I caught a Pokémon

Her appearance was like a ghost, eerie and without a trace.

"Who are you?" Xia You asked.

"Please allow me to introduce myself." The woman's expression was both arrogant and fierce. "My name is Athena. I am a research scholar, and like that good-for-nothing guy outside, I am one of Team Rocket's executives."

"Another cadre?" Xia You looked her up and down. "And a researcher at that?"

Athena smiled and nodded: "My main focus is on researching the Sonic Wave that forces Pokémon to evolve. I came here today hoping to see the legendary Master Ball, but I didn't expect this old guy to be so stubborn."

Seeing that the woman clearly had ill intentions, Xia You was on guard, but also smiled and said, "Since you are a researcher, it would be an insult to your status to start a fight. How about we pretend we've never met and let us leave safely?"

"You're quite the smooth talker, aren't you?" the woman said with a forced smile. "Could you tell me who you are?"

“That won’t do.” Xia You shrugged. “My mother once warned me that I must never tell my name to those older sisters who have fierce faces and are annoying.”

The two appeared to be joking, but in reality, they were locked in a fierce battle of wits, neither willing to back down.

"..." Athena's face darkened, clearly angered. "Is that so? Then I can't let you leave."

As she spoke, she took out two Poké Balls from her pocket and released her Pokémon.

These two Pokémon are Arbok, a Pokémon whose body is coiled up like a giant cobra.

Alongside another Pokémon that resembles a giant raven, entirely black, with feathers on its head like a wizard's hat and a tail like a broom—Markrak.

Now that things had come to this, Xia You stopped wasting words with her and threw out his Poké Ball.

As the blue light flashed one by one, the next second, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, and Jolteon all appeared in the office.

Tensions rose and war seemed inevitable.

Chapter 46 The Incident Ends and a Gift

Protecting the old man behind her, Xia You took the initiative and ordered, "Everyone, attack together!"

His Pokémon unleashed their moves simultaneously, and instantly, a flurry of colorful attacks flew towards Murkrow and Arbok.

Athena taunted as she had her Pokémon dodge, "Your way of outnumbering your opponents is quite different from the average trainer!"

Xia You didn't say much to her sarcasm, after all, this wasn't a trainer battle, so there was no need to talk about battle rules.

However, her two Pokémon were indeed very strong. Even when surrounded by several Pokémon, they were still able to seize the opportunity to counterattack.

"Markrak, use your wings! Arbok, use acid bomb!"

Seeing this, Xia You naturally did not back down and chose to confront the other party head-on.

"Charmander, use Ember! Squirtle, use Water Gun!"

The two sides clashed, resulting in an explosion. However, Xia You had more Pokémon, so he continued to give orders: "Jetbu, use Thunderbolt! Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!"

Murkrow and Arbok were caught off guard and each took the hit, letting out a low wail.

"Tch!" Athena gritted her teeth. In the end, she underestimated the man in front of her, and even more so, the number of Pokémon he had.

"Excellent!" Seeing that the attack had worked, Xia You pressed her advantage and said, "Kirullian, use your psychic powers to control them!"

Arbok, which was dodging the attack, was suddenly pulled by psychic force, causing it to pause. Xia You's Pokémon seized the opportunity and focused their attacks on it, hitting it with several moves at the same time!

The repeated defeats made Athena realize that the situation was not good. Despite her reluctance, she was forced by circumstances to issue the most correct order.

"Damn it, let's retreat!"

After saying that, she used a Poké Ball to recall Arbok, took a running start, and leaped out of the shattered window of the office from the twenty-something-story building!

Then, Xia You only felt a black shadow flash before his eyes. The Dark Raven swept past him, grabbed Athena's arm, and carried her far away from the Silver Tower.

Seeing that Athena had indeed left, Xia You breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the mess on the floor, she turned around and said apologetically, "I'm sorry for making such a mess of your office."

The old man smiled kindly and said, "It's alright. Compared to your life, what is this little loss?"

However, what was unexpected was that Athena's retreat seemed to have triggered a chain reaction.

The sounds of battle in the corridor had ended, and the voices of the Team Rocket members could no longer be heard. When Xia You opened the office door, she bumped into Sabrina.

"Are you alright?" Xia You asked with concern, while her gaze went past Nazi's shoulder and looked behind her.

"I'm fine." Naza shook her head. "It's just that during the fight, for some reason, they all suddenly retreated."

