How come my Pokémon turned into a girl?

"Spiny Shell, use Ice Cone!" Kona released his Pokémon in frustration. The Pokémon, with a hard double shell and spikes all over its body, appeared in the center of the hot spring pool.

Upon hearing Kona's order, ice-attribute energy began to condense at the pointed end of the spiny clam's body. The energy that escaped was enough to gradually freeze the water surface.

A'Du was not surprised at his colleague's aggressive behavior. He calmly commanded: "Charizard, spray flames!"

Charizard also roared immediately, and the flames in its mouth burned more and more vigorously until they formed a column of fire and spewed out.

The forces of fire and ice collided, locked in a stalemate in mid-air, neither willing to yield. By resolving all conflicts through Pokémon battles, Kona and Adu were, in a sense, fulfilling the Pokémon League's motto.

However, while the two were fighting fiercely, Qianye and Nancy, who were still at the scene, were completely unable to adapt to such a huge development and looked at each other blankly.

"Is this considered an internal conflict within the Guandu Alliance? Qianye, should we notify the others?"

"There's no need. They seem to be very sensible." After carefully observing the battle situation on the field for a while, Qianye came to a reassuring answer.

Although it looked massive and as if they were going to blow people's brains out, in fact, both Adu and Kona were intentionally controlling the scale of the battle so as not to cause damage to the bathhouse facilities.

However, even if you are not affected, after seeing the hot spring water constantly going through the cycle of being frozen into ice and then quickly melted into water again by the flames, it is obvious that this hot spring is completely unsuitable for soaking.

"Nazi, let's evacuate here first... why not just go to the guesthouse where that old man stayed earlier?"

In response to Qianye's suggestion, Nazhi looked at the violent collision of blue and red energy in the sky and nodded in agreement.

Chapter 106 Xia Bo Appears

"Under the clock, above the park... Not only did they use riddles as a promotional tool, but the location was also so remote."

Relying on the answer that Sister Kona had previously guessed, Qianye and Nancy quickly found a B&B building built on the waist of a volcano.

Just as the boy had expected, the place was extremely deserted. There was a thick layer of dust on the threshold of the hotel entrance. It was obvious that few tourists had visited here.

"Excuse me... Achoo!" When the door was slowly pushed open, a sharp creaking sound was heard, shaking off the sand on the door frame and causing the young man standing in front to sneeze violently.

As the door panels opened to the sides, a strong white light shone out, dazzling the eyes. A dark figure stood in the center, hands behind his back, clapping his hands in front of his chest.

"I can't believe you were able to solve the puzzle I set up. That's amazing!"

As he spoke, the black shadow gradually walked out and revealed his true appearance. He had long yellow hair, sunglasses and a mustache. He was the old man who had been asking the riddle before.

"I appreciate your wisdom. As a reward, your accommodation here is completely free. Of course, your food will not be reimbursed."

The announcement should have been extremely fortunate for the other party, but the old man didn't see the expected excitement on their faces. Nazzi's face was truly emotionless, while Qianye was slightly stunned before falling into deep thought.

"Hey, hey, hey, you guys have no reaction at all? In the cold night with nowhere to go, you finally found a hotel with a vacant room, and the accommodation fee is waived. Shouldn't you be so surprised that you're about to cry?"

It seemed that he really couldn't accept this result. The old man's mustache exaggeratedly rose up to the sky, and his golden hair seemed about to fly off his head.

"Old man, first of all, we are not nowhere to go, and free things are of course very happy, but all things that do not require money often have to be paid for in other places that we have not noticed."

The main reason is that the old man's behavior is too inconsistent with the role he plays. He is obviously the owner of a hotel, so what he hopes is to attract more guests to earn income, but everything the old man does is more like the complete opposite - that is, to avoid most tourists from finding this hotel as much as possible.

"This B&B does look a bit old, but that's probably due to a lack of guests and infrequent cleaning. However, the infrastructure here is fully capable of maintaining normal operation..."

"Judging from the area I've observed this hotel covers, it should cost a lot to maintain, right?"

Having said that, Qianye raised his head, his gaze seeming to penetrate the thick sunglasses and saw the surprise in the old man's eyes.

"With almost no customers, a group finally cracked the riddle and showed up. Seeing this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make money, they chose to simply waive their accommodation fees? Even if they were truly kind and wanted to give alms, where would they get the income to maintain such a large hotel?"

