Pokémon Center.
In the plain-colored booth by the window, Baimu and Xiaoyao sipped their drinks while chatting as they waited.
The conversation mainly revolved around the giant Steelix.
Pokémon of such size, even considered anomalous, are rare in this world. Xiaosheng conducted a simple online investigation about Shiba's Steelix and found that, in terms of length, it's still dwarfed by the Baimu family's.
"How did it grow so large, anyway?"
He was very curious, "Is it just age?"
In the Pokémon World, except for certain special individuals, typically the closer a Pokémon's body composition is to inorganic material, the longer it can exist.
For Pokémon like Steelix, which live deep underground for most of their lives, living up to a thousand years isn't out of the question.
Baimu shook his head, "No way."
Steelix isn't a dragon from some Western Fantasy World, growing larger with age.
Additionally, judging by those sharp, tusk-like teeth on its jaws, it hasn't even met the "hundred-year" condition for Onix's natural evolution into Steelix as depicted in the Illustrated Guide.
Of course.
Despite being likely older than Baimu's cumulative lifetimes, Steelix leads a mostly instinct-driven life amongst mountains with other Pokémon, having little interaction, its experience might be inferior to a school kid's.
Otherwise, how could it be captured by a Pokémon Hunter?
"Being so huge, if it were mine, I wouldn't know how to take care of it," Xiaoyao mused, imagining Steelix as her Pokémon, shivering at the thought.
Baimu laughed, "You'd take care of it the same way, just bigger. Besides, your Venusaur isn't that small either, right? You still manage to care for it."
"It's much smaller..."
Xiaoyao mumbled softly, always recalling her Venusaur as that cute Bulbasaur she could once hold in her arms.
As they say.
Battles are the most effective communication language between Trainers.
Even though the battle with Steelix wasn't ideal, Xiaoyao and Baimu's relationship grew closer.
Especially when she realized he was so down-to-earth and not arrogant about his skills like some peers she'd met before; rather, he was particularly humble.
"Time's about up, I think."
Baimu glanced at his phone.
Xiaosheng, bored, fiddled with a straw and asked curiously, "What's up, Brother Baimu? Got something else going on?"
"No, just reached out to an old acquaintance."
He turned to the equally curious Xiaoyao with a smile, "Someone you know."
Xiaoyao's curiosity quickly turned to confusion, "Someone I know..."
Before she could voice her guess.
Baimu had already turned, saying:
"Here they come."
Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng turned to see a black-haired girl in a nurse's hat shouting "No problem, no problem," pushing a Nurse Blissey's stretcher.
On the stretcher, alongside several Pokeballs, was a spirited blue-haired round-headed little penguin.
"Piplup!"
"Xiaoguang! Piplup!"
Both looked in shock at the newcomers before their gaze fell on an embarrassed Nurse Blissey accompanying a man in a white coat with dark skin and squinting eyes not far behind.
Their surprise turned to joy as they shouted in unison, "Xiaogang!"
"Made it at last~"
Wearing a simple nurse's outfit, Xiaoguang stopped the stretcher before the trio, giving a standard smile as she said, "Dear Trainers, your Pokémon have fully recovered!"
"Piplup!" came Piplup's response.
Xiaoyao stood up abruptly, eyes shining as she approached Xiaoguang, admiring her outfit with both admiration and a hint of envy, saying, "Xiaoguang, you look so adorable in this!"
"Right? I said the nurse outfit matches me perfectly," Xiaoguang giggled, pinching the corner of her garment, spinning around like an agile bird.
"Absolutely!"
Xiaoyao nodded quickly, fully agreeing.
Nearby.
Xiaosheng lunged at Xiaogang, eyes brimming with tears of emotion, "Xiaogang!!"
Only after traveling on his own did he realize just how fortunate it was to have Xiaogang looking after him and their Pokémon's living needs in the past.
"It's been a while! Xiaosheng! Baimu!"
Wearing a lab coat, Xiaogang opened his arms, catching him, greeting Baimu.
He always got along well with Xiaosheng. Whenever he inappropriately chatted up mature women like Joy, the latter always pulled him away by the ear to avoid disruption.
"Didn't expect you to come to Glazed City with Xiaoguang."
Baimu secured the Pokeballs from the stretcher and asked, "And those clothes... Are you helping Miss Joy ease the workload here?"
"As expected of you, you got it in one go."
Xiaogang confidently posed, shaking his lab coat, although just an intern, his professional skills are quite adequate, more than enough to assist Miss Joy.
And alongside him, that Nurse Blissey, unmistakably the same Happiny with its unparalleled might as shown in the storyline, having lifted an iceberg nearly the size of a small lake, even more outrageous than Mawile.
Amusingly, its main means of attack is physical techniques, with a Million-ton Fist exchangeable with Galaxy Team's Pokémon in battle.
With a species value of only ten in physical attack, Mighty Power such as this makes Steelix pale in comparison.
"Tsk tsk tsk."
Baimu shook his head; he simply couldn't understand why Miss Joy accepted Xiaogang, let alone let Xiaoguang help...
However, on recalling Ash Ketchum's group thriving in some hospital during the No-mark Era, it occurred to him this might be what exceptional young talents in mainstream regions do, being versatile and all-rounded.