I caught a Pokémon

Chapter 87 Sites on Magma

Xia You stood up and went to the partition in the middle of the hot spring to prevent them from seeing her chat history.

As he sat down with his back against the wooden railing, looked up at Xiaogang, and suddenly asked, "After traveling for so long, do you have a girl you like?"

“Of course.” Although he didn’t understand why Xia You brought up this topic, Xiao Gang still said matter-of-factly, “Whether it’s Miss Officer Jenny or Miss Joy, I like any pretty older sister.”

"And what about you, Ash?"

Ash, the epitome of a straight man, quickly shook his head: "I'm a future Pokémon Master, I don't need any girl I like!"

"Oh? Really?" Xiaoxia's gloating voice came from the other side of the hot spring. "I wonder who it was that passed by the Pokémon Research School and saw a picture of that girl named Yuto Seidai. Not only did they blush, but they also praised her for being cute."

"Ah..." Xiao Zhi's expression froze, and he scratched his cheek with his finger. "Did I say such a thing?"

Everyone chuckled, and Xia You then asked Xiao Gang, "Have you met any girls who like you?"

"Um..." Xiao Gang hesitated for a moment, "No, why? Why are you asking?"

"It's nothing," Xia You said with a smile, fiddling with her phone. "I was just asking casually."

Xiao Gang: ? ? ?

Although Xia You didn't say anything, his tone still made Xiao Gang feel offended.

So the person he'd been chatting with was a girl who liked him?

How outrageous! Do they think they can act so recklessly just because someone likes them?!

This is infuriating!!

Splash...

At that moment, Xia You heard the sound of water behind him. Ripples spread around him, and the next second, Xiao Xia swam to the other side of the wooden railing, back to back with him, and leaned against the same spot.

The two were separated only by a thin curtain, and Xia You could even feel Xiaoxia's burning body temperature through the gap.

“Speaking of which…” Xiaoxia said softly, “what exactly is Mr. Chapel’s riddle?”

Xia You's mind raced, and she saw through her thoughts. She smiled and said, "You're so smart, you must have already guessed the answer, right?"

“A great flood above and a great fire below, I think that must refer to this hot spring,” Xiaoxia said hesitantly. “Maybe below it is the arena for the dojo’s battle, but I still have no idea where the mechanism is.”

In fact, Xia You only remembered some vague general information about the Crimson Lotus Dojo. As for the specific details, she had long lost her impression and naturally couldn't recall where the mechanism was hidden.

Even so, he wasn't in a hurry at all. On the contrary, he was happy to have some free time and leave this matter entirely to Xiaoxia and the others.

Soaking comfortably in the water, Xia You almost fell asleep, but after a brief moment of tranquility, she suddenly heard Xiao Xia's anxious shouts from behind her.

"Togepi! Come back quickly!"

Xia You instantly snapped out of her daze, but since she didn't know what had happened, all she could do was ask, "Xiaoxia, what happened?"

Xiaoxia said, "It's because Togepi is naughty. It ran onto the faucet at the water outlet. Standing so high, it could easily fall down."

On the other side of the wooden fence, Togepi was seen standing on a water spout shaped like a Gyarados, hopping and jumping around happily.

Xiaoxia stood up, about to protect Togepi, but as it continued to jump, the faucet suddenly sank, as if it had triggered some mechanism!

Click...

The next second, a huge rock next to the hot spring pool slowly moved, revealing a dark hole inside!

The movement of the rock happened to break through the wooden railing in the hot spring, causing it to collapse instantly. Xia You and Xiao Xia looked at each other and saw each other.

At this moment, Xiaoxia was wrapped in a bath towel, revealing most of her skin. This sudden change made her face turn bright red. She let out a soft "Ah!" and quickly squatted down and jumped into the water.

Fortunately, Xia You was standing in the middle, and Xiao Zhi and Xiao Gang were so attracted by the cave entrance that they didn't notice Xia's predicament. When they heard Xia's cry and turned around, they only saw half of Xia's head sticking out of the water.

"Huh? Xiaoxia, why is your face so red?" Xiaozhi asked, puzzled. "You look like a boiled shrimp. But speaking of which, aren't you too timid? It's just a wooden fence falling down, and it's scared you like this!"

Xiaoxia glanced timidly at Xia You first, then turned and glared at Xiaozhi, saying with dissatisfaction, "Mind your own business! What's it to you?!"

