I caught a Pokémon

This car is very peculiar. It looks angular and very rugged. What is most eye-catching is the row of huge exhaust pipes at the rear of the car that belch out thick black smoke!

However, the car seemed to have lost control at this moment. After crashing through the gate, it circled back and forth in the open space in front of the gate. Judging from its reckless behavior, it seemed that the brakes had failed.

Inside the car, a slightly panicked voice could be faintly heard coming from inside.

"Really..." Seeing this, Ashida sighed, "I didn't expect it to get out of control again..."

At this point, he turned to Xia You and the others and asked, "Could you please help me stop that car?"

"No problem, leave it to us!"

Ash, May, and Brock were happy to help and released their Pokémon. Only Xia You knew that she didn't need to help at all, so she just stood there and watched their performance.

As three blue lights flashed, Ash's Grovyle, May's Combusken, and Brock's Mudkip appeared before the group.

The three Pokémon have different types, and it's unexpected that the three starter Pokémon from the Hoenn region would gather here in this way!

With the help of these three Pokémon, plus Pikachu, the out-of-control armored vehicle quickly came to a stop.

However, it would be more accurate to say that the car was damaged rather than stopped by them.

Under the combined attack of several Pokémon, even the most sturdy armored vehicle is doomed to destruction.

Fortunately, the damage wasn't too severe; only one or two wheels were broken. But thanks to their intervention, the car was spared further destruction.

Once the armored vehicle came to a complete stop, as the door opened, a man wearing a red baseball cap, a sleeveless long overcoat, and a black vest and trousers jumped off the roof.

"Thanks to you all, I'm finally saved." The man wiped the sweat from his brow and said helplessly, "This wild horse is really hard to handle; it doesn't listen to its master at all. Anyway, thank you so much!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he saw that the tire was damaged, and that wasn't all; it seemed that the related bearings and other parts were also broken. His face fell again.

"Oh dear, this is terrible! This kid is my masterpiece, which I worked so hard to create. It looks like it'll need another major overhaul..."

"It's just an ordinary car, nothing special." Ashida waved to the man and smiled, "Let me introduce it to you..."

But before he could finish speaking, the man interrupted him.

"You actually said it's just an ordinary car?!" The man's eyes widened, his voice rising several octaves, seemingly displeased. Then, pointing to the car behind him, he said proudly, "This kid's name is Dara J9! I built it myself, a super machine that can run on steam! How about that? Sounds pretty cool, right?"

Xiao Zhi and the others looked at each other, after all, neither the car's appearance nor its color scheme seemed to be fashionable at all.

Xiao Sheng whispered, "In the end... it's just a steam engine, right? But haven't these kinds of things been phased out by the times? Now we're talking about clean energy and controlled nuclear energy, that's the trend of future development."

Although his voice was very soft, the man in front of him still heard it, which undoubtedly broke his guard.

“What do you know?” He raised his head high and laughed loudly, “Steam is the romance of men! This kind of rugged super machine is what real men should play with!”

Seeing that the conversation was going off on a tangent, Ashida quickly stopped it.

"Stop, stop, stop! Don't say any more." He looked at the man and said helplessly, "Remember the person I told you about yesterday? He's here now!"

Upon hearing this, the man's expression turned serious. He stopped mentioning his car and instead took a few steps closer, looking at Xia You and her group with surprise before finally fixing his gaze on Xia You.

"You're the champion?"

"it's me."

Now that they were closer, Xia You could see the man's appearance and age clearly.

With brown hair, a sparse beard, and slight nasolabial folds on his face, this man looked to be at least 35 years old. He also had very muscular arms, and combined with what he had just said, it was clear that he had been working out in a repair shop for many years. However, his rather fashionable attire made him look younger than his actual age.

Upon seeing Xia You nod, the man laughed heartily: "It really is you! Great, I've been waiting for you for a long time! Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Dara, and as you can see, I am the pioneering brain of this battle factory!"

Actually, when they first saw him, not only Xia You, but also Xiao Yao, Xiao Sheng and Xiao Gang vaguely guessed his identity. After all, someone who came out of the Battle Factory must have some connection with this place. Perhaps only Xiao Zhi, the oblivious guy, realized this after hearing the man introduce himself.

Xiao Zhi and his friends then introduced themselves.

After getting to know each other, Dara looked intently at Xia You.

"Ever since I knew you were coming, I've been waiting for you! I've been looking forward to this moment, to have a chance to fight you!"

“Of course you can.” Xia You looked him straight in the eye. “That’s exactly why I came here.”

From Dara's tone, it was clear that he wasn't just being polite; he genuinely wanted to have a good fight with Xia You!

