Chapter 839: Chapter 540: Champion Sparring Partner
"We won! Lo— *cough cough!* Baimu!"
"Chuu! Churuu!"
In the stands, Liuqia cheered at the top of her lungs. The excited Altaria danced through the air, singing loudly.
Such an intense reaction made Adam next to her and Mikoli below either hold their foreheads or have the corners of their mouths twitch, as they both showed the same helpless wry smile.
Granted, no one ever expected rebellious-phase Liuqia to cheer for her dear uncle and mentor...
But your bias is way too obvious, isn’t it?!
Does your uncle not need his pride?
Baimu, who also heard the shout, exchanged a look with the Aggron who had reverted to normal, then turned his head and gave her a thumbs-up with a grin.
"Hahaha!"
"Guroar!"
He and Liuqia might call each other master and disciple in private.
But both of them knew very well that behind that was actually a heavy, completely unadulterated friendship.
For Liuqia, who, due to her status and environment, had almost no friends her own age, Baimu’s presence was truly precious.
Even after she later got to know Xiaoguang, Xiaoyao, and the others, she still considered him one of her best friends.
What’s more, as Baimu’s guide in the Gorgeous Competition, every time she saw him shine on stage, she would feel proud as if it were her own achievement.
Do Master-Uncle and Uncle watch her in the Gorgeous Competition with this same feeling?
Liuqia had been understanding these two mentors more and more lately.
Down below.
"Hoo..."
Baimu let out a long breath, glanced at the scene of devastation before him and the clouds above that were gradually dispersing, then recalled Aggron back into its ball.
The Big Monster was no longer capable of battling. That long-prepared final blow had nearly exhausted all of its stamina.
To be honest.
Mega Swampert and it were basically each other’s worst matchup: the former felt it was ridiculously tough to hit, while it thought the former was so fast it could barely even touch it.
If not for that last Metal Explosion having stored up the full power of the Water Flow Rupture combo and having a wide enough area of effect, then with Mega Swampert’s mobility, even if it retreated after the fact, it could have avoided at least most of the damage.
If he’d startled the snake into the grass too rashly.
Once Mikoli realized that Aggron’s Metal Explosion could detonate directly instead of the usual way of gathering power in its mouth as an Energy Bullet and then firing, there’d basically be no way to make Mega Swampert use that kind of explosive combo again.
This victory was filled with Aggron’s resolve and Baimu’s trust in it—his firm belief that it could hold out until Metal Explosion was unleashed.
"It hasn’t been easy for the two of us."
He sighed with emotion.
Swampert’s strength was absolutely at the standard of a main Champion ace, but the fact that a Hall Master can’t switch Pokémon mid-battle was a nerf Mikoli had to take into account.
That made Baimu realize he still had a long way to go to catch up to the Champions of the mainstream regions.
And precisely because of that—
Even though he’d beaten Swampert, he didn’t dare relax in the slightest.
The bigger one was coming!
"Mm..."
Baimu’s fingers slid one by one across the Pokeballs in his pocket.
Such a headache...
A proper Gym Battle was about to turn into something on the level of the Champion Alliance.
But winning a battle like this was way more thrilling than just winning a Gym Battle; the sense of achievement between the two simply couldn’t be compared.
Besides, that faint excitement and fluttering in his chest all came from Mikoli’s awe-inspiring Champion-level strength.
Fighting strong opponents often stimulates both Trainer and Pokémon, pushing them further.
After today—
Whether or not he obtained the Glazed Badge, he, Aggron, and the rest of his Pokémon were all going to gain new developments, until they ran into their next bottleneck.
Of course.
To repay Aggron’s will, he had to find a way to win.
He still had three Pokémon who could fight, all in fairly good condition. How much of a chance did he have against Mikoli’s even stronger ace, Milotic?
Considering that Galarian Corsola had weird moves like [Shared Fate] and [Curse]...
At least the odds weren’t zero!
As for how to actually pull those two moves off—
And whether Mikoli and Milotic would let his scheme succeed, that was another story.
As long as there’s hope!
Baimu had confidence in his Pokémon.
So what if it’s a Champion’s ace?
This is the anime world; even Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu still wipes out unexpectedly when it’s fighting alone.
Not to mention he remembered that in Journeys, when Mikoli had a street battle with Ash Ketchum, he sent out his full team and still lost to Ash, who mostly used newer members.
Meanwhile.
Mikoli, having finished comforting Swampert, also spoke up.
"You may look very excited, but unfortunately, things probably won’t go the way you’re hoping."
He tossed out a Pokeball.
Bang!
White light flashed.
"Dodong!"
A heavy roar sounded. The Pokémon that appeared was not the Milotic Baimu had expected, but a plump, burly Walrein.
Its huge tusks reflected gem-like radiance under the lights.
Looking at the stunned Baimu across from him, Mikoli said, "Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not holding back; I just don’t want the battle to become boring."
A battle can reveal a Trainer’s character.
Someone as skilled as him could even see through a Trainer’s battle style and habits.
Milotic’s offense might not be as fierce as Mega Swampert’s, but once you factored in its status moves, defenses, sustain, and tactical options, its overall strength far surpassed the latter’s.
The battle would only get more difficult.
Given Mikoli’s current impression of Baimu, he believed that once the latter realized there was a large gap in raw strength and that a normal fight couldn’t win, he would inevitably build his entire win condition around how to trigger [Shared Fate].