Considering the old man's previous comments about the Red Lotus Gym, and his own experiences of passing through those cities in the past, he was basically able to confirm the other party's identity.

"I think there's only one person on this Crimson Island who has nothing to do all day and still earns a decent income regularly... I'm right, right? Since there are no more trainers challenging me, there's naturally no need for a Crimson Gym Leader to work."

What determines whether a gym can continue to operate is not the number of badges retained or given away, but the regular gym assessments conducted by the League. As long as the strength is judged to be qualified, the gym leader's qualification will not be revoked even if no trainer comes to challenge them, and they can still receive the salary issued by the Pokémon League.

With this salary, maintaining an inn isn't a big deal anymore. The reason they went to such great lengths to hide the location with puzzles is probably to screen out the trainers who really want to challenge the gym. After all, if they're just playing around, they'll probably just give up without even trying to solve the puzzle.

"I'm sorry, young man. What do you mean by Red Lotus Gym Leader? I really don't understand what you are saying." Although he was a little flustered for a moment after hearing Qian Ye's reasoning, the old man quickly calmed himself down and said.

It seemed that he didn't want to admit his identity so easily, but it didn't matter. Qianye still had a trump card: "Of course, besides the gym leader, there is another possibility that can explain this."

"Haha, look, I'm telling you..."

"Your income is actually derived from luring vulnerable travelers to your inn, killing them when they're least prepared, and then seizing their belongings. In that case, there's really no need to charge for accommodation; in the end, everything is yours anyway."

The old man broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing this, Qianye continued to exert pressure, saying, "Could it be that my second guess was actually correct?"

"Okay, okay, I surrender! Your guess is absolutely correct." The old man touched his head with one hand, and with a strong pull, his long yellow hair slid smoothly into his palm, leaving only a bright and smooth light bulb.

So that long yellow hair is actually a wig?!

"I didn't expect that I underestimated you. You've figured out the whole truth after just a few steps here. You're truly formidable young people... That's right, I'm Xia Bo, the Gym Master of the Red Lotus Gym."

Actually, it’s nothing. It’s just that I’ve seen too many gym leaders who are not doing their jobs properly before, so I subconsciously think in this direction... Wait, did he just say the word "Xia Bo"?

"Wait... wait a minute, who did you say you were?" Now it was Qianye's turn to be shocked. So the old friend Yuantai was talking about was the Fire Gym Leader of the Alliance. His dad was just an ordinary convenience store owner in a new town. How could he know such a powerful person?

"Uh, as you've deduced, I'm the Gym Leader of the Red Lotus Gym. Any questions?"

"No, that's not what I'm asking. I want to confirm, is your name Xia Bo? Is that true?"

"Why should I lie in a place like this?" Hearing Qian Ye's question, Xia Bo looked at the boy strangely.

"Excuse me, do you know a middle-aged man named Yuantai? I am his child, and here is a letter he asked me to deliver to you."

Yuan Tai... who is that? Had he ever heard of such a person? Xia Bo became increasingly confused as he listened, but he still took the envelope that Qian Ye had pulled out from his body, opened it, took out the letter, and began to read.

The moment the old man pulled out the letter paper, a pattern flashed before the boy's eyes. It seemed to be... a golden cross star-shaped pattern.

Isn't that the Evolution Society logo? Is it just a coincidence, or...

A chill ran up Qianye's spine. His parents were just residents of Pallet Town. Aside from his mother's striking appearance, they were no different from any other ordinary family... He had always believed this, even after learning about his own peculiarities from Jirachi and Mew.

However, the special symbol that flashed before his eyes was like a Pandora's box that had been opened, causing the boy to start to have uncontrollable wild thoughts.

Just when he was extremely panicked, he felt a warm and soft touch on the back of his hand. The fingertips gently stroked the palm of his hand, dispelling the uneasiness in the boy's heart.

How could Nazhi, who always kept her eyes on Qianye, not notice the abnormality in his mind at this moment? She didn't know why the boy was suddenly so scared. All she could do was to convey her intention to always stand with him through her hands.

"Qianye, I'm still with you."

"Nazi..." Looking at the pair of tender red eyes, Qianye unconsciously held the girl's small hand tighter.

Finally, after reading the letter completely, Xia Bo closed the paper in his hand. Perhaps the time he spent reading the letter was only five or six minutes, but in Qianye's perception, it felt like half a century.

