CHAPTER 1496: SILLY, SWEET, AND NAIVE DOUDUO AND VAIN, BEAUTIFUL NINETALES

Gengar took a sharp breath and floated back up from the ground. It didn’t choose to clash head-on with Medicham but instead disappeared once more from sight.

Medicham landed on the ground, cautiously watching its surroundings, afraid that Gengar would launch a sneak attack from the shadows.

Of course Gengar was going to sneak attack. While it certainly had the ability to fight head-on, direct confrontation was never its style.

Somehow, Medicham suddenly felt the surrounding temperature drop sharply, sending a chill down its spine.

At that moment, countless ghostly blue flames suddenly rose up from the battlefield as if from thin air, floating like little lanterns suspended in the air. There were so many of them, they were almost uncountable.

Surrounded by these flames, Medicham couldn’t feel any heat. The scene looked dreamlike and eerily beautiful, but Medicham only felt a biting cold spreading through its body.

Suddenly, the Will-O-Wisps began to move. They slowly started to rotate around Medicham, and each flame seemed to conceal a beast inside it, ready to lunge out at any moment.

Medicham tried to use its psychic power to intercept the flames, but each time it blocked one, another slipped out of control. If it caught that one, the first would escape again.

There were simply too many Will-O-Wisps. Medicham couldn’t control them all. As a Pokémon that excelled in physical attacks, its psychic control couldn’t compare to Psychic-types that specialized in special attacks.

Boom—

Finally, the ghostly flames, originally only the size of fists, all exploded. The flames surged fiercely, as if doused with oil, and in no time, they fused into one giant wall of fire.

Now, Medicham had nowhere to run. It was completely engulfed by the inferno.

"Medicham!"

Bruno, who had remained calm up until now, finally showed emotion. He shouted out, but all that came from the flames was Medicham’s muffled groan of pain. Anyone could hear the suffering in its voice, yet its strong willpower helped it endure.

The sea of flames didn’t last long. After all, Gengar wasn’t a Fire-type Pokémon, and maintaining such a firestorm wasn’t easy. When the flames finally dispersed, Medicham was kneeling on one knee in a sorry state, its body covered in scorched patches.

It had fallen into a burned status—not only would it suffer constant pain from the burns, but the power of its physical attacks would also be halved.

( `▽´ ) "Gengar~ Gengar~ Gengar~"

Gengar reappeared, floating in midair, clutching its belly with one hand and pointing at Medicham with the other as it burst into laughter, its voice full of mockery and ridicule.

(￣▽￣)~ ~ You were acting all tough, weren’t you? Come hit me! Come hit me if you can!

This time, Medicham truly lost its composure. It glared furiously at Gengar and launched several Psycho Cut blades with a flick of its hand.

Shu shu shu—

The psychic blades flew toward Gengar, but Gengar calmly dodged them one by one. Medicham, now emotionally provoked, had lost its precision, and its control over its moves was no longer as sharp as before.

This was exactly the moment Gengar had been waiting for. Its figure blurred and vanished from sight, and in the blink of an eye, it appeared right in front of Medicham. Caught off guard, Medicham met Gengar’s gaze directly.

In that instant, Medicham felt as if it had fallen into a deep, dark abyss. All the scenery around it disappeared, and its mind grew foggy. Its consciousness was slowly slipping away.

"Medicham! Medicham! Med—..."

It heard the voice of its Trainer calling out to it, but the sound grew more and more distant until it vanished completely.

Boom—

Medicham collapsed headfirst onto the ground.

The Hypnosis had taken effect successfully, and Gengar’s grin grew even more brazen and over-the-top.

But it wasn’t over yet—two dark tendrils suddenly shot out from Gengar’s eyes and landed on Medicham’s body. Medicham’s face immediately twisted in agony, and it let out low, pained groans of "huh... huh..." from its mouth. It looked as though it was suffering to the extreme.

The audience outside couldn’t help but gasp. Even though they didn’t know what kind of dream Medicham was trapped in, its twisted expression and painful groans were enough to make everyone feel as if they were sharing in its nightmare.

"That Gengar is way too twisted!" everyone thought in unison.

No matter how loudly Bruno called out, Medicham showed no signs of waking up.

Medicham had been hit by Gengar’s Nightmare move.

Tormented by the nightmare, Medicham soon lost its Mega Evolved form and, not long after, fainted right there in its sleep—unable to battle any longer.

"The match is over!!! Medicham is unable to battle! Gengar wins!"

The announcer shouted the results enthusiastically, and the roar of cheers immediately followed from the crowd. Some were shouting Yuga’s name, others were cheering for Bruno.

