Gourmet master of the Pokemon world

Now that the opening performance is over, let's move on to the next stage – the Gym challenge.

Anyone who wins the challenge will receive the Manifold Badge from the Manifold Gym.

At Anje's signal, a Claydol descended from the sky carrying a tray. On the tray was a row of badges about the size of fingers.

The upper part of the badge took up 80% of the entire badge's size, and was shaped like a slender onion seed, with an overall gray-brown color.

The lower part took up 20% of the badge's size, and consisted of roots formed by seven teardrop-shaped gemstones in the colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

The seed image symbolizes new life, and the seven-colored roots symbolize the germination of all things.

This was the Manifold Gym Badge personally designed by Anje.

Anje continued, "In addition to obtaining the badge, those who win the Gym battle will also have the opportunity to visit Nibel Plateau and observe and interact with Mythical and Legendary Pokémon up close!"

Hearing this, the audience below began to boil over.

Among the audience attending the opening ceremony, a considerable number were trainers who had previously wanted to sneak into Nibel Plateau. Their purpose in coming today was to challenge the Gym.

However, before they could be happy for too long, they heard Anje say, "However, I must give everyone a heads-up in advance. It's not that easy to see Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, so the Manifold Gym challenge may be a little more difficult than other Gyms. You must be mentally prepared."

Hearing this, everyone immediately began to whisper and discuss, wondering just how difficult the challenge would be.

Anje smiled and said, "Although the Manifold Gym challenge is a little more difficult, the Pokémon on the Gym side will battle freely, without trainer commands."

Hearing this, the challengers breathed a sigh of relief.

As Anje's voice fell, four black steel pillars suddenly rose from both sides of the riverbank in front of the Gym, followed by the black chains wrapped around the steel pillars rapidly contracting, and a battlefield slowly rose from the bottom of the river.

Immediately afterwards, a robot appeared on the battlefield. It was the future referee of the Manifold Gym – Robert-3.

Robert-3 was an upgraded version of the original Robert-2. Clemont used his own Clembot from his Gym as a reference, and then modified Robert-2, giving it extremely high intelligence.

Professor Augustine Sycamore and Professor Willow also gave a lot of advice, after all, the first version of Robert came from their hands.

Robert-3 said in a stiff tone, "The challenge rules of the Manifold Gym are a single 2-on-2 Double Battle. If both Pokémon on either side lose their ability to battle, the other side wins.

Now… any trainers who wish to challenge the Gym may come forward."

As soon as Robert-3 finished speaking, a young boy eagerly stepped onto the stage, "Me! Me! I'll challenge!"

The boy looked about twelve or thirteen years old, with neat short hair, and it was clear at a glance that he was a rookie trainer who had just started out.

The boy introduced himself, "My name is Shimizu, and I come from Petalburg City in the Hoenn region."

In the VIP seat, Caitlin chuckled, "Isn't this kid a bit silly? People have already said that the Gym challenge is difficult, what's a rookie trainer like him doing getting involved!"

Cynthia said upon hearing this, "Don't say that. If we trainers don't have a bit of a challenging spirit, what's the point? Losing isn't shameful, the important thing is the experience."

Caitlin curled her lips, dismissing her friend's words. She felt that winning or losing was very important, and losing in front of so many people was very embarrassing.

Robert-3 waved a red flag in his hand, "Then now, the match between Shimizu from Petalburg City, Hoenn, and the Manifold Gym officially begins! Challengers, please release your Pokémon!"

Upon hearing this, Shimizu took out two Poké Balls and threw them out. As two red lights flashed, a Combusken and a Zangoose appeared on the field.

Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokémon, Fire and Fighting type, the evolved form of Torchic, one of the Hoenn region starters, is passionate about training its waist and legs, and will use leg techniques with great destructive power to fight.

Zangoose, the Cat Ferret Pokémon, Normal type, is agile, and its sharp claws are its strongest weapon. It and Seviper have been mortal enemies for generations, and they will inevitably fight whenever they meet.

As the challenger released his Pokémon, a glass罩 slowly rose from the water on the other side of the field, and once it rose to the same level as the field, Pancham and Buneary walked out.

Pancham rubbed its palms together, looking eager to try.

