Ursaring

After handing Ueno and the others over to Officer Jenny, who was patrolling the wilderness, Bai Shi moved on without lingering. He was worried J might retaliate, so he continued east.

Unaware that J had already forgotten Ueno and the others, Bai Shi pedaled his Bicycle furiously toward Hearthome City.

Only after nearly a full day of pedaling did Bai Shi feel a little safer.

He finally slowed down.

"How did things end up like this?"

Thinking of how he had fled in such a sorry state, Bai Shi shook his head with a rueful smile.

All he had wanted was to find a suitable Pokémon to catch.

Instead, he had stumbled upon Ueno and the others capturing Wild Pokémon.

Their threats had forced him to strike first.

In the end, he had caught no Pokémon and made enemies of J's gang of Pokémon Hunters.

"If I had the strength of an Elite Four member or a Champion, why would I be afraid of someone like J? I'd be the one chasing her down."

"When it comes down to it, this happened because I'm not strong enough!"

Even now, Bai Shi did not think he had been wrong to strike first and wipe out their team.

He only hated that he was too weak to go after J and eliminate that potential threat for good.

Bai Shi held grudges. He swore to himself that once he grew stronger, he would make J pay for frightening him so badly.

Without J knowing it, he made her the first person he intended to surpass.

"No secret stays hidden forever."

"One day, I might be exposed, and J could come after me."

"Besides, in the anime, J once showed up at someone's door and stole their Pokémon."

"No matter how careful I am, it won't be too much."

To prepare for that possibility, Bai Shi desperately wanted to grow stronger.

Apart from Evolution, the quickest way was to catch new Pokémon.

As it happened, Bai Shi had left the plains and entered another dense forest.

For him, it was another good chance to catch a Pokémon.

With his Pokémon beside him, Bai Shi searched the forest carefully.

"Huh, there are a few Cherubi in that tree on the left. They're cute, but they don't look very strong."

"There's a Nidoran♂ and a Nidoran♀ by that rock straight ahead. They seem to be a pair, so I won't disturb them."

"There's a Zigzagoon hiding in the grass on the right. Too bad it isn't the Galarian Form."

Bai Shi really had found a few fairly uncommon Pokémon.

But they were all young, and he needed something ready to fight.

Then a brown bear appeared.

When Bai Shi spotted it, it was still tangled up with several Combee.

Judging by the unidentified yellow substance stuck to its body, it was not hard to guess that it had stolen their honey.

The Combee had caught the thief and were buzzing angrily at it.

But the brown bear did not care. Surrounded by them, it happily enjoyed its spoils.

Enraged, the Combee launched an attack together.

Against the bear's thick hide, though, their attacks were little more than a tickle.

Unable to do anything to it, the Combee finally left in frustration.

"That Ursaring looks pretty strong."

"If I catch it, my strength will go up at least one level."

"It's just that its type..."

"Oh no. Am I going to end up surrounded by Normal-type Pokémon?"

Bai Shi was increasingly convinced that some inexplicable bond tied him to Normal-type Pokémon.

Why else did he keep running into them?

What he actually wanted was to become a Pokémon Trainer with a varied team, like Cynthia or Leon.

"Forget it. I'll catch it first."

Bai Shi shook his head and focused on Ursaring again.

Normal-type or otherwise, what he needed right now was a strong Pokémon.

That way, another Pokémon Trainer would not knock him out of the Double Battle Tournament before he faced Paul.

"I've got three Pokémon. Surely we can handle one Ursaring?"

Bai Shi held a Great Ball in one hand and a gun-shaped weapon in the other, looking quite confident.

With the tranquilizer gun he had just confiscated from Araki as a backup, he was not too worried about his safety.

He did not want to use it to catch Wild Pokémon, though, because he feared it might have unknown side effects.

He would rather use it against villainous Pokémon Trainers, such as J.

"Dunsparce, use Mud Shot!"

