Pokémon: Start with an Admiral Crab!

"Currently, it's four badges."

Wang Yao opened his open shirt, revealing the four badges on the shoulder bag strap.

“…There are so many.”

Sakura frowned.

Faced with a challenger with four badges, Sakura instinctively wanted to surrender.

The Pokémon in the gym were all trained as performance partners and basically had no combat power.

In the past, we would take advantage of the pool venue to play against those kids who had just debuted, but we would sometimes lose.

But due to the rules of the gym owner, Sakura did not give up directly.

"Then let's set the rules of the game as a one-on-one duel!"

…But considering that Pokémon needed to be treated after being injured, she modified the original two-on-two challenge rules.

"no problem."

Wang Yao knew the style of Hualan Gym and did not force the other party to fight seriously.

There wasn't even a referee arranged. Both sides stood on either side of the pool, and Sakura was the first to send out her Pokémon.

"It's decided to be you - Goldfish King!"

"Ah woo~"

It's obviously a fish, but it sounds like a husky...

"It's actually the Goldfish King... Then let's use water type against water type!"

Wang Yao thought that the only things the other party could show off were the little sea lion and the horned goldfish.

If it can evolve into a goldfish king, its strength should not be too bad.

"Go ahead, you coward!"

"Do your best in the first gym match~"

This was the first time that Wang Yao allowed Coward to participate in a gym battle.

If we only talk about level, both sides should be about the same.

The Pokémon of both sides have been decided, and according to the rules, Sakura will take the first attack.

"Goldfish King, use Horn Drill Attack!"

The horn on the goldfish king's head spins at high speed, and its tail accumulates power in the water.

After accelerating, he leaped up and slammed into the armored warrior on the shore.

"Avoid and use a head-on attack!"

Leap out of the water and hit the enemy on the shore... This kind of straight attack is difficult to hit the opponent on the shore.

Instead, it is easy to expose your weaknesses...

The armored warrior turned his body slightly, then lowered his head and slammed into the goldfish king's fragile belly.

"Ugh——!"

The goldfish king was knocked sideways and hit the wall at the edge of the pool, then slid back into the water.

"Ah--Goldfish King! Are you okay?"

Sakura called out to the goldfish king in the water anxiously.

"Ah wu..."

The king goldfish struggled to surface, obviously having suffered considerable damage.

"Still able to fight, seems to be stronger than expected."

Because of the impression left by the cartoons in his childhood... Wang Yao thought that the Pokémon in the Hualan Gym were all just pretty-looking but useless vases.

"Then... Missile Needle!"

Wang Yao felt that the opponent's level was not bad...he just lacked fighting skills.

"Get in the water!"

Sakura quickly ordered.

Biu! Biu! Biu!

Dozens of missile needles shot into the water at the same time, sweeping towards the goldfish king in the water.

Due to the resistance of water, most of the missile needles were blocked one or two meters below the water surface, and only a small part could touch the scales of the goldfish king.

It caused a minor serious damage to it.

"Fight back with water waves!"

Although Sakura lacked combat awareness, she knew that letting Kingfisher fight against the opponent's unfamiliar armored Pokémon in close combat would be a huge disadvantage, so she chose to change her tactics in time.

"Ugh——!"

A water ball condensed in the mouth of the goldfish king. After dodging the attack of the missile needle, it found the right opportunity to float to the surface and blasted a wave of water towards the armored warrior.

"We dive in too! Use the current to blast our way closer to the enemy!"

There are two ways to use the Armored Warrior's Water Stream Breaking move... One is to condense a highly compressed water sword on the front claws like a shell blade and engage in close combat with the enemy.

Another way to use it is to wrap yourself in water energy and ram into the opponent to attack, like an enhanced version of a water jet.

Jumping into the water to avoid the oncoming water waves, the armored warrior mobilized the surrounding water-attribute energy to wrap himself, pushing out a large amount of water backwards like a jet engine.

“——Be careful!”

Sakura's vision was obscured by the churning water, but she knew that the other party was approaching the Goldfish King quickly.

With an instant of accelerated movement, dozens of meters of pool space were left behind as if teleporting. The armored warrior spread out his sharp forelimbs and was about to fiercely "hug" the goldfish king in front of him!

Swish-!

The two claws crossed each other, and the sharp water flow cut the scales of the goldfish king. The strong impact force knocked it directly out of the pool.

"Goldfish King!"

Sakura quickly ran forward and hugged the unconscious Goldfish King with heartache.

"Thank you for your hard work, Goldfish King..."

After putting the Goldfish King back into the Poké Ball, Sakura walked up to Wang Yao.

"What a rude man... Now I have to send King Goldfish to the Pokémon Center for treatment again."

Sakura took out a blue teardrop-shaped badge from her bag and handed it to Wang Yao, saying with some resentment.

"It's inevitable that Pokémon will get hurt during battles... Thank you!"

Wang Yao also pinned the blue badge on the strap of his shoulder bag.

In less than two months, all five badges were collected. His efficiency was actually not slow at all.

"——The reason why we lost so miserably is because you, Sakura sister, were always busy performing water ballet and never trained the goldfish kings in fighting techniques!"

A childish voice came from the back of the stands.

"Xiaoxia, you didn't just get up, did you?"

Sakura did not refute her younger sister's words, but instead focused on the other person's schedule.

"...No, no! I got up early to take care of Hai Xingxing!"

Xiaoxia blushed. Although she did oversleep today, she had not just woken up. She had already fed Hai Xingxing in front of the stands.

"Hey! Uncle over there, this badge doesn't count!"

"——There are two challenges at the Cerulean Gym!"

Xiaoxia shouted at Wang Yao stubbornly.

"Xiaoxia, don't be so willful..."

Sakura frowned and then apologized to Wang Yao.

"I'm so sorry... My sister is always a little bit naughty."

"It's okay. I think your sister has an interesting personality."

In the cartoons that Wang Yao watched... the heroine he was most familiar with was Xiaoxia. How could he not know her strong personality?

"Little girl - Uncle, I am very strong~"

"Even if we play a second game, there's no point."

Wang Yao teased with interest to Xiaoxia, who had not yet made her debut.

"Yeah, Misty! Look, even my Kingfish was easily defeated. There are no more powerful Pokémon in the gym that can appear."

Sister Sakura was also helpless about this, and she felt there was no point in fighting any further.

"No way to fight, no way to fight - we have to fight! These are the rules of the gym competition!"

"If you don't want to fight, Sakura-sister, then let me do it!"

Xiaoxia raised her precious Poké Ball, pointed it at Wang Yao and shouted loudly.

"Are you that powerful? Dare you challenge me to a Pokémon battle?"

Even though she knew she would lose, Xiaoxia didn't want to give away the important blue badge so easily.

"I am Moses Roy... little girl, I accept your challenge!"

Wang Yao reached out and pulled back the armored warrior who was still paddling leisurely in the pool.

Then he took a few steps and stood in the pavilion owner's position where Sakura had just been.

"Then my second one... go ahead - Giant Claw Crab!"

"Xiaoxia, stop making trouble..."

Sakura tried to hold Xiaoxia back helplessly.

"... Stop looking down on me!"

Xiaoxia angrily avoided Sister Sakura and stood at the other end of the venue.

"Go! Starfish!"

A red light flashed, and Hai Xingxing stood on the floating platform in the middle of the pool with her feet.

"just--!"

Starfish, who had just finished his meal, called out energetically.