Chapter 695: The Fanatical Hot Spring Enthusiast

The attack did not achieve the intended effect; not only did Walking Water fail to calm down, it became even more irritable.

Judging by its appearance, it was hard to imagine that Seeing Lei He's claim of being able to communicate with Walking Water was true.

In fact, Seeing Lei He had tried making sounds to attract Walking Water's attention, hoping to calm it down by leveraging her status as the guide who led it out of the Paldea Great Crater.

—But Walking Water's response was no; it did not "respond" at all, because it completely ignored Seeing Lei He's calls.

Walking Water's fierce, fully exposed golden-red dragon eyes locked firmly onto Lei Guan Wang.

Its wild instincts told it that Lei Guan Wang was the most threatening presence present, and also an existence it could not fathom at all.

Since that was the case, Walking Water's attention naturally focused on Lei Guan Wang.

"Roar—"

Another low growl sounded; this time, Walking Water left the reservoir area that was nearly boiling, dripping scalding water droplets as it stepped onto "dry land."

Framed by the milky-white, hazy steam, Luo Mu finally saw Walking Water's full form.

It walked upright on powerful hind legs like a tyrannosaurus, its neck covered in thick purple fur, while two spiky tails swept through the air.

Indeed, compared to Suicune, the elegant messenger of the north wind, Walking Water could entirely be regarded as an ancient, ferocious beast.

At this moment, this beast dug deep scratches into the floor with its strong hind legs, its gaze now completely locked onto Lei Guan Wang.

—It was merely one attack blocked; it would not retreat because of that.

Lei Guan Wang wore an expression of helplessness, its psychic waves precisely drilling into Walking Water's mind.

"I know you can understand; let us talk."

"Roar-ang—!" (Talk my ass!)

Walking Water violently shook its head, as if trying to fling out the uninvited psychic waves that had invaded its mind.

After a long howl, Walking Water's figure suddenly shot out from the steam, dragging faint afterimages, pouncing toward Lei Guan Wang as if hunting prey!

After all, it was an "ancient paradox species"; just as Meng Lei Gu on the farm, usually so gentle, was rarely provoked by little ones like Victini, lest they anger it.

—This fellow Walking Water might have actually preyed upon other creatures!

Compared to the predator-like Walking Water, Lei Guan Wang at this moment resembled a helpless large head of broccoli, its slender arms and legs appearing to possess not a shred of strength.

Seeing this, Miss Miss Junsha's heart instantly tightened with worry.

But because she trusted the title above Luo Mu's head, she did not act rashly.

As expected.

The moment Walking Water was about to touch Lei Guan Wang, it was as if it had hit an invisible wall; despite exerting all its strength, it could not make its raised foreclaws touch Lei Guan Wang's body.

A trace of irritation flashed in its eyes; just as it intended to pull back and seek another opportunity to attack, it discovered its body was uncontrollably frozen in mid-air.

In its mind, Lei Guan Wang's sigh slowly emerged.

"Sigh, I originally did not want to use force."

Though these were its words, Lei Guan Wang's actions were quite concise and refined.

Dense vitality suddenly gathered at Walking Water's completely undefended abdomen.

The next instant, a deep green energy sphere, formed by compressed Grass-type energy, abruptly exploded against Walking Water's abdomen.

The violent explosion immediately swept away all the surrounding steam.

Walking Water's body flew backward even faster than it had come, crashing heavily into the reservoir.

"Tsk, no matter how many times I see it, I still feel that real-life Psychic-type Pokémon are just too absurd."

Watching this scene, Luo Mu murmured in a voice only he could hear.

However, considering Walking Water should correspond to Meng Lei Gu with a Water/Dragon dual-type combination, Lei Guan Wang's energy sphere could at best be counted as a critical hit; type advantage was completely irrelevant.

The Water/Dragon dual-type combination offered excellent resistances, mostly only slightly inferior to Steel/Dragon.

The Water type's weakness to Grass-type attacks was negated by the Dragon type, but in exchange, it gained two additional weaknesses: Dragon and Fairy.

Lei Guan Wang did not know any Dragon-type moves; the only Fairy-type move it knew was "Draining Kiss."

But recalling the spectacle when Lei Guan Wang used that move, Luo Mu suddenly felt that relying on type advantages might not be necessary after all.

Just as Luo Mu was lost in random thoughts, with no intention of issuing commands.

