I caught a Pokémon

However, Xia is right about one thing: after being "trained" by Naz, Lijia, and even Maya, he really can't stand girls who aren't that good-looking anymore!

Someone like Du Juan, who seems ordinary at first glance but is quite pretty upon closer inspection, would never make his heart flutter!

Chapter 606 Rejoices at the Challenger's Victory

At the referee's signal, the gym challenge officially began.

Geodude, with its two enormous fists raised, rubbed its hands together and floated menacingly toward Eevee.

Perhaps it's because of the magnetic force within its body, but despite its round body and lack of legs, the little rock can hop forward and even float briefly in mid-air, which is truly incredible.

In fact, Normal-type Eevee doesn't have much of an advantage when battling Geodude; in fact, it's weaker. Geodude's Rock type means it only takes half the damage from Normal-type attacks, which is not good news for Eevee.

In contrast, Geodude's hardness makes its body not only a reliable armor, but also allows it to unleash considerable power when using attacks such as impacts.

Judging from this restrained relationship, Ibrahimovic is undoubtedly at a disadvantage in the one-against-the-other dynamic, which left Du Juan somewhat puzzled.

After all, as a gym leader and a teacher at the Pokémon Academy, she understands type advantage better than the average trainer and would never send out a Pokémon with a type disadvantage. Xia You, as a winner of two tournaments, should not be unaware of this principle.

Then why use Eevee in battle?

Could it be that he did this to practice fighting against opponents with opposing elemental attributes?

Before they could think, the two Pokémon were already battling.

Geodude unleashes a million-ton punch; with each swing, it seems to possess the force of a thousand pounds, appearing incredibly powerful.

Eevee isn't good at fighting, so Xia You naturally wouldn't let it clash head-on with Geodude. Instead, she used Eevee's speed advantage to constantly harass Geodude from different directions, trying to find an opening.

However, Geodude's two large fists were so well-placed that he defended himself completely, without giving anyone a chance to escape.

The students watched intently. Although the two Pokémon in the arena were only in their initial forms and were not using any particularly advanced moves, this was a battle between a champion and a gym leader. Just the name Xia You alone was enough to make them take it very seriously!

Watching the two Pokémon go back and forth in the arena, Xia You was also thinking about a way to break the deadlock.

His gaze swept over the huge rocks in the rocky arena, and an idea came to him.

"Ibrahimovic, jump onto those rocks!"

Upon hearing Xia You's command, Eevee jumped to a high place, and Geodude chose to follow immediately in order to continue attacking. This back-and-forth action bought Eevee some time to prepare.

"Use sand!!"

Ibrahimovic turned around and kicked the rock with his hind legs, sending countless fragments flying downwards and splashing Geodude all over his face.

Geodude was hit squarely by the spray. To avoid getting it in its eyes, it had to cover its face with its hands, which caused it to pause and be unable to continue attacking. It also lost sight of Eevee!

Once the sand disappeared, it looked up again and saw Eevee's big head getting closer and closer, before it bumped into it!

Because it was climbing towards the rock where Eevee had just been, Geodude was in mid-air and had no footing. When it was hit like that, it was slammed directly to the ground.

Before it could even regain its footing, Eevee turned around again, kicked backward with its two hind legs, and used a double kick to strike Geodude!

Bang!

The little geomancy rocked backward until it hit a rock behind it and came to a stop.

This is where Geodude's body hardness deserves praise. If it were any other early-stage Pokémon, it would have been knocked unconscious long ago. But because of its rock-like body, it has extremely high physical resistance. Although it looks battered and bruised, it still has the strength to fight!

"Well done!" Du Juan shouted, "Little Geodude, hold on, use Rolling Attack!!"

Geodude shook its head to dispel the dizziness, then hugged its body with both hands and rolled towards Eevee!

Xia You observed carefully and saw that Geodude had exhausted most of its stamina, so she decided not to let Eevee escape anymore, but to fight it head-on to decide the winner!

"Ibrahimovic, use Tackle!"

The ramming attack, once successfully executed, can cause considerable damage, but it will also inflict some harm on the user.

If it were a critical moment, Xia You would naturally not take such a risk, but since the two Pokémon have been fighting for so long, Eevee has basically not been injured and has plenty of energy, so there is nothing to worry about.

Geodude rolled faster and faster, as if carrying a thousand pounds of force, and Eevee was not to be outdone. With a sudden acceleration of its body, it also crashed into Geodude with a reckless momentum!

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the two Pokémon collided head-on.

A loud bang echoed through the empty battlefield. Looking at the two Pokémon in the arena, Eevee and Geodude both paused for a moment before falling to the sides.

That was quite a hard collision.

