I caught a Pokémon

Of course, he could have chosen not to do that, but traveling along the way, taking photos, and adding some memories for himself would be a convenient side activity.

He walked out of the city along the wide street.

However, just as Xia You was about to leave Hua Lan City, a man with green hair, carrying a backpack, and who looked to be about the same age as Xia You, suddenly stopped him.

"Hey you, wait a minute! Are you ready to accept my challenge?!"

Chapter 11 Beastmaster Xiaoming

Hearing the sound, Xia You turned around to look at him.

"Your challenge?"

“That’s right.” The man straightened his clothes and smiled confidently. “My name is Xiaoming, the powerful trainer known as the ‘Beastmaster’! I’ve never been defeated since I started training. How about it? Do you dare to fight me?”

Is Xiaoming a beast?

Xia You glanced at the pangolin at his feet and revealed a knowing look.

"I don't really care." As she spoke, Xia You looked around and asked, "But where are we going to fight? There are only streets around here, not any battlefields."

Thanks to the league system, popularization, and widespread adoption of Pokémon battles, just like the open-air basketball courts on the streets of my previous life, you can often see various simple battlegrounds in parks, schools, riverbanks, and shopping malls when you walk around the city.

Unfortunately, the area where Xia You is currently located is some distance away from any public place.

"Of course not here." Xiaoming pointed in the direction of Vermilion City. "I built a personal gym not far ahead in the wilderness. There's a battle arena there. Come with me."

Without giving Xia You a chance to object, he walked over first.

Shaking her head at the Pokémon beside her, Xia You chose to follow.

The two walked out of Cerulean City one after the other. After walking for another ten minutes or so, they saw a simple campsite with fences and tents not far away.

Outside the camp, there is a huge sign that reads in large letters: Pokémon League Unofficial Gym, currently on a 92-game winning streak.

Judging from the confident expression on Xiaoming's face and the words on the sign, it is not hard to see that he is indeed a very confident trainer.

And they really want to attract attention.

However, his face, combined with his slightly stocky body and thick, upturned eyebrows, gave him a somewhat simple-minded appearance after a while.

Seeing Xia You staring at the signboard, Xiao Ming said proudly, "My goal is 100 consecutive wins. Once I achieve that goal, I will start training everywhere and challenging various dojos to win badges."

"That sounds pretty impressive." Xia You shrugged and praised, but his expression didn't seem to show much admiration.

The two entered the camp and arrived at this so-called personal dojo.

Through the open curtain of the tent, Xia You could see several Pokémon undergoing independent training.

Butterfree and Beedrill flew and collided in the air, seemingly practicing their fighting skills, while on the ground, three Rattata were wearing power-ups, as if they were doing endurance training.

"How's it going? My gym is pretty good, isn't it?" Xiaoming said to Xia You as he entered the trainer command area. "Now, if I defeat you, I'll have a 93-game winning streak, and I'll be one step closer to my goal!"

"That's certainly something to celebrate." Xia You walked to the other side and said solemnly, "I can see that you are indeed a formidable opponent, but I have never lost to you since I started traveling!"

Just as he said, hasn't he been on a winning streak ever since he got Ralts?

Both are on winning streaks, so who's afraid of whom?

Beneath their feet lay a hard, compacted earthen field, a type of terrain that, while unremarkable, is the most common outdoor battlefield in the world.

"Is that so? It seems someone's record is destined to be broken today!" Xiaoming shrugged, looking helpless against Xia You. "Alright, let's get back to the main topic. The rules for this battle are simple: each person uses one Pokémon, and whoever stands until the end is the ultimate winner!"

Xia You nodded: "Okay, I understand."

Pulling a whip from behind his back, Xiao Ming raised it forward and shouted, "Pangolins, let them see our strength!"

As he spoke, the pangolin beside him slowly ran onto the field.

In appearance, this pangolin is not much different from pangolins on Earth except that it stands on two legs. However, it is generally more rounded and its skin is yellowish-brown, hard and dry with brick-shaped patterns, making it look like a wall brick.

Xia You took out her Pokédex and pointed it at it.

Pokémon Pokédex entry: "Sandshrew, a rat Pokémon, Ground type, dislikes water, lives by digging a deep burrow in dry places, and will curl up to protect itself if danger approaches."

In terms of type, both the Grass-type Bulbasaur and the Water-type Squirtle are effective against the Ground-type Sandshrew. Although he couldn't remember the specific details, Xia You remembered that this Sandshrew had defeated Ash and Team Rocket. Therefore, he dared not be careless. After thinking carefully for a moment, he waved his hand and sent out his ace Pokémon, Kirlia.