At this moment, apart from the traces of the battle that had just taken place, there was no trace of Team Rocket in the corridor. Even the unconscious team members had been taken away by them!

"Perhaps their plan was disrupted, and kidnapping this old man became hopeless, so they chose to leave."

With that, Xia You recalled the rest of the Pokémon one by one, leaving only Kirlia and Gastly.

The old man's gaze lingered between Xia You's face and the Pokémon containing Zapdos, and he nodded imperceptibly.

He said with heartfelt gratitude, "Thank you both so much. If it weren't for your help today, not only would this company be completely destroyed, but the world would probably have suffered a catastrophe."

This is not an exaggeration on his part. In fact, if the Master Ball were to fall into the hands of the Rockets and be mass-produced, it would inevitably cause serious damage to the ecological balance.

“We only did what we could.” After saying that, Xia You turned to Nazi and said, “There are still many researchers being held in other places. I think we should call the police first and let them handle it.”

Sabrina nodded and went downstairs to handle the relevant matters. Xia You then had Gastly wander around to see if there were any potential dangers nearby.

After he finished all that, the old man invited him back into the office.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself yet,” the old man said. “My name is Silver, and I’m the president of this company.”

Xia You had already figured this out. He said, "Hello, Mr. Silver, I am Xia You, a Pokémon Trainer."

Silver invited Xia You to rest on the badly damaged sofa for a while, and stared at him for a long time, as if he had finally made a decision. He then walked slowly to a wall, turned on a switch, and revealed a high-tech safe inside.

He entered his fingerprint, opened the safe, and took out a Poké Ball.

This Poké Ball looks different from ordinary Poké Balls and Great Balls. Its lower half is normal white, while its upper half is blue-purple. There are two pink semicircles on both sides that look like fly eyes, and there is a big 'M' written in the center of the Poké Ball.

Walking up to Xia You, Silver handed him the Poké Ball and solemnly said, "As a token of my gratitude, I intend to give you this Master Ball."

"This gift is too precious, isn't it?" Xia You quickly stood up. Although the Master Ball was extremely valuable to him, he preferred to capture his favorite Pokémon through battle.

"Take it," Silver sighed. "Only a few Master Balls have been produced, yet it's caused such a commotion."

If the research is indeed completed, who knows what kind of trouble it might cause.

Xia You asked, "Then why not seal it away permanently?"

Silver shook his head, as if he had seen through everything: "No matter where the treasure is buried, it will attract greedy people. You should handle it."

Seeing his resolute attitude, Xia You hesitated for a moment, then accepted the heavy gift with both hands without further ado.

When Nazi returned, Xia You decided to leave quietly before the police arrived in order to avoid getting into trouble.

After all, he didn't want to reveal any information about either Zapdos or Master Ball.

The two bid farewell to Silver and took the elevator outside the building, watching the sunset slowly descend. Although they had only been inside for a few hours, the series of fierce battles made them feel as if they had been in another world.

At this moment, Sabrina said, "Alright, now that the task has been completed, I should go back to the gym."

Xia You turned to look at her. Although she wanted to say something to thank her, she ultimately didn't speak and simply extended her right hand.

"I hope we can meet again next time."

Naz nodded and took his soft hand in hers.

"My gut tells me it will happen!"

Chapter 47 Meeting Xiao Mao

Inside the Pokémon Center in Saffron City.

Xia You was eating dinner while talking on the phone with the handsome guy.

Over the phone, the handsome man praised, "You're amazing! I just asked you to check on the situation, and you actually managed to resolve it all!"

“It’s not that it was resolved…” Xia You took a big gulp of juice. “It’s that, with their leader gone early and the group leaderless, they not only resisted for a long time but also almost succeeded. At the last moment, they wisely chose to retreat, leaving not a single wounded soldier behind.”

"Alright, don't worry too much about the details." The handsome man's tone remained unchanged. "If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to complete the mission like you. How about it, how about considering joining Interpol? I really think you have potential."

"Forget it, my goal is to win the tournament, I don't want to deal with these bad guys every day." Xia You refused directly, then leaned back in her chair and asked, "How's things going on your end? Have you found Team Rocket's base yet?"

"No." The handsome man said straightforwardly, "Yuhong City is so big, I really don't know where to start. Although I found a clue before, it quickly died out. By the way, is this your next target? When you get here, I'll treat you to a meal as a token of my gratitude."

"Okay, I'll contact you when I get there."

Although she said that, Xia You was thinking about another question.

