Chapter 218

Hearing the news that another challenger had arrived, Nemona soon walked out of the training ground.

Then, she was stunned on the spot.

For this challenger, isn't the age a bit too excessive?

It must be a prank, right? No child this small has started challenging Gyms; at least there should be parents accompanying them!

However, it seems she also ran around Unova with Drayton when she was a kid...

(Senior Drayton, Scarlet/Violet DLC popularity king)

Just as Nemona was thinking this, Xiang Qingyu spoke quickly:

"Although she looks a bit young, but..."

"I can feel your determination to challenge the Gym, so your challenge request is accepted by me, Sunny Gym Leader Xiang Qingyu!"

Xiang Qingyu squatted down, looked at Poppy, who was full of expectation, and said with a serious expression.

Feather-sensei, so cool!

Nemona, standing behind him, heard that Xiang Qingyu was willing to accept the challenge of this little guy, and nodded repeatedly with empathy.

When she was recuperating in other regions before, she also had the dream of being a trainer, and for this, she had visited many Gyms in various regions.

But because she was too young and didn't meet the requirements of the Victory Road at all, she was always rejected.

Only two or three warm-hearted Gym Leaders were willing to accept her challenge, and only the uncle at the Driftveil Gym truly treated her as a trainer.

Gym trainers like Feather-sensei who treated all challengers equally were actually very rare.

If only she had met Feather-sensei earlier!

Of course, Xiang Qingyu's thoughts were not as much as Nemona's overthinking.

As a Gym Leader, if he rejected a trainer's challenge because of age, it would be a very rude behavior.

What's more, this little friend Poppy was one of the future Elite Four of the Paldea region, who refreshed the record for the youngest Elite Four in the region.

Even if he rejected her now, she would sooner or later challenge him when she became stronger on the Victory Road next year.

Since that was the case, might as well bump into her now!

"Yay! Gym Leader brother, you are a good person, the first Gym Leader who accepted my challenge!"

Poppy clapped her hands happily, looking very excited.

"Then let's start quickly, my Pokémon partners can't wait anymore!"

Sunny Gym, outdoor battle field.

Led by Xiang Qingyu and Nemona, Poppy soon followed to the battle field located outside the Gym.

Ever since the field was directly smashed by Draco Meteor and Dig last time, Xiang Qingyu moved the field to the outdoors a bit away from the Gym when renovating the Gym.

This time, he shouldn't have to worry about the battle with the challenger directly collapsing the Gym...

Didn't expect that being a Gym Leader was also a high-risk industry!

After standing still on one side of the field, Poppy followed suit, walked to the other end with her short legs, and signaled that she was ready.

Seeing this, Nemona nodded to Xiang Qingyu and spoke slowly:

"Then, a Gym battle will be conducted now, the challenger is—"

"Poppy, my name is Poppy, I specialize in using Steel-type Pokémon!"

Poppy waved her hands excitedly; her first Gym battle made her look very excited.

"The default rule of the Sunny Gym is a 1v1 battle, with the challenger going first; when one side's Pokémon loses its ability to battle, the other side wins."

After briefly explaining the Gym rules, Nemona soon raised her arm.

"Then, the battle begins!"

Both sides took out a Poke Ball at the same time.

But before Poppy threw out her starter, Xiang Qingyu smiled slightly and interrupted her action:

"Before the battle, as a Gym Leader, shouldn't I say something?"

Staring at the Poke Ball in his hand, Xiang Qingyu spoke again.

"I am Xiang Qingyu, the current Gym Leader of the Sunny Gym, and I don't have a particularly specialized type at the moment."

"However, when I knew that Miss Poppy was a Steel-type trainer, I was still a little shocked."

"Because the Pokémon I will use for the Gym assessment this week happens to be Poison-type."

Normally, the assessment process of the Sunny Gym should reveal the tactics he would use to the challenger through exams.

However, because he didn't expect that there would be trainers coming to challenge on Friday, Xiang Qingyu didn't prepare.

So he directly provided information to Poppy through oral narration.

Steel is immune to Poison; this is a type-resistance relationship that even elementary school students in the Pokémon world can recite backward.

The two types of Poison and Steel are naturally more inclined toward defense, and their output ability is weak.

Plus a layer of immunity relationship, making the resistance relationship between the two sides incredibly clear.

It could almost be said that it was impossible to fight.

"But precisely because of this, this battle might show you the charm of the Poison-type."

"Type resistance is not absolute; sometimes it will become a trap to paralyze the opponent. In the following battle, I believe you will have some understanding of this sentence."

Xiang Qingyu smiled slightly and threw the Poke Ball in his hand first.

"My Pokémon is—Glimmora!"

A Pokémon that was blue-purple all over, with its body unfolding like petals, looking inexplicably creepy, appeared above the field.

For Paldeans, everyone should know Glimmora.

Besides the fact that its image is 70-80% similar to their region's Chief Champion Geeta, it is also a starter Pokémon commonly used by Geeta in competitions.

As long as Glimmora starts, it means Paldea's Chief Champion has entered serious mode and is going to kill everywhere.

A Toxic Debris ability often makes unprepared challengers suffer a dull loss.

Because early on when exploring the Great Crater of Paldea, the League captured quite a few Glimmoras that only appeared in the Great Crater for research.

So it wasn't difficult for Xiang Qingyu to borrow it.

"Glimmora..."

After Poppy listened to Xiang Qingyu's words seriously, she stared at the seemingly non-threatening Glimmora in front of her, and after thinking for a few seconds, she chose to withdraw the Pokémon she was prepared to start with.

Then, she changed to another Poke Ball.

"Decided it's you, Corviknight!"

According to this Gym Leader brother's words, the Glimmora in front of her didn't seem simple, so she needed to deal with it more carefully.

"Eh?"

Seeing the black crow soaring with wings and full of steel feathers, Nemona outside the field was a bit confused.

Is this little guy so powerful? How old is she, and she can already control a fully evolved Pokémon...

So powerful!

"Corviknight, huh?"

Xiang Qingyu nodded; he wasn't surprised by Poppy's choice.

After all, he knew that Poppy became a regional Elite Four at 9 years old, and according to the timeline, she should at least have an outstanding performance on the Victory Road next year.

So it wasn't strange to have a Steel legion with not-weak strength at this time.