Pokémon from Galar

The immense electrical energy dyed the sky above Mary a dazzling white, obscuring the figures of the fish shrouded in the electric light. Only their mournful roars echoed through the heavens.

Mary raised her hand to shield her eyes, lest the bright light interfere with her ability to see the situation clearly later.

"After entering the water, use a stealthy attack to evade!"

"Roar—! (I understand!)"

Mary knew from the moment Balu was pushed to the surface that he probably went up and fought head-on; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to withstand a direct confrontation. Although, after learning his lesson once, he probably wouldn't be so reckless the second time.

However, Mary still spoke up to remind him, lest Balu give up before the fish were dispersed.

As the lightning subsided, the fish, enveloped in black smoke, fell back into the water. Balu followed suit, immediately diving underwater. It had just been a small mistake.

Even with the protective barrier in place, Balu almost couldn't withstand the onslaught of this massive school of fish. He truly experienced the power of the wispfish firsthand.

This time, however, the fish seemed to be on guard. As soon as Balu entered the water, a huge fish tail carrying immense water energy slammed up from below, seemingly intending to knock him directly out of the water.

A stealthy attack!

Fortunately, thanks to Marie's earlier warning, Balu was already prepared to make a move. However, the opponent's attack came too quickly, and Balu was still hit by it, so he awkwardly hid in the alternate dimension.

Fortunately, he managed to pull through; otherwise, if that blow had landed, Balu wouldn't have been able to maintain his fighting prowess.

After catching his breath in the alternate dimension, Balu quietly followed the school of fish, secretly rehearsing in his mind his plan to strike and then immediately flee. Only then did he steel his resolve and burst out of the alternate dimension at top speed.

Boom! Boom!

"Roar--!!!"

The already turbulent water suddenly erupted, accompanied by the roars of the fish once again. This time, Balu took the initiative to break out of the water, followed closely by a huge swarm of fish that would devour anyone in sight.

The fish didn't seem to be in good shape at the moment. Although they were impressive, you could see individual wakizashi falling into the water around them.

It is clearly on the verge of collapse.

Mary reacted quickly, without hesitation, and shouted loudly into the crashing waves:

"Dragon's Dive!"

"Roar—! (That's what I've been waiting for!)"

Baru, who had been preparing a counterattack, was quite pleased. He had also noticed the near-collapse of the fish school, and following Mary's words, he unleashed a surge of dragon energy.

Balu spun around fearlessly, charging headlong into the onrushing maw, instantly increasing his speed to maximum, and charged towards the school of fish with unstoppable momentum.

boom--!

Balu pierced through the fish's bodies in one breath, then deftly flipped in mid-air, skillfully dissipating the remaining force of his attack. He hovered in mid-air, maintaining his last bit of vigilance, watching the fish begin to disintegrate in mid-air.

Boom—crash—!

Tens of thousands of swamp swarms suddenly broke apart around the school, crashing into the water like rain. Mary even helped pick up a few swamp swarms that had accidentally landed on her small patch of land and threw them back into the lake.

Feeling the aura had completely dissipated, Balu floated back to Mary's side, laughing loudly as he nudged Mary's body with his head, as if to claim credit.

"Alright, don't move around. Let me apply some ointment to your wound."

Mary patted Balu's head, then touched the heads of Xiao Zuo and Xiao You on the bag. While taking out the medicine she had prepared in advance from her backpack, she mentally complained that the early childhood education of the Doron clan was really amazing in every sense of the word.

I took out two bottles of high-grade healing medicine, applied half of it to Baloo's body, and then had him drink the other half. That temporarily treated him. Next, I'll take him to the Pokémon Center for a thorough examination and treatment by Nurse Joy, and then everything will be fine.

Just as Mari was about to have Pazu carry her back to Suirian's side, the wakizashi that had previously chatted with her suddenly surfaced.

"Gurgle—(You're really something, aren't you? Even with so many of us gathered together, we couldn't defeat that big guy.)"

"Hoo~ (No, I was actually very close to losing.)"

Balu was telling the truth. If that tail strike had landed squarely, he probably wouldn't have been able to fly.

Mary smiled, ignoring their mutual flattery, walked to the water's edge, squatted down, and said with a smile:

"Are your companions alright? I still have quite a few healing medicines here. Would you like me to share some with you?"

"Gurgle~ (Thank you, but it's alright. Our guardian spirit left us plenty of things to heal our injuries. Here, this is your Z-Crystal.)"

The shrike flicked its tail, seemingly pleased by Mary's concern, then opened its mouth wide, and a light blue, rhombus-shaped crystal appeared before Mary's eyes.

"Thank you, little one."

Mary reached out and picked up the Pure Crystal. It was cool to the touch, with a smooth surface and a very comfortable texture. The edges weren't completely sharp, and the Pure Crystal had a symbol representing the water element engraved inside.

"Gurgle~ (Alright, here's the Pure Crystal. Bye-bye, remember to come play next time, and bring lots of those blocks!)"

After saying this, the Weakling Fish bid farewell and sank back down.

"Hmph~ (So this is Z-Crystal? It's quite pretty.)"

Balu bent down to examine the tiny crystal, grinned, and handed it to the two curious little ones to play with. Mari patted Balu's head.

