Pokémon from Galar

This place is quite close to Motostoke City, and most of the Pokémon in the area are relatively gentle, so Marnie wasn't too worried about being accidentally hurt by any Pokémon. So she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

……

After an unknown amount of time, Mary gradually regained consciousness, but she still didn't want to open her eyes. The fluffy touch of I-chan was no longer beside her; she must have gone to training.

Just as Mary turned over, squinting her eyes, intending to continue sleeping for a while longer.

"...Hey, little girl, it's very dangerous to fall asleep here."

"Well……"

I heard a voice that was both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar.

Snap—Snap—

"puff--"

Suddenly, something landed on her chest, almost causing Mary to choke.

She subconsciously sat up and opened her eyes, only to see a teddy bear roll slid down Mary's body to the side.

"Wow! (That's fun!)"

"..."

Mary reached out and patted the little bear's head, then turned her head to find someone standing beside her, scrutinizing her. The person wore an exaggerated red cape covered in sponsor logos, and behind them followed a fire-breathing dragon that looked incredibly powerful.

"Baba. (Hello.)"

"Ah, hello..."

Mary nodded subconsciously in return to Charizard, but this gesture may have caused the other person to misunderstand, as he crossed his arms and laughed.

"Haha~ Hello,"

The unrestrained laughter startled the teddy bear, and its four short legs darted away, disappearing into the nearby bushes.

"Hoo! (Mari-chan!)"

Before the man could finish speaking, Balu silently appeared beside Mary, his soft growl sounding very alert.

"Nice to meet you, Dante-san, Fire-breathing Dragon-san."

Mary reached out and patted Baloo's tail to show him not to be nervous, and then directly revealed the identity of the person who had come.

Marie does watch the elimination rounds of each Gym Challenge, as they are all high-level Pokémon battles, which are quite attractive to her.

"Oh~ Is this your Pokémon, little girl? Well, I guess I was being nosy, hahaha~"

Although Dante apologized, he then laughed to himself. Mary blinked, and roughly understood what had happened.

It probably saw the wild bear approaching and came over to warn itself. However, after seeing Palm, it realized that it had misunderstood Palm and was not a silly trainer who ran into the Wild Area without any Pokémon.

"It's nothing. On the contrary, I should apologize for making Mr. Dandi worry. Thank you."

Mary stood up and bowed slightly, after all, the other party was worried about her, so she should thank them properly.

"Eh? (What happened?)"

"Laru~ (Mari~ and Sister I~)"

I-chan and Su-chan approached around the same time, seemingly quite trusting of Balu, and both spoke in a calm tone.

"Ah, welcome back~"

He reached out and patted Ichigo's head, then poked Suzu's little cheek. These guys came over as soon as they saw something was wrong.

"Are these all your Pokémon, Miss? Hmm, they all look really nice!"

After seeing both Palmon and Eevee, Leon even changed his address for Marie from "little girl" to "Miss." After all, skilled trainers always earn respect.

With Leon's keen eye, he could naturally tell that this Umbreon and Dragapult were quite strong, and were Pokémon capable of competing in Gym battles.

"Thank you, but Leon-san's Charizard is... just looking at it makes you feel how powerful it is. No wonder it's an undefeated ace."

"Haha~ Well then, I hope we'll meet again sometime, Miss."

Dan Di smiled and waved goodbye, intending to take his leave. After all, the opening ceremony was tomorrow, and he needed to get to the Mech Arena early today to coordinate with the staff.

"Yes, I look forward to meeting you on the field."

Marie waved her hand and made a somewhat arrogant statement. But with the Pokémon around her, she seemed less arrogant.

"Then I'll look forward to it a little, miss!"

Dan Di doesn't refuse challenges from others. Well, he generally doesn't refuse, although he would definitely turn down challenges that are simply meaningless.

Watching Leon lead his Charizard away, Marnie looked at each of her Pokémon and said with a smile:

"Thank you for coming back so quickly."

"Roar! (That Charizard is so strong! Marie! Could that be our future rival?!)"

"Eh, umm... Of course, the prerequisite is that you can win the final match and then you can challenge that person."

"Hooray! (I'm starting to get excited!)"

"Eek~ (Me too, I feel like my Pokémon is much stronger than my brother's.)"

It seems that Bal's warlike side was completely stirred up by the Charizard just now. I don't know what exactly touched Bal's sore spot, but Marie could feel Bal's fighting spirit just by standing next to him.

Even the usually calm Ichigo seemed to have become concerned.

