Chapter 596: A Lopsided Friendship

The crafting memory of the Rebirth Elixir.

If this thing really works, then it would undoubtedly be a top-tier simulation reward.

But first, the effect of this thing had already been tested in the simulation; second, even a mage has to pass a formal exam before daring to craft a potion.

Could All Baimu really replicate it relying solely on sensory memory?

He felt it was doubtful.

However, the simulator was very likely not to give him a "useless" reward — in other words, there was a certain probability the Rebirth Elixir was real.

He thought of the Holy Ash that had been replaced by the Sacred Fire — if he obtained the Holy Ash, would it be possible to craft the Rebirth Elixir?

All Baimu couldn't help but feel a bit of anticipation, but on second thought, there didn't seem to be anyone who needed him to save them with the Rebirth Elixir.

Just in case?

It felt a bit like cursing his own future to go poorly.

All Baimu smiled, deciding to experience tonight the first-person perspective of crafting a magical potion — it might be very interesting.

Recently he'd rummaged through all those old memories, and they felt rather boring.

There was also this dream-crafting memory, but unfortunately it couldn't be given directly to Pokémon — moves could be directly taught by hand, so why not dreams?

He hoped the simulator could patch it.

All Baimu looked expectantly at the simulator interface, selecting the top three from the choosable rewards — choosing three out of four was a special perk for runner-up and champion.

"Porygon2! Milotic! Sunflora!"

He turned his head and called over these three Pokémon.

Under the surprised expression of the shiny Gengar, he split the reward's five levels — giving one level to Chansey to pull it up to the level-70 cap, giving two levels each to Porygon2 and the shiny Milotic, and finally splitting the remaining pain onto Sunflora.

Absolutely perfect.

All Baimu nodded with satisfaction.

With the combined effects of training, battles, Glow Food, simulation rewards, and more, the energy levels of the entire team were already extremely close.

The first place still belonged to Aggron.

Under the circumstances where every level past seventy was extremely slow to gain, it still stubbornly rose to level seventy-six — it wasn't hard to see how hard this big fellow had worked.

Of course, the overall strength improvement was even greater, and absolutely couldn't be described by energy level alone.

The next positions were Mawile, Hydreigon, and Steelix — all three at level seventy-three, and the overall strength ranked in this order after the internal battles.

When All Baimu was recording, Hydreigon was quite unconvinced — it believed Mawile had only bullied it because it had no Mega Evolution and was four-times weak to Fairy-type; setting those aside, who would win and who would lose wasn't certain!

Mawile, the loser, paid no attention to the wailing.

As a trainer, All Baimu considered whether there was a way to give Hydreigon a side boost in strength — after Steelix Mega Evolved, Haxorus might not necessarily lose.

But against Mawile, it would definitely be suppressed for life.

The sorrow of being Dragon-type.

Thinking carefully, there didn't seem to be anything that could make its strength skyrocket — special systems-wise…

Z-Moves? Dynamax?

Just like in the game, Mega Evolution conflicted with these two things — a single Pokémon could only choose one of three in a single battle.

Perhaps there was room to work with.

All Baimu already had a preliminary plan in mind.

Speaking of which, Steelix had clearly once been the highest-leveled Pokémon on the team, yet now it had been caught up by other Pokémon — which made it itself quite vexed.

Fortunately, after the tournament ended the trainer would return to Ohra, so it no longer had to worry about being unable to both dig tunnels and accompany the trainer.

Behind Steelix was Dragapult, at level seventy-two.

The socially anxious dragon rarely interacted with other Pokémon, but its usual training hadn't been neglected, and its level steadily rose accordingly — worthy of congratulations.

It's just that the shiny Gengar had been here for so long, yet this fellow had never exchanged a single word with it.

All Baimu felt there was a serious problem.

He didn't intend to force Dragapult to socialize frequently with other Pokémon, but couldn't it at least give its companions a chance to get to know and interact with it?

What if it suddenly showed up one day, and the other companions didn't even recognize who this dragon was?

—Forcing Dragapult was definitely out of the question; threats might work once or twice, but using them too often would easily cause his relationship with Dragapult to deteriorate.

He'd recently been pondering other methods.

After Dragapult was Chansey, which had just reached level seventy.

The main reason Big Egg, as his second Pokémon, had a noticeable energy level gap from Aggron and Mawile was still because the early level rewards hadn't been fed to it many times.

Back then he'd been desperate to evolve Hydreigon, feeding this fellow without regard to cost, which led to this fellow's level later overtaking the others.

The one who truly made the most of the level rewards was Chansey — after level sixty, level rewards were fed to it more frequently, all the way until now at the full level seventy.

