Chapter 206: I Even Dream About Diancie Now
The video continued playing.
After the Totem Wishiwashi had been lured toward the habitat, it became even more furious than before, charging recklessly through the water as it raced after them.
"Elaria, they’re way too arrogant."
Hoopa cracked its knuckles eagerly.
"Hoopa requests permission to show them a special trick—drop a Wailord straight onto their heads! Hoopa guarantees they’ll be too scared to ever come back!"
"No."
Elaria shook her head.
"Since we’re helping the Popplio take their home back, it would be better if they participated too."
"If we solve everything by relying on Hoopa, then the Popplio might just run into the same problem again someday."
Hearing this, the leader Popplio immediately let out a powerful cry.
It also wanted to reclaim its home through its own strength.
Hoopa scratched its head.
"All right. Then what’s Elaria’s plan?"
"This is a tactic Daddy taught me."
Elaria crouched down and drew several lines in the dirt with a stick.
"It’s called ’Shut the Gate and Trap the Fish.’"
"First, we lure the Totem Wishiwashi toward that narrow passage downstream."
"The Wishiwashi school is too big to turn around while it’s combined. As long as we lure it inside, it’ll get itself stuck."
"Once that happens, we can force them to separate."
"Understand?"
"No problem!"
Hoopa was the first to respond.
"Hoopa is especially good at taunting people!"
"Ralts~"
Ralts raised one tiny hand to indicate that it understood.
The leader Popplio turned around and called out several times to its companions.
All dozen or so Popplio immediately straightened themselves and saluted with their front flippers.
When the Totem Wishiwashi came charging back, its momentum was even more terrifying than before.
After all, it had just been tricked once.
Now it wasn’t merely defending its territory—
It was fighting to restore its dignity.
Yet when it furiously charged toward the entrance of the habitat, it discovered that the ones blocking its path were none other than the Popplio it had driven away not long ago.
The Totem Wishiwashi released a deep hum.
"Yimi, yimi~" (Have you Popplio got a death wish?!)
The leader Popplio responded by violently slapping its tail against the surface of the water.
"Popplio!" (Come at me!)
"Yeah! Come at us!"
Hoopa wiggled its butt in midair.
"Come chase Hoopa! If you catch Hoopa, then Hoopa will let you—"
It paused.
"Actually, never mind! That part doesn’t matter!"
"Just chase us!"
The Totem Wishiwashi was thoroughly enraged.
It twisted its enormous body and charged toward the Popplio.
The Popplio immediately turned around and fled, swimming at full speed toward the narrow passage downstream.
The Totem Wishiwashi followed closely behind.
Tens of thousands of tiny fish surged through the water at such high speed that the noise made the rocks on both banks tremble.
Just before reaching the narrow passage, the Popplio school made a sudden sharp turn.
More than a dozen round little bodies performed a synchronized drift across the water.
The Totem Wishiwashi couldn’t brake in time—
And plunged headfirst into the narrow passage.
The opening was just slightly narrower than its combined body.
Its upper half squeezed through while its lower half remained outside, thrashing wildly.
The gigantic fish formation went from looking like a majestic dragon—
To an eggplant jammed halfway through a doorway.
"Now!"
Elaria swept one little hand forward and gave the order for their all-out attack.
"Ralts, Psybeam!"
"Popplio, Bubble Beam!"
Ralts floated into the air.
A pale-purple Psybeam shot forward and struck the densest part of the Totem Wishiwashi’s midsection with perfect accuracy.
The Popplio all opened their mouths simultaneously.
More than a dozen Bubble Beams erupted at once and bombarded the Totem Wishiwashi.
Pop! Crack! Pop-pop-pop!
The impacts sounded almost like popcorn bursting.
Hoopa somehow produced an enormous megaphone from who-knew-where.
Then it shouted at a deafening volume—
"WISHIWASHI INSIDE, LISTEN UP!"
"YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED!"
"Immediately abandon your combined formation and disperse into individual fish!"
"We treat prisoners well!"
"Hoopa repeats—we treat prisoners well!"
"Every fish that surrenders gets one Pokéblock!"
"First come, first served!"
"Once they’re gone, they’re gone!"
The Totem Wishiwashi released an exceptionally furious hum.
Clearly, it held nothing but contempt for such a shameless attempt to persuade it to surrender in the middle of battle.
However—
When Hoopa actually reached through a golden ring, pulled out an entire bag of Pokéblocks, and scattered them across the water...
The Totem Wishiwashi’s midsection visibly began to loosen.
More and more individual Wishiwashi broke away from School Form.
And rather than continuing to fight—
They immediately dove into the water and began fighting over the Pokéblocks instead.
Tens of thousands of tiny fish crowded together at the surface.
They shoved one another aside, splashing water everywhere as they desperately competed for food.
A few became so aggressive that they even started slapping each other across the face with their tails.
"Now!"
Elaria pointed toward the remaining section that was still stubbornly holding together.
"Attack with everything you’ve got!"
Ralts raised both hands.
It began gathering power for one final Psybeam.
Suddenly—
A brilliant white light erupted from its tiny body.
The light grew brighter.
Warmer.
Within it, Ralts’s silhouette began to stretch and grow.
A thin, white layer resembling the hem of a dress extended from its waist and fluttered gently in the breeze.
When the light finally faded—
Ralts had evolved into Kirlia.
Kirlia elegantly brought both hands together in front of its chest.
Then—
A Psybeam three times thicker than before blasted from its palms.
BOOM!
The Totem Wishiwashi’s remaining formation completely collapsed beneath the impact.
Thousands upon thousands of tiny fish exploded outward in every direction—
Then came raining back down.
Plip! Plop! Splash! Splish!
The surface of the water was soon completely covered in dazed Wishiwashi floating belly-up with swirly eyes.
Kirlia gracefully adjusted the skirt-like portion of its body.
Then it floated back toward Elaria and gave her a small, elegant curtsy.
Elaria stared at the newly evolved Kirlia, stars practically filling her eyes.
She reached out and gently stroked Kirlia’s head.
Kirlia narrowed its eyes contentedly and rubbed its cheek against Elaria’s palm.
[VIP Chat Group]
[Wallace]: It evolved!! Ralts evolved into Kirlia!! That natural stage presence and elegance doesn’t even need training! This Kirlia was born to be a performer!
[Lisia]: It’s so beautiful! Now I want to raise a Ralts too!
[Steven]: Wallace, is that really necessary? A Pokémon gives one little curtsy and you get this excited?
[Wallace]: Steven, shut up. What would you know about elegance?
[Steven]: What’s elegance? All I know is that Diancie is perfect.
[Wallace]: I didn’t even mention Diancie and you somehow brought her up yourself.
[Steven]: I can’t help it. I even dream about Diancie now.
[Valerie]: Ah, Kirlia’s entire aura changed after evolving. It went from adorable to elegant. That contrast is absolutely wonderful~
[Elesa]: Well, it is a Pokémon raised by Diantha’s daughter. Maybe that artistic talent was inherited from her mother.
[Diantha]: Hehe. Modesty! Modesty!
[Skyla]: Master really has an amazing mentality. You might become the first woman to accept Asher before even receiving your parallel-world memories!
[Diantha]: Skyla, allow your master to teach you one more lesson—rather than struggling against fate, it’s better to calmly accept it.
[Skyla]: Screenshot taken.
[Diantha]: ...So that’s what you were waiting for.
[Skyla]: Sorry, Master. This really is the last time.
[Diantha]: ...Forget it. I surrender.
...