Chapter 539: Dragapult Runs Away

Pokémon Center.

Baimu tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling as he waited for his Pokémon to finish treatment.

The Gym's doctors were limited by their equipment and could only handle minor injuries and illnesses; things like fractures or large-area frostbite still required a trip to the Pokémon Center.

"If I'm not mistaken… you're Baimu?"

A cautious voice sounded beside his ear.

He turned his head and saw a beautiful woman with a Golduck by her side, dressed in a flowing aqua-blue dress.

Holding up her phone, she asked tentatively, "Could I take a photo with you?"

"Of course."

Baimu didn't refuse, and even added considerately, "Would you like Milotic to join in?"

"If that's possible!" The lady nodded excitedly, exchanging an expectant smile with the Golduck beside her.

A moment later.

This is… the fifth one?

He watched the woman excitedly interacting with the shiny Milotic, thinking to himself that it was a good thing the crowd had thinned out.

On the day the Mi Ke Li Cup ended, most tourists had successively taken ships out of Lilycove City.

Another large batch left this morning and noon, and the once-congested streets had suddenly become spacious; the Pokémon Center was left with barely a handful of people.

But even so, he was frequently recognized by passersby asking for photos.

Since he had nothing to do anyway, and he still had sponsorship contracts with Team Magma and Team Aqua, Baimu agreed to each one.

He even called over the "protagonist."

Perhaps because it had been looked down on as a child, the shiny Milotic loved hearing people call it pretty, so it was incredibly enthusiastic about taking photos with fans, shaking its Poké Ball every time to get Baimu to release it.

Moreover, this fellow still remembered the Watermelon Boy from Greenfield Town—when they discussed returning to Greenfield Town to gather strength, it had responded the most eagerly, and even now it still hinted from time to time that he should make a trip.

The Dragon King returns, right?

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—never look down on a little ugly fish?

Baimu really did want to agree.

Unfortunately, there were too many things on his plate recently; he definitely couldn't go.

He had to stay at the Lilycove Gym for at least three more weeks. The original agreement was for one month, but the start date was set before he participated in the Mi Ke Li Cup.

Next.

The Kalos side would probably require him to make a personal trip.

Such a long time had passed without a single piece of news coming back. If they kept delaying until the Lumiose Conference opened, Lysandre the lion-head would probably have finished all his preparations in every aspect.

Then what was the point of all his previous efforts?

Of course, Baimu was also aware that he couldn't blame Champion Dawu and the others for being slow.

The more he investigated afterward, the more he understood just how deeply Lysandre's power and connections in Kalos were tangled.

Not only was he a royal descendant deeply trusted by Kalos high society, but his invention of the holographic communicator also placed Lysandre on the Kalos League's whitelist.

Who could have imagined this guy was that crazy?

It's like hearing someone say Tesla's CEO Musk builds rockets and pursues interstellar travel actually to learn from Thanos and kill half the world's population.

You think I'd believe that?

Baimu only hoped he could resolve things before the Grand Fest, otherwise waiting another year would be truly vexing.

The League Conference wasn't something to worry about—the Lumiose Conference in the Kalos region was held half a month earlier than the Ever Grande Conference in the Hoenn region.

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic called softly and leaned over to nuzzle his face. Its cool, smooth skin felt like some top-grade silk, incredibly comfortable.

Baimu pressed down on its big head. "Comfortable now?"

"Milo!"

The shiny Milotic nodded, its beautiful eyes squinted, its face radiating a blissful glow.

Ah~ today really was a day of being praised to the heavens.

"Dummy."

Baimu laughed and scolded, but then thought of today's first unlucky one—Dragapult.

He hadn't even called Steelix back, all to give it a chance.

Despite having an energy level even higher than Hydreigon's, and the fastest speed on the team, it only managed two assists, and had to be subbed out because it was too nervous.

Headache.

They had never really had a proper conversation to begin with; he didn't even know how to comfort it.

He stroked the shiny Milotic's chin with one hand like petting a cat, his practiced technique making the latter utterly unable to resist the pleasure, its tail slapping the ground with a steady *papapap*.

His actions prompted a passing Chansey nurse to come over and warn him.

"Happy~"

Another one arrived, accompanied by Young Lady Joy, pushing a small cart.

"Treatment is basically complete…"

Young Lady Joy held a tablet, gently reporting on the condition of Aggron and the others.

Unexpectedly, the most seriously injured turned out to be the Dreepy siblings, Messia and her brother.

Because their energy level was too low while Walrein's was too high, the vast gap between them caused the Absolute Zero's freezing air to inflict large-area frostbite, requiring at least a week of rest.

On the tablet, the two little Dreepy were wrapped up like white mummies, looking rather comical.

"Missiles" also required a certain level.

This experience served as a wake-up call for Baimu.

And only after those two came Blastoise, both kneecaps fractured, multiple indentations on its abdomen and chest, and some internal damage as well.

