Pokémon from Galar

No sooner had she finished speaking than she saw Pazu, under Yuri's instructions, fly towards a white, fluffy creature that was floating in mid-air, its origin and destination unknown...

"Sigh...this guy..."

Sighing, Mari decided not to bother with her anymore. Although she knew that Balu liked children... she didn't expect her to spoil her to this extent. She could only sigh and think that she was indeed worthy of the fact that the entire clan of Doron Baluto were born nannies.

"Um... excuse me..."

Just as Mary was leisurely walking forward, leaning against the railing, a weak voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Hmm? Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

Turning around, I saw a man dressed like a researcher who had just come out of a laboratory. He had messy hair, wore glasses and a mask, so I could hardly see his face.

To be honest, it was a bit suspicious... but I still greeted them politely anyway.

"Um... well, actually... are you a trainer who owns a Rotom Phone?"

"...Yes, I do have a Rotom phone."

Mary wasn't sure how the other party knew, since Rotom phones, despite their mature technology, hadn't been widely adopted due to Rotom's limitations.

To get your hands on a Rotom phone, you either need to spend a lot of money or have connections.

For example, Marie obtained it because of her brother's position as a gym leader, while Yuri's Rotom phone is probably related to Hop, since he is the champion's brother.

"Ha...that's great, it seems the detector didn't malfunction this time..."

Upon hearing Mary's confirmation, the suspicious researcher breathed a sigh of relief. The information revealed in her words did pique Mary's interest, but since it might involve someone's research secrets, she didn't inquire rashly.

"So, is something the matter?"

The researcher's shy behavior made Mary worry that it would take much longer, so she had no choice but to speak up.

"Ah—yes, that's actually how it is!"

The researcher, who had been reminded of the importance of taking off his mask, still had no intention of removing it. Instead, he turned around, took out a bicycle from his bag, and placed it between the two of them.

"This! I named it the Rotom Bike! Actually, I'm currently looking for volunteers with Rotom phones to assist with testing experiments! Here, this is the instruction manual."

When it comes to experiments, this researcher becomes instantly more energetic, as if he's taken some kind of stimulant.

Mary took the thin instruction manual and glanced at it. It seemed to be a byproduct of researching Rotom's new form, and not very practical.

It's probably that the pedals charge the Rotom, which in turn powers the Rotom to accelerate and conserve energy.

In Mary's opinion, it's a mediocre product that's better than nothing, but it's not bad as a reference for research projects. If it's bundled with Rotom phones for sale, it might be passable.

"How about it? Miss, would you be interested in participating in this experiment? It's very simple, you just need to use this bicycle regularly, and our lab will even handle the debugging and repairs!"

Chapter Sixty-Five: Hop's Another Challenge

In the end, Mary agreed to the researcher's request, after all, it was a free bicycle, and the mobile phone company also sent an email granting permission to transfer the Rotom in the phone to the bicycle's computer.

Since she had the official permission from the mobile phone company, Mary lowered her guard and accepted the Rotom bicycle.

"Yay—haha~ Mary-chan! I'm back~"

After saying goodbye to the researcher, before she could even put her bicycle back in her backpack, Yuri suddenly fell down from the side.

Welcome back.

"What was that person doing just now?"

Yuri curiously examined the bicycle next to Mary. Although she had seen part of what had just happened, she hadn't heard the conversation and assumed that Mary had bought some unknown, unregistered bicycle on the way.

"He was a researcher..."

Mary picked up the lightweight bicycle and stuffed it into her bag, while briefly recounting what had just happened to Yuri.

"Wow—what luck! I want one too."

"If you had come back sooner, before that researcher left, you should have been able to get it."

Mary smiled, paused in her movements, picked up her backpack again, and continued speaking to Yuri:

"I'll ask around for you afterwards. If it doesn't work out, I'll lend you one."

"No need, Mary, you can give me a ride then~"

Yuri chuckled and waved. She had originally planned to ride bicycles with Mary, so what was the point of taking Mary's bicycle?

"Hmm... okay."

Mary didn't mind, and nodded in agreement. In fact, this journey didn't involve much rushing.

After dragging Baru around for a while, Yuri calmed down a lot. After all, the bridge stretched straight out and the scenery didn't change much, so it naturally got boring after a while.

After finally crossing the bridge, the two encountered Hop, who was probably waiting there all along.

"You two are really slow, Yuri, let's have a match."

Hep had no intention of chatting at all. After exchanging greetings, she directly challenged him to a match.

"We haven't battled since we got the Grass-type Badge, have we? As fellow Gym Challengers, let me see how well your Pokémon have been trained!"