Walking Water, blown into the reservoir by the energy sphere, floated back up, staring at Lei Guan Wang with eyes full of rage.

If before it had only intended to beat up these intruders who had repeatedly entered its newly chosen "territory,"

now it was truly enraged and decided to hold nothing back.

As if influenced by Walking Water's fury, the scalding boiling water churning throughout the entire reservoir began to bubble violently at this moment.

Seeing this, Master Master Haidai's expression changed drastically, and he cried out in alarm.

"Not good! That move is coming!"

Miss Miss Junsha and Seeing Lei He, who also had prior experience with this, subconsciously stepped back half a pace.

Luo Mu immediately turned to look at Master Master Haidai, recalling the details of his battle with Walking Water that Master Master Haidai had shared with him on the way here.

At that time, Master Master Haidai had very solemnly mentioned an extremely special Water-type move used by Walking Water.

That move was also the chief culprit that had left some of Master Master Haidai's Pokémon in need of emergency treatment.

—A move somewhat similar to "Scald," attacking with massive amounts of steam and boiling water.

That was likely also the chief culprit behind the massive amount of steam permeating the entire Bottle City.

There was a high probability that, like Meng Lei Gu's "Thunderclap," it was Walking Water's exclusive Water-type move.

"Lei Guan Wang, do not be careless."

Luo Mu spoke for the first time, offering a slight reminder to Lei Guan Wang.

However, in his view, since Lei Guan Wang could fight a Shiny Rayquaza, even without riding its steed, it should not stumble here against Walking Water.

"Mm, I will."

Lei Guan Wang nodded slightly, its gentle voice appearing in Luo Mu's mind via telepathy.

But its attention did not shift; instead, it focused entirely on Walking Wake, who was in the boiling reservoir.

Walking Wake suddenly opened its massive mouth, and the scorching steam surrounding it condensed in its throat like a water spout.

In the next instant, this steam transformed into a high-pressure steam cannon that roared forth.

The scalding white mist overflowing from the water cannon tore through the air, carrying temperatures high enough to burn large holes in steel as it rushed straight toward Lei Guan Wang.

—This was simply not a temperature that boiling water, with a boiling point not exceeding one hundred degrees, could possess; one could only say that steam was the main means of attack for this move.

In response, Lei Guan Wang merely raised its right hand slightly, while a dim blue light surged in its eyes.

An invisible psychic field unfolded before it, like the sturdiest barrier; the violent steam crashed against the barrier, scattering in all directions like waves hitting a reef, without a single drop of water vapor managing to penetrate.

The billowing white mist filled the area around Lei Guan Wang, yet it could not approach even an inch.

This scene left Master Master Haidai and the others utterly dumbfounded.

—Wait, what exactly is the origin of this Pokémon named Lei Guan Wang that Luo Mu has brought along?

Even a main force Pokémon of the Elite Four could not remain so composed under such an attack from Walking Wake, let alone avoid being touched by a single drop of water vapor, right?

Seeing its proud attack once again completely blocked by that hateful invisible wall, a trace of ruthlessness flared in Emperor Yan Di's eyes.

No one knew how it managed it, but several more steam cannons of equal power successively erupted from the reservoir, attempting to break through Lei Guan Wang's defense from different angles, much like the "Origin Pulse" of Groudon in Luo Mu's memory.

—But all of this appeared so powerless in the face of an absolute gap in strength.

Seeing that Walking Wake seemed to have exhausted its full strength, Lei Guan Wang ceased defending and instead began to spread its telekinetic power outward.

The steam cannons radiating high heat were immediately twisted and scattered by the invisible force, while Walking Wake itself was captured by Lei Guan Wang's surging telekinesis; no matter how hard it struggled, it could not break free.

"Have you had your fill of acting on your whims?"

"Can you calm down and talk now?"

At this moment, the atmosphere surrounding Lei Guan Wang changed completely, as if returning to the distant past when it was the ruler of the Crown Tundra and the king of the entire Galar region.

That imposing aura, commanding respect without anger, pressed down upon Walking Wake, cooling its overheated brain slightly.

Although it possessed intelligence, as a Paradox Pokémon after all, its former living environment was nothing like that of modern Pokémon, so it naturally chose to fight first without saying a word, just like Meng Lei Gu back then.

But at this moment, subdued by power that completely surpassed its own, Walking Wake's rationality came back online.

—Oh no, it seems I really can't beat this big-headed guy.