As a trainer, Marnie naturally wanted to meet her Pokémon's expectations.

"Then work hard and look forward to it. I will definitely get to that arena with you."

Marnie gazed in the direction of Motostoke and made a promise to herself and her Pokémon.

"Huh...?"

However, Mary suddenly hesitated, glancing at the direction Dante had left, then at the conspicuous gate of Machine City.

"...Dandisang, did we take the wrong road? Shouldn't he be heading to the arena in Machine City right now?"

P.S.: Happy Lunar New Year's Eve! ~~ Following the lockdown of Wuhan, my city was also locked down last night. It just goes to show how serious the situation is. There's no use panicking.

Next is the main character's team. They want to choose between Corviknight and Whimsicott, and then add a damage dealer like Pandaren.

Actually, I wanted to include a Charizard, since it's a popular Pokémon. Unfortunately, they're too rare in Galar. Unless I get one from the Champion, but since they're not related, I might not be able to get the Charizard from the story.

White fluffy is quite cute, but all those powder-sprinkling skills must be inherited.

As a newbie author, I've been researching battle-related issues lately, and it's giving me a bit of a headache. How do you usually play a Trick Room team? Do you try to take down the Pokémon that opens Trick Room first?

Chapter Twenty: The Duel with Hop

Although she felt that Mr. Leon might have taken the wrong path, Marie didn't say anything or bother to chase after him, since Charizard was there too.

As partners for over ten years, they must have gotten lost countless times, and I've never heard of Champion Dan Di missing anything important. He probably doesn't need outsiders to worry about him.

So Mary quietly looked away, then smiled at the Pokémon around her and said:

"Alright, alright, let's continue training. I'll make some energy cubes."

Having already woken up once, Marie didn't plan to go back to sleep. She sent the three Pokémon back to training and took out a portable energy cube maker from her backpack to start her work.

Although you also have to pay attention to Ralts's status, the efficiency is not very high.

……

As the sun was setting, Marie put the Pokémon she had been training with all afternoon back into their Poké Balls, and returned to Motostoke City with only Sue in her arms.

The Pokémon Center wasn't far from the city gate. I sent a message to Yuri before coming back, and then headed straight for the Pokémon Center.

Welcome!

It was still the comforting voice of Nurse Joy. After handing over the two Poké Balls and Silky to Nurse Joy, Marie walked towards the nearby rest area.

At this time of day, the Pokémon Center was packed with people, although everyone followed the rules and kept their voices down, preventing the Pokémon Center from becoming a noisy, chaotic place.

However, it was a bit difficult for Mary to find a place to sit down.

After looking around, Mary finally gave up on her plan to sit down and rest for a while. Instead, she went to the Friendship Store to replenish some wound medicine. The recent training had been full of offensive and defensive maneuvers, which had used up quite a few wound medicines.

I only realized this afternoon when I was taking inventory that we were almost out of supplies, and we had to replenish them.

I also bought some medicine to relieve the abnormal condition, and carefully organized the bottled medicines into my bag.

Thanks to this backpack with its foldable space, Mary wouldn't have been able to carry so much random stuff around.

"Ah, I found it, Mary-chan! Good afternoon!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Mary turned around, clutching a packet of antidote in her hand. She found Yuri accompanied by a short-haired boy.

"Good afternoon, Yuri, and this is..."

"Hello, my name is Hop, and I'm this guy's formidable rival! You're Mary? Let's have a match!"

"..."

Mary blinked but didn't reply. Instead, she shifted her gaze to Yuri beside her.

"I just ran into Hop outside, who had just arrived in Mech City, so we came over together."

"I see. It's nice to meet you for the first time. Although I don't mind, at this time... I suggest you register at the arena first."

Mary glanced at the time. Tomorrow was the opening ceremony, and registration closed tonight. It was only a little over an hour before the staff got off work.

The arena is in the city center, while this Pokémon Center is located near the city gate.

Rather than battling, Mary felt it was more important to register first to avoid missing this year's gym challenge.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I'm off now, Mary! Let's battle again next time!"

Hop glanced at the time and then realized what he should do. So he rushed out of the Pokémon Center and headed towards the city center.

"...Your friend is quite energetic."

"Haha~"

Turning back to put away the wound medicine that hadn't yet been packed into her bag, Mary asked curiously:

"Yuri, what did you do this afternoon?"

"Hehe...I trained Tide Whirlwind with the Tearful Lizard!"

"Inside the city?"