Chapter 645: Cursed Body

"Thud..."

The limb-weak Hippowdon wailed and collapsed, its massive body causing the ground to tremble slightly and kicking up choking dust.

Very quickly.

The sandstorm swirling around the field also slowly dispersed.

The watching passersby gazed at the Galar Sunflora that had rolled out of Hippowdon's mouth, exclaiming in succession and giving warm applause.

The children's eyes were full of admiration for Baimu.

"So cool!"

"Pokémon battles are actually this easy? A couple of swishes and Hippowdon's done for — that sandstorm was clearly so powerful!"

"Dummy, don't you know about type matchups! This is basic knowledge! Giga Drain is Grass-type, Hippowdon is Ground-type, of course Hippowdon couldn't take it!"

Their discussion was especially heated.

As the number-one competitive sport of the Pokémon world, from eighty-year-old elders down to five-year-old rascals, anyone could be a battle enthusiast.

The residents of Genesis Valley were no exception.

Pete covered his head with both hands and shouted in frustration:

"How could this happen! If only I'd—"

With perfect hindsight he decided that he should have kept using Fire Fang instead of Ice Fang just now — too bad he couldn't turn back time.

Cope patted Pete's shoulder comfortingly and said, "Relax, didn't I lose to him pretty easily too?"

"Sigh~"

Pete sighed and recalled Hippowdon.

On the field.

The quiet Sunflora's dejected face faintly revealed anticipation, because the third opponent was coming up, and finally it could get off work... no, leave the field to rest!

What a pleasant surprise that the opponents were so weak!

Come on already!

It shifted its gaze toward Balza, who was being playfully shoved by Mei Mei Yali and Hu Pa. If it wasn't mistaken, this person was the trainer of the third opponent.

Suddenly.

Baimu walked over toward Balza.

Although he hadn't held especially high expectations for Cope and Pete to begin with, once they actually battled he realized these two's lower limits were even lower than he'd imagined.

If Trevenant and Hippowdon were their strongest Pokémon...

Gathering all the Badges would probably be a problem!

On the other hand, Balza had once said he was a Top 16 finisher of the Lumiose Conference two editions ago, so his strength should be considerably greater.

Of course, whether he was strong or not wasn't the point.

"Balza!"

He called out to Balza, who was about to head toward the opposing trainer's seat, and asked, "Have you ever applied your own power to Pokémon battles before?"

After waiting for two people without seeing the picture he'd hoped for, Baimu simply asked directly.

"Apply my power?"

Balza was briefly stunned, then replied, "I've really never done that, and doing so should violate the rules, right?"

The surrounding people, hearing this, also crowded over and chimed in:

"Right! How can you just interfere with your opponent's Pokémon!"

"Cheating is shameful!"

"Power should be used for the right things — that's what Lord Gliese taught us!"

Baimu, annoyed by the noise, pressed his palm down to signal everyone to quiet down, and said, "Can't your abilities be used on your own Pokémon? Like boosting your Pokémon's move power, communicating with it through your heart, and so on — it doesn't have to be attacking others, right?"

In his view, the special abilities these people in Genesis Valley possessed were like Aura — without a fixed way to use them.

Things like repairing the Punishment Vessel, accelerating seed growth, helping Hu Pa break free from the Punishment's bonds — all had been demonstrated, truly a cure-all.

Hearing this, the crowd looked at each other back and forth.

Clearly Baimu's words went beyond their habitual thinking; deeply taught by Gliese, they had never considered using their own power to interfere in Pokémon battles.

"Um..."

"Do the battle rules allow it?"

"Our power counts as an outside interference factor, right?"

Facing a faceful of hesitant, bewildered expressions, he took out a Mega Stone and said:

"Speaking of outside interference factors, doesn't Mega Evolution count? Or for that matter Psychic powers that can communicate with the heart, those rare and wondrous special items... an even clearer example — Allister, who I battled in the Soaring in the Sky Conference finals, used her special ability.

"As long as it's a one-sided influence on your own Pokémon, it should be within the rules as far as I can tell; if it really weren't allowed, the conference organizers would have said so."

But the conference organizers were generally very lenient toward contestants with special abilities — as long as they didn't deliberately affect the opponent's Pokémon, use was basically permitted.

Balza was silent for a few seconds, then said, "This topic can wait until after the battle."

He was too eager to battle Baimu, and at this moment could barely contain his itch to try.

The latter, seeing this, nodded and said, "Since there's no precedent for using it, let's set it aside for now. Of course, if you want to use it during the battle, I personally fully support it."

