Chapter 69: Milotic: A pitiful, thick barrier exists between us.
All life encounters other life, giving birth to new things. But occasionally, in life, one strays into the wrong current, leading to utter defeat and a permanent decline—a situation that is unavoidable.
If this group of Basculin hadn't accidentally swum into this basin and become trapped, unable to escape its migration for a century, perhaps even the last remaining specimens of the White-Striped Basculin would have died on their upstream journey, causing the entire species to become extinct? Whether it's a blessing or a curse, who can say for sure?
In any case, this Basculin has found a turning point.
"I want to go home."
After conveying the long-cherished wish of the entire species, the White-Striped Basculin then raised an even more troublesome matter.
"It no longer knows exactly where it was born, only having a vague impression of that lake."
Link paused, then added, "I suspect it's Lake Wisdom. First, Basculin's habitat is cold water, and second, there should be reports indicating that Lake Wisdom's water contains seawater components."
Lake Wisdom, located at the northernmost high-altitude region of the Sinnoh region, has been found to contain seawater, but anthropologists have never been able to determine whether this was due to geological changes or the work of Pokémon. Perhaps a Pokémon that once lived in the sea but migrated to Lake Wisdom to spawn, but became extinct in history, could explain the mystery of the seawater in Lake Wisdom.
He also thought that Basculin was probably not extinct; there must be individuals that adapted to the new environment and multiplied into new populations hiding somewhere in the world. Otherwise, why would there be wild Basculin during the future Paldea (Violet) Era, and why would the Grimmsnarl trainers possess Basculegion (Darktail)?
Cynthia (Zhulan) couldn't draw a conclusion about Link's guess. After secretly marveling at the new trainer's extensive knowledge, she looked in the direction of Bloodmoon Ursaluna.
Lucario had completed initial negotiations, but discovered that this unusual Ursaluna seemed to suffer from some kind of "post-traumatic stress disorder," with very severe psychological trauma, making it almost impossible for it to communicate normally with humans or Pokémon.
"This Ursaluna's situation is more complicated than I imagined. Link, I plan to take it to the Rowan (Yamanashi) Research Institute immediately for psychological treatment. I'll temporarily leave the task of bringing Basculin back to its birthplace to you."
Upon hearing this, Link hadn't said anything, but Basculin clearly had a strong objection. It wanted to go with the more powerful person! The Pokémon on the boy's shoulder looked quite weak; could it really help it?
"I don't have any objections." Link still hadn't realized how arduous this task was. "But Cynthia, when you go to Celestic Town (Sandstone Town), why don't you stop by Lake Wisdom and put it there?"
Cynthia shook her head: "We haven't even determined its true home yet. How can we just send it to Lake Wisdom and then abandon it?"
"Bass!"
No way! It wanted to go with the girl; it could smell a very attractive Water-type Pokémon on her!
Lucario: "..."
Link: "..."
He looked at Basculin with pity. Milotic, and Gastrodon were in Group 1 of the water, while Basculin was in Group 2. They couldn't lay eggs together. However, having been underestimated to this extent, Link wasn't going to pretend he hadn't heard anything.
"How about this, I'll battle you. If you can't beat me, then you have nothing to say."
Basculin hesitated for a long time before reluctantly agreeing to this method. During this time, Cynthia had already put the incapacitated Ursaluna into its Poké Ball, and she would be the referee for this battle.
Basculin was released back into the water by Garchomp.
"Litten, prepare for battle."
"Meow!"
The Litten that jumped out immediately used "Intimidate" on its opponent, while the Basculin in the water disdainfully spews out a "Water Gun." After hurriedly dodging the attack, Litten subconsciously looks back at his trainer.
"Meow?" (This fish is three times my size! I can't possibly eat it!)
"Stop looking around, use 'Parting Shot' (throw out a threat)."
Litten immediately launches Dark-type energy while returning to his Poké Ball. This time, he agrees with his trainer's strategy; he really needs to weaken the opponent a few more times.
"Finizen (Dolphin), prepare for battle."
Finizen leaps into the water, blinking at the rare fish Pokémon opposite. Speaking of which, both Finizen and Basculin are in the Water 2 egg group, so it's unclear whether the opponent is male or female. This thought only flashed through Link's mind for a moment before he commanded, "Nature Power."
The natural energy contained within the native northern region and the permanent forest is exceptionally resilient, making this attack even more powerful than before. A giant wave, several meters high, crashed against its opponent under the control of Finizen, while the Basculin decisively dived underwater to reduce the attack's power.
Seeing this, Finizen followed suit. His land-based opponents had been quite formidable lately; the underwater world was his most suitable battlefield!
However, Link frowned. Finizen's strength was far inferior to its opponent's; a head-on confrontation would be nearly impossible. "Use 'Jet Punch' (Water Jet) for guerrilla warfare underwater, and look for opportunities to weaken it with 'Encore' (One More Time) and 'Supersonic'."
Battles between physical attack-type fish are exceptionally primitive. Shortly after the Basculin and the Finizen simultaneously dived underwater, jets of water, explosions of black flames, and bursts of ice formed from frozen energy erupted continuously. Even just watching the aftershocks of the Finizen dodging its opponent's attacks on the surface, one could imagine how dangerous the underwater environment was!
Link once again realized another of his shortcomings: in battles in special environments, the naked eye was simply insufficient; he needed to master the skill of using superpowers to detect objects or read the world through Aura (waveguides).
Just then, he discovered... the plan has taken another unexpected turn. Perhaps it was the Finizen's desire to help the endangered Basculin return to its home that resonated with its trainer, causing the Heart Badge in Link's hand to shine brightly!
Lucario, standing nearby, subconsciously glanced at the device in Link's hand, noticing a massive surge of energy flowing from the trainer's body into the Finizen battling Basculin underwater.
The experience gained from battling Scizor under the trainer's guidance had made Finizen increasingly calm, finally seizing a fleeting opportunity to create an opening and leap out of the water with Jet Punch.
Basculin followed closely, wielding its Wave Crash (Flame Jet) to slam into its opponent, who was now immobilized in mid-air. It had been tricked. Finizen revealed a sly smile, unleashing a fully charged "Encore" attack on Basculin.
The latter, lacking proper guidance and mental training, was immediately disrupted by the combined attack of the trainer and Pokémon. After knocking away the opponent, it instinctively used Wave Crash again.
But ahead lay a sea of trees and land. Finizen was the first to lose his battle ability, but he used his battle wits to lure the Basculin onto land.
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(End of Chapter)