"Cocodora, do you think I really have some strange physique..."
Just after walking out of Cerulean City and less than two kilometers away, I saw a strange man in a long robe and a silver mask blocking the middle of the road. Next to him stood a Pokémon covered with brown shells, with a pair of narrow and sharp silver sickles extending from its arms, like a praying mantis.
With sharp eyes, he watched Qianye and his group approaching, and with a sound of breaking through the air, he swept the sickle towards the tree nearby. The tree was cut in the middle, and the upper half fell to the ground dully, with the cut surface as smooth as a mirror. These guys were obviously not here with good intentions!
"Other trainers challenge different gyms every day, and I encounter different criminals every day." The boy said with a twitch in his eyes, but he was already alert in his heart.
"Friends in front, could you please move aside? We are just travelers passing by."
In order to prevent misunderstanding, Qianye took the initiative to give a reminder, but the man and the Pokémon still stayed where they were, with no intention of moving away.
He wasn't stupid enough to think that this meant they were allowed to pass. If he did think so, the sickle might come down on his neck right after he passed by the Pokémon.
That Pokémon should be Scythehelm, a rare rock-type Pokémon that can live in water. It was active about 100 million years ago and was once judged to be extinct by the academic community. It was brought to light again thanks to the latest fossil resurrection technology.
If Qianye hadn't happened to read relevant information from Professor Oak, he probably wouldn't have recognized this rare Pokémon. Speaking of which, Scythe Helm has three racial characteristics, among which "Combat Armor" is basically not threatening. I just don't know if it will be "Easy to Swim" or the even rarer "Shattered Armor".
Heizi stretched out his head and roared a threatening warning. Kokodora jumped off his shoulder and stood on all fours, obviously ready for battle.
Seeing this, the masked man also took out a gray and white Poké Ball with a blue spherical protrusion from his waist. A red light flashed - it turned out to be a Kokodora as well? !
No, it's slightly different... Its armor is bronze instead of silver, and its azure eyes have turned scarlet. It's actually a different-colored Pokémon, commonly known as a "shiny".
Shiny Pokémon have no difference in racial potential and the moves they can learn from the same type of Pokémon, they are just rarer. Because of this, this appearance is often not a good thing for Pokémon, as they may be rejected by their own population because of their physical differences.
Unfortunately, now is not a good time to study the cause of the shiny Pokémon's heterochromatic gene. Qianye took the lead and gave the order:
"Kokodora, summon a rockfall directly above the opponent's trainer's head!"
"Ke~Ke." With a crisp cry, several heavy stones gathered in the sky, covering the opponent and his two Pokémon in the attack range.
Because of the mask, Qianye couldn't tell if his opponent's expression had changed, but judging from the following command, which seemed to be deliberately lowered in voice, his tone was still quite calm:
"Scythe helmet, split open."
"Cha!" The man in the sickle helmet obeyed the order and raised his sickle high, chopping at the sky. The stones above that were enough to break bones were dismembered in an instant, and not a single piece of stone fell on the masked man.
"Cocodora, rock blockade."
This time it was Shining Kokodora's turn to act. It raised its head and let out a rough cry. A large number of rocks were thrown towards Qianye and the others, intending to attack while blocking their actions.
"Kokodora, Iron Head is making a breakthrough!"
Qianye reacted quickly as well. He gave a command and a white light flashed across Kokodora's forehead. He directly smashed the rocks that were blocking his way and rushed forward.
"Kokodora, we also use iron heads."
The cyan helmet of the Flashing Kokodoras also glowed white, and two comets of different colors collided with each other. The impact had been slowed down by the rock blockade, but Qianye's Kokodoras still fought evenly with the opponent. After the symphony of metal collision, the two Kokodoras retreated a few steps under the recoil.
"Heizi, let's charge forward."
It might be hard to tell who will win for a while. Besides, the masked man might not only have these two Pokémon. He must subdue them first before he takes out other Pokémon. However, Scythe Helm is also fast. Can Kuroko really break through its defense? "Scythe Helm, Sword Dance."
At a command from the masked man, the sickle began to dance in the air with a wonderful rhythm. As the movement progressed, the blade seemed to become more and more shiny.
"Big wolfhound, prioritize the sickle helmet."
Don't be blinded by temporary interests. Sword Dance can greatly enhance the attack power of Pokémon. Kuroko may not be able to subdue the enemy trainer at this distance. The risk is too high. Once the Scythe Helmet is allowed to be strengthened, I am afraid no one on his side can block its attack.
"Don't worry about it, just continue the sword dance."
It was still a concise and decisive command. The masked man seemed to be very confident in the defensive power of the sickle helmet, believing that it could be fully strengthened while withstanding the attack of the big wolfhound.
But he didn't plan to attack directly...
"Heizi, throw sand!"
The larger body after evolution, the gray-black claws can naturally raise more violent dust. Scythe Helmet was not prepared for this move, and a lot of sand entered his eyes in an instant.
"Chaga chaga!"
The sand-throwing trick is always useful no matter when it is used to ambush people...Now that the sickle helmet has been blinded by the sand and his hit rate has dropped, it is meaningless to attack even if it cannot hit the enemy.
Moreover, the effect achieved this time was far better than expected. According to records, Scythehelm was a Pokémon with a brutal nature. After being ambushed and causing sore eyes, he went crazy. A Pokémon that has lost its mind cannot exert its true strength.
