Chapter 75: Taking the Bait or Not

Afternoon.

The second round of the qualifying tournament.

Baimu hadn't expected to run into an "old acquaintance."

"Yo yo yo yo—it's you!?"

The moment his opponent got a clear look at his face, the rap he'd been muttering died in his throat, his face went green, and his voice cracked on the spot.

"What a coincidence."

He smiled, never having imagined he'd actually run into Rap Bro here in the qualifying tournament.

Since that had been his very first battle in the arena, Rap Bro's clumsy battling had left him with an exceptionally clear impression.

"Ah ya ya ya ya! I'm gonna wash away this shame!"

Seeming to catch the teasing glint in Baimu's eyes, Rap Bro's fury shot to the heavens. He bellowed like he was putting on an opera, no longer sneakily sending out his Pokémon from the back like a cheat the way he had back then—he went straight for his ultimate ace—

Exploud.

The Loud Pokémon, with blue-purple skin and speaker-shaped ears, its bizarrely enormous mouth taking up two-thirds of its torso, the contours deep inside its oral cavity clearly visible.

Rap Bro paired with a "speaker system"? What a combo!

Baimu knew the other came from a second-rate faction called the Demon Sound Team, whose members were basically enthusiasts of rock, rap, and other music, and Exploud was their standard-issue Pokémon.

Just like the Quicksand Team's Geodude and Roggenrola, or the Hound Team's Houndour and Poochyena.

Too bad.

"Dig."

Baimu deliberately positioned Roggenrola behind him, then turned his head and gave it a wink.

Roggenrola understood, charging furiously at Exploud. Halfway there, yellow light flared around its front claws, and the hard ground instantly turned as soft as cake.

Countless grains of sand flew everywhere as its massive form swiftly burrowed underground.

"Hahaha! Bonehead move!"

Rap Bro, delighted rather than alarmed, roared: "Use Supersonic on the hole! Show it that even if it hides underground, sound still travels through the air right to it!"

"Boom!"

Exploud vibrated its speaker-shaped ears, bouncing and hopping while letting out an utterly deafening noise, and quickly arrived at the hole Roggenrola had dug.

But neither it nor even Rap Bro had expected—

Roggenrola hadn't dug anywhere else at all—it was plainly squatting right at the mouth of the hole, waiting for it!

Under normal circumstances, a trainer should sense the opponent Pokémon's movements through the vibrations on the ground, but for Rap Bro, who was on par with a beginner Pokémon, that technique was simply too difficult.

"Iron Head!"

Seeing Exploud was in position, Baimu didn't hesitate, shouting at the top of his lungs to overpower Exploud's vibrating noise. Fortunately the other hadn't fully unleashed its move, so Roggenrola could hear his cry.

Of course, even if it hadn't heard him, once the enemy was in position, Roggenrola would still have launched the attack.

Cloaked in a silver halo, it burst from underground like a high-speed train, unhesitatingly slamming itself straight into that enormous mouth!

Bam!

"Oof!"

Exploud's eyes went wide, its body uncontrollably tumbling backward, tangling into a ball with Roggenrola.

An expression of disbelief also surfaced in Rap Bro's eyes.

"WTF!? Quick—quick use Uproar to shake it out!"

He yelled in panic.

But without needing his command, Roggenrola had already taken the initiative and clamped onto its own head, using its once-again-enhanced massive body weight—bulked up over the past month—to pin Exploud completely immobile.

A flash of earthen-yellow radiance lit up beneath the latter, producing violent energy fluctuations.

Baimu, as though pronouncing Exploud's death sentence, gave Rap Bro his answer.

"Earth Power."

BOOM——!!

The ground beneath Exploud exploded, surging Ground-type energy erupting like a volcano and slamming into its back, blasting both it and Roggenrola straight into the sky.

Only, compared to the former's battered body, Roggenrola very nimbly flipped itself over and landed on the ground.

"Gurado!"

"Boom…"

Exploud crashed to the ground, a pair of spiral eyes showing.

"I-I lost again…"

Rap Bro slumped to the ground in dejection, never having imagined that even his ultimate ace was no match for Roggenrola.

The problem is you, not your Pokémon.

Baimu patted Roggenrola's head. He had no intention of coaching Rap Bro—too lazy to waste that kind of effort.

——

The qualifying tournament was extremely intense.

Baimu sat in the lobby, constantly hearing complaints and boasts from all around him.

Losers always had an abundance of excuses—bad Pokémon choice, the opponent getting just a little lucky, even last night's poor sleep or an unsatisfying bowel movement.

In short, every pot was flung.

And the winners' laughter was equally thunderous, their self-praise nearly casting themselves as champions of other regions.

He watched the various scenes in the lobby and found it all rather amusing.

While Iron Town admittedly had many greenhorn trainers like the early Indigo-Kanto Ash, that didn't mean there weren't one or two elite trainers mixed in—defining Iron Town's trainers based on just one or two matches would be unfair.

Baimu was scrolling through his phone, about to check whether Professor Yamanashi had replied, when a voice suddenly reached his ear.

"Big bro! Hey, young man!"

He turned his head. A rather sleazy-looking man stood before him, wrapped in an overcoat.

"Care to buy a betting slip? Different trainers, different odds. If a dark horse makes it through, your stake could multiply ten or a hundred times! Hit the jackpot!"

The sleazy man flung open his overcoat, revealing it stuffed full of all sorts of slips.

All Baimu put on an intrigued expression. "Do you know which trainers are competing? Which ones are advancing?"

"Of course! I've got connections underground!"

The sleazy man snickered. "How about one? You can't lose, you can't get scammed. Go ask around about the name Rotten Tooth Village — who hasn't heard of it? If you win, I'll pay you for sure!"

Rotten Tooth Village?

He instinctively glanced at the sleazy man's teeth. Yep, sure enough — a mouthful of rotten teeth.

"Got a list?"

"Yep!"

The sleazy man pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper covered in tiny writing. "Want me to read it out for you?"

All Baimu shook his head, took it, and glanced over it. Sure enough, he spotted himself on it — the odds didn't look bad, and there was even a little star drawn next to his name.

"What's this star mean?"

"Spotted Rapidash!"

"Huh?"

"You know — unbelievable, a powerhouse who pops out of nowhere! You get what I mean?"

A dark horse.

All Baimu nodded in understanding. After flipping through it top to bottom, he pulled out two thousand and bought two slips betting on his own win.

The base price for this thing was a thousand — about the same as horse racing in his previous life, way pricier than the lottery.

"Thanks for your patronage~"

The sleazy man happily pocketed the money. "You can rest easy. Rotten Tooth Village has been running things at the Iron Arena for more than a year or two — we won't trash our own reputation!"

"Mm."

All Baimu replied offhandedly.

He only bought two slips for the sake of a good omen.

The qualifying competitors were all randomized — god knew whether some elite trainer from out of town might show up.

Fortunately.

He was overthinking it.

His third-round opponent was just as ridiculously weak — no better than the very first one or the rap guy. Doduo took the win with total ease.

After coming out victorious—

He actually managed to collect twenty thousand in winnings from Rotten Tooth Village.

"Want to place another bet?" Rotten Tooth Village quietly egged him on.

All Baimu, hearing this: "Then same as before, two slips, a thousand each."

"…Two slips?"

"Two slips."

He smiled at Rotten Tooth Village, showing no sign of taking the bait.

Rotten Tooth Village thought to himself.

This little punk isn't easy to handle. Most people would've gotten swept up by now. So he's the cautious type, huh?

Then play it cool.

Two slips and two thousand successfully exchanged hands.

Both sides smiled very happily.