Pokémon: Start with an Admiral Crab!

"Xiao Gang, a new apprentice has arrived at the gym while you were away."

"He is a few years older than Hiroki and the others, but he is also very diligent in his training... He currently lives in the rocky mountains on the outskirts of the city with his Pokémon."

During dinner, Wu Neng and Xiao Gang mentioned a new apprentice who joined the gym this month.

Their Deep Gray Gym is no longer a third-rate gym. After the publicity of the Fossil Pterosaur and the explosive development of the local tourism industry... the threshold for becoming an apprentice in the gym has been raised a lot.

People like Guangshu and Ishiya...if they hadn't arrived at the right time and hadn't been guaranteed by Wang Yao and Pipi Cultural Center, they might not have been able to stay.

Therefore, Wu Neng was able to make the decision to keep the other party, which must mean he has some extraordinary qualities.

"Living in the mountains?"

Xiao Gang asked with some confusion.

"Why not give him a place to stay in the gym?"

Deep Gray City was originally a city built in the rocks and mountains, especially the west and north sides, which were almost completely surrounded by rocks and mountains.

But Xiaogang remembered that there were still a lot of empty rooms in the gym... Originally, these rooms were planned to be used to store Pokémon training equipment, but he had never had the money to buy them.

People like Hiroki and Ishiya now live in the gym. Their daily jobs are to receive trainers who come to challenge them, as well as to train and take care of the Pokémon cultivated in the gym.

As the Dark Gray Gym's fame grew, trainers came to challenge it almost every other day.

Therefore, Guangshu and his friends sometimes come to fight as apprentices to help Xiaogang screen out those obviously unqualified challengers in advance.

In addition, the Deep Gray Gym is right next to Xiaogang's home, so Guangshu and Shi also eat with Xiaogang's younger brothers and sisters.

"I have tried to persuade him before, but he seems to be a hardworking trainer..."

"Perhaps living in the wild would be more in line with his state of mind?"

"However, he was still at the gym during the day, but there were no challengers today, so he was out doing special training when you came back."

Wu Neng was very satisfied with this new apprentice.

He has a mature personality and a fighting spirit when battling - he's also very motivated when he's with Pokémon!

Moreover, the strength of its partner Pokémon has reached a certain threshold.

"Really? What's his name... I guess I need to talk to him alone tomorrow."

Xiaogang finally had time to sit down, got himself two big chicken legs, and asked while eating.

"His name...is..."

Wu Neng poured himself a bowl of steaming hot and sour tomato soup and drank it in big gulps.

……

"Ayao - I didn't expect that the person who went out to practice with the gym master was really you!"

Sai Zang looked at Wang Yao in front of him with surprise.

The former gym leader of Wu Neng said that Xiao Gang and a trainer named A Yao went to follow Master Xiba to practice...

He thought that this A Yao just had a similar name. After all, the Four Heavenly Kings were all super stars in the eyes of trainers. It was rare for ordinary people to see them, let alone practice with Master Sheba.

It was more than two months ago that I parted ways with Wang Yao.

Because of Wang Yao's inspirational words, Saizo gave up the long and arduous training and chose to grow directly by challenging the gym!

After leaving the Diglett Forest, I first challenged the nearest Dead Leaf Gym.

Because of his strong personal strength and the fact that he was a new challenger... Saizo easily won the first badge with the help of Gala Gala!

After that... the powerful Saizo led Galagala to a crushing defeat in Jinhuang City.

Unwilling to admit defeat, he trained in the wild for another half a month, and then ran to the neighboring Yuhong City to challenge the gym, but due to the attribute restraint, he was defeated by Lijia again...

But this time he received a high evaluation from the other party and successfully obtained his second badge.

After that, he continued to practice hard and trained in the wild for a full month...

Although I was lost for half a month...

In the end, he relied on the evolved toucan to carry him out of the forest - but Saizou who appeared in Tokiwa City... was brought offline by Sakaki.

At this time, Boss Sakaki hadn't gotten his [Invincible Mewtwo] yet, so he hadn't gotten bored with ordinary Pokémon battles yet...

There is no threshold for the number of badges, and corresponding Pokémon battles will still be arranged according to challengers of different levels.

But the overall strength is still relatively high. Considering Saizo's strength, he obviously chose the wrong opponent.

It was supposed to be a three-on-three fight, but a single Tyrannosaurus Rex had already beaten him to the point of throwing away his armor and weapons...

In addition to the gala gala and hitting the opponent with two sticks...

Dudu and the newly evolved Toucan were even killed instantly by the opponent's rock collapse as soon as they appeared.

Saizo, who was beaten to the point of being somewhat confused about his life, heard that there was a very good cultural center in Shenhui City, so he planned to come here to relax...

At first he thought Pipi was some powerful Pokémon... but when he went in to take a look, he found out that this was just an amusement park for children.

Feeling bored, he continued to challenge the gym...

But when Saizo arrived in front of this ordinary rock-style gym, he saw promotional slogans and posters posted outside the gym.

[The strongest fossil Pokémon appears in the Dark Gray Gym! ]

[Inheritor of the will of rock! ]

[The ferocious ancient beast - the fossil pterosaur! ]

[A true man's test! Do you dare to come!? ]

Such a domineering slogan is matched with the ferocious shape of the fossil pterosaur with its fangs and claws bared on the poster...

And that dark figure standing on the giant Onix's head... This scene instantly resonated with Saizo's desire to become stronger!

So he excitedly entered the gym and took on the challenge as a trainer.

Although there was an assessment for gym apprentices, Saizo's Garagara easily defeated Hiroki's Beedrill and Ishiya's Mothra with just one trick of using the Bone Boomerang!

Then, he was crushed again by Wu Neng's trump card Rhydon and the giant Onix...

However, during the battle, the tactics, bonds, and the character of refusing to admit defeat until the very last moment displayed by Saizo and Garagara... made Takenoko very satisfied.

After asking the other party about his ambitions, Wu Neng heard this answer...

"I don't really have any ambitions. In fact, I've even wanted to give up more than once in the past two months, but Galagala is very determined..."

Wu Neng discovered that this boy, who was full of fighting spirit and passion during battles, actually lacked confidence in his heart.

This is also normal. After all, Wang Yao’s chicken soup can only work for a while...

When he was hung up and beaten by Nancy in Jinhuang City, he probably had forgotten what chicken soup tasted like.

On the other hand, Saizo himself gained a lot of insights from the series of disastrous defeats, and also saw himself clearly.

"Every time I failed a gym challenge, Gara Gara would hit me on the head with a bone stick to motivate me to fight."

"If I were to say my ambition is - one day, I will make it grow into the strongest Garagara in the world!"

As a loser in the pursuit of the strongest trainer, Takenori can empathize with Saizo's experience.

But the difference is that Saizo already knew that he was not cut out for it... Everything he did, the fighting spirit and tenacious combativeness he displayed, was just to enable himself to keep up with Galagala.

So Wu Neng took the initiative to accept Saizou... Rather than saying he was an apprentice in the dojo, it would be more accurate to say he was his own disciple - he didn't want to see such a young man fail on the road to becoming stronger.

Moreover, as the former leader of a rock-type gym, Wu Neng has some ideas on how to better train the ground-type Garagara.