Chapter 523: The White Duck Dancer

The podium.

"Congratulations! This Water Pillar Medal is well deserved!"

Wallace personally pinned the ribbon to Baimu's chest, gave his shoulder a meaningful pat, and said, "Baimu, you are a commendable and outstanding Coordinator. Also, I'll be looking forward to your challenge."

Buzz!

A wave of chatter rose from the audience, countless people watching the two on the podium in excitement.

At the end of every Wallace Cup, Wallace would offer some praise to the final victor, but saying anything like "looking forward to your challenge" was absolutely a first.

He thinks that highly of Baimu!?

The live director in the broadcast booth was so thrilled he slapped his thigh — this guaranteed solid replay ratings, and might very well push the Wallace Cup onto the trending searches!

What a rare treat!

That free-spirited Wallace actually helped create a hot topic!

The venue was steeped in an odd atmosphere.

Only a handful of people understood the true meaning behind Wallace's words—

A Gym challenge!

After meeting the entry requirements for the Grand Festival, the Lilycove Gym would also be Baimu's final stop on the road to the Hoenn League Conference.

Back in Fallarbor Town, during a casual chat with Champion Dawu, Baimu had already heard that Wallace was very much looking forward to his Gym challenge, and that Wallace hoped he would adjust the order of his challenges and come by for the eighth Badge.

"I'm deeply grateful."

He bowed slightly.

His differently-colored Milotic locked eyes with the Milotic beside Wallace, receiving an "encouragement" look from the latter.

"Mily~"

Written as 【Innocent】, read as 【Dummy】, it happily swished its tail.

Boom!

Splash—

The massive water pillar scattered like a gorgeous flower, and Wallace, beneath the blazing sun, completed the closing ceremony together with his Milotic in a performance of his trademark high caliber.

With that.

The Wallace Cup officially came to an end.

——

Lilycove City Docks.

"Leaving this early?"

Baimu, Ash, and Brock all looked at the group of juniors before them, while in the distance a pristine white ferry kept boarding tourists who hadn't had their fill.

May's brother nodded firmly and said:

"I plan to speed up my Gym challenges and aim to collect all eight Badges before the Ever Grande Conference! Baimu! I definitely won't lose to you!"

"I'm also planning to get my fifth Ribbon as soon as possible — the Grand Festival is close." May scratched her cheek, then said seriously, "Baimu and Ash, you two keep it up too! I'll be following you closely!"

"Of course! I'm totally fine with it!"

Ash thumped his chest confidently. Though losing to Miss Liuqi hadn't shaken his heart the way it had May's and Brandon's, he had still gained something from it.

Afterward, they said their farewells to Brendan, Harley, and Ursula, watching the five board the ferry.

Beep—

The horn sounded, and the great white ship gradually pulled away, passing through the tunnel and vanishing at the edge of the horizon.

"So, what are your plans next, you two?"

Baimu turned and asked Ash and Brock.

Brock said, "We're planning to stay and keep helping out Miss Jorin for a while, then head to Duskwater Town to take part in the Contest there."

"Exactly! I hear the Duskwater Contest is really famous — the Coordinators it draws are practically on par with the Wallace Cup!" Ash's face was full of longing.

"Not bad, the old gang hitting the road together again?"

He said with a touch of envy.

Traveling with friends and traveling alone are different experiences, and Baimu, used to solo journeys, would occasionally wonder what group travel felt like.

"Why don't you come along too, Baimu!" Ash proposed without hesitation.

Brock nodded along, "I'm in!"

"Ah… sorry, I'd love to travel with you, but I've got other things to take care of." Baimu apologetically explained that he needed to train at the Lilycove Gym.

Ash exclaimed, "Training! The method for raising a differently-colored Milotic! That's amazing in every sense of the word!"

"Yeah, getting to learn from Mr. Adam…" Brock, himself a Gym Leader, was well aware that Adam's strength and depth far surpassed his own.

Of course, the gap in their ages was equally vast.

"But I don't have anything going on tonight. If you don't mind, let me tag along and help Miss Jorin out a bit." Baimu asked with a smile, "What do you think?"

Neither of them had any objection — in fact, they were quite welcoming.

And so.

Chansey got to experience working at a Pokémon Center again after a long absence, which filled its heart with great joy.

And when it was happy, Baimu naturally was happy too.

The main point of offering to help had been for Chansey's sake — the fellow's high point was locked onto healing others and other Pokémon; battling and the like were only condiments, nowhere near as tasty as the "main course."

