I caught a Pokémon

As expected of a gym leader, he noticed something was wrong so quickly...

That's quite perceptive.

Looking down at the feet of the Crystal Onix, Xia You said helplessly, "I'm sorry, it's not that I don't want to use it, but given the size of the Crystal Onix, I'm worried it will damage this gym."

"Is that why you're holding back?" Pine Leaf suddenly realized, then laughed, "It's alright. I think you must have noticed before you came that this gym is built on a very high stone staircase, precisely because of the current situation. Don't worry, the area below the staircase is filled with mud, so you can fight freely. And even if the gym collapses, the Pokémon League will maintain it!"

"I see." After hearing Songye's explanation, Xia You was truly relieved.

The battle continued.

This time, when the cursed doll used the same method again, employing the Shadow of the Night, Xia You waved her hand, and the crystal steel snake's head began to drill a hole downwards. In just an instant, its enormous body completely disappeared from the ground!

The phantom swept past the cave entrance without even touching the shadow of the Crystal Steel Serpent.

"Such a fast drilling speed!!"

Pine Leaf was stunned. He hadn’t expected the Crystal Steelix to dig holes so fast; it was simply illogical!

He had battled Ground-type Pokémon before, but to his recollection, he had never seen a Pokémon burrow into the ground so quickly!

Just then, a tremor suddenly came from the ground. Then, as the soil broke open, the Crystal Steel Serpent sprang out from under the Cursed Doll's feet and shoved it into the air!

"Oh no! Cursed doll, get out of the way!!"

Just as the cursed doll in mid-air was about to disappear, before it could unleash its power, the Crystal Steel Serpent opened its massive jaws and swallowed it whole!

"Cursed Doll!!!"

Pine Leaf's eyes widened. He could see that after being swallowed, the cursed doll was still struggling. But as the Crystal Steel Serpent's mouth closed tightly, the space inside its mouth was compressed, and the resistance gradually subsided until it finally calmed down completely!

Chapter 399 It's so nice to hear you speak.

After waiting for a long time without seeing the cursed doll escape, Songye couldn't help but rub his forehead.

"Stop...uh...shut up, I give up."

Once the referee raised his arm, Xia You snapped his fingers, signaling the Crystal Steel Serpent to spit out the cursed doll.

Upon seeing his command, the Crystal Steel Serpent opened its mouth and forcefully spat out, like spitting saliva. The next second, the battered Cursed Doll was spat to the ground.

After rolling several times on the ground, the cursed doll finally lay upside down, limp and unresponsive, clearly unconscious.

Fortunately, its body was as soft as a doll, as if it had no bones, so even though it was crushed in the mouth of the Crystal Steel Serpent for a long time, it did not suffer any fatal damage.

The reason he fell into a coma was simply because he fainted from the pain.

Of course, being swallowed is a terrible experience, but hopefully the cursed doll won't leave any lasting trauma.

With a complicated expression, Song Ye put away the cursed doll, took a deep breath, and looked intently at Xia You.

"You're stronger than I thought, actually defeating my Cursed Doll. It seems I can't hold back any longer; it's time to send out my strongest Pokémon!"

To be honest, before the battle, he thought it was just a normal gym battle. He never expected things to turn out this way, and he never thought he would have to use his ace Pokémon.

But the man in front of me won two matches in a row with ease, clearly he is not an ordinary trainer!

We absolutely have to turn this around!

Taking a deep breath, Pine Leaf solemnly took out the third Poké Ball.

"Go! My ace!"

Like a skilled pitcher, Pine Leaf threw the Poké Ball into the field, and with a flash of light, a strange Pokémon, over two meters tall and seemingly wearing an iron helmet, appeared in front of the Crystal Steelix.

Xia You recognized its identity at a glance.

"It's the Night Demon..."

In terms of appearance, the Night Demon is almost entirely black, with a ghostly tail but no feet. It has a gray head that looks like a medieval knight's helmet, but only one red eye, and on its large, round belly, it seems to have a strange face!

Like the Cursed Doll mentioned earlier, Dusknoir is not a Pokémon from the Johto region.

Xia You took out her Pokédex and pointed it at Dusknoir.