But the indentations would bulge back on their own — it just needed a few days of rest, and the recommended diet should include extra steel powder to help it recover.

"For Steel-type Pokémon, joint wear, aging, and even fractures are very common. It looks serious but actually isn't a big problem — a Pokémon's body has strong self-regulation. Just let it rest well."

Miss Qiao Yin said it as a reminder.

Baimu nodded to show he understood.

Porygon-II had no issues; with its extremely unusual body structure, its self-repair ability was extremely strong, and it could fully recover even without going to a Pokémon Center.

Dragapult and Corsola were also fine — one had a slight stress response, the other never woke up the whole time. As a precaution, they shouldn't participate in any more battles today, but practice was fine.

Finally…

"Hydreigon only has one problem — it's too overexcited. The moment it woke up, it smashed a cardiac monitor."

Miss Qiao Yin asked, "You didn't feed it anything strange, did you?"

"…The Gym battle had just ended, and it had a burst of energy."

"Then it's an emotional factor. Remember to soothe it properly. When a large-bodied Dragon-type Pokémon like Hydreigon gets willful, the damage it can do to a room is quite terrifying."

Miss Qiao Yin reminded him softly.

Baimu: "…"

Why does this feel less like describing a Pokémon and more like another creature that only likes watching other people's pets?

Still, the reason for Hydreigon's unusual excitement wasn't hard to figure out.

After all, its contribution to this Gym battle might have surpassed Blastoise's — it defeated two opponents, and one of them was the Walrein that had left its teammates helpless.

Given this guy's personality, it would be strange if it didn't show off.

The awkward thing was—

Even though Baimu knew it might make Dragapult feel even worse, he still had to praise Hydreigon in front of all the Pokémon to satisfy its little vanity.

"Keeping everything balanced" absolutely did not mean slighting one of them.

How to soothe the gloomy Dragapult was his responsibility as a Trainer; there was no reason to force the outstanding Hydreigon to hold back.

"Setting myself a difficult problem, really."

Baimu shook his head helplessly. Sometimes doing the right thing wasn't easy either.

However—

During dinner, when he chose to eat with his Pokémon as usual, thanking and praising the partners who had battled today to build their confidence, Hydreigon kept glancing at Dragapult, who was eating in its usual corner.

It was as if it hadn't even heard the words praising it.

And it showed not the slightest hint of showing off.

Hmm…

What's going on?

Baimu stopped talking and quietly observed. Come to think of it, his understanding of his own Pokémon's private relationships had always been quite shallow.

Pokémon could also pretend to be good.

Acting one way in front of people and another behind their backs was perfectly normal.

Don't you remember the episode in the original series with the giant Pokémon robot, where Ash and the others got separated from Pikachu and the rest?

Everyone was in a panic, but Bulbasaur still had the mind to sneer and say they'd probably been abandoned, calling itself a lonely wanderer of the world.

But when they reunited, did it run any slower?

Baimu realized he needed to use his time studying at the Ecruteak Gym to secretly peek in on Blastoise and the others through surveillance or other means.

For that, he'd probably need a "mole"…

'You're perfect for it!'

He looked at the browless, big-eyed Porygon-II, and under its puzzled gaze, smiled as he secretly assigned it the role of a secret agent.

There wasn't really any other choice — there was no way to keep anything secret from Porygon-II.

After dinner.

What he had anticipated happened—

Dragapult was nowhere to be found.

If it was nearby, Baimu could still barely sense a trace of it, but once it got too far, catching it was basically out of the question.

So how was he supposed to comfort it now?

Let it work through it on its own?

Baimu was certain that absolutely wasn't a good choice.

Introverted Pokémon often struggled to self-regulate, and Dragapult was a prime example. The fact that it could hate all humans because of what poachers did proved that letting it brood alone was dangerous.

But just as he was thinking about how to find Dragapult, Hydreigon — which had been acting strangely ever since returning from the Pokémon Center — came over.

"Huh? Leave it to you?"

Baimu looked at Hydreigon in surprise.

The latter nodded with all three heads, wearing a confident expression that said "leave it to me, don't worry."

"You… fine."

He had originally wanted to refuse, and tell this guy not to cause more trouble. Forget whether it could find Dragapult or not — wouldn't it just be adding fuel to the fire?

But remembering the way Hydreigon had been gazing at Dragapult during dinner, he somehow agreed to it.

If Hydreigon wanted to use its own strength to improve the relationship between companions, he ought to support it.

That was a form of independence too!

"Then I'm leaving it to you! But won't one dragon searching be too inefficient? Get some more help — I hereby grant you command authority over everyone!"

Baimu patted Hydreigon's three heads, thinking that if anything went wrong, the other Pokémon should come find him.

"Sashagon!"

The three-headed dragon had no idea what the trainer was scheming and nodded happily.

It had long wanted to throw its weight around... ptooey! To unite with everyone for once!

The advantage is mine!

The three-headed dragon swung its big tail and flew off into the distance.

