Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

But after all, the Pokémon world is a world so rich in resources that everyone can live and work in peace and contentment, and most crimes committed out of necessity have no basis for existence in this world.

Therefore, for a long time, no serious incidents occurred here, and the overall atmosphere was quite peaceful...

Therefore, Du Juan, as the gym leader, believed that Team Rocket was the root of all evil and that as long as Team Rocket was completely defeated, the world would be peaceful and stable. This idea would be considered "naive" in other films.

But now, she must also accept that there will always be people in this world who cannot be satisfied with just living in peace and contentment, and that peace, even in such a utopian world, is not so easily obtained...

Today, the elite trainers responsible for guarding the mining area encountered the worst incident in history...

"Haha, so easily defeated!"

A burly, short, and stout young man burst into hearty laughter. In front of him, several young men and women dressed as trainers stared in disbelief at their Pokémon partners who had lost their ability to battle.

The short, chubby young man laughed and waved his hand. "Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. Just get out of the way with your Pokémon. I don't want to hurt anyone. Team Magma isn't some unreasonable thug..."

As he spoke, the short, chubby young man proudly puffed out his chest, pointing to the volcano-shaped badge on his chest, which was the symbol of the Lava Team he mentioned. Clearly, he was quite proud of his identity.

The trainer guards he had defeated were now looking at each other in bewilderment...

...They probably hadn't expected these invaders to show such mercy, and for a moment, the situation became strangely tense.

Chapter 47 Lava Team Officer Himura

These trainer guards probably didn't expect that the other side would actually show mercy and not go straight for the kill.

But since the other party came to our door on their own initiative, asking them to step back and make way would be tantamount to a breach of duty as guards if they actually complied.

For a moment, everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to do, while the short, chubby young man opposite them sounded somewhat impatient.

"This is really troublesome. Can you cooperate a little? Didn't you already lose? I already said I didn't mean to hurt anyone... Fire-breathing Camel!"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and waved it. A Pokémon covered in deep red fur and with two volcano-shaped humps on its back raised its head and suddenly spewed out two thick plumes of black smoke from its nostrils.

"?!"

The guards on the other side realized something was wrong. Thick black smoke billowed in, and the pungent stench made their eyes water.

They could have used the power of their Pokémon to dispel the smoke, but now their Pokémon have lost their ability to fight, and with the thick smoke coming, they have no way to counter it.

Even though they wanted to guard this place until the last second, their flesh and blood could not withstand the corrosive effect of the thick smoke. The billowing black smoke gathered here for dozens of seconds. When the smoke cleared, the guards were lying on the ground in disarray.

"If you had cooperated earlier, we wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble."

The short, stout young man shook his head, signaling his fire-breathing camel to stop spewing smoke, and then swaggered past the unconscious guard.

With the last obstacle cleared, his target warehouse was now within reach.

The warehouse door was tightly locked, with several heavy locks on it. The lock bars, as thick as an adult's thigh, were crisscrossed, making the entire warehouse door as solid as a rock.

"Ah……"

The short, stout young man shook his head, immediately took two steps back, and gestured to the fire-breathing camel beside him. The camel snorted again, and this time, instead of billowing black smoke, blazing flames spewed from its nostrils…

...Even though the door was quite sturdy, and the lock on it was impregnable, it was useless against the power of Pokémon.

The volcano-like hump on the back of the fire-breathing camel is an evolution of its own bones, essentially meaning it has a small volcano inside its body. After accumulating enough energy, it can directly erupt scorching hot magma...

Even among various natural disasters, volcanic eruptions are among the most powerful. It's like having the firepower of a small volcano buried inside your body, and the power of the continuously spewing golden-red flames is unimaginable.

In no time, the lock on the door began to soften and melt. At this rate, it would probably take less than ten minutes to force their way in.

Just as the short, stout young man was estimating that he was about to succeed, a sudden whooshing sound rang out, and a giant rock, several meters in diameter, fell from the sky, crashing down in front of the gate and blocking all the flames spewed out by the fire-breathing camel.

"Ok?"

The short, stout young man quickly looked up and saw three giant rocks of the same size falling down right after him.

"not good!"

