Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

While size does not necessarily determine strength for Pokémon, for the vast majority of Pokémon, larger size equates to greater strength.

This is true at least within the same evolutionary chain.

Evolution is growth for elves, and this growth is often manifested through changes in physical size, which is the most intuitive way to see it.

That makes things a bit strange.

Her petite stature suggests that she is probably not very strong.

If the opponent wasn't strong enough, how did they manage to sneak behind the curtain and steal some soup despite Blaziken's Champion-level aura?

Although Blaziken hadn't paid any attention to what was happening here, its aura was spreading in all directions.

“Find it.”

Tetsuya snapped his fingers like a mob boss.

The blue light in Blaziken's eyes and the purple light in Gallade's eyes instantly intertwined and enveloped the entire cave.

Behind a rock not far away.

A small, blue-and-white sprite was moving its body along the rock wall.

Recalling the delicious taste it had just enjoyed, it unconsciously started drooling again.

If it weren't for the fact that it couldn't compete with those few swim ring weasels, it would have wanted to taste Slowpoke's tail long ago.

In a one-on-one situation, it swears it can absolutely beat its opponent into submission.

However, the opponent would send in three or four at a time, completely refusing to fight it one-on-one.

The blue-and-white elf pouted angrily at the thought.

I had just taken a nap, and when I woke up, I found myself in this dark and eerie place.

It misses the days when it lived outside so much.

Although the water source here is decent, it's not as comfortable as when I came before, and there aren't many good food options here either.

Only those dry, bony, red creatures that can be seen everywhere, unable to resist.

It sighed unconsciously from its tiny mouth.

Then, in an instant, it raised its two blue hands to cover its yellow beak and looked around warily.

Thankfully, nothing happened. I didn't see the two humans or their tall elves.

The blue and white elf let go of its burden and let its hands hang down at its sides, parallel to the two "bubble"-like marks on its chest.

It lifted its legs again, wiggled its rear, and began to move forward.

After a satisfying meal, it's time to head back to my temporary little nest and get some rest.

"The little guy is quite cute, where are you running off to?"

The sudden sound startled the walking elf, making him jump up on the spot.

Looking to the side, it saw two people and two elves staring at it.

The blue-and-white sprite immediately sensed something was wrong and prepared to flee.

"Gallade, Psychic!" Tetsuya saw through its thoughts and directly commanded Gallade to control the thieving Pokémon.

A bluish-purple light enveloped the blue-white elf's entire body, and it found itself unable to move.

It couldn't possibly break free from the psychic control of an elite-level Gallade, which wasn't even at the normal level.

Or rather, even if it breaks through to the ordinary level of evolution, it still can't do it.

This is a huge gap in strength.

"Boga"

However, it discovered that it could still make a sound, so it let out a loud cry.

As it was pulled in front of Tetsuya by telekinesis, its identity was recognized under the light of the Blaziken.

How did it end up in a place like this?

Xiao Gang was very curious.

The one that appeared before the two of them and had just stolen the last bit of soup was Piplup, one of the three Water-type starter Pokémon from the Sinnoh region, whose final form was Empoleon.

Logically speaking, the starter Pokémon from any region are very rare to see in the wild, belonging to an extremely rare species of Pokémon.

Not to mention that the distance between Johto and Sinnoh is half or even the entire Kanto region.

Although Poggen can dive underwater for more than 10 minutes in search of food, it is definitely not the kind of creature that can cross oceans.

They mostly live by the sea.

Tetsuya shrugged: "Isn't there a Swim Ring Weasel here? It's probably because the source of the connection is a densely populated area of ​​Sinnoh's Water-type Pokémon."

Clear Cliff isn't actually that far from Sinnoh.

Xiao Gang thought about it and agreed.

The starter Pokémon are rare in the wild, not extinct; encountering one is simply a matter of great luck.

"Poga Poga"

Bogarman didn't quite understand the conversation between the two humans; it only knew that its current situation was not good.

That newly appeared white Pokémon is really amazing; it can't run away from this distance.

Tetsuya squinted and stroked his chin, observing the little guy in front of him.

"What? You want to subdue him?" Xiaogang saw through Tetsuya's thoughts.

"A little."

Tetsuya did not deny it.

"The crown pattern covers a large area, and the foam on the chest looks good too, so the quality should be good."

Xiao Gang offered his opinion from the perspective of a breeder.

Tetsuya nodded; he could see those things too.

However, he is still waiting for Zero's panel analysis, which should take some time.

Before that, let's chat with this little guy first.

