"Excellent battle. Your control over the situation and the way you arranged your tactics were outstanding. You fully deserve this Bolder Badge."
After recalling Onix, Flint praised Gu Yuan's performance highly.
"You flatter me. I still have many areas to improve and learn from," Gu Yuan replied.
Taking the badge, Gu Yuan remained humble instead of proud. This further raised Flint's opinion of him.
After Gu Yuan left, Flint recorded his evaluation of him in the official records.
From now on, whenever Gu Yuan participates in Gym battles, other Gym Leaders will see it. Even if Gu Yuan later joins the Detective or other systems, this evaluation can be referenced to understand him.
"You two performed extremely well. Let me treat you to a big meal at lunch as a reward."
Leaving the Pewter City Gym, Gu Yuan patted Charmeleon and Eevee's heads with admiration in his voice.
He found a nice-looking restaurant and ordered a table full of dishes in one go.
With Charmeleon and Eevee around, Gu Yuan was confident nothing would go to waste.
Money was not a concern either. Shadow had already made sure Gu Yuan would be well provided for, so he didn't have to worry about eating for free.
"Let's go. I'll take you to the museum. It'll help digest the food too."
After leaving the restaurant, Gu Yuan realized he had overestimated Charmeleon and Eevee's appetite, but he forced himself to finish the meal.
After living a wandering life, Gu Yuan would not allow himself to waste food.
At the museum, he returned the sleeping Abra to its Poké Ball.
He couldn't understand how Abra could maintain a good figure despite eating so much and barely moving.
Walking into the museum, the weight of history hit him immediately.
On the first floor, the most eye-catching exhibits were the fossils of Aerodactyl and Kabuto.
Just looking at the Aerodactyl fossil, one could feel the fierce aura of this ancient apex predator.
Instinctively, Gu Yuan and his Pokémon lowered their voices as they strolled through the museum.
Before leaving, Gu Yuan looked once more at the Aerodactyl fossil.
If he remembered correctly, Ash would later encounter a living Aerodactyl and a pile of Kabuto sleeping on some island.
Later, the technology to revive ancient Pokémon from fossils would appear.
Without experiencing this world firsthand, one might think such technology would only exist at a certain point in Ash's journey.
Now Gu Yuan realized that maybe this technology already exists, just not widely known, but controlled by a select few.
If that's true, then Fairy-type Pokémon, Mega Stones, and Key Stones might also already have been discovered, with only the top experts keeping them a secret, which explains why they haven't been revealed yet.
Thinking this, Gu Yuan felt a bit regretful. He had hoped to collect some Mega Stones before the technology became public.
After all, he already had Charmeleon and Abra, which, when in their final evolution capable of Mega Evolution. Later, he might have even more Pokémon who could use it. Mega Stones would definitely be useful.
Even if he didn't use them, he could sell them. The League or Team Rocket would surely not refuse.
But now it seemed his plan was impossible.
By the time the technology becomes public, most of the scattered Mega Stones would likely be collected by the League's top people. He didn't know if Shadow was aware of this.
Unfortunately, Gu Yuan couldn't tell Shadow, as there would be no way to explain where he got the information.
Shaking his head helplessly, Gu Yuan let it go.
As long as he was strong enough, he could obtain the Mega Stones he wanted through other means without actively searching.
"Let's go. Training continues!"
Back at the Pokémon Center, Gu Yuan, who initially wanted Charmeleon and Eevee to rest, reignited his fighting spirit.
He was still too weak. Until he reached a certain level, there was no reason to slack off.
Soon, Charmeleon and Eevee entered training mode, while Abra continued to sleep soundly.
Immersed in training, time passed quickly. Before he knew it, Gu Yuan's registered battle tournament began outside Pewter City.
Arriving at the site, he saw dozens of simple battle arenas drawn on the ground with white lines.
These were for the preliminary rounds.
The preliminaries divided participants into eight groups. Each group selected the top four, producing thirty-two contestants for the next round.
To make the battles exciting and quickly identify strong contenders, many matches happened simultaneously, making the preliminaries more visually engaging.
Gu Yuan received his number and went to the assigned battle arena.
He was lucky to be in the first batch of battles. Winning early would allow him to observe other opponents for preparation.
Ding!
[Challenge quest started]
[From now on, the host will receive points for each opponent he defeats]
Standing in the battle arena, Gu Yuan couldn't help smiling slightly at the system's voice.
When he decided to enter, he wanted to see if this type of battle could trigger point rewards. Now it seemed his guess was correct.
Anything that allowed him to grow stronger as a trainer could earn points.
Unfortunately, Gym battles seemed only to test strength and did not trigger points. Gu Yuan soon dismissed this regret.
After reading the system instructions, he realized that the points earned for defeating opponents matched the strength of the Pokémon they used.
Closing the system, Gu Yuan felt even more excited for battle.
As the referee spoke, Gu Yuan and his opponent released their Pokémon.
The tournament was one-on-one, so Gu Yuan released his strongest Pokémon first: Charmeleon.
His opponent released a Junior Rank Beedrill.
Opening Charmeleon's status panel, Gu Yuan leveled up its strength again, finding a perfect opponent for training.
"Ding! Task one completed. Points awarded."
As Charmeleon's strength increased, the system notified him, and the referee officially began the battle.