Chapter 130: Dragonite (Looking Like a Lifeguard)

"Hunter J?"

Luo Mu frowned slightly, his tone slow.

He had a vague impression of this person, but it was limited to his memories from before his transmigration; after all, he had cleared the first and second playthroughs of the main Zhu Zi game but transmigrated before the DLC was released.

Didn't she often ride a Salamence and a Drapion, and possess some kind of technological weapon that fired a petrifying beam super-effective against Pokémon?

But none of that mattered now; although he didn't know why Geeta would mention Hunter J, who should be in the Sinnoh region, this doubt did not cloud Luo Mu's mind, and he calmly stated, "I don't know this person; judging by the name, she sounds like a Pokémon Hunter?"

Geeta nodded slightly, clasped her hands on the table, and said, "You guessed correctly; she mainly engages in accepting illegal commissions to hunt Pokémon for profit, is cold and ruthless, stops at nothing in her actions, and is a very dangerous individual."

"And now I have received intelligence that one week from now, she will carry out an operation on Glaseado Mountain, with the target most likely being rare Pokémon on Glaseado Mountain."

Luo Mu said in a deep voice, "So the commission is... to intercept Hunter J?"

"Not to intercept, but to capture her if possible." Geeta looked straight at the computer screen before her, her tone serious: "Interpol has also extended a cooperation invitation to us to capture Hunter J and bring her to the International Court for trial."

"Glaseado Mountain is simply too vast; I have deployed all available personnel there, but it is still somewhat inadequate, especially since our intelligence channels only indicate she might operate on Glaseado Mountain, while the specific target remains unknown."

"At that time, I will have the Gym Leader there, Grusha, assist you; I hope you can be responsible for guarding a specific area."

After ending the call with Geeta, Luo Mu accepted Geeta's private commission as agreed; both tacitly avoided mentioning the matter of remuneration.

After all, Luo Mu knew Geeta would prepare a reward that would satisfy him, and Geeta knew that Luo Mu knew this.

In the days that followed, life returned to its usual rhythm.

While taking care of the farm, he also managed to educate the dozen or so students from Orange Academy who had signed up for the Battle Studies course; especially after some students learned that Luo Mu was secretly giving extra lessons to Hearing Nimo and Penny, they became dissatisfied and strongly demanded to join as well.

Among them, Poppy and Arven, who already loved battles, were the most enthusiastic.

These students did not need Luo Mu to pick them up or drop them off; each had their own method of reaching the Trainer's Beach.

For instance, Poppy and her Mankey ran all the way from the academy on foot, while Arven was dropped off by a relative riding a Tauros; unfortunately, Luo Mu, standing far away, couldn't make out the relative's appearance clearly and only felt they seemed somewhat familiar.

Then there was Hearing Nimo, who was driven over in a luxury car by her butler, but for some reason, she kept glaring discontentedly at Penny, who had just dismounted from Luo Mu's Dragonite, a reaction that even Luo Mu found puzzling.

Since Penny's parents were not around, Luo Mu had no choice but to pick him up and drop him off himself.

What surprised Luo Mu the most was that Ortega, who had recently become inexplicably enthusiastic, also participated in the activities, whereas Clavell stated he had not signed up due to being busy with Student Council work.

After gathering, Luo Mu didn't waste words on nonsense; after reminding the students to pay attention to safety, specifying the activity area near the beach, and setting the time for regrouping and return, he waved his hand and dispersed the few students who were like untamed wild horses.

Among them, Hearing Nimo instantly erupted with a frenzied battle spirit, as if "Hearing Nimo had encountered a battle opponent," and took her Pawmi and Cubchoo to scour the entire beach for battle opponents; this enthusiasm was terrifyingly intense.

Luo Mu couldn't help but wonder: after Hearing Nimo's strength improved and the number of opponents she could battle gradually dwindled, who would suffer then?

After watching the students' battles for a while, Luo Mu's own hands began to itch, so he immediately sought someone to battle.

However, seemingly because he had been bringing several Pokémon to "fish" (dominate battles) there for the past two days, trainers on the Trainer's Beach recognized him by his Pokémon species and his distinct appearance passed around by word of mouth, and one after another declined Luo Mu's battle invitations.

Just kidding; only a fool would accept a battle with no hope of victory.

Even if one defeated Pokémon like Growlithe, Mudbray, or Rockruff by leveraging level differences, the hidden boss, Delibird, would appear.

That endless array of moves of different types, along with the hard-to-resist wide-area Blizzard move, made many trainers doubt the rumor that the Delibird species was not particularly strong.

For a moment, Luo Mu found himself in a predicament where there was no one to challenge and no one to fight.

With no other choice, Luo Mu could only borrow a lifeguard uniform from the beach manager for Dragonite to wear; donning a hat, putting on a small vest, and hanging a small whistle around its neck, Dragonite truly looked the part of a lifeguard, the outfit fitting it perfectly.

With this set of clothes, even if Luo Mu had Dragonite move through the air above the beach, it would not cause panic among the surrounding crowd; instead, more people would simply think that this Trainer's Beach actually had a Dragonite lifeguard.

After asking Dragonite to keep an eye on the students' movements from the sky, Luo Mu directly mounted Swampert's back and headed out to explore the sparsely populated wilderness surrounding the area.

The ocean connected to steep cliffs, uninhabited coastlines, and numerous isolated islands floating on the sea; furthermore, Swampert's swimming speed on the water was no less than that of Jet Surfing, allowing Luo Mu, with maxed-out mobility, to find many wild Pokémon suitable for Growlithe and the others to battle in the vicinity.

As the time approached nearly 5:00 PM, with little time remaining until the agreed 6:00 PM gathering, Mudbray found itself in a bitter struggle on the edge of a cliff inaccessible to humans.

The opponent was a Klawf; a Rock-type Klawf should theoretically be countered by Mudbray's Ground-type moves, but this was a dangerous steep cliff where a slight misstep would mean falling into the surging sea, and using Ground-type moves with extremely destructive power on the environment to destroy one's own footing would undoubtedly be seeking death.

Klawf, however, was not flustered; it could move freely on nearly vertical cliff faces and had no fear of its footing being destroyed.

After a prolonged struggle, with injuries gradually accumulating on its body, Mudbray temporarily abandoned its cautious approach and took a desperate gamble; just as Klawf moved between the rock walls, Mudbray enveloped itself in red light, leaped high into the air using the High Horsepower move, and slammed full-force into Klawf, carrying it down to land on another protruding rock on the cliff edge.

It looked as if Mudbray, a Ground-type Pokémon, had actually flown.

Luo Mu, who was ready at any moment to have other Pokémon provide support, felt his heart rise to his throat; it was truly a hair's breadth away—if Mudbray's strength had been even slightly less, both it and Klawf would have plummeted into the unpredictable, surging waves below.

(End of Chapter)