I'm the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon
Chapter 1486: Surrender

Chapter 1486: Surrender

Once Rapidash fell, Chikai was left with only one last Pokémon plus a severely weakened Swellow. The advantage clearly shifted to Yuga’s side.

Given the current situation, there was no way Chikai would send Swellow back into the field to be knocked out, so after thinking it through, he released his third Pokémon.

It was a Weavile!

...

[ Weavile ]

Type: Dark, Ice

Ability: Pressure

Gender: Male

Potential: Green

Level: 58

Moves: Scratch, Taunt, Quick Attack, Surprise Attack, Icy Wind, Agility, Slash, Screech, Ice Shard, Dark Pulse, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Hail, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, Shadow Claw, Icicle Crash, Ice Punch, Giga Impact.

...

Yet another Pokémon with a type advantage over Grass-types. It was worth noting that this Weavile was even better trained than the previous Rapidash. In terms of both level and moveset, Rapidash was no match for it.

It was obvious that Chikai had already formulated a strategy to counter Whimsicott before sending Weavile out. He immediately gave the command, "Weavile, use Taunt!"

In response, Weavile smugly gestured toward Whimsicott in the air, curling its fingers in a provoking motion. A cocky and contemptuous smile formed on its lips, and a subtle red gleam flickered in its eyes. When Whimsicott met its gaze, it was instantly marked by that light.

The provoked Whimsicott felt an inexplicable, uncontainable fury bubbling inside. And when it tried to use Leech Seed, it found itself unable to do so.

Whimsicott excelled at winning with various status and support moves. Once affected by Taunt, its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

In the moment that Whimsicott hesitated, Weavile, under Chikai’s command, used Hail. Snowflakes began falling across the battlefield in an instant.

The snowfall grew heavier and soon started to obscure Whimsicott’s vision. Besides the sting of snow hitting its body, the increasingly cold temperature made the Grass-type Pokémon extremely uncomfortable.

Seeing this, Yuga gave the order, "Whimsicott, use Hurricane!"

Upon hearing Yuga’s command, a powerful gale burst forth around Whimsicott and began to spiral outward from its position. The swirling winds blew away all the snow nearby and prevented new snowflakes from coming close.

Hidden within the snowstorm, Weavile kept silently approaching Whimsicott’s location. Not even the violent winds of Hurricane could stop its advance.

As soon as it spotted the column of wind, Weavile used Agility to suddenly dart forward, charging straight into the storm.

Due to the combined effects of Hail and Hurricane, neither Yuga nor Chikai could see clearly what was happening inside the battlefield anymore.

At the calm center of the hurricane, Whimsicott hovered silently in the air, warily scanning its surroundings.

Suddenly, Weavile broke through the wall of wind, lunging out from the gale and launching a strike with Ice Punch at Whimsicott. Thanks to Weavile’s excellent leaping ability, even a target in the air like Whimsicott wasn’t beyond its reach.

Catching sight of Weavile’s rapid movement from the corner of its eye, Whimsicott quickly countered with a Dazzling Gleam, striking directly at Weavile’s fist. The two were blown away in opposite directions from the collision.

There’s a reason why Whimsicott is named as such — it isn’t just for show. These Pokémon love to ride the wind when they travel. Over time, even if the weaker individuals don’t amount to much, the stronger ones all develop powerful wind-control abilities. It could be considered a kind of racial talent.

So even though they aren’t Flying-type Pokémon, they’re still able to skillfully master Flying-type moves like Tailwind, Tailwind again, and Hurricane.

After Whimsicott was knocked backward, it immediately stabilized its body using the wind, preventing itself from being flung outside of the hurricane.

But Weavile was different. It was flung directly into the wall of wind and then vanished into the center of the storm.

It had forced its way in while enduring the fierce gale, and now it had to go back through that same blade-like wind to exit — one could only imagine how that felt.

By the time Weavile finally managed to escape from the hurricane, the hailstorm had already passed, and the storm surrounding Whimsicott was also gradually fading.

Once again, the two Pokémon stood facing each other in the arena, both slightly gasping for breath.

Weavile was injured, while Whimsicott was simply tired. Maintaining a storm of that scale took a lot out of it. If its level were just a little higher, things would be different.

Currently, Whimsicott was just one step away from reaching the quasi-Elite Four tier. That was also the reason why Yuga had gradually stopped using it in gym battles — a Pokémon of that level was simply too difficult for most beginner Trainers to deal with.