Realizing what was happening, he quickly backed away. Despite being a fat man, he was surprisingly agile, and as he retreated, he didn't forget to put Camerupt into his Poké Ball.

Given Camerupt's abysmal speed, it's impossible for it to react in time to the attack, so it can only be recalled into its Poké Ball first.

As he retrieved his fire-breathing camel, he immediately moved to avoid it. The whole sequence of movements was fluid and seamless. By the time he stood still again, four giant rocks fell one after another, forming a complete blockade. If the short, fat young man had been just a few seconds slower, he would have been trapped and killed here.

"..." Upon seeing this, the short, stout youth showed little surprise, simply laughing heartily as he said, "So you've finally come, huh, the Gym Leader of Las Noz City..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a deafening roar like that of a chariot was heard, and a black shadow several meters long rushed over. On the back of that rushing figure stood two other figures.

Needless to say, Du Juan and Luo Wei immediately rode the giant rock snake to the mining area.

The "Rock Blockade" attack just now was naturally Du Juan's doing, but unfortunately it was a little short of trapping the opponent, otherwise things would have been much simpler.

"So you're from Team Lava, and you're the only one?"

Du Juan recognized the short, stout young man in front of her, who waved his hand with a smile. "The others were all beaten down by the guards here. They were just too much of a hindrance, so we let them all disperse... That's why I advised the boss a long time ago that blindly expanding manpower is not a good idea. Not only will it not be of any help, but it will also only hold us back."

"..."

It seems that the elite trainers here haven't been too disgraceful; at least they managed to easily defeat Team Magma's grunts and minions.

However, once this short, stout young man made his move, none of the guard trainers were a match for him.

That means the other side is clearly different from those grunts.

"who are you?"

The other party seemed to have been waiting for Du Juan to ask such a question, and immediately smiled and puffed out his chest, indicating the Lava Team badge on his chest, "...Himura, a member of the Lava Team, nice to meet you."

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

"Okay, I got it. Now, next... Double-edged Headbutt!"

Without uttering a single further word, Du Juan, who had just been calmly inquiring about the other party's identity, raised her hand and issued the command without saying another word.

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Onix had already gathered a layer of light on its horn and charged at her!

"Hehe, don't get so worked up. I know I'm no match for you, so someone else will come and give you a good fight later~"

As he said this, Himura raised his hand and threw out a Poké Ball. With a flash of light, a lithe black wolfhound appeared, carrying Himura and nimbly dodging the attack.

Rowe recognized it at a glance as a large wolfhound evolved from a hyena. As a common pet, the hyena is quite popular in the Hoenn region, so it's not surprising.

Just as the Great Wolfhound leaped into the air carrying Fire Village, a fierce gust of wind struck from the side. The Onix's long, metallic tail swept over with a headbutt, seemingly having anticipated Fire Village's evasive maneuver and blocked his retreat in advance.

With a serious expression, Huocun raised his hand at the critical moment and released the Fire-Breathing Camel to block the way. The tail struck the Fire-Breathing Camel solidly, and the rock-like body was forced back three steps before it could barely stand up.

At the same time, Himura also jumped off the back of the Great Wolfhound. The Great Wolfhound and the Fire-Breathing Camel protected him from the front and back, and the Fire-Breathing Camel, which had taken a hit, was obviously a little unsteady on its feet.

Fire Village, who could easily take on multiple elite trainers, was now at a disadvantage in a two-on-one situation, and was immediately overwhelmed by Du Juan.

Du Juan hadn't even played her trump card yet... Huocun sighed again at this...

"...Truly worthy of being a gym leader!"

Chapter Forty-Eight Gas Explosion

As a member of Team Magma, Himura's strength... is naturally different from that of the weaklings in Team Magma who couldn't even pass the Pokémon Academy test...

His strength is roughly between that of an elite trainer and a gym leader. Among gym leaders, there are also varying levels of skill. There are top-tier trainers like Giovanni, Liu Bo, and Senri, whose strength is consistently at the Elite Four level and who can even easily go toe-to-toe with champions. There are also newcomers who are only slightly stronger than elite trainers.

Himura was about the same level as these new gym leaders, but his strength was no match for Du Juan.

