Pokémon from Galar

Mary shook her head and explained:

"It was made by people from my hometown. It seems they plan to promote it this year while I'm participating in the dojo challenge."

"So it's available for purchase? I thought only Mary-chan had it."

Hearing Yuri's reaction, Mari sighed helplessly.

"Ha...that's how it is, because it's not very well-known. After all, not many people in Galar have ever used Power Cubes."

"I see. But isn't Marie's brother a Gym Leader? Why would he bother promoting this?"

"This is a long story. To put it simply, my hometown doesn't have Dynamax Points, so I want to promote some of the town's unique features. For example, Yuri, although your hometown doesn't have Dynamax Points, it has a large ranch, right? Something like that."

"Oh, I understand!"

Yuri nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite; it was unclear whether she truly understood or not. However, such trivial matters were irrelevant to Yuri anyway, so whether she understood or not wasn't a big deal.

"Roar—(Hey, two trainers ahead, be careful!)"

Suddenly, a Pokémon roared from ahead, but it didn't sound very intimidating. Marie pulled Yuri aside and moved away from the track they had been walking on.

"What? What did you just say?"

"The Pokémon that's asking you to move aside is probably working."

"Eh—"

Just as Yuri curiously peered around for a short while, a large charcoal cart slowly drove along the tracks.

"Hmph... (Are you two challengers?)"

"Um, what's wrong?"

"Let me explain this, ladies."

They had originally planned to ask the large charcoal cart directly, but another voice came from ahead, attracting their attention.

Judging from his attire, he looked like a miner. A miner who looked to be around thirty years old walked out from the front.

"Well, because there are trainers who occasionally get lost in here, we sometimes take the initiative to wander around and see if there are any trainers who need help."

Smiling, she raised her hand in greeting. The miner seemed quite kind, but Yuri tilted her head innocently for a moment, then tentatively said:

"Isn't this just slacking off...?"

"Uh, cough cough... What do you mean by slacking off? We're actually on our regular days off!"

The middle-aged man gave Yuri a helpless glare before getting down to business, pointing to the tracks beneath his feet.

"You must have just entered the mine. Take a look at the tracks under your feet. They are built a bit differently from the tracks in other work areas. Consider this a hint to guide you. When you see the forks in the tracks that are laid out differently, remember not to go anywhere else."

"Oh, I see. Thank you."

Mary bowed slightly to express her gratitude, as the other person had kindly offered to help her, and she naturally wanted to return the favor politely.

"Haha~ It's okay, it's okay. If you really want to thank me, then come and have a Pokémon battle with me!"

Seeing the uncle's hearty smile, Mary twitched her lips. She hadn't expected that miners would actually be here looking for passersby to fight...

Is it alright here?

Yuri looked at the cave supported by various frames with some concern.

"I hope it won't damage this place..."

"Don't worry, the structure here has been reinforced and strengthened. Pokémon are restricted to their final evolution and are not allowed to use moves like Earthquake."

The middle-aged man patted the weighing post next to him and explained with a smile:

"Actually, this area has been almost completely mined out. The rock walls have been modified and reinforced to provide them for gym challenges, so regular battles are no problem. Don't worry, little girl, at most some loose rocks will fall down, it won't collapse."

"President Loz really put his heart into this..."

Mary knew immediately that it was Chairman Rose's doing again. After all, this area was a mine insured by Chairman Rose's company, and who else would dare to mess with it?

"Haha~ Yes, President Rose is such a good person, letting us old men enjoy the fun of battle! Little girls, who wants to go?"

Yuri and Mary exchanged a glance.

"Can we have one-on-one, then Mary and I can each take one turn?"

"Ah... I'm afraid that won't work. I still have work to do this afternoon, so I can only take out one to fight."

The middle-aged man scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly, then reached down to take the Poké Ball from his waist, threw it out, and saw a Porter appear before him.

"Oh, I see... Oh!"

While Yuri was still hesitating, the little cotton doll in her arms suddenly jumped out, landed on the ground, and let out a rather imposing cry at the porter.

"Nya! Nya! (Let me try! I want to battle too!)"

"..."

As Yuri instinctively reached out to hug her back, Mary stopped her, gently shaking her head and saying:

"Yuri, come here."

"Oh, okay! I got it!"

"Go, Little Cotton! Keep it up!"

"nya!"

The uncle nodded, stepped back a little, clearing the area. He was slightly pleased because the cave's limitations prevented anyone from displaying overly powerful Pokémon here, allowing those who hadn't made it onto the path of becoming Pokémon trainers to enjoy the thrill of battle.

