at it, and instinctively assumed a counterattack stance.

However.

"Swords Dance!"

The trainer's voice reached its ears. Mawile frowned but didn't hesitate in the slightest, swinging the giant jaws behind its head and spinning in place as if dancing.

At the same moment, Dragonite arrived in front of it, its thick fist wrapped in a blood-red aura, raining blows down on the spinning Mawile like a violent storm!

Peng peng peng peng peng—

Rings of milky-white shockwaves exploded outward, more than enough to prove how overwhelmingly powerful Dragonite's attacks under Outrage were. But alas, Outrage being a Dragon-type move meant that even without Reflect, it couldn't deal any energy damage to Mawile.

Meanwhile, the heavy force of Dragonite's swiping claws was constantly neutralized and dodged by Mawile's superb fighting technique, never managing to land its intended effect.

That's all you've got?

A hint of contempt flickered in Mawile's gaze as it looked at Dragonite.

"—Woo-oh!!"

Dragonite was instantly provoked, throwing its head back to let out a chilling roar. However, during the long chase with Blissey it had consumed a great deal of Dragon-type energy, and had launched a pointless frenzy of attacks against the Fairy-type Mawile.

So, unfortunately, it snapped out of its Outrage state.

Dragonite entered a confused state.

Not only that.

The Toxic status, having fermented for some time, had already dragged its stamina down to a critically dangerous level, causing its left leg to give out the moment it finished roaring, dropping it to one knee on the ground.

"Now! Play Rough!"

All Baimu had been waiting for exactly this moment — when Dragonite's Outrage state ended and confusion and Toxic took effect together.

Natalie's voice came a beat late, "Use Roost!"

Dream on!

Mawile raised its seemingly feeble little fist, charged forward without a word, and rained punches down on Dragonite's head. Then it swung the giant jaws behind its head, clamped onto Dragonite's skull, and literally spun it through the air like a windmill.

"Impossible!?"

Shota couldn't help but cry out, "Gravity… ah! Gravity's over!"

He suddenly realized that Gravity's duration wasn't all that long.

And after being thoroughly "played with," Dragonite, battered by a massive surge of pink Fairy energy, could hold on no longer. When Mawile hurled it for the second time toward the trainer box where Natalie stood, it collapsed into complete unconsciousness.

Peng!

Smoke and dust rolled, then were quickly scattered by the breeze.

Senga swallowed, raised the flag, and announced, "Dragonite is unable to battle. Mawile is the winner. The Gym Leader's four Pokémon have all lost the ability to battle, so the winner of this Gym Challenge is—"

"Challenger All Baimu!"

"Waa!!"

Before All Baimu could make any response, joyful shouts had already risen from among the staff.

Immediately after, all the television station staff broke into applause, offering their hands to the Trainer and Pokémon who had displayed superb skill and fought to the very last moment.

Shota clapped with all his might, gazing at All Baimu on the Trainer platform full of longing.

I want to become a Trainer as strong as him too!

The boy kept repeating this line in his heart.

And when the lift brought All Baimu back to the ground.

He hurried over to Mawile, smiling broadly as he extended his palm.

"Beautifully done! The final moment really should be left to you!"

"Chaa!"

Mawile lightly leapt up and tapped its palm against the Trainer's, then landed and quickly struck an expression of pride mixed with smugness, as if to say you've got an eye.

It was the next candidate for Mega Evolution.

After much thought, All Baimu realized one thing he and Mawile had in common—

Their obsession with and desire for victory.

Mawile certainly had no interest in many things, but it always hoped to do its best at everything, so whether in battle or in a Contest, it was determined to take first place.

Although there were surely other commonalities, All Baimu felt he could start cultivating from this angle first, and add the rest gradually later.

The final strike against Dragonite.

Entrusting it to Mawile was both to give the opponent no chance, and to continue nurturing that feeling.

Not far away.

After recalling Dragonite and comforting it, Natsuki slowly stepped forward.

"Congratulations, All Baimu. Your strength amazes me. This is the Bai Yu Badge you've earned."

She was unstinting with her praise as she took out the badge and held it out.

"You're too kind, thank you."

All Baimu nodded and accepted it. The Bai Yu Badge's appearance was like a feather and also like a wing; its white-to-blue gradient perfectly illustrated what a blue sky and white clouds looked like.

Natsuki said, "This should be your—?"

"Yes."

"It's not far from the eight the tournament requires, but time is also getting on. If you want enough time to prepare for the tournament, then from here on you'll have to speed up your travels."

"I understand."

All Baimu knew she meant it as a kind reminder.

The Caiyu Tournament was usually held in the spring of the following year, and with winter approaching, time was indeed getting on.

However, due to geographical conditions, Hoenn's winter wouldn't be too cold.

Snow was basically out of the question.