"Lele—"
When he turned his head and saw the curious gaze of the pink demon before him, Aiden suddenly felt a sensation akin to cardiac arrest and subconsciously took a step back.
Tapu Lele, whose duties were equivalent to those of Tapu Koko, was the guardian deity of Akala Island.
Although at first glance, its pink-colored appearance and innocent smile would easily leave a favorable impression.
But in reality—Tapu Lele was, in Aiden's view, the most troublesome little creature.
"Aiden, don't get distracted—"
While Aiden was stunned, Lorelei beside him was working hard commanding Articuno to contend with Buzzwole.
Noticing that his commands had stopped, Lorelei also turned her head, preparing to remind him to maintain focus.
Then, she saw that strange Pokémon practically pressed up against Aiden's face.
Its lower body was wrapped in a cocoon-like pink shell, with only its slender upper body exposed. Its hands and body somewhat resembled the stick figures from cheap animations.
Apart from its black upper body, all other parts of its body displayed a maiden-like pink color. Combined with those blinking, very lively rainbow-colored eyes, and the fragrant scent that could be clearly smelled——
So cute!
Lorelei's long-dormant girlish heart suddenly began beating again, causing her to freeze for a moment, but she quickly recovered—now was not the time for that, but for that Buzzwole!
Aiden also reacted, immediately looking at Tapu Lele before him, speaking as softly as possible: "Great Island Guardian Tapu Lele, could I trouble you to help deal with that Ultra Beast from another world?"
"Lele?"
Perhaps because Aiden had made a decent first impression, Tapu Lele, who was being "ordered around" by him, subconsciously looked in the direction his finger pointed, and immediately noticed Buzzwole in the air, currently entangled in battle with Articuno and Salamence.
Without any hesitation, Tapu Lele crossed its hands and shook its head vigorously.
"..."
???
Not just Aiden, even Lorelei was shocked by its refusal.
Wait, didn't that guy Lance say that Alola's guardian deities would assist them in dealing with Ultra Beasts? How was this different from the intelligence?
So it really was like this——
Aiden wasn't particularly surprised.
Not only because Tapu Koko had warned him before, but also because he understood Tapu Lele's personality very well.
The four guardian deities were island protectors and also the embodiment of Alola's nature.
But nature itself possessed very contradictory dualities, and this was reflected in them as well.
Tapu Koko was forever curious, eager to battle unknown strong opponents, and would even proactively provoke other humans or Pokémon because of this;
Tapu Bulu had a steady personality, but once angered, it wouldn't let matters rest, occasionally displaying very impulsive behavior;
Tapu Fini was reserved in character and the most friendly guardian deity toward humans, but its approach often accompanied disaster as well.
As for Tapu Lele——
The word "chaos" was sufficient to summarize it.
It possessed both innocent and cruel dual personalities. No one knew what consequences its capricious behavior might produce, nor could anyone truly fathom its thoughts.
When in a good mood, the scales it scattered could revitalize the body and cure any disease or pain;
But when in a bad mood, its scales could also "mediate disputes."
As for the method—well, if all humans and Pokémon were exhausted and collapsed, wouldn't there be no more conflict?
Don't look at how Tapu Lele seemed to be in a good mood now; who could truly guess what it was thinking?
Very difficult.
Perhaps it simply found insects disgusting and didn't want to dirty its hands—that's why it refused to deal with Buzzwole. So Aiden decisively gave up on thinking about it, ignored its existence, and coordinated with Lorelei once more.
"Salamence, trap it with Fire Spin!"
"Articuno, continue using Hurricane to wear it down!"
"Bzz—!"
In the sky, Buzzwole, gradually accustomed to fighting two opponents alone, began to think, and quickly discovered the different roles of the two Pokémon.
Even without understanding human language, this intelligent creature realized that the frost-covered bird was the main offensive force, while the other seemed to exist only to distract it.
Therefore, no need to pay attention!
After thinking everything through, Buzzwole immediately charged out of the Fire Spin sprayed by Salamence with its physical body, hardening itself against Articuno's Hurricane attack while continuing its assault.
"Kree—!"
Compared to close-quarters combat, Articuno was clearly more skilled at using energy attacks to harass, so upon realizing its intentions, it immediately stopped its offensive movements, flapped its wings to spiral upward, and began an aerial chase with Buzzwole.