Buneary was a little shy because it was not used to being watched by so many people, so it was pulling at the fur on its chest to cover its cheeks, while tugging at Pancham's arm to hide behind it.

Seeing that the Pokémon sent out by the Manifold Gym were just Buneary and Pancham, these two initial form Pokémon, Shimizu felt that he had this in the bag, so he confidently puffed out his chest and said:

"Seeing how cute you are, I'll let you attack first!"

"Ya cha~ Ya cha~" That's what you said.

Upon hearing this, Pancham suddenly showed a sinister smile, although Shimizu couldn't understand its words.

In the next second, it somersaulted nimbly and came to Combusken in the blink of an eye, smashing a Thunder Punch over.

Combusken couldn't react at all, and was sent flying with one punch.

Seeing this, Zangoose quickly used Fury Swipes to support Combusken, but it didn't know that Buneary had already come to its side.

Zangoose looked at Buneary in surprise as it smiled shyly, and then saw its two long and powerful ears activate Drain Punch, one punch, two punches, and Zangoose was knocked away.

Seeing this scene, everyone was stunned, they didn't expect Buneary and Pancham, who hadn't evolved yet, to be so strong!

The people of Azoth Kingdom erupted into enthusiastic cheers. The stronger the Manifold Gym, the more face they had.

The challengers in the crowd showed solemn expressions.

"Ya cha~ Ya cha~" Hearing everyone's support for itself, Pancham puffed out its round belly and waved to everyone with a confident face. As if it were a big star.

"Milu~ Milu~" Buneary was even more shy, burying its entire face in the fur on its chest.

Seeing this, Shimizu's face was a little ugly. After Combusken and Zangoose regrouped, he once again commanded them to attack.

"Combusken, Double Kick attack Buneary, Zangoose, Fury Swipes attack Pancham!"

Upon hearing this, the two Pokémon immediately activated their skills and pounced on Pancham and Buneary.

Seeing this, Pancham used Dig to drill into the ground, Zangoose's attack missed, and then it was punched in the chin by Pancham, who suddenly drilled out of the ground, and immediately lost its ability to battle.

Buneary, relying on its extremely outstanding jumping power, used Bounce to leap into the sky.

Combusken missed its attack and looked around for Buneary, not expecting Buneary to descend from the sky and step on its face.

Combusken immediately lost its ability to battle.

Robert III announced, "Challenger Kiyomizu's two Pokémon have simultaneously lost their ability to battle, the challenge is a failure."

Kiyomizu looked dejected upon hearing this, his face filled with disbelief. He couldn't even beat two Pokémon in their initial forms!

Reminded by Robert III, he returned his Poochyena and Combusken, then walked off the battlefield with his head lowered.

The Azoth citizens outside the arena erupted in enthusiastic cheers once more.

"Ya-cha~ Ya-cha~"

"Milu~ Milu~"

Pancham and Buneary waved to everyone as they returned to the glass enclosure to exit.

"Now, let's welcome the next challenger!" Robert III said, looking offstage.

Before long, a girl with pigtails stepped out of the crowd and onto the battlefield, saying:

"From Couriway Town, Kalos region, Rimo, nice to meet you!"

Robert III nodded. "Please release your Pokémon, challenger."

Rimo nodded, took out two Poké Balls, and tossed them. With a flash of light, an Abomasnow and a Cloyster appeared on the field.

Abomasnow, the Ice Tree Pokémon, Grass and Ice type, also known as the Ice Monster, only appears when snow flowers bloom.

Cloyster, the Bivalve Pokémon, Water and Ice type, has a hard shell and lives in fast-flowing seas.

Learning from the previous challenger's mistakes, the trainer who came out this time was much stronger.

After the challenger's Pokémon appeared, the glass enclosure that had sent off Pancham and Buneary rose again, but this time, the Pokémon emerging from it were Beedrill and Lucario.

Because today was the opening ceremony of the Gym, the Littler Snorlax Home in Royal Capital announced that it would be temporarily closed for three days, so Lucario didn't have to go to work.

After Robert announced the start of the match, snow immediately began to fall from the sky.

It turned out that Abomasnow's ability was Snow Warning. In snowy weather, the defense of Ice-type Pokémon would be strengthened.

Rimo commanded, "Abomasnow, Ice Beam; Cloyster, Icicle Spear!"