After Chansey was the shiny Milotic at level sixty-eight, and Porygon2 at level sixty-four.

The reason the shiny Milotic was so fierce went without saying — during the days learning from Adam and Mi Ke Li, it had benefited the most; if its level hadn't risen this much, it would simply be a disgrace to the reputations of Mi Ke Li and Adam as Milotic experts.

Porygon2's level was purely the result of its own efforts plus occasional level rewards.

Its position as both attacker and support, combined with its being the only one on the whole team who could speak human language and freely browse the internet, earned it, alongside Chansey who helped cook and served as team healer, the joint title of the team's old workhorses.

Eats little, does much.

Both were diligent, hardworking Pokémon, and they also knew how to look after the moods of their other companions, often helping them through their worries.

Such Pokémon actually didn't receive the trainer's favoritism?

Truly an outrage against heaven!

All Baimu often used the mentality of "I deserve to be whipped" to encourage himself, yet how to reward Chansey and Porygon2 without stimulating the whole team and causing Pokémon to engage in meaningless internal competition was truly a profound lesson.

He was somewhat envious of the carefree attitude of ordinary trainers.

But then again, every time he secretly asked Chansey and Porygon2 if there was anything they wanted, the answers were always things like being held while sleeping, going out for a walk alone together, or playing games.

Pokémon really are simple, easily satisfied creatures.

All Baimu always thought so.

Some trainers were simply spoiled by their simple Pokémon, which is why they could casually abandon or release them.

If certain Pokémon were a bit tougher and not so easily fooled, those scumbags would cherish their existence all the more.

What a bunch of wretched creatures.

Behind Porygon2 was undoubtedly a Galarian Corsola, level sixty-one.

For this slacking-off Corsola, daily training wasn't much different from going to work — at most, "working" under All Baimu's care was a job with slightly better benefits.

Under these circumstances, its failure to evolve for so long finally had its explanation.

Just like Ash's Squirtle and Bulbasaur, Corsola had absolutely no intention of evolving, so even though All Baimu never cared about the 【Eviolite】 becoming useless after evolution—

It still showed no reaction.

If it won't evolve, then so be it. After Dragapult and the shiny Gengar joined the team, his need for a special-attack turret wasn't as great as before.

A Corsola with a support-oriented build could add variety to the team.

Worth mentioning, its relationship with Hydreigon seemed to have improved quite a bit?

Earlier, Corsola had protested Hydreigon's in-team bullying — of course it didn't understand such professional terminology; that was purely All Baimu's "headcanon."

After the latter warned Haxorus, the two's relationship had at one point become silent and estranged.

This was quite different from Corsola's usual non-interaction with other Pokémon, and it made All Baimu rather regret his rash, crude solution.

Did Corsola truly refuse to get along with Hydreigon, intending only to never have anything to do with each other until death?

He might have thought so before, but ever since he was frequently woken up by a Corsola falling on him in his sleep, or woke up with a Corsola lying on his face…

All Baimu no longer thought that way.

A Hydreigon accustomed to carrying Corsola in its mouth while sleeping, and a Corsola accustomed to being carried in someone's mouth while sleeping — either one looked very problematic.

Without a doubt, there was some strange intimacy and connection between the two.

Even if neither side was quite willing to admit it.

Face-smashing aside, All Baimu was naturally happy about this. Corsola's poor relationship with everyone in the team — at most exchanging a little with Porygon2 — had worried him sick.

A twisted friendship is still a friendship!

Behind Corsola came the shiny Gengar, conveniently the same level, sixty-one.

At first it couldn't quite adapt to the series of exercises All Baimu arranged for it, but after gradually getting used to them, it slowly managed to keep up with the team.

All Baimu held very strong expectations for it.

A noble shiny, and after Mega Evolution it becomes a beautiful pure white — who wouldn't like that?

As for how to obtain the Gengarite, he had already given it some thought.

Small problem.

At the tail end of the team were the Dreepy siblings, one level forty-one, one level forty.

All Baimu had once worried that after these two evolved, he'd have to raise a whole flock of Dreepy to serve as missiles for Dragapult.

Later, after privately messaging Champion Dan Di and a professor who researches group-living Pokémon on his blog for advice, he learned that Dreepy had to "become independent" before they would evolve.

Dreepy obsessed with being missiles for Dragapult would not evolve.

Only when it realized it should raise little ones, leaving the launcher on Dragapult to live independently, was there a chance of evolving into Drakloak.

Drakloak is classified as a nanny Pokémon precisely for this reason.

