Chapter 694: Mega Steelix

There have already been two precedents of Pokémon undergoing Mega Evolution.

Now it was the third's turn, and Baimu was thoroughly familiar with the procedure.

Unfortunately, familiarity with the procedure wasn't enough—success in Mega Evolution still depended on the bond between him and Mega Steelix.

"Hope it goes smoothly…"

He pulled out the Key Stone and felt it resonating with Mega Steelix's Mega Stone; a faint glow pulsed within it.

This was one sign the bond had reached the required level.

Until now, the Key Stone had remained completely silent.

Clearly, keeping Pokémon separated for long periods brought serious drawbacks.

Gulpin had joined the team no earlier than Mega Steelix—when counted carefully, only one or two months apart—and Mega Steelix had fought alongside him since joining, against the Badger Team and countless other factions.

During Elder Ejin's invasion, it had fought side by side with Baimu and Bisharp, playing a crucial role.

To call their bond one of shared life and death wasn't an exaggeration.

Yet despite this Pokémon, Baimu had only now met the threshold for its Mega Evolution, while Bisharp and Gulpin had already begun their next-stage Mega Evolution training.

"Let's begin."

"Roar!"

The colossal Steelix lowered its car-sized head, its copper-red eyes showing a hint of anticipation.

Chansey stood to one side, watching nervously.

"Happy~"

If Mega Steelix suddenly went berserk like Gulpin had during its first Mega Evolution, it would protect the Trainer's safety.

As for climbing mountains…

Honestly, Chansey had little interest—it only wished to stay beside its Trainer and had no demands on its living environment.

"Pipri!"

Poliwhirl also emerged from the phone.

It stood on Baimu's other side, its tail connected to the phone like a data cable, eyes glowing as it activated video recording.

Drapion, hidden in the shadow of a rock, blinked.

At the mountain's foothills.

The surroundings were utterly silent.

Baimu's mind settled into calm; he gripped the Key Stone and closed his eyes. Mega Steelix mirrored him, sensing each other's presence through thought, amplifying their mental images of one another into vivid, boundless forms.

Normal Mega Evolution requires heart to connect with heart—the greater the synergy between Trainer and Pokémon, the stronger the latent power unleashed.

Hence.

Champion Dawu, though possessing both Bisharp and Archeops and not lacking the corresponding Mega Stones, only ever let his Metagross Mega Evolve.

He had privately advised Baimu to focus on developing just one Pokémon's Mega Evolution.

Greed leads to indigestion.

Baimu understood this principle well, yet he simply couldn't bear to give up the possibility of his Pokémon advancing to the next stage.

If it meant more effort, so be it—he had no other hobbies beyond training Pokémon!

"Here it comes!"

He opened his eyes. The familiar surge filled his heart; the Key Stone, once faintly glowing, now blazed like a spotlight.

Baimu looked at Mega Steelix, which clearly felt the change, and asked: "Ready?"

"Roar!"

"Excellent! Welcome your new self! Mega Evolution!"

He clenched the Key Stone. Mega Steelix's presence before him became overwhelmingly intense; the surrounding environment blurred into insignificance, leaving only it sharply clear.

Whoosh!

Chains of electric light shot out; from Mega Steelix's rear, countless lightning-like chains of radiant energy erupted, crashing together and locking tight, transmitting tidal waves of immense energy between them!

Boom!

Escaping energy formed gale-force shockwaves, whipping Baimu's hair and clothing.

"Roar—!!"

Mega Steelix reared its dragon-like body upright, its massive head thrust toward the sky, its appearance rapidly transforming with a roar that shook the entire mountain range!

Baimu's steady, even breathing suddenly turned rapid and heavy; after several seconds, it returned to normal: "Third time experiencing this mental pressure—but noticeably lighter than the first two?"

He practiced meditation techniques for psychics every day; though he hadn't developed telekinesis, his willpower had clearly strengthened considerably.

Could the changes in his Soul Heart be somehow related?

Baimu briefly drifted off, then quickly refocused on the now even larger Mega Steelix before him.

Amid the light.

This creature had increased in width, length, and height compared to its normal form; its massive jaw expanded outward, sprouting six steel bars resembling excavator teeth, while its crown sank inward, forming a shape like a broken H when viewed from the side.

The tips of four horizontal steel bones and the skin of its tail cracked, shattering into irregular metal fragments that spun around its neck.

On both sides of the connecting stone, glowing blue hexagonal ring patterns appeared.

When the colored light faded, the fractured horizontal steel bones revealed a jade-like crystalline material, as did the tip of its tail.

