Mauville City.
The entire city reflects the game's style, with bicycle shops everywhere.
It looks a bit rudimentary, but it's almost identical to the style I remember from the game.
Bai Yu didn't think much of it and headed towards the Pokémon Center. He needed
to heal his Pokémon first; he might need to buy a bicycle for his later travels.
Bai Yu remembered that he could get a bicycle by completing a certain quest.
Without a bicycle, he would have to travel through other cities, which would take much longer.
Bai Yu didn't want to waste time collecting Gym Leaders.
The time to improve his Pokémon's strength was now.
"Adventurer? Are you going to challenge the Mauville Gym?"
"If you're going to challenge the Mauville Gym, I suggest you use a Ground-type Pokémon."
After healing the Pokémon in Bai Yu's hand, Nurse Joy said politely.
Bai Yu glanced at her but didn't reply, heading towards the Mauville Gym.
"By the way, Adventurer," Nurse Joy said, seemingly remembering something,
"If you defeat the Mauville Gym, you can go to the area near the Food Court. You might find something unexpected." Bai Yu paused, pondering some information. He quickly dismissed the idea; he hadn't played the Hoenn region map in a long time. He had almost forgotten all the hidden quests and storylines that occurred on this map. "Are you also here to challenge the Mauville Gym trainer?" At the entrance of the Mauville Gym stood a boy wearing a bandana and shorts, carrying a small green crossbody bag. His face possessed a lively quality unlike that of ordinary NPCs. Like Daigo, whom they had seen earlier, he seemed to possess his own consciousness.
Bai Yu stared at the boy before him, his memories becoming clearer in that instant.
With such a distinctive appearance, Bai Yu couldn't possibly mistake him. It
was Xiaoyou, one of the protagonists of the Hoenn region, Professor Birch's son, and also one of the Pokédex holders.
He hadn't met him in real life, yet he'd met him in the game.
"Are you also a trainer on a recent trip?"
"Interested in a duel?"
Xiaoyou had just finished challenging the Mauville Gym, but felt somewhat unsatisfied.
He'd just come out and seen Bai Yu, his intuition telling him that the guy before him was strong.
This immediately piqued Xiaoyou's interest; he now only wanted to challenge him.
"Of course!"
Bai Yu had no reason to refuse such an opportunity.
A unique match unfolded on the field not far from the entrance of the Mauville Gym.
A moment later…
"I lost. You really are strong."
Xiaoyou looked at the fallen Strongchicken on the field, her gaze fixed on the Mudkip.
Her opponent was very strong, especially the Mudkip.
It had completely surpassed her current abilities.
'Ding~ Mudkip level 23 to level 26.'
'Mudkip has mastered a new move, Rock Slide.'
A Mudkip appeared before Bai Yu. Xiaoyou's Pokémon were all quite strong.
Around level 20, they were on par with the Mudkip, or even slightly stronger.
The experience provided was more than expected; the match had directly raised the Mudkip's level by three.
Xiaoyou, who appeared at this moment, solved a lot of trouble for Bai Yu.
It took him countless casual trainers to defeat to reach his current level.
"I don't think your Mudkip can handle Earthquake."
"This is the Earthquake TM, I'm giving it to you as a gift."
"I hope you'll be as strong as you were today in our next battle."
Xiaoyou took the TM out of her pocket and handed it to Bai Yu.
After doing this, Xiaoyou turned and left.
Bai Yu was left staring blankly at the TM in his hand.
A battle for this kind of thing?
Bai Yu didn't think much of it and gave the TM to Mudkip.
Then he entered the Mauville Gym.
The gym was easier than the previous Martial Arts Gym.
Mudkip soloed the entire battle.
Mudkip's level skyrocketed.
In just this short battle, its level skyrocketed from 23 to 28.
It's still a little behind Bai Yu's other starter Pokémon,
but its strength has increased rapidly.
After defeating the gym, Bai Yu headed towards the Mauville Square.
...
"Phew, it'll evolve into Swampert soon."
Bai Yu let out a deep breath and got out of bed.
In the past half-day, Bai Yu had participated in countless battles.
Swampert's strength had also skyrocketed, just one level away from evolution.
Besides the moves it learned through leveling up, it also mastered Ice Punch and Brick Break using a TM.
In addition, the strength of Bai Yu's other Pokémon had also improved slightly.
The most significant improvement is undoubtedly in Akadra, which has risen from level 24 to level 37 and successfully evolved into Akadra, mastering the three Steel-type moves: Iron Head, Iron Tail, and Iron Screen.
The other Pokémon were already at high levels, so their improvement wasn't substantial, and their learned moves are near perfect. Bai Yu only used them a couple of times in battles to gain experience.
Aside from that, they haven't been used in any real battles.
Houndoom (level 42), Iron Ball (level 39), Magneton (level 41), Akadra (level 37), and Mudkip (level 35).
These five Pokémon can easily sweep through a gym.
They could even conquer the final gym without needing to deliberately grind for power.
This rate of power-up is quite fast compared to most trainers.
With his current strength, if he encountered Qinglv again, even without using Houndoom, sending in Swampert would be enough to suppress that Arcanine.
If Swampert handled properly, it could even sweep away the two Pokémon Qinglv sent out.
Bai Yu quickly washed up and headed towards the backyard.
Looking at the backyard, Bai Yu didn't think much and threw out all the Poké Balls he had.
Some of the Pokémon that had previously guarded the gym were also stored there; they didn't consume much Pokémon food each day and didn't take up much space, so Bai Yu kept them there.
However, as the number of Pokémon Bai Yu had increased, it was becoming difficult to maintain the gym's daily expenses with the league's subsidies each month.
Watching the many Pokémon peacefully eating, Bai Yu took out his Pokédex and looked at the prices listed.
Since acquiring an additional Agaroo, the daily food expenses have increased slightly.
Agaroo requires more nutrients than Magneton and Shellder combined; it needs rarer ores that slightly boost its defense.
"It seems I'll have to entrust these Pokémon to Professor Akihabara's lab."
The lab's funding is naturally higher than that of a regular trainer.
Since Bai Yu isn't a trainer from Pallet Town, the extra Pokémon he acquires won't be sent back there. They
've always been stored in his gym.
Now it's time to find them a place to settle down.
They can't just stay in the gym unattended forever.
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(End of Chapter)