This was the most the Galarian Corsola had spoken since it was captured.
Unfortunately, the conversation was with Chansey.
Baimu watched the whole time but couldn't understand a word, sitting cross-legged and resting his chin on his hand, waiting for them to finish talking.
The Galarian Corsola seemed to have said something extraordinary, causing Chansey to quickly become teary-eyed.
He thought it might have been because the former mentioned a past experience, such as how tragic its death was, but the next moment Chansey's tears stopped as if time had frozen, quickly retracting back into its eyes. Its expression turned into one of complete speechlessness.
"Lucky?"
"Soooo..."
"Lucky!"
"Sooo..."
"Lucky..."
Their conversation ended there.
The Galarian Corsola glanced at Baimu, seemingly assessing something, before slowly flying towards the living room.
Chansey rubbed its face, caught in a dilemma, and seeing the expectant eyes of its Trainer, it began to gesticulate animatedly.
Due to the complexity of the content being expressed, and even though the two had a certain understanding, it took them a long time without making any sense. The discussion only ended when the Galarian Corsola flew back with a satisfied expression.
Noticing Baimu's attention shifting towards it, the satisfied expression on the Galarian Corsola's face instantly turned into a depressed state, reverting to the dejected, forlorn sunken coral.
"This guy..."
Baimu tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Their conversation included the Galarian Corsola's origins—
This guy wasn't transformed from a native Corsola from the Lantier Region after its death, but came from a far more distant land, though it wasn't sure where.
All it remembered was being inexplicably attacked by a Crawdaunt, and while retaliating, accidentally falling into an underground river, getting swept into the sea, sticking to a migrating group of Wailords and Wailmers, and finally entering a dormant state near the Lantier Region's waters.
Who knows how long it was before Baimu picked it up from the seabed.
In the days since waking up, its head had been dazed, still in energy-saving mode, and had lost most of its thinking ability, only capable of mechanized automatic retaliation against external attacks.
Fortunately, a certain excitement yesterday had somewhat snapped it back to its senses.
Hearing this, Baimu didn't know where to start ridiculing.
Where did this Demon King come from? And usually, when others break free from a seal, they lose power; why did you lose your intelligence?
In simple terms, it boils down to three words: sleep confusion.
But if you think the Galarian Corsola regaining its senses would make it diligent, you'd be dead wrong.
Despite repeated encouragement, the Galarian Corsola kept insisting that sleep was the only thing it liked at the moment, refusing to accept Chansey's many suggestions.
Chansey then asked about eating.
The Galarian Corsola suddenly fell silent.
Well, it had to admit that Baimu's cooking was delicious enough to wake it up to eat on time every day, even in its dazed state.
So after regaining its intelligence, the Galarian Corsola couldn't help but take another look at this guy. Despite looking similar to the others, how did he manage to be so amazing?
And under Chansey's persuasive encouragement, the Galarian Corsola reluctantly agreed to set aside some time each day to help Baimu fight, but insisted on having enough free time to sleep.
In exchange, Baimu would have to provide delicious food and a petting service.
"What on earth is a petting service?"
He tugged at the corner of his mouth, while Chansey bashfully bowed its head, turning red, and giggled while rubbing its small hands together.
The returning Galarian Corsola didn't care whether Baimu agreed to these conditions or not, slowly flying in front of him, closing its eyes, and falling into his arms.
Come on, start petting!
The Galarian Corsola lying on its back clearly conveyed this meaning.
"Lucky?" Chansey leaned forward, with a look that seemed to say "if you want, I'll do it".
"I'll handle it."
Baimu sighed and said.
——
Since that night.
Baimu had gained a shoulder accessory.
To ensure it could sleep at any moment, the Galarian Corsola would cling to his shoulder whenever they went out, refusing to come down. If the left shoulder wasn't available, it would squat on the right shoulder, and if not there, it would perch atop his head.
Fortunately, it weighed just under a pound.
Including the smoky horns, it was just over fifty centimeters tall, and its actual body was just over thirty centimeters, which didn't place too much burden on Baimu's shoulder.
Of course.
The more important thing was in battles.
Though there's no passion to talk about during battles, it was willing to fight, showing no significant resistance, and Baimu's commands were executed very precisely.
So even though it lost more often than it won, he didn't say much, quietly contemplating how to maximize the Galarian Corsola's battle effectiveness.
It's worth mentioning.
Baimu noticed that according to Species Value, he had quite a few low-speed Pokémon on his team, but he mostly used them like medium-speed Pokémon, either charging at the opponent's attacks or proactively attacking.
This strategy worked perfectly with Aggron, Mawile, and Chansey. Especially Mawile, with Electromagnetic Levitation, giving it extraordinary explosiveness, and Chansey's Minimize making it incredibly agile, but it obviously couldn't be adapted for the Galarian Corsola.
This one's speed is really slow, and without a Magic Space, it's hard for it to move flexibly.
Forcing it to fight in the usual way would only lead to it turning from a strong mainstay like Ash Ketchum's Torterra into cannon fodder.
He had to change his combat habits.
Not only should the Pokémon adapt to his rhythm, but he also had to adapt to the Pokémon's rhythm. Only by accommodating each other could they go further.
Meanwhile, to maximize the Galarian Corsola's battle power, Baimu went to the Milotic, a shop that specialized in selling Pokémon-related items, and successfully found a second Evolutionary Wondrous Stone.
The price was quite expensive, requiring a full 500,000, but he gritted his teeth and paid, thinking about Chansey's potentially sad face if he tried to retrieve the Evolutionary Wondrous Stone from it.
Money to spare! Spoilt for choice!
The Galarian Corsola showed no reaction upon receiving the Evolutionary Wondrous Stone, simply tossing it into a hole in its back as if that's all there was to it.
As a Ghost Attribute Pokémon, its interior was almost entirely hollow, with only a smoky spiritual body as its essence. When it evolves, this spirit will rapidly expand, breaking its round stone shell and forming a semi-transparent ghost coral.
Speaking of which, Baimu vaguely remembers that the level required for the Galarian Corsola to evolve should not be far from level thirty-five.
Though with its lazy nature, it might not be that interested in evolving.
Out of curiosity, he asked the Galarian Corsola and indeed received the standard answer that evolution isn't interesting.
... Alright then.
For this type of Pokémon, evolving isn't necessarily stronger than before, even if the Species Value increased significantly.
And after a long voyage, the Milotic finally arrived in the Hoenn Region, preparing to dock at the port of Littleroot Town for supplies.