Chapter 621: Sacrificing Oneself to Save Another

The main arena, the internet.

Countless spectators of the Cho悠 Tournament gazed at the battlefield, their expressions varying—excitement, disappointment, anticipation, curiosity, and more.

Everything was left unsaid.

But without exception, they were all curious whether Baimu, whom many believed to have overwhelming power and towered above all opponents, had truly lost one of his Pokémon.

The smoke slowly dispersed.

There, on the ruined grass, Pachirisu and Super Pachirisu stood not far from the fallen Haunter, looking down upon it.

Beep—

The familiar whistle sounded.

"Haunter is unable to battle! Pachirisu wins!" The referee's voice was quiet, but to the audience it was deafening.

Hum!

The roar from the audience erupted into the sky; the live broadcast's comment section surged with countless new messages in mere moments.

He really fell!

The first Pokémon to lose its ability to battle in the second half? It was Baimu's!

The commentator was equally excited: "Taken! Super Pachirisu, despite type disadvantage, successfully coordinated with its offspring to defeat Haunter! Trainer Ilima has sounded the counterattack!"

His shout made the audience's clamor even louder.

Xiao Guang looked around in confusion and asked: "Baimu hasn't lost yet—why does it feel like everyone…"

"Because he's too strong."

Xiao Gang replied solemnly: "His earlier performances were too outstanding. The immense foundation of his power created unnecessary expectations from many, so this outcome was inevitable."

The former Gym Leader in his normal form was remarkably perceptive—just one sentence revealed the strange atmosphere.

Liuqi also said: "This is nearly universal among powerful Trainers. The undefeated legend of Galar has terrified everyone—it has raised the world's perception of strength!"

Man Chong remained silent, only staring down at the field.

He subconsciously felt something was wrong.

How could Baimu's Pokémon be defeated so easily?

But he couldn't pinpoint what was off, so he focused intently on the Haunter Baimu recalled and the mother-daughter Pachirisu still on the field, searching for any trace of evidence.

Suddenly.

Man Chong saw Pachirisu stumble as it moved; his pupils dilated and he shouted urgently: "Everyone! Look at Pachirisu!"

His cry prompted Xiao Gang and others to turn toward the field, and those around them followed suit.

Those with poor eyesight remained confused; those with sharp vision clearly noticed Pachirisu seemed exhausted, walking unsteadily, while Super Pachirisu approached anxiously.

Finally, the aerial Rotom focused on Pachirisu, zoomed in, and captured the image of purple bubbles forming at its mouth, projecting it onto the giant screen—immediately sparking a wave of uproar from the audience.

It's poisoned!

How could it suddenly be poisoned? Was it Haunter's doing?

After watching for a long while, the commentator successfully spotted residual purple liquid in the tall grass where Pachirisu had originally stood, thanks to the aerial Rotom.

He shouted quickly: "It's Toxic! Haunter used Toxic before collapsing!"

A Pokémon that lost its ability to battle in a short time, even if it awakens, cannot possibly release a move so stealthily. The Toxic must have been secretly used during their prior exchange.

Boom!

The audience erupted into a thunderous cheer!

Nearly defeated, yet still managing a silent counterstrike at the critical moment—how powerful Haunter is!

On the field.

Ilima was utterly stunned—he never expected Pachirisu to be poisoned so unexpectedly by Haunter.

His plan had turned into chaos.

If Super Pachirisu had been poisoned, there might still be a way to keep it in battle. But with Pachirisu poisoned, there was no choice but to withdraw it and wait for another opportunity; neither he nor Super Pachirisu wanted Pachirisu to fight while poisoned.

What is this?

Does this mean: "None of my Pokémon fall so easily"?

He fell silent, gazing at Baimu far away, whose expression was unreadable, and recalled both Super Pachirisu and Pachirisu into their Poké Balls.

Across the field.

"Well done, Haunter."

Baimu rubbed the surface of the Poké Ball, speaking softly.

Despite being in a dire situation—his Aura Sphere breached by Super Pachirisu and under dual assault—Haunter still managed to release Toxic. His perseverance is commendable.

But if Baimu hadn't misread it, the Toxic venom had only just begun accumulating in Haunter's mouth when it lost its ability to battle.

It was merely because Haunter fell face-down with its mouth wide open that the venom was successfully sprayed, and Pachirisu, standing closest, stepped into it and was poisoned.

Would using Destiny Bond have yielded a better result?

Probably not.

Before the match, Baimu had anticipated Ilima would use Mega Evolution and specifically warned Haunter: if planning to use Destiny Bond secretly, it must ensure the final attacker was Super Pachirisu, not Pachirisu.

These two may be one entity in the game, but in reality, they are entirely different.

If Super Pachirisu falls, Pachirisu reverts to its original form—equivalent to Mega Evolution ending. If Pachirisu falls, Super Pachirisu's ability 【Parental Love】 likely cannot trigger—

He couldn't be certain; the life forms of Pokémon that function as multiple entities often defy conventional logic.