"Scythehelm, calm down! Use Pray Rain."
The low voice sounded again. Surprisingly, the man in the sickle helmet, whose eyes were red and who was manic all over, actually calmed down after hearing the order, and started a certain ritual with his double blades pointing to the sky.
Can he have such control over such a vicious Pokémon? This masked man is much more powerful than any Pokémon hunter he has seen before. However, if he uses the rain prayer, then it basically means that he has the ability to swim freely.
"Heizi, don't give it a chance! Just bite it to pieces!"
With its mouth wide open and fangs like a forest of guillotines, Scythe Helmet paid no attention to the big wolfhound's actions and continued to prepare its moves.
The guillotine descended, and the sharp wolf fangs directly penetrated the shell, causing the Scythe Helmet to let out a cry of pain. The brown armor cracked at the place where the black bit was bitten, and the cracks spread to the whole body at a rapid speed.
Did this trigger the Crunch effect? That's another piece of good news.
The joy in his heart did not last long. Qianye, who was carefully observing the condition of the sickle helmet, suddenly noticed something and his face suddenly changed: "No! That's the shattered armor, Heizi, get away from it quickly!"
His order came timely enough. Just as Heizi took a step to retreat, the outermost layer of completely shattered shell fell off the sickle helmet.
In an instant, the scythe swept across as fast as lightning. Even though Heizi dodged in time, his thigh was still cut open, and blood flowed out instantly. The sickle helmet did not chase forward. It raised its head and looked at the sky where heavy rain began to fall. The raindrops fell on its eyes, washing away the sand mixed in.
"This is bad." Qianye could only smile bitterly at this moment.
During this time, his Kokodora had already broken through Shiny Kokodora's defense with its bite, and then defeated it with its Iron Head. But even with an extra man, there was no Pokémon on his side that could stop Scythehelm, which had enhanced its attack, reduced a layer of burden to enhance its speed, and removed its own debuffs with Rain Prayer.
"In this case, let's just say it's one to one."
In the moment of despair, the masked man suddenly made a refreshing voice that was different from the previous voice that he could lower. The heavy ball in his hand also emitted a red light and took back the unconscious Flashing Kokodora.
He reached out and lifted up the mask and the black hood, revealing short silver-gray hair and a handsome face.
"You are..." His eyes suddenly became dull, and Heizi raised his head in some confusion, wondering why his little master suddenly froze.
"Champion Daigo?!"
I rubbed my eyes and confirmed that what I saw was not an illusion. What the hell! Why did the champion of the Hoenn League suddenly appear here, dressed like that and played a not-so-funny joke on me?
"It seems you still remember me. I am honored. But there is one thing I need to correct. I am no longer a champion."
With a friendly smile, Daigo slowly approached. Qianye touched the heads of the two Pokémon beside him, one white and one black, and stopped them from moving.
"Kan... Is there something that caused Mr. Daigo to appear here?"
Normally, when a league champion, who represents the highest honor for a trainer, appears in front of an ordinary trainer, and sees his idol so close, those ordinary trainers would be overwhelmed with emotion and would be so excited that they could hardly control themselves.
But Qianye found that he was much calmer than he had expected. Perhaps it was because he had once followed the world-renowned Professor Oak, so he did not have too many filters in front of these big figures.
"I actually came here specifically to see you, but I couldn't help but test it because I felt a little itchy... If I scared you, let me apologize."
After performing an impeccable etiquette, Daigo took out from behind him a formally framed letter and a solemn and heavy badge with the Poké Ball icon printed on it.
"Qianye of Pallet Town, I am here to formally invite you on behalf of the Pokémon League. Are you willing to join the League and become an investigator of the League who punishes evil and promotes good?"
"Hey, me..."
"Don't rush to refuse. I know that many trainers don't like the career of investigators, which restricts their freedom. You can accept this non-staff investigator badge first. You don't need to be under the command of the alliance, and of course you won't receive a salary from the alliance. However, you can use this badge to exercise some of the authority of investigators in various places."
Daigo explained patiently and placed the invitation letter and the badge in Qianye's hand.
Looking at the letter in his hand and then at Daigo's face, Qianye asked in confusion, "But why me? I have only been traveling for less than a month. Can I really take on such a big responsibility?"
"It was recommended by Miss Junsha of Cerulean City. You have shown bravery and wisdom in several encounters with Pokémon hunters, and the battle just now also convinced me that you have the strength to match this position... ah, right."
As if remembering something, Daigo lowered his head and rummaged through the bag on his back, and took out a round bead-shaped stone with a gray appearance and black and white stripes inside.
"The previous one was what the alliance asked me to give you, and the next one is a personal gift I intend to give you..."
This stone looks familiar. Looking at the gray bead lying quietly in Daigo's hand, Qianye suddenly noticed the wide eyes of Kokodora, who seemed to be indifferent.
What could have caused the arrogant Kokodora to lose her composure like this? Could it be that... No, it can't be?
"You should know that Kokodora can eventually evolve into Boskodora, but you may not know that there is another more powerful form above Boskodora, which we call mega evolution."
Daigo spread out his palms, and the dark clouds that had been summoned by the sickle-helmet's rain-praying had dissipated. The light shone on the stone beads, reflecting a mysterious color.
"Yes, this is the super stone that can make Boskodora mega evolve - Boskodora Evolution Stone!"