In fact.
The bond between Aggron and Swampert had already begun to take root the day after the Gym challenge ended.
Both are naturally calm and gentle, devoted to their battles, yet never holding grudges over losses or arrogance over victories.
Who knows who started it, but these two Pokémon frequently meeting in the Eco Park gradually became harmonious.
Occasionally, they even chat about battle experiences.
Today they happened to bump into each other.
Baimu glanced at the Swampert, who greeted him with a goofy smile, walked over to Aggron, patted its sturdy steel arm, and complained:
"I asked you to look after Milotic, but here you are, chatting up other Pokémon, leaving Milotic to sing on its own!"
"Guh~"
Aggron scratched its head awkwardly without arguing, knowing it was indeed at fault.
Despite its excellent relationship with Milotic, they don't have much in common to talk about.
Perhaps due to their past experiences of being isolated, Milotic is actually a rather withdrawn character, belonging to the third category of the non-communicative type, like the lazy Sun Coral and the fearful Dragapult—simply not fond of communicating.
It mainly does just two things: snuggles up to people and daydreams.
This lead to the first few nights.
Aggron and the Altered-color Milotic would either gaze at the bright moon, or look down at their reflections in the pond, with the former nearly bored to madness while the latter appeared particularly pleased.
It's even more absent-minded than a Slowpoke!
Rivaling a Slowking!
Aggron once suspected that even if it didn't come, the Altered-color Milotic would be just as happy in the Eco Park, so it tentatively left it alone for a while.
And just as expected.
The Altered-color Milotic was happy when Aggron returned, but it didn't seem too lonely when it left.
Time and again.
Aggron simply started moving around between Swampert and the Altered-color Milotic, wandering here and there, before finally resting and sleeping peacefully with the Milotic once tired.
These slightly dull days thus gained a little more variety.
"Mee loo~"
The Altered-color Milotic, seeing its Trainer seemingly scolding Aggron, quickly swam over to nuzzle them as if trying to mediate the situation.
Baimu pushed away its moist head and said, "Alright, alright, you two just rest and play, act like I was never here."
He blinked an eye at Aggron.
In reality, their relationship is deep enough that misunderstandings are unlikely to occur.
So he treats the big monster like his close friend or best buddy, finding trouble with it under various mundane or amusing pretenses, while sometimes getting into trouble himself.
In this mutual teasing, annoyance, and reliance, they've discovered their unique bond and way of being with each other.
"Mee loo?"
The Altered-color Milotic watched the Trainer's departing figure, with a slightly perplexed look in its eyes.
Aggron patted its head and let out a soft growl, then turned and left with Swampert.
"Guh~"
At that moment.
The vastly different silhouettes of the two briefly overlapped from the perspective of the Altered-color Milotic.
A flash, and it all appeared to be an illusion.
"Mee loo."
The Altered-color Milotic shook its head and returned to the pond to continue singing.
The Trainer mentioned it might sing even better than Blissey, perhaps someday it could perform as an accompaniment for Mawile at a grand festival.
——
For the next two weeks.
Perhaps because the League tournament was near, more Trainers came to challenge the Glazed Gym.
Baimu was struggling with how to speed up the Simulator's cooling and needed many opponents to improve his battle response skills.
So he asked the old butler to accept the challenges of nearly twenty willing Trainers at a rate of two per day, against him, the temporary Gym Leader.
Due to Mikoli's status as a former Champion, the level of Trainers daring to challenge the Glazed Gym was generally high.
Some couldn't accept the change in Gym Leaders and left, while others didn't mind, and yet others were curious about Baimu's qualifications to take Mikoli's place.
These Trainers, using various Pokémon and hailing from different regions, gave him a peculiar feeling like he had pre-emptively joined a tournament.
So how many badges were personally issued by him?
One.
Awarded to the Trainer who—
"Double Payback!"