Looking at Kirlia, who resembled a young girl, Xiaoming exclaimed in surprise, "Your Pokémon is quite unique, but it doesn't matter. It'll all be the same no matter who it is. Let's go! Sandshrew! Use Rollout!"

The sand rat sprinted forward on all fours, and once it gained enough speed, its body bent into a ball, rolling towards Kirlia at an incredible speed.

"Kirlian, use Shadow Clone!"

Kirlia's body instantly split into dozens of phantoms, while Sandshrew, due to its excessive speed, was unable to stop until it rolled past its original route. Only then did it look back and realize that it had passed through nothing more than a false phantom.

"Kirlian, use psychic powers!"

Kirlia raised her hand, and a ball of light suddenly enveloped Sandshrew. In an instant, with the crack of a whip, Sandshrew shrank into a ball at lightning speed!

Using telekinesis, the pangolin was lifted high into the air and then slammed down. When the dust settled, it stretched its body, shook its head, and then got up from the ground, clearly not having suffered any serious injury.

"You've got some skills," Xia You couldn't help but praise. "You were able to use the 'Spherical' ability to defend against attacks in an instant. I must say, you've really raised this pangolin quite well."

Xiao Ming curled his lip: "Hmph, what's a little injury?! My pangolin has undergone rigorous training and has even overcome its fear of water!"

"Oh?" Xia You raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Ground-type Pokémon overcame the weakness to Water-type? That's really impressive!"

In fact, Xia You had already noticed something during their brief exchange.

Besides its outstanding abilities, this pangolin also communicates with Xiaoming very quickly and concisely.

Often, Xiaoming only needs to wave his whip once, without saying a word, and the dog can understand Xiaoming's intention through the sound of the whip, and then change its attack to defeat the opponent with unexpected moves.

These two factors have made them invincible in previous matches, achieving a winning streak of over ninety games.

However, now that they have encountered Xia You and Kirlia's combination, they have met a worthy opponent.

Xia You and Kirlia naturally have a great understanding of each other. Moreover, because of the red horn on its head, Kirlia can quickly sense Xia You's emotions. In addition, as a Psychic Pokémon, it can even read some of Xia You's thoughts to some extent.

Chapter 12 Temporary Request: Heading to Oak's Laboratory

"Kirullian, use Magic Leaf!"

Magical leaves radiating green light formed in Kirlia's hand and flew continuously toward Sandshrew.

Seeing this, Xiaoming flicked the whip in his hand, making a soft 'snap' sound. Upon hearing the sound, the pangolin darted its claws and burrowed into the ground at lightning speed, dodging the attack.

Having lost her target, Kirlia stood still, cautiously observing the situation beneath her feet.

After a short wait, a hole suddenly appeared beside it, and the sand rat emerged from the hole without warning, heading straight for Kirlia.

Fortunately, Kirlia was on guard and used Teleportation to dodge the attack the instant the ground split open.

"You think the attack is over?" Xiao Ming cracked his whip again and shouted, "Pangolin, use our ultimate move! Earth Shatter Attack!"

The pangolin, which had just missed its target, leaped high into the air, its body emitting a fierce, earthy-yellow light. Head down, it raised its right paw, spun around, and plummeted rapidly toward the ground.

The next second, accompanied by a huge cracking sound, the battlefield suddenly split open, centered on the pangolin's paw, and shattered into countless pieces!

These cracks, like abysses, spread and spread throughout the entire site with terrifying tremors.

Ground Crack, one of the Ground-type physical special moves. If you accidentally fall into the crack it creates, the pressure from the crack can cause any Pokémon to suffer full damage enough to be on the verge of death!

Xia You shouted, "Kirullian! Get out of the way!"

Kirlia used Teleport more than a dozen times in a row, disappearing and reappearing, disappearing again and reappearing again, constantly searching for a foothold, until she was exhausted and finally managed to get away from the epicenter without any danger, and hide in a safe corner.

"What!?"

This was completely unexpected for Xiaoming.

Although the accuracy of Earth Shatter is relatively low, it should be noted that, apart from flying Pokémon, he has used such a large-scale area attack many times before, and has never seen any Pokémon dodge this move.

Over there, seeing that the ground fissures had stopped and Kirulian was unharmed, Xia You couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he had the foresight not to send Bulbasaur to fight Squirtle, otherwise, given their speed, they would definitely have been rendered unable to fight by this Earth Shatter attack.

After using such a massive amount of energy, Sandshrew was also affected by the aftershocks and was briefly slowed down. Seeing this, Xia You decisively ordered, "Kirlia, use Magic Leaf!"

Kirlia raised her hands, and before Sandshrew could react, Magic Leaf swept towards it like a hurricane.

Grass-based ground treatments are incredibly effective!

