Chapter 540: Treating Doduo Barudō

"You… idiot!"

Baimu raised his hand and knocked on its head while Doduo Barudō flinched away from his gaze.

"Lulu~!"

Doduo Barudō shook its head in pain.

He was completely at a loss for words thanks to this one.

What kind of brain circuit would choose to run away without a word… and it wasn't even fear of being scolded by him, but rather an inability to handle his comfort, leaving it feeling guilty.

What to do?

Give it special treatment straight away — a beating plus a scolding?

But setting aside the fact that Doduo Barudō had nothing worth blaming in the Gym battle, excessive nervousness and battle-shyness are completely different things, and it had done its job assisting well too.

The main cause of insufficient battle experience lies with the Trainer.

"…We'll put the Gym battle aside for now. Tomorrow morning I'll settle accounts with you for running away from home."

Baimu jabbed Doduo Barudō's head a few times. "You reflect carefully on what you've done."

The latter didn't dare make a sound, like a gourd.

The gazes of so many Pokémon around made it feel especially guilty.

What's more embarrassing than fleeing quietly because you can't face your Trainer?

—Being caught and publicly punished.

Doduo Barudō wished it could faint on the spot, or just bash its head against the nightstand and say goodbye to this beautiful world.

Unfortunately, both Hydreigon and the Doduo sister were watching it, so it couldn't even manage to turn invisible.

"Let's sleep first — I'm exhausted."

Baimu really couldn't think of how to handle this one's problem, and resolved to ask Adam and Mi Ke Li about it tomorrow.

As for tonight…

Leave it to Hydreigon and the others for now.

He looked at his Pokémon and gave them a meaningful look.

Sometimes, in the early period when they're not yet close with their Trainer, introverted and timid Pokémon can't honestly speak their minds, viewing the Trainer as a parent, homeroom teacher, or some other somewhat awe-inspiring figure.

But when interacting with companions, they generally don't have such reservations.

Baimu had to admit it.

He and Doduo Barudō weren't as close as he was with his other Pokémon — not even as close as his relationship with the Doduo siblings.

Their communication was limited to a kind of wordless tacit understanding.

Therefore.

When it came to coaxing Doduo Barudō open, it was better to leave it to Pokémon like Hydreigon, who had managed to talk it into coming back; adding Chansey would probably guarantee success.

Baimu recalled that Chansey, before it could use offensive moves, had also gone through a period of self-pity due to poor battle results.

As a fellow sufferer, it might be able to find some common ground with Doduo Barudō.

Click.

He turned off the bedside lamp, lay down in bed, and said nothing more.

The Doduo brother yawned and tried to sleep by the Trainer's pillow, only to be grabbed by its sister.

It's not time to sleep yet!

The Doduo sister was also a bit drowsy, but she couldn't set her mind at ease about Doduo Barudō, so she forced herself to stay awake and dragged her brother along to stay by that useless one's side.

The most painful thing was.

Even though she had already let bygones be bygones and become Doduo Barudō's strength, this guy had gone and wilted away all on its own.

The Doduo sister absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen.

"Hiya~"

The Doduo brother yawned and burrowed into Doduo Barudō's launch hole.

This time it wasn't stopped.

Meanwhile.

Chansey, slowly getting out of bed, exchanged glances with Hydreigon, then glanced at Mawile, who clearly had no interest in getting involved, and used gestures to soothe Doduo Barudō, whose head was pressed down as if weighed down and couldn't lift.

They coaxed it out of the bedroom.

Aggron saw this and stopped blocking the doorway with the shiny Milotic, making room for them.

It thought for a moment, and its big-brother mode unconsciously kicked in, revealing a gentle, sincere smile — which drew an angry glare from Hydreigon.

"Roar?"

Aggron's smile froze on its face. Had it done something?

But in reality, it was just a certain Husky-Dragon not wanting its KPI stolen.

An ace has to start by winning hearts!

It was already doing the final wrap-up work on its end — how could it let someone swoop in and steal the peach halfway?

Chansey is fine.

You are not!

Hydreigon had clearly forgotten that when it was small, it had been closest to Aggron, and had even clung to it for a while — even though it had always been wary of it for fear it would destroy the flowers and trees.

"Happy~"

Chansey looked at Doduo Barudō and thought about how to broach the subject.

It actually wasn't very good at the verbal side of things, but since the Trainer had high hopes for it, it had to give it a try.

What did they say on TV?

Sincerity!

Right! Sincerity!

Happiny had taken the lines from those TV dramas Munchlax watched as actual methods, and in practice it wasn't really all that wrong.

Night.