He had to be grateful that Brock had the status of a Pokémon Doctor trainee — otherwise, no matter how much Miss Jorin liked Chansey, she wouldn't have let it casually join an important medical system.

As if to thank Baimu.

Chansey learned a new move: 【Heal Pulse】.

A top-tier healing move that exhausts all of its stamina to fully restore its teammates' conditions — but honestly, there aren't that many situations where it can actually be used.

"Having new moves is pretty nice."

All Baimu didn't dwell on it too long, his attention shifting to another matter.

【Simulation countdown has ended】.

Another month or so had passed; after the orange-talented psychic finished, the new blue-talented round had finally arrived.

Congratulations, congratulations.

Recent events had been so densely packed, yet the cooldown hadn't shortened much, making him feel like it really had been ages since he'd run a blue simulation.

All Baimu took stock of his current simulation haul.

As for level rewards, only 【Boost 5 levels below lv90】 remained; the others, limited to lv70 or even lv50, had been fed away as much as possible.

The accumulated moves were 【String Shot】, 【Endure】, 【Dazzling Gleam】, 【Brave Bird】, 【Pay Day】, 【Trick Room】, 【Ice Breath】, and twelve skill blind boxes.

Among them, 【Trick Room】 was left over from the last big unboxing event; no one could learn it, so it lingered.

And 【Ice Breath】 was the haul from the three most recent ordinary simulations.

The other two ordinary simulations were 【Wide Area Destruction】, given to Dragapult as a joining gift; and 【Amnesia】, which only Galarian Luvdisc could learn — nothing much to say about it.

Three clues remained.

They were the designated-attribute clue, the designated-attribute (Excellent) clue, and the legendary clue.

His gaze lingered on that last one for a long time.

He remembered that when he first chose it, this thing never mentioned the words "can be caught," leading him to suspect that even if he tracked it down through the clue, he might not be able to catch that legendary Pokémon.

But no matter what.

He was extremely curious about this clue, but there really hadn't been time to mess with it these past few months — he'd wait until after the Mesagoza Conference to use it.

All Baimu thought to himself and tapped open the simulation options.

【Choose your starting region ▽】

Last time was the Galar region, so this time it should be the Paldea region's turn.

As for this place, because the timing before his transmigration was so precise that he didn't get to play the game, he couldn't help but feel a little anticipation.

Will legendary Pokémon appear? Like that time with the musician?

He tapped open gender.

The psychic was male; this time it was the female turn.

He tapped open Pokémon.

Because the previous ordinary simulation had successfully entered the League Conference — even though he didn't get past the preliminaries — it kept this column from being blank.

"Hm? What's this?"

All Baimu stared at the three characters 【Quaxly】 displayed above, momentarily not reacting.

Half a second later he recalled this thing was one of the Paldea starter trio — a cute duck with blue hair-like head feathers, a bit like a pompadour little punk.

A starter Pokémon right from the start!

This simulation's subject isn't bad.

He grew even more expectant; although the ceiling for a blue talent was probably just the conference runner-up, the floor was as low as merely clearing the preliminaries!

The difference in rewards between the two results was still quite large.

Talent, talent!

All Baimu pressed the talent option expectantly.

Fixed Talent:

【☆Raised Well (Pokémon have higher overall quality)】

Selectable Talents:

【Elite System (Won't catch too many Pokémon)】

【Sentimental (Mental state easily shaken)】

【Kind-Hearted (Willing to help others)】

【Peach Blossom Luck (May become romantically involved with the opposite sex)】

This talent matchup…

He fell into thought. The fixed talent was needless to say the same as the Perfected Lady's — a very excellent talent. And subjectively among the selectable talents, there was one positive, two neutral, and one negative.

Kind-Hearted was definitely a must-pick — this talent had never let him down. Peach Blossom Luck was actually unnecessary. As for Sentimental and Elite System…

All Baimu decided to choose the latter. Sentimental's supplementary description was too terrifying — what was that about mental state being easily shaken? Wasn't that just being easy to break? That wasn't a good talent for a trainer.

Quickly selected.

He took a deep breath, lay back on the sofa, opened a soda, chips, and the TV, and adjusted into the best viewing posture.

Begin.

——

【Simulation Start】

The familiar light screen slowly unfolded; pixel-style sky and clouds came into view.

Then a carriage appeared, dragged by many colorful birds.

