Chapter 453: Child of the Weather!

The challenge at Spikemuth Gym went more smoothly than expected.

Although nearly the whole town's residents and concert fans were one-sidedly cheering for Nie Zi, and the band on stage kept playing melodies familiar to Nie Zi and his Pokémon, it still couldn't bring him the final victory.

Of course.

This isn't to say Nie Zi's strength is lacking—after all, he could defeat Ka Wu without even using Dynamax and advance to the Champion Cup semifinals, which in any other region would solidly put him at Elite Four level.

The main thing is he doesn't adjust his Pokémon's strength flexibly like Bea does—the number of badges he has is exactly the number of badges he sends out.

Plus, being skilled at raising Dark-type Pokémon, he only theoretically counters Psychic-types…

As everyone knows.

Psychic-types never go by theory—only by reality.

As a physical Psychic-type, it's perfectly reasonable that I've also studied Fighting-type moves, right?

Reasonable!

Dusclops fully demonstrated its "veteran of three reigns" foundation in this gym battle—first taking down Skuntank with Drain Punch, then blocking Obstagoon with Drain Punch as well, and the latter couldn't take down the former even by cycling through its signature moves with Block and Block.

The two ended up going down together instead.

Especially when this thing collided with Obstagoon and they wrestled each other—not just the audience inside and outside the venue, but even the backing band was stunned, the drums stopped, the guitars and bass stopped playing, and ellipses popped up over their heads in unison.

Baimu could tell Nie Zi's mood was somewhat complicated too.

Understandable.

After all, Dusclops' fists look scary even through mosaic blur—calling them sandbags wouldn't be wrong in the slightest.

And with it taking out his two ace Pokémon, Nie Zi's remaining Mienshao and Malamar also lost to Slowking and Galarian Rapidash.

The latter, though only recently joining the team, had base strength far surpassing Galarian Slowbro and Indeedee—despite Malamar's bizarre and unpredictable movements, it managed to take it down by charging back and forth across the field and leaping up with the power of Play Rough.

The special effects in the simulator are even more flashy than in reality, looking just like Hecarim's E ability in League of Legends, with a rainbow trail behind it.

But it does look quite powerful.

【You defeated Spikemuth Gym Leader Nie Zi and obtained the Spike Badge】

This battle brought the Psychic-type quite a few fans, but Baimu wasn't paying much attention to him—his eyes were entirely on the pixel-version Marnie that had suddenly appeared beside Nie Zi.

"I wonder how old the little Miss is now."

He figured she probably wasn't eternally ten like Ash—calculating by time, this was the Psychic-type's third year of travel in the simulator, so Ash should be in the Sinnoh region.

You have to know Marnie is one of the few bits of conscience Game Freak has—even if some Pokémon aren't very cute or cool, the young girls are all moe no matter what.

However, before he could look any longer, the Psychic-type left Spikemuth, preparing to head north on Route 9 toward Stow-on-Side, where the seventh gym is located.

But the Galar region's climate is fickle—the first half was still a lush environment full of birdsong and flowers, while the second half suddenly became abnormally cold, with waterways crisscrossing everywhere and towering snow-covered rocks and large patches of floating ice as far as the eye could see.

【You have arrived at Stow-on-Side Bay, the ice and cold wind make you shiver】

The Psychic-type had a face that screamed "the cold wind偷袭'd my balls," but fortunately, having traveled abroad for years, he came prepared—switching into a padded coat made things much better.

The accompanying Galarian Slowbro was so frozen its snot ran nonstop, and its already not-very-bright eyes suddenly became even less bright.

The Psychic-type had no choice but to return it to its ball.

Fortunately, there's a boat at Stow-on-Side Bay, so there's no need to figure out how to surf across like in the game—to be honest, Baimu was a bit curious whether, without a boat, the Psychic-type would choose to take a detour or fly over using psychic powers.

Hmm…

Maybe he could fly?

While Baimu was wondering whether the Psychic-type would fly riding Galarian Rapidash, or atop Indeedee, or even being carried on Dusclops' back, this one had already arrived at his destination.

【You have arrived at Stow-on-Side, an ancient and tranquil atmosphere accompanied by cool snowflakes greets you, stone-built structures line the streets, filled with a special charm】

On the way to the Stow-on-Side Stadium, the Psychic-type found a huge open-air hot spring pool called "Hero's Bath" in the center of the small town, but unfortunately only Pokémon are allowed to soak here nowadays.

【You passed through Hero's Bath and challenged the Stow-on-Side Gym】

Like Hammerlocke, Stow-on-Side also has two dual-type gym leaders sharing one stadium and gym, and the two leaders are mother and son.