At this moment, Ashida also smiled at Dara and said, "If you want to fight this champion, you'd better go all out. Don't forget, he defeated Heinan in just two moves!"

"I'm not as useless as that show-off," Dara said confidently. "My Pokémon are very strong!"

"Me too! Me too!" Seeing Dara's high spirits, Ash quickly said, "I'm here to challenge the Battle Factory too, you can't just fight Xia You!"

"Of course I won't forget you." Hearing Ash's words, Dara turned to look at him and laughed heartily. "Ashida already told me that your fighting spirit and performance when you battled Agatha at the Viridian Gym was truly remarkable. I will fight you with all my might!"

Led by Dara, the group entered the Battle Factory.

However, although he was going to fight the two of them, Dara did not take them to the battlefield immediately, but instead went to a grassy area in the battle factory first.

Here, a young man was feeding a large number of Pokémon, and when he saw them approaching, he looked at Dara with a puzzled expression.

"Master, who are these people...?"

Dara smiled and introduced them to each other.

"This is my good-for-nothing apprentice, Sugio, who helps me out in this battle factory. Sugio, these are all here to challenge me, and the one in the middle is Xia You, who won three regional championships in a row."

"Eh? You're Mr. Xia You?" Upon hearing Xia You's name, the man named Sugio rushed over and, while carefully examining Xia You, excitedly said, "Ever since I heard from Mr. Ashida a few days ago that you would be here to take on the challenge, my master has been waiting for this day. Now, we've finally been looking forward to your arrival!"

From his words, one could indeed sense Dara's anticipation for this battle.

This made Xiao Zhi feel a little jealous. After all, they were both challengers, but Xia You was receiving so much attention, while he himself was just an extra.

But then he thought that it was precisely because he was Xia You that Dala valued him so much, and that Xiao Zhi felt that all of this seemed quite natural.

In short, it boils down to one sentence.

Xiao Zhi trusts Xia You!

After Sugio and Xia You greeted them, Dara pointed forward to the Pokémon and smiled at Xia You and Xiao Zhi, "These are all my Pokémon. Normally, I would let ordinary challengers choose their opponents here, but since it's you two, I've prepared special Pokémon for you!"

Ash asked cooperatively, "What is it?"

"Hehe, let me keep you in suspense for now," Dara chuckled mysteriously. "You'll find out when the battle begins!"

Although she really didn't want to expose him, since she already had the answer in her heart and the sense of surprise had faded, Xia You chuckled and said, "It's Articuno, isn't it?"

"What!?"

When Xia You revealed their biggest secret about the combat factory in one sentence, Dara and Sugio were both shocked!

They never imagined that Xia You knew they had Articuno here!

But... but how did he know?

Instinctively, Dara looked at Ashida, wanting to ask if he had revealed it, but then he thought that even Ashida didn't know the secret, so how could he have revealed it?

Not only them, but even Xiao Zhi and the others were extremely surprised after hearing Xia You's words.

Ash's eyes widened, and he quickly asked, "Xia You, are you saying that Articuno we just saw was Mr. Dara's Pokémon?"

Chapter 813 He also has an Articuno!?

Now that it's been exposed, there's no point in hiding it anymore.

“Yes, there is an Articuno here, but it's not entirely accurate to say it's mine; we're just good friends.” Dara readily admitted this, then asked, “How did you know?”

Xiao Zhi, being quick to speak, told him what had just happened in the forest.

“I see. I didn’t expect it to sneak out to play again…” Dara shook his head and smiled bitterly. “I originally wanted to give you a surprise and scare you when the war started, but it seems that idea has been shattered.”

Would it really be a shock?

After hearing Dara's words, Haruka couldn't help but look around.

To her right were Xiaozhi, Xiaosheng, and Xiaogang, and to her left was Xiayou.

It's safe to say that everyone present had seen the legendary Pokémon more than once.

Leaving aside Xia You, who owns Celebi and Deoxys, even Ash Ketchum often interacts with various legendary Pokémon and becomes friends with them, doesn't he?

Compared to ordinary trainers, these people have seen far too many legendary Pokémon. Even if they knew there was an Articuno here, they wouldn't necessarily be startled, except for being a little surprised at first.

But no matter what, the fact that there's an Articuno left here, regardless of whether it was caught by Dara, is already quite impressive!

After all, whether it's the Elite Four members, champions, gym leaders, or pioneers, legendary Pokémon are not something everyone can have; they are extremely rare!

It was only then, through Dara's explanation, that Xia You and his group learned why the Articuno had stayed there.

Actually, not long ago, one night when Dara was piloting his self-made plane through the night sky, he encountered an injured Articuno. After that, the two became friends with their Pokémon, and Articuno would often stop by.