Pokémon Pokédex entry: "Ding, Dusknoir, a Grab Pokémon, Ghost-type. It is said that Dusknoir travels between this life and the next. No one knows if it has consciousness. It uses the antenna on its head to receive radio waves from the spirit world. After receiving instructions, it will take people to the spirit world. It will also come to the side of people whose lifespan is about to end and guide their souls to the underworld. However, it will occasionally mistakenly take away the souls of people whose lifespan has not yet ended."

Judging from the introduction, the Night Demon is undoubtedly very high-class.

Leading to the soul sounds like the Grim Reaper!

It's unclear whether it's due to excessive speculation or whether it truly possesses such capabilities.

But no matter what, as the ace Pokémon of Pinewood, its strength should not be underestimated!

As Xia You recalled his Crystal Steelix and hesitated about which Pokémon to send out, Gengar suddenly emerged from the shadows.

"Let me handle this battle!"

"you?"

Xia You glanced at it in surprise, wondering why it had volunteered.

It's worth noting that while Gengar enjoys playing pranks and watching excitement, it's generally averse to trouble or rather, quite lazy. Unless Xia You requests it, it rarely takes the initiative to battle anyone.

Seeing Xia You's expression, Gengar laughed and said, "Don't look at me like that. I'm just itching to play. Besides, it's been a long time since I've had a gym battle!"

Since Gengar wanted to fight, Xia You naturally had no reason to refuse it.

"Alright, then you need to be careful. This is the Gym Leader's ace Pokémon, it must be very strong!"

Upon hearing this, Gengar cackled, "Ace? Aren't I your ace? Besides, I feel that a champion's ace is much more prestigious than a gym leader's ace!"

Look at that! What a skillful way of speaking!

That's a nice thing to say, and Xia You was quite pleased with Gengar's flattery, so she gave it a thumbs up.

"You're right, then keep it up, you're the best!!"

Gengar grinned and then floated towards the battlefield.

On the other side, although he didn't hear what Gengar and Xia You were saying, he could clearly see that this Gengar had indeed spoken!

Suppressing his surprise, he looked at Gengar with great interest, scrutinizing him from head to toe.

"This is incredible! It's a talking Gengar! How did you do that?"

It's clear that Pine Leaf is quite interested in Gengar!

In fact, in this world, apart from a few oblivious people, anyone who sees a Pokémon speak human language would be as astonished as Matsuba!

"What's so strange about that? Isn't it easy to do?" Gengar said nonchalantly. "Besides me, I've also seen Meowth and a Slowking, and they can all speak human language."

"Hey, hey, it's obviously difficult no matter how you look at it!?" Matsuba didn't believe it at all and continued to ask, "Then when did you learn to talk?"

"Kid, why do you have so many questions? Are you going to fight or not?" Gengar frowned impatiently, seemingly feeling that this man was too noisy. To avoid him asking any more questions, it simply said, "Since you really want to know, listen carefully. Hundreds of years before you became a fertilized egg, I already learned to speak!"

Songye: "..."

Wow, this Gengar has such a nice voice!

Ignoring it, Song Ye turned to look at Xia You.

"As you can see, I am a Ghost-type trainer and I love all kinds of Ghost-type Pokémon. Your Gengar is really interesting and unique. Although it may be presumptuous, would you be willing to trade with me if it's possible?"

How about I switch to my Gengar?

You're really dreaming...

Xia You shook her head indifferently: "Sorry, this Gengar is an important partner of mine, and I will absolutely not trade it for anything!"

Seeing that Xia You's attitude was firm and there was no room for negotiation, Song Ye sighed in disappointment.

"Oh, that's such a pity."

In the arena, listening to Pine Needle's endless rambling, Gengar couldn't help but urge, "Hey, kid, are you going to fight or not? I didn't come here to listen to you talk about me!"

Raising an eyebrow, seeing Gengar's impatient expression, Pine Leaf knew that it had indeed taken too long, so he nodded and became serious.

"That's true, we've talked for quite a while now, so let's begin!"

Chapter 400 What kind of fighting style is this?!

