Scammer

Gold moved aside skeptically.

"Heiduo!" Zhan called to Heiduo, beckoning him forward.

The two took their positions on the battlefield.

"The Pokémon I'm sending out is this Chikorita!" Zhan declared aggressively, brimming with confidence.

Chikorita trotted forward, its short legs bouncing as it moved, looking adorably clumsy.

Without a word, Heiduo opened Gible's Poké Ball.

Pop!

The crowd let out soft cries of surprise.

They whispered among themselves, asking one another about the Pokémon's name.

"What Pokémon is that?" Zhan asked Heiduo curiously. Rather than guessing himself, it was faster to ask its owner directly.

"Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon. Ground type and Dragon type. It mainly lives in burrows in the tropical regions of Sinnoh," Heiduo said.

Although Heiduo could recite every detail about Gible without missing a word, there was no need to tell Zhan everything. A simple introduction was enough.

"Eh! Dragon type? It must be strong, right?"

As a huge fan of Dragon Master Lance, Zhan immediately became interested when he heard that Gible was Dragon type.

"You'll find out whether it's strong soon enough!" Heiduo did not directly answer Zhan's question.

A Pokémon's strength did not depend on its type, but on whether its trainer could bring out its full potential.

Just look at those Pokémon that had shone so brilliantly in the world of Pokémon Adventures!

In Pokémon Adventures, Giovanni's Beedrill had fought Lance's Dragon Legion to a standstill, while his Aggron had crushed Deoxys!

Gold had used a newly hatched Togepi to defeat Tyranitar, and used Togekiss to confront Arceus head-on!

Old Man Gu Liu had captured Ho-Oh in a one-on-one battle with nothing but a Delibird!

Pseudo-Legendaries were certainly powerful, but other Pokémon could not be overlooked.

Take Remoraid, a Pokémon that was barely mentioned in the Johto region.

Its Evolution, Octillery, possessed an extremely terrifying Ability: Moody.

Its effect was to randomly raise one stat stage by two levels while randomly lowering another stat stage by one.

Combined with Octillery's impressively deep movepool, even though its base stats were not ideal, it had become one of the Pokémon banned from online battles.

Of course, Moody was the main reason it had been banned.

Zhan's lips curved into a smile. "Fine! Let's flip a coin!"

The heads or tails result would determine who went first.

"I choose heads!" Zhan said first.

Heiduo spread his hands, indicating that he had no objection.

The coin was tossed high into the air, spinning wildly.

Smack!

Zhan caught it on the back of his hand and covered it with his other hand.

"Tails!"

He suddenly uncovered it and found that the side with the number was facing up.

Heiduo went first.

"Then I won't hold back. Go, Dig!"

Heiduo pointed at the ground. Under Zhan's astonished gaze, Gible clawed open the smooth earth and burrowed underground like a mole.

This move was one of Gible's core moves. Though Garchomp could swim and fly in the anime, land was forever more familiar and better suited to it than either of those.

Zhan hurriedly reminded Chikorita, "Watch the ground beneath you! It could jump out from under you or behind you at any moment!"

Having received the order, Chikorita hurriedly lowered its head.

It looked somewhat uneasy.

But after waiting for a long time without seeing Gible emerge, it began to panic.

Seeing this, Zhan said, "If it won't come out, force it out! Chikorita, use Growl on the hole it dug! Keep Growling until it comes out!"

Now that it had a plan, Chikorita swung its little legs and hopped toward the hole Gible had just dug.

"Now!"

Heiduo shouted.

Boom!

The ground in front of Chikorita suddenly caved in before shattering apart, pelting Chikorita's face with chunks of rock.

In its rush to reach that burrow, Chikorita had pushed its speed to the limit. When Gible suddenly burst out, it could not stop in time.

Chirp!

Gible slammed headfirst into Chikorita's body, sending it flying into the air.

"Don't panic! Use Razor Leaf!"

Zhan remained calm. Dig was a Ground type move, so it should not have hurt the Grass type Chikorita much.

Chikorita reacted in midair. The tender green leaf atop its head whirled like a helicopter rotor.

Several sharp, crescent-shaped leaves shot toward Gible at high speed.

"Dragon Rage!"

Blue-green energy poured from Gible's wide-open mouth.

Razor Leaf and Dragon Rage collided.

Boom!

With a muffled blast, the two attacks collided and kicked up a cloud of dust, while the resulting force flung Chikorita away.

"Dig back down while you have the chance!"

Taking advantage of Chikorita being unable to see clearly, Heiduo had Gible burrow underground again and wait for an opportunity.

As the dust settled, Chikorita lost sight of its target once more.

But this time, Chikorita did not lose its head. It immediately ran toward the hole Gible had dug, letting out a piercing Growl.