This may sound like nothing special, something that happens every day and seems insignificant, but it is precisely these simple and unpretentious things that often lead to true friendship.

"I see..." Brock stroked his chin and nodded. Since he stopped being the gym leader, his way of thinking had become more and more like that of a Pokémon breeder, so he could understand this matter better. But just then, he suddenly thought of something and quickly asked, "So, if it wasn't caught, then that Articuno is still a wild Pokémon?"

Knowing what he was worried about, Sugio chimed in, "Don't worry, we've always kept Articuno's existence a strict secret and never revealed it to the challengers. Only today are we revealing this secret to you."

“I can vouch for that!” Upon hearing this, Ashida laughed and said to Xia You and the others, “If it weren’t for you guys, I probably wouldn’t even know this Articuno existed!”

Of course, he didn't express any dissatisfaction or malice in his statement; he was simply saying that Dara's security measures were very good.

"Don't worry," Xia You said on behalf of Xiao Zhi and the others, "We're all very tight-lipped and won't go around saying anything."

Dara laughed heartily: "Of course I trust you guys, after all, you're the champion."

After chatting for a while, the group, led by Dara, arrived at the battlefield of the battle factory.

The battlefield here is located inside a large, empty factory building. The factory covers a huge area and is filled with various steel bars and pipes. The lighting is not very bright, and there is a smell of steel. It seems to match the name of the factory quite well.

The Pokémon for this battle has just been confirmed; it's Articuno.

Since there were no other Pokémon comparable to Articuno, this match was a one-on-one contest, with the winner being the one who wins – a simple and straightforward format.

Before the battle began, both Xia You and Xiao Zhi used the teleporter here to adjust their lineups.

This was Xia You's first time battling a legendary Pokémon in a formal battle. In fact, not only him, but even Ash's expression turned very serious.

Before the battle began, Xia You and Xiao Zhi exchanged a glance.

Regarding the question of who should battle Articuno first, Xia You did not refuse this time, but instead signaled to Xiao Zhi that she wanted to go first.

Ash didn't say anything about it. It was just a matter of one going first and the other going last. They were all family, so it didn't matter who challenged first between him and Xia You. Besides, he also wanted to see which Pokémon Xia You would use to fight Articuno!

While Dara and Xia You were in the trainer command areas on either side, May, Ash, Max, Brock, and Ashida also arrived at the spectator area not far away. As for Dara's disciple named Sugio, he also went outside the arena and took on the role of referee.

Just then, as Dara whistled, a beautiful blue bird flew out from one of the passageways and began to circle continuously above the field.

In an instant, countless snowflakes fell from the large bird and rained down on the battlefield.

Needless to say, this big blue bird is the legendary Pokémon Articuno from the factory, and naturally the one they saw in the forest.

After flapping its wings a few times, Articuno slowly landed in the half of the field belonging to Dara. At this moment, May and Max finally got a clear look at Articuno's appearance.

"It really is beautiful..." Xiaosheng exclaimed, his eyes wide open, seemingly captivated by Articuno's charm.

Compared to him, May, a Pokémon Coordinator, was thinking about something else entirely, remarking, "It's really beautiful. If I used it to participate in a Pokémon Contest, it would definitely become the center of attention..."

It has to be said that the fact that May can still think about the Grand Contest shows that she has indeed become a qualified Coordinator.

However, after their initial reflections, their gazes all fell upon Xia You at the same time.

So, what Pokémon will Xia You use to fight this legendary Pokémon?

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Xia You did not release the Pokémon immediately. Instead, she took out three Great Balls from her waist pouch and placed them in her palm.

After doing all that, he turned his gaze to Dara, and with Dara looking puzzled, he smiled and said, "I have three Super Balls here. Mr. Dara, please choose your opponent."

"Oh?" Dara raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but laugh. "I've only ever heard of the defending champion letting the challenger choose their Pokémon, never the other way around. But since you've said that, then these three Great Balls must contain some really powerful Pokémon, right?"

"I suppose so." Xia You nodded slightly, neither confirming nor denying. "They're not the strongest, but they're all on par with your Articuno."

Upon hearing this, Dara's eyes narrowed sharply.

The existence of equality?

What does it mean?

Does it refer to strength, or something else?

Could it be that these three Ultra Balls in this man's hand are filled with legendary Pokémon?

He was startled by his own idea, thinking it was impossible, but then he thought, this is a man who has won three regional championships, who would believe him if he didn't have some trump card?

Could it be that……

In fact, not only Dara, but also Haruka, Kakeru, and Ashida, who were watching the battle, were all thinking the same thing as Dara and were startled by what Xia You said.

Only Ash and Brock exchanged a glance, both seeing a glimmer of understanding in each other.