As Hep said this, he took a red and white ball from his waist and held it in his hand.

Seeing this, Mary gently nudged Yuri's back, then walked to the side to watch the battle.

Yuri turned her head to look at Mari, whose expression remained calm, then took a deep breath, adjusted her mindset, and took out a Poké Ball.

However, just like Marie's Pokémon, Yuri's Pokémon were mostly left outside. So, she simply held the Poké Ball, then crouched down and patted the head of the Eevee that was eagerly trying to jump in, and said with a smile:

"The first match is yours, Ibrahimovic!"

"Buyi!"

Hop's eyes lit up; he hadn't expected it to be a new Pokémon. He twisted his arm while holding the ball and swung out Wooloo again.

"Mea~"

When Mary saw Yuri's 'I knew it' expression, she wanted to complain a bit, so Hop really does like Woolstätter... even though they are indeed very cute.

To be honest, Mary didn't know exactly how long the Woolstuck sheep had been with Hop, but from Yuri's usual conversations, she knew it had been quite a while.

As a result, he is still Wooloo and has not evolved yet. Marie began to suspect that Hop had given him an Everstone. Did Hop have a thing for this?

After all, Woolstice sheep are cuter than woolly-horned sheep.

Just as Mari started to imagine all sorts of random things, the battle between Yuri and Hop officially began.

Both are Normal-type Pokémon and can use the Fighting-type Double Kick, but Eevee's Anticipation grants it much greater mobility than Wooloo.

"A flash of lightning!"

Yuri seemed to be planning to take full advantage of Eevee's strengths to open up the game. Wooloo didn't have any speed-up skills, and with Eevee's agility, as long as the double kick hit, the first battle would basically be won.

"Woolbraided sheep, follow suit!"

Yuri was somewhat surprised by Hop's voice. She hadn't seen Hop use this move much before, or rather, she had never seen it used in their previous battles.

Wooloo reacted quickly, successfully simulating Quick Attack almost as Eevee charged towards it.

"Buyi—!"

Ibrahimovic, however, didn't seem to care at all. Quick Attack, a basic move, posed almost no threat to him.

"Ibrahimovic, double kick!"

"Woolbraided sheep, bleat!"

"Meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"

"...Buyi?"

The sudden, adorable bleating of the Wooloo caused Eevee to momentarily lose its footing. Although it quickly recovered, it lost its opportunity to attack.

The two sides flashed a bolt of lightning and passed each other, then switched positions.

“Buyi…”

Yuri might not have noticed, but Ibu knew for sure that he had been careless just now. He had been too comfortable with Yuri these past few days and had become a little lax.

Shaking his head in slight distress, Ibu lowered his body slightly and became fully alert.

"It's okay, Eevee, Swift!"

"Woolbraided sheep, charge! Headbutt!"

Faced with Eevee's high-speed star attack, Wooloo, lacking ranged attack options, had a hard time dodging it, and Hop, knowing this, decisively gave the order.

Headbutt is one of the few moves that can speed up Wooloo. Recently, Hop has been figuring out how to use this move on Route 5, since it's impossible to rely on luck to imitate an opponent's Quick Attack every time.

Whether it was due to good talent or the effectiveness of Hop's training methods, the variation of this move was managed to be achieved, albeit with some difficulty.

This caught Yuri completely off guard at that moment.

Both Eevee and Yuri know about Headbutt, a relatively straightforward move. However, because the energy buildup isn't as widespread as Quick Attack, it's quite difficult to execute with the same agility.

At least Ibrahimovic and Yuri were completely unprepared for this.

So, the instant Eevee nimbly dodged Wooloo, Hop's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"Now! Double kick!"

"what?!"

Ibrahimovic's alarm bells went off instantly, but being in mid-air, where could he find leverage to change direction?

Almost the instant Hep's voice rang out, the Woolstaff's forward charge abruptly reversed. It stomped its front hooves on the ground, using the recoil to leap high into the air.

Then, aiming at Eevee which was still in mid-air, it used the momentum to stomp down hard.

"Ibu!"

"Meow—!"

P.S.: Looking back at the storyline, Hop has actually challenged quite a few times. It's just that Hop's Wooloo, despite always being the first Pokémon to appear, has a lower level in the game than the starter Pokémon she acquires later.

Forcibly cutting off a sheep's braid 2333333 As a wife, this is just too miserable.

Chapter 66 Ibrahimovic's Preferences

puff--

Unable to dodge in time, Eevee was kicked by Wooloo, landing heavily on the ground and rolling away, kicking up a cloud of dust along the way.

"Ibrahimovic?! Are you alright?!"