Chapter 467: The Agile Snorlax in the Sea, The Past of Swampert

After breakfast.

Time flew, and it was already eight o'clock.

The traces of the giant Pokémon still had not appeared, and there was not the slightest sign of fog forming around them.

At this point, the few of them had no choice but to admit a reality—

Today, the other party probably would not appear.

While feeling disappointed, Hearing Nimo looked at Luo Mu and Ash with an apologetic expression, "I'm sorry; I made you two make a wasted trip today."

Luo Mu waved his hand, acting as if he did not take the matter to heart, "It's fine; if we could see it every day, the news would have already covered the sky."

These words directly enlightened the few of them, and everything suddenly became clear before their eyes.

That's right.

If the other party showed up around here every day, it would not have fallen to the three of us, who had just arrived here after traveling for a short while, to discover it; it should have been exposed long ago.

Precisely because the other party's appearance was extremely random, something one could encounter but not seek, it had remained unknown to people all along.

After figuring it out, the three of them stopped dwelling on this matter and made a decision.

"We will keep watch for another night tonight; if we do not wait for it, then we will set off for the location of the last Gym, Frostpoint Mountain!"

Watching the three of them chatter and settle on a plan and itinerary without blindly dwelling on this matter, the corner of Luo Mu's mouth curled up imperceptibly.

They seem to have matured quite a bit.

At this moment.

Ash suddenly stood up and asked curiously, "Then what are we doing during the day today? Are we still staying here to battle?"

By the end of his sentence, he was directly excited, rubbing his fists, looking as if he could not wait.

Ash's question was well-posed; the three of them exchanged glances, discussed it with some hesitation for a while, and gave an answer.

Special training in the morning, rushing to Berri Town after lunch to challenge the Gym, and then returning to the beach to keep watch for the giant Pokémon! Calling it special training, it was actually nothing more than the endless, fanatical Pokémon battles between Ash and Hearing Nimo.

The two of them rested for a while, then started fighting again, looking not tired at all.

Arven complained, "Usually when traveling in the wild, she calls it a day after walking for ten minutes, saying she can't walk anymore and needs to rest; I don't know where the stamina comes from at this time, is it from another dimension?"

Paldea nodded quietly in agreement.

Obviously, she also thought Arven's complaint hit the nail on the head.

Luo Mu, however, was quite happy about this; with Ash around, Hearing Nimo would not keep pestering him to battle, and he was happy to have some leisure.

He directly asked Arven and Paldea about their travel gains over these two months.

After all, after the Frostpoint Gym at Frostpoint Mountain, their treasure hunting would come to an end, and they would return to the academy.

Paldea displayed the four copper belts she had obtained from the Fighting Championships; on the way to Frostpoint Mountain, using these four copper belts as a stepping stone, she would participate in the upcoming Grand Fighting Championship to strive for a ranking.

Arven directly displayed the four carefully preserved secret condiments he had obtained: sweet, bitter, salty, and spicy; this meant he had successfully collected these items from the hands of the Rock Wall, Sky, Deep Steel, and False Dragon Pokémon Masters.

Luo Mu did not expect that the first person to complete the goal he had set would be Arven.

But when Luo Mu asked Arven if he had caught a Teddiursa or a Ursaring, he fell silent.

Arven displayed the five Pokémon he had currently caught.

Ao Ao Jiaofu, Shroodle, Cloyster, Scovillain, and Palafin; almost the same lineup as in the game, showing that this guy had quite a strong obsession with food and cooking.

Unfortunately, he had not caught a Teddiursa or an Ursaring.

After a few seconds of silence, Luo Mu held his forehead and said, "When you need them, come find me to take them."

"Okay."

Arven nodded lightly and handed the four boxes containing the secret condiments to Luo Mu.

Luo Mu did not accept them; instead, he handed the sour seasoning he had prepared long ago to Arven and instructed, "If any emergency situation arises during your travels, do not hesitate; use it directly."

Who knew that just as Arven showed a moved expression, Luo Mu said with a smile, "If there is a real need, I will ask your parents for reimbursement; I am quite interested in many things in Area Zero."

Arven: "..."

Give my moved feelings back to me!

On the other side.

The battle on the beach reached its end once again.

Only this time, a scene occurred that made everyone present drop their jaws.

Ash's Snorlax faced off against Hearing Nimo's Decidueye; in terms of attributes, both sides had their own advantages; facing the Grass- and Ghost-type Decidueye, the Snorlax, with its Normal-type moves, could only use Ice Punch.

Decidedly, Decidueye could fly and could continuously launch long-range attacks; to Decidueye, Snorlax's size was like a target.

At this moment, our battle genius Ash had a sudden inspiration and issued an order, "Snorlax, go into the sea!"

