Celadon City Gym

[You have arrived in this place for the first time. Catch an initial Pokémon and become a Trainer!]

Takuya's expression turned strange. Did the Salamence he had gotten from the starter gift pack not count as an initial Pokémon?

Then again, Salamence was already an Elite Rank Pokémon. It really had nothing to do with the words "initial Pokémon."

There was a time limit, huh? Then he would catch one now.

Takuya noticed the countdown after the mission. He immediately instructed Salamence to fly slowly and low over the forest, seeing whether they could run into a Pokémon.

Whether Takuya was simply unlucky or Salamence's aura had scared off the Pokémon in the woods, he did not know. In any case, after flying around once, they had not spotted a single Pokémon. Of course, the poor lighting also played a part; sometimes, they could not see clearly in the darker areas.

"Go look over there."

Takuya casually pointed in a direction. If they flew farther away, to somewhere Salamence's roars could not be heard, they should be able to find Pokémon. After all, Pokémon were still quite common.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, Takuya saw a group of Pokémon gathered beneath a cliff. He could not make out what kind they were, but he only needed to catch one to complete the mission. Any Pokémon would do.

He patted Salamence on the head and told it to land beneath the cliff. He also warned it to keep an eye on the group—if they tried to flee, it had better leave at least one behind.

Naturally, this was no difficult task for Salamence.

Salamence looked quite large, but anyone who thought it was slow would be terribly mistaken. Its speed was not slow even among Elite Rank