All Baimu watched its rather shifty retreating figure and muttered, "Should be fine leaving it to you, right? Should be..."

Suspect the dragon, no need to use it; use the dragon, no need to suspect it.

He didn't dwell on it any longer.

——

The small hours of the morning.

All Baimu woke up groggily.

Before him was a huge gaping maw huffing and puffing breaths of air.

"... You're back?"

He turned on the bedside lamp and slowly sat up; what appeared before his eyes was the three-headed dragon, all three heads raised high to the sky, exceptionally proud of itself.

Behind it was the Dragapult, its head buried low, its little triangular eyes sneaking peeks everywhere.

The guy looked exactly like an elementary schooler caught sneaking off to surf the internet.

"You found it?"

"Sashagon!"

"It didn't come out on its own?"

"... Sashagon!"

"Alright, alright, leaving it to you really was the right call. I'm impressed!"

He made his stance clear before the three-headed dragon got angry, then couldn't help asking, "How did you find it? And how were you found?"

Facing the question.

The Dragapult shifted its head away uneasily, its figure gradually fading.

"Hiyah!"

A little mummy Dreepy suddenly popped out, raised its tiny claw and gave it a hard knock on the forehead; the latter immediately regained its solid form.

"Dreepy sis?"

All Baimu stared wide-eyed at that Dreepy Mecia; he could still tell which of the siblings was which.

The little Dreepy brother appeared on the other side, watching gleefully from the sidelines, his face full of schadenfreude.

But what was going on?

The little Dreepy brother turned into a Dragapult? How come you're getting beaten up too?

He hadn't paid attention for one whole night — what on earth had happened?

His sleepiness vanished completely. He glanced at the Bouffalant and Milotic that had appeared at the doorway, then at the Mawile on the little sofa pulling out its phone, and the Blissey that had pressed its head close.

Great.

Now everyone's wide awake.

"Tell me what happened, from start to finish."

All Baimu questioned the three-headed dragon and called over Porygon-II; no matter how familiar he was with its voice, certain details still needed translating.

Ten minutes later.

The whole story, from beginning to end, had been answered.

First off, the Dragapult really wasn't quite "normal" — it had straight-up hidden inside the Distortion World, can you believe that?

Then there was the three-headed dragon, which had actually been able to use the power of the two Dreepy Mecias and the Galarian Corsola to chase into the Distortion World and drag the hiding Dragapult back.

How did it get there?

Was there a Distortion World entrance nearby?

"You actually agreed to help the three-headed dragon!?"

What All Baimu found hardest to understand was the Corsola — a guy who normally wouldn't even practice ten extra minutes had suddenly changed his temperament today and helped chase into the Distortion World?

Are you still my lying-flat Corsola?

The Corsola ignored him.

Such a stupid question didn't even need answering. Not to mention the so-called "command authority" he had given the three-headed dragon before — if the three-headed dragon couldn't find it, would the Dragapult have come back obediently?

No way!

In the end, when the trainer went to look for it himself, wouldn't it still have to step in?

The situation might even get more complicated.

The Corsola, following the principle that less trouble is better than more, naturally agreed... well, actually there was a little factor of caring about the Dragapult.

This guy's appearance was bound to greatly reduce its own screen time, which was beneficial to its future slacker lifestyle.

Mm.

Exactly so.

"... You've all worked really hard." All Baimu, routinely ignored, didn't mind; he looked at the two Dreepy Mecias and gently patted their heads.

The two little ones, who should have been resting, had still had to go running about like that.

The little Dreepy brother nuzzled All Baimu's palm with a laugh; the Dreepy sister was still glaring at the Dragapult, but didn't resist the trainer's stroking.

The Dragapult kept its head lowered the whole time, silent.

When All Baimu's gaze fell on it, it even shrank its neck in.

According to the Hydreigon.

The big reason this guy ran away wasn't the loss or the gloom he'd imagined, but shame and guilt — shame toward him and toward the other Pokémon who hadn't gotten to battle because of it.

The chance to take the field was so precious, and everyone had hoped to face a powerful opponent and bring victory to the Trainer.

Yet it had "retreated at the moment of battle."

It had let down the Trainer's expectations, and let down the companions who had placed their trust in it.

Forced to let Hydreigon clean up after it, and letting Dragon Meshia sustain such serious injuries — at dinner, when Dragapult saw the extra "reward" food piled in its bowl, it wished it could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

It didn't deserve to eat at all!

But so as not to trouble the Trainer, it still forced itself to eat.

And after the meal—

Seeing the Trainer looking for it, Dragapult knew full well that the gentle Trainer had absolutely not come to blame it, but to comfort it.

Dragapult, with its conscience in turmoil, realized it didn't deserve to stay by the side of such a good person — so it ran away, ran to the Spirit World.

Then came being chased all the way here by Hydreigon and the others, being dragged back to reality, and so on.

"……"

Baimu stared at Dragapult, unable to speak for a long time.