Balza shook his head and laughed:

"No! The trainer's belongs to the trainer!"

He was dead set on having a 'pure' battle.

And so.

Both sides took their positions again.

"Go, Balza!"

Hu Pa excitedly waved both arms, and the two gold rings on his curved horns spun along with them.

Mei Mei Yali and Luka couldn't help cheering him on:

"Brother! You can do it!"

"Balza! Don't lose to him!"

Although they admired All Baimu's performance at the Grand Splendor Tournament, there was no question that blood ties and childhood companions ranked closer.

Only the two childhood friends Coop and Pete stood behind Balza, discussing how many rounds he'd lose in while gleefully shouting:

"Don't lose too badly, Balza!"

"Right, right! You're the strongest young trainer in our Valley of Creation!"

Balza, who had heard every word, was quite helpless, but his fighting spirit surged along with it.

Lose?

I'll show you a win!

He tossed a Poké Ball into the field. "Go! Brave Eagle!"

Poof!

Bai Guang flickered.

"Screech—"

A giant eagle shrieked sharply, beating its broad wings and kicking up billowing clouds of dust and sand.

Another physical attacker?

Not quite.

Planning to use Air Cutter for damage output?

All Baimu briefly guessed the tactic Balza would adopt, figuring that after seeing the close-range losses of Trevenant and Hippowdon, he'd be unlikely to stubbornly keep fighting at close quarters.

Just as he'd thought.

"Air Cutter!"

Balza shouted the order.

With the Forest Curse's effect still active, Flying-type attacks were clearly a suppressing matchup.

Brave Eagle tucked its wings and dove at an angle; as it drew near, its brown-outside, gray-inside wings suddenly snapped open and beat—

Whoosh!

The visible gale transformed beneath its wings into a biting blade sweeping toward Lileep, while its body itself used the wind released by Air Cutter to swiftly pull back up!

Streak after streak of wind blades set the air shrieking.

Not bad in power—Strong Arm, is it?

All Baimu smiled soundlessly:

"Mirror Coat."

Ratatatat—

The violent wind blades, like a Gatling gun sweeping the ground, instantly blasted up a great cloud of dust and buried the multicolored Lileep within it.

But the next instant, countless wind blades flew out from within the dust, charging straight at the circling Brave Eagle!

Balza, unruffled: "Dodge it, quick!"

"Oww!"

Brave Eagle's wingbeats suddenly sped up, but unexpectedly a flash of blue light flickered across its body for no reason, slowing its movement by a beat so it failed to dodge in time and was struck by a portion of the "wind blades."

Boom!

A burst of smoke exploded in midair.

"Brave Eagle!" Balza shouted in alarm.

The watching crowd also cried out in surprise; Coop and Pete had long lost their earlier gloating looks and were anxiously clenching their fists.

Fortunately.

Air Cutter hadn't dealt Lileep enough effective damage, which meant that portion of Mirror Coat wasn't enough to knock Brave Eagle down.

A fresh breeze blew away the smoke swirling around it.

"Oww!"

Brave Eagle cried out without losing any of its momentum.

As a Pokémon that grew fiercer the more it fought, a wound this small wasn't enough to make it feel fear—on the contrary, its condition had actually improved from taking damage.

Balza said joyfully: "Good! Use Air Cutter one more time!"

The instant the order was given.

All Baimu, across the field, wore a strange expression.

"Oww!!"

Brave Eagle threw its head back and howled, its sharp gaze fixed on the Lileep below, its broad wings beating frantically—

Yet not a single wind blade flew out!?

This left it and Balza both dumbfounded, and the watching crowd also froze in blank confusion.

"Curse."

"Sangu."

Lileep's eyes lit up blood-red, and the smoke-like antennae on its head rapidly swelled into a gray-white ghost shadow that pounced toward Brave Eagle in the sky!

The latter tried to dodge, but the ghost shadow was far swifter than it expected, nothing like Lileep's own slow body.

In an instant.

The ghost shadow burrowed into Brave Eagle's body, its savage face tearing and biting at everything!

"Owuu—"

No feathers flew, yet its aura continued to weaken—clearly, the curse's attack, though appearing physical, operated within the spiritual realm.

Balza had just barely recovered from the failed use of Air Slash.

"Curse Body!?"

"You finally noticed, but it's a bit too late."

Baimu shook his head regretfully and waved his hand: "Power Stone!"

