He knows Pokémon better than me.

At a street food stall, the two enjoyed local delicacies while Mary recounted their experience:

"Besides various ancient murals and relics, Suchuan Town also has all sorts of small stalls selling miscellaneous goods."

Neither the ruins nor the markets were subject to any systematic modern management; they were left to develop freely.

The latter is better; it has now evolved into the largest "treasure market" in the Galar region, attracting many tourists to search for treasures every year.

But the ruins are not so good.

The remains of Route 6 have been largely eroded away by wind and sand, and the murals and sculptures in Su Chuan Town have also suffered increasing damage year by year due to the lack of systematic protection.

"Although Dr. Sonia has been calling for the active protection of these relics, her voice carries little weight and has not had a significant impact."

Mary sighed.

In the Galar region, Pokémon battles are more important; ruins and the like are largely ignored.

"Dr. Sonia?"

Ash paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered, "This is Professor Mulan's granddaughter, isn't it?"

It is said that he only obtained his doctorate certificate in the last two years and officially became a Pokémon professor. Without the accumulation of time, he does not have much influence.

For example, Professor Elm from the Johto region is also a young Pokémon professor.

But let alone on a global scale, it has virtually no presence even in its own city of Johto.

Seeing that the topic was getting a bit heavy, Mary glanced at Ash and then frowned.

She had read in a book on communication skills that when friends chat, they should talk about happy topics.
So Mary quickly coughed, pretending to naturally change the subject:

"By the way, besides the arena, Suchuan Town also has a famous fighting dojo!"

Seeing Mary's abrupt transition, Xiao Zhi raised an eyebrow, but still continued the conversation:
"A fighting dojo? Is it also a league-affiliated dojo?"

Mary shook her head. Her gym challenge was coming up soon, so she had naturally already gathered all the information about the place.

The current leader of the Legend Arena is a young man who excels in Ghost-type battles. He wears a mask, and no one knows what his face is like underneath.

"This gym leader is a loner and doesn't like to interact with outsiders. He sets his gym challenges at night and never advertises them, so there are basically no spectators."

Ash nodded. The difference between this and the flamboyant and passionate atmosphere of Galar battles was truly striking.

"That fighting dojo is a long-established dojo, and it's said to have connections with dojos in other areas, like the Johto region?"

"The Johto region? You mean the Azure Gym?"

Ash immediately realized that the Azure Gym over there was also a fighting arena.

Mary continued:

"The current owner of this dojo is a genius fighting girl named Aya, who is quite powerful."

"Nominally, the Retro Arena is still a Ghost-type Gym. However, the Galar League, considering commercial reasons, plans to implement a dual-gym leader system here."

That is, at night it is still a ghost dojo, a haunted house that no one visits.

During the day, however, it transforms into a fighting arena, which will be heavily promoted to attract Galar's audience to watch exciting and thrilling combat battles.

The gym owner has now become that genius fighting girl.

"I see."

Xiao Zhi nodded, not surprised.

It's exactly the kind of thing the Galar League would do; they want to generate buzz and traffic, to get everyone excited.

"So, since that fighting girl hasn't taken office yet, you can only choose to challenge her at night?"

"It's not because I like the night or hate crowds."

Ash: "." Mary abruptly ended the conversation.

"Moru!"

However, the two electric mice were having a great time, with Marie's Morpeko trying hard to suppress her drool over the delicious food in Pikachu's hand.

But in the end, it silently ate the meal replacement seeds in its hand, revealing a bland and disgusted expression as if it were eating grass.

Seeing the curious look in Xiaozhi's eyes, Mary finally found a new topic and explained:

"It's not about losing weight, but about maintaining a feeling of being half full."

Morpeko is a Pokémon with a small stomach and needs to eat frequently. Once it gets hungry, it will enter a fasting state.

True corruption!
At that time, his temper will become irritable and his rationality will decrease, but his physical attributes such as strength, speed, and electricity will increase. This is Morpeko's best fighting state!
"So we're about to have a gym challenge, so we can't let Morpeko eat too much."

Mary said with a smile.

Although Morpeko has a small stomach, it will take at least 2 hours for her to become completely full before she can go hungry again, otherwise she will miss the gym challenge.

"I see."

Ash was amazed; the electric mice in the area were truly unique.

However, trainers have a tough time, as they must strictly control the amount of food their Pokémon eat the day before each battle.

"Moru—!"

The Morubek electric sac burst forth with light, ready to channel its hunger into fighting spirit and wreak havoc in the future.

eight pm.

At the agreed time, the two arrived at the Ancient Arena.

Located in the very center of Suchuan Town, this place is surrounded by water on all sides, with only one road leading directly in front.

Although there are streetlights around, they are all off, whether due to a power outage or intentional.

This made the entire Transcendent Arena seem eerie, like a haunted house.

Visible to the naked eye, several Galar-like crying masks were floating above the dojo.

He even spotted a familiar mimicry nearby, its ghostly claws reaching out from under its skirt to greet them.

Pushing open the door, unlike the bustling, crowded arenas in other cities, this place was dark and had no reception staff.
No, there is still a receptionist!
call out--

A night-patrol spirit slowly passed through the counter and floated in front of the two, its body shrouded in ghostly mist.

"Jie Jie~"

After making a ghostly sound, it turned around and drifted towards the entrance to the battlefield.

The two exchanged a glance before realizing that the night-patrolling spirit was a "staff member" and was probably there to guide them.

So Mary took a deep breath, her face tensed, and she quickly followed.

Passing through the corridor, you'll find yourself in the standard-sized competition venue.

All of them were built by the Galar authorities and are surrounded by spectator seating that can accommodate thousands of people. The overall color is black and purple.

At this moment, all the lights were turned on, illuminating the entire arena in the darkness. Apart from the fact that the stands were empty, which seemed a bit eerie, the Su Chuan Arena was still very grand and spectacular.

In the center of the arena, someone was already waiting for Mary.

She was short, like a kindergarten child, with short, smooth black hair hanging down.

She had her hair parted in the middle and was wearing overalls.

The most bizarre thing was that they wore a white mask on their face, only revealing empty holes for their eyes and mouth! (End of Chapter)