A massive seven-colored genetic phantom glowed briefly at its forehead, then vanished.

"Hah… klok…"

Mega Steelix's voice now echoed like vibrating metal. Baimu looked into its eyes—and his expression changed abruptly.

"Back!"

He barked a command and swiftly retreated from Mega Steelix.

Happiny and Polygar II lagged a step behind—not because they were slow to react, but because they wanted to stand in front of their Trainer to protect it.

The next moment.

"Roar—"

Super Steelix let out a loud cry as its raised upper body crashed down like a collapsing mountain!

Boom!!

The ground shook violently, as if struck by a mortar shell, sending up a cloud of dust.

"Shaaang!"

Hearing the sound, Dragonite sped in from afar, flapping its wings furiously to disperse the dust, then saw the Trainer crouching on the fanged jaw of the fallen Super Steelix, palm pressed against its forehead.

Four massive transverse crystal bones and the spiked tail glowed with blinding light, radiating an unsettling energy fluctuation that seemed ready to explode at any moment.

Undoubtedly.

The energy had gone berserk.

Just like the initial Mega Gulpin, but with different energy convergence points, so the specifics varied.

Mega Gulpin's energy convergence point was on its head, including those fearsome jaws.

So after the energy explosion, it went berserk and flew straight at Lugia.

Super Steelix's energy convergence point lay in its crystal-like "bones"; the cracking of its outer skin revealing the crystals inside was proof the energy could no longer be contained.

A brand-new body, berserk torrents of energy, a heavier head.

Combined, these factors left Super Steelix utterly immobilized—unable to fight other Pokémon, or even lift its body upright.

But…

No big problem!

After all, Baimu never expected Super Steelix to display extraordinary combat ability on its first Mega Evolution—slow adaptation, gradual progress was fine.

Achieving Mega Evolution was already a huge step forward.

"Disengage."

He soothed Super Steelix; multicolored light flared, and in an instant, Steelix shrank back to its original form.

"Roar…"

Steelix opened its eyelids, looking at its Trainer with a hint of grievance.

It had never imagined Mega Evolution would be this painful—like its entire body was about to explode, with the explosion centered on its tail and the transverse steel bones used for movement.

Baimu continued comforting this seemingly fierce but inwardly delicate giant, then returned it to its Poké Ball for proper rest.

"Happy?"

Happiny watched its Trainer with concern.

Baimu ruffled its head, shaking his head: "It's fine—this minor drain is nothing I can't handle, and it's not the first time. Polygar II! Did you record the data?"

Polygar II replied dutifully: "Preliminary data recording complete. Specific changes in Super Steelix include…"

Leaving aside the data, Super Steelix's body length had indeed set a new record.

From the pre-evolution measurement of 1935 cm to 2215 cm after Mega Evolution, the increase was under three meters—but why did it feel like it had doubled in size?

Polygar II indicated it was strongly related to width; its body grew proportionally, not merely stretched by three meters.

Hence the illusion of being twice as large as before.

"I see."

Baimu nodded slightly.

Super Steelix collapsed too quickly, making part of his original plan unfeasible—he had to start his mountain patrol ahead of schedule.

A crowd of Pokémon followed him in a noisy swarm.

The mountain's greenery still couldn't compare to the surroundings of Huang Tie Town; where he stood, no tall forests existed—only dense shrubs and scattered low trees.

They easily caught up with the Shiny Haunter and the Dracometeor siblings playing hide-and-seek.

"Geng!"

The Shiny Haunter wore a Sunflora on its head like a hat, searching the green-and-yellow shrubs for the Dracometeor siblings' hiding spots.

Yet after wandering for ages, it found not a single dragon silhouette—then, seeing its Trainer approach, it immediately called for backup: "Geng! Gengga!"

"Isn't that cheating?"

Baimu raised an eyebrow—who cheats at a game with a teammate by calling for outside help—

Well.

The two hiding kids were cheating too.

He sighed, picked up two small stones, and hurled them at different spots, indignant on Haunter's behalf: "You're hiding during hide-and-seek? You can't even play fair!"

"Xiyaa!"

"Yaa!"

Two shrubs cried out in pain; then the Dracometeor siblings appeared, shamelessly sticking out their tongues at Haunter, utterly unashamed of cheating—even looking perfectly justified.

Had they picked up bad habits from Hu Pa?

He mused silently.

(At that moment, Hu Pa in the Genesis Valley sneezed.)

Haunter didn't mind, carefully removed the Sunflora, and placed it on Baimu's head as if bestowing a crown.

Baimu: "..."