Is that the Rockets' base?

He hesitated, then decided against it.

Being prescient is not necessarily a good thing; the more you say, the more mistakes you make, and a single word could easily trigger warnings and misunderstandings from others.

……

After resting overnight in Saffron City, Xia You continued her journey to the next gym the following day.

According to the markings on the map, the nearest gym city to him is Celadon City. Since he hasn't contacted Misty, he doesn't know if Ash has successfully obtained his fifth badge.

The two cities are not too far apart, but even so, they had only covered most of the distance by noon.

Along the way, we passed through plains and forests.

Just then, a gentle breeze blew, and swarms of giant butterflies flew across the sky, like thousands of butterflies dancing in the air.

Just as Xia You was about to find a place to rest after taking a picture of this rare sight, a red convertible sports car sped past from behind, only to quickly turn back.

As the dust kicked up by the sports car settled, Xia You turned her head and saw that there were five people sitting in the car. Apart from a handsome young man with reddish-brown hair in the passenger seat, the driver and the others were all beautiful young ladies!

The boy, wearing large sunglasses, turned his head to examine Xia You closely and said, "I remember you. I saw you from afar when you came to the Oak Research Institute to deliver something to my grandfather."

This boy is none other than Professor Oak's grandson, and also Ash's first formidable rival—Gary.

"You must be Xiao Mao?" Xia You asked knowingly. "A few days ago, when I was chatting with Xiao Zhi, he mentioned you, saying that you are not only his friend since childhood, but also a formidable rival he acknowledges."

"Really?" Shigeru didn't seem to care much. "Ash can be quite eloquent sometimes. By the way, judging from the Pokémon next to you, it must be the one you told that samurai boy in Evergreen Forest to teach the trainer from Pallet Town a lesson, right?"

Recalling that experience, Xia You smiled and said, "It was me. What happened? Did he cause you any trouble?"

"Thanks to you, I was attacked by him without warning as soon as I entered the forest." Gary pouted. "And he also said that you are an extremely skilled trainer. I wonder if that's true?"

"That depends on who you're comparing yourself to." Xia You didn't deny this. "At least in all my travels so far, I've never lost."

"What's so special about that? I've never lost before!" Xiao Mao wasn't sure if Xia You's answer was genuine or just boasting, so he thought for a moment and asked, "So how many badges have you got so far?"

“Four badges.” Xia You finished speaking and pointed in the direction ahead, “But I’m going to Jade Rainbow Gym to challenge the gym leader there, and I’ll get the fifth badge soon.”

"What? Only four badges? That's really slow. Looks like you're about the same level as Ash." Gary's tone was quite proud. "I've already collected seven badges, and I'm on my way to Viridian City to get the next one."

So, the number of badges is used to judge strength...

I have to say, this kid's tone is really quite arrogant!

That makes sense. Now that Gary is a newcomer, he's ambitious and thinks he has an advantage over others because he's Professor Oak's grandson and hasn't experienced the two crushing defeats at the tournaments. So naturally, he doesn't take anyone else seriously.

Thinking of this, Xia You took out a Poké Ball, enlarged it, and spun it on her finger.

"Since that's the case, how about a match between us?"

"A contest?" Shigeru shrugged. "Sorry, I don't have time to waste here. If you really want to contest me, then I wish you good luck in making it to the Quartz Conference and meeting me there!"

After saying that, Xiao Mao waved his hand, the sports car started again, accelerated, and left.

"Hehehe." Gastly floated up from Xia You's shadow and chuckled to itself, "Looks like we've been underestimated."

Watching his departing figure, Xia You shook her head.

At such a young age, he not only has a sports car but also so many female companions. It's truly enviable.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he put down his backpack and asked Kirlia to gather some firewood to prepare a meal. At the same time, he released all the other Pokémon except for Zapdos and Magikarp.

Now that these Pokémon are with him day and night, they understand what they should do without Xia You having to tell them what to do.

Squirtle took a water bottle to the river to fetch water, Charmander lit a fire, and Bulbasaur led the other Pokémon to the nearby forest to collect berries.

Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

After everyone had devoured their meal, Xia You took out the Poké Ball containing the Magikarp, pondered for a moment, went to the riverbank, and released it.

With a flash of blue light, Magikarp appeared in the river, swimming around happily.

Upon closer observation, Xia You realized that she had actually been deceived by the uncle who sold the carp.

This is clearly a male Magikarp, how could it possibly lay eggs?!