The next day, Cole handed over the construction site supervision duties to Daisy and went to the West District with Popplio and Helioptile.
The anesthetic needed to activate Gecko's hidden energy circuit was running low, so he planned to buy more from Nurse Joy.
Walking into the Pokémon Center, Cole noticed there seemed to be more people than usual today, so he looked at Nurse Joy curiously and asked, "Is something special happening today? The backyard seems particularly lively."
After packaging up the medicine and handing it to him, Nurse Joy smiled and said, "Nothing special really, just two trainers who don't get along are having a 'duel', and everyone's watching the excitement."
"Oh, is that so?" Cole found it amusing and didn't ask further, wondering what kind of deep grudge could lead to a duel here.
As he was about to leave with the medicine, Popplio suddenly grabbed him.
"Woo~ Woo~" — Let's go watch too.
Cole said exasperatedly, "What's there to watch?"
"Woo~ Woo~" — Let's watch, let's watch!
Popplio grabbed onto his pants and wouldn't let go, nearly pulling them down.
"Alright, alright, stop pulling! You're impossible. I'll take you to watch, okay? What's so exciting about this anyway?" Cole said while holding onto his pants, then led Popplio and Helioptile to the Pokémon Center's backyard.
In the backyard, there were indeed two trainers — around sixteen or seventeen — battling on the battlefield, one using a Hariyama and the other using a Froakie.
The two Pokémon were trading blows back and forth, with occasional cheers erupting from the crowd of onlookers.
"Hey, young man, what's the beef between these two?" Cole asked a boy standing nearby.
"Ha~ what beef could there be? These two saw the same..." The young man explained the whole story to him in detail.
It turned out these two used to adventure together and were good friends. Later, they both spotted a rare Pokémon in the wild that they both wanted to catch. They got into an argument, and in the confusion, the Pokémon managed to escape.
Their conflict escalated after that, and they would fight whenever they met. Now they'd run into each other again at the Pokémon Center.
"So that's all it was!" Cole was speechless — he'd thought they had some serious grudge. He looked down at Popplio, "Satisfied now? Was the battle good?"
"Woo~" — So-so.
Popplio nodded its head from side to side, then suddenly froze, staring intently in one direction.
"What's wrong?" He followed the sea lion's gaze curiously to see a girl around twelve or thirteen watching from among the crowd.
"Woo~" — I want to duel her!
Popplio suddenly came to its senses, grabbed Cole's pants and pointed at the girl.
Cole: (－_－) ?
He was bewildered — just because others are dueling doesn't mean you can challenge random people! And stop pulling my pants!
"This isn't right, we don't have any grudge against her." Cole said reluctantly.
"Woo~ Woo~ Woo..."
After Popplio's rambling explanation, Cole finally understood why it was so excited — the girl was Captain Sanders' daughter, its original trainer.
Popplio wanted revenge for being "abandoned" back then!
"You really want to duel?" Cole asked hesitantly.
"Woo~"
Popplio nodded firmly.
"Fine, since you insist." He nodded and led Popplio and Helioptile toward the girl.
"Um... hello."
"What is it?" The girl was engrossed in watching the battle, her face showing clear annoyance at being interrupted.
"Are you a trainer? Would you like to have a Pokémon battle?"
Though initially irritated, when she heard his challenge, the girl's expression immediately changed from displeasure to delight.
"Sure!"
As she looked at the Popplio and Helioptile by Cole's feet, her face showed great confusion — why was that sea lion glaring at her?
Obviously, the girl had completely forgotten what her former Popplio looked like, though its appearance had also undergone some subtle changes.
"I'm Cole Sage, and you are?"
"I'm Elia."
Soon the battle on the field ended, with the two duelists determining a winner — the Froakie lost to Hariyama due to type disadvantage.
The spectators were about to disperse when they saw two more people step up, so they all stopped and stayed put.
As Elia was about to send out her Pokémon, she suddenly heard Cole say from across the field, "I heard you have a Yamper. Could you battle me with that Pokémon?"
That Yamper was the one that had bullied Popplio back then, caught specially for Elia by her friend from the distant Galar wilderness.
Elia's hand froze at his words, wondering puzzled: How does he know I have a Yamper? Have we met before?
Before she could think it through, she asked with a conflicted expression, "Are you sure? My Yamper has already evolved into a Boltund — it's my strongest Pokémon."
"I'm sure, please." Cole said.
Elia looked at the Helioptile by his feet, assuming he wanted to use her Boltund to help his fellow Electric-type Pokémon improve. She agreed without further objection and readily sent out Boltund.
"Woof!"
Boltund emerged with an arrogant bark, electricity crackling all over its body, appearing quite haughty.
This was Cole's first time seeing this Pokémon in real life, and he studied it with interest, thinking the dog looked quite cool.
The moment it saw Boltund, Popplio rushed to the center of the field, glaring hatefully at its old nemesis.
While Elia didn't recognize Popplio, Boltund recognized it immediately. Its arrogant posture faltered as it looked at the sea lion with an unnatural expression.
"How is it you?"
"That's right, it's me! I'm gonna beat the crap out of you today!" The feisty little hothead was ready to explode.
Boltund had actually felt a bit guilty about Popplio, but after being cursed at like this, it got angry too.
"You? Can you even use moves now?"
"Just you wait and see, you dog!"
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
From outside the arena, Elia pointed at Popplio and asked Cole in surprise, "You're going to use this Popplio?"
"Yes, is there a problem?" He nodded.
Elia became instantly furious. Was there a problem? She thought this guy either didn't understand basic Pokémon knowledge or was looking down on her — either way, it was intolerable.
