"Heh?"
Gengar looked bewildered, turning to Porygon II to quietly ask if it should agree since the Trainer seemed quite upset.
Porygon II shook its head, indicating that there was no need to worry. The Trainer had always been fond of finding things to do outside of battling, it's just a matter of maintaining self-awareness.
Only then did Gengar feel at ease.
——
The next day.
Baimu took the Altered-color Milotic, Hydreigon, Dragapult, and the Dreepy Siblings on a tour of the Dragon Gate Waterfall and the Dragon Nest, bidding a final farewell to these familiar places from memory.
Who knows when the next time will be.
To Milotic, the Dragon Gate Waterfall was a truly wonderful place, where the once self-doubting self ascended to the peak with unwavering determination, achieving a perfect transformation.
In the future, any Pokémon needing faith should definitely be recommended to try the Dragon Gate Waterfall!
Oh right!
Dragapult should give it a try!
Baimu saw the spirited and earnest look in Milotic's eyes and couldn't bear to discourage this fool—the climb of the Dragon Gate Waterfall is merely one way of gaining self-confidence, there's no need to travel all the way to Meteor Falls.
There are countless suitable places for training out there.
Besides, Dragapult's issues can't be solved by just one climb. It's prone to overthinking itself into a depression when there's nothing to do.
Like how some people open melancholic music apps at 2 AM.
He gently stroked Milotic's smooth skin, thinking that sometimes being a fool isn't so bad—the smarter you are, the more you think, and the more you think, the more likely you are to get caught in a mental loop.
If it weren't for Zeroth Machine, Porygon II might also frequently need psychological guidance.
Baimu remembered going to Mauville City and the scene where it obsessively antagonized Rotom.
That's not the case anymore.
The Dragon Nest.
As usual, Milotic received a warm welcome from the dragon crowd. As a Pokémon from the dragon egg group, it happened to hit the aesthetic point of almost all male Dragon-type Pokémon—
Wait.
Even female Dragon-type Pokémon liked it!
Baimu keenly observed that some Gabite didn't have notches in their dorsal fins, and some Salamence appeared noticeably gentler than their male counterparts.
So much so that Hydreigon, who was once the Little Overlord of the Dragon Nest and invincible among the young generation, feared by both young and old, was instead being ignored by the dragons.
"Sha-zah!"
Hydreigon scoffed at this and then went off to seek revenge on the ancient dragons it could never beat before.
I've been unhappy with you for a long time!
Old Biden!
The result was that the ancient Dragon-type Pokémon woke up and teamed up to beat Hydreigon into submission. Three heads were no match for seventeen or eighteen claws, making it howl on the ground like a husky stuck against a railing.
After all, the older Dragon-type Pokémon in the Dragon Nest came from the Meteor People Dragon Tamers of the past, and each one had considerable strength.
Speaking of which.
Baimu was also quite popular, not just because he was a "money-spreading boy," always bringing a lot of tasty things to share, but also due to the strong dragon scent he carried.
As expected, Dragapult was nowhere to be found; it discovered that there were many female Dragapult in the Dragon Nest and was terribly afraid of the Trainer interrogating it with ten at a time.
It was the first time for the Dreepy Siblings to come to a place so crowded with Dragon-type Pokémon. At first, they were a bit scared, but after realizing none of the dragons were hostile, they gradually relaxed and ran around playing freely.
The Dragon Nest hadn't seen such vibrant young Dragon-type Pokémon in a long time, so most of the Dragon-type Pokémon were quite tolerant.
It was also a good chance to extort some tasty treats from Baimu.
"They're practically a bunch of bandits. Where did the dignity of the Dragon Race go?"
Baimu helplessly looked at the Dragon-type Pokémon in front of him, who seemed eager to chew his hand off, especially a certain Gabite that licked his hand thoroughly, not letting even a speck of residue escape.
He turned to look at Milotic, worried that some shameless one might take it back to the nest to lay a Dragon Egg. Fortunately, no such shameless Dragon-type Pokémon had shown up yet, and they were still in the bickering stage.
Hmm.
A fight was about to break out.
A beauty is trouble indeed...
Baimu, as the Trainer of the troublesome one, had not the slightest awareness of causing chaos in the Dragon Nest, and turned to look at the continuously beaten Hydreigon, contemplating how many days it would take to rise again.