"Alright, stop talking." Xia You hurriedly interrupted them. "It seems that this cave entrance should be the secret passage leading to the real gym. We really have to thank Togepi this time. I didn't expect that we were just relaxing in the hot spring, and it would accidentally find the hidden switch."

The group returned to the changing room one after another, changed into casual clothes, and a few minutes later, they regrouped by the hot spring pool.

They exchanged a glance and entered the cave. The steps beneath their feet slowly descended, seemingly extending all the way into the volcano!

After walking several dozen meters, the temperature inside the cave rose higher and higher, but fortunately, there were still burning candles on both sides of the walls to provide light, so the place did not seem so dark and oppressive.

Finally, they arrived at a tightly closed iron gate.

Without thinking much, Xiao Zhi reached for the iron gate handle, but the moment he touched it, he was burned by the scorching heat.

"Wow! It's so hot! It's so hot!"

Xia You kicked the iron gate open with the sole of her shoe, but before she could see what was at the door, a large cloud of white steam had already drifted to their side.

At the same time, a strong smell of sulfur irritated their nasal passages.

As the steam dissipated slowly upon encountering the flowing air, a battlefield suddenly appeared before them!

It was a makeshift platform suspended above the lava by iron chains, and below the platform was bubbling, churning hot lava!

Because of the high temperature, their clothes were soaked with sweat after just standing for a short while.

Bang bang bang!

Just then, as rows of spotlights suddenly turned on, they saw Blair standing far away on the other side of the field, calmly watching them.

"Oh dear, I didn't expect you guys to actually find this place. It seems today is destined to be a thrilling battle!"

"There are two matches," Xia You corrected. "This time, both of us will challenge Mr. Xia Bo!"

“It doesn’t matter how many there are,” Blaine laughed. “So, who’s going to play three against three with me first?”

After glancing at Xia You and seeing that he didn't object, Xiao Zhi spoke up first: "Of course it's me!"

As soon as Ash spoke, Misty, who was behind him, reminded him.

"Well then, Ash, good luck! But don't forget what you said before, we're waiting for you to go all out and get the Crimson Badge!"

Chapter 88 Successive Challenges

Xiao Zhi was clearly full of confidence, and even turned around and gave them a thumbs up.

Seeing that he was about to rush forward so rashly, Xia You couldn't help but warn him, "Xiao Zhi, Xia Bo is proficient in Fire-type Pokémon and has the home-field advantage, so don't be careless!"

"I see!"

On the other side, Blaine had already released his first Pokémon.

That was a pale yellow Pokémon with the appearance of a fox—Nine-Tails!

Just as its name suggests, the Nine-Tailed Fox has nine smooth and long tails that sway, its whole body is covered with beige fur, it has a pair of bright red eyes, and its body is well-proportioned, making it look very noble and elegant.

Ash also sent out Squirtle to face Nine-Tails.

However, when the match began, surprisingly, after only a few rounds of fighting, in the clash of fire vortex and water gun attacks, Squirtle was pierced through the body by the fire vortex, suffering burns, and finally inexplicably collapsed to the ground, losing its ability to fight.

Upon seeing this, not only was Xiao Zhi incredulous, but Xia You also frowned deeply.

It's amazing that it could easily defeat Squirtle even when its type was weak against it!

"hateful!"

Despite his reluctance, Ash had no choice but to recall Squirtle and send out a second Pokémon.

When the Poké Ball is opened, what appears before people's eyes is a Charizard with flapping wings, a long neck, and a tail burning with raging flames!

Upon seeing it, Xia You subconsciously raised her eyebrows.

Ash's Charmander has evolved into Charizard in such a short time! That's incredibly fast progress!

At this moment, Blaine also recalled Nine-Tails and sent out a second Pokémon.

"So, my number two is this guy! Come out, Drillhorn Rhinoceros!"

The next second, a Pokémon with a sharp drill point on its forehead, a body shape somewhat like a dinosaur, and its entire body protected by armor-like skin appeared on the field.

Surprisingly, Charizard seemed to have no fighting spirit in the face of Blaine's Rhinoceros. It yawned and leisurely flew out of the arena and lay down on a giant rock!

"Charizard! What are you doing?!" Ash exclaimed in alarm, and hurriedly shouted at it, "Please, I'm begging you, come down and battle right now!"

No matter how much Ash shouted, Charizard remained unmoved.