"He won, he won! Mr. Shimizu won!" the students from Verdanturf University cheered. Because of their connection with Ayaya and the others, their hearts had naturally leaned toward supporting Yuga.

"As expected, the Gym Leader won. I knew it—he’s the strongest!" Ayaya said excitedly, unable to hide her joy.

Anmu and Anlin were also grinning from ear to ear. In their eyes, Yuga had always been the strongest Trainer in the world—and the person they admired the most.

After the battle ended, Medicham was helped back to consciousness by Gengar. However, since its stamina hadn’t recovered, it still looked quite worn out.

"You did great. Let’s keep pushing forward together." Bruno comforted Medicham with a few gentle words before recalling it back into its Poké Ball.

After calling Gengar back, Yuga walked over to Bruno, extended his right hand, and said with a smile, "That was a battle that really got my blood pumping!"

Bruno grasped Yuga’s hand firmly and praised him: "As expected of you. I’ve learned so much from today’s battle!"

Though the two had met more than a few times, this was actually the first time they had officially battled each other.

The match had ended, but the audience’s excitement didn’t die down. Amidst their thunderous cheers, Yuga and Bruno left the battlefield.

When they arrived at the resting area, Wikstrom was already waiting for them. Seeing them enter, he said sincerely, "You two really opened my eyes today."

Yuga quickly responded modestly, "That’s too kind, too kind. Though it’s a bit of a shame we didn’t get to have a match."

Wikstrom’s eyes lit up when he heard that: "Then when shall we schedule it?"

"Haha... haha... some other time, if there’s a chance." Yuga responded awkwardly. He had only said that to be polite!

Wikstrom didn’t press further. The three of them began discussing the battles from earlier, and only after more than an hour did they finally part ways.

During that time, the Arena’s director had come by, hoping to invite the three of them to lunch. However, they all declined at the same time.

The director didn’t push it. He respectfully escorted the three out of the arena. Bruno and Wikstrom left directly, while Yuga turned and headed toward the Battle Tower.

From behind, Ninetales said, "Those guys must be starving by now."

Yuga replied guiltily, "There were special circumstances. They’ll understand."

When he arrived at the Battle Tower, Yuga stepped into the private lounge he had reserved and saw his Pokémon sprawled weakly all over the floor. It was obvious at a glance—they were starving.

They had been battling non-stop in the Battle Tower, and the energy they expended was enormous. Each meal had to be filling and—more importantly—nutritious.

As soon as Douduo entered, Chimecho was the first to speak up.

"What’s your deal, huh? Coming back so late—were you trying to starve us all so you could have Yuga to yourself?"

Before Douduo could even respond, Chimecho continued, "Don’t you dare make excuses. I knew it! You totally want to steal Yuga from me. But no matter what, I’m Yuga’s favorite!"

Douduo didn’t say a word either. It just quietly stared at Chimecho, as if to say: Go on, keep performing—I’m watching.

Yuga followed Douduo through the door, and upon hearing the exchange, quickly apologized: "I’m sorry, it’s all my fault that Douduo was late bringing you all your meals today."

Only then did Chimecho notice Yuga. She immediately forgot all about her hunger and threw herself into Yuga’s arms.

"Yuga, I missed you so much! You haven’t come to see me in days!"

Yuga picked her up and said, "Well, I’m here now, aren’t I? You must be starving. It’s all my fault."

Upon hearing this, Chimecho suddenly said,

"Oh, it’s fine! You had important things to do. Me being a little hungry is no big deal."

Her attitude was completely different from how she had just treated Douduo.

None of the others were surprised by this—they were used to it. Right now, all they cared about was eating.

Under their eager gazes, Douduo quickly distributed the Pokéblocks to everyone.

Currently, the output of top-tier Pokéblocks from YoYo Day Care was still low, so even Yuga’s main Pokémon couldn’t eat them every meal. But during this period of intensive training at the Battle Tower, Yuga had brought out his entire personal supply.

Yuga had already decided that his main team would be stationed at the Battle Tower for ongoing training. So the issue of Pokéblocks had to be resolved. Only top-tier Pokéblocks could maximize his Pokémon’s training efficiency.

Misaki was in charge of supplying the store, so the best solution was for him to become a top-tier Pokéblock maker himself.

He still had a lot of work to do!

After eating their fill, the Pokémon all lay on the ground in various sprawled-out positions. Only then did Yuga begin asking them about their training progress.

Even though Douduo gave him daily reports, since he was here in person, he wanted to hear it directly.

As expected, Chimecho was the first to jump up. She waved her arms and feet, enthusiastically telling Yuga how amazing she had been and how many levels she had cleared.

