I caught a Pokémon

Boom!

When Gyarados's massive body crashed down, its enormous weight slammed into the ground, causing everyone's feet to tremble.

Sigh, after all that effort, including the collapse of a Team Rocket research facility, it's finally done...

However... it would be quite embarrassing if word got out that so many Pokémon ganged up on a berserk Gyarados and several of them were knocked down.

After all, they are not wild Pokémon, but rather the main Pokémon that have been bred by trainers for a long time!

Fortunately, it was thanks to the help of Ichigo and Pear Blossom, who would later become the Elite Four. If they had all been replaced by an international police officer like the handsome guy, who knows how many casualties there would have been today. At least dozens, or even hundreds, of Pokémon would have fallen!

However, judging from their Pokémon levels, they are still a bit short of reaching the Elite Four level. It seems that Ichiju and Rinka need more time to hone their fighting skills.

Xia You walked up to the head of the Gyarados. After being exposed to the electric wave, its size increased dramatically, and its huge head was almost the same height as Xia You!

At this moment, although Gyarados was charred all over, it was not unconscious. It was just lying helplessly on the ground with its eyes half-open, extremely weak.

Fortunately, the madness in its eyes was gone, and it seemed to have returned to normal.

From its gaze, Xia You sensed its original docility, and seeing this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you calm now? You... Although it wasn't your intention, you've still caused a lot of trouble for others..."

The battle just now reminded Xia You of when Gyarados first evolved from Magikarp. It went crazy like this, and only after being taught a lesson, just like now, did it finally become completely obedient and well-behaved.

It all seemed like a cycle, as if it had all been repeated once again…

But in any case, this can be considered a blessing in disguise.

Although the electromagnetic wave caused Gyarados to lose its mind and wreak havoc, it also changed its size, color, and increased its power.

Compared to before, Gyarados has reached its peak in every aspect now. Xia You can say with certainty that there is no Gyarados in the world that is more powerful than his!

If you use a Mega Stone to evolve it into a Mega Gyarados in the future, and use it in battle, it will definitely become an inescapable nightmare for even more people!

After putting Gyarados into its Poké Ball, Xia You thanked Yishu, Lihua, and the handsome guy who had come to help.

"Thank you so much! Luckily, no irreparable damage was caused, otherwise I would have felt really bad!"

Actually, if these people hadn't been there, Xia You would have released the three sacred birds long ago, and dealing with them would definitely have been simpler than before. But in any case, Xia You should indeed be grateful for their selfless help.

"Don't call me again if something like this happens next time." Hearing this, Rika snorted and then teased, "Seriously, your Gyarados is much harder to deal with when it goes berserk than those Team Rockets!"

Xia You laughed heartily and couldn't help but say a few more comforting words to them.

Meanwhile, the international police who had been chasing Team Rocket returned one after another, but after searching the surrounding area, they found no trace of Syrano and Tatsumi.

The handsome man shook his head in disappointment.

They've already escaped...

The escape of the two institute directors cast a shadow over the operation.

Thinking of this, he looked at the pear blossom again, bringing the topic back on track and also helping Xia You out of the predicament.

"By the way, how's the situation where you are?"

Pear Blossom shrugged: "That base has been completely cleared out, but that cadre named Lance managed to escape!"

"He ran away too!?"

The handsome guy was disappointed again, but overall, they destroyed a base and a research institute, disrupted their R plan, and captured a large number of Team Rocket members. This operation once again weakened Team Rocket's strength, so it can be considered as achieving the expected goal!

Well, after all, what in this world is perfect?

After thanking them again for their help, the handsome man originally wanted to take them back to the camp to hold a celebration banquet, but Xia You, Yi Shu, and Li Hua declined. He could only leave some police officers behind to clean up the mess and see if they could salvage anything useful. Then he escorted the prisoners and left the place first.

After he left, Xia You exchanged contact information with Yi Shu and Li Hua, and waved goodbye to them.

With that, the Rocket team matter is now settled, and he can continue to challenge the gyms with peace of mind!

……

Leaving the shores of the Lake of Wrath, Xia You and Naz entered the dense forest and headed towards Kaji Town.

The sun was already setting in the west, making the forest slightly dark.