This move immediately silenced Arven and Paldea.

They said incredulously, "With Snorlax's size, going into the seawater, won't it sink?"

But the reality was completely different from what the two of them imagined.

Under Decidueye's pursuit, the Snorlax that fled into the sea was like a fish returning to water, and its agility rapidly skyrocketed.

Snorlax, using a mixed swimming posture of butterfly stroke, freestyle, and even underwater swimming, successfully lured Decidueye near the sea surface, seized the opportunity, and landed a highly effective Ice Punch that knocked Decidueye out of the sky, establishing the path to victory.

Even Hearing Nimo had not anticipated that the situation would go berserk like this.

Looking at the Decidueye that had lost the ability to battle due to Ash and Snorlax's strange move, after a brief silence, Hearing Nimo became excited.

"What is wrong with this Snorlax? Can it actually swim!?"

Hearing Nimo excitedly asked Ash the question.

"Such a flexible... fatty."

Paldea widened her eyes and made her evaluation.

Arven even doubted life itself, "Swims better than me..."

Seeing them look as if they had never seen the world, Luo Mu smiled and said nothing.

If they knew that not only could a Snorlax swim with speed no inferior to Water-type Pokémon, but that a Pikachu could also properly surf, the consequences would be dire.

Ash and Hearing Hearing Nimo's second round of battle lasted a full hour; after finishing, they originally wanted to rest a while before continuing, but under Luo Mu's strict order, the two could only temporarily rein in their enthusiasm.

Maintaining high-intensity battles for too long not only drains the trainers' mental energy but also burdens the Pokémon, likely affecting the afternoon's strategy for the Medali Gym.

This kind of special training is fine in moderation.

With some time still remaining until lunch and having rarely visited the seaside, everyone released their carried Pokémon to play around individually.

It was precisely after witnessing two months of travel that Luo Mu observed the team compositions of Geeta and Hearing Hearing Nimo; Geeta's team had newly added an Ursaring and a Kingambit, her Combusken had evolved into Blaziken, and combined with her Annihilape, Toxicroak, and Breloom, she now possessed a team composed almost entirely of Fighting-types.

In Hearing Hearing Nimo's team, Rowlet had evolved into Decidueye, Sliggoo had evolved into Goodra, and combined with her Pawmot, Ursaring, and Paldean Tauros, her team was nearing completion.

Both of them came from wealthy families, so their supply of nutritional items would certainly never be interrupted; such rapid progress was therefore only reasonable.

Hearing Hearing Nimo had been raising her Sliggoo for nearly half a year, and coupled with the endless stream of resources supplied by her family, it was entirely logical for Sliggoo to complete its final evolution and become a true pseudo-legendary.

Today, Luo Mu did not bring many Pokémon.

Aside from his main forces, Dragonite and Swampert, he had only the Gyarados caught in Kitakami and the shiny Feebas.

Originally, Luo Mu had planned to bring along Poliwrath and its three Poliwag subordinates.

However, Poliwrath seemed still to be holding a grudge over its subordinates losing to Ash's Primeape, choosing to stay at the farm to conduct extra training with them rather than coming here to relax.

Dragonite and Swampert were fine, as they were Pokémon who had already seen the ocean.

In contrast, for Gyarados and Feebas, this was their first time seeing the real sea.

Kitakami is located inland; aside from Gyarados occasionally flying out of Crystal Pool to find some Berries to supplement Feebas's meals, the two Pokémon had always lived within Crystal Pool.

Seeing the sparkling ocean for the first time, the two Pokémon felt memories deep within their bloodlines awaken, and happily began roaming the boundless sea.

Fortunately, most aquatic Pokémon possess strong adaptability; whether in inland freshwater lakes or the ocean, they can adapt quickly without any unexpected accidents occurring.

Luo Mu also changed into swim trunks he had prepared earlier, grabbed a surfboard, went out to sea with Swampert and Dragonite, found some waves, and started surfing.

Midway through.

Luo Mu even took Pikachu, which was radiating an atmosphere of "I really want to play," to experience surfing.

Should one say that God Pikachu truly deserves the title of God Pikachu?

Although it hadn't successfully lost weight yet, its control over its body was already quite good; after being taught a few times, it became proficient, riding naturally formed waves and surfing to its heart's content.

Watching this, Ash, who was playing in the sand on the beach with Squirtle, Krabby, and Totodile, was utterly stunned.

He even recalled the Pikachu named Maguire whom he had encountered at sea in Binu Town during his journey in the Kanto region.

That fellow could even master a giant wave called Big Tuesday, which occurs only once every twenty years! Seeing that it was nearly noon.

