The strongest gym leader starts by beating up Gary.

"Excuse me, Miss Joey."

When Nurseima City saw this, her lips twitched, but she quickly recovered. Having been in charge of the Matsumo Gym for many years, Nurseima City had long witnessed the diversity of human species.

However, Nurse couldn't help but kindly try to dissuade Ash and his friends.

"You guys must be here to challenge the Matsumo Gym, right?"

"But I must warn you first, the Matsuzo Gym is not the same Matsuzo Gym as before. Underestimating the gym leader will lead to a terrible defeat."

Hearing what Nurse Joy said, Ash, who was wolfing down his food, looked up and said...

"Does Matsumo City have a dojo? Why have I never heard of it?"

Seeing Ash's confusion, Misty and Brock, also Gym Leaders, explained...

“The Matsuzao Dojo was originally on the verge of being shut down, but a few years ago, for some reason, the head of the Matsuzao Dojo suddenly started to work hard and kept the Matsuzao Dojo, which was originally going to be shut down, alive.”

Xiaoxia held a spoon in her hand and said...

"Now that you mention it, I remember that the headmaster of the Matsuzo Dojo is keeping the dojo going for his son's sake."

"No, the previous headmaster of Songzao Dojo has already stepped down. The current headmaster of Songzao Dojo is Fang Yuan, Headmaster Fang."

Upon hearing Fang Yuan's name, Miss Joey from Songzao City smiled.

When Fang Yuan was mentioned, Miss Joey from Songzao City was also curious. Although she had heard of Fang Yuan's name before, she was really curious about what kind of person he was that could interest Joey so much.

Today, Nurse Joy from Matsumo City learned that Nurse Joy's identity is not simply that of a gym examiner.

Hearing the crowd's discussion, Xiao Zhi simply stood with one foot on the table, lifted his collar, and said...

"What are you talking about? I'm a trainer who has obtained the Rock Badge from Pewter City and the Water Badge from Cerulean City!"

"And I'm now a trainer who has caught six Pokémon!"

Seeing Ash like this, Misty and Brock immediately felt a pang of regret. Why did they give him the badge out of momentary weakness?

"The emblems of Nibi City and Hualan City..."

Miss Joey from Matsuzamo City said in a somewhat strange tone.

"Then I wish you good luck."

After saying that, Miss Joey left.

Miss Joey muttered to herself as she walked.

"Sigh~ It seems we need to prepare an extra hospital bed."

At this moment, Ash was completely unaware of what had happened and excitedly said...

"Alright, in that case, let's do this in order to take Matsumo City..."

A look of confusion flashed across Ash's face when the Matsumo City badge was mentioned.

At this moment, Xiao Gang, as a good buddy, promptly provided some scientific information.

"Weather Badge".

"Then let's work hard to get the Weather Badge!"

. . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, at the Matsuzo Gym, Fang Yuan was in a pretty good mood after driving away the Team Rocket trio.

To Fang Yuan's surprise, an unexpected person came to the dojo.

“Joey...Snow....”

Looking at Miss Joey in front of her, Xiaowen was momentarily speechless.

Qiao Yixue smiled slightly.

"That's right, I am Joey Xue."

"Where is your curator? I need to talk to him about something."

"Master is in the backyard," said Gary, who was training Eevee and Wartortle at the gym.

After saying that, Qiao Yixue went to the backyard of the Songzao Dojo.

Watching Qiao Yixue walk into the backyard, Xiao Mao stroked his chin and couldn't help but say...

"In my experience, it's quite obvious that this Qiao Yixue has taken a liking to my master."

"What do you mean, Fang Yuan? He's so unreliable. Do you think any legendary Pokémon trainer would like him? Don't be ridiculous."

Xiaowen retorted.

Xiao Mao touched his chin and stopped arguing.

At this moment, there were only four Pokémon training in the entire gym's huge backyard.

The missing Tyranitar was retrieved by Fang Yuan and kept in his Poké Ball 24 hours a day. This way, Fang Yuan could protect himself and hide Tyranitar's existence.

"That's right, that's exactly it. Floating bubbles, controlling the weather is like mobilizing an army. You have to use the energy in your body to leverage the power of nature in order to maximize the effect of the weather."

"Mumpfish, don't slack off either. Keep sprinting. Although your strength is pretty good now, it's useless if you can't get close to your opponent. Learn more about Poliwrath's fighting style and movement techniques in the rain!"

Meanwhile, Kira sat on a rock next to Fang Yuan, holding not a milk bottle, but a stone that gleamed with a metallic sheen.

Even with Yugira's teeth, the rock made a crunching sound when bitten.

Meanwhile, Fang Yuan was not idle either.

His bare upper body was covered in sweat.

Although in the world of elves, human strength is ultimately no match for that of powerful elves, with training, humans can still subdue weaker elves and improve their self-defense capabilities by using their skills.

Looking at Fang Yuan, who was shirtless, Qiao Yixue's expression remained relatively normal.