It was only because Chikai came to challenge today, and on a sudden impulse, Yuga chose to use it. His intuition told him that Chikai should be able to handle it.

However...

Judging from the current situation, Chikai still had a high chance of losing.

Looking at the battlefield, Chikai furrowed his brows tightly. He instinctively reached for the Poké Ball on his waist, but then slowly withdrew his hand and clenched his fist tightly over his chest.

"Weavile, Taunt!"

"Whimsicott, Taunt!"

Chikai and Yuga’s voices rang out at the same time. It turned out that the effect of Weavile’s earlier Taunt had already worn off. Chikai naturally wanted to continue limiting Whimsicott’s use of status moves, but Yuga wouldn’t allow it — after all, Taunt wasn’t exclusive to Weavile.

Thanks to Whimsicott’s Prankster ability, it got the move off first. Under the effect of Taunt, the slightly slower Weavile failed to use its own — after all, Taunt is also a status move.

(Note: After Generation VII, status moves targeting non-teamwide targets used with Prankster do not affect Dark-type Pokémon. However, since this story previously included Prankster affecting Dark-types, that rule is being maintained here for consistency.)

After using Taunt, Whimsicott immediately used Tailwind again. With a sudden surge in speed, it dodged Weavile’s incoming Icicle Crash.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Sharp icicles rained down on Whimsicott, but it evaded every one of them with nimble grace.

Weavile continued chasing Whimsicott across the battlefield. Suddenly, it felt as if it had stepped on something. Before it could react, a green vine was already crawling up its leg, and in no time, it was wrapped in a leafy cloak.

It was Whimsicott’s Leech Seed!

The vines generated by Leech Seed were composed of Grass-type energy and didn’t have a physical form, yet once they latched onto the target’s body, they weren’t easy to get rid of.

As the green vines settled onto Weavile’s body, it gradually began to feel sharp stings, while up in the air, Whimsicott was enjoying the energy being drawn from Weavile and flowing into itself.

Seeing that Weavile had fallen victim to Leech Seed, just like Rapidash earlier, Chikai became visibly anxious. He quickly instructed:

"Weavile, Icy Wind!"

"Weavile~"

Following Chikai’s command, Weavile came to a stop and began blowing cold air into the sky. Its goal wasn’t to attack Whimsicott directly but to slow its speed.

Although not a status move, Icy Wind could still have effects similar to those of status moves.

As the concentration of cold air in the atmosphere increased, the temperature indeed began to drop significantly. Frost even began forming on Whimsicott’s body, and its speed was clearly impacted to a great extent.

By the time Weavile stopped using Icy Wind, the temperature on the battlefield had dropped to a harsh degree. Whimsicott, now trembling from the cold, felt as if even its bones had frozen stiff. Its whole body felt unbearably heavy.

As a species, Whimsicott loved warm climates. It couldn’t tolerate the cold one bit.

Seeing Whimsicott’s current condition, Chikai sensed a window of opportunity. He quickly shouted:

"Weavile, use Ice Punch!"

At the command, Weavile dug in its heels and launched itself like an arrow, dashing toward Whimsicott at top speed. But Yuga didn’t panic. Instead, he calmly said to Whimsicott:

"Whimsicott, Cotton Spore!"

Just as Weavile’s icy fist was about to land on Whimsicott, a large puff of soft cotton suddenly burst out in front of it. Weavile’s Ice Punch slammed right into the cotton.

Thanks to the cotton’s strong elasticity, not only did Weavile fail to damage Whimsicott, but it even got bounced backward by the recoil.

"Whimsicott, keep using Cotton Spore."

If Whimsicott’s speed had been reduced, then the same could be done to Weavile — slow it down too.

For two Pokémon that relied on speed, if both had their speed cut down, then things would even out — almost as if nothing had changed at all.

As Yuga gave his command, fluffy white cotton began floating from Whimsicott’s body in waves, and soon it filled the entire battlefield.

At the same time, Whimsicott used Tailwind to manipulate the airflow on the field, ensuring the cotton floated around Weavile and didn’t drift out of bounds.

Weavile was now surrounded by a sea of cotton. No matter if it tried to go left, right, forward, or back, it was obstructed.

And as it bumped into the floating tufts of cotton, large amounts of brown powder scattered into the air, so much that Weavile was left coughing uncontrollably from the irritation.

