Pokémon from Galar

"Really? Then I'm relieved... I'm sorry, I'm getting old, and it always takes me a long time to see things. It's kind of you to sit here and wait for me for so long."

Frank looked up and smiled again.

"It's alright. I promised to deliver the letter to you, so I will naturally do my best to complete it."

"Hehehe~ It's rare to see such patient children. My granddaughter is always impatient with my nagging. In the blink of an eye, they are about the same age as Paula was back then."

Seeing the old man lost in thought, Miss Officer Jenny spoke up:

"Now that the letter has been delivered, we won't disturb your rest any longer. We'll take our leave now."

"I'm sorry, both of my children have gone to work, and I'm just an old man, so I don't have anything to offer you."

"No, that's not true. The tea is delicious, I really like it."

Mary took another sip of the tea in front of her; it actually suited her taste quite well.

Chapter 243 Another Battle with Peter

After finishing their chores and finding nothing else that required special time, Mary and Yuri went to the arena together and booked a time for their challenge.

There aren't many qualified challengers left in Dance Town right now, so the arena is pretty quiet. If it weren't for the Popula Gym Leader only fighting one challenge a day, Marie and Yuri would probably be able to book their turn the next day.

Similar to the previous gyms, you need to engage in one-on-one battles with trainers from other gyms before you can challenge them, which is a simple test of the challenger's strength.

Marnie knew the process of the Fairy-type Gym's challenges, because they would randomly throw out some questions for the Trainer to answer during the challenge, and if the Trainer answered correctly, the Trainer's Pokémon would receive an extra stat boost.

However, when Mary went to the venue to take on the challenge, she found that the challenge she faced was completely different from what she had imagined.

The boy, dressed in a bright pink outfit and sporting white hair, flicked the ends of his hair, held the Poké Ball, and looked at Marie with the same impressive expression he remembered.

"...I never expected to see you here, Peter."

Mary gave a helpless twitch of her lips. Although she knew that Peter had been taken in by Poppy and was being groomed as her successor, she never expected him to appear in front of her at this time.

"Although I kind of hate this outfit, thanks to the teacher, I'm able to stand here again. Marie, let's battle!"

Peter still can't quite accept this flashy pink outfit, although it actually suits his white hair and delicate face quite well.

Can I take this as your second challenge?

"Of course! I've never forgotten that defeat in the mine!"

"...So you volunteered to take on my test?"

Mary raised an eyebrow and took off her Poké Ball.

"Ah, because I've lost my eligibility to challenge the gym."

Peter chuckled self-deprecatingly, then threw out his first Pokémon.

"Chirp—(Can we fight again!)"

It was the Psychic-type Pokémon I'd seen before, the artificial cell egg. I still remember Marnie very clearly; it was a Pokémon that looked completely different from its appearance and had a rather aggressive fighting style.

"Then, Little Chiu, I'm counting on you."

Mary threw out the deluxe ball, bringing Little Bird onto the battlefield.

"Speaking of which, haven't you caught any new Pokémon?"

Seeing Peter standing ready for battle, Mary suddenly crossed the field and asked a question that had been bothering her.

Peter raised an eyebrow. He probably knew what Mary was curious about. Of course, he had caught new Pokémon: Kirlia, Eevee, and Mawile.

However, his main Pokémon are still the ones he used to have. This is partly because the newly captured Pokémon are not strong enough yet, and partly because he does not intend to give up his old partners.

Who said you can't use Pokémon of other types when you enter a Fairy-type gym?

However, Peter certainly wouldn't bother explaining these things to Mary; he wasn't familiar with her, so why bother saying so much?

"You have to get up from where you fall down, that's all."

What a vengeful guy.

Mary smiled inwardly. Although Peter was a bit arrogant and sometimes a bit crazy, he was quite good to his Pokémon, otherwise Popra wouldn't have taken a liking to him.

"How many matches are you going to play? You're not going to play all four, are you?"

"My task is to test the strength of your Pokémon, which of course requires four battles. Enough talk, if you don't make the first move, I won't hold back."

Peter glared at Mary, thinking, "Why is this girl so long-winded?"

"Reflective wall, then arm hammer!"

Not wanting to dawdle any longer, Peter waved his hand and gave the first command.

"Peck!"

Seeing Peter begin to give instructions, Mary quickly followed suit. She decided to test the waters first. Little Bird was also good at close combat, and given the limitations of the terrain, it couldn't fly very high. This match would probably be a head-on confrontation.

Subconsciously, the little chick flapped its wings and took off quickly with the help of the tailwind, then suddenly turned around and pounced on the artificial cell egg!

After precisely setting up the reflective barrier, the artificial cell egg, showing no fear, patted its soft palm and charged forward defiantly.

"Chirp—! (Come on, you stinky black bird!)"

He clasped his arms together and swung them behind him. He maintained his speed steadily, calculating when Chirp would arrive. Then, his Fighting-type energy exploded, and his arms, which had been swung around, were violently flung out, hitting the oncoming Drill head-on without dodging or avoiding.

boom--!!

Little Chirp's attack was slightly deflected by the artificial cell egg. The impact of its enormous size still sent the artificial cell egg flying, but it failed to cause significant damage. The artificial cell egg, which suffered a slight disadvantage due to its weight and size, rolled several times in mid-air.

"Lightning Fist!"

