A Sinful Visitor

Baimu stood up and looked at Huo Wu, who was clutching her arm.

Chansey, which had been hiding, poked its head out and hurried over with a Potion and bandages, its panic filled with concern.

He asked, "Are you all right?"

"...Am I free now?"

Huo Wu turned to him and asked brightly, her eyes blazing.

"Of course you are." Baimu helplessly pulled off the Hound Team bracelet and tossed it over. "Here. Call for rescue."

She hurried over, picked up the bracelet, and pressed the rescue button before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

Huo Wu took the supplies from the Chansey that had chased after her and smiled as she rubbed its head. Her taut emotions finally relaxed.

Although countless dangers still awaited her in the future, she felt safe at this moment.

"Lucky!"

Chansey hurried in front of Baimu, its face filled with delight. It waved both paws around as if saying, "I did it!"

Taking the initiative to provide medical care to someone else was indeed a huge step forward for it.

"Great job."

Baimu smiled and rubbed its head.

The source of Chansey's nervousness was undoubtedly its inferiority complex. It had probably rarely received affirmation before, leaving it lacking confidence in everything it did and too timid to take action.

It was half a problem child, but that was hardly an unbearable flaw to Baimu.

He was also working hard to improve it, starting with these small medical actions. He believed Chansey's confidence would return within a few months.

By then,

he would have a smiling angel—a pink demon.

Of course, they still had to keep working hard for now.

Baimu watched his Rotom Drone fly over beside him. "You've received a total of 1.56 million in tips."

That much again? What on earth had happened to make the tips exceed a million? Had the number of contestants decreased?

He glanced at the time on his watch.

By now, more than three hours had passed since the start of the competition, and Baimu had only just found his third prey.

He had assumed that, following the initial pace, he would soon be able to ambush a third person. But the Hound Team members seemed to know there was someone dangerous here, and they all avoided this area.

Jian, whom he had high hopes for and suspected was somewhere to the east, suddenly made a sharp turn, went around this place, and ran elsewhere. He soon blended in with the other red dots, making it impossible to track him.

That left him and Huo Wu in an awkward stalemate for more than two hours.

Realizing that staying in one location for too long might be the problem, Baimu had no choice but to change locations several times in a row to confuse the enemy's radar. After all that effort, he finally waited for an idiot to show up.

By now, the competition had clearly entered its most intense phase. As far as he knew, both sides had only six contestants left. It probably wouldn't be long before "team battle" mode was activated.

Once teammates were allowed to regroup, Jian would no longer be a problem. As the saying went, two fists could not fight four hands. Baimu knew that Jian was nowhere near strong enough to take on several opponents at once.

The two of them exchanged their clothes again.

On the horizon,

a rescue Delibird flew over, flapping its wings.

It was hard to imagine that a Pokémon with the Ice and Flying types could fly for so long under the blazing sun.

Baimu looked up and shielded his eyes from the piercing sunlight. "Won't it get heatstroke...? Uh, it fell."

He seemed to have a crow's mouth. Not long after he said that, Delibird's flight began to wobble from side to side, and it soon plummeted from the sky.

Huo Wu's smile instantly stiffened.

Fortunately, Delibird took flight again a few seconds later, wobbling as it flapped its little wings. It barely managed to reach them.

"..."

Baimu hesitated, then took a canteen from one of the prisoners and walked over, pouring a little water over its head.

The icy droplets splashed through the air.

The dizzy Delibird froze for a moment, then excitedly flapped its wings and raised its head to catch the clear, refreshing water.

Its eyes gradually cleared.

Huo Wu's stiff expression relaxed. If something happened to the rescue Pokémon, her mental state really would have shattered.

"You should rest for a while first. Otherwise, you might not even be able to fly back."

Baimu spoke softly.

"Mm." Huo Wu nodded. It wouldn't hurt to wait a little longer. If Delibird ran out of strength and fell from the sky, she wouldn't even have anywhere to cry.

Not long afterward,

the fully recovered Delibird flew away with a large cloth bundle.

Baimu watched it disappear into the distance, then shifted his gaze between the two prisoners on the ground as he chose his next victim.

After agonizing over it, he decided to wake both of them.

Judging by their performances, both of them were tough nuts. At least they hadn't shown any weakness in front of the cameras. To make them useful, he would have to employ a little trickery.

Something like the prisoner's dilemma, for example.

Of course, since he had never used such a method before, clumsiness was inevitable. Baimu decided to work out a strategy in advance.

"I'll think while I rest. It's just too hot."

He exhaled a breath of stale air.

The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was enormous. It was nearly noon now, the sun was at its fiercest, and the ground beneath the direct sunlight was hot enough to cause burns.

Even Aron couldn't stand the temperature. It ran back into the shade and hid beside Baimu.

"Ah... You're so cool."

He rubbed Aron's head and immediately felt a refreshing chill, like he had stuck his hand into a freezer.

"Guh?"

"You probably can't feel it yourself." Baimu smiled at it, then pulled Chansey over. "You should touch it too."

"Lucky~"

Chansey tentatively extended a paw. When it saw Aron move closer on its own, it finally dared to touch it.

When the coolness reached it, delight also spread across its face.

"I told you so."

Baimu smiled and rubbed its fluffy head.

The temporary Vibrava had returned to its Poké Ball as soon as the battle ended and gone to rest with its eyes closed.

That fellow was close only to Chansey. In its eyes, Baimu and Aron were probably just two coworkers—the sort it considered friendly if it bothered to greet them during its free time.

But the other party would leave once the competition ended, and Baimu couldn't be bothered to care about their relationship. He might as well invest that energy in Aron and Chansey.

One hadn't evolved, while the other had a mental weakness it needed to overcome.

After a while,

once Baimu felt he had rested enough, he began thinking of a way to wake the two fallen contestants and decide on his next tool.

But just as he dragged one of them into the sunlight, his body suddenly stiffened.

He turned his head and abruptly saw a blurry figure appear on the road swept by the sandstorm.

The two of them were less than a hundred meters apart.

The air rippled in the heat, as if some kind of stage were opening its curtain.

Baimu stood where he was and narrowed his eyes.

"So it really is you—the red dot that keeps freezing up again and again, yet always manages to hold on. I'm curious how you do it. You only got your Pokémon not long ago, right?"

The figure spoke, but his voice was unusually sinister.

"...Who says someone who just got a Pokémon can't fight?" He dropped the Hound Team member in his hand.

There were still at least ten minutes before the radar finished cooling down. At this point in the competition, hardly any idiot would actively search for an opponent under the scorching sun.

If they found no one, they would have wasted their strength for nothing. Even if they did find someone, they might not be able to win.

Who would have thought...

He had miscalculated.

Jian used the shadow of an arch-shaped rock to hide himself. "You're pretty confident. No wonder you aren't afraid of me at all."

Under the scorching heat,

Baimu stood in the sunlight and couldn't help sighing.

"If I say I'm afraid of you, will you leave?"

Jian gave him a sinister grin. "No. Heh heh heh—"

"Battle request!"

Beep!

The two bracelets chimed at the same time!

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