I, Xiao Mao, want to become a Pokémon Master!

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Even some less skilled gym trainers have Pokémon that are roughly at the Elite Four level. The League champion is just one of the best among his peers, and there is still a certain gap between him and the gym trainers.

"Alright, let's have a 3-on-3 match tomorrow, using our main Pokémon. What do you think?" said Pine Leaf.

“No problem, I’ll just take one photo. I need to take it back for my grandfather to study,” Xiao Mao said.

"Your grandfather!" Songye paused for a moment, then asked, "Is your grandfather also interested in legendary spirits?"

“My grandfather is Professor Oak, and he’s very interested in legendary Pokémon,” Gary said.

"What...! Professor Oak...!!" Matsuba was shocked, never expecting that Gary had such a big background, that he was Professor Oak's grandson.

Ignoring the shocked Pine Leaf, Gary asked Gastly, "Gastly, are you coming with me now, or staying at the gym?"

"What a rip-off!"

Gastly was quite curious about Gary after seeing how brave he was. Although it didn't know what level the League Tournament champion was, judging from Matsuno's surprised look, it showed that the League Tournament champion was quite prestigious.

Moreover, as Matsuba said, they are only used for gym battles and are not Matsuba's main Pokémon. In that case, it would be better to choose a trainer who can carefully train them.

After thinking it through, Gastly decided to stay with Gary for the time being, since he would be back tomorrow anyway.

"Hiss." Gastly floated to Gary's side, indicating that it was willing to leave the gym with him.

"Then come in." Gary held up Gastly's Poké Ball and aimed it at Gastly. The Poké Ball fired an infrared beam, but Gastly dodged it.

"What a rip-off! What a rip-off!"

Gastly immediately refused, indicating that it did not want to stay in the Poké Ball.

"By the way, this Gastly doesn't like staying in its Poké Ball," Pine Leaf reminded him.

Xiao Mao was stunned for a moment, not expecting that this Gastly, like Pikachu, didn't like staying in its Poké Ball.

"Alright, you can stay outside then, but don't scare anyone," Xiao Mao said.

"What a rip-off!"

Gastly nodded, then immediately concealed itself and disappeared from the spot, but Gary could see Gastly's name floating in the air.

"Then, Mr. Matsuba, let's postpone our match until tomorrow afternoon," said Shigeru.

"Ok, no problem."

[Ding! Mission issued: Obtain the Enchantress Gym Badge / Rewards: 5x High-Grade Rare Candies, 1x Shadow Claw Permanent TM, 1x Superior Curse Talisman (Increases Ghost-type move power by 50%)]

After agreeing to the duel, the system suddenly issued a mission.

Shigeru was also taken aback. Usually, missions were issued before entering the gym, but this time the mission was issued after he and Matsuba had agreed to a battle.

Aside from the skills and items remaining unchanged, the reward of magical candy has been changed to high-grade magical candy, and five candies are given away at once.

Xiao Shi was thinking that when he challenged gyms in the future, he could first discuss with the gym leader about battling with his main Pokémon, so that he could exploit a bug and farm high-level Rare Candies.

Xiao Mao's idea was good, but it was destined to be in vain.

In normal private sparring, Gym Leaders can use their main Pokémon to fight without any problem. However, Gym battles have strict rules. If a Gym Leader uses a Pokémon with a strength exceeding the prescribed limits, virtually no challenger can pass.

If this is really done, the local league conference will probably not even be able to gather 50 players. If the number of participants in a league conference is less than 100, that would be incredibly unpopular.

Pine Leaf was able to defeat Blue's request entirely because of Suicune's photo. If it weren't for that, Pine Leaf would never have used his main Pokémon in the gym battle.

After leaving the Eden City Gym, Gary went to the Pokémon Center and contacted Professor Oak to send Moltres, Eevee, Weavile, and Heracross there, and to send Blastoise, Tyranitar, and Zapdos over.

Shigeru didn't know exactly how strong Matsuba was, so he could only use his strongest abilities to avoid being caught off guard.

After the Pokémon teleported, Gary arrived at the public area outside.

233: Capturing Gastly

"Gastly, come out here for a second," Gary said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Gastly revealed its form and appeared in front of Gary.

Shigeru petted Gastly and used his Eye of Insight to check Gastly's attributes.

【Pokémon: Gastly♂】

[Attributes: ghost, poison]

【Level: 30】

[Potential: King]

【Characteristic: Levitation (can float in the air without consuming resources)】

[Skills: Lick, Table Fog, Hypnosis, Strange Light, Poison Gas, Black Gaze, Will-o'-the-Wisp, Poison, An Eye for an Eye, Spells, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse.]

[Teaching Skills: Deception, Protect, Dazzling Magic, Psychic]

【Intimacy Level: 120 (Maximum 255)】

【Equipped Item: Everstone】

"It has four moves to teach!" Gary was shocked. This was the first Pokémon he had ever caught that had so many moves to teach.

Moreover, all four skills are quite useful, especially the Deception move, which uses the opponent's physical attack value to calculate damage, borrowing the opponent's power to hit them, which is quite like a substitution.

