Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

With a huge rock on its head, the Gekko scurried towards Gastly with tiny, quick steps.

Under the cover of the boulder, neither Pine Needle nor Haunter could see the exact location of the Slime.

"Disappear, Gastly, then go around to the bottom and use Misfortune on it!"

Faced with this situation, Pine Leaf decisively chose the conventional strategy of using Ghost-type Pokémon.

Ghost-type Pokémon, which are elusive and have never been known for their ability to fight head-on, are no exception, even though Haunter at level 27 hasn't mastered many moves yet.

"Stand with your back against the rock and pay attention to the direction from which it appears."

Tetsuya immediately made the giant rock on the top of the insect's head.

A brief silence fell over the field.

The shrew looked around with a serious expression, trying to find Gastly's location.

"Over hiss"

Gastly's hand suddenly appeared directly in front of the Gekko.

The scorpion instinctively spat out a mouthful of acid.

"Sizzle~"

The harsh sound of corrosion reached his ears, and Song Ye's eyes widened in shock.

A bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead: "The strength of this acid is ridiculously strong."

Based on his extensive experience, the corrosiveness of the acid from this slug was definitely abnormal.

"As expected, she truly deserves to be the trainer chosen by Lord Ho-Oh!"

Songye's eyes were filled with fervor.

Compared to the Acid Bomb move, the acid that a Pokémon instinctively spits out in a moment of desperation is what truly demonstrates its strength.

After testing the waters once, Gastly began to circle around.

The surrounding area was quickly corroded into a pitted and uneven state.

The scorpion was also getting tired from its continuous output, and its breathing became more rapid.

The students nearby noticed something was wrong: "If this continues, that worm will run out of energy and be caught out!"

As elite trainers, their teachers saw much more; not only was Gekko-kun in poor physical condition, but Gastly's stamina wasn't much better either.

Song Ye was now in a difficult position.

Because he discovered that no matter how many times he tried, the opposing Garchomp could always spot Gastly's location immediately, so Gastly hadn't been able to use its "Misfortune Comes Alone" attack yet.

Although the acid didn't hit Gastly every time, Gastly was actually at a greater disadvantage in terms of stamina expenditure compared to the other side.

"This beetle's attention span is a bit too long," Songye frowned.

Logically speaking, in the heat of battle, apart from Psychic-type Pokémon, very few Pokémon can maintain such a high level of focus for such a long time.

This puts a lot of pressure on the Pokémon's psyche, especially when it's constantly being harassed by Ghost-type Pokémon.

But the opponent's antagonist never revealed the slightest flaw.

Even if Gastly suddenly bursts out of the rock behind it, it will still react immediately and retaliate.

Only Tetsuya knew that this was the result of the unwavering will that the Gegebug had honed in the Plasma Team's research lab.

Back then, relaxation meant death.

"Got you." Seeing Gastly's disappearing form suddenly freeze, Tetsuya's eyes gleamed. "Gagglebug, use Dark Strike!"

“gaygay”

The swarm of black worms pushed off the ground with a powerful leap, and the entire sprite transformed into a blue afterimage as it charged forward.

Pine Leaf knew something was wrong. After such a long standoff, Gastly had finally made a mistake: "Gastly, protect!"

A green light curtain gradually enveloped him.

Gastly's eyes reflected the image of the Gekko and the gleaming brown prongs on its head.

"Boom"

Fortunately, although Gastly made a mistake initially, its proficiency with the Protect move made up for it.

The giant insect's sneak attack struck the green light barrier with great force, but all it achieved was to barely break the protective shield.

But its attack wasn't over yet. Tetsuya waved his hand and said, "Cover-up Bug, use the momentum to fly up, then use the slap!"

In mid-air, the Gekko, having pierced the protective shield with its fork, rolled over and its tiny body appeared diagonally above Gastly.

At this moment, Gastly was still in the stunned state after using its Protect move, and could only watch helplessly as the Gekko-kun moved.

Knock Off, a Dark-type move, deals high damage to Pokémon holding an item and temporarily disables the item's effects. Even if the opponent is not holding an item, the damage is still considerable.

This move is often confused by some trainers and Rock-type moves with Knock Off, but in reality, the two have very different effects.

"boom"

The next moment, Gastly's entire body was slammed hard onto the ground.

"Hiss—"

It let out a painful cry.

The damage from landing on the ground is negligible for Gastly, but the Dark-type energy contained in the Knock Off move deals exceptionally high damage to it.

Don't forget, the Gegger Bug is still under the buff of Sword Dance at this time.

Combined, Gastly's stamina had almost plummeted to rock bottom after this attack.

"Ghost, pull yourself together!" Pine Leaf activated one of the three legendary moves of trainers—Hold On.

"Oh dear~"

Gastly struggled to support its body with its two hands, but its condition was visibly poor.

Tetsuya raised an eyebrow. Perhaps next time he should try an instruction like "Get out of the way"?

Despite this, he did not hesitate for a moment. As soon as the worm recovered, he immediately commanded the attack: "Charge! Use the combo attack!"

"Ghost, give it a taste of fire! Use Fire Punch!" Pine made a final stand.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize he was using the wrong skill.