"Then let's get started!"

Mary walked to the side and stood with Da Tan, taking on the role of referee.

"Then... let the battle begin!"

Without much preamble, Mary raised her hand, paused briefly, and then promptly announced the start of the battle.

"Young Cotton, Sleeping Powder!"

"nya! (Okay! Mmm-mmm!)"

Seeing the little cottony fluff making a show of trying to sprinkle powder, the miner uncle seemed completely unconcerned and laughed, not even letting his Pokémon dodge.

"Hehe, I knew you'd do that, you little mover, the usual!"

"Heh! (I got it!)"

Then, the porter, without flinching, swallowed the sleeping powder from the young cotton and fell asleep without hesitation.

Just as Yuri was still wondering why, the porter, who should have been asleep, suddenly started moving.

"..."

He remained silent, raised the piece of wood in his hand in a preparatory motion, took a deep breath to concentrate his energy, and even with his eyes closed, he seemed to become even more focused.

"Wait...why can it still move? Is it talking in its sleep?!"

Yuri realized that she knew a lot about Pokémon moves, which explained why the other party didn't mind at all. She hadn't expected that the other party had even learned a move like Sleep Talk!

"Haha~ That's not all, little girl. But I didn't expect you to be unable to use your offensive skills..."

The middle-aged man's voice carried a hint of smugness; after all, he wasn't a trainer seriously aiming for competitive matches, and he didn't seem to have any intention of keeping Pokémon information secret.

So Mary quickly came up with a possible reason...

This porter's defining characteristic might just be perseverance.

If that's true, her attack power increases immediately upon entering the arena. Can Yuri win? Young Cotton hasn't learned any defensive skills yet.

Mary looked at Yuri's face with some concern, but didn't say anything to remind her. After all, the battle was something she had to experience herself.

P.S.: I saw yesterday's post mentioning bicycles... Well, even if they don't give them away anymore, we can still buy them. We can arrange to buy a prototype, even if it's just a little something, lol.

The bicycle is not a big problem.

Chapter Thirty: Yuri and Yumianmian's First Victory

Yuri is indeed a novice trainer and often seeks help from Marie, but that doesn't mean she really knows nothing.

"Young cotton, poison powder, then flying leaf dagger."

"Hehe, keep talking in your sleep!"

The porter, in his sleep-talking state, was not as agile as when he was awake. Only after being poisoned did he belatedly realize what was happening and rushed towards Yu Mianmian while carrying the piece of wood.

"nya! (Hey!)"

Green leaves emerged from around the young cottony sprout, then swiftly sliced ​​towards the approaching porter. Unfortunately, even in its sleeping state, it seemed to become reckless.

"..."

After taking a direct hit from a flying leaf blade without dodging, he quickly approached the unavoidable young girl, crouched down, and, supporting himself on a piece of wood, extended his right foot to kick at the girl's hopping foot.

"nya—!"

Her foothold was attacked, and Little Cotton screamed and fell to the ground. At the same time, large clumps of cotton suddenly burst out from her body and smeared onto the porter, affecting his movements.

"Spinning at high speed! Cotton!"

Upon hearing the command behind her, the little cotton-puffed cotton, which had lost its balance, calmed down a bit. It then used its little hands to support itself on the ground and spun around violently before rushing toward the porter who was still struggling with the cotton on his body.

Bang-!

The porter, enduring the loss of strength due to poisoning and stiffened by the cotton covering his body, was then deliberately bumped into by his opponent. In his impatience, he subconsciously used an attack move.

With a swipe of the wooden stick, it slapped away the little cotton that had bumped into it, only to have even more cotton stick to its body.

"Nya... (It hurts so much...)"

The porter was quite strong, and the defenseless little Mianmian took a solid hit, which didn't feel good. Moreover, her opponent seemed to be waking up...

"just……(……)"

Staring blankly at the cotton covering his body, the young porter, who had just regained consciousness, couldn't quite grasp his current state.

"Little Mianmian, sing in turn!"

Yuri was not willing to let this opportunity pass, and in order to avoid knocking off the cotton on her opponent's body that was hindering her movement, she chose to use sound as a means of attack.

Young Cotton looks fragile, but it is surprisingly resilient. If it were following its old habits from living in the wild, it should have already taken advantage of its opponent's inability to move and escape.

But he is not alone now; there is a trainer standing behind him who can support him.