If they don't want to camp out in the wild today, they must reach Kaji Town before dark.

Fortunately, there was still some time before sunset, so they didn't have to rush.

However, just as they were about to leave the forest, a Pokémon resting on a branch caught Sabrina's attention.

She suddenly stopped and looked at the Pokémon with curiosity in her eyes.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Seeing that Naz had stopped, Xia You couldn't help but speak. When she didn't say anything, she looked in the direction Naz was looking.

It turned out that what she saw was a wild bird!

The natural finches are mainly composed of a green head, which is both its body and head, while its crest, tail feathers and feet are red, and its wings are brightly colored with black stripes.

Although it looks blank, its eyes are like those of a human, giving it a rather eerie feel.

Moreover, Xia You remembered that when designing this Pokémon, the designer's concept seemed to come from the bird worship of some Native Americans, or more specifically, from the raven, the guardian deity in Mayan mythology.

As for its color, it was inspired by some other birds that are considered spiritual.

"What, you're interested in it?"

Upon hearing Xia You's question, Na Zi nodded gently, which made Xia You smile.

After traveling for so long, besides the talking Slowking they caught in the Orange Islands, this was Sabrina's second Pokémon that she was interested in.

That's really rare...

"I remember Natu, isn't it a Psychic-type Pokémon?"

As Xia You spoke, she took out her Pokédex and pointed it at Natuna.

Pokémon Pokédex entry: "Ding, Natu, a bird Pokémon with Psychic and Flying types. At this stage, Natu's wings are not yet fully developed, so it cannot fly and can only move by hopping. Although it usually looks for food on the ground, it will occasionally jump onto tree branches to peck at newly grown buds. It is said that it is always watching something. Although it will stare at the other person after making eye contact, it will immediately jump away if the other person makes the slightest movement."

Chapter 330 Uncle Liu

Like Xia You, Sabrina usually only catches Pokémon that she likes.

This seemingly unusual natural bird, for some reason, struck a chord with her, making her want to tame it.

This time, however, she didn't fight herself; instead, she sent out her own Kadabra and chose to battle with a Pokémon.

At Sabrina's behest, Kadabra launched an attack as soon as it appeared. At first, Natu tried to jump to the ground to escape, but unfortunately it couldn't fly and was caught up by Kadabra using Teleport. Helpless, it could only hastily retaliate, but how could a wild Pokémon in its early stages possibly be a match for a Gym Leader's main force? It was defeated in just a few moves.

In the end, Sabrina threw out a Poké Ball and easily caught the Natuna.

After watching the whole thing, Xia You clapped her hands lightly and laughed, "That's really not easy. This is only the second Pokémon you've caught since you started your journey. The number is really too small! And if you hadn't just sent out Kadabra, I would have thought that you would have to do it yourself again, just like last time!"

Sabrina smiled faintly, feeling quite pleased after catching the new Pokémon.

Don't you think it's cute?

"cute!?"

Xia You raised her eyebrows and thought carefully about the natural sparrow, but she really couldn't figure out how it had anything to do with cuteness!

But whatever, you can't judge Naz's thinking by common sense anyway, as long as she's happy!

But... I bet that wild bird can't understand why it was suddenly tamed when it was just resting on the branch!

It's really just because I glanced at you once!

After this little incident, the two continued their journey, crossing the forest, and finally arrived at Kaji Town before dark.

Just as they entered the town, Xia You saw a badly damaged wooden sign lying among the rocks.

Wiping away the dirt, you can see a wooden sign that reads: This is Kaji Town, welcome to the Ninja Village.

No one knows how long this wooden sign has been here. It has become dilapidated and has been ignored by so many young people. It must have been abandoned by the times, just like the ninjas in Kaji Town.

Xia You tossed the wooden sign aside, shook her head, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

The land of ninjas... it's truly dead in name only now...

As you enter the town, you see low-rise Japanese-style wooden houses lining both sides of the street. You can see elderly people chatting in front of their houses and young children running around freely. It is clear that the pace of life here is extremely slow. Not only are there very few vehicles passing by, but even Pokémon are scarce.

At this moment, the lights in every house were on, and the aroma of food filled the air, making Xia You's stomach rumble.

