New Member... Two?

"Ekans! Come meet our new teammate!"

Heiduo did not neglect the old for the new, pulling his left hand back to bring Ekans and Gible close together.

The two Pokémon meeting for the first time looked at each other.

"Gible!"

"Hiss!"

Gible smiled with its eyes curved into crescents, while Ekans looked rather helpless. With its inherently lazy temperament, it hated interpersonal interactions the most.

Yet in front of Heiduo, Ekans still had to give him this face, sticking out its tongue to lick Gible's skin and temporarily noting down its scent.

Seeing this, Gible likewise stretched out its short, thick tongue to lick Ekans, thinking its previous action was a display of friendship.

Ekans helplessly coiled itself into a ball.

Heiduo saw the interaction between the two little ones and felt somewhat gratified. His Gible was different from that bad boy of Ash's that constantly gnawed on other people's heads, lacking those nasty habits.

"Gible, could you do me a favor?"

Since Gible's matter was settled, it was Elekid's turn next.

Gible raised its head, looking uncomprehending.

"We actually have another teammate, but for some reason, it might run away or hurt us. I hope you and Ekans can stop it together!" Heiduo wore a solemn expression, gesturing wildly as he asked for Gible's opinion.

Yet Gible clearly did not understand, its pair of eyes quite bewildered.

Heiduo felt helpless, his heart growing even more certain that Gible was a young Pokémon hatched not long ago.

This was simply not in the same league as Ekans's language comprehension ability.

He picked up the Poké Ball, subconsciously opened its status screen, and his pupils suddenly shrank violently.

A Friendship of 50!

Heiduo could hardly believe it. First came Gible with its increasing friendship, and now came Elekid with its decreasing friendship?

What on earth did Lorelei do?

His expression shifted, but in the end, he opened the Poké Ball anyway.

Death comes sooner or later either way; he would either release this ten-thousand-dollar bill or reform it with determination and love.

Bang!

A short Pokémon with yellow and black striped skin and a plug on top of its head jumped out.

"Bibi!"

The moment Elekid saw Heiduo, it immediately launched an attack against him.

Its hands swung and spun like spirals, dazzling sparks gathering on Elekid's forehead.

Ekans made a decisive judgment and used Glare.

Several electric currents surged over Elekid's body.

"Don't! Electric type Pokémon won't get paralyzed... Huh?"

Just as Heiduo wanted to tell Ekans not to waste its effort, he discovered Elekid kneeling on the ground in pain, its body unable to move.

How could this be!

Heiduo was shocked. He clearly remembered that Electric type Pokémon could not be paralyzed, just like Poison and Steel types couldn't be poisoned, Fire types couldn't be burned, and Ice types couldn't be frozen!

Why would this kind of situation happen?

Heiduo's expression was somewhat conflicted, but upon second thought, he figured it was quite normal for an electric type Pokémon to have a few electric sparks coming off its body; it wasn't necessarily a sign of paralysis... Yet the current situation didn't allow him to dwell on such things, as dealing with Elekid took priority.

"I say, I don't seem to have offended you, do I?"

Heiduo approached Elekid. His gloves were specially purchased premium items he bought to deal with Poison and Steel—wait, Poison and Electric type Pokémon.

They possessed functions such as insulation against electric currents and puncture resistance.

Elekid slowly stood up, the electric current winding around it disappearing. The look it gave Heiduo was filled with utter disdain and indifference.

Can negative statuses even heal themselves!

Heiduo was horrified. This Elekid's expression was identical to Squad Leader Lan's—despising the weak and respecting only those with strength.

Should he say it was worthy of being the Pokémon Lan gave him?

Having been born for only a few months, its behaviors and actions already closely resembled Squad Leader Lan.

No doubt Lan hadn't spared it from instruction and training.

No wonder its friendship had dropped. He had acquired it yesterday, but only let it out this morning. Most likely, in its eyes, Heiduo was a coward who lacked the courage to face it directly.

Heiduo smiled. Actually, dealing with this type of Pokémon was much simpler than dealing with those who had suffered trauma and had post-traumatic stress disorder.

"It seems you really look down on me?" Heiduo intended to deal with this fellow personally. Although it was a Pokémon, it was only level five, and relying on Heiduo's strength, it shouldn't be hard to handle.

Elekid said not a word, its cold attitude seeming to tacitly confirm what Heiduo had said.

Heiduo smiled faintly and said, "Alright! It's normal for you to look down on me, especially since, with your shallow vision, you have no idea who is standing in front of you."

Elekid was slightly stunned, and a surge of anger rushed to its head.

"You don't need to rush to be angry. Let's make a bet?" Heiduo extended a finger and crooked it at it. "I'll go one-on-one with you. If you win, go wherever you want, do whatever you like. If I win, from now on you roll with me. I tell you to go east, you can't go west. How about it?"

"Don't you guys help!" Heiduo glanced at Ekans and Gible.

"Bibi!"

The furious Elekid immediately agreed. It wasn't as clever as humans to weigh the pros and cons and ponder whether there was a trap.

Having been born just a little over two months ago, it didn't have such complicated thoughts.

Even the things Heiduo had explained earlier were only half-understood by it—out of ten holes, nine were open and the last one was blocked.

But this didn't stop it from knowing that the gesture Heiduo made meant a Taunt.

"Fine!"

Heiduo opened his personal attribute interface and, just to be safe, added some attributes to himself so his chances of winning would be higher.

Huh!

Heiduo blinked, suddenly discovering that his Attribute Points had actually turned into 43 points!

Yesterday he clearly only had 12 points left, and even adding the daily point, it should only be 13.

These extra 30 points...

Heiduo inadvertently saw that his trainer level had changed from none to Novice, and combined with the previous achievement rewards, he instantly understood where they came from.

