Chapter 177: That Ancient Whale Cry from the Depths of the Ocean

Although Wailmer's injuries were severe, most were superficial wounds inflicted by Sharpedo's sharp teeth.

Unlike ordinary scrapes and scratches, treating Wailmer required carefully applying medicine to the wounds.

"Whee~"

Wailmer woke up during the treatment; upon seeing Luo Mu, and especially the obviously formidable Dragonite, it was initially somewhat panicked.

But Pokémon are simple creatures after all; Luo Mu and Dragonite bore no ill will, and the medicine Luo Mu used on Wailmer was effective and far from cheap.

The body's sensations do not lie.

Realizing that Luo Mu and Dragonite were treating it and had even driven away those Sharpedo, Wailmer's attitude toward Luo Mu visibly grew affectionate.

Wailmer's cute, sesame-seed-sized little eyes looked at Luo Mu with gratitude; if it hadn't been unable to move freely, it would likely have pressed close to show its affection.

By the time Luo Mu finished treating Wailmer's injuries, Swampert had already brought Finizen back to his side.

Wiping the sweat beading on his forehead, Luo Mu let out a long sigh; as he stretched to loosen his body, he saw Swampert swimming back and Finizen, who seemed inexplicably excited.

"It's fine, they mean no harm either."

Noticing that Wailmer seemed slightly nervous due to Swampert and Finizen's arrival, Luo Mu gently patted its elastic body.

The slight rebound sensation transmitted through his palm made Luo Mu lose focus for an instant; this texture felt just like a small, highly elastic rubber ball—come to think of it, Wailmer often ran onto beaches to bounce around playfully.

When Swampert and Finizen drew near, Luo Mu spotted several injuries on Finizen; as for the matter of those Sharpedo, he didn't even need to ask, the result being obvious at a glance.

As soon as Swampert approached, it floated motionless on the sea surface, whereas Finizen first swam several circles around Swampert, then, discovering that the Wailmer it had saved had awakened, excitedly swam circles around it as well.

Looking at the inexplicably excited Finizen, Luo Mu cast a glance toward Swampert.

"What's going on?"

Swampert, tacitly receiving Luo Mu's signal, wore a strange expression, shook its head helplessly, first opened its mouth wide to mimic a Sharpedo, then used its arms to imitate a Finizen, and directly bit down.

Originally, Swampert's performance should have been extremely abstract, as evidenced by the confused expressions on Dragonite and Wailmer.

Yet Luo Mu strangely got its meaning, the words slipping out: "Did a Sharpedo bite its brain into having problems?"

Since it could even mistake itself for Palafin, there must truly be something wrong somewhere; thinking this, Swampert nodded affirmatively.

Luo Mu's expression instantly turned strange; while he could rely on the medicine in his backpack to treat external injuries, brain issues were another matter entirely.

While they exchanged glances here, Finizen, who was circling around Wailmer over there, suddenly felt as though it had been offended, but no matter how its little brain worked, it couldn't figure out why.

However, it, Finizen, was a Pokémon whose goal was to become the sea hero Palafin in the future, so such trivial details were completely unworthy of attention!

Finizen continued swimming with a joyful expression, acting just like a Husky of the sea.

After Finizen calmed down, Luo Mu treated its injuries as well; during the process, Luo Mu noticed that Finizen kept looking at Swampert with adoration.

How should one describe it? Luo Mu felt that Finizen looked at Swampert as if gazing upon an idol.

It was probably because Swampert had descended like a god to save it; Luo Mu didn't dwell on it, as the immediate priority should be the matter at hand.

Luo Mu quietly looked at the well-behaved Wailmer and the somewhat restless Finizen, his eyes dying for an instant, as if resenting why he still had to babysit during his vacation.

But the immediate priority was indeed how to find Finizen and Wailmer's parents and return them to their care.

Both Finizen and Wailmer were social creatures, and solitary individuals hardly existed; since he had already stepped in to save them, Luo Mu wouldn't just act as a hands-off manager and leave—he definitely had to send them back to their parents.

How to locate the Wailmer became the problem Luo Mu now faced; he thought for a moment, concluding that finding people, finding things, and finding Pokémon were matters the System handled most professionally, so he immediately planned to ask the System for a hint.

But Swampert, which had been floating quietly on the sea surface, suddenly lifted its head, its gaze stretching far toward the distant sea.

Swampert's fins could perceive waves and changes in wind force on the sea surface to predict weather, which also meant its sensory abilities were extremely keen; at this moment, through its fins, it perceived a massive creature swimming rapidly toward them.

The other party's size was probably more than ten times its own!!

A trace of solemnity dyed Swampert's gaze as it let out a vigilant cry.

Dragonite, who was carefully guarding Luo Mu riding on Wailmer's back to prevent him from falling into the water, reacted quickly, scooping up the confused Luo Mu and preparing to fly into the sky.

Dragonite's appearance, as if facing a great enemy, left Luo Mu somewhat baffled, whereas Wailmer seemed to sense something, letting out an excited whale call with a face full of agitation.

Even Finizen stopped its frolicking movements.

After the initial bewilderment, Luo Mu quickly understood why Swampert and Dragonite were acting as if facing a great enemy.

The noisy seabird calls occasionally heard in the sky were suddenly paused as if by a switch; on the tranquil sea in the distance, waves began to rise like a precursor to a tsunami, and an ancient cry, as if echoing from the depths of the ocean, resonated within his mind.

In an instant, a massive creature broke through the seawater and surfaced; a huge pillar of water sprayed from an organ on its back, and that enormous blue body made Luo Mu nearly forget to breathe.

The other party was simply too massive.

Ten-plus meters, twenty-plus meters?

Luo Mu couldn't tell; he only knew that the Pokémon before him was likely the largest Pokémon he had ever seen, both in length and width, an overwhelmingly dominant presence.

No wonder even Swampert, who usually remained unmoved even if Taishan collapsed before it, had lost its composure.

Even knowing its own power far surpassed the other's, the oppression brought by that massive body was not something easily overcome, and such a huge body was itself a weapon.

Luo Mu knew what this Pokémon was called: Wailord, the evolved form of Wailmer, referred to by the Pokédex as the largest known Pokémon in the world.

If one excluded Gigantamax and Eternamax forms, this was indeed true.

After surfacing, that Wailord swam toward them with a clear objective; Luo Mu knew the other party was likely coming for the Wailmer below.

Probably, this Wailord was the parent of this Wailmer, having temporarily separated from its pod to search for its child's whereabouts.

Speaking of children, Luo Mu remembered: couldn't Wailord breed eggs with Skitty?

Luo Mu's expression instantly turned strange.

(End of Chapter)