"Chirp—! (Hahaha! Again!!)"

Upon hearing Peter's voice, the artificial cell egg immediately swung its arms and charged forward, its entire body crackling with electricity that quickly gathered in its fists.

"Steelwing! Fight back!"

Having already regained its balance, the little chick flapped its wings again, increasing its flight altitude by several meters, before swooping down once more to use the height difference to amplify the power of its attack.

The sharp, enormous wings clashed with the electric fists again in mid-air. This time, the artificial cell egg was knocked back and slammed to the ground. Little Chirp, who was being electrocuted, twitched twice in mid-air, as he was not good at dealing with electric-type moves.

After testing the waters twice, Marie discovered that the opponent's Pokémon had become significantly stronger due to learning more moves, but in terms of pure stats, there hadn't been a particularly large increase.

Obviously, not everyone can make Pokémon grow up as fast as Marnie and her friends.

"Keep your distance and clear the fog!"

"Don't even think about it! Mind Hammer, Lightning Fist!"

The artificial cell egg itself is not fast, and it doesn't have any acceleration skills. It hasn't learned the Trick Space either, so it can only temporarily use other special moves to replace its dash ability.

Peter has gone to great lengths to deal with this Psychic-type Pokémon that inexplicably enjoys hand-to-hand combat.

The artificial cell egg, still acting as if it were the most important thing in the world, didn't care at all whether it was injured or not. It got up, raised its head, concentrated its superpowers on its head, and charged towards the little bird that had grown taller.

At the same time, faint crackles of electricity flickered on his hands, which were behind his back, clearly indicating that he was ready to attack.

Chapter 244 Everyone Has Their Strengths

"Divine Bird Strike!"

Seeing that Xiao Chirp had blown away the opponent's reflect barrier, he immediately sent Xiao Chirp back to attack.

"Gah—!"

The opponent's reckless fighting attitude spurred Little Chirp on, and it raised its head and cried out loudly, unleashing its Flying-type energy with a deafening roar.

The little chick flapped its wings to stop its backward movement, and then pounced on the artificial cell egg that was rushing towards it!

The surging energy of flight collided with the electric light mixed with superpowers in mid-air.

The burst of energy and lightning flashed with dazzling light. Mary raised her arm to shield her face from the waves of air.

It seems that the combination attack of the artificial cell egg is not simply a matter of using the kinetic energy of the mind hammer. The burst of power also cleverly combines the two attacks, resulting in a power of 1+1>2.

Mary quickly assessed the artificial cell egg's strength in her mind. Its previous attack was quite impressive, combining burst damage from two attributes with a dash ability. If Little Chirp hadn't used Divine Bird Strike to forcefully push back with its high power, but instead used Drill Peck or Steel Wing...

The recent all-out attack has likely put us at a disadvantage.

Only at times like these do the spectators, including Marie, realize that Marie's Pokémon are all quite young.

Even if their base stats are good enough, they still can't compare to Pokémon that have been practicing for years when it comes to developing and using special moves.

Mary decided to ignore the shortcomings that couldn't be remedied in a short time, watching the artificial cell egg fly backwards again in mid-air, and Xiao Qiu, whose condition was clearly declining.

Little Chirp wasn't in a good position during that last exchange of blows.

"One more time, Divine Bird Strike!"

"Thought Hammer, Thunder!"

The change in command made Mary's eyelids twitch. The artificial cell egg rose up, slammed its hands on the ground, and flew back into the air. The electrical energy crackled and flickered, and the entire room began to flash with electricity.

The artificial cell egg once again launched its attack, accompanied by a surge of violent electricity that filled the surroundings.

Electric sparks began to flash erratically throughout the room, and bolts of lightning struck the unstoppable artificial cell egg. Pink energy was gradually enveloped by electrical power!

The artificial cell egg was like the heart of all lightning; in a mere instant, Mary lost count of how many bolts of lightning converged upon it.

The dazzling golden light completely engulfed the artificial cell egg's body, as if it had transformed into a bolt of lightning and pounced towards Xiao Qiu!

"Gah—!! (So flashy—!!)"

Little Chick roared in envy, "Even my special move isn't this cool! That little brat dares to show off right in front of me?! Die, you little devil!"

The energy that had been condensed was strengthened once again. Xiao Qiu pulled up all the energy she could control at once, and even the energy covering her whole body began to dissipate slightly.

Knowing that this was its limit, the little chick shut its mouth and suddenly flapped its wings, swooping down towards the ball of lightning!

boom--!!

An even greater amount of energy erupted upon contact. The energy driven by the Thunder Strike was on a completely different level from the Thunder Fist, and Mary was amazed by Peter's development of this combination technique.

Combo moves aren't something a trainer can just conceive of and a Pokémon can execute. Although Marnie herself had temporarily suspended training combo moves because her Pokémon's move pool wasn't yet fully developed...

But Mary believed she probably couldn't be like Peter, able to not only add so many special moves to a single Mind Hammer, but also maintain its power level in actual combat.

So far, we've only seen two electric-type moves, but the artificial cell egg's original attribute is psychic. Marie doesn't believe it can't integrate psychic-type moves into it.

This probably means there are always people more capable than you.

I quickly did some self-reflection and realized that things might have been going smoothly lately, and I might have gotten a little complacent. This is not a good sign.

Shaking her head, Mary turned her gaze back to the empty space where the light had faded.