Affected by Dragapult, almost no one managed to sleep peacefully, including All Baimu, who claimed to be unbearably drowsy.

The latter even resorted to simulated memories just to get a proper rest.

Yet even while running through simulated memories, his mind inevitably flashed with things related to Dragapult.

Fortunately.

His teammates' chatting seemed to have worked quite well.

When All Baimu endured until dawn and "woke up," he received a shy, awkward apology from Dragapult—the guy looked like he'd been interrogated all night, and even his narrow eyes seemed a bit swollen and red.

"Mm…"

He looked at Happiny, Hydreigon, and the older Dragapult sibling—these three Pokémon kept yawning, and upon noticing his gaze, each returned a thumbs-up-like smile.

"Thanks for your hard work."

All Baimu patted their heads.

Although he'd never thought of running away, he felt a bit of shame for shifting part of what should have been his own burden onto his Pokémon.

But through this incident.

He also fully realized that his Pokémon genuinely considered the beings around them as companions—not mere coworkers with little social meaning or competitive relationships, or nodding acquaintances one could get along with casually.

Truly heartwarming.

All Baimu got out of bed with a yawn.

—

"Didn't sleep well again last night?"

Mi Ke Li, dressed in a robe, saw through All Baimu's hidden fatigue at a glance.

Adam, seated at the head of the table, cast a glance his way.

He'd noticed the moment All Baimu arrived, but didn't pay it much mind—young people these days commonly lacked sleep at night for this reason or that.

Take Miss Liuqi—she was a textbook case of staying up all night and sleeping it off during the day.

The old butler leaned slightly forward and asked softly, "Did something happen with your room or the bed? If so, please feel free to leave it to me."

"No, the bed is very comfortable, and the room is fine too…"

All Baimu hurriedly shook his head, sipped the black tea at hand to clear his mouth, and said, "It's about Dragapult."

He looked at Mi Ke Li and Adam and briefly recounted what had happened last night, omitting a few minor details.

After he finished.

Mi Ke Li seemed unable to hold back a hearty laugh. "How interesting! How interesting! With an excellent Trainer like you, one always gets to hear interesting stories!"

Adam also curved his lips and said warmly, "The Distortion World? I've only read about that place in certain biographies."

"You haven't been there?"

All Baimu was a little surprised.

He'd assumed that a seasoned, well-traveled Trainer like him would have had quite rich adventure experiences, and that the Distortion World or the like would be a small matter.

Adam laughed and replied, "I imagine under normal circumstances, no one would have the strange experience of taking a trip to the 'afterlife.'"

"All Baimu, Furina is special—even Ghost-type Pokémon can't just go to a place like the Distortion World whenever they want."

Mi Ke Li tried hard to explain some "common sense" to him, then added with a smile, "Of course, your Pokémon do have certain unusual qualities of their own."

All Baimu nodded silently, genuinely not wanting to get too tangled up in that topic.

His main purpose in bringing it up was to hope that the two well-traveled Trainers before him could offer some advice.

"My suggestion is—don't say too much. Just use action to move it directly."

Mi Ke Li restrained his smile and said frankly, "Since it's an especially introverted Pokémon, actions rather than words will leave a deeper impression, right? Sweep the gloom from its heart with a straightforward victory."

"I agree as well."

Adam nodded. "Rather than verbal comfort, it's better to simply get back up right where you fell—once isn't enough, try twice; twice isn't enough, try three. Summarize the failures and strive for success…"

"All Baimu, don't be too impatient. You're still very young."

His deep gaze made All Baimu's body tremble.

Indeed.

A Pokémon's inner knot isn't so easily untied—even Happiny didn't complete her transformation in a day.

Although he'd missed Dragapult's two evolutions, he could still treat its spiritual growth as the fruit of his time together with it.

"I understand. Thank you very much."

All Baimu nodded.

Exchanging ideas with experienced Trainers was indeed very rewarding—sometimes one isn't ignorant of certain truths, but being too close to the matter clouds one's vision; without someone to point it out, one simply can't think of it.

Mi Ke Li smiled and remarked, "My~ but I really didn't expect that someone who looks so mature, All Baimu-kun, would actually be troubled by something like this."

"After all, he's only been a Trainer for a year and a half."

"Uh…"

Mi Ke Li's smile froze for a moment. He looked toward Adam in the main seat and asked, "What did you say?"

"Hm? You didn't know?"

Those words made both Adam and All Baimu turn questioning gazes toward him.

"Why would you assume I know such private matters! Champion Dawu only told me there was a descendant of the People of the Stars from the Orre region whom he thought very highly of—at most he added a bit of general information about All Baimu-kun."