Of course, it did not run at full speed this time. It had left itself room to react.

"You know, a move like Dig is like a lottery. You never know where your enemy will come out, or when."

Heiduo suddenly smiled and snapped his fingers.

Zhan's expression changed. "Chikorita! Watch your back!"

Behind Chikorita, a patch of soil rose slightly.

Bang!

Gible burst through the ground, blue-green energy wrapped around its body and its eyes glowing red.

"Outrage."

Heiduo spoke slowly. He had told Gible to use Outrage through hand signals, and he had originally thought Gible would not understand.

Who would have thought it had understood?

Outrage was both a move and a state.

When a Pokémon used Outrage, it entered the Outrage State and attacked wildly for two to three turns. After Thrashing about, it would become confused.

In Pokémon fanfiction, protagonists always trained their Pokémon to resist Outrage's negative effects.

Heiduo had considered it too, wondering whether Outrage would no longer have negative effects once it reached level ten.

For now, there was no way to know.

On the battlefield.

Gible pounced onto Chikorita, using its most terrifying weapon at the moment—those sharp fangs—to tear Chikorita until it was covered in wounds.

"Chirp!!!"

Chikorita cried out in pain.

"Chikorita! Use Poison Powder! Chikorita!"

Zhan moved closer, trying to get Chikorita to use Poison Powder.

But Chikorita was completely suppressed at the moment and could barely move.

That was perfectly normal.

Although Gible was two levels lower, the boost from its nine extra Attribute Points allowed it to ignore the level gap and suppress Chikorita completely.

Seeing the wounds multiplying across Chikorita's body, Heiduo thought he should not go too far. He threw Gible's Poké Ball and recalled it.

He had no confidence that he could wake Gible with words at its current Friendship and skill level. That would have been far too unrealistic.

The safest option was to recall it into its ball. After some time, Gible would naturally wake up.

Besides, Chikorita and Zhan had only just met him. He could not bully them too badly. According to Gold, Zhan even had a Donphan!

Zhan watched helplessly as Heiduo recalled Gible, then rushed over and picked Chikorita up.

"Chirp..."

Chikorita glanced at Zhan apologetically. Covered in wounds, it looked especially pitiful.

"No! You did great!"

Ignoring the dirt on Chikorita's body, Zhan held it in his arms and replied as though he understood what Chikorita had said.

Watching from the side, Heiduo stepped forward. "That's right. You aren't weak, and the gap between you and Gible isn't that great. You lost because the moves you can use are too limited. If you knew Absorb, you could sense Gible's position through the ground. If you knew Earthquake, Gible underground would take double damage.

"In short, you still have a long way to go. Today is only the beginning."

If not for the dejected look in Chikorita's eyes, Heiduo would not have wanted to say such things.

Every Pokémon had room to grow. The saying that one could see a child's future at three did not apply to them.

"Chirp..." Chikorita felt a little better after hearing that.

It had wanted to win this battle and make its newly met trainer proud, but it had never expected...

Zhan placed it on the ground.

At first glance, Chikorita looked miserable, but in truth, it had not suffered much damage.

After resting for this short while, it had already recovered.

Having said all he needed to say, Heiduo turned and left. The rest had nothing to do with him. While it was still early, he wanted to find out how to get to Violet City.

[ Ding! Gible leveled up! Current level: 8! ]

[ Ding! Gible leveled up! Current level: 9! ]

It had gained two levels in a row again!

And Gible should have recovered by now!

Heiduo checked his Attribute Points and found that Zhan had contributed five points to him.

So he gave all of them to Gible.

Whoever earned them got them.

He entered the Pokémon Center and handed Gible over to Chansey.

He did not know whether Chikorita had managed to use Poison Powder just now. If Gible had inhaled it, the Poisoned status would continuously drain its stamina until it died.

To be safe, Heiduo decided to have Joy take a look. He was not in a hurry anyway.

He turned his head and, sure enough, noticed several spectators had followed him inside. Whatever they were here for, it was definitely related to Gible.

Sure enough, a short, scruffy middle-aged man with a beard approached him, carrying a choking smell of smoke.

"Little brother, can we talk somewhere private?"

He wore a smile, trying his best to appear friendly.

"No. Get lost!"

Heiduo knew he should not judge a person by appearances, but this man was far too sleazy! Just looking at him made goosebumps rise all over his body.

The middle-aged man's smile stiffened, but he still forced it to remain. "Don't be so absolute! I've got something good here!"

Something good? Could it be some peerless cultivation manual everyone got for free?

Heiduo glanced at him. Before he could say anything to refuse, Gold's voice came from beside him.

"Mister, stop bringing out your scammer accomplices. Can't scam the locals, so you scam outsiders instead?"