"Good opportunity!"
Aiden narrowed his eyes, giving Salamence a hand signal.
Although Salamence had indeed been playing a support role just now, that didn't mean it lacked the strength to threaten Buzzwole.
Since it was being ignored, he naturally had to seize this rare opportunity to end the battle as soon as possible!
"Salamence, use Dragon Dance while Mega Evolving!"
Aiden immediately gave the command.
Salamence could control the timing of its Mega Evolution on its own, so for it, completing a power-up while evolving wasn't difficult.
"Roar!"
Salamence, who had been frustrated for quite some time, was instantly enveloped in white light, rapidly forming a dazzling pillar of light that shot straight into the clouds.
And as Aiden subconsciously covered his eyes——
Poke, poke~
Feeling the repetitive little movements from Tapu Lele behind him, Aiden felt somewhat speechless.
What exactly did it want to do, and should he respond to it or not——
If he ignored it, what if Tapu Lele became angry from his "cold treatment" and made him, a trainer who was helping it with work, fall asleep on the spot?
But if he got entangled with it, the battle would inevitably suffer from divided attention.
What a troublesome creature—no wonder even its companion Tapu Koko had a helpless expression when mentioning it!
After some thought, while Salamence was using Dragon Dance, Aiden quickly turned around and looked at Tapu Lele, who still wore a smile and looked at him with curious eyes.
"If you're not planning to help, let's save any conversation for after I've dealt with that Ultra Beast!"
Aiden suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart as much as possible, speaking to it in a calm tone.
Then, he continued to ignore it, turning instead to look at Buzzwole in the sky, which was currently engaged in an "ace aerial combat" with Articuno.
"Lele?"
Seemingly not expecting Aiden's attitude to be so—indifferent?
The smile on Tapu Lele's face instantly froze, and its cheeks quickly puffed up, clearly displaying displeasure.
Never before had any human dared to treat it this way. Previously, humans fortunate enough to see it had all shown extreme respect, not even daring to look up at it?
But this human it found somewhat interesting had shown an attitude of perfunctoriness that made it very angry.
Wait——
Could it be that precisely because his attitude was different from other humans, it found him particularly special?
Originally still sulking and thinking about how to punish this human who ignored it, Tapu Lele suddenly had an epiphany, and its expression instantly completed a 180-degree reversal, smiling again.
It must be so!
Those humans who only knew how to pray to it weren't half as interesting as the one before its eyes!
This human, was his name Aiden?
Recalling what the other human had called him just now, Tapu Lele couldn't help but hum lightly.
Rarely encountering a human it found interesting, it really wanted to make him its follower. How nice it would be if he could play with it.
There had been humans willing to play with it before, but later, for some reason, they all became very afraid of it——
Clearly it hadn't done anything!
Tapu Lele shook its head, temporarily giving up on recalling those anger-inducing memories.
Speaking of which, eliminating that mosquito seemed to originally be its task?
Although it didn't understand why these two humans would proactively complete its work for it, they must have realized how hard Great Tapu Lele worked!
What good children~
So, since he said he would chat with it after a while, then it would wait just——two or three minutes!
For Tapu Lele, this was already the limit of its patience!
Its gaze turned to Aiden, quietly waiting for him to eliminate that annoying mosquito.
"..."
For some reason, Aiden suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
As if being targeted by something dirty.
His intuition told him it definitely had something to do with Tapu Lele, which had suddenly fallen silent.
Not helping was one thing, but staring at him from behind, bringing even more pressure—Tapu Lele, you little...
Sighing inwardly, Aiden looked up at Salamence, which had completed its Mega Evolution and whose aura had suddenly soared, immediately making a decision—
Better to end this quickly. Dragging it out, there might not be any problem with Buzzwole, but Tapu Lele, this unstable factor, could make the situation more complicated at any moment!
"Salamence, chase it down and use Hyper Voice!"
"Roar!"
Whether before or after evolution, Salamence was a very standard dual-offensive attacker, capable of learning many physical and special moves.
As for after temporarily Mega Evolving, having obtained Aerilate, it clearly possessed even more oppressive presence when facing Buzzwole.
Originally Normal-type Hyper Voice, when energy condensed within its body, had already transformed into Flying-type, thereby obtaining even greater power.