Especially Super Pachirisu, a Pokémon that shares stats, stat changes, and suspected partial status effects through its ability—no one knew what effect Destiny Bond on Pachirisu would have without testing.

Haunter ultimately chose to gamble—not Destiny Bond, but Toxic.

The effect was striking.

Ilima recalled Super Pachirisu.

Both sides had returned to the state they were in at the start of the second half.

The Poké Ball flew up.

Bang bang!

A flash of Bai Guang.

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic landed on the green grass, swept its Jin Guang-brilliant long tail, and looked toward its distant opponent—Smeargle.

Neither Pokémon was in peak condition; one had taken two consecutive Electric-type attacks from Heliolisk, the other had its Protect shattered by Aura Sphere and nearly fallen to Sludge Bomb.

They also shared one thing in common—they had used Recover, but not fully.

All Baimu narrowed his eyes.

Ilima had actually chosen to send out Smeargle? He regretted a little that shiny Milotic didn't know Taunt; otherwise, no matter how many varied moves Smeargle had, it wouldn't have been able to use them.

Of course, it could still fight without Taunt—it only needed to guard against moves like Destiny Bond.

Gengar's earlier battle had already proven Smeargle's weakness.

He waved his hand and called, "Charge in and use Scald!"

"Milo!"

The shiny Milotic lowered its head and slithered forward like a long snake; although not as swift as it had been on the ice, it was still no slouch.

"Tailwind! Dodge into the grass!"

Ilima didn't know what move the shiny Milotic would use, but he was certain it would attack aggressively under All Baimu's command; to fight it, he could only watch for chances to dodge and build up an advantage step by step.

"Ao!"

Smeargle waved its tail paintbrush; an invisible, gentle breeze took shape beneath the bristles, swirling around its body and making its steps unusually light.

It dove into a patch of grass not far away.

Unlike the ice field that hindered movement, the half-person-tall grass was especially friendly to a small Pokémon like it; as long as it found a dense spot to burrow into, it could easily make its opponent lose sight of it.

In Milotic's line of sight, Smeargle's presence abruptly vanished.

It stopped before the dense grass, and without lingering long, it blasted a stream of scalding water from its mouth, instantly flattening a large swath of weeds.

Smeargle darted through them at high speed, like a blurred white shadow.

"Woo—"

Milotic shifted the direction of its Scald and kept spraying fiercely, but aside from scalding flat swathes of half-person-tall weeds, it didn't even catch up to the opponent's tail.

It really did run fast—worthy of the name "dog."

The commentator said in surprise, "Smeargle is so fast! Milotic's Scald is having trouble landing! The Grassy Terrain and Tailwind have given it a very noticeable boost!"

All Baimu was also quite surprised; he hadn't expected the Ice Terrain to have placed such a large restriction on Ilima.

If Smeargle had shown this kind of mobility in its earlier battle against Gengar, it probably wouldn't have been forced off the field so easily—at the very least, a move like Aura Sphere, which has high power but a slightly long wind-up, would have been hard to land.

He watched Smeargle dive into another patch of grass, unhurried and unperturbed.

"Sweep it with Hurricane!"

"Milo!"

Milotic gave a soft cry; with a snap, its fan-like tail fins split apart into propeller blades and spun at high speed, and an indigo-blue gale whipped up from its long tail!

Ilima saw this and his brow furrowed; he said seriously, "Use Light Screen!"

Smeargle, hiding in the weeds, didn't hesitate; it sketched the shape of a square in front of itself with its paintbrush, and a pane of glass radiating colored light quickly took form.

The next moment.

Milotic suddenly whipped its long tail, sending the Hurricane sweeping sideways like a whip; every blade of grass in its path was torn up by the roots, as if a lawnmower had passed through!

Shwa shwa shwa shwa—

Countless bits of grass flew into the air; Smeargle, safely hidden, quickly retreated backward, but the Hurricane's range of attack was larger than it had imagined.

Unless it jumped straight off the high platform that was the battlefield, there was no way it could avoid the Hurricane.

And after a brief hesitation, even if Smeargle wanted to jump, it was already too late.

Whoosh!

The Hurricane roared toward it; even though Light Screen weakened the erosion of Dragon-type energy, the powerful wind still blew this Pokémon, weighing less than sixty kilograms, up into the sky!

"Ao!"

Smeargle barked in panic.

It was completely exposed in Milotic's field of view!

Ilima thought things looked bad and hurriedly shouted, "Get ready to use Protect!"

All Baimu narrowed his eyes. "Leap up!"

The mighty Hurricane subsided.

Milotic coiled itself up, compressing itself like a spring pushed to its absolute limit, and the instant Smeargle began to fall, it shot forward!

Swoosh!

It flew toward Smeargle like a great python pouncing on its enemy, soaring high!

The audience cried out in waves of shock, only to then see a honeycomb-shaped spherical barrier of light envelop Smeargle from all three hundred and sixty degrees; but unexpectedly, Milotic didn't attack, only revolving around it in the head-meets-tail posture of an ouroboros.

The two crashed to the ground in succession.

Thud~

Dust flew up.

