Why is my Pokémon acting a little weird?

The first feeling that Qiao Ran and others had when they arrived here was that they might need to find a place to live quickly.

"The appointment time is coming up soon, we have to hurry."

When taking a plane, most of the time is not spent on the flight, but on going to and leaving the airport, waiting for the flight, and other miscellaneous things. As for whether the plane will arrive early or late, it may depend on your luck at the time.

At least now, Qiao Ran and the others really have to race against time if they still hope to have two battles today.

Seeing how several people couldn't wait to take out their Pokémon and rush forward, Zhulan could probably understand their feelings. After all, the gym challenge had a very special meaning for trainers, and no one would want to miss it if possible.

So, after a busy period, the group took the subway to the city center. After quickly finding a hotel to stay in, they headed straight to the gym, with almost no time to rest.

After all, if we were to rest, the time before was enough.

What is more exciting now is the subsequent battle.

This time, Zhulan also came to the gym in Yangcheng with a few people. Although she would not participate in this battle due to her physical condition and strength, this did not prevent her from being a spectator and commenting on the performance of both sides.

The difference in strength between an average gym owner and Zhulan is really...

Some of them were too big. Even if she wanted to learn something from these museum owners, it would probably be difficult to find anything worth learning. On the contrary, she gradually understood a lot from Qiao Ran.

Perhaps this is why she has been paying so much attention to Qiao Ran from the very beginning.

"Is this... this the gym in this city?"

Arriving at the destination by taxi, what caught everyone's eyes was not a building that looked like any other city gym - what appeared before them was a rather modern tower that soared into the clouds.

“It seems to be here.”

After getting off the car, Qiao Ran immediately checked the nearby map. It turned out that the driver did not send them to the wrong place. In addition to transmitting broadcast signals, this tower is also a very famous tourist attraction. The Yangcheng Gym is just one of the facilities.

Normally, many tourists come here to watch the game.

“…It’s definitely different from other places.”

Having been to so many areas and seen so many gyms, the one in front of him was indeed the only one that made him feel very special from its appearance. Compared with other gyms that looked almost plain and simple in appearance, this one built on a tower seemed to have a unique flavor.

"However, if we want to hold a large-scale competition and have a large group of people watching together, we still need to use other stadiums."

Although this gym is located directly in the tourist attraction and many tourists pass by to watch the battles every day, this does not mean that the gym's most iconic open tournament will be completely cancelled. Qiao Ran did a quick search online and still saw many videos marked as Yangcheng Gym, but the battle venue was a large stadium. And most importantly, the gym trainers themselves also need a large venue to train Pokémon.

If this tower is used as a training ground... the tourist attraction probably won't be able to withstand such a heavy blow.

Following the bustling crowd of tourists, Qiao Ran and his group finally arrived at the floor where the gym was located after a lot of effort. However, it is not quite appropriate to call it a floor, because there seems to be a large area in this building that is designated as the gym.

However, when he wanted to walk directly into the gym entrance, he was stopped by the staff.

"Hello, this is not a visiting area. If you want to watch the competition, you can go to another place and wait. If the gym competition is scheduled to take place, we will broadcast it to the entire tower."

"We are trainers who have scheduled a match for today. Could you please contact your gym owner?"

Qiao Ran took out the trainer certificate in his hand and took off the disguise on his face.

"Ah...you are..."

Perhaps because he had already gained a certain degree of fame in the circle, the gym trainer at the door recognized Qiao Ran's identity at once. He looked at the person behind Qiao Ran cautiously and couldn't help swallowing.

He had also heard about what happened in Modu and Rongcheng before. Now... have these guys already sneaked over to their place?

"...Okay, I'll go inform the owner right away. You can come in and wait for a moment."

The gym trainer nodded and quickly left the scene.

Chapter 663 [Tower]

The gym trainer returned to the gym to inform everyone of the situation, while Qiao Ran and the others waited for a while in the rest area at the door.

"How are you? Are you feeling better?"

Taking advantage of his free time, Qiao Ran went to Zhulan again and asked about her physical condition. If possible, he actually wanted to visit this tourist attraction with Zhulan. To be honest, when they lived in Nazhi's house before, Zhulan didn't seem to go out with them much.

"Why are you worried about me? Right now you just need to worry about the gym battle."

Was this guy completely calm, or was he just unresponsive? Why was he so concerned about her at this moment?

"...I'm fine. I'm slowly recovering. But if your fighting performance isn't good, you know what to do, right?"

Zhulan looked at Qiao Ran with a smile. Before, when they were on the plane, they had discussed a lot about the next training methods. One of the important parts was to make targeted adjustments based on their performance in the gym battles. After all, Zhulan had been separated from them for some time, and she didn't dare to make a direct conclusion about the current strength of Qiao Ran and others.