Fortunately, apart from feeling a little dizzy and experiencing some minor pain, Ibrahimovic was otherwise unharmed and immediately got up, resuming his attack stance.

The little stone, after being hit like that, rolled backward more than a dozen times.

However, just when Xia You thought that the battle was over, he was surprised to find that the little stone had shakily gotten up again!

This was indeed somewhat unexpected for Xia You.

You should know that if it were a regular trainer's Pokémon, it would have lost its ability to battle long ago, but clearly Dujuan's Geodude has excellent resilience!

Of course, this could also be due to Eevee's normal type moves dealing half damage, but even so, Geodude looks to be in grave danger.

As expected, under Xia You's command, Eevee used another move, Swift, and this time, without any surprises, it finally defeated Geodude.

That's really tough...

Xia You smiled helplessly. Without any type advantage, these Ground and Rock-type Pokémon were incredibly tough and stubborn. It would take a lot of effort to defeat them!

In the trainer's command area, Du Juan smiled and put her little punch away.

Although her opponent was an Eevee, the result of the battle was not unexpected. After all, Pokémon battles depend on the trainers, and the man in front of her was undoubtedly one of the best among them!

Even her students, who were on the side of the gym, didn't feel dissatisfied when the gym leader's Pokémon failed. Instead, they whispered among themselves, excitedly discussing Eevee's performance!

Although neither side had any particularly outstanding performances in this battle, the fact that they could witness Xia You's battle up close still filled them with a strange excitement!

This feeling is like watching your favorite player perform simple warm-up moves in front of you, yet still feeling incredibly excited!

Some people were even "physically in Cao's camp but mentally in Han's," and were actually happy for Xia You's victory!

Chapter 607 Ibrahimovic: I dare to go!

Du Juan took out a second Poké Ball, and with a flash of blue light, a Nosedrop appeared in front of Xia You.

This Pokémon is very unusual. It is shaped like a giant, sentient rock. It is entirely blue and has hands, feet, and a huge red nose!

As a Pokémon with a single Rock type, Nosebridge's magnet never malfunctions and always faces north. If people get lost in the mountains, they will find their way as soon as they see Nosebridge's nose, which is also the origin of its name!

Another interesting point is that, because like poles of magnets repel each other, north-facing noses cannot put their faces together. It is said that wild north-facing noses only move 1 centimeter a year, but when in danger, they will rotate their bodies and instantly dive underground to escape.

It will remain motionless and use the strong magnetic force emanating from its body to attract prey to hunt. The colder the season, the stronger the magnetic force becomes. However, sometimes it will also trap itself and attract its natural enemy, the Metal Monster!

Xia You called Eevee back and kept looking at the north-facing bird.

He remembered that when he was playing the game, Dujuan's Nosecat left a deep impression on him, and it was also her signature Pokémon.

Its strength is quite good. When it comes to challenge you, if your level is not high enough and you don't have a Pokémon with type advantage, it often takes several Pokémon to deal with it!

Just like Geodude, you can tell from Nosepass's cold, stone-like body that it is another tough opponent with excellent defense. With Eevee's strength alone, it can't even break through its skin!

Therefore, faced with such a hard rock, in order to avoid Pokémon like Eevee getting their heads smashed, Xia You pondered for a moment and decided to confront it head-on.

Just then, before he could make up his mind, Xia You suddenly felt his trouser leg being rubbed. Looking down, he saw Eevee looking at him with an eager expression.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "What? You still want to fight?"

Ibrahimovic nodded vigorously and barked again.

Although the rock in front of him was much larger than himself, and his claws and teeth could not bite or scratch it, Eevee was still fearless!

Seeing its behavior, Xia You knew it was no match for the north-facing nose, but she still agreed to let it go on stage again.

After all, challenging gyms to obtain badges is only one aspect; the most important thing is to train the abilities of these Pokémon.

Therefore, even if you know you will fail and get hurt, you should still learn something from the failure!

Seeing that he nodded in agreement, Ibrahimovic ran back to the center of the field.

Du Juan saw it clearly and naturally knew what Xia You was thinking. She didn't say anything more, just smiled slightly.

When the battle began, she didn't hold back and focused intently on directing the fight. However, compared to her, Xia You was noticeably more cautious.

Under his command, Eevee unleashed its full power, running back and forth across the rocky terrain in an attempt to defeat its opponent. However, this time, the type advantage was simply not enough, and it ultimately collapsed under Nosegate's Rock.

The student acting as referee raised a colored flag: "Ibrahimovic is unable to fight, North Face wins the second round!"

With Ibrahimovic's defeat, the score is now tied at 1-1.