At this moment, Xia Bo had a very complicated expression on his face. For a moment, he didn't know how to talk to the son of his old friend.

But just because he didn't speak, it didn't mean Qianye wouldn't take the initiative to ask—

"Mr. Xia Bo, who exactly is my father?"

"Well, now that this letter has reached my hands, I think your father has already decided to tell you the truth about your life."

With a soft sigh, Xia Bo stroked his mustache and began to tell the boy a story from the past, a story about a man who was completely different from the father he remembered.

"You should know that on this volcanic island, the most famous facility is the Crimson Lotus Research Institute, located near the center of the island. However, a few decades ago, it wasn't called that, and hadn't yet been incorporated into the Kanto Alliance. To be more precise, it was known as the 'Team Rocket Research Headquarters'."

As soon as he opened his mouth, he revealed some explosive information. It was a great irony that the predecessor of the Pokémon Research Institute under the Kanto Alliance was actually the scientific research department of Team Rocket, the largest evil force in the Kanto region.

Xia Bo continued, "Yuanta, that's your father's current name, right? That's right, that's not his real name. His real name is Kazeshima Sho. Decades ago, I and I both worked in the research group of Team Rocket, but we were in charge of completely different projects."

"Do you know what everyone in our group called him back then? Crazy Xiang. Because when it came to scientific research, he had no bottom line and never had the slightest bit of mercy."

"It was like a madman who had abandoned all emotions and lived completely for scientific research. Even the subject he was researching at the time sounded so crazy—"

"He actually dreamed of modifying the underlying genes of ordinary Pokémon, allowing them to break through the upper limits of their own species and even cross over to the realm of Legendary Pokémon!"

Chapter 107: Human or Pokémon

"But now that I think about it, we're all pretty much the same..."

In fact, in a sense, Xia Bo and Kazeshima Sho were more like competitors than friends. The two projects of "making a one-to-one copy of a legendary Pokémon that is fully controlled by Team Rocket" and "allowing ordinary Pokémon to have the potential to evolve into legendary Pokémon" had no clear priority in the eyes of the leader of Team Rocket at the time.

However, both research projects require a large amount of funding, and even with the financial resources of a large organization like the Rockets, it is difficult to support both projects at the same time. Therefore, as long as one side achieves results first, the research funding of the other side will be significantly cut.

"When your father suddenly announced his research success, our entire research team was shocked. We thought the plan to clone the mythical beast was completely aborted... But later, during actual testing, we discovered that what he had created was only a semi-finished product."

"Miracle virus." Qianye said the term subconsciously. His previous guess was correct. The miracle virus was a by-product of the experiment to achieve miracle evolution. He just didn't expect that the person who invented this thing was actually his old man.

"You know about the Miracle Virus, too? Oh, that doesn't seem surprising. You came here with that Four Heavenly Kings, Kona. The son of Team Rocket's former research officer is actually a member of the Pokémon League. It's true that when you get older, you can see all kinds of interesting things."

Looking at Xia Bo touching his beard and sighing to himself, Qian Ye really wanted to remind him that he himself had made the jump from being a researcher on Team Rocket to becoming a gym leader in the League.

"So, what happened to my dad?"

"I don't know." The bald old man shook his head. "Due to the lack of progress, the leader has withdrawn Axiang's research funding and hopes that he can transfer to our group..."

In reality, the Divine Beast Replication Project was nearing completion at that time, and even if Ah Xiang didn't join, he would only have to wait a few more years. The leader made this decision entirely out of admiration for his talent and offered him a chance to benefit from the project's achievements.

"But that guy's arrogance matched his talent. He wasn't willing to give up, so he left Team Rocket and went to Hoenn to work on his own. He even founded an organization called the Evolution Association."

"I haven't heard anything about him since then. I only know that he died in an experimental accident. If you hadn't suddenly come to my door, I would have thought that guy was dead."

Listening to Xia Bo's story, Qianye's head began to spin. Team Rocket, the Evolution Association... these two organizations, with whom he had a lot of grudges, turned out one was his father's former employer, and the other was even the company he founded. Isn't that outrageous?

"Actually, there's no need to overthink it. Since your father faked his own death and left, it's clear he wants to completely sever ties with the past. If you run into people from those two organizations, there's no need to worry about anything. Just handle things as business as usual."

