The Trial Island's Trial

"The winner of this life-and-death duel is Qing Wu!" Coach Frostwolf loudly announced the result.

"Because contestant Qing Wu fought contestant Kosaburo, and contestant Qing Wu won, contestant Qing Wu automatically advances to the next round. The opponents of contestant Qing Wu and contestant Kosaburo will challenge each other to determine the advancing spot," Coach Frostwolf's resonant voice echoed throughout the venue.

Qing Wu glanced at Fatty's corpse, his eyes wide with disbelief, and let out a long sigh before turning away from the arena.

Qing Wu walked to a corner of the plaza.

Qing Wu checked Golbat's current status. After a thorough inspection, Qing Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

Aside from some stamina depletion, Golbat had no other injuries, which wouldn't affect the upcoming battles.

Qing Wu silently flicked a stamina-restoring Poffin into Golbat's mouth.

Golbat crunched its mouth and landed on the ground, beginning to recover its stamina.

As Qing Wu thought about leaving Trial Island, he decided to teach Golbat the move Rest.

The move Rest allows the user to rest on the ground and recover stamina.

It's an incredibly useful move, arguably a must-have recovery skill for Flying-type Pokémon.

Qing Wu had also seen a trainer who was exceptionally skilled at using Rest, Shio from Team Aqua.

Shio from Team Aqua had a very powerful Pelipper.

Most Flying-type Pokémon need to land on the ground to use Rest, but Shio's Pelipper could use it directly in the sky.

Qing Wu once asked Shio for the technique, and Shio simply replied, "Treat the sky as the ground."

To this day, Qing Wu still hadn't figured out how Shio managed to make Pelipper use Rest in the sky.

Kuraki watched coldly as Fatty turned into a desiccated corpse. Fatty's strength ranked in the top three of Kuraki's team, and his mastery of Death Makeup Technique was so profound that even Kuraki couldn't replicate it. Fatty, who had many hidden trump cards, was defeated by Qing Wu just like that.

"I said it long ago, Fatty had a chance to win against Kaminari, but fighting Qing Wu was pure suicide. However, Fatty made a significant contribution by testing Qing Wu's strength for us. As expected, it's unfathomable."

Kuraki cast a wary glance at Qing Wu. With his keen combat intuition, Kuraki noticed that Golbat's stamina hadn't been significantly depleted.

"Qing Wu is indeed the obstacle to my throne as the number one trial-taker. Damn it, Qing Wu, why did you have to come back?" Lan Ling glared fiercely at Lian Ji. Lian Ji's heart skipped a beat as she met Lan Ling's ferocious gaze, thinking, It's over.

The longer Lian Ji stayed by Lan Ling's side, the more she understood Lan Ling's temper. Lan Ling had definitely taken a grudge against her.

If Lan Ling didn't win first place, she would definitely take it out on Lian Ji. Lian Ji was now as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

In the subsequent battles, Qing Wu was unstoppable. In the top 32 match, Golbat defeated the aggressive Rattata with a single Air Slash.

In the top 16 match, Golbat defeated the Nidorino, covered in poisonous spines, with a single Aerial Ace.

During his battles, Qing Wu only aimed to defeat the opponent's Pokémon, not to kill them. Those who fought Qing Wu were deeply grateful.

Finally, the eight trial-takers who made it to the quarterfinals were Qing Wu, Kaminari, Ailian, Kuraki, Blondie next to Kuraki, Lan Ling, Lian Ji, and Elvis.

Four of the top eight came from Qing Wu's team. Qing Wu was worried about directly facing his own teammates. Unexpectedly, after another round of drawing lots, the matchups became:

Qing Wu vs. Lian Ji

Ailian vs. Blondie

Kaminari vs. Lan Ling

Elvis vs. Kuraki

These four matches were taking place simultaneously on four different battlefields.

Elvis was a white-haired youth with a full beard, tall and imposing, though his appearance was somewhat mature.