At Bai Shi's command, Dunsparce launched a surprise attack on the nearby Ursaring, spitting out a barrage of mud.

Caught off guard, Ursaring took several hits and suffered a little damage.

"Roar!"

Furious at the ambush, Ursaring roared and lunged at Dunsparce.

The terrifying charge sent Dunsparce burrowing underground at once.

It refused to resurface for ages. Ursaring had clearly frightened it, and it was hiding below, trembling.

"Staravia, use Aerial Ace!"

Compared with Dunsparce, Staravia was far braver.

As soon as Bai Shi gave the order, it charged Ursaring without hesitation.

"Roar!"

A savage grin spread across Ursaring's face.

It raised a paw glowing white and slammed it into the oncoming Staravia.

Smack! Staravia flew away like a toy.

It struck a tree and fell helplessly to the ground, unable to get up.

"What the hell? That's ridiculous!"

Bai Shi stared, unable to believe what he had seen.

A bird that big had been knocked out in one hit?

He suddenly realized he had badly underestimated Ursaring.

To it, his Pokémon were not much different from those Combee.

Worse, after swatting Staravia away, Ursaring turned its gaze on him.

"It's up to you, Stantler. Use Confusion."

With no other choice, Bai Shi pinned his hopes on Stantler.

He hoped Stantler had been hiding its true strength all along and could turn the fight around.

"Stantler!"

Called upon in a crisis, Stantler glanced at the ferocious Ursaring and recognized that it would be extremely hard to beat.

It immediately used Confusion to lift the unconscious Staravia and Bai Shi, who still wanted to fight, onto its back. Then it turned and ran.

With a burst of astonishing speed, it retreated the way they had come.

It had no intention of fighting Ursaring.

When Dunsparce saw that its Pokémon Trainer had fled, it breathed a sigh of relief and hurried after them.

Ursaring was left behind, roaring helplessly where it stood.

"What the hell, Stantler? Who told you to run?"

"Put me down! I'm going back to catch that Ursaring!"

Carried away against his will, Bai Shi cursed at Stantler beneath him.

He had finally found a Pokémon that strong.

And Stantler had turned and run.

It had not even given him a chance to throw his Great Ball.

Stantler ignored Bai Shi completely.

It kept running until Ursaring was far behind them, then released Confusion's hold on Bai Shi.

Free again, Bai Shi climbed off its back.

"...You really are something. What did I do in my last life to end up with a Pokémon like you?"

After a moment of silence, Bai Shi spoke to Stantler through gritted teeth.

Stantler remained unmoved and calmly accepted Bai Shi's "praise."

That only made Bai Shi, who was glaring at it, even angrier.

"Wait. That move you used just now was Agility, wasn't it?"

Calming down, Bai Shi recalled something and pressed Stantler for an answer.

To his surprise, Stantler seemed to have used Agility while carrying him away.

"Stantler!"

At Bai Shi's question, Stantler blinked and put on an innocent expression that said, What are you talking about? I don't know.

That only made Bai Shi more certain he was right.

"You learned a new move and didn't even tell me!"

"You bastard, do you even think of me as your Pokémon Trainer?"

"You're completely out of control! I..."

Learning that Stantler had hidden a move sent Bai Shi's fading anger surging back.

He gave Stantler a tongue-lashing until his mouth was nearly dry, but none of it got through to it.

Unable to do anything about it, Bai Shi had no choice but to give up.

"Look on the bright side. At least Stantler took me along instead of running off alone."

"That proves it cares about me."

Thinking of it that way made Bai Shi feel much better.

"Stantler!"

Just then, tired from its sprint, Stantler tugged at Bai Shi's backpack with its mouth.

It was reminding Bai Shi that it was hungry and that it was time to eat.

"...Right. I read too much into it. It just didn't want its food provider to disappear."

Bai Shi's face went blank. He had fallen from heaven straight back to hell.