He remembered that Hydreigon used to be so arrogant that it was ganged up on and beaten, then it gradually learned sneak attacks, becoming the war god of the strong, young, and adolescent generations.
Being out for too long recently, it seemed to forget how it won initially.
Room for improvement.
Baimu nodded, found the Dreepy Siblings playing in the water, and began selecting opponents for Dragapult to battle. The dragons in the Dragon Nest were generally fond of one-on-one duels.
The Hydreigon is just too arrogant and infuriates the dragons to the point of getting ganged up on often.
And when Dragapult discovered the trainer's intention, it immediately appeared to stop his actions. Normally, Dragon-type Pokémon would feel at home in a Dragon Nest, but it just wanted to return to its Pokeball as soon as possible.
Too many dragons, social anxiety.
Baimu actually doesn't like to force his Pokémon, stifling a Pokémon's nature is not something he wishes to see. Unfortunately, Dragapult is just too troublesome not to intervene.
Since it became reclusive yesterday, its food intake has sharply reduced to two-thirds of the usual amount, which Baimu sees as quite a serious matter.
In the short term, it might not have much of an impact on Dragapult.
In the long term, it would certainly not be conducive to its progress.
How can it improve without a full meal?
So bringing it to the Dragon Nest today was also to help it regain that fragile, often lost confidence.
However.
They hadn't found an opponent yet.
On the other side, Hydreigon suddenly started fighting with Genji's Flygon.
The latter is undoubtedly a frequent visitor of the Dragon Nest, specially flying over to honor the promise made last night, to show Hydreigon who the real boss is.
"It's hilarious if they become friends after fighting."
Baimu shook his head, and then successfully found a young Dragonite, asking it to battle Dragapult.
At first, Dragonite didn't want to agree, busy trying to please Milotic, but when it saw the latter acting coquettishly towards Baimu, it suddenly realized their relationship and agreed in no time.
The allure of beauty is utterly terrifying.
Baimu deeply realized how much of an advantage good looks could bring.
The result was not surprising.
Dragonite was no match for Dragapult at all. Its so-called speed of circumnavigating the earth in sixteen hours couldn't even touch the shadow of Dragapult.
"Huh?"
The bewildered Dragonite was left utterly confused.
Baimu was satisfied, praising Dragapult and the two Dreepy siblings, and then using Milotic's allure, he found two more similar opponents, all of whom ended in victory.
Dreepy gradually gained a bit of confidence while stomping weaker opponents, and its appetite returned.
But Baimu knew, this confidence likely wouldn't last long.
In the future, they would face only more and more monster-level Pokémon, and Genji's hexagonal Pokémon would just be the beginning. How could he send Dragapult in the Grandmaster Tournament like this?
Too taxing on the dragon.
On the other side.
The battle between Flygon and Hydreigon also concluded with the latter's victory.
Although Hydreigon was ganged up on again for being too arrogant, Flygon's defeat was an iron-clad fact, leaving it lying on the ground with its bottom stuck up, doubting dragon life, shortly followed by a bout of reclusiveness.
Something's not right.
The plot has problems!
Even if it didn't win against Hydreigon, shouldn't it have gone down together? How did it end up knocked down?
— Baimu completely understood Flygon's feelings at the moment.
He also felt that after yesterday's resonance, Hydreigon seemed to have gotten stronger, and every attack and roar touched him somehow.
The most direct manifestation was, even though he was watching Dragapult's battle, the images of Hydreigon's battle kept flashing before his eyes.
'After having resonance once, the world becomes different.'
Recalling the knowledge about resonance Genji told him yesterday and his suggestion to explore on his own, Baimu fell into a kind of contemplation.
He felt that it shouldn't have been his first resonance.
The earliest time could have been when Aggron evolved, or when he battled with Mikoli's Mega Swampert, there might have been resonance too.
No wonder this guy has always been much stronger than the other Pokémon in the team.
Baimu nodded to himself.
Then he began to look forward to the next Pokémon that would resonate with him, such as Mawile and Blissey.
One of them has Super Evolution, which should trigger resonance more easily, and the other has been with him for a long time, having gone through a spiritual growth that cured its [Inability to Attack Syndrome].
After two days.
Genji's crew arrived at Meteor Village and reported that the old man's ship docked at Kanaz City port had already been replenished and overhauled, ready to set sail anytime.
Baimu then bid farewell to the Dragon Elder and others, leaving together with Genji.
Next stop.
Ever Grande City's Champion Alliance.