To be honest—

More surprising to All Baimu than this conclusion was the fact that Champion Dan Di actually reads private messages. According to the latter himself, although the account was managed by someone else, he occasionally logged on to see if any new Pokémon trainers had questions to ask him.

Truly the most dedicated regional Champion.

He remembered that in the games, Champion Dan Di was once disliked by some players for stealing the protagonist's spotlight — after all, the Pokémon series' tradition had always been that Champions basically didn't handle matters, at most fighting some grunts, while evil teams and legendary Pokémon were all dealt with by the protagonist.

Back to the Dreepy.

If All Baimu hadn't appeared, the elder Dreepy would probably have a high chance of evolving into Drakloak to take care of its younger sibling, but now with All Baimu as the big nanny—

The elder Dreepy had no thoughts of becoming a little nanny.

It did only four things daily: eat, train, sleep, and beat up its younger sibling.

A monotonous yet happy life.

Compared to that, the younger Dreepy, which got along well with Hydreigon and the other Pokémon, had a much more exciting life — this one and the antisocial Dragapult were two extremes.

A complete social butterfly.

Recently it had been working hard to befriend the shiny Gengar, often trying to lure it out in the middle of the night to play.

The dark night was the most suitable environment for Ghost-type Pokémon to be active. If not for training the next day, the younger Dreepy would probably play until the next morning before coming back.

It would occasionally bring a bunch of Ghost-type Pokémon along to freeload food and drink, getting beaten up by its sister while performing the face-hugger technique on All Baimu.

The latter was not short on that bit of food.

It was just that when the old housekeeper asked him about the recent increase in Ghost-type Pokémon wandering near the gym, whether he had any clues, he always felt a bit awkward.

Fortunately, the Ghost-type Pokémon hadn't come to cause trouble at the gym — most Pokémon inside the gym were fierce, and without the younger Dreepy leading the way, those Ghost-type Pokémon would easily get beaten up approaching casually.

The gym not becoming eerie and gloomy over this let All Baimu breathe a sigh of relief.

—

The night after the simulation was complete.

All Baimu opened the Alchemist's Nectar memory and fell asleep peacefully.

He successfully slept in until broad daylight.

But after getting up and recalling yesterday's dream, his expression turned slightly strange, and he pondered all the way to sitting down at the table for breakfast.

"Hmm…"

All Baimu held the bread in his hand, hesitating and not bringing it to his mouth.

The old steward saw this and quietly came to his side to ask if the bread did not suit his taste.

He hurriedly smiled and shook his head, "No, no, I was recalling the dream I had last night."

Miss Liuqi across the long table heard this, took a sip of tea, and curiously asked, "A dream? A nightmare? Recently the Ghost-type Pokémon around the Gym have increased, so it's possible to have nightmares — they love playing pranks like that the most."

All Baimu's face fell slightly, and he said, "No, just an ordinary dream."

Last night's dream confirmed his guess: the Mage had indicated during the crafting process that the Holy Ash version's potion-making procedure was the same as the Sacred Fire version's.

Of course, the reason she brought this up was to lament being unable to obtain Holy Ash.

If that's the case, doesn't it prove the Holy Ash version of the Revive Potion actually exists?

With Hu Pa's help, All Baimu didn't think he would be unable to obtain Ho-Oh's Holy Ash; what restricted him from crafting the potion was nothing but the success rate…

He and Aggron and the others would have an extra life?

No, that's not right.

It still needs to be tested, and the most important thing right now is the League Conference.

All Baimu dispelled the thoughts in his head. Today was the departure day; after finishing breakfast, he would board the ferry to Sootopolis City together with Dawn, Brock, and Miss Liuqi.

Sootopolis City is located at the easternmost part of Hoenn, not too far from Lilycove City.

But if they didn't go early, there would be too many spectators coming to watch the matches later, which could easily cause unnecessary problems.

"Thank you for the meal."

All Baimu pressed his palms together to thank the Gym's chef, then hurried off without pause toward where Aggron and the other Pokémon were.

Checking the Pokémon's condition before the match was very important.

Adam watched his retreating back, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

Mi Ke Li smiled and said, "The League Conference really does attract every Trainer — even All Baimu is already impatient to go. It's a pity I can't meet him at the Champion League and watch him climb up step by step with my own eyes; that would surely be very gratifying."

"That's right, Mi Ke Li-san has already officially stepped down from the Champion position."

Dawn nodded half-understandingly.

Miss Liuqi shot her uncle a sideways glance without speaking, hurriedly drank the last sip of tea, and left the table — this time participating in the Conference as a supporter, she had things to prepare.