Having played enough, with Swampert's help, Luo Mu and Pikachu quickly returned to the beach.

When handing the dripping-wet Pikachu over to Ash, Luo Mu smiled and said, "It's a pity time is insufficient; otherwise, today Pikachu might have truly learned the move 'Surf'."

"When we return, if there's an opportunity, we can try working toward this; it can effectively counter Ground-type Pokémon."

"Ah-oh!"

Taking Pikachu, Ash froze for a second, then immediately realized the implication and nodded solemnly.

Lunchtime.

Luo Mu honored the promise he made at breakfast today, preparing an omelet rice overflowing with ketchup for Pikachu.

For a moment, Pikachu's affection toward Luo Mu soared straight toward Ash; if it were still a Pichu, this alone might have been enough to trigger its evolution.

During the post-meal period, Geeta asked a question that sparked the interest of Hearing Hearing Nimo, Arven, and even Ash.

"Teacher Luo Mu, you said your Dragonite was raised from a Pokémon Egg; what about Swampert? Isn't it a Pokémon that doesn't have a population distribution in the Paldea region?"

"Did you catch it in the Hoenn region?"

Arven and Hearing Hearing Nimo instantly pricked up their ears.

To be honest, they were also quite curious about how Luo Mu had caught his main six Pokémon.

Especially Swampert and Serperior; theoretically, these two do not have distributions in the Paldea region, being starter Pokémon from the Hoenn and Unova regions respectively.

Suddenly asked this question, Luo Mu exchanged a glance with Swampert, who was eating quietly, and after pondering briefly, finally spoke: "Hmm, let me first ask you all a question."

"During these two months of travel, have any of you encountered criminals known as 'Pokémon Hunters' or 'Poachers'?"

The three instantly froze, and after a moment, gently shook their heads. "We've heard of them, but haven't directly encountered any."

"I thought as much."

Luo Mu nodded lightly.

In fact, compared to many other regions, Pokémon Hunters in Paldea are far fewer.

Aside from the Paldea League's vigorous crackdown, a more important point is that the Paldea region has no protective umbrellas for these dark insects; regarding their attitude, the entire region of Paldea shares a consensus—

Uproot them completely, showing no mercy.

It is precisely Paldea's determined stance on cracking down that makes many Pokémon Hunters prefer going to other regions rather than coming here.

Of course, that is only relative; such matters cannot be completely eradicated, as some people will always ignore risks in the face of profit and continue to install—no, to take desperate chances.

Even to this day, poaching incidents still occasionally occur in various wild Pokémon habitats across the Paldea region.

This is also a matter that Geeta, who currently holds the highest authority in Paldea, has been consistently combating.

At least before Luo Mu became a Champion-level trainer, he frequently helped the Paldea authorities capture some poachers in exchange for bounties, which constituted the bulk of his resources for purchasing training supplies for his Pokémon in the early stages.

Through this back-and-forth, Geeta took notice of him.

Of course, there was no need to tell Hearing Hearing Nimo and the others about these details.

Gazing at Swampert, Luo Mu recalled with a trance-like expression: "Mudkip and Swampert were among the Pokémon I rescued when I destroyed a large inter-regional poaching syndicate."

"It did not want to experience that sense of powerlessness again and craved the power to overturn and change all of this, while I needed a suitable partner; we hit it off immediately and became partners, that is all."

In just two short sentences, the causes and consequences of how Luo Mu and Swampert met were revealed.

The three, listening intently, widened their eyes, not expecting such a story lay behind it.

Although Luo Mu did not elaborate in detail, they could guess that the experiences between Luo Mu and Swampert certainly went far beyond just this.

After all, the depth of their bond was such that they could already wield the power known as "Mega Evolution"! Xiao Zhi also recalled what Luo Mu had said earlier about Larvitar being stolen by Pokémon Hunters, and with an indignant expression, he declared, "Those Pokémon Hunters are truly terrible!"

Following this rare moment of reminiscence, each person became lost in their own world, pondering various thoughts while efficiently cleaning up the site.

They packed away the tents, cleared the dining ware, and ensured no trash was left behind on the beach.

Once everything was restored to its original state, guaranteeing no impact on the natural environment, the five of them set out toward Artazon.

With Swampert and Gyarados carrying Nemona, Arven, Grusha, and Xiao Zhi by sea to the base of the massive rock where Artazon was built, Luo Mu and Dragonite led the way ahead, ferrying them up one by one.

In this manner, they would smoothly arrive at Artazon, known as the "Town of Stars and Pottery," in under two hours.

Coincidentally, Luo Mu also wished to visit Grusha, the Gym Leader of the Artazon Gym.

He figured she should be able to offer considerable advice regarding Feebas.

(End of Chapter)