Such a thought surfaced in Walking Wake's mind, followed immediately by intense unwillingness.

Walking Wake did not want to give up the habitat it had set its sights on so easily; if it left here, it would be difficult to find another place.

But now, where did this dragon, which had entered a defeat cutscene, have the right to raise objections?

Seeing that the preset time for the water cycle was approaching, Luo Mu asked the engineer to go to the main control console here and pause the circulation.

As for this Walking Wake, there would be plenty of time to deal with it after matters here were settled.

Fortunately, the water vapor had no adverse effect on this equipment, which, although very old, was not so precise that a small problem would render it inoperable; one could only say that old equipment has its advantages.

Without any accidents or unexpected situations occurring, the automatic water resource cycle was temporarily locked, eliminating the risk of the entire reservoir of boiling water being sent to various parts of Bottle City.

This also allowed Luo Mu to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

When he watched movies in the past, what he hated most were plots that unnecessarily heightened tension, where either the equipment failed at a critical moment, something was missing, or a person messed up.

After resolving the "steam crisis," the next step was the session of properly "interrogating" Walking Wake, which had hissed without saying a word.

This time, with Lei Guan Wang by his side and the cheat ability of telepathy available, there was no need to rack one's brains as he had when communicating with Meng Lei Gu last time.

Whatever his side needed to say and however Walking Wake answered could all be achieved through telepathy, enabling barrier-free communication.

After briefly discussing with Master Master Haidai, Miss Miss Junsha, and the others, Luo Mu posed three questions to Walking Wake.

1. Why did it choose to occupy the automatic water resource circulation system underground in Bottle City?

2. Why did it refuse communication?

3. Was this matter instructed by Seeing Lei He?

One could tell at a glance that the third question was asked by Miss Miss Junsha.

With Miss Miss Junsha's intuition as a professional police officer, she always felt that Seeing Lei He gave her an impulse to slap handcuffs on her hands.

—Just like encountering a criminal.

Therefore, she still maintained a skeptical attitude toward Seeing Lei He's previous statements.

However, according to Walking Wake's answers, given honestly while under Lei Guan Wang's restraint, they discovered that this matter actually had little to do with Seeing Lei He; at most, she bore secondary responsibility and had no subjective intent to cause disturbance.

According to Walking Wake, it did indeed encounter Seeing Lei He inside the Great Crater of Paldea.

It was just that at that time, it had not yet found a territory that satisfied it, so it did not attack Seeing Lei He; instead, under the other party's "lure," it left the Great Crater of Paldea together with her.

Then, Seeing Lei He directly led it to a stake emitting an unpleasant aura and asked it to spray water on that stake.

Walking Wake did not refuse and indeed sprayed a mouthful of water.

But nothing happened.

Before the unbelieving Seeing Lei He could urge it to try again, Walking Wake, suddenly feeling annoyed, happened to smell the scent of a water source that matched its preferences at that very moment.

It then directly abandoned Seeing Lei He, barged all the way underground, occupied the reservoir, and began transforming it into an environment it liked.

The water vapor that permeated the whole of Bottle City was also produced during this process.

This reminded Luo Mu of the Iron Thorns he had previously taken in from the forest where the Corviknight family lived.

That fellow had also recklessly transformed the surrounding environment, shaping it into what it liked.

This is also one of the reasons why Paradox Pokémon are believed to cause huge impacts on the surrounding ecology if they escape the Great Crater of Paldea.

As for why it refused communication, it was simply because Walking Wake could not bear to part with this environment that suited its preferences, which it had worked hard all day to create.

—It really likes soaking in hot water with a certain temperature.

Compared to the environment inside the Great Crater of Paldea, this reservoir was more suitable for it to exert its abilities.

It was a pity that this place never saw the light of day; it would be even better if there were sunlight.

Originally, it had planned to find an opportunity to blast a large hole overhead to let sunlight shine in.

But before the idea of creating waves could be put into practice, it was arrested by Luo Mu and Lei Guan Wang.

Not only did it fail to recognize its mistake, but it also felt quite unlucky.

—There are so many savages in this place; without a second word, they came to snatch the territory it had worked so hard to find.

This series of heartfelt words from the wave-surging water left both Luo Mu and Lei Guan Wang silent.

They could never have imagined that the reason for such a huge incident was simply because it wanted to take a hot bath.

Are you some kind of fanatic lover of bathing or soaking in hot springs?

(End of Chapter)