"Since you insist, I won't hold back! Boltund, Thunder Fang!" Elia angrily commanded Boltund to launch the first attack.
"Woof!"
Boltund let out a bark and charged forward on all fours, rushing to Popplio's side in the blink of an eye, opening its electricity-filled mouth to bite Popplio.
Popplio had never been advantaged in terms of speed, so it didn't even try to dodge. Instead, it opened its mouth and released a stream of musical notes, their captivating sound making Boltund's mind go hazy.
✲ Disarming Voice ✲
Boom!
Before Boltund could even touch the sea lion, it was knocked back by a sound wave mixed with water vapor, tumbling several times on the ground before shaking its head and standing back up.
It looked at Popplio, shocked: Is this the same crippled Pokémon as before?
Similarly, Elia hadn't expected her strongest Boltund to be at a disadvantage after just one round. Before she and the dog could react, beautiful singing filled the arena again, even more enchanting than before.
✲ Sing ✲
Those who heard the song felt their eyelids growing heavy, but since they weren't the direct targets of this move, the effect wasn't severe — a couple of head shakes were enough to dispel the drowsiness.
This time Popplio wasn't using Captivate, but rather the control move Sing, a technique it had learned by accident while developing its hidden energy circuits. When it came to sound-based moves, it had unparalleled talent.
As soon as the song began, Boltund instantly fell into a deep sleep.
"Popplio, Water Gun!"
✲ Water Gun ✲
Following Cole's command, a jet of water shot straight at Boltund.
"Boltund, wake up!" Elia called out anxiously.
However, her calls had no effect. Boltund was blasted away by the water jet, slamming hard against a nearby wall. The intense pain finally brought it back to consciousness.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
While Cole and Elia were battling, a young woman in white clothing arrived at the Pokémon Center. After handing her Poké Ball to Nurse Joy, she asked, "Is there a battle going on in the backyard?"
Nurse Joy smiled and replied, "That's right. Since your Pokémon's treatment will take some time, you can go watch if you're interested."
The young woman nodded and walked toward the backyard. When she pushed through the crowd and saw Cole in the arena, her face showed surprise.
"It's him!"
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
The newly awakened Boltund was panting heavily, clearly having lost a lot of energy.
At this point, Elia's anger had completely vanished. She realized that Cole had let her use her strongest Pokémon and even used a type-disadvantaged Popplio because he was confident in his own strength.
Only Boltund was screaming in its heart: They're getting revenge!
✲ Sing ✲
Just then, Popplio's song rang out again. Before the dog could even make a move, its eyelids drooped once more.
"Boltund! Boltund!"
No matter how Elia called out, Boltund didn't respond. She was nearly frantic — aside from that first time, she and Boltund hadn't had a single chance to attack.
In theory, the Sing move has about a 50% chance of putting the opponent to sleep, but in actual battle, due to various factors, this probability probably doesn't even reach 40%.
Yet Popplio was landing it every single time. How the hell were they supposed to fight against this?
"Popplio, Water Gun!"
✲ Water Gun ✲
At Cole's command, the opposing Boltund was once again blasted away by the water jet.
Seeing the dog's pathetic state and the girl's dejected expression, he thought guiltily: Am I going too far?
Although he was getting revenge for Popplio, honestly, if he had been in Elia's position back then, he would have made the same choice. Even without his special ability, he wouldn't have asked Captain Sanders to take in Popplio.
You couldn't say such behavior was right, but it was just human nature — everyone seeks advantage and avoids disadvantage. Besides, Captain Sanders had given him Popplio for free back then, so bullying his daughter like this made him feel somewhat guilty.
After this fall, Boltund finally couldn't get up anymore.
Having defeated the damned dog, Popplio had finally gotten its revenge, happily hopping and skipping back to its master's side.
Cole patted its head and asked, "Feeling better?"
"Woo~" — Barely satisfactory!
Popplio held its head high.
"Now that you've gotten your revenge, let this matter go. No more grudges, understand?"
"Woo~ Woo~" — Fine, fine.
Popplio replied halfheartedly.
At this point, Elia, who had recalled Boltund, walked over to Cole and said: "You and your Popplio are very strong. It was an honor to battle with you."
Though she said this, she was actually quite discouraged. This boy looked about her age, yet his strength completely overwhelmed hers — anyone would feel discouraged.
These past two years, Elia had been traveling, participating in many competitions both big and small. She had always thought her strength was quite decent, but today's battle had thoroughly taught her what it meant that there's always someone better.
"Likewise." Cole said with a smile.
Then Elia suddenly asked, "Have we met before? How else did you know I had a Yamper?"
Cole shook his head and replied, "We haven't met, but..."
He glanced down at Popplio at his feet.
Following his gaze, Elia looked at Popplio again. Seeing the sea lion still glaring at her hostilely, something suddenly clicked in her mind. Connecting it with the boy's attitude, she looked at him in disbelief.
"Could it be... could it be..."
Dad had said he gave Popplio to a young man about her age, so... but how was this possible?
She was so shocked that she began to stutter, unable to form a complete sentence.
Cole shook his head without saying anything and turned to leave with Popplio and Helioptile.
Elia took a step forward, wanting to call out to him, but suddenly stopped. What could she say even if she did call out to him?
After standing there in a daze for a long while, she finally returned home, dispirited.
As Cole was about to catch a ride after leaving the Pokémon Center, he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.
"Hi, Cole!"
He turned around to see a young woman in a white dress looking at him cheerfully.
"It's you?" He said in surprise.
"So you do remember me!" The young woman smiled brightly.
✲✲✲
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