But they don't seem very close—after the "split," Gordie has been actively avoiding Melony… at least on the surface.

This led to Melony showing no mercy to challengers in battle, earning her the reputation as the gates of hell for gym challenges.

Moreover.

She is also the only gym leader who has never lost to Piers.

If we simply use power-scaling to calculate combat strength, Piers is officially considered capable of being a Champion in other regions, so wouldn't Melony's strength be above Champion level?

It's not that simple.

Still, these points alone are enough to prove how strong Melony is.

And when the gym battle began, the Psychic-type in his difficult situation proved this point even further.

Like Bea, Melony doesn't know what it means to go easy—if she tests out with one Pokémon and finds you're strong, then the next Pokémon she sends out will definitely match your strength.

Even if it means sending out her ace and trump card in the end.

The Psychic-type's lead Slowking had just taken down Melony's lead Frosmoth with Power Gem, when it was knocked out by her second Pokémon, Galarian Darmanitan, using Icicle Crash.

Despite being type-resistant to Ice-type moves, it wasn't hard to see how terrifying Galarian Darmanitan's physical attack output was.

Facing this kind of Pokémon, the Psychic-type had no choice but to send Dusclops up to trade punches with it, making the two trade blows for several seconds.

The one that ultimately fell was undoubtedly Galarian Darmanitan.

After all, Dusclops uses Drain Punch—punching and draining in a continuous cycle—while Galarian Darmanitan's ability is Gorilla Tactics, so without switching, it can only use one move from start to finish.

Galarian Darmanitan has high output but is paper-thin—it couldn't take a few of Dusclops' punches before going down.

This performance made Melony, who has the nickname "Ice Queen," even more excited, and she took the unusual route of directly sending out her final pick, Lapras, and Gigantamaxing it.

The moment the BGM climax hit, Gigantamax Lapras' signature Max Move, G-Max Resonance, was unleashed.

Huge chunks of ice fell from the sky, and an aurora-shaped barrier firmly stood in front of the just-Gigantamaxed Lapras, forcefully blocking the Max Knuckle that Dusclops had summoned from the sky.

This thing's signature Max Move has the effect of setting up Aurora Veil, which reduces physical and special attack damage.

With Aurora Veil plus Gigantamax Lapras' already not-low durability, it suddenly became a tough nut to crack—even after Dusclops opened up Max Knuckle three times in a row, it still couldn't take down Lapras, and instead its own side was left on the brink of death.

The Psychic-type trainer, seeing things go south, immediately swapped out the Dream Eater Hypno that had just finished Dynamaxing and sent in Galarian Slowking. Without doing anything else, it charged straight at Lapras and stuffed a purple "Tian Luo Gun" into its mouth, using its signature move 【Arm Cannon】 to keep spraying venom into Lapras's mouth.

Although it was quickly frozen into a ball by Lapras's Ice Beam and lost its ability to battle, it still successfully delivered the poisoned status as a parting gift.

When Dream Eater Hypno returned to the field, it was finally able to deal effective "critical damage" to Lapras, and used its last ounce of strength to take it down.

In an instant, each side had only one Pokémon remaining, and the challenge match reached its climax and finale.

【You place your hopes on Starmie, who has traveled with you for three years, turning the tide in countless perilous situations — a partner you trust without reservation】

The Psychic-type trainer sent out Starmie, while Melony chose to use—

Eiscue.

A short, penguin-like Pokémon with a giant cube of ice for a head, walking with a wobble as if it might collapse at any moment. In reality, this is its signature ability 【Ice Face】, which can shield Eiscue from one attack.

When the weather shifts to hail, the shattered Ice Face will be restored.

Although he could challenge again, the Psychic-type trainer had already come to appreciate Melony's strength, and if possible, he absolutely did not want to repeat the challenge and disrupt his own rhythm.

As he had hoped, Starmie — a "veteran of three reigns" alongside Dream Eater Hypno — did not disappoint him. Even when repeatedly damaged by Eiscue, it could quickly recover with 【Recover】 and strike back.

All Baimu watched the Eiscue locked in combat with Starmie on the screen, thinking that indeed, in the world of the Pokémon anime, the Pokémon of a strong trainer could overcome type disadvantage—

Ah.

It went down.

Eiscue, with its giant ice-block head, went "plop" and collapsed on the spot under Starmie's assault.

【You defeated Sturb Gym Leader Melony and obtained the Ice Badge】

The seventh Badge was in hand. The Psychic-type trainer was now only one Badge away from qualifying for the Champion Cup — and the most critical, hardest one of all, the Knuckle Badge.