He was exhausted after a long day, and when he thought about it, they hadn't had a proper meal since meeting the handsome guy and the raid on Team Rocket's research facility!

The most urgent thing is to find a place to stay and solve the dinner problem.

As for the gym battle, it's already late, let's wait until tomorrow!

With these thoughts in mind, the two walked towards the town center.

While passing by a seemingly ordinary shop, you can still see some international police officers setting up a cordon and going in and out of the shop. Obviously, this should be the entrance to the Rocket Team's base in Kagi Town!

Just like the Rainbow City in the Kanto region, Team Rocket chose to put the entrance inside the store, probably thinking that with so many people coming and going, even frequent entry and exit wouldn't arouse suspicion.

But even with all their efforts to conceal their true intentions, unfortunately, they still could not escape their fate of destruction!

After standing there for a while and seeing nothing interesting, the two continued forward.

Kaji Town isn't very big, and since there's no Pokémon Center, Xia You followed the map and found a guesthouse near the gym to stay in.

Actually, he prefers the relaxed and leisurely atmosphere of a guesthouse to a hotel or inn.

So if conditions permit, he usually considers a homestay as the best option!

After a hearty dinner, Xia You and Na Zi took a bath together. Since they planned to challenge the dojo the next morning, they went to rest early.

Of course, facing such a long night, Xia You, lying in bed, naturally felt no sleepiness and continued to work on Na Zi until midnight before finally drifting off to sleep.

……

The Kaji City Gym, as the official gym of Kaji City, is led by an elderly man named Liu Bo, who is very skilled in using Ice-type Pokémon.

After defeating him, you can obtain the Ice Badge. However, Liu Bo is very strong. He was a competitive trainer when he was young, and as he has grown older, his incredibly experienced skills have made him extremely difficult to deal with!

And because of his strict training of Pokémon, keeping his distance from them and not developing a trusting relationship with them, he is also known as 'Winter's Plum'!

Therefore, in a sense, he is the strongest among all the gym leaders in the Johto region!

Early in the morning, Xia You, yawning and looking sleepy, arrived at the Kaji Gym with Sabrina.

Kaji Dojo is built in a courtyard. Its exterior looks like an ordinary swimming pool and doesn't have any special features from the outside.

In fact, given the location and population of Kaji Town, it shouldn't have been a gym in the first place. However, there are rumors that the Pokémon League set up the gym here specifically to keep Phoebe around, as if to give him a place to retire.

Since the gate was open, Xia You didn't ring the doorbell and went straight into the courtyard.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he felt a wave of cold air hit him, which instantly gave him goosebumps and drove away all his drowsiness!

Sensing something, Xia You looked to the side and discovered that the pond in the corner of the courtyard was covered with ice and snow, like a secluded little ice and snow world!

And dozens of different Ice-type Pokémon are playing happily there!

Compared to the warm sunshine on the street, even though it's just a wall away, it feels like one is winter and the other is spring, creating two distinct seasons!

As Xia You was observing with interest, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw a serious-looking old man slowly walking out of the dojo.

Seeing Xia You standing in the courtyard, the old man frowned and asked in an unfriendly tone, "Who are you?"

This person must be Uncle Liu...

Xia You nodded slightly to him, then asked knowingly, "Hello, I'm here to challenge the Kaji Gym. Are you the Gym Leader here?"

At this moment, the smile on his face was like a spring breeze, forming a stark contrast with Uncle Liu's coldness!

Chapter 331 Challenge Kaji's Gym

“That’s right, I am the owner of this dojo, Uncle Liu.”

Because of his advanced age, Uncle Liu's eyebrows and hair have turned white, but he is still very healthy and walks without the trembling gait of other elderly people. In particular, his eyes still look quite sharp and bright!

Strangely enough, in such a cool place, he was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and even a pair of flip-flops with his toes showing, as if he were on vacation on a tropical island!

I have to say, as expected of the Ice-type Gym Leader, he's still going strong and he's really resistant to the cold!

only…

Noticing that Uncle Liu's tone was a bit stiff, Xia You glanced back at the courtyard gate and then said apologetically, "Ah, I'm sorry, I saw that the gate was open, so I didn't say hello and just came in without asking!"

Uncle Liu's gaze swept over the two of them, and lingered on Xia You for a while.