"It seems it doesn't quite respect you because it can't control its own Pokémon," Blaine said calmly. "But since Charizard flew out of the arena, you've forfeited this battle!"

"Huh? How could this happen..."

Before the match began, Ash never expected things to turn out this way. With no other choice, he could only place all his last hopes on Pikachu.

"Go, Pikachu!"

However, using Pikachu, an Electric-type Pokémon, against a Ground/Rock-type Rhyhorn is clearly a bad move.

As expected, when the battle began, although Pikachu was able to dodge Rhyhorn's attacks at first with its agile movements, its electric-type moves were completely ineffective against Rhyhorn.

However, just when everyone thought failure was inevitable, what happened next still made them appreciate the extraordinary nature of Ash and Pikachu as a magical duo.

Despite being at a disadvantage, Pikachu, with its unwavering spirit and Ash's encouragement, managed to defeat Rhyhorn by using Quick Attack and Agility!

"Amazing!" Blaine clapped his hands, recalled the Rhinoceros, and praised, "Your Pikachu is quite something, it really opened my eyes!"

Ash, who had finally breathed a sigh of relief, perked up again and shouted, "So, what Pokémon are you going to bring out next!?"

"Hmph," Blaine said mysteriously, "What exactly is moving inside the hottest flame in the world, magma within magma!?"

"Ugh!" Ash scratched his head frantically, exclaiming, "Please, don't spout riddles at a time like this!"

Seeing that no one was cheering, Blair sighed in disappointment and had no choice but to shout loudly, "Come out, you duckbill fire beast!"

As lava erupted, a Pokémon burst forth from the molten lava, billowing steam, and gracefully leaped to the center of the arena.

When the two Pokémon clashed, Pikachu was at a disadvantage from the very beginning. It was not only hit by Fire Punch, but was also knocked to the ground by a Flame Burst, ending the battle.

As expected, the older a person gets, the more cunning they become, and the spicier ginger gets. Although Blaine is quite old, his Pokémon are still not to be underestimated!

Driven by a strong desire to protect his Pikachu, Ash jumped from the protruding stone pillar to the center of the field and silently picked up Pikachu.

At this moment, he was no longer as high-spirited as before, and his expression was full of disappointment. Seeing him like this, Xiaoxia did not mention anything that would upset him, but instead offered a few words of comfort.

"Go back and train some more." Blaine said mercilessly about Charizard's performance just now. "If you can't control your own Pokémon, you're not a qualified trainer."

After saying that, he ignored Xiao Zhi, who was full of shame, and turned to look at Xia You.

"So? Now that you've witnessed the power of my Pokémon, do you still want to challenge me?"

“Of course.” Xia You nodded and said seriously, “Now that we’re here, how could we possibly back down? But Mr. Xia, your Pokémon has just been in a battle. To be fair, why don’t you take a break for a while?”

“There’s absolutely no need for that!” Blaine laughed loudly. “My Pokémon are all powerful beings burning with fiery passion! You have no need to worry about me!”

Are you that confident?

Seeing that Xia You had no intention of backing down, over there, Blaine threw out a Poké Ball first, sending out his first Pokémon.

However, after the blue light faded, it wasn't the three Pokémon that had just joined the battle, but a Rapidash with flames burning on its four hooves, head, and back!

Pokémon Pokédex entry: "Ding, Rapidash, the Fire-type Pokémon, is the evolved form of Ponyta. If it sees a fast-moving object, it will want to challenge it and will start chasing it at high speed. The flames on its body will burn more and more intensely as its speed increases."

Fiery Horse...

After a moment's thought, Xia You sent out her Pokémon.

With a powerful roar, Gyarados makes its dazzling entrance!

Upon hearing the roar and seeing Gyarados's terrifying eyes, Rapidash instinctively took a few steps back!

Influenced by Gyarados's Intimidate ability, Rapidash was intimidated before the battle even began, and had already lost some of its momentum before the actual fight even started!

At this moment, Xiaoxia quietly walked to Xia You's ear and encouraged him, "Brother Xia You! Mr. Xia Bo is not easy to deal with, you must be careful!"

He turned back to Xia with a gentle smile and nodded lightly: "Don't worry, I will."

Refocusing her thoughts on the battlefield, Xia You decisively ordered an attack.

"Gyarados, go! Use Water Tail!!"

Chapter 89 The Tyrannical Gyarados

Faced with the menacing Gyarados, Blaine was naturally not going to back down.