Chapter 47: Meeting Little Mao

Chapter 47: Meeting Blue

Inside the Pokémon Center in Cerulean City.

Xia You was eating dinner while talking on the phone with Handsome.

On the other end of the line, Handsome praised him, "You're truly amazing! I only asked you to check out the situation; I didn't expect you to resolve the matter in passing!"

"It wasn't exactly resolved..." Xia You took a large gulp of juice. "Since their leader left early and they were leaderless, they not only resisted for a long time and almost succeeded, but they also made the wise choice to retreat at the last moment, leaving not a single casualty behind."

"Alright, don't dwell too much on the details." Handsome's tone remained enthusiastic. "If it were anyone else, they couldn't have completed the mission like you did. So, how about it? Would you consider joining the International Police? I see a lot of potential in you."

"Forget it. My goal is to win the Championship; I don't want to deal with these bad guys every day." Xia You refused outright. He then leaned back in his dining chair and asked, "How are things on your end? Have you found the Team Rocket base?"

"No," Handsome said bluntly. "Celadon City is so huge; I really don't know where to start looking. We found a lead before, but it went cold quickly. By the way, your next destination is there, right? Once you arrive, I'll treat you to a meal as a thank you."

"Sure. I'll contact you once I get there."

Though he said that, Xia You was thinking about something else.

A Team Rocket base?

He hesitated, but decided against it.

Being prescient isn't always a good thing. The more one says, the more mistakes one makes; a single misplaced word could easily trigger suspicion or misunderstanding in others.

...

After resting in Cerulean City for a night, Xia You set off for the next Gym the following day.

According to the map markings, the nearest Gym city was Celadon City. Since he hadn't contacted Misty, he didn't know if Ash had successfully obtained his fifth badge.

The distance between the two cities wasn't too great, yet even so, he had only covered more than half the journey by noon.

Along the way, he passed through plains and forests.

A gentle breeze blew, and swarms of Butterfree flew across the sky, looking like a dance of ten thousand butterflies.

Just as Xia You was taking photos to commemorate this rare sight and looking for a place to rest, a red convertible sports car roared past from behind, only to quickly pull a U-turn and come back.

As the dust kicked up by the car settled, Xia You turned to look. He saw five people in the car; aside from a handsome, reddish-brown haired youth in the passenger seat, everyone—including the driver—was a beautiful young woman!

The youth was wearing large sunglasses. He turned to scrutinize Xia You and spoke, "I remember you. I saw you from a distance once when you went to Professor Oak's lab to deliver something to my grandfather."

This youth was, naturally, Professor Oak's grandson and Ash's first rival—Blue.

"You must be Blue, right?" Xia You asked, feigning ignorance. "A few days ago, while I was chatting with Ash, he mentioned you. He said you're not just a childhood friend, but a rival he truly acknowledges."

"Is that so?" Blue didn't seem particularly bothered. "That guy Ash can be quite a smooth talker sometimes. By the way, judging by the Pokémon by your side, I assume you're the one who told that martial arts boy in Viridian Forest that he should give the trainer from Pallet Town a good lesson?"

Recalling that experience, Xia You smiled. "That was me. Why? Did he cause you any trouble?"

"Thanks to you, I was attacked by him without warning the moment I entered the forest," Blue said with a pout. "And he also said you were an extremely powerful trainer. I wonder if that's true?"

"That depends on who I'm being compared to." Xia You did not deny it. "At the very least, I haven't lost a single match on my journey so far."

"That's nothing. I haven't lost either!" Blue wasn't sure if Xia You was genuinely skilled or just boasting, so after a moment of thought, he asked, "So, how many badges do you have now?"

"Four badges." After saying this, Xia You pointed ahead. "But I'm heading to the Celadon Gym to challenge the Leader. I'll have my fifth badge soon."

"What? Only four badges? That's quite slow. It seems your level is about the same as Ash's." Blue's tone was quite arrogant. "I've already collected seven badges. I'm actually on my way to Fuchsia City to claim the next one."

So, he judged strength by the number of badges...

One had to admit, this kid's attitude was incredibly cocky!

But then again, Blue was just starting out and had his head in the clouds. Believing himself superior due to being Professor Oak's grandson and having not yet experienced the crushing defeats of the two major tournaments, he naturally looked down on others.

Thinking of this, Xia You took out a Poké Ball, enlarged it, and spun it continuously on his finger.

"In that case, how about it? Want to have a match with me?"

"A match?" Blue shrugged. "Sorry, I don't have time to waste here. If you really want to battle me, then I'll see you at the Indigo Plateau!"

With that, Blue waved his hand, the sports car roared to life, and with a burst of speed, he sped away.

"Heh heh." Gastly floated up from Xia You's shadow, mocking himself. "It seems we've been looked down upon."

Watching his retreating figure, Xia You shook his head.

To be so young and have both a sports car and so many female companions—it was quite enviable.

Pulling his thoughts back, he put down his backpack and sent Kirlia to gather firewood for cooking. At the same time, he released all his other Pokémon, except for Zapdos and Magikarp.

Now that these Pokémon spent every day with him, they understood what to do without Xia You's instructions.

Squirtle took a water bottle to the river to fetch water, Charmander lit the firewood, and Bulbasaur led the other Pokémon into the nearby forest to gather Berries.

Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.

After everyone had finished a hearty meal, Xia You took out the Poké Ball containing Magikarp. After a moment of thought, he went to the riverbank and released it.

With a flash of blue light, Magikarp appeared in the river, swimming around happily.

Upon closer observation, Xia You realized he had actually been tricked by that old man selling Magikarp.

This was clearly a male Magikarp; how could it possibly lay eggs!?

However, quite a long time had passed since Xia You obtained this Pokémon. Logically, given its circumstances, it should have evolved long ago, yet after all this time, there were still no signs of evolution.

Was it truly because it lacked a "final push" from James that it was unable to evolve?

"Hey, Gastly," Xia You turned to look at Gastly and asked, "In a situation like this, is there any way to make it evolve quickly?"

"Evolve?" Gastly gave a sinister laugh. "What? Is a mere evolution really such a difficult thing?"

(End of Chapter)