Without thinking further, Heiduo directly increased his strength, agility, and constitution uniformly to the 10-point Extreme.

In an instant, his remaining attribute points became a neat 30 points.

"Bibi!"

Seeing Heiduo staring blankly in a daze, Elekid swung its arms with extreme dissatisfaction. Yellow current erupted from the top of its head, and it charged toward Heiduo at high speed.

Seeing this, Heiduo dodged out of the way well in advance.

He certainly couldn't dodge lightning, but he had been keeping an eye on Elekid's actions the entire time, so how could he possibly keep his mind entirely on something else?

He wasn't stupid.

Heiduo kicked out, landing squarely on Elekid's chest.

The speed of his kick was so fast that even Heiduo himself was surprised, let alone Elekid.

That poor little guy flew three meters on the spot and crashed to the ground.

Heiduo pressed his advantage relentlessly, rushing forward to grab the plug on Elekid's forehead.

Elekid threw a punch directly, its small fist wrapped in wisps of freezing chill.

It was Ice Punch!

Pulling back one hand to dodge its punch, before Elekid could use Fire Punch with its other hand, Heiduo pivoted his hips, put power into his waist and back, and slammed it into the ground just like Hulk swinging Loki!

"Bibi!"

Elekid let out a painful howl. The jarring vibration of its internal organs was not easy to stomach; otherwise, so many people wouldn't fall to the suplexing move.

Honestly, if judged by Earth's boxing matches, a heavyweight like Heiduo going up against a lightweight like Elekid would leave Elekid with absolutely no room to counterattack.

"Yield or not!"

Heiduo bent over, let go of its plug, and grabbed Elekid by the foot instead.

Hearing this, Elekid stubbornly endured without speaking, electricity sparking all over its body.

Heiduo decisively hoisted it up again and slammed it down once more.

Thud!

This time, even Shuangye in the distance could hear the muffled sound of Elekid's body slamming against the ground.

Her hand tightly gripped a Poké Ball, but then she let go.

"Yield... or... not!"

Heiduo let go of his hand and asked again. His arms trembled slightly, the tingling sensation continuing to climb onto his body. He didn't know if he had been shocked because parts of his skin outside his gloves touched Elekid, or if Elekid's ability had paralyzed him.

He forced his mouth not to shiver and slowly spat out harsh words.

Yet Elekid stubbornly bore that pain, keeping its mouth tightly shut.

Impressive. Heiduo had nothing to say, but he stopped slamming it down. If he did it again, both he and Elekid wouldn't be able to take it, and they'd likely end up being sent to the hospital by Shuangye.

Suddenly, he felt a bit of admiration for Elekid. This fellow had a tough backbone and real grit!

"You, ah! I really don't know what you're being so stubborn about." After resting for a while and feeling that his condition had improved much, Heiduo helped up the still-dazed Elekid, making it stand upright and proper in front of him.

Heiduo said slowly, "You should be able to see my strength. Even without using Pokémon, dealing with you is still a breeze. It's not because I'm strong, but because you're too weak..."

"However, I appreciate you! You're a Pokémon with grit and a firm stance!" Heiduo patted the dirt and grass clippings off Elekid's body and said earnestly, "I want to stand at the very top of this world, and I have the ability to get up there! Never mind whether I'm just boasting for a moment—

"Lend me a hand, and I will make you incomparably powerful!"

Heiduo directly gave Elekid ten bonus Attribute Points.

Since intimidation didn't work, he would use enticement!

Feeling the strength suddenly emerge within its body, Elekid was surprised. That power dispersed its pain and bestowed upon it an unprecedented sense of comfort.

It raised its head and looked at Heiduo in disbelief.

"How about it!"

Heiduo held out his hand to Elekid. Since this fellow carried the shadow of Lan, it was impossible for it not to yearn for power.

Elekid's thoughts were somewhat chaotic. Its not-fully-developed brain was insufficient to support it in understanding Heiduo's complex words.

Yet that did not prevent it from knowing that Heiduo was praising it, wanted it to follow him, and that Heiduo could provide it with power.

Hesitating slightly, Elekid placed its hand into Heiduo's palm.

In truth, besides Heiduo's place, Elekid had nowhere else to go.

As a Pokémon born in Team Rocket, it had never witnessed the wild, nor did it know what the tall surrounding buildings were.

It was merely somewhat panicked, somewhat confused, and felt a fear it was unwilling to admit.

Meanwhile, within Heiduo's field of vision, the Friendship column in Elekid's attribute panel returned to seventy.

He knew he had succeeded.

"Please take care of me!"

Heiduo smiled and bowed to Elekid, then called out to Ekans and Gible.

To the side, the spectating Ekans stealthily pressed a Rock type beneath it down into the ground.

Gible unassumingly dissipated the deep blue Infinity Energy it had been storing in its mouth and ran over happily.

The three littles gathered together, smiling at one another.

Heiduo discovered that although Elekid was very cold toward him, when facing Gible and Ekans, it appeared somewhat shy.

What was going on here?

Well... still, this was fine as well, saving him the time of mediating conflicts between them.

Elekid scratched its scalp with its hand, looking at Gible's overly familiar face at a loss.

It was completely unaware that it had actually walked past the gates of the ghost gate.

Not far away, Shuangye let out a light hum. It was good that Heiduo knew what was good for him; Elekid was a rather rare Pokémon on the protected list.

She had almost made a move just a moment ago.

"Stop, stop! Let's head to the Pokémon Center. The environment there should be nice, and I happen to need to register."

Heiduo stopped the Pokémon's Play Rough movements and recalled them with Poké Balls.

Wanting to participate in the Johto Silver Conference required registering in advance.