The commentator was a bit stunned. "Milotic intends to trap Smeargle! It tricked Smeargle into using Protect!"

All Baimu shouted, "Wrap."

"Run!"

Ilima's voice was urgent.

Smeargle jolted awake and leapt out of Milotic's tightening coils, trying to throw itself into the weeds beside it, but a pair of pale-blue hair-like fins hooked both its legs.

Smeargle stumbled and fell, instinctively turning its head—and met Milotic's bewitchingly alluring eyes, and couldn't help but freeze.

Then it was bound up by Milotic.

As a Pokémon whose base form is a sea snake, and having learned joint-locking constriction techniques from Adam, Smeargle trying to break free through pure strength was a fool's dream.

Trapped at the center of the serpentine body, it felt as though its bones were about to shatter, its breathing extremely difficult.

Fortunately it had been holding its paintbrush the whole time, and some of the moves it had sketched down didn't require much movement to complete.

"Teleport!"

Smeargle struggled to adjust its paintbrush—

"Tickle."

Two slender whisker-like brows reached out, and under its incredulous gaze precisely found its ticklish spots, rapidly poking at them.

Smeargle's expression quickly became fierce and twisted, struggling involuntarily only to be locked even tighter: "Whine—"

The commentator shouted: "Teleport was interrupted! Smeargle cannot break free of Milotic's tight binding—will it fall here without being able to use any moves!?"

"..."

Ilima gripped a Poké Ball, staring at Smeargle, which was bound tight by Milotic and couldn't be recalled even if it wanted to under the 【Bind】 status, seemingly able only to self-destruct.

Is this the end?

No!

He bit his lower lip, his gaze more determined than ever—he, who had come out from the Alola region to study abroad, had made a promise with his Pokémon to make a name for themselves out here.

How could he fall so easily in a place like this?

"Smeargle! Use your spit to paint on Milotic!"

Ilima, who had always spoken softly and gently, was now as if possessed by a hot-blooded youth, his voice so loud that Baimu on the opposite side could hear it clearly.

Spit?

Baimu was stunned for a moment, then saw the struggling Smeargle stick out its tongue and lick Milotic's body, paint from some unknown source staining the latter's body.

This is bad!

"Aqua Tail, send it flying!" He didn't hesitate—even though Smeargle was only one step away from likely being defeated, who knew what move it was using.

Painting with its tongue...

Even if the paint from its tail-brush was secreted by itself, wasn't this a bit too outrageous?

"Milo!"

Milotic's beautiful brow furrowed; it simply felt that being smeared with spit all over was disgusting, and quickly flung Smeargle away.

But by now Smeargle had already finished its painting.

Boom!

A dark cloud had drifted over the sky at some unknown point, bright-yellow lightning crackling within it. The instant Milotic flung Smeargle away with Aqua Tail, a terrifying bolt of thunder crashed down from on high!

Crack!

Lightning flashed and thunder roared!

The terrifying lightning instantly engulfed Milotic. The ultra-high temperature, paralysis, and tearing sensations—effects born of Electric-type energy—made it shriek while convulsing all over, its body scorched black as it crashed to the ground.

"Milo..."

"Whine..."

Smeargle was flung into the weeds, and having taken the Aqua Tail head-on it was in equally bad shape, lying on the ground feeling as though its whole body had fallen apart, unable to stand at all.

The commentator's face showed shock, never expecting both Pokémon to have fought to such an extent. "Both Smeargle and Milotic are down! Will they lose the ability to fight? Oh! Milotic is back up!"

Milotic, struck by the thunderbolt, slowly propped up its upper body, gave a light shake, and the scorched-black marks on its surface fell away like shedding old skin, its radiant, glorious appearance unchanged.

"Mi... lo..."

It panted heavily. Smeargle's Thunder was extremely fierce, but this one's output really was a bit lacking.

It can take it!

Milotic raised its head, about to deliver the final blow to the Smeargle that couldn't even crawl, when its trainer's command suddenly came.

"Use Recover!"

"Milo?"

It widened its eyes in some confusion, but still followed its trainer's instruction.

A pale-green glow swirled over its body, gradually mending its wounds and restoring its stamina.

Baimu stared at Smeargle in the weeds, clutching its paintbrush and making small movements—was the likelihood of it using Recover high?

Very high.

Then what about the likelihood of it using Destiny Bond?

Even higher!

He believed Ilima wouldn't pass up any chance to reduce his numbers; Destiny Bond was, after all, a move that invited caution.

If he couldn't stop it from using it, then he had to think about how to whittle away its last sliver of stamina without directly attacking the creature.

While he was thinking.

Suddenly, a twinkling star flew up from Smeargle's body, rocketing high into the sky and vanishing.

Hmm?

Beep—

The referee blew his whistle. "Smeargle is unable to battle; Milotic wins!"

"Healing Wish!"

The commentator's voice made Baimu's breath catch. "Tutu Hound chose Healing Wish at the final moment!

"It entrusted the hope of victory to its companion! What a heavy yet hopeful move!"