Of course, in the Battle Tower, clearing more levels didn’t necessarily mean you were stronger than others who had cleared fewer. That’s because the challenge difficulty was tailored to each Pokémon’s own strength. The more you pushed your limits, the more levels you could clear.

For example, if Ninetales went through it and only cleared the first level, she’d still be stronger than Chimecho, who had cleared a hundred levels.

But that didn’t stop Chimecho from proudly showing off, just to get Yuga’s praise.

All in all, everyone performed well and had shown some degree of improvement. As expected, Chimecho happily received the praise she craved and contentedly went off to rest.

On his way home, Yuga happened to spot Chikai coming out of a store with shopping bags in hand. By his side was the Flabébé he had bought from YoYo Day Care.

This was actually the first time Yuga had seen Flabébé again since it left YoYo Day Care with Chikai. But unlike the joyful and excited mood it had when it left with him back then, now the little Flabébé looked somewhat lonely. It seemed like it wanted to get closer to Chikai but didn’t dare to.

Douduo, having interacted with Chikai quite a few times, was relatively familiar with him. It was just about to greet Chikai and Flabébé when Yuga stopped it.

Douduo looked at Yuga in confusion, but Yuga simply shook his head, offering no explanation.

Watching Chikai gradually walk away, Yuga couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. There was a lingering sense of disharmony, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

Chikai kept walking, unaware that Yuga and the others were just a short distance behind him. Not until he completely disappeared from Yuga’s view did Yuga finally lead Douduo and Ninetales home.

On the way, Ninetales asked, "Was something wrong with that guy just now?"

Yuga thought for a moment and said, "I just had a strange feeling. I can’t explain it clearly—maybe it’s just my imagination."

But Ninetales responded, "If you feel like there’s something wrong with him, then something’s definitely up with that guy."

Douduo, on the other hand, looked puzzled and said, "I didn’t feel anything off about Chikai. He’s a nice person, isn’t he? Everyone at the Day Care seems to like him."

Ninetales rolled its eyes and said, "What do you know, you silly goody-two-shoes? The fact that everyone likes him is the problem! Who can be liked by everyone? I’m this gorgeous and even I don’t get liked by everyone!"

Otherwise I’d have been a superstar long ago! Ninetales silently added in its heart.

In truth, it had always been baffled—how could a Pokémon as beautiful as it had yet to land a breakout film role? Only someone of Diantha’s status was worthy of its looks!

Douduo glared at Ninetales in annoyance, but upon further thought, it found that what Ninetales said kind of made sense.

Am I really just a naïve goody-two-shoes? Douduo couldn’t help but wonder.

Yuga quickly comforted it, saying, "Don’t listen to that nonsense. Our Douduo is not some silly goody-two-shoes!" Then, turning to Ninetales, he said, "I didn’t expect you to trust me so much. I’m truly touched!"

Ninetales leapt ahead, flicking its tails and leaving Yuga behind. "Quit the nonsense. I was just making a casual comment—don’t get cocky!"

Yuga laughed without saying anything else and quickly called for Douduo to follow. Still, he made up his mind to keep a closer eye on Chikai from now on.

Back home, Douduo was still pondering Ninetales’s words. It was so lost in thought while working that it became absent-minded. Magearna passed by and noticed, asking curiously, "Douduo, what’s wrong?"

"Nothing," Douduo shook its head.

"Hmm..." Magearna was just about to walk away when Douduo suddenly called out to it.

"Hey, Magearna, do you think I’m a silly goody-two-shoes?"

"Silly goody-two-shoes? What’s that?" Magearna looked utterly confused. "Is that a kind of candy? Is it really sweet?"

"Uh... not candy." Douduo waved its hand dismissively. "Never mind, go back to what you were doing."

"Oh..." Magearna responded and walked away.

When it returned to the lab, Magearna saw that Mewtwo was still focused on his work. Not wanting to disturb him, it quietly lay down nearby, watching its "old father."

No one knew how much time had passed, but eventually, the bored Magearna couldn’t hold back anymore and spoke up.

"Papa, what does silly goody-two-shoes mean?"

The sudden voice startled Mewtwo, who had been deeply focused. It jolted, and a test tube that was meant to receive just one drop of reagent ended up getting the whole pipette full due to Mewtwo’s shaky hand.

Welp... several hours of work down the drain.

But Mewtwo didn’t get mad at Magearna. Instead, it asked patiently, "Silly goody-two-shoes? Where did you hear that term?"

So Magearna told Mewtwo all about the earlier conversation it had with Douduo.

Mewtwo thought for a moment and then replied, "Douduo is exactly the type you’d call a silly goody-two-shoes."

Magearna looked completely baffled, still having no idea what that actually meant.