Xiaoxia, standing to the side, wasn't too worried after seeing the result. After all, Eevee not only had a disadvantageous type but also hadn't evolved, limiting its attack options and making it difficult to inflict much damage on Nosebridge. However, she knew in her heart that although the defeat was inevitable, Xia You would use a stronger Pokémon to get revenge!

In the trainer command area, Xia You took out a Poké Ball and recalled the unconscious Eevee.

Although the battle was brief, it was not without its gains.

At the very least, Ibrahimovic gained some more battle experience, and I also obtained some data on Nose Pointer, which will be very helpful for the upcoming battles.

With his thoughts returning to the arena, Xia You didn't hesitate this time. With a wave of his hand, he directly sent out his Tyranitar!

Upon appearing, just like its predecessors Red Gyarados and Crystal Steelix, Tyranitar also roared to the sky, letting out a deafening roar!

Roar!

This sound caused several of the more timid students around to change their expressions and take a few steps back. Even Xiaoxia in the audience couldn't help but cover her ears.

Honestly, she thought to herself, no matter how many times she'd seen a Pokémon with such a volatile temper, it was still terrifying...

Regardless of their actual strength, their sheer aura is already impressive!

Upon seeing that Xia You had sent out Banjiras, Du Juan couldn't help but nod.

Unlike the Eevee that was countered in the previous match, Xia You sent out Tyranitar this time, which has a type advantage. Its Ground-type moves can deal super-effective damage when facing Tyranitar, and its armor-like body will not be at a disadvantage when facing rocks. It is indeed a very good choice!

However, despite agreeing with the assessment, Du Juan also knew that this battle would not be easy.

Having watched Xia You's matches, she knew that this Tyranitar had performed brilliantly at the Silver Tournament.

She was a little unsure of herself when battling a Pokémon with near-conference level strength. If she had used her strongest Pokémon, she might have been able to put up a fight, but Noseba…

Although it has considerable strength and has helped it defeat many challengers, Du Juan knows that facing this Tyranitar is likely to be a dangerous situation!

This is not a case of being cowardly before the battle even begins; it is simply a conclusion drawn from experience and rational analysis.

As the referee raised the colored flag again, the third round of the battle officially began!

If Xia You defeats Nosegate, she will receive the first badge in the Hoenn region. However, if she loses, she will have to wait until tomorrow to try again.

In the arena, Nosebridge stood motionless, while Tyranitar stomped his foot, and as the energy was activated, more than a dozen sharp stones burst from the ground beneath his feet, piercing towards Nosebridge!

Almost simultaneously, the other side, Chaobeibi, also used sharp stones to attack, instantly forming a wave of stones flowing from east to west and another flowing from west to east, which eventually collided with each other!

Bang bang bang!

The two sharp stone attacks collided and neutralized each other, scattering stone fragments everywhere. These fragments flew high into the sky and then fell back down, striking Nosegate and Tyranitar's bodies with soft 'clinking' sounds...

Once the soil and rocks disappeared, the two Pokémon opened their mouths almost simultaneously and launched a second attack!

Chapter 608 Rock Badge and Meteor Fall

The nose on the north side fell down.

Just as Du Juan predicted before the battle, it was indeed no match for Tyranitar. Moreover, Xia You had used Eevee to roughly test Nosegate's abilities, so the outcome of this battle was self-evident.

However, Tyranitar's victory wasn't so easy; Nose Bridger still caused it some trouble, so it wasn't a completely ineffective battle.

Applause erupted from the sidelines as Du Juan's students clapped their hands in celebration of Xia You's victory.

Although they felt somewhat sorry for their teachers and some of them were biased towards outsiders, they couldn't care less about that now, since today's challenger was so popular!

After glancing at the students, Du Juan smiled helplessly, withdrew her gaze, and walked up to Xia You.

She took out a tan badge and handed it to Xia You.

"Congratulations on winning the battle. This is my Rock Badge, proof that you defeated me. Please accept it."

Xia You thanked her and took the badge. At that moment, a figure flashed by, and Xiaoxia, full of curiosity, squeezed over to look at the Hoenn region gym badge with Xia You.

The shape of the rock emblem resembles a triangular ore rock that is offset from left to right, which has a certain design sense. Moreover, almost all the emblems of the Hoenn region are gradient colors, which makes Xia You think that the emblems of the Hoenn region are more beautiful and exquisite than those of Johto and Kanto.

Xia You placed the badge in the badge collection box and then put the box into her backpack.

This badge collection box was given to him by Nurse Joy after he arrived at the Pokémon Center in Rosemary Town and logged into the Pokémon League. Although the box is ordinary, once the Rock Badge is placed inside, it means that Xia You has taken a firm first step toward the Rainbow Conference!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Catching your first Pokémon and obtaining your first badge is a great start!