He knows Pokémon better than me.

However, Hyde soon seemed to have thought of something and got up from his computer chair again.

He took off his headphones and went behind Xiaozhi's sofa.

"By the way, Ash, I happen to need some armor ore recently. Can you trade me your armor ore?"

"If you need it, I can just give it to you."

Xiao Zhi smiled, not caring.

He cleared four Pokémon dens during the day, and now he has over a dozen Armor Ore.

If it's just about currency, he doesn't really need it.

However, Hyde's expression suddenly turned serious:
"That won't do! Just like playing a game, you have to spend money to get items and rewards, that's only fair. I don't like getting things for free!"

Xiao Zhi scratched his head, indicating that he didn't understand:
"Alright. By the way, what's the use of these armor ore?"

This hit the nail on the head, and Hyde immediately pulled out a strange "Pokémon" from the nearby storage room.

Thump!
When it was placed on the ground, there was a rattling sound of parts falling apart.

"Is this a Crested Moon Bird?"

Ash frowned, realizing it was a somewhat crudely designed mechanical Crescent Moon Bird—

A blue bird's head is connected to a body resembling a rice cooker via pipes, and behind it is something resembling a gasoline drum.

Is that a Crescent Moon Bird carrying a red schoolbag?

Hyde, smugly touching his nose, began his introduction:

"This is the 'Matter Recombination and Energy Conversion Machine' that I invented myself. Of course, if we're going to give it a simple name, we can just call it the Machine Pelican!"

Seeing that Ash still looked confused, Hyde continued to explain:
"In short, after you put four items into the robot pelt and fuse them with the armor ore that provides energy, it will be able to spit out brand new items!"

"However, it is still in the testing phase, and the results are not random, but have a fixed formula order, so I have only just begun to study it."

Hyde blushed and answered.

Ash finally realized that the person in front of him was also a technological genius like Clemont.
It seems unlikely to explode at any moment, right?
"And the armor ore contains watts, which can be used as an energy source."

Ash nodded. Every time he challenged a Pokémon den, his Rotom-based phone would grant him a certain amount of Watts.
These pink stones are indeed useless.

He simply gave all the armor ore he had collected to the other party.

"Then I wish you success in your experiment soon!"

Who knows, it might generate some rare items.

Hyde didn't accept it unilaterally; instead, he took out his Rotom phone and brought up an interface that displayed:

"I can't just take yours for free. These are the signature moves taught at our martial arts school. Nowhere else outside can you learn them. Here's a list of moves. Take a look and see which one you want to choose?"

"Okay, I'll give you one move for free first. Then, with five armor ore, I'll let you choose one more move to learn!"

This piqued Ash's interest, as he had already learned quite a few new moves at the training center in the Greenland region.

Moreover, what's right in front of us are clearly some pretty good moves!
Ash quickly scanned through them; there were 18 moves in total, corresponding to 18 different attributes.

"They're all very useful!" Ash exclaimed with delight. For example, the Fire-type "Jealousy" was something Marie's troll had used during the day.

"Grass Slide" allows for preemptive attacks under grassy terrain, "Power Rise" doubles its power under electric fields, and "Mist Burst" is a Fairy-type self-destruct attack!
Although I've had some exposure to these moves before, I don't think I've ever actually seen a skill machine that uses them.

He now has ten Armor Ore, plus one chance given to him by Hyde, which means he can choose three TMs!

After getting a general idea of ​​how these moves worked, Ash quickly made his choice:

"It's decided! I'll choose Quick Turnaround, Hot Sands, and Triple Whirlwind!"

Quick Turn Back, Water-type, can be switched out of the field like Volt Switch, this move is very useful!

Hot Sands, this move goes without saying, it's simply a divine skill that perfectly complements Cinderace, serving as the perfect upgrade to Mud Bomb!
The final triple spin attack, an ice-attribute kick, also seems to be a very practical offensive move.

"Have you made up your mind? Then I'll place the order now!"

Hyde took the phone and fiddled with it for a while.

Ash hasn't forgotten Marnie. She has a few Armor Ore there. He can ignore the other moves for now, but the Dark-type "Rage" move is still very important to her, right?
To vent anger, he unleashed a strike with a dark attribute, though its power was average.

However, if one's own abilities decrease, the damage doubles, making it an extremely dangerous move, just like the cheek bite.

For long-haired trolls who engage in prolonged wars of attrition, this condition is easy to trigger!

Thinking of this, Xiao Zhi casually sent a text message to Mary.

"Alright~! Come find me here tomorrow morning, and I'll make the three moves into TMs and send them to you then~!"

Hyde then sat back down at the computer desk next to him and began operating it with great interest—

It seems he's not just an internet addict, but also a science and technology geek.

In a martial arts gym that trains the body's muscles, the "young master" is actually a mechanic who believes in science.
Something feels off.

Seeing that Hyde was completely absorbed in his own world, Ash shrugged and returned to the living room sofa, where Masted was still engrossed in fiddling with the controller.

On TV, Masted can switch flexibly between various cute or aloof female characters during battles, using different weapons and elements to attack monsters.

"Hehe, Ash~ This old man uses this game to train my real-time response skills~!"

Mastedt laughed heartily with satisfaction.

Unlike his son, who loves playing games and spending money on in-game purchases, he insists on playing without spending a single penny, relying entirely on his own hard work!

Ash frowned deeply, unable to understand this otherworldly game. He simply stood up and began to look around at the various trophies and medals neatly arranged beside him.

The most numerous of these are the "Galar League Tournament Victory/Champion" trophies, all of which look the same except for the suffix indicating the specific year and tournament number.

"Wow, Master Ma, was your last Galata champion 27 years ago?"

Looking at the most recent year among the trophies, Ash couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

As expected of a veteran champion!
So, who is the champion in the middle?
As far as he knew, Mr. Dante had only become the Galar Champion in the last 10 years, rising to prominence alongside President Rose.

So there was a gap of at least 17 years during which neither Master Ma nor Mr. Dandi won the championship?! (End of Chapter)