Facing Zhu Lan's "gentle" gaze, Qiao Ran could only nod his head obediently: "Yeah, yeah."

He would never underestimate any gym owner, nor would he be negligent during a gym battle, not to mention that before leaving Rongcheng, Hua Wanshuang told him that the gym owner seemed to have recently obtained some "secret weapon".

Qiao Ran and the others waited for a while, and the gym trainer who had gone to report the situation returned to them, and behind him was a man dressed in a very special way.

Judging from the information Qiao Ran collected, this person seems to be the gym leader of the Yangcheng Gym.

"..."

Just like in the photos and videos.

——The owner of the Yangcheng Dojo is a middle-aged man dressed very casually and looking a little unfocused. He has a little stubble on his face and his skin color is

His hair was a healthy wheat color, but what caught Qiao Ran's attention at first glance was that he was wearing a pair of slippers.

"..."

Although he had heard that every gym leader had great authority and that there were many gym leaders with very unique personalities, this was the first time that Qiao Ran had seen a gym leader dressed like this. He looked so relaxed and casual, as if he was taking a walk in his own home.

The casually dressed uncle looked at the people in front of him, and finally, he set his sights on Qiao Ran.

"Xianzi, are you the challenger of the gym?"

“……?” Several question marks popped up above Qiao Ran’s head. As if noticing Qiao Ran’s reaction, the other party smiled and quickly switched over.

"I'm asking you, is this the challenger for this gym?"

"Yes. My name is Qiao Ran."

Qiao Ran nodded. Every place in China has its own dialect, but he really doesn't understand any of them.

Fortunately, almost every gym owner or gym trainer has certain Mandarin language requirements. After all, it is not just local trainers who come to the gym to challenge. Even in some larger gyms, there are requirements to master certain foreign languages. At that level, I am afraid it is not just domestic trainers who are received.

For example, the Yangcheng Dojo in front of us probably has many such regulations.

"Come on, Wanshuang also told me about you two. There are two matches today, right? You and..."

He raised his eyebrows and looked behind Qiao Ran.

"...Miss Mitsuki, it should be you two today, right?"

When the owner suddenly called her name, Meiyue quickly stood up and introduced herself. After Qiao Ran and Meiyue finished explaining their situation, the owner, who was dressed casually, also laughed.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Chen Leizhong, and I'm the owner of the Yangcheng Gym. This year marks my eighteenth year as the gym owner."

To become a gym leader, one not only needs to complete the competition when taking over, but also must meet certain indicators in the assessment every three years. Most importantly, one must defeat other competitors who want to become gym leaders. This means that gym leaders who have served for longer are basically those with rich experience and whose strength can always be maintained at the highest level.

"You're both young trainers who've become quite famous recently, and you seem to have good relationships with many gym leaders. I've heard a lot about you, but don't think I'll let you off easy. I'll be broadcasting the upcoming gym battles throughout the tower, and it'll be live."

Completely different from his casual appearance, the gym leader Chen Leizhong spoke like a machine gun once he started talking. Soon, he turned around decisively and arranged other things for the gym trainers around him.

After explaining what needed to be arranged to the gym trainer, he looked at Qiao Ran and his group and nodded.

"...Prepare well, and we'll see you in the duel field later."

"I hope you won't let me down."

————————————————————————————————————————————

Just as Chen Leizhong said, the time left for them to prepare was not too long, only about half an hour. During this half hour, the entire tower would repeatedly broadcast the news that the battle in the gym was about to begin. Visitors who wanted to watch the battle could wait in the viewing area. When a certain number of people were reached, entry to the viewing area would be prohibited.

As for other people, they can also watch the live battle through the display in the tower. This entire building is actually the show venue of the gym. In terms of the number of people it can accommodate, it is probably no less than the large stadiums of other gyms.

Not only that, before Chen Leizhong left, he also stuffed a thin manual into Qiao Ran's hand, saying it was something like precautions for combat. Qiao Ran opened the manual and flipped through it, and found that there were a lot of things densely written on it.

Miyue beside her also came over. After all, she would also have to participate in the battle later, so it would be good to understand the situation a little bit.

"Let me take a look too... What is this?... Um... You can't use earthquake skills, you can't use digging skills... You can't destroy the ground and walls in any way..."

Halfway through reading, Meiyue and Qiao Ran couldn't help but look at each other.

"Isn't this the same rule as the previous battle against the train?" X2

Both of them thought of the same thing at the same time - similar to these rules, skills with huge destructive power, which may even cause irreversible damage to the ground, are not allowed to be used on battle trains. These rules are not due to any deliberate restrictions, but because... if they really do so, there will definitely be very terrible consequences.

"Right. This is inside the tower... If we dig directly, we can only dig down to the bottom floor, right?"