In terms of attributes, both Gengar and Dusknoir are Ghost-type Pokémon, which allows them to deal high damage to each other.

Some people may be surprised, thinking that battles between people of the same attribute should result in halved damage.

But in fact, battles between Ghost-type Pokémon are very special. Like Dragon-type Pokémon, they are one of only two types that can deal double damage to each other when they are of the same type!

Therefore, it seems that this will be a very fair, yet quite intense, battle.

However, unlike Dusknoir, which has only one type, Gengar has both Ghost and Poison types.

However, poison-type moves only deal half damage to Ghost-type Pokémon, which is ineffective. Gengar doesn't actually have any poison-type moves, so this interference has almost no impact on the battle.

As a Ghost-attribute dojo master, Matsuba was naturally well-versed in these matters, and he believed that the man before him was equally knowledgeable.

Come on, we're both using our third Pokémon, let's see whose Pokémon is stronger!

In the arena, Dusknoir and Gengar faced each other, and around them was a slightly messy battlefield after two battles.

The red eye of the Night Demon flickered, revealing a hint of eeriness, and its invisible aura locked onto Gengar.

Meanwhile, its opponent—the Gengar—scratched its ear with its finger, seemingly unconcerned about the battle.

Upon seeing this scene, Pine Leaf first glanced at Gengar, then at Xia You behind it. His brows furrowed slightly, then relaxed, and the corners of his mouth lifted gently.

Not only are the Pokémon so careless, but even the trainers aren't keeping an eye on them...

Could it be that you became complacent after winning two matches? Did you think I was some kind of easy opponent?

This kind of laxity won't do...

How dare you underestimate me? You'll pay for your arrogance in a moment!

When the referee announced the start of the match, at Pine Leaf's command, Night Demon launched the first attack!

As the final Pokémon to appear, Dusknoir is naturally his most trusted partner. Since the beginning of his journey, it has overcome numerous obstacles to help him become a Gym Leader, defeating countless opponents along the way.

He believed that even if the Four Heavenly Kings came before him, this Night Demon would not be inferior!

Hmph, surely this man in front of me can't be stronger than the Four Heavenly Kings!

The last two matches were just appetizers; losing to you is nothing. Come on! I'm serious now! It's time to show you my true strength!!

Matsuba was full of confidence, but after the battle began, the situation was somewhat beyond his expectations.

When faced with Dusknoir's attacks, Gengar always manages to dodge and retaliate in unusual ways.

Just like now, Dusknoir used a Shadow Sneak Attack, stretching its shadow and moving forward within it, preparing to quickly appear behind Gengar and deliver a surprise attack.

But how did Gengar suddenly become a third wheel?!

The light bulb was extremely bright, constantly radiating light in all directions, not only dispelling the shadows but also illuminating the Night Demon!

That's not all. When Dusknoir used a curse to try and attack Gengar, to Matsuba's disbelief, Gengar conjured up a pair of headphones out of thin air and simply put them on its head, completely blocking out the sound of the curse!

Ahhh!! What kind of fighting style is this?!

What's especially outrageous is that when Dusknoir used Phosphorus to try and burn Gengar, Gengar actually turned into a fire extinguisher!

As the fire extinguisher broke through the large amount of white foam, the phosphorescent fire was extinguished immediately!

That's a Pokémon move!?

Are you kidding me?!

These successive changes left Song Ye somewhat bewildered. He subconsciously rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes!

Is this definitely a Pokémon battle?

It's not some kind of magic trick!?

While Pine Leaf was still in shock, Gengar saw that Dusknoir seemed to have used all its trump cards and had no more intentions, so it chuckled and attacked, easily defeating Dusknoir in just a few moves.

Seeing Dusknoir lying on the field, Matsuba simply couldn't accept that her ace Pokémon had been defeated in such a way!

"This...this..."

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but his mind went blank, and his voice seemed to be stuck in his throat, unable to utter a single syllable!

Outside the arena, seeing that the Night Demon remained motionless, the referee glanced at Pine Leaf, raised his right hand, and announced the result of the match.

"Dusknoir is out of the battle, Gengar is the victor! The challenger is the ultimate winner of this gym battle!"