It also carries an Everstone, which was probably given to Gastly by Leafeon, because if a Pokémon doesn't evolve and continues to level up, it can awaken its racial moves ahead of time.

"You have a high level of comprehension; you've actually learned four powerful skills," Xiao Mao praised.

"What the hell?!"

Gastly looked surprised. It had never shown its skills to Gary, so how did he know that it had learned four skills through this?

"Don't be surprised, this is my personal ability. Now let me teach you a few more skills." Gary immediately began to teach Gastly skills.

He taught each skill once, but only three skills were successfully taught: Sleep, Sludge Bomb, and Thunderbolt.

"Strange, why didn't the Hyper Beam technique work? Is it because it hasn't evolved?" Shigeru wondered to himself.

Hyper Beam is indeed a universal move that 99% of Pokémon can master. Pokémon that cannot master this move are basically those that have not yet evolved.

For example, both Gastly and Gengar can learn boxing-related moves, but Gastly doesn't have hands, so it can't learn them until it evolves.

“What the heck!! (ΩДΩ)！〃． !”

Gastly was shocked and couldn't believe that it had learned three skills in an instant. It felt like it had awakened a skill.

"Don't be surprised, you'll learn even more skills in the future," Xiao Mao said.

Ghost suddenly crashed.

Gastly was reluctant to follow Gary because it thought Gary was ordinary, but now that Gary has shown this skill, Gastly is completely impressed.

Just like what Pine Leaf said, this Gastly is very competitive. When it realized that Gary was a trainer even more skilled than Pine Leaf, it became less resistant. Of course, this was also because it had been taught three moves and its friendship level had increased.

"Alright, the competition starts tomorrow. If you win, you'd better listen to me from now on." After saying that, Shigeru walked towards the Pokémon Center.

"Hiss..." Gastly wanted to say something, but since Gary was hungry after walking far away, it didn't say anything, concealed its figure, and quietly followed.

...!

The next morning.

After checking the Pokémon's status, Gary went down to the Enchantress Gym.

Pine Leaf was already waiting inside the dojo.

Upon meeting, Shigeru greeted him, "Mr. Matsuba, good afternoon. Shall we begin the battle?"

"Of course, come with me."

Matsuba led Shigeru to the dojo's arena, where a young man was standing in the referee's area.

The young man's attire was nothing like that of a referee. He wore a purple tuxedo, a white cape, and a red bow tie. He had beige hair with a tuft of bangs, and in short, he looked very stylish.

"Sui Kyo!!" Xiao Shi was startled; he recognized the man in the referee's area.

This man named Suicune is a good friend of Matsuha. Like Matsuha, he is very interested in legendary Pokémon and specializes in studying Ho-Oh's guard. The Pokémon he most wants to capture is Suicune.

Furthermore, Suicune is indeed very knowledgeable about Ho-Oh's guards. In the game, she can encounter Suicune every time, but she just can't catch her. In the end, she is caught by the players who are the main characters, which can be considered as doing the work for the players.

The fact that Shui Jing is here must be because Ye Song called him here. He probably lured Shui Jing here with Shui Jun's photo.

"Let me introduce you. This is my good friend, Suijō. He's also here to see Suicune's photos and will be serving as the referee for this gym battle," Matsuha introduced.

"Hello," Suikyo greeted her in a friendly manner, "Did you really see Suicune at the Burnt Tower?"

“Yes, there are photos to prove it. Didn’t you see the photos?” Xiao Mao said.

“I saw it, but I wanted to confirm it myself. There are a few more details I’d like to ask you,” Shui Jing said.

"Let's ask after the gym battle," said Shigeru.

When Shigeru learns that Mizuki will also become a Pokémon Professor—or rather, he is now—he'll definitely keep asking questions endlessly.

“Alright, let’s begin the battle.” Shui Jing agreed.

Both Shigeru and Matsuba stood in the command area, and Mizukage announced, "Then please send out your Pokémon."

Knowing the special nature of this gym battle, Shui Jing didn't need to explain the rules, as they had already been set yesterday.

“This is my starting Pokémon.” Pine Leaf threw out the Poké Ball.

Baton!

A gray-black doll made of rags appears.

【LV52 Cursed Doll♂/Quasi-King】

"Oh, a cursed doll!" Shigeru was quite surprised; he hadn't expected Matsuba to have a cursed doll.

This cursed doll is only level 52, a near-Elite Four level, so the other two Pokémon in Pine Leaf should only be between level 50 and 60.

"The Cursed Doll is yours to deal with." Shigeru also took out a Poké Ball and threw it out.

Baton!

A terrifying behemoth has appeared.

【LV63 Tyranitar♂/Champion】

“Tyranitar (Deno Zhao)...!” Shui Jing was shocked. He didn’t expect that Xiao Mao would have Tyranitar. This is a late bloomer Pokémon, and its strength is definitely not inferior to Matsunoha.

In particular, the Ghost-type Pokémon used by Pine Leaf is type-advantageously countered by Tyranitar.