The pangolin's body swayed back and forth, but it finally couldn't hold on any longer. Its eyes rolled back, and it collapsed to the ground.

"Sandshrew!!"

Xiao Ming rushed over and hugged the pangolin tightly. Even now, he still couldn't believe he had lost!

He had already achieved a 92-game winning streak, and he was only eight games away from leaving this place to challenge the dojo!

Damn it...

Seeing that she had won, Xia You clapped and said, "What a wonderful match! Your pangolin is really strong. It's the most formidable opponent I've encountered on my journey so far!"

Xiaoming silently put Sandshrew into his Poké Ball, but when he stood up again, the confidence on his face had vanished.

"I lost! It was really unexpected that you could defeat my Sandshrew." Xiaoming sighed heavily, but quickly rallied again. "Even so, I will not give up on my dream. Starting today, I will start from scratch and protect this gym again until I achieve a hundred-win streak. After that, I will find you again and challenge you once more!"

"I look forward to that day." Xia You extended her right hand and said sincerely, "It is because of a strong opponent like you that I am constantly motivated to improve and move forward!"

After parting ways with Xiaoming, Xia You originally intended to continue challenging the Pineapple Gym in Pineapple City, but a phone call from Professor Sakuragi summoned him back to Vermilion City.

At Sakuragi Research Institute, Dr. Sakuragi said apologetically, "I'm so sorry to have suddenly called you back from so far away. It's because there's something very important that I urgently need your help with."

"Doctor, please don't be so polite. Just say what you need," Xia You said nonchalantly. "Besides, I was just near Kuye City, not far away, so there's really no need to apologize."

At this moment, Ju Cai took a small box from the side and handed it to Xia You.

Xia You asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Professor Sakuragi explained, "This contains a prototype of a precision instrument. Because it is still under development and is classified as a scientific secret, it cannot be delivered by courier. Since we cannot leave the research institute due to work reasons, we can only find a trusted person to deliver it to Professor Oak's lab and give it to Professor Oak."

Xia You nodded solemnly.

"I understand. As Sakuragi's special research investigator, I will definitely deliver it to Professor Oak intact!"

……

Leaving Kuye City, Xia You traveled at a rapid pace, bypassing the famous Evergreen Forest, and arrived in Evergreen City at night.

Since it was getting late, he decided to rest at the Pokémon Center there for the night and head to Pallet Town the next day.

Before entering the Pokémon Center, he went to a nearby store to stock up on some canned food and a few Poké Balls, just in case.

While paying the bill, I received another call from Xiaochun.

"Hey, Xiaochun, what's up?"

On the other end of the phone, Xiaochun said, "Didn't you text me this morning saying you were going back to Vermilion City? I want to see Kirlia's new look. She must be even more beautiful now, right?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Xia You looked up at the clock on the wall. "But after I arrived at the research institute this morning, I left immediately and I'm already in Changqing City now."

"Changqing City?" Xiaochun asked in surprise. "How did you get there in such a short time?"

"I have something to do, so I have to go to Professor Oak's lab. Well, I have other things to do, and it's getting late, so you should get some rest."

Just as Xia You was about to walk out of the store after hanging up the phone, a shop assistant next to him suddenly called out to him.

"Excuse me, sir, please wait a moment."

Xia You looked at him suspiciously: "Is there something you need?"

The shop assistant took a package from the counter.

"Excuse me, I overheard your conversation. Are you on your way to Oak's lab in Pallet Town?"

Seeing Xia You nod, the shop assistant said happily, "Oh, that's great! Professor Oak ordered this package a few days ago, but we've been too busy to deliver it. Could you please take it with you on your way?"

Chapter 13: Setting a Trap for the Trainers of Pallet Town

Oak's Lab is located in Pallet Town, a beautiful and scenic place.

In the afternoon, when Xia You knocked on the door of Oak's lab, the kind old man with short gray hair who liked to chant Pokémon senryu from time to time revealed a warm and generous smile.

"Professor Oak, I apologize for disturbing you." Xia You introduced herself, "I am Xia You from Sakuragi Research Institute in Coral City. I have been entrusted by Professor Sakuragi to give you something."

Professor Oak nodded: "I already knew you were coming from Sakuragi, but I didn't expect you to get here from Vermilion City in just two days. That's really fast."

“I certainly wouldn’t dare delay Professor Sakuragi’s request.” Xia You first handed the box containing the prototype to Professor Oak, and then took out the package that the shop assistant in Evergreen City had given him from his backpack.

Looking at the package, Professor Oak exclaimed with delight, "You actually brought this package along too? It's a huge help! Tomorrow is the day a new batch of trainers sets off, and I really don't know what I would have done without the Poké Balls inside."