Seeing the young man's confused expression, Xia Bo thought that he was worried about his stance, so he reached out and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

"The son of an old friend is visiting, and I should have done my duty as a good host. However, your father also asked me for a favor in his letter..."

As he spoke, the old man recalled the passage he had read in the letter, and his wrinkled face became strange. There was nothing he could do about it. How could he describe the things written on that piece of paper? It felt like a severe violation of his common sense.

In his impression, apart from being a little bit paranoid about scientific research, Kazeshima Sho is generally a normal person, at least his XP should be normal... How come after decades, he has been stuck in the laboratory for too long and his brain has been damaged, becoming completely abnormal?

"He wants me to help give you a physical examination. Although I didn't stay at the Red Lotus Research Institute after leaving Team Rocket, I still left some of my old friends here. Maybe they can still be used normally. Please come with me."

……

The hotel run by Xia Bo appeared to be only above average in size among its peers from the outside, but as they followed the old man's footsteps deeper, Qian Ye and his group discovered that there was a more extensive underground structure inside.

The long staircase spiraled downward, almost vertically for about twenty meters. Xia Bo finally stopped and reached out to open the iron door of a secret room.

When the power was turned off, the lights on the ceiling immediately came on, but the light was a little dim. There wasn't much inside, just a few powerful-looking instruments and an operating table that was about waist-high.

Just from the rusty surface and the thick dust accumulated, it is obvious that these things have been idle here for a long time.

"Really... no problem?"

Qianye watched Xia Bo peel off the spider webs on the joystick layer by layer, his eyes were quite subtle. It was already so old, could it really still be used normally?

"Haha, it's okay. These old guys are of good quality. They just haven't been used in over a decade. There won't be any major problems. By the way... which one is the start button?"

The old man seemed to have forgotten how to use this thing. While trying to fiddle with the buttons on the console, he subconsciously pinched his beard, and while accidentally getting black ash from his fingertips on his beard, he was recalling how to operate it.

"Ah! Now I remember, this is it!"

With a moustache raised happily, Xia Bo lifted up a miniature glass cover for safety on the right side of the operating panel and pressed the big red button on it hard.

All of a sudden, the entire control panel began to make loud noises, and excitement began to appear under the sunglasses. In a trance, Xia Bo felt as if he had returned to his youth, full of vigor and dignified bearing.

But the next moment, a large cloud of thick black smoke suddenly emerged from the operating table and covered Xia Bo's face, choking him and making him cough continuously.

The beautiful memories disappeared in an instant, and Qianye, who was standing behind him, turned pale. As for Nazhi, she had already grabbed the boy's hand tightly and turned her head to pull him away from this dangerous place immediately.

"Ahem, it's just a small problem... Don't worry, I'll be able to fix it soon!"

In response to Qian Ye and the other two's obvious intention to retreat, Xia Bo hurriedly patted his chest and assured them confidently, but his face, which was as black as a pot lid, was not very convincing.

In the end, the two watched as the old man spent an hour or so inspecting the entire console and the instruments nearby. As Xia Bo pressed the start switch, the indicator lights quickly lit up, and the devices on both sides began to operate.

He looked across, nervously staring at the dials on the console. After all the numbers stabilized in the normal range, Xia Bo picked up a towel, wiped the sweat from his bald head, and smiled with relief.

"It's done now, Qianye. Now lie down in that glass culture chamber. Don't worry, it won't take long for the results to come out."

Even so, after what I saw before, it’s hard for me to feel at ease... His eyebrows twitched, and the huge glass culture chamber in front of him seemed to have turned into a transparent coffin.

"Qian Ye, do you really want to go?" Naz grabbed the boy's arm with both hands, her eyes full of worry.

"It's okay. Didn't Menghuan say that my body is far superior to that of an ordinary person? Even if something unexpected happens, I won't get hurt, right?"

Just like that, under the gaze of Nazi and Xia Bo, Qianye walked into the open glass chamber and lay down steadily inside. The old man then pulled a lever on the console, and the chamber cover closed inward, and the green working light on the side of the device flashed.

In the following time, Nancy kept her eyes on the detection device, ready to use instant teleportation to transfer Qianye out as soon as there was any abnormality.

But it seems that just as Xia Bo said, his "old friends" are of very good quality. Until the work lights went out, there was no abnormality in the device.

"The results are out... As expected, the components of the Miracle Virus were detected in your body."