As stated before, even though Raihan had never once beaten Melony, that did not mean the Psychic-type trainer would have a better Gym challenge experience facing Raihan than he had facing Melony.

The Psychic-type trainer, unaccustomed to backtracking, took the train back to Hammerlocke City.

【You returned to Hammerlocke City and immediately issued a Gym challenge to the Hammerlocke Gym. As the first challenger to reach the eighth Gym, Gym Leader Raihan received you with great enthusiasm】

Received.

Meaning Raihan dragged the Psychic-type trainer into selfies, and even joined him on a TV show.

【You learned from Raihan that this was Chairman Rose's request, and accepted it all helplessly】

Unquestionably, among all Gym Leaders, Raihan — who was passionate about fashion trends and social media — sold tickets better than anyone. Even Nessa, who was also popular with young girls, couldn't outsell him.

All Baimu could now open his blog and see Raihan constantly trending, with all kinds of tickets and merchandise flying off the shelves.

However, opinions on the internet about this man with the nickname "Dragon Storm" were decidedly mixed — plenty of admirers, plenty of detractors. Especially when he lost to Champion Dan Di, his selfie blogs would always fill up with cold, cutting remarks.

But that didn't stop him, already on a ten-loss streak, from continuing to challenge Champion Dan Di.

All Baimu had no ill feelings toward him. Trainers who grew stronger with every setback were always admirable — like Ash, who lost year after year yet switched regions and tried again every year.

Among all the trainers he had encountered, so many lost their way after battling for a while, not knowing how to keep going. But these resolute people never changed their goals, and never stopped moving forward.

He hoped that when he hit his own low point, he would possess a heart as strong as theirs.

The scene spun forward.

The simulation fast-forwarded to the day of the Gym battle.

The Psychic-type trainer and Raihan appeared together. Since the battle format was a Double Battle, the former was slightly unaccustomed, but still sent out his two corresponding Pokémon—

Starmie and Slowking.

Dragon-type Gym Leader Raihan opened with the pure Rock-type Pang Yan Guai and Flygon, causing the Psychic-type trainer in the distance to gape in disbelief. Although he had anticipated it, he still thought: you're really a Dragon-type Gym Leader?

"This guy's nickname should really be 'Son of Weather'"

Outside the simulator, All Baimu couldn't help chiming in with a complaint. Raihan could be said to be the only Gym Leader who particularly loved weather teams — especially in the Champion Cup within the game, where he not only led with Torkoal setting up sun, but also had Goodra manually activate rain, Blastoise manually activate sun, and Flygon manually activate sandstorm, among other feats.

However.

What was most worth complaining about regarding Raihan was not his love of weather, but rather—

"Nobody in this world uses Gigantamax Duraludon!"

"What can your G-Max Depletion do? Nothing at all. One word — trash!"

Two lines of voice echoed in All Baimu's mind.

He stared silently at the simulator. The Psychic-type trainer had already used the combined firepower of Starmie and Slowking to take down Pang Yan Guai, while Slowking had also been knocked out by Flygon's devastating Thunder Punch.

Both sides were forced to swap in their next Pokémon.

And the two seemed to share some unspoken understanding — one sent out Dream Eater Hypno, the other sent out Duraludon, both immediately activating Dynamax without hesitation.

Raihan in battle had an extremely aggressive and dominant presence, just like the Dragon-type Pokémon on his team.

But the Psychic-type trainer was no better — an angry vein popped on his forehead as he glared at Raihan and his Pokémon.

The two Dynamaxed Pokémon stood behind their trainers like two giant Stands, each looking at the other with a gaze of contempt.

A blood-pumping battle between colossal beasts was about to erupt.

The result was one using Max Knuckle, the other using G-Max Tantrum — neither used a move of their own type.

But in the second round of trading Max Moves, Raihan got outplayed — or rather, he hadn't expected the Psychic-type trainer's Starmie to use 【Spotlight】, drawing the G-Max Tantrum that should have taken out Dream Eater Hypno onto itself, along with Flygon's Crunch.

This caused Starmie to collapse, while the Gigantamax Duraludon exploded on the spot, unable to even use its third move.

Dream Eater Hypno, empowered by two Max Knuckle boosts, very smoothly used Max Hailstorm to take out Flygon as well, leaving Raihan with nothing to bring up but a lone Sandaconda.

【A novel app that has run stably for many years, comparable to the old version of Zhui Chong — the source-switching app everyone uses, huanyuanapp.】

The result was Dream Eater Hypno and Galarian Slowking focusing fire together, easily defeating Sandaconda.

【You defeated Hammerlocke Gym Leader Raihan and obtained the Knuckle Badge】

——