Looking at Fang Yuan who had turned around, Qiao Yixue took a deep breath and said...

"I've come here mainly to tell you something."

“I am the Alliance’s prosecutor, as you probably already guessed.”

"I know, I guessed it the moment I saw your Chansey."

Hearing Fang Yuan's words, Qiao Yixue felt somewhat embarrassed. It turned out she had been seen through all along, and yet she had been pretending in front of Fang Yuan for so long...

Qiao Yixue coughed lightly, her delicate eyebrows furrowing slightly, and changed the subject.

"But what I want to talk to you about today is not the assessment, but something else."

"The person who has designs on the Matsuzo Dojo this time is very powerful and should hold a high position in the league."

Fang Yun frowned at this moment, because what Qiao Yixue said was somewhat different from what Fang Yuan had guessed.

"The reason I came to this conclusion is simple: they actually dared to reach out to the investigators. The fact that they chose me to test the Matsuzo Dojo is a task directly assigned by their superiors."

"If it's just to assess a gym leader who has just taken over the gym, it's obviously not my turn."

"But not only was I personally dispatched, but a significant portion of the intelligence I received was false and slanderous. If I were to assess you based solely on these reports, your gym challenge would have already failed by now."

“Even I became part of their opportunity.”

Upon hearing Qiao Yixue's speculation, Fang Yuan realized just how powerful the person behind the scenes was.

But Fang Yuan also noticed a small blind spot.

'If they possessed that level of power, would it really be so complicated to scheme for a dojo position?'

Fang Yuan looked at Qiao Yixue's serious face and said sincerely.

"Thank you for the information."

"So, what were the results of my dojo exam...?"

Fang Yuan still cares about the assessment results.

Just as Qiao Yixue was about to say something, she and Fang Yuan were suddenly interrupted by a very loud voice.

"Excuse me, is this the Matsumo Gym? Ash from Pallet Town is here to challenge it!"

Chapter 26 Xiaozhi VS Fangyuan

Upon hearing the name, Fang Yuan's eyes lit up immediately, like a wolf spotting a fat sheep.

"I am coming over now!"

Fang Yuan grabbed a piece of clothing and quickly walked into the dojo, leaving Qiao Yixue standing there alone.

"Am I not as important as a challenger?" For the first time, Qiao Yixue questioned her own appearance.

Ash pushed open the door and entered the Matsumo Gym.

Behind Ash are Brock and Misty.

Looking at the luxurious Songzao Dojo, Xiaogang and Xiaoxia, who were also dojo owners, were secretly shocked.

Especially when they learned that the Matsuzo Gym could choose from four different battle environments, they couldn't help but feel a pang of regret for the Matsuzo Gym Leader they had never met.

Maintaining four completely different battlegrounds alone would cost a lot of money.

From this point of view alone, Songzao Dojo has a stronger foundation than Hualan Dojo and Nibi Dojo.

However, this also made them a little curious as to why the Matsuzo Gym was not one of the eight gyms officially selected by the League, which seemed quite unreasonable.

Of course, they are different from the well-informed Xiaoxia and Xiaogang.

The inexperienced Xiao Zhi obviously couldn't notice these details.

At this time, Ash was extremely arrogant because he had obtained two gym badges and caught his sixth Pokémon.

Ash looked at the somewhat empty gym.

"Is there anyone?"

"I'm Ash from Pallet Town, here to challenge the Matsumo Gym!"

Hearing the sound, Xiaowen put Togepi aside, stood up, and said with some surprise.

"Pallet Town?"

"What a familiar name."

Xiaowen couldn't help but mutter to herself, feeling that the place name was very familiar, but she just couldn't remember where she had heard it before.

It wasn't until a spiky-haired figure flashed past Xiaowen that she suddenly realized...

"By the way, Shigeru is also from Pallet Town."

------

"Hey! Ash, I can't believe it's been several months and you haven't changed at all. I'm really a little disappointed."

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Ash turned his head and saw Gary leaning against the door.

Upon seeing his arch-rival Gary, Ash immediately grabbed the Poké Ball from his waist.

"You're here with me to challenge the gym?"

"Forget it, I don't care anymore!"

Xiao Zhi reached out and pulled his hat back.

"Come on, Gary! Let me tell you, I'm not the same person I used to be. I've not only caught six Pokémon, but I've also earned two badges!"

Hearing Ash's words, Gary felt a little like laughing for some reason.

"Six Pokémon? Two Gym Badges?"

Shigeru picked up a Poké Ball from his waist.

"Xiao Zhi, it seems you're still exactly the same as before. I really don't know why Master said you've surpassed me."

Looking at Gary, who had undergone a complete transformation in just a few months, Ash suddenly realized that he couldn't see through this formidable rival.

On the other hand, Gary looked at Ash and Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, and sighed.

"Never mind, never mind, to be honest, you really disappoint me."

"You've been traveling for so long, and the Pikachu on your shoulder hasn't even leveled up much. Are you really putting in the effort to train your Pokémon?"

"I...I've been training...them... all along..."