I caught a Pokémon

It was a woman's voice full of energy. At first, Xia You didn't realize that the woman was talking to him, but when he heard footsteps behind him, as if she was chasing after him, he realized that the woman was calling him.

Looking back, they saw that it wasn't just a woman, but a man and a woman.

The woman had short, light brown hair, was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and was very beautiful. She wore light makeup, pearl earrings, a blue strapless top, white fitted pants, and white high heels. She was holding a microphone and looked like a female reporter from a big city.

The man, who looked to be about the same age as the woman, was wearing a baseball cap, a gray T-shirt, and jeans, and had a camera slung over his shoulder.

Judging from their attire alone, the two must be reporters from a certain television station.

Seeing Xia You turn around, a look of surprise flashed in the woman's eyes, and she blurted out, "It really is you! You're the champion from both the City and Kanto regions!"

"Shh..."

Xia You quickly made a gesture to lower his voice. Although he was often recognized after becoming famous, this was the Hoenn region after all, and he didn't want to attract attention so soon after arriving.

"Ah...sorry..." The woman then belatedly smiled apologetically, "We are reporters from Violet TV. We were conducting an interview on the side when we saw you fighting there, so we took the liberty of following us."

"I see." Xia You nodded. "What kind of interview was it? Was there anything interesting or big news?"

Without hesitation, the man shook his head and said, "No, it's just a program about children and parent-child relationships..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the woman, who coughed loudly and then gave an awkward smile: "Actually, we just came here to wander around casually, and we don't have any specific interview topics."

Seemingly afraid that Xia You would continue to press on this topic, the woman quickly added, "Ah, after saying so much, I haven't introduced myself yet. How rude of me. I'm Mary, and this is Dai, my partner. If it's alright, could you please do an interview with me?"

Mary? Dai?

Xia You pondered for a moment, but had no memory of them.

However, he could tell that the woman seemed to have something she couldn't say, so he didn't say anything, but simply refused, saying, "I'm sorry, I don't want to do any interviews."

"Huh?" Mary was taken aback. "But didn't you do similar interviews at the Silver Conference and the Quartz Conference before?"

She was naturally referring to the two interviews Pansy had given him. Xia You wasn't surprised that Mary knew this, since she was a journalist and certainly had more information than the average person.

Xia You shook her head: "That was only in the later stages of the competition, after I had achieved certain results, that I dared to appear in front of the camera. But now, I have only just arrived in Hoenn and have only obtained one badge. I haven't even touched the threshold of the Hoenn Tournament yet, so what gives me the confidence to accept an interview?"

"You're too modest," Mary said with a smile. "With your skills, collecting all eight badges and participating in the Rainbow Tournament should be a piece of cake for you, and you'll likely win the Rainbow Tournament again!"

Xia You simply shook her head and chuckled, not responding to the question.

As he said, early interviews are not a good thing. Not only will they expose you to the eyes of other contestants too early, but they will also leave the audience with the impression that you are talking big even though you haven't collected all the badges yet.

Despite noticing Xia You's concerns, Mary was clearly still persistent and continued to plead several more times.

But this was Xia You's bottom line, so how could she easily agree to it?

However, Xia You was so annoyed by Mary's persistent pestering that she couldn't refuse any longer. She said, "How about this? It's definitely not possible to do an interview now. How about this, when the Rainbow Festival comes around, if possible, I will give priority to accepting your interview."

"This one……"

Mary hesitated for a moment, but knowing that this was Xia You's biggest concession, she smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Then it's settled. Come on, let's exchange contact information first."

Xia You could clearly sense that Mary had a strong sense of career ambition; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so persistent in pursuing him.

With a helpless sigh, he could only exchange phone numbers with Mary, then made an excuse and left.

Watching his retreating figure, Mary raised her eyebrows triumphantly and clenched her fists in excitement.

Seeing her like this, her partner Dai couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Why are you so happy?"

"You idiot!" Mary glared at him, exasperated. "This is a golden opportunity! Do you really want to just sit in the park like this, doing interviews about parents and children's bonding time?"

Dai was still very puzzled and asked doubtfully, "What does that have to do with him?"

"How can it not be related?" Mary was speechless for a moment. "He's a double champion of the Silver Conference and the Quartz Conference! He's definitely here in Hoenn aiming for the championship. Besides, he's very mysterious and has almost no exposure, yet he's very popular with the audience. So, as long as we can get in touch with him and do a casual interview, our status at the station will definitely rise sharply. When we return to the studio, it won't be just a fantasy anymore!"

"I see!!" Dai's eyes lit up too. "That's definitely an opportunity we can't miss!"