When Qing Wu first saw Elvis, he thought Elvis was nearly thirty years old. After introductions, he learned that Elvis was only seventeen.

Elvis was also a martial artist, specializing in Fighting-type Pokémon.

Elvis's main Pokémon was an evolved Machamp. As soon as Qing Wu met him, he gave Elvis an Advanced Antidote.

After all, in Team Rocket, which was surrounded by Poison-type Pokémon, having an Advanced Antidote was equivalent to giving a Pokémon a second life.

Qing Wu walked onto the battle stage and looked at Lian Ji, who had pink hair. Qing Wu said to her, "It was you, wasn't it?"

These three words instantly sent chills down Lian Ji's spine. Looking at Qing Wu's smiling eyes, she felt as if she were seeing the smile of a demon.

Lian Ji tightly gripped the Poké Ball in her hand, as if it were a life-saving straw.

Qing Wu saw Lian Ji's astonished expression and knew that this was the person who had teleported him to Ghost Mountain that day.

In his past life, she was a famous Psychic, a high-ranking executive in Team Rocket, a direct subordinate of Athena, and a Psychic Elite Four member of Team Rocket.

"I, I don't know what you're talking about," Lian Ji dared not meet Qing Wu's gaze, her palms sweating.

She wasn't the renowned top-tier Psychic she would become in her past life, like a little girl caught red-handed doing something wrong.

"Come out, Golbat!" The moment Qing Wu released Golbat, a storm erupted on the battle stage.

The powerful wind felt like blades, stinging every inch of the young girl's skin.

Qing Wu knew that Lian Ji could be recruited. With the title of a top-tier Psychic alone, Qing Wu wanted to recruit Lian Ji for his own use.

To be honest, Qing Wu had already taken most of the trial-takers in this batch who would become Elite Four members in the future under his wing.

This meant that if Qing Wu didn't meet an untimely end, he could very well become another overlord within Team Rocket.

At this moment, Golbat was furious. It had been searching for the culprit who had teleported it to Ghost Mountain.

If it weren't for being teleported to Ghost Mountain, I wouldn't have gotten covered in slime and had to bathe dozens of times.

Even though Qing Wu used the citrus scent of the Orange Fruit peel to mask the Golbat's stench.

The Golbat, with its sensitive nose, could still smell the faint odor. 😭, I'm not clean anymore.

Seeing their enemy, the Golbat's eyes turned red. It flapped its wings with all its might, the wind growing stronger and stronger.

If a wind detector were used, the Whirlwind generated by the Golbat's flapping would reach level 7.

"Come out, Drowzee!" Lian Ji, unable to withstand the gale, released her Pokémon.

The Drowzee appeared in a meditative pose, its entire body covered in a layer of blue Psychic Power, preventing it from being blown away by the strong wind.

The Drowzee is an evolved form of Drowzee and a new type of Psychic Pokémon developed by Team Rocket's base.

It possesses powerful Psychic Power, is entirely yellow, has a circle of white fur around its neck, and holds an item that enhances its Psychic Power in its hand – a rope with a ring tied to it.

The Drowzee has extremely strong hypnotic abilities. Just staring at the ring for three seconds will cause one to fall asleep.

Originally, the Drowzee was created by scientists in the Pokémon world using gene technology to treat insomnia.

Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of Team Rocket and became a main Psychic-type Pokémon, embarking on a path of crime.

"This Drowzee is very strong. It truly lives up to being Lian Ji's main Pokémon," Qing Wu scanned it, and the detailed data of the Drowzee appeared in his eyes.

Pokémon: Drowzee (Dark Green)
Gender: Female
Level: 35
Type: Psychic
Ability: Forewarn
Base Skills: Hypnosis, Stun Spore, Confusion, Headbutt, Poison Gas, Meditate, Mirage, Mind Games
Egg Moves: None
TM Moves: Light Screen, Protect, Calm Mind, Shadow Ball