A pink-haired, tan-skinned young man waved his hand and shouted, as brown-red energy surged and exploded between the colliding Giant Steelix and Smeargle!
Boom!
A dull roar.
Smeargle flew back like an arrow leaving the string, skimming past the youth and crashing into the wall at the edge of the arena.
"Ugh!"
It let out a painful groan.
Steelix also lost its balance and fell from the air into the clear pool, with a terrifying splash shooting into the sky and then falling back like a torrential rain.
In a moment.
The scattered dust was thoroughly washed away.
Steelix's two-thirds of its body lay exposed above the water surface, its jet-black eyes showing only spirals without any pupils.
It had apparently lost its fighting ability under the effect of Double Payback.
On the other side.
The pink-haired youth tirelessly called out to the dazed and struggling Smeargle.
"Hang on a bit longer! Smeargle! Victory is within sight!"
"Owwoo..."
Smeargle wobbled as it tried to get up, barely holding onto its tail as a paintbrush, then finally collapsed forward with weak legs.
The old butler timely raised his flags with both hands.
"Both Smeargle and Steelix lost their fighting capability. The challenger has no Pokémon left, while the Gym Leader has one Pokémon remaining. The Gym side wins!"
"...Sigh."
Elma sighed, his almond eyes filled with resignation as he glanced at the withdrawn Steelix, "You did well, Smeargle."
A young voice from afar.
"Remarkably wise decision! I didn't expect Smeargle to use Double Payback in that situation and resist Steelix's Heavyweight Charge at the crucial moment, impressive, very impressive!"
Baimu applauded for Elma and his Pokémon.
To be honest.
He never expected to see Sun and Moon—a character from the Alola Region—here in Hoenn.
The person named Elma, in the game, is the Island Pilgrimage trial captain from the Alola Region, while in the animation, he goes abroad to study in the Carlos Region.
Why would he come to the Hoenn Region to challenge Gyms?
And he seems to be planning to enter the Ever Grande Conference, which puzzled Baimu a bit—you'd think he would participate in the Lumiose Conference?
He's probably already participated.
There's no denying that Elma's overall strength is formidable.
Even without using Super Evolution and Z-Move systems, he managed to defeat the Coral against the wrong target for Absorption Power, which couldn't recover enough stamina properly.
This guy was the first trainer Baimu had fought for so long, who battled as a team.
Unlike other trainers whose Pokémon showed no cooperation, seemingly as a whole but actually fighting solo.
His Smeargle was also very skilled, possessing all kinds of curious techniques.
It fully validated Smeargle's geometric enhancement in strength when not limited by the number of Techniques.
Even its offensive ability, limited by Species Value, was impressively made up for in the animation's background of acquired effort factors.
Hard to imagine such a person would easily lose to the antagonist Guzma at the inaugural Manaro Conference of Alola's first league...
"Your team has great standards; I look forward to meeting you again."
Baimu exclaimed loudly.
"Thank you for the compliment! I'll challenge again!"
Elma politely bowed to him, his tone exceptionally determined.
The Gym Leader's Pokémon had only one left, and not in perfect condition—if not for the Giant Steelix's Heavyweight Charge being too strong, Smeargle could have completely had the chance to win.
He was truly unwilling.
The Glazed Gym, he surely could challenge through!
Elma secretly clenched his fist.
Baimu, hearing this, just shook his head and said:
"No need! Your performance deserves this Glazed Badge!"
"Huh?"
"Master Mikoli once told me before leaving, the win or loss of a Gym Battle isn't the decisive factor in determining if one matches a badge, your strength is undeniable."
Baimu casually made up a lie.
Indeed, before Mikoli left, he asked how to measure the strength for the Glazed Badge, and his answer was—'Just give it as you see fit.'
What does 'give it as you see fit' mean!
Too reckless!
But considering that as a tournament participant, he could become a temporary Gym Leader, a referee and contestant all being my top-level operation, wasn't such a big deal anymore.