While Miss Rock, the honor student, may not be as formidable as boss-level figures like Giovanni and Liu Bo who feign weakness, nor as invincible as Senri, she is still a solid and reliable pillar among the gym leaders...

So even though Fire Village easily won against the elite trainer, when facing Du Juan, the two-on-one fight was completely overwhelmed in one move.

"...If you surrender obediently, you can suffer less. Behave yourself and don't try anything funny in front of me."

Du Juan's voice was sharp, completely unlike her previous duel with Luo Wei. After all, she was a kind senior when facing trainers who came to challenge her, but when facing those villains who tried to disrupt the order, she was a gym leader who would never allow any mercy from the law enforcers!

Faced with Du Juan's attempt to persuade him to surrender, Huocun "obediently" raised his hands, saying, "Hahaha, don't make such a scary face. You're ruining my precious beauty. Of course, I won't do anything underhanded. After all, I'm not the one who's going to compete with you~"

"!"

Luo Wei, who had come along, was wondering if there was anything he could do to help, but now that he saw the gym leader's strength, it seemed there was nothing he needed to do.

Just as this thought popped into his head, Ralts on Rowe's shoulder nervously patted Rowe's cheek with its little hand, and Rowe immediately snapped out of it.

"who!"

The words had barely left her lips when a piercing shriek rang in her ears…

"ultrasound?"

The gaze shifted, and a giant bat with a wingspan of nearly two meters descended from the sky. On each of the bat's two feet, a suspension rope was attached, and two figures in red uniforms descended from mid-air, suspended by the ropes.

The ultrasonic wave was emitted by the Crobat. At the same time, while the ultrasonic wave distracted Rowe's attention, a dozen or so fireballs the size of washbasins came from the opposite direction!

The group was currently in front of the warehouse of the factory in the mining area. Apart from a mountain road carved out of the mountains, there were towering cliffs on both sides, and the attack seemed to be coming from one of the cliffs!

The opponent hid their Pokémon on one side of the cliff beforehand, and then rode Crobat to attack from the other side, using ultrasonic waves to distract the other side and launch a strong attack from the other side.

Just as the fireballs were about to strike, a buzzing sound accompanied by a dazzling arc of electricity rang out, and more than a dozen fireballs simultaneously shattered against a semi-solid barrier...

Luo Wei was naturally familiar with this; it was the electromagnetic shield that had previously given him so much trouble…

...While this electromagnetic shield was a major headache for Luo Wei when it was on the other side, now that it has become a force on his side, it brings an indescribable sense of security.

The electromagnetic shield protected Luo Wei and Du Juan, and the attack had no effect on them whatsoever.

Du Juan remained expressionless, clearly anticipating this diversionary attack...

In contrast, Du Juan was more interested in the two people who had come to her aid at that moment…

...Among the figures hanging on the ropes between the legs of the cross-bats, one was a purple-haired girl who looked to be about the same age as Du Juan, with a blank expression and a very indifferent demeanor.

On the other side was a mysterious figure, tall and thin, wearing a dark red cloak with his face obscured by the hood.

"Yo..." Over there, Himura, with his hands raised, greeted the two with a smile, "Boss, Himago, you've come at just the right time~"

Over there, a figure completely shrouded in a cloak nodded, and from beneath the cloak came a mechanical voice that was clearly manipulated by a voice changer.

"...Then, leave this to me."

Before she could finish speaking, a dazzling beam of light swept across, which was the cannon shot released by Du Juan's Big Head North. It was clear that Du Juan had determined that the other side was also an ally, and since Fire Village called the cloaked man "boss," it was even more certain that he was the boss of Team Lava.

Since that's the case, there's naturally no need for politeness. He immediately unleashed a close-range beam attack, demonstrating his abundant martial spirit.

The other side reacted quickly, immediately releasing their grip on the suspension rope and leaping down from mid-air. Halfway down, another shadow was released from the Poké Ball at their waist.

The Pokémon sent this time was a combination of two balloon-like spheres, with holes all over its body spewing black smoke. Rowe's eyelids twitched as soon as he saw it.

"Double-shot gas? Oh no..."