"Squawkabilly…"

All Baimu glanced at the Pokédex.

It showed that this strange parrot-like bird was a Pokémon in Paldea specifically responsible for transport, roughly equivalent to the Galar region's Corviknight taxi.

A moment later.

The Squawkabilly slowly descended, parking the carriage in a bustling city plaza.

A girl in a student uniform opened the carriage door.

A narration appeared.

【At eleven years old, you came to the Orange Academy in the Paldea region to study at your parents' request, which greatly dissatisfied you, who were enamored with dancing — after all, you had zero interest in becoming a Trainer】

The simulation subject is another female student?

He paused, his gaze catching the key points in the two lines that followed—

Loves dancing, doesn't want to be a Trainer.

Oh ho.

Big problem.

Someone with genuine breeding talent only wants to dance — after simulating for so long, this was the first time All Baimu had seen a simulation subject turn a multiple-choice question into a single-choice one.

Clearly, musicians, calligraphers, chefs, and the like had all proven with their abilities that a main career and a side career don't conflict.

But as for the one before him right now…

Looks like she hasn't quite wrapped her head around it yet?

For distinction's sake, I'll call you Dancer.

All Baimu recalled there was a Trainer-type NPC like this in the game, but couldn't quite remember whether the model looked like her.

As luck would have it, her starter Pokémon was Quaxly.

Quite a fitting match.

He remembered Quaxly was a Pokémon that excelled at dancing, especially tap dance and line dance.

All Baimu scrolled through the Paldea Pokédex on his phone with one hand, his peripheral vision watching Dancer walk into the castle-like building and register at the front desk.

【You successfully completed registration and arrived at your assigned class — Class 1-b】

Inside the classroom.

Rows upon rows of pixel sprites sat in neat lines; Dancer had quite a search before spotting her own seat.

【Looking at the sea of strangers around you, you feel out of place】

The strange scene gave All Baimu a sense of déjà vu from when he had simulated Miniskirt, but clearly compared to the Pokémon research school Miniskirt was in, Orange Academy wasn't very "proper."

Because it gives out Pokémon.

【At the teacher's reminder, you received your first Pokémon — Quaxly, but having no intention of becoming a Trainer, you have absolutely no idea how to treat it】

Dancer returned to her seat holding a Poké Ball.

The narrative-style narration popped up, then was quickly replaced by the system-style narration.

【You obtained Quaxly; dance partners increased】

Dance partner!

What a fitting metaphor!

The teacher on the podium chattered on and on; the text in the speech bubbles above her head flew by too fast for All Baimu to read clearly, so he could only guess the content through the narration.

【From the teacher, you learned that a major feature of Orange Academy is that all students must participate in an extracurricular activity — "Treasure Hunt"】

【You have no interest in this whatsoever, treating everything the teacher said as background noise, and after it ended you returned to the dormitory on your own】

The student dormitory at Orange Academy seemed to be single-occupancy; the small room contained only a bed and some simple furniture.

Dancer lay on the bed, a Poké Ball placed beside her.

Ellipses kept drifting past in the speech bubbles above her head.

【Staring at the ceiling, you recall your parents telling you before coming that you could find the answer at Orange Academy, but in a place full of Pokémon battles everywhere, what answer could you possibly find?】

【You are quite puzzled, and look at the Poké Ball beside you】

Dancer tentatively opened the Poké Ball.

The lively Quaxly immediately sprang out from within; you could tell this little fellow had an extremely energetic personality — the moment it poked its head out, it wiggled its butt and ran all over the dorm room, pat-pat-pat-pat like an off-leash mad dog.

Which forced Dancer to quickly recall it into the Poké Ball.

【You look at the Poké Ball with lingering trepidation, completely unaware that this Pokémon was given to you by the school based on your personality】

【You feel disappointed in the school's discerning ability】

The dejected Dancer clearly couldn't handle Quaxly; their first meeting left a rather poor impression on each other.

This also made her subsequent contact with Quaxly difficult.

In short.

Their relationship had frozen up.

Dancer didn't take a liking to this overly energetic little fellow, and hadn't even bothered to learn what it was good at; Quaxly also completely ignored Dancer's commands, running wild the moment it came out of the ball.

"Ah… interesting, interesting, the Pokémon breeze is really thick here."

All Baimu rubbed his chin; he was still quite happy to watch this kind of newbie growth story.

Especially the scene of Dancer and Quaxly making up.

He was looking forward to it greatly.