"Good that you understand!" Mary raised her head proudly, then looked in the direction Xia You had left, her eyes filled with determination. "No matter what, I will seize this opportunity! I never want to stand outside in the wind and sun again!"

Chapter 623 The Mechanisms and Thunder God in the Violet Dojo

After strolling around the park for a while to relax, I checked into the Pokémon Center.

However, the two did not eat lunch here, but instead went to the nearby Purple Violet Food Plaza.

It's called a plaza, but it's actually a non-open-air restaurant located on the underground floor, with stalls one after another, and I estimate there are hundreds of them!

These stalls also sell various delicacies from Hoenn and other regions. However, since it was lunchtime, when Xia You and Xiaoxia entered the food court, they found it was packed with people, with almost all of the hundreds of tables in the center of the hall occupied!

Furthermore, because the stalls were all cooking at the same time, the place smelled strange, somewhat pungent, from a mixture of various cooking fumes.

The two followed the dense crowd, passing by each stall.

After spending a long time choosing, they finally selected several meal packages with rather strange names.

First up is the village sandwich Xiaoxia ordered. The ingredients are clearly just sliced ​​meat, bacon, ham, tuna, and eggs, but I don't know why it's called that.

Could it have originated from a village?

Next up is Xia You's Magnetic Monster Yakitori. Although the name includes Magnetic Monster, it doesn't actually use Magnetic Monster as an ingredient. It's just a very ordinary okonomiyaki, Akashi yaki, Imagawa yaki, dorayaki, tonpei yaki, and takoyaki.

Carrying their food, the two searched for quite some time before finally finding a half-empty table in a corner, where they finally had time to enjoy their meal.

It must be said that there's a reason this place is famous.

After trying it, the two discovered that not only was the place spacious, but the food was also delicious.

After finishing their lunches, they were still a little hungry, so they each ordered a bowl of miso ramen before they felt their stomachs getting full.

After a satisfying meal, to help them digest, they left the food court and headed to another famous location – Zijin Game City!

Just like the Gikko Game City in the Kanto region, this place is also very large, and the game machines are very new.

After buying some tokens, the two whiled away the time there, playing almost every kind of arcade game. They had a great time. In the end, Xia You used the claw machine to win a Starmie plushie for Xiaoxia before returning to the Pokémon Center, completely satisfied.

Although they didn't challenge the gym, the two still had a very fulfilling afternoon!

Xiaoxia, in particular, felt as if she had just had a date with Xia You, and she was incredibly happy.

……

After resting overnight, Xia You brought Xiao Xia to the Purple Violet Dojo again early the next morning.

This time, since the dojo had resumed normal operations and the notice hanging on the door had been taken down, they were finally able to enter the dojo.

The dojo gave the two a pleasant surprise as soon as they entered.

Behind the door was a long and sealed corridor. The moment the two stepped into the corridor, the floor under their feet suddenly shook, and then, like a sliding elevator, it took them along a barely noticeable track to the depths of the dojo!

"Wow!"

Xiaoxia was startled and lost her balance. She quickly grabbed Xia You's sleeve to prevent herself from falling in the elevator.

It's not that she's timid; it's that anyone would be startled in this situation if they were unprepared and given no warning.

The elevator, carrying the two people, moved forward at a relatively fast speed. After passing through an electric gate, it began to slowly ascend along a slope.

"What's going on?" Xiaoxia muttered. "Isn't this a dojo? Why does it look like an amusement park?"

“That’s not hard to understand,” Xia You said with a smile. “This is an Electric-type gym, after all. Because of the Pokémon’s type, there must be plenty of electricity. If we don’t find a way to use that electricity, it will definitely be wasted.”

"That being said..." Xiaoxia felt the elevator rising higher and higher, and a bad feeling began to creep into her heart, "Could this be..."

Before she could finish speaking, the elevator had already reached its highest point, and then suddenly slid forward, like a roller coaster, taking the two of them down the slope!

"Ah!~~~~~"

Xiaoxia screamed at the top of her lungs. If it were a normal roller coaster ride at an amusement park, it wouldn't be a big deal and wouldn't scare her so much.

The key point is that the two of them are just standing on this elevator right now, and there's not even a seat, let alone a seat belt!

Fortunately, Xia You reacted quickly, grabbing the handrail with one hand and wrapping her other arm around Xiaoxia's waist, preventing the two from being thrown off the elevator!

The elevator glided quickly through the narrow passage, and after a dozen seconds, the two suddenly found themselves in a spacious room.

Just when they thought they had finally reached the end, they found that the track beneath their feet had disappeared and replaced by a deep pool of water!

The elevator lurched and derailed, skipping violently across the water's surface like a skipping stone, nearly throwing the two of them into the water!

Even Xia You couldn't hold on any longer.

