Pokémon: Starting with Lucario and Gardevoir

"Even if we lose the third round, we'll still give it our all."

Xiao Gang is a dojo master after all. Although he lost, he quickly adjusted his mindset.

However, the initial desire to win quietly transformed into a desire to learn.

Learn from Haoyan's tactical arrangements and his control over the battle.

He took out a Poké Ball and released his last Pokémon.

It is a rhinoceros with a drilled horn.

Like the previous Golem, it has high physical attack and high physical defense.

However, its speed and special defense are relatively low.

With Haoyan's Gardevoir's high speed, it couldn't even make a single touch.

High attack power cannot be utilized.

High physical defense is completely useless against the energy bombs of high special attack.

In the end, Haoyan won the battle!

... ...

"Haoyan, thank you!"

"It made me realize where my flaws lie!" Xiao Gang relaxed his furrowed brows and kindly extended his hand to Hao Yan.

"Thank you for your kind offer." Haoyan and Xiaogang shook hands.

Despite the victory, we are not arrogant.

He won because of the advantage of having the advantage in attributes.

"This is the badge representing the Pewter Dojo." Xiao Gang took a badge out of his pocket and handed it to Hao Yan with both hands.

"Thank you." Haoyan accepted it with both hands as well.

Put the badge in a box specifically for collecting badges.

By chance, Xiaogang saw Haoyan's badge box.

There was only one badge inside, and his pupils widened in shock!

He originally thought that Haoyan's Pokémon were so strong, and the tactics he used were so perfect.

He must be a very experienced trainer.

It's even possible that they've already challenged many dojos.

Surprisingly, including his Nibi badge, he only had two in total!

"Could it be that the previous badges couldn't fit, and this is a new badge?"

Unable to contain his shock, Xiao Gang asked, "Haoyan, how many badges did you get in total?"

"Only two," Hao Yan casually remarked, showing Xiao Gang his box containing the badges.

"..." Xiao Gang was completely speechless.

... ...

After chatting with Xiaogang for a few minutes, Xiaogang announced to everyone that today's challenge was over.

Trainers who were unable to take on the challenge will have to try again another day.

After all, two of Brock's three Pokémon had already lost their ability to battle.

The other one, although still able to fight, didn't have much energy left.

Even if he wanted to continue the challenge, Brock didn't have any more Pokémon.

However, witnessing such a high level of combat made the trip worthwhile.

The spectators who came to watch the game left satisfied.

Crimson and turquoise also left the dojo along with the audience.

The surrounding spectators and trainers were all reminiscing and discussing the match that had just taken place.

Hearing this, the two boys felt a faint sense of anticipation rising within them.

I hope that I can become a powerful trainer like Haoyan.

A person who is discussed and praised by many.

... ...

Chapter 46 Xiaogang's Worries

After finishing his match with Xiaogang, Xiaogang earnestly invited Haoyan to his home as a guest.

After a long day of travel, and with it getting late, it's time to find a place to rest.

Haoyan agreed.

Xiao Gang's home is not far from the Dark Grey Dojo.

Despite his rugged appearance, Xiao Gang kept his home quite tidy, suggesting he was a clean person.

As soon as he entered the house, Xiao Gang started preparing the meal.

When visiting someone's home, and the host is busy cooking, Haoyan, as a guest, can't just wait around.

Let's just help each other out.

Xiao Gang wanted to hurry up and prepare the meal to entertain Hao Yan.

However, sometimes, the more you try to rush things, the more likely you are to fail.

For a moment, things seemed a bit chaotic.

"Let me help too." Haoyan took some vegetables from the side of the kitchen and helped wash them.

"Haha, then I'll trouble you." Xiao Gang scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

... ...

After dinner, Xiaogang humbly asked Haoyan for advice.

"Haoyan, I am skilled at raising and using Rock-type Pokémon."

"But as you saw today, Rock-type Pokémon are not fast, and they can easily become passive when they encounter an opponent like you."

"Is there any way to increase their speed, unleash their excellent attacks, and make use of their high defense?"

Haoyan took a sip of tea, intending to befriend Xiaogang, a person full of a sense of justice, and shared: "To increase the speed of Rock-type Pokémon in battle, you can use the Rock Polish move."

"You're probably familiar with this skill too."

"However, this skill isn't very practical."

Xiao Gang nodded when he heard this.

Indeed, as Hao Yan said, rock polishing can indeed increase a Pokémon's speed by two levels.

However, this involves two issues.

First, most Rock-type Pokémon are not very fast.

Take Golem as an example. Golem's speed is only 10 points. Even if you use Rock Polish once to double the speed, it will only reach 20 points.

Even without increasing their speed, other Pokémon have a much higher initial speed than Golem, whose speed is doubled.

Secondly, even if the improvement is very effective, an opportunity has already been wasted before that.

In other words, when using rocks for grinding, one becomes a sitting duck, having to withstand one or even more attacks from the opponent in order to keep up with their speed.

If there's no elemental advantage, that's fine. But if there is, you have to endure a powerful attack from the opponent before you can retaliate.

That would be such a waste.

Knowing that Haoyan hadn't finished speaking, Xiaogang eagerly awaited Haoyan's continued sharing.

"Actually, in my opinion, there are two skills that might be more useful to you right now."

“One of them is a sandstorm, and the other is an invisible rock,” Haoyan said slowly.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Gang seemed to have grasped something, but then realized he hadn't.

He immediately pressed, "Haoyan, tell me more details."

Hao Yan smiled and, without holding back, continued, "Sandstorms can transform the terrain into a favorable environment for Rock-type Pokémon."

"In a sandstorm environment, Rock-type Pokémon can become more resilient, which can help to close the speed gap by using Rock Polish as mentioned earlier."

"Secondly, you can add Stealth Rock to Sandstorm to restrict the movement of the opponent's Pokémon."

"As long as we can leverage such a venue advantage, then we will at least have the advantage of location and the advantage of people in terms of the three key elements of timing, location, and people."

"Even if we can't completely eliminate the shortcomings caused by the attributes, we can at least narrow the gap."

After listening to Haoyan's sharing, Xiaogang finally understood the meaning of the phrase "醍醐灌顶" (a Chinese idiom meaning "enlightenment").

I deeply believe that inviting Haoyan to my home was a wise move!

Seeing that he and Xiaogang had gotten into a good conversation, Haoyan asked, "Xiaogang, I heard that you can use your main battle Pokémon to battle against trainers. Can I ask why?"

When this topic came up, a layer of worry returned to Xiao Gang's brow.

The atmosphere became more subdued, and he said to Haoyan, "Because I want to use this method to spar with powerful trainers and quickly improve my battle experience."

"Secondly, I want to find some strong teammates to fight against the Rockets with me."

"The Rockets?" Xiao Gang's reply surprised Hao Yan.

Xiao Gang continued somewhat dejectedly, "Although you're not from the Kanto region, you probably know that there's a Team Rocket in the Kanto region that's a group of con artists who specialize in criminal activities."

"In the past, the Rockets operated underground and engaged in illegal activities, but recently their actions have become increasingly blatant."

"It's almost reached the point of utter madness!"

"A while ago, I happened to pass through Viridian Forest and saw some Team Rocket members transporting some strange devices into the forest."

"I immediately followed them, wanting to see what evil activities they were plotting, but I was accidentally discovered by them."