And Buzzwole was clearly a traditional physical training powerhouse. Even if it could harden itself against Hurricane with its robust muscles, it had no defense against sound-based moves, this "magical attack."
Like how mosquito bites usually aren't that uncomfortable most of the time, but if they keep buzzing by your ear at night, they cause hundreds of times more mental damage.
And now, Aiden chose to return that hatred a hundredfold!
"ROARRR!!!"
After being strengthened by both Dragon Dance and Mega Evolution, Salamence not only possessed even greater speed, but the sonic aura it emitted was also completely different from before.
"Articuno, distance yourself from them first!"
Lorelei immediately reacted, commanding Articuno to pull away to avoid accidental damage.
But Buzzwole was in for it~
"Bzz——?!"
Originally chasing Articuno, it suddenly felt demonic sounds continuously exploding in its brain. It subconsciously turned to look at Salamence diving toward it.
Planning to use these little tricks to distract it again?
Buzzwole initially didn't intend to pay attention to Salamence, but as the sound continuously approached, its brain also began trembling under the sound waves. Concentrating became exceptionally difficult, let alone catching up to Articuno.
At this rate, it would eventually be annoyed to death!
It immediately changed direction, suddenly charging toward Salamence, which was deliberately maintaining a certain distance from it.
But in the eyes of Salamence, whose speed had risen to match lightning——previously weakened in speed, it was pitifully slow.
Without even needing to exert much effort, Salamence merely flapped its wings lightly and instantly created distance from Buzzwole.
But not too far away, always maintaining that "social distance" where Buzzwole could hear its rough howling.
"Bzz!!!"
Buzzwole's movements gradually became frantic, yet it could never close the distance with Salamence by even a fraction.
When unable to approach its opponent, that robust musculature obviously became decoration, and its sharp proboscis couldn't extract life energy from its body.
So—after difficult consideration, Buzzwole instantly looked downward.
Previously, whenever these two troublesome creatures moved, there seemed to be sounds from the human below.
In other words, if it eliminated them first, wouldn't those two creatures immediately fall into chaos?
Buzzwole had no capacity for further thought. It couldn't understand the relationship between humans and Pokémon; it only knew that right now it had to find a target to plunder life energy from to replenish the stamina it had mostly depleted in battle just now.
So, it immediately began to act, vibrating its wings and diving down toward them.
If it were an ordinary trainer, seeing a Pokémon charging at them might cause subconscious panic.
But Lorelei was a "super Kanto native," and Aiden also had experience in ruleless wild battles.
Therefore, Buzzwole's action not only didn't frighten them, but instead made both of them smile simultaneously.
"Finally took the bait."
Because Buzzwole had been in the air the entire time, worried that it might fly off the island and become uncontrollable, the two could only command flying Pokémon to engage it.
But as long as it had thoughts of landing, the battle would only become easier.
"Go, Indeedee!"
"I'll leave it to you, Alolan Ninetales!"
Before Buzzwole could land, two more Pokémon appeared on the scene.
And in order to recover its depleted stamina as quickly as possible, Buzzwole had chosen to sprint at full power, so naturally it couldn't brake now.
Therefore—"Indeedee, Hypnosis!"
"Mmhmm~"
Under Mewtwo's guidance, although Indeedee (female) hadn't learned Dark Void, its use of Hypnosis was already proficient.
It had even developed a technique of introducing Hypnosis into Psychic Terrain to expand its coverage range.
Wanting to make an Ultra Beast behave, besides completely depleting their stamina, there was naturally a more convenient method.
For example, making them temporarily lose consciousness?
"Bzz——?"
After being hit square in the face by Hypnosis, the already exhausted Buzzwole soon fell into a deep sleep, its attacking movements ceasing as a result.
Its high-density muscular body crashed heavily to the ground, then was hit squarely in the head by a Beast Ball Aiden had obtained from Professor Kukui.
Because it was in a sleep state, it had no ability to resist and was easily sucked into the ball.
The crisis was thus resolved.
However—
"Lele—?"
Tapu Lele's attention had already shifted from Aiden to that fluffy, adorable creature he had summoned, and so its cheeks puffed up again.
That little creature, why could it use Psychic Terrain just like itself?
It felt somewhat subtly displeased!
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