The two were thrown high into the air, but as if by a strict design, they landed steadily on the elevator after falling!

The elevator quickly reached the other end of the room, but that was far from the end. It then boarded another track, taking the two of them deeper into the room.

After Xia You and Xiaoxia stood up, they rubbed their sore bottoms. Before Xiaoxia could complain, at the end of the passage, another electric gate was opened, and a golden and majestic Pokémon appeared in front of them!

Because Xia You possessed it, she recognized its identity at a glance.

"Raiko!?" Xiaoxia exclaimed at this moment, but she never expected that a legendary Pokémon from the Johto region would appear in such a gym!

Before they could even take a good look, the elevator beneath their feet began to slow down, but the remaining force still carried them to the thunder god.

Just then, Lei Gong roared and opened his mouth, where electricity began to crackle!

It's obvious that this is a sign that it's about to attack!

Standing in the elevator, they had nowhere to hide and seemed to have no choice but to fight back!

Although Xia You didn't know what this dojo was up to, he understood that it was a test for the challengers, so he naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait for his doom.

Seeing that Xiaoxia was about to take out her Pokémon, he reached out and stopped her, then threw out his own Poké Ball.

With a flash of blue light, his Tyranitar appeared before Raikou.

Tyranitar roared and pounced on the Pokémon in front of it, regardless of whether it was a legendary Pokémon or not.

It was only at this moment that Xia You had time to carefully observe the thunder god in front of him.

He knew it was impossible for Raikou to appear in the Hoenn region.

Even if Raikou has a kinship and exists in multiples, they are still extremely rare. You might not even see a second one in Johto, let alone one captured by a Gym Leader.

Most importantly, the chances of him having Lei Gong in his pouch at that moment are even smaller!

And just by looking at him, he actually noticed something unusual!

Compared to his Thunder God, this one in front of him, although it also looked very majestic, lacked that lifelike quality. Its eyes were empty, as if it were just a cold machine!

This imitation might fool those who have never dealt with Raikou, but it can't fool Raikou's real trainers!

Chapter 624 Battle against Tie Xuan

Bangilas took heavy steps and charged towards the thunder god.

At the same time, Raikou's attack arrived; a huge bolt of electricity shot out from its mouth and struck Tyranitar.

The electric current looked incredibly powerful, but fortunately, Tyranitar's type is not weak against Electric. Despite the pain, Tyranitar continued to approach Raikou little by little with unstoppable momentum.

In fact, Xia You could have had Tyranitar attack Raikou from a distance with a move like the Hyper Beam. In such a narrow passage, Raikou would have no way to avoid it. To avoid being hit, he would have to use a move of equal power to counter it.

However, since Xia You already knew that this was a test for the challenger by the dojo, and since she was in the dojo and it was not good to damage the buildings, she had some concerns and chose to fight at close range.

Upon approaching, Tyranitar opened its mouth and used its bite ability to strike Raikou.

Compared to real Pokémon, this Raikou was clearly not 'intelligent' enough; it just stood there motionless, letting Tyranitar bite it!

Stab it!

Tyranitar's teeth weren't particularly sharp, and they were quite small, but they still easily bit off a piece of Raikou's 'body'!

It was only at this moment that Xiaoxia saw the various lines protruding from Leigong's body and realized that this was actually a fake Leigong!

Perhaps due to the disruption of his internal circuits caused by such an attack, Lei Gong's eyes dimmed, and he stood there motionless.

"What? It broke so easily?" She shook her head with one hand on her hip. "She was so arrogant when she came out, but she's only good at this."

"This should just be a small test," Xia You said. "If it were made too strong, or at the same level as the real Raikou, most trainers probably wouldn't even be able to get in."

As soon as he finished speaking, a secret door suddenly opened in the wall beside him, and two men walked out.

Leading the way was an elderly man in his seventies. He was not tall, had a large belly, and looked somewhat overweight. His sparse white hair was styled in a particular way, and his beard, the same color as his hair, covered half of his face below his nose.

The elderly man was wearing a camouflage vest with lightning symbols and overalls over it. Despite his advanced age, he looked to be in good spirits and kept smiling as soon as he came out.

Behind the old man was a young man wearing round glasses, who looked like the old man's assistant.

Perhaps he overheard Xia You and Xiaoxia's conversation from the other side of the secret door. When he stepped out, the old man grinned and said to Xia You, "You're right, this is indeed just a small test. It's my 'Million Volt Laughter No. 2,' like a recharging period in life. It's also a welcome ceremony I prepared for challengers. How was it? Did it scare you?"

"What's so surprising?" Xiaoxia pouted. Although she had indeed been startled, she wouldn't admit defeat. "Your imposter is nowhere near as powerful as the real Thunder God!"