Just as Chikai was about to instruct Weavile to use Ice Beam to get rid of all the cotton, he suddenly saw the brown powder fall onto Weavile’s body. A bad feeling rose in his heart.

With a soft thud... Weavile collapsed onto the ground, snoring in deep sleep.

It turned out that Whimsicott had mixed Sleep Powder into the Cotton Spore!

"Weavile, wake up! Wake up!" Chikai shouted loudly, trying to rouse Weavile. But Weavile didn’t respond at all—it had inhaled far too much of the Sleep Powder.

At that moment, Whimsicott’s Dazzling Gleam landed directly on Weavile, instantly causing it to lose the ability to battle.

"Weavile has lost the ability to battle. Whimsicott wins. Challenger, please send out your next Pokémon!" Beidou’s voice rang out across the field.

At this point, Chikai had only one usable Pokémon left: the injured Swellow. He knew very well that Swellow stood no chance against Whimsicott—let alone considering the fact that Yuga still had a third Pokémon he hadn’t even revealed yet.

After hesitating for quite a while, Chikai finally let out a long breath and said, "I surrender..."

Hearing these words, Yuga let out a long sigh as well. After recalling Whimsicott, he said to Chikai, "It’s a shame, but I can’t give you the Greenleaf Badge."

In truth, Chikai wasn’t weak. His Pokémon were well-trained, and his performance in battle had been commendable. If Yuga hadn’t whimsically decided to use Whimsicott today, Chikai would very likely have won the badge.

Yuga had actually intended to give him the badge regardless of the outcome of the match. After all, whether or not a challenger receives a badge isn’t strictly determined by the result of the battle—it depends on the Gym Leader’s judgment of the challenger’s qualities.

But Chikai’s final decision to forfeit caused Yuga to abandon that original intention.

Even though the battle was all but lost, Yuga still hoped the challenger would see it through to the end. This wasn’t just about willpower—it was also an important learning experience for the challenger.

This was a Gym Battle, not some life-or-death struggle. Even if one lost, the Pokémon wouldn’t suffer any real danger. If a challenger couldn’t take even this minor risk, then that would be a shameful lack of courage for a Trainer.

Some might think that it’s pointless to continue a match that’s clearly going to end in defeat, but from the perspective of a Gym Leader, Yuga believed in holding to his principles.

Hearing Yuga’s words, Chikai forced a smile and said, "I’ll keep working hard. Once I’ve improved a bit more, I’ll come challenge you again."

Yuga smiled and held out his hand. "You’re welcome anytime."

Chikai shook Yuga’s hand and replied, "Then I’ll take my leave."

After sending Chikai off, Yuga realized he was starving. He turned to Beidou and said, "I’ll leave cleaning up the field to you. I need to go eat. I’m starving!"

Beidou smiled and nodded. "Go ahead. I’ve got this!" The gym had staff responsible for cleaning the field, so all Beidou needed to do was supervise—no hands-on work required.

Back at home, Doudou had already prepared lunch, and Yuga enjoyed a hearty meal.

Meanwhile, after having his Pokémon healed at the Pokémon Center, Chikai returned to his temporary residence in Verdanturf Town.

He released the fully recovered Pokémon, distributed some Pokéblocks to them, and said with a cold expression, "Eat. Don’t waste it." Then he turned and walked into his room.

The Pokémon looked at one another, their faces filled with hurt. Staring at the Pokéblocks in front of them, they had no appetite at all.

What had happened to Chikai? Why had he become like this? All the Pokémon asked the same question silently in their hearts.

Chikai used to be such a gentle person. He treated them like family. But at some point, without warning, he had grown cold and distant. His attitude toward them had become strangely detached.

They had always been together—so how could Chikai change for no reason?

...

On the other side, Ash had already said goodbye to Clemont and the others and boarded an airship headed back to Kanto. Traveling with him was Hoopa (Little Hoopa).

It was Hoopa’s first time riding such a large airship, and it was excited the entire way.

A few days later, the airship successfully entered Kanto airspace. But at that very moment, it suddenly began to shake violently.

Hoopa instinctively shivered and dove into Ash’s arms, trembling as it muttered, "That guy’s back again!"

Having been through it before, Ash immediately understood who Hoopa was referring to. At the same time, through the airship window, he saw Big Hoopa grinning menacingly at them.

Ash realized that if he and Little Hoopa remained on the airship, the other passengers might be in serious danger. So, without hesitation, he yanked Little Hoopa out of his arms and shouted.

"Hoopa, we’re getting out of here!"