Qiao Ran thought to himself that it was a close call. Fortunately, he didn't like to use the digging skill. Although many novice trainers liked to let Pokémon dig holes during battles, if they wanted to use digging to avoid skills... they might have underestimated the opponent's skill release speed.

"Also, I didn't expect that the experience I learned from the battle against the train would be useful here..."

Chapter 664

First Battle

"Hello, we have reached the upper limit for the number of people who can watch the live broadcast... We are very sorry, could you please go to another area to watch the live broadcast?"

"Sorry sir, you can't enter now..."

The news that Qiao Ran and others would participate in the challenge attracted a large number of spectators from the moment it was announced. The venue, which was originally announced half an hour in advance and would be full of people about ten minutes before the start, was already crowded within ten minutes of the announcement this time, and there was even a large crowd outside.

The appeal of Qiao Ran and others is indeed quite strong. Even though none of them have appeared on the Internet before, after what happened before, their names have already spread throughout the trainer circle in China.

Even if these spectators did not come for fun, but just to watch a high-level battle, they would definitely not miss today's game.

“There are so many people here…”

Hearing the noise outside, Zhulan also walked to the door and took a quick look outside. It seemed that there were a lot more people in this world than in the Pokémon world. Such a large number of people could be gathered within half an hour. If it were in the Pokémon world, this would definitely not be possible.

"Then we have to take it down even more."

"Ok!"

Hearing Qiao Ran's words, Meiyue also responded. If they lost here, it would definitely disrupt their next plan. In order not to drag down the entire team, they only had this one chance.

As the two who took the lead on the first day, they would definitely face the most difficult challenge. After all, even on the Internet, it was difficult to find footage of a gym leader fighting with all his strength. Even if there was any, it was probably a long time ago.

After all, most gym challengers have limited strength. Even if they participate in the final league tournament, it is only a small step on the road to becoming a trainer. To be able to possess such powerful strength while challenging a gym... I am afraid Qiao Ran and his team are really an extreme exception.

——————————————————————————————————————————

After the repairs were completed, more than twenty minutes passed when Qiao Ran, led by the staff, arrived at the battle arena.

This floor... no, or rather, the areas on several floors are actually used for gym battles. The most central location is naturally the standard rectangular arena, and outside the arena is a large area for accommodating spectators.

In order to ensure safe gym battles, the ground, ceiling, and surrounding walls of this area have been specially treated so that they will not have a particularly huge effect on general skill damage. However, even so, for safety reasons, many powerful and destructive skills are still prohibited.

"Welcome to the Yangcheng Gym."

Standing at the other end of the venue was Chen Leizhong, the owner of the Chen Pavilion, whom I had met before.

He was exactly the same as before, still relaxed, with his familiar slippers on his feet. Even in public, he didn't seem to mind at all.

As for the audience, they seemed to be accustomed to the appearance of the museum owner. After all, they had done some research before coming here, so they naturally knew what kind of personality the museum owner had.

"Yangcheng Gym is a gym built in a special location, so we have some special rules here."

Chen Leizhong put his hands in his pockets and looked at Qiao Ran opposite him.

"...You should have read the instructions I gave you, right? In this special venue, the use of certain special skills is prohibited. If a team uses such skills, the referee will immediately award the loss."

"As for the other rules, they're the same as other gyms. We use a 3vs3 battle format here. Whichever team loses all their Pokémon first will be the loser."

Before the battle, Chen Leizhong first discussed the rules in detail with Qiao Ran. He emphasized the most important point of not using destructive skills several times. He looked so cautious, as if he was afraid that Qiao Ran would blow up his gym.

But it's also true that ordinary challengers probably won't pose this level of threat, but once they reach the level of Qiao Ran and the others... if they really use their skills indiscriminately, it's no joke.

When you reach Zhulan's level, it would be a piece of cake for her to destroy a building with just one skill.

In response to the other party's caution, Qiao Ran also made promises in the three places. If possible, he certainly hoped that no major problems would arise. If any problems really occurred here, he could not afford the consequences.

"Both trainers are ready!"

After all preparations were completed, Qiao Ran and Chen Leizhong stood on both sides of the arena. All the cameras and the audience were staring at every move on the field.

"...Gym Trainers, please send out your Pokémon first!"

Not everyone has the opportunity to watch high-level competitions in person. Even if they have watched those classic battles countless times in videos, like the retirement battle between Old Man Nian Hai and Qiao Ran, the feeling of being there is still perfect.

All different.

The smell, the touch, and the sound can all be clearly felt with the body.

"Come on! My first one!"

Chen Leizhong grinned and took out his hands, which were originally lazily inserted in his pockets.

He threw a red and white Poké Ball into the field. After a flash of light, a Pokémon with the appearance of a rodent, a round and cute body, and ears that looked like two big wings appeared in the field.