I misjudged Hu Pa—the Dracometeor siblings definitely learned this from you!

How are you so mischievous!

He grabbed Haunter's cheeks and pulled them left and right; its face stretched with astonishing elasticity, elongating to match its own height.

"Jie-hee-hee-hee!"

Gengar was immensely pleased with itself.

All Baimu gave the fellow a quick thrashing, then kept climbing the mountain. As he walked, he called back to the Pokémon behind him: "Always calling this place 'the mountain range, the mountain range' isn't really fitting. I'm planning to give it a name—any good suggestions from you lot?"

"Happy? Happy!"

"Saa-sao!"

"Gen-ga!"

"Pa-li…"

"Hee-ya! Hee-ya!"

"Hee— ya—"

"…Lu-tuo."

The noisy cries tangled into a chaotic mess.

He was a little surprised that his own Pokémon were so eager, so he let Porygon-II work out the exact name. The result left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Blissey: 'Baimu Mountain.'

Hydreigon: 'The mountain of Baimu and Hydreigon.'

Gengar: 'Bostekoa Mountain.'

Porygon-II: 'Bo-Baimu Mountain.'

Dudunsparce-sister: 'Bald Dashan.'

Dudunsparce-brother: 'My Dashan.'

Dudunsparce: 'Ugly Mountain.'

Worthy of his Pokémon—as ever, each one more "talented" than the last.

All Baimu poked the Corsola on his head, wanting it to join in. Who would have thought a sudden suction force would come from above? He hurriedly said, "Alright, alright, you keep sleeping."

The ill-tempered Corsola made its point with action: disturb it again, and it would use Absorb to make it impossible for him to climb the mountain.

What a nasty character.

"Honestly, I really wanted to call this place Silver Mountain, but there's already one over in Johto," he said to the gathered Pokémon.

Iron Town, Silver Mountain, plus Iridium Street—what a perfect match.

Too bad this mountain range doesn't really have any landmark features; otherwise, naming it after its natural scenery would have been a fine choice too.

Suddenly.

All Baimu spotted two pink Deerling sneaking and hiding up ahead.

"So there really are Pokémon living here."

He wasn't surprised, because when he'd come yesterday he'd already seen bird Pokémon circling the mountain range.

Besides, the nearby area with particularly good greenery was only this mountain—how would wild Pokémon give up such a natural lure to live in a bare desert?

Well, Aggron might have some objections.

He looked around but didn't spot the giant beast's figure, and the Mawile sitting on its shoulder was naturally nowhere to be seen either.

Over by the water source?

All Baimu remembered that when he'd first chosen this mountain range, it was through Champion Dawu that he learned the underground water resources here were relatively abundant.

Back then it had almost gushed out, only stopping once the water pressure returned to normal.

Last time N said he'd helped turn that water source into a well, to supply Pokémon that needed water with what they required to survive.

All Baimu certainly had no objections to that.

But thinking about it more carefully later—wild Pokémon mostly build their habitats close to water. With N doing this, how many wild Pokémon must have settled on the mountain ahead of time?

He'd asked N about it, and N told him not many.

Not many…

"I was lied to."

All Baimu, who had run over to the water source, looked at the huge number of wild Pokémon in the mountain hollow and felt a bit annoyed.

He jumped onto a large rock and peered inside, discovering Aggron and Mawile standing by the water source, apparently in some kind of conflict with a few Midnight and Daybreak Lycanroc, which made him even more annoyed.

Hydreigon, Gengar, and the Dudunsparce siblings charged in right away in a show of solidarity. Blissey and Porygon-II exchanged a glance—the former ran inside, the latter stayed to look after the trainer.

Dudunsparce loathed environments where living creatures gathered in large numbers, yet still drifted over while staying hidden.

It rarely interacted with other Pokémon, but it understood the meaning of the word "companion."

All Baimu hadn't managed to call them back in time, mainly because he was being stared at by the wild Pokémon all around in large groups, and felt oddly flustered.

"Don't just start fighting!"

That was all he could shout from afar.

He hadn't expected a woman's voice to come from not far away: "Baimu! I knew you'd be here!"

He looked over and saw it was one of N's two sisters, the one who loved to call herself the Goddess of Peace—Helena, her bright yellow braid standing up on end, with two large tufts of hair on top of her head standing up like rabbit ears.

"Miss Helena, what are you doing here too?"

"I heard from Gardevoir that Pokémon were getting into a conflict, so I hurried over—just me, my sister and N are both elsewhere," Helena explained.

Helena explained.

All Baimu, upon hearing this, gave up looking for the other two.