The sun coral's smoke-like tentacles on its forehead glowed blue, launching a lightning bolt with an outer white and inner blue core—so fast that the cursed warrior eagle could not dodge it.

Boom!

Another cloud of dust, mixed with blue and white light, exploded in midair.

But this time, the warrior eagle could not forcefully blow away the smoke; its massive, human-sized body lost control and crashed heavily to the ground with a thud.

The fall from height pierced it with agony.

Yet the warrior eagle's nature allowed it to endure easily; it struggled to rise again.

Seeing this, Balza cried out urgently:

"Use Feather Rest!"

"Heal on the spot? Kid, you're brave! Too bad, no chance left! Power Stone again!"

Baimu officially declared the match over.

The sun coral fired another irregular bolt of outer-white, inner-blue lightning, striking the warrior eagle across half the arena in the blink of an eye.

Thud!

Smoke swirled amid the explosion.

Hu Pa's cheers gradually faded; it sensed the warrior eagle had fainted. "B…Balza lost…"

This stirred memories of Balza's journey in the tournament.

Mei Mei Yali and Lu Ka gasped, hands over their mouths; Ke Pu and Pi Te sighed and shook their heads.

Balza froze for several seconds; when the dust cleared and revealed the warrior eagle, limp like a sick chicken, he finally accepted that he, too, had been effortlessly defeated by Baimu.

The sun coral had already fought three matches!

The crowd murmured among themselves.

"Balza lost too!"

"Is the gap between the top sixteen and the champion really this big?"

"Isn't it just that the sun coral is strong? Balza's Pokémon didn't even scratch it…"

"Baimu's Pokémon all seem incredibly durable—I've watched his matches; except for Gengar, they all fought with ease."

Balza was unquestionably the strongest trainer among the youth of Genesis Valley and also a benchmark figure of his generation.

Even he was defeated so thoroughly—children's admiration for Baimu deepened another notch.

Inside the arena.

The sun coral turned urgently.

"Sang!"

"Got it, got it."

Baimu recalled the eager-to-retire creature and turned to Balza with a sigh.

The Curse Body ability had barely triggered even once since he began raising the sun coral—effectively identical to a blank ability.

Who knew the warrior eagle triggered it successfully?

Balza either didn't notice, or noticed but ignored it, still foolishly continuing to use Air Slash.

Who else would lose?

"Balza, your perspective truly needs improvement—I now understand why you've been stuck at the top sixteen," Baimu stepped into the arena, knelt before the revived warrior eagle, and pulled out an Orangeberry to feed it.

The warrior eagle glanced at its trainer; seeing him nod in approval, it happily snatched the berry and swallowed it with a tilt of its head.

"Owuu~"

Balza sighed regretfully: "Failing to notice Curse Body immediately was my fault."

Others gathered around, chattering that they hadn't noticed it either.

Baimu winced.

Not recognizing your own Pokémon's condition during battle—any trainer should feel ashamed!

It's not like sharing tips over tea.

"Your mistake is serious. Study Pokémon battle knowledge thoroughly. You've barely tapped into the warrior eagle's power. Don't rush to evolve it—what you need to learn is yourself."

He reached out to test; seeing no resistance from the warrior eagle, he gently stroked its head feathers.

The warrior eagle was strong.

It had endured Mirror Coat, Curse, and Power Stone—and still hadn't fallen; it took one more hit to knock it out.

The trainer's command was poor.

Balza looked bewildered: "Study battle knowledge… which part?"

"Every part! Read more books, study more battle tactics—it won't hurt. Since you've chosen to be a trainer, be professional. I'll send you a reading list and video files shortly."

Baimu knew that places like Genesis Valley rarely had qualified trainer schools.

It was normal for Balza to lack exposure.

As a transmigrator,

he knew well that while he possessed abundant battle knowledge, he had lost the system prompts from the game—without recognition cues, he couldn't even identify the moves his opponent used.

For example, Poison Powder isn't just purple—it can be green; Sleep Powder is pale blue or brown; Paralysis Powder can be gold or orange.

Compensating for the many expressions and states of techniques through the internet became a required course.

Ke Pu and Pete squeezed forward, bending down to beg: "Please give us a copy too!"

"Big Brother Baimu, we want one too!"

The other children also ran over to join in.

Hu Pa chimed in: "Hu Pa wants one too! Give Hu Pa a copy as well!"

Baimu quickly passed this daunting task to Barza, then said: "I have a question: can your special abilities be transmitted externally?"

He offered a friendly smile.