"Let's go back, Shui Lian is waiting for us over there."

"Hoo~ (Let's go! I feel so much better after fighting today~)"

P.S.: Okay, the fight is over, and we've got the Crystal. Now I can give you a spoiler: the bracelet will be available after Mizuki appears, so the Z-Move will have to wait a while longer.

Chapter 121 The challenge is over, but fishing continues.

After the challenge is over, fishing will still continue, since that was the original purpose of today. Moreover, with the help of high-level healing medicine, Baloo is full of energy, so going to the Pokémon Center later won't be a problem.

The Water Z was being examined by several Pokémon in turn. Since she couldn't get it back anytime soon, Marie simply ignored them and turned to continue fishing and chatting with Lana.

"However, the Totem Pokémon that Marie faced today was huge... It felt several times bigger than the one I faced last time."

Shui Lian naturally remembered her challenge that day; the enormous school of fish left a deep impression on her, which is why she was so moved—even though it was a great test.

However, the fish Mary was facing were significantly larger than the ones she had faced that day, which made Water Lily somewhat envious.

"Is that so? The Weasels are deliberately controlling their strength when facing challengers?"

Mary was taken aback by what she said. She found it unbelievable but also thought it made sense. After all, it was just a test from Alola, not some kind of elimination tournament.

It's probably similar to the gym challenges in Galar, where you use your strength according to the level of the challenger you're facing.

"I guess that's how it is, but I've only seen two Totem Pokémon,"

Shui Lian tilted her head slightly, gazing at the distant horizon, seemingly deep in thought.

"By the way, Mary, you don't seem to have the Z-Bracelet yet, do you?"

"Yes, but Radiant Stones are very rare, so we'll just have to rely on luck in the future."

Mary smiled and nodded. She wasn't in a rush right now. Today's challenge made her realize something: most of the trials in the Alola region were now being conducted by Pokémon.

While others might be difficult to communicate with and have fewer opportunities for challenges... Mary is different.

She could simply go to the place where the dominant Pokémon lived and ask the native Pokémon for information, which would be much more convenient than others trying their luck.

I hadn't really thought of this before. Although I don't have a Z-Ring yet, I can try collecting a few Z-Crystals of the type corresponding to my Pokémon first.

The next ones will probably be Dragon and Dark types, right?

While Mary thought this method was feasible, she also began to wonder if she should try to get two or three usable pure crystals first.

"I'm the Radiant Stone that Long-haired Dog helped find in a previous competition. Mary, would you like to give it a try if you have time?"

"A long-haired dog..."

Marnie didn't know much about this Pokémon, since it didn't exist in Galar, and in fact, she had been in Alola for several days and still hadn't seen what a long-haired dog looked like.

"Well, there's no rush for these things. Maybe when the time is right, we'll find the Radiant Stone."

With a smile and a shrug, Mary didn't dwell on the matter too much. Rather than thinking about it, she was more interested in figuring out how to fight that dragon-type overlord.

I don't remember the Dark-type Crystal Marie very well. It would be better to ask Dr. Kukui for information later.

Mary pondered this as she watched the buoy on the water's surface.

“Ee-- (Mari, Z Pure Crystal.)”

"Oh... thank you."

Mary turned her head and saw Yi-chan lying there. Then, she used her telekinesis to make Shui Z float over. She had just clamped the fishing rod between her legs and hadn't even reached out when Xiao Mo suddenly jumped up and grabbed Shui Z in her hand.

"Cha-- (What is this? Is it tasty?)"

"Forehead……"

Mary looked down and saw that Xiao Mo was holding a small Z-Crystal in her hand. Looking at its translucent texture, which resembled an energy cube, she didn't hesitate to put it in her mouth and bite down.

"Ugh—! (So hard! It doesn't taste good... Waaah...)"

Xiao Mo tossed the water bottle aside, then looked at Mary with teary eyes. Mary, amused, reached out and picked Xiao Mo up, holding him close and patting his head.

Looking at Xiao Mo, who was clinging to his arm with a pitiful expression,

Did your teeth hurt from hitting them?

"It hurts..."

"Sweetie~ It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. Here, drink some medicine. Ah—"

Mary was also worried that the silly child had bitten too hard and loosened his teeth, so she reached into her backpack and took out a half-used bottle of wound medicine, coaxing Xiao Mo to open his mouth.

"..."

Little Mo lay on her lap, nestled against Mary's arm, looking pitiful. She opened her mouth, and Mary looked down but didn't see any obvious marks. Nevertheless, she sprayed some ointment into the spot where Little Mo had bitten her.

"Does it still hurt?"

I stroked the fur on Xiao Mo's belly, and the soothing bell tucked in my pocket jingled crisply.

"That's much better..."

"Don't just grab anything and put it in your mouth next time, okay!"

"Okay... (I understand...)"

He smiled as he put the medicine back, then casually picked up the Z Pure Crystal from the ground, swung it in the water a couple of times, and put it in his pocket.

Turning her gaze back to the calm lake, Mary suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to ask the Pokémon here if there were any Popplio in the Chimney Hill area.

Ugh……

Speaking of this, Mary thought of the listless, ugly fish she had caught before, and shook her head helplessly. Although it was a bit of a pity, these things are ultimately about mutual consent.

You can't force something.

……