Mi Ke Li didn't make a habit of investigating people behind their backs.

His understanding of Baimu came only from Champion Dawu and the gorgeous Contest videos on the blog.

Oh.

And Baimu's Gym challenge records.

But Gym challenge records wouldn't list someone's private information.

Although the Liuqi people are closely related to the Meteor people, in reality the two peoples had not exchanged contact with each other for a very long time.

This led to the fact that among the three generations of the Liuqi Gym, the one who had known of Baimu earliest understood him the least.

"Uh, it's not really anything that private."

Baimu hurriedly waved his hands.

With Nimo and Champion Dan Di as precedents, his growth trajectory couldn't be called shockingly extraordinary, and besides, in battles with others, a mere year and a half of training time would only be a shortcoming, with not much worth praising.

Mi Ke Li gradually regained his composure, took a sip of black tea, "My apologies, my apologies."

The pleasant breakfast passed just like that.

During the morning lesson.

It mainly revolved around learning Milotic's moves and training methods.

Adam's teaching was as meticulous as always, truly hand-in-hand, directly feeding the meal right into your mouth.

If you still couldn't learn it this way, that would truly be an unforgivable sin.

"When a Pokémon learns a new move, there are actually some omens that, if you don't pay close attention, you might miss."

Adam stroked the shiny Milotic's skin, and upon finding a certain spot, beckoned to Baimu, signaling him to place his hand there as well.

"Do you feel it? This unusual fineness that differs from the surrounding skin."

"Mm…"

Baimu nodded.

"Milotic is a Pokémon whose skin metabolism is relatively frequent; to maintain its beautiful appearance, the worn outer skin can shed multiple times in a short period. But a Milotic that has learned Recover has an even faster skin metabolism."

Adam said: "Your Milotic already shows this tendency."

This means…

Baimu looked at the shiny Milotic, and both revealed expressions of pleasant surprise in unison.

Undoubtedly, Adam was signaling that the shiny Milotic was about to learn the core move 【Recover】.

"Well done! Milotic!"

"Milo!"

He stroked the shiny Milotic's face in uncontrollable delight, and the latter was also all smiles, excitedly wagging its tail.

Adam stood to the side, silently watching the harmonious scene between human and Pokémon.

In a daze.

Baimu's figure seemed to transform into the young Mi Ke Li, the other's smile so clear, so familiar, as if stamped from the same mold.

"Teacher Adam?"

Adam was startled awake by the call, his gaze focusing as he was silent for a moment, then said: "Let's continue."

"Okay!"

"Milo!"

Baimu and Milotic gladly agreed.

Afternoon.

After being taught by Adam the portion of techniques usable in Pokémon Contests.

The time to battle Mi Ke Li arrived.

Only this time Miss Liuqi wasn't here; she still needed one more Ribbon to participate in the Grand Festival, and had been picked up by her manager to discuss which Contest to enter.

For a Contest idol, a small town Contest with no fame was clearly not acceptable—

Unless there was sponsorship money, that is.

"Teacher Liu really loves doing things this way."

Baimu shook his head helplessly, and gave a like to the Contest highlight video posted on Miss Liuqi's blog account.

He knew Miss Liuqi had little interest in making money.

What the latter enjoyed was the feeling of being in the spotlight, and wanting to introduce more newcomers into Contests to add more powerful opponents, making Contests ever more popular.

Battles were still the world's number one entertainment project, with a fan base Contests couldn't compare to, but that didn't stop Miss Liuqi from harboring the ambition of bringing Contest enthusiasts on par with battle competition fans.

Have to say.

Miss Liuqi was also acting with a goal that could be called great.

"Can't lose to Teacher Liu…"

Baimu took out a Poké Ball and threw it forward, "I leave it to you! Dragapult!"

Poof!

Bai Guang flickered.

A somewhat timid Dragapult appeared on the field, and upon seeing Mi Ke Li opposite, its gaze immediately averted.

It wasn't fear.

It simply had a bit of PTSD upon seeing Mi Ke Li.

"Hiyah!"

The Dreepy sister watching the battle below the field, seeing it in this useless state, wished she could rush up and give it a couple of smacks, but Young Lady Miss Qiao Yin had said it needed to rest quietly for over a week.

She definitely couldn't go over.

"I'll trouble you today."

All Baimu laughed and tossed a Poké Ball.

Poof!

The pink heart-shaped fish monster dropped into the water, its absurdly large body floating above the surface in a way that defied all science.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance!"

All Baimu's shout made Dragonite's body shudder.

It knew—the battle had begun.