Chapter 242: Popplio Reeled In a Dragapult (Membership Extra - )

Chapter 242: Popplio Reeled In a Dragapult (Membership Extra Chapter)

The video continued playing.

After finishing lunch, Elaria and Nessa headed to a rocky beach on the westernmost edge of Hulbury.

"This is the place."

Nessa stopped on a flat rock, pulled a collapsible fishing rod from her backpack, and handed it to Elaria.

"This is my spare rod. It’s a little stiff, but it’s pretty sensitive, so it’s good for beginners."

Elaria took the fishing rod and examined it carefully.

Then she copied Nessa and started fishing.

Time passed, minute by minute.

Hoopa lay across Elaria’s lap.

It stared at her completely motionless float for a while before finally losing patience.

"This is way too slow!"

Hoopa floated into the air and swept both little hands through it.

A golden ring nearly a meter wide tore open directly above the surface of the water.

"Use Hoopa’s ring! You can catch whatever fish you want! Maybe you’ll even pull up a secret rare!"

"Hoopa! The whole point of fishing is patiently waiting!"

Elaria hurriedly began lecturing Hoopa about the "ethics of fishing."

"Doing that is cheating!"

She was so busy educating Hoopa that she completely failed to notice Popplio beside her quietly sticking its tail into the ring.

Popplio moved its tail back and forth through the portal, imitating the way Elaria had cast her fishing rod.

Then—

Something suddenly bit down on its tail.

Popplio’s entire body stiffened from the pain.

It immediately planted all four limbs against the ground and started desperately pulling its tail back out.

The golden ring began shaking violently.

A blurry black shadow was dragged toward them from the other side.

Elaria finally noticed the commotion.

The instant she turned her head—A Dragapult came flying out of the ring.

More accurately...

Dragapult was still biting Popplio’s tail.

The two spun nearly three full circles through the air above the rocks before crashing down together.

Popplio immediately bounced back onto its feet.

It raised its tail, which now had a perfect set of teeth marks on it, and frantically waved its front flippers at Elaria.

Hoopa didn’t even need to translate.

Elaria understood exactly what Popplio meant.

And judging by the fact that Dragapult had no intention of stopping either.

This battle was probably unavoidable.

"Popplio, Bubble Beam!"

Elaria raised one hand.

Popplio opened its mouth and fired a stream of blue bubbles.

Dragapult simply slapped its tail against the rock.

Its entire body flipped through the air, effortlessly avoiding every single bubble.

After landing back on the rocks—

Dragapult started licking the tip of its tail.

That gesture dealt more damage to Popplio than any move possibly could.

"It’s so smug!"

Hoopa slapped both little hands against Elaria’s shoulders.

"Elaria, use Water Gun! If Water Gun doesn’t work, use Saltwater Gun!"

"Hoopa can teleport over a bottle of super-concentrated saltwater! One spray and it’ll turn salty!"

"Hoopa, stop coming up with weird ideas!"

Popplio clearly had no intention of accepting Hoopa’s suggestion either.

It charged toward Dragapult on all fours and tried to ram it with its head.

But in the very next second...

Dragapult vanished on the spot.

Popplio whipped its head left and right, searching for it.

Then—

A powerful impact struck it from behind. ℯ

Dragapult sent Popplio flying.

Popplio flipped three times through the air before plunging headfirst into the sand.

Only its two hind flippers remained above the ground, kicking frantically.

It was obvious.

Whether in speed or strength, Popplio was nowhere near Dragapult’s level.

Just as Elaria was thinking of a countermeasure.

Popplio’s body began to glow.

White light spread upward across its entire body.

When the light finally faded—Popplio was gone.

Standing in its place was a Brionne.

"It evolved! It finally evolved!"

Hoopa clapped its little hands furiously.

"Brionne! You got prettier!"

"Hoopa hereby declares—from now on, you’re Team Elaria’s secondary beauty representative!"

Brionne wasn’t listening to a single word Hoopa said.

It turned toward Dragapult and let out a powerful cry.

Translated roughly, it meant:

"Briooo!" (The Popplio who could only ram you with its head is dead! The one standing before you now is Brionne!)

Dragapult tilted its head at the suddenly transformed sea lion.

It remained silent for a moment.

Then—

It put the tip of its tail back into its mouth.

Somehow, that was even more provocative than any attack.

Brionne immediately turned toward Elaria.

It pointed one flipper at the Z-Ring around Elaria’s wrist.

Then it pointed at itself.

Finally, it made a gesture that practically said—

Go ahead. Start the show.

"Are you sure you want to use that?"

Elaria blinked.

"We’ve only practiced it a few times."

Brionne nodded furiously, its head moving almost as fast as a woodpecker.

"All right."

Elaria took a deep breath.

Then she raised her right hand high, fingers held together as she pointed toward the sky.

The Waterium Z on her Z-Ring erupted with dazzling blue light.

At the same time Brionne began to dance.

"Go—race beyond the other side of the horizon!"

"HYDRO VORTEX!!"

Dragapult didn’t even have time to understand what was happening before an irresistible force ripped it straight off the rocks.

Its body spun wildly inside the enormous vortex.

The two Dreepy inside its horns were dragged out as well, turning into two blurry gray streaks as they were flung around at terrifying speed.

The whole thing looked like some kind of brand-new centrifugal-force experiment.

Finally—

The vortex dispersed.

Dragapult dropped straight out of the air.

Thud.

It crashed onto the rocks, its eyes replaced by perfectly matching spirals.

"Go, Poké Ball!"

Elaria pulled out a Poké Ball and threw it at Dragapult.

A flash of red light appeared.

The Poké Ball didn’t even shake once.

Click.

Capture successful.

...

TL: Thanks Knight Wolf for another Tier 3 Membership! Oh wow it’s been over a month already huh.