"Come out, Gastly."
In the training room, Gu Yuan released the Gastly that Agatha had given him.
Gastly is essentially a gaseous life form, with a black, spherical core. It has large white eyes, small black pupils, and a mouth full of fangs.
Using its Ghost-type abilities, Gastly can freely turn invisible, yet it can also control its body to emit a faint sweet scent.
"Gas."
Emerging from the Poké Ball, Gastly affectionately rubbed its head against Gu Yuan. Although Gastly is a gaseous life form, its touch felt solid when making contact.
The reason for Gastly's immediate affection was simple: Agatha had prepared it for him beforehand. Agatha originally thought Gu Yuan would choose Gastly this time, so she prepared it in advance. That's why Agatha was so upset when Gu Yuan refused, though she still entrusted this Gastly to him.
Petting the strangely-feeling Gastly, Gu Yuan checked its information.
Pokémon: Gastly
Gender: Male
Type: Ghost/Poison
Ability: Levitate
Rank: Newborn
Level-up Moves: Confuse Ray, Lick, Hypnosis, Mean Look
TM Moves: None
Egg Moves: Haze, Perish Song
Gu Yuan was quite satisfied with Gastly's information. Especially since it is a Ghost-type Pokémon with the Levitate ability, Normal-type, Fighting-type, and Ground-type moves are completely ineffective against it.
Besides these, only Ghost, Psychic, and Dark types could counter Gastly.
"Alright, Gastly, these are your partners. This is Charizard, this is Alakazam..."
Closing the system panel, Gu Yuan began introducing Charizard and the others to Gastly.
As Pokémon of similar age, Gastly and Charcadet undoubtedly had more in common. Naturally, due to its friendly nature, Sylveon quickly earned Gastly's favor. Charizard and the others, however, still needed time to familiarize themselves with it.
Gu Yuan was not in a hurry. He planned to slowly let them develop unity and teamwork, which is one of the responsibilities of a trainer.
***
Just as Agatha said, after the incident in Fuchsia City subsided, Gu Yuan easily registered for the Gym challenge, and his match was scheduled relatively early.
Currently, although Agatha had acknowledged Gu Yuan as her disciple, she had not made it public. The main reason was that Gu Yuan was still weak. Those who resented Agatha but were not strong enough to exact revenge could easily target Gu Yuan instead.
Furthermore, Agatha believed that travel was an essential part of growth, so she never considered cutting Gu Yuan's journey short to train him.
In the waiting room, Gu Yuan studied knowledge about training Ghost-type Pokémon, occasionally communicating with the Gastly hidden in his shadow using telepathy.
For Gastly, staying in the shadow was much more comfortable than being inside a Poké Ball. Therefore, Gu Yuan respected its choice as it also allowed them to talk and bond when he had free time.
Moreover, having a Gastly in his shadow certainly gave him a sense of security. Gu Yuan had tried to use the system to detect the Pokémon in Agatha's shadow. The result was simple: never provoke Agatha, or you will die a miserable death!
Gu Yuan did not have to wait long. Soon, a staff member came to escort him into the battlefield.
"Oh, you must be Gu Yuan. I heard you performed excellently during the Team Rocket encirclement and nearly foiled Hawkins's plot in the end."
Koga smiled and spoke to Gu Yuan as soon as they met. Evidently, Koga had noticed Gu Yuan's performance during the encirclement operation when rewards were allocated afterward.
"You praise me too much, sir. I didn't do much. It was mainly due to Agatha's timely arrival. Otherwise, I would have been in danger."
Gu Yuan shook his head, refusing to be arrogant. Having briefly clashed with Hawkins, Gu Yuan was fully aware of his limitations.
"That's still quite commendable. The League will only improve with excellent juniors like you."
"Now, let me see if your strength is enough to earn this Soul Badge!"
With that, Koga released his first Pokémon.
Looking at the righteous expression on Koga's face, Gu Yuan found something slightly incongruous. However, once the battle began, it was not the time for him to dwell on unnecessary thoughts.
Seeing that Koga's first Pokémon was Muk, Gu Yuan immediately released Alakazam.
"Alakazam, use Psychic!"
"Muk, use Sludge Bomb!"
The moment the battle started, Koga followed instantly with his command.
Sludge condensed and flew out, bursting open the moment it made contact with Psychic.
Ignoring the scattering sludge, Gu Yuan immediately used telepathy to tell Alakazam to use Nasty Plot to power itself up.
Koga's Muk had the Poison Touch ability, which could potentially poison the opponent upon contact. Against Alakazam, this ability was completely useless.
"Muk, use Mean Look!"
Koga's voice sounded again, but it was a step too late.
Alakazam used Teleport and vanished from its position.
"Muk, turn around and use Sludge Bomb!"
Seeing Alakazam reappear behind Muk and start condensing Psychic energy, Koga immediately ordered Muk to counterattack.
However, sometimes reacting too quickly is not a good thing.
The next second, Alakazam dissipated the Psychic energy in its hand and used Teleport again, vanishing from its spot.
Confusion was used, turning into a shockwave that slammed into Muk's back.
Then, a Psychic attack descended, directly blasting a large crater into Muk's body. Under the impact of Psychic, Muk was sent flying backward.
"Alakazam, use Teleport to retreat, then use Nasty Plot."
Gu Yuan did not pursue the attack. He had Alakazam retreat, and a dark glow flickered in Alakazam's eyes. Even if Koga had wanted Muk to interrupt, Muk could not move immediately.
With two boosts from Nasty Plot, Alakazam's power was further amplified.
Sludge flew out as Muk's Sludge Bomb attacked again.
Alakazam used Teleport and instantly disappeared from its location.
When it reappeared, Gu Yuan did not have Alakazam use Psychic again. Instead, he had Alakazam use Disable.
A special mark appeared on Muk, temporarily preventing it from using Sludge Bomb again.
"Finish it quickly! Continuous Psychic attacks!"
After sealing Muk's Sludge Bomb, Gu Yuan had Alakazam turn into an assault cannon and launch a strong offensive.
In Muk's information panel, Sludge Bomb was the strongest move it currently knew. After it was sealed, Muk had no way to counter the Psychic boosted twice by Nasty Plot.
When the strength difference between the two sides becomes too large, strategy is difficult to employ effectively. Facing Alakazam's continuous bombardment, Muk was forced to retreat step by step until it completely lost its ability to battle and collapsed.