If the personality is good, even if the potential is a little low, it's not a problem, after all, they are the starter Pokémon and have three stages of transformation.

Low potential can be completely compensated for by using high-quality water stones.

Zheye is now a wealthy man, but high-quality water stones are only of average quality.

"Little brat, you stole my things and you're trying to run away?"

Upon hearing Tetsuya's words, Piplup, who was secretly exerting his strength to break free from Gallade's psychic restraints, froze.

Getting caught stealing food is tantamount to being killed on the spot.

Tetsuya waved at Gallade.

Gallade understood and released Piplup, but its psychic powers still lingered around it.

“Now, let’s talk about your problem.” Tetsuya crouched down to face Pogaman and began their conversation.

Bogarman felt that he could move his body and immediately wanted to run, but after thinking about it, he didn't move.

A slight smile appeared on Tetsuya's lips.

Pogaman and similar elves are quite proud, or rather, have a very strong sense of self-esteem.

In this situation, it won't choose to run away if it's caught stealing food.

Moreover, his squatting motion would make Bogarman feel respected.

As a seasoned trainer and breeder, and also a semi-expert in Pokémon studies, Tetsuya has considerable experience in how to train, or rather, how to build good relationships with Pokémon.

Bogaman's gaze was somewhat unfocused; it dared not look directly into Tetsuya's eyes.

Although competition for food is common in the wild, such petty theft is still condemned.

But there was nothing it could do; the water smelled just too good, and it couldn't resist.

It's all Slowpoke's fault.

Bogarman had already convinced himself.

"Poga Poga"

However, its tone didn't reflect this at all; instead, it sounded weak, while gesturing wildly to express its thoughts.

The elf had to bow his head under the eaves; those two huge creatures were truly terrifying.

"I didn't say I didn't want those things, the curtain and the pot are all there perfectly well."

Tetsuya understood its meaning and said with a smile.

Bogarman's penguin face turned even redder: "Bogarman! Bogarman Bogarman!"

It witnessed these two humans taking away the good things from the water; this was an exchange of equal value.

Tetsuya shrugged: "That's not yours, and besides, you stole it, not exchanged it."

The word "stolen, stolen" echoed in Pogaman's mind.

If you were to ask it what it regrets most right now, it would definitely be not being able to control its mouth.

"Boga"

Bogarman slumped to the ground in despair. It gave up. Oh well, this is too hard.

Tetsuya smiled broadly.

He was also considering how well Emperor Naboo was compatible with his existing elves.

To be honest, it's pretty good.

The only problem is that Emperor Naboo's strength is actually not that high.

Among the composite properties of steel, water steel is not the best. However, even so, in terms of resistance, Emperor Naboo still has 8 resistances, 1 immunity, and 2 resistances of 4x, making it a very strong resistance.

In comparison, being countered by the Fighting, Ground, and Electric attributes is not so important.

This is not the reason for its low strength.

The key point is that Emperor Naboo's characteristics and abilities don't quite match.

Empoleon, known for its energy attacks and energy defenses, has a hidden ability called Defiant. This ability causes Pokémon with this ability to rapidly increase their physical attack power when their opponent lowers their stats during a battle.

A similar characteristic is competitiveness, which results in a rapid increase in one's own energy attack ability under the same conditions.

If you were to replace Emperor Naboo's trait with Competitiveness, its strength would increase by several levels.

But that's impossible.

It can only be said that Arceus probably played the role of a hater when creating this race.

Fortunately, Emperor Naboo has many physical attack skills and the ability to master the change skill Swords Dance; otherwise, its strength as a starter Pokémon would be quite worrying.

In contrast, the general characteristics of Riptide seem quite normal. Its high special defense also allows it to activate the enhancement effects brought by Riptide to a large extent, so there is no need to worry about being one-shotted.

Tetsuya values ​​Immortal Naboo primarily because its Steel type synergizes well with Gigantamax's Sandstorm.

With its steel attribute, it can fight freely in sandstorm weather without worrying about taking extra damage, which alone is very convincing to Tetsuya.

Furthermore, the quadruple resistance to Ice-type attacks allows Empoleon to potentially synergize with the future Ice-type Ninetales to some extent.

Bogarman furtively raised his head and glanced at the human in front of him.

Seeing that he didn't seem to care about her, she wiggled her little bottom and backed away.

"boom"

The next moment, it felt itself being loaded with something.

"Down"

Blaziken glanced at Piplup, who had bumped into its calf, and seemed to say nothing, yet also seemed to say everything.

"Boga"

Bogarman gave an awkward yet polite smile. Would it be acceptable to say that the ground moved on its own?