"Roar!" Abomasnow roared and fired a beam of blue-white light at Beedrill.

Cloyster fired a series of Icicle Spears at Lucario.

This Cloyster's ability was Skill Link, which would fix the number of hits for moves like Icicle Spear, which has a variable number of attacks (2-5 times), to the maximum (5 times).

Faced with the attacks of the two Ice-type Pokémon, Lucario used Quick Attack to dodge and fired an Aura Sphere to counterattack Cloyster.

Beedrill used Agility to evade, then launched Pin Missile to attack Abomasnow.

Aura Sphere is a move that never misses, so it accurately hit Cloyster; Abomasnow was too slow to dodge Beedrill's attack.

Seeing her Pokémon fall into a disadvantage from the start, Rimo frowned, then touched a hairpin on her head.

Embedded in the hairpin was a Keystone.

As Abomasnow's movements became more exaggerated, the audience finally saw the Abomasite hidden in its thick fur.

Rimo pressed the Keystone and said, "Abomasnow, respond to my bond, Mega Evolve!" As she said this, the Keystone on the hairpin burst into dazzling light.

"Roar!!!" Abomasnow roared, and the Abomasite on its body emitted a colorful light, echoing the light emitted from the Keystone.

Before long, a completely new Pokémon appeared in everyone's sight.

It was Mega Abomasnow.

Seeing the violent-looking Abomasnow, everyone suddenly understood. No wonder she was confident enough to come on stage, it turned out she had a Pokémon that could Mega Evolve!

Seeing the triumphant Mega Abomasnow on the other side, Lucario and Beedrill exchanged glances, then nodded to each other.

Suddenly, a colorful light burst out from their bodies at the same time. The crowd exclaimed, "Another Mega Evolution? Two at once?"

When the light dissipated, Mega Lucario and Mega Beedrill appeared on the field.

The audience was dumbfounded, and Rimo was even more so.

She was confident in her Mega Evolving Abomasnow, but the other side directly brought out two!

Is this… is this legal?

In the VIP席, Cynthia stared at Anji in surprise and said, "Anji, where did you get so many Mega Stones?"

Two Altaria, one Lucario, one Beedrill, that's four already!

The others also cast curious glances.

Anji chuckled. "It's a secret!" This is only four.

Over here, Lucario and Beedrill had already launched an attack on Rimo, who was still in shock.

Lucario still used Aura Sphere to smash at Cloyster, while Beedrill was so fast that it approached Abomasnow in a series of flashes.

After Mega Evolution, Beedrill's Speed stat soared to 145, second only to Ninjask, Pheromosa, Mega Alakazam, Electrode (including Hisuian form), and Mega Aerodactyl among Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.

Cloyster's Defense stat was as high as 180, and with the snow boosting defense, Lucario didn't need to use Physical moves.

Faced with Lucario's attack, Cloyster quickly used Icicle Spear to meet it.

Unfortunately, when it came to offense, Cloyster was no match for the Mega Evolved Lucario. All of its Icicle Spears were shattered by Aura Sphere, and then Aura Sphere smashed into it.

Fighting-type moves are super effective against Cloyster, and Cloyster immediately cried out in pain.

If the Icicle Spears hadn't blocked some of the attack and weakened the power of the Aura Sphere, Cloyster would have already fallen.

Similarly, on Abomasnow's side, faced with the incoming Beedrill, it quickly used Ice Punch to meet it.

But Beedrill was too fast, it couldn't even touch one of its wings.

After Abomasnow Mega Evolves, its Speed decreases, which is a good thing if Trick Room is used, but otherwise it's a drag.

Beedrill flew around the top of Abomasnow's head dozens of times, making it dizzy.

Taking advantage of Abomasnow's dizziness, Beedrill launched Poison Jab, heavily striking Abomasnow's head.

Poison-type moves are super effective against Abomasnow.

After Mega Evolution, Beedrill's Attack stat is as high as 150.

Beedrill's ability is Adaptability (when using a move that matches its own type, the power of the move increases from 1.5 times to 2 times).

Combining all the above factors, the Mega Abomasnow, which had decent durability, still couldn't hold on and fell directly.

With Abomasnow down, the still-resisting Cloyster immediately panicked, and after taking an Aura Sphere from Lucario, it also fell to the ground.