"Swish"

The swarm ignored Gastly's Flame Punch and swung its small, white-glowing hand at Gastly's body.

Despite its high resistance, Gastly, which was already on its last legs, still passed out after this attack.

Its trainer was still staring blankly at the faint charred marks on Gekko, wondering why Fire-type moves had such a weak effect on Gekko.

How could a normal, average-level Bug-type Pokémon still be alive and kicking after taking a Fire-type move when its stamina is more than half depleted?

Pine Needle shuddered: "Could it be that this succubus is also a Pokémon chosen by Ho-Oh?"

In his opinion, this was the only reason why the Gege Beetle had such a high resistance to fire.

Tetsuya on the other side had no idea that Matsuba was imagining a whole bunch of things; he just thought that Ash's battle tactics were actually pretty good.

These days, what kind of trainer can't defeat an opponent with four times the resistance?

Gastly is unable to battle; Gekko wins!

The referee's closing remarks came late.

"Change the sprite."

This time, before he could ask any questions, Tetsuya took the initiative to recall the Cover Bug: "Well done. Now, leave the rest of the battle to your partners."

The ball wobbled slightly before returning to calm.

Seeing that Matsuba had sent out its last Pokémon, Gengar, Tetsuya followed suit and threw out his last Poké Ball of the battle: "Well then, I'll leave it to you, Kirlia!"

"Kirari~"

Kirlia, appearing on the field, placed her hands in front of her and performed a battle salute to Gengar in the air with great politeness and ceremony.

"Genwa"

Gengar seemed to be encountering such an opponent for the first time, and greeted it by swaying its chubby body.

Although Gengar is very mischievous and sometimes even fierce, it is also known to be loyal to its trainers who treat it well. When its trainer is kind to it, its smile is not so sinister but friendly.

"However, before the battle begins, we need to eliminate your advantage, Matsuba."

Just as everyone was tense, Tetsuya stretched his neck, which was a little sore from concentrating for so long, and said something rather strange.

Chapter 412 The Name of the God of War

"What do you mean?"

Those around were momentarily confused.

Tetsuya smiled and took out a shimmering light blue stone from his spatial backpack: "What I mean is, when a second-stage Pokémon battles a third-stage Pokémon, it has to keep up with the pace, right?"

"Evolve, Kirlia!"

With a flick of his arm, the stone traced a graceful arc through the air and landed precisely in front of Kirlia.

"Chiru~"

Kirlia looked at the pale blue stone that she had controlled with her telekinesis to float in front of her, and a hint of excitement was revealed in her red eyes hidden behind her shoulder-length bangs.

It slowly stretched out its hands and touched the stone.

The light of evolution gradually enveloped Kirlia's entire body.

"Is it preparing to evolve into Gallade? That's quite rare," Matsuha remarked, watching the scene unfold.

Tetsuya shrugged: "It's probably because this kid has spent a lot of time with Blaziken, so he prefers the feeling of close combat."

It would rather evolve into Gallade than Gardevoir.

"Is that so?" Songye nodded with a smile. "Well, it's good that the child is male."

Unlike Gardevoir, which has a 50/50 male-to-female ratio, Gallade is a male-only Pokémon that can only evolve from a male Kirlia.

If Tetsuya's Kirlia were a girl, she would have been destined to evolve into Gardevoir.

In Pokémon families with branching evolutions, it is common for them to choose different evolutionary forms due to environmental factors. As a trainer, your job is to support and respect the Pokémon's own choices.

Of course, this choice will not contradict the trainer's own ideas in most cases.

After all, when a Pokémon grows up surrounded by its trainer and other companions, its ideal life can be predicted from the very beginning.

As for the Awakening Stone needed for Kirlia to evolve into Gallade, Tetsuya said that it was nothing compared to Daigo's abilities.

As an evolution stone, even the highest quality Awakening Stone isn't particularly valuable.

Tetsuya had included this item on his list back when the Seven-Colored Branches were being traded.

The reason why the Awakening Stone is priced relatively low is mainly because its application range is extremely small and its practicality is not great.

Of all the known Pokémon, only the male Kirlia needs an Awakening Stone to evolve into Gallade and the female Snorunt into Froslass.

As for these two gender-restricted evolutionary forms of Pokémon, the other gender-neutral evolutionary branches, Gardevoir and Glalie, are more popular among trainers.

On the one hand, both types of evolution are powerful enough without needing evolution stones;

On the other hand, Gardevoir goes without saying; Glalie is also more benevolent and loyal than Froslass.

There is an additional ghost-attribute snow fairy who is said to be the reincarnation of a woman who died in a snow mountain, and she likes to eat frozen male souls.

This rumor is enough to make people keep their distance from it.

Since there is little market demand, and Awakening Stones are found alongside Evolution Stone veins of various attributes, their general price is about the same as that of a decent Pokémon item.

Even with the "high quality" prefix, it doesn't become a hot commodity with exorbitant prices like high-quality attribute evolution stones once they appear.

As she spoke, Kirlia's small body gradually grew taller and longer in the light of evolution.

"Ledo"

The white light dissipated, and a tall, slender elf appeared before everyone.

Its lower body is white, with thick, rounded hips and strong legs.