The seawater was extremely cold.
It had a heavy sense of suffocation, as if he was squeezing into a space where he didn't belong.
Baimu, with an underwater breather in his mouth, held on to Aggron, searching for the silhouettes of Mawile and Xiaosheng. Soon, he spotted the tail of that Gyarados near the front of the ship.
The other party seemed to be planning to swim deeper into the sea.
Boom boom!
He patted Aggron's back, and the latter immediately chased after quickly, its tail swaying rapidly.
They must catch up with Gyarados before the big monster has to surface for air. After all, it had learned Surf, not Dive, and could float on the sea surface but not stay underwater for long periods.
Aggron understood this too and swam downward with all its might.
In no time, they had actually reached the seabed, and the surroundings became incredibly dark, stirring up a large amount of sand as they stepped down.
How far was this from the surface?
Baimu realized in his urgency he hadn't considered the depth, but since his lungs weren't being crushed by the water pressure, it probably wasn't a big deal.
Seeing they still couldn't catch up, and that Gyarados was about to swim into the trench ahead, Baimu climbed to the side of Aggron and gave it a look.
The next moment.
Crackle!
Electric light flickered between Aggron's horns, transforming into a bolt of lightning that pierced through the seabed, striking Gyarados swiftly.
Baimu released Aggron's body in time to move away, thus only shuddering for a moment.
The latter, four times weaker to electricity, felt the pain intensely and instinctively released the grip on Xiaosheng.
This gave Mawile, who had been waiting for a long time, its chance.
Though Mawile clearly couldn't swim, it could hold its breath. Now with a chance to breathe, it pulled Xiaosheng back, small fists crackling with electricity, forcibly withstanding the resistance of the water flow and suddenly slamming into Gyarados's fin!
Boom!
Electricity burst open.
Xiaosheng, shocked and confused, nearly lost control of his breath, but fortunately, Baimu and Aggron arrived in time. The former stuck a spare underwater breather into his mouth and recalled Mawile with a Pokeball.
Just as they were about to surface.
"Woo! Woo!"
Xiaosheng, eyes wide, kept pointing at the pained Gyarados.
Baimu speechlessly gave him a slap on the forehead, thought for a moment, and tossed a spare Pokeball.
Not waiting to see if the Pokeball successfully captured it, he grabbed Xiaosheng to bring him up, only to find that more Gyarados had somehow gathered around them, their large swimming forms terrifying.
His heart sank. Suddenly looking up, he saw groups of rescue personnel in professional diving suits, bringing various Water-type Pokémon, approaching them.
These people blocked the Gyarados, giving Aggron the opportunity to surface.
Before long.
Above the sea.
"Gurgle!"
Aggron poked its head out of the water, spraying water from its holes, its expression a bit displeased.
Baimu and Xiaosheng stood on its back, gulping down fresh air.
"S-sorry."
Xiaosheng, shivering from the cold, chattered his teeth, apologizing with great regret, "If I had been more careful, this wouldn't have happened."
"It's not entirely your fault."
Baimu shook his head, waving to the approaching lifeboat carrying Xiaosheng's Kirlia, "Trainers encountering danger is normal. You've faced more critical situations before, just respond correctly."
"Mm!"
Xiaosheng responded softly, then saw a Pokeball in his arms—it was the one that had just captured the Gyarados in the ocean depths, "Brother Baimu?"
"I'm not interested in ordinary Gyarados; you can find such Pokémon anywhere."
Baimu said as he climbed onto the lifeboat with the help of a rescue team member, "Besides... I've already gained something."
He turned to Xiaosheng with a smile, lifting a gray-white round stone full of holes in his hand, giving an illusion of weightlessness despite its heavy appearance.
"What's this?"
"I'll tell you once we're back on the ship. Great work, Aggron."
Baimu patted Aggron's head and returned it to its Pokeball.
After reuniting with Kirlia, Xiaosheng stubbornly returned the Gyarados, "I still feel I can't accept it. Although I caught it by chance, I'm not capable of taming this guy; our strengths don't match."
"...Alright."
Baimu didn't insist; since Xiaosheng didn't want it, he'd send it to Pyrite Town, where it would surely thrive with the planting and watering.
——
Xiaosheng lost his fishing rod, while Baimu gained something.
Neither had the intention to continue participating in the fishing competition. After showering and changing clothes, they gathered in the leisure area.
On a table.
That milky white stone was quietly placed.
"Is this also a Pokémon?" Xiaosheng took out his Illustrated Guide and scanned it.
Soon after.
"Beep!"
The Illustrated Guide reacted, quickly reporting the true identity of the milky white stone through speech.
"A Corsola from the Galar Region, Coral Pokémon, Ghost Attribute. There is a saying that it comes from ancient Corsola that died due to rapid environmental changes. Carelessly kicking it while mistaking it for a stone may incur its curse."
"A regional form of Corsola! Ghost Attribute!"
Xiaosheng was shocked and turned to Baimu.
The latter said, "Earlier, it flew up and got stuck on Aggron's shoulder at the seabed. I thought it would emerge but it didn't, so I brought it up along."
"Wow…" Xiaosheng's eyes sparkled, clearly curious about the Galarian Corsola, but then he remembered something and said, "Wouldn't taking it from the seabed get us cursed?"
"I was worried at first, but then I realized it probably won't."
Baimu reached out to touch the Galarian Corsola, lowering his voice like casting a spell, "Come out~ come out~."
A few seconds later.
"Sunk?"
A low, soft sound was heard, and then wisps of white smoke drifted from the holes of the round stone, forming illusory coral horns, with two red lights glowing at the front.
The Galarian Corsola had awakened. It glanced at Baimu and a nervous Xiaosheng, then closed its eyes, and the coral horns vanished.
The Galarian Corsola went back to sleep.
"...Huh?"
Xiaosheng's nervous expression froze, "What's going on?"
"Since we aren't threatening, it canceled its attack mode. This guy is naturally lethargic and loves to sleep, I even offered to feed it Essence, but it wasn't interested." A hint of helplessness appeared on Baimu's face.
The Ghost-type Pokémon alluded to by the clues turned out to be a lazy bum, and a Ghost-type lazy bum at that—it was hard to know what to say.
Seeing this, Xiaosheng couldn't help but think of his dad's Slaking.
That Pokémon was also a lazy bum.
He asked, "In that case, doesn't that mean it can't be captured?"
"Not at all, I've already captured it; it didn't resist at all." Baimu shook the Pokeball.
"...Oh?"