Agatha followed Roy to an open space on the outskirts of Ever Grande City. She didn't understand why Roy insisted on coming here.
Palossand was released by Roy. Upon seeing Roy, Palossand shook the little golden shovel on his head and revealed a smile through his city gate-like mouth. He had helped Roy secure two consecutive victories today, proving that he was no pushover.
But why did Roy call him out now?
It's not even lunchtime yet!
Just as Palossand was still agonizing over the issue of food, a large red tongue stretched out in front of him.
Instantly, Palossand felt a dangerous aura, a kind of suppression from a higher-level Pokémon to a lower-level Pokémon.
The Palossand looked to the side with its two small blue eyes and saw a big, fat purple man floating in the air, Lick.
After licking it, Gengar spat out a mouthful of sand, yelling, "What rubbish! It's not good to lick at all!"
The Agatha next to Gengar startled Palossand, who had never seen Agatha and Gengar before, and instinctively leaned closer to Roy.
A Palossand, several times taller than Roy, is now leaning against Roy, begging for Roy protection—a rather endearing contrast.
Roy knew that Gengar's level was too high, which had frightened Palossand. He patted the side of Palossand's secondary castle.
"Palossand, don't get excited. This is my teacher, and that big purple fat guy is my teacher's Pokémon."
After Roy comforted him, Palossand finally lowered his guard.
"Ghost!"
Gengar pouted after spitting out the sand.
Who are you calling a big, fat purple guy?! He's clearly very slim, okay?
To prove he was telling the truth, Gengar took a deep breath, tucking in his round belly and cheeks, looking utterly comical without realizing it.
"You're thin, you're thin, okay?"
"Ghost." (That's more like it)
Upon hearing Roy's words, Gengar reverted to its original form and came to Roy's side to ask for the Pokéblock, as it had already finished the ones Roy had made for it earlier.
Seeing her Gengar acting so pathetic, actually asking Roy for Pokéblock, Agatha couldn't help but rub her forehead in exasperation.
It feels like she's been abusing Gengar while she was away from Roy, not feeding or watering Gengar, leaving the child starving like this.
In reality, she never skimps on food for Gengar; she selects only the best breeding materials and makes custom-made Pokéblock...
Agatha couldn't bear to look at her Gengar anymore, and instead fixed her gaze on the enormous creature beside Roy. She was quite curious, especially after learning that Roy had transformed this big guy into a giant RV.
Agatha walked around inside the RV and found that the space was quite large.
The idea is good. Besides, I'm often away from home, so should I try to tame one of these Palossand?
In the end, Agatha gave up on her idea, mainly because she didn't have the energy to raise a Palossand.
Moreover, given her status, she would have someone arrange her accommodations wherever she went, and the standards would always be top-notch. There's no need for her to specially prepare a plate of dumplings just for a plate of vinegar.
After inspecting Roy's two newly caught Pokémon, Agatha nodded in satisfaction. Roy had made rapid progress recently.
After completing the Advanced Division challenge at the Rustboro City Dome Arena, she can take Roy back to the Kanto Region to meet those two people.
"You go back first, I have something to do."
Seeing that Roy had six Pokémon that could participate in the competition, Agatha was relieved. She still had to meet with the organizers of the Edge Cup today.
Gengar originally wanted to stay in Roy's shadow, but Agatha forcibly dragged it back.
Roy's current aura could easily cause her Gengar to lose its mind, just like before, so she doesn't plan to have Gengar protect Roy closely for the time being.
Besides, she's there.
She didn't believe anyone would dare to harm her apprentice.
As he left, Gengar kept turning back to look at Roy, a strange aura about him that made him linger—an experience he had never had before in his ghostly life.
After Agatha left, Roy originally intended to return to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow's match.
However, the Poké Ball containing the Primeape at his waist had been bouncing since earlier, so Roy released the Primeape.
Primeape is acting strangely today. The Black Aura from his body seems to be getting thicker and thicker, and it looks more like a "death aura".
Roy believes this is related to Primeape absorbing too many Ghost type abilities.
He was also aware of Primeape's worries.
Last month, when his Ghost Power reached level 7, he took his Primeape to the back mountain of the Rustboro Academy for another test.
No matter how much Ghost Power Roy poured into Primeape, it was all absorbed by the Black Aura on Primeape's body.
A flash of red light
After being released, Primeape tugged at Roy's clothes, wanting to try again.
"Very popular."
Having spent so much time together, Roy knew what Primeape wanted to do without Misdreavus translating.
"You want to try again, but we..."
Roy had just started to dissuade him, but faced with Primeape's resolute gaze, he swallowed back what he was about to say and finally only managed to utter a single "okay."
However, this current position doesn't seem to be ideal.
Roy then led Primeape to an abandoned battleground on the outskirts of Ever Grande City. The place was sparsely populated and overgrown with weeds, and it looked like it hadn't been used for a long time. It was a good place to train Rage Fist.
Roy decided not to inject Ghost Power into Primeape immediately. Based on previous experience, he would wait until the Ghost-type energy in Primeape's body was completely depleted before helping it.
Once Primeape was ready, its hands were imbued with Ghostly Purple energy of the Ghost type, and it unleashed its Rage Fist, a move it had practiced countless times.
The first ten Rage Fist were not difficult for Primeape; he could easily throw ten punches.
As for the eight punches that followed, Primeape was almost suppressing its anger as it used the Rage Fist. These eight punches were thrown one by one under Primeape's restraint, making a continuous "whoosh" sound.
By the time he unleashed his eighteenth Rage Fist, Primeape was drenched in sweat, but he was used to it by now.
Roy watched nervously from the sidelines, knowing that the real challenge lay in getting Primeape to unleash its nineteenth Rage Fist without losing its temper.
This punch was more difficult than all of Primeape's previous eighteen punches combined.