Chapter 577: Lowest-ranked Mega Pokémon in the comprehensive rankings

Five minutes later.

The outcome of the match was roughly what Qingyu had anticipated.

It was a one-sided victory.

"……"

Watching the Squirtle before him, which had collapsed and reverted to its original form, Mewtwo remained silent for a moment before shaking his head.

"I have lost."

Hearing him say this, the rookie trainer on the opposite side finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Honestly, when he had just defeated this Pokémon, he had been startled by the terrifying aura it suddenly emitted.

If not for Master Yu being there, he would have suspected that the opponent was a sore loser…

However, it seemed this gym apprentice, who didn't look like a local, had finally admitted his defeat.

Although he had seemed a bit intimidating at first, and his miraculous ability to use psychic powers to help Pokémon evolve was unheard of, he clearly lacked experience once it came to actual combat.

It was as if he were seeing himself when he had just become a trainer.

"The first trial ends in the challenger's victory."

Qingyu, who was acting as the temporary referee, also made his judgment quickly, a hint of a smile in his eyes as he looked at Mewtwo.

As expected, no matter how talented one is, it is impossible to suddenly have an epiphany overnight and grow from a novice who knows nothing into a qualified trainer.

Even for a super-brain like Mewtwo, this is difficult to achieve.

Furthermore, his opponent was not exactly an "evenly matched rival"; after the subtle cultivation Qingyu had provided over this period, the students of Orange Academy were now ridiculously competitive.

Those who could rush to challenge the Sunshine Gym on a Monday were among the top tier of students in terms of strength, and they had already formed a crushing advantage over Mewtwo in battle experience.

Not to mention the added benefit of the weather, and some dimensionality-reduction strikes in terms of strategy…

However, for the proud and arrogant Mewtwo, perhaps experiencing a few early defeats could be considered a good thing?

After a moment of silence, Mewtwo raised his head again.

Indeed, being a trainer is not so easy; he still has a long way to go on this path.

Since that is the case, he can only work harder.

Mewtwo's gaze soon turned toward the other newcomers, his eyes filled with fervor.

He needs a large amount of actual combat experience to cultivate his battle logic, and the Sunshine Gym happens to have a large group of newcomers with decent strength.

How could there be such a coincidence in this world? Perhaps it was all within the considerations of Qingyu and Mew from the very beginning.

Staying temporarily at the Sunshine Gym is also to have a place to improve his tactical level and catch up to Qingyu's footsteps as soon as possible.

Therefore…

These newcomers are all his experience packs; none of them are getting away!

After being swept by Mewtwo's fervent gaze, for some reason, the newcomers on the side suddenly felt a sense of palpitation.

It was as if he had been locked onto by a male lion patrolling its own territory.

However—

Judging from the performance in the battle just now, this gym apprentice specially recruited by Master Yu seemed to have only average strength, and was even a bit of a "noob with a big ego."

How exactly did he become a gym apprentice and gain Master Yu's approval? Could it be through the back door?

The students also showed expressions of confusion.

Although the Sunshine Gym's reputation had always sat firmly at the bottom of the Paldea rankings, with Master Yu's strength, he didn't need to rely on such a "noob" to help them find confidence, right?

What do you take us students for! Are we the kind of people who would deliberately leave a bad review just because we couldn't win?

They were truly being underestimated by Master Yu.

Since things have come to this, they must leave another bad review!

……

For the next two days, nothing happened.

The Sunshine Gym spent another peaceful daily routine, and the students, as usual, came in groups to challenge it.

It was just that, starting this week, the Sunshine Gym added a new assessment link.

Gym apprentices have always been a common test content for gym leaders in other regions; by sending out a few newcomers with decent strength, they judge the challenger's level during the battle, and finally decide how much to hold back during the assessment…

It was already an unspoken rule.

However, for the newcomers, this apprentice at the Sunshine Gym was quite interesting.

Apart from his identity as a Pokémon, the point of being a "noob with a big ego" was gradually discovered by the challengers.

Clearly looking like a powerhouse, who might even be able to slaughter everyone easily with his own powerful strength that could ignore the rules, yet he insisted on becoming a trainer…

Don't we have to teach you a good lesson so you know how deep the waters of Pokémon battling are?

With such thoughts, some newcomers who usually didn't dare to challenge the Sunshine Gym due to a lack of confidence also appeared in Cabo Poco one after another.

If I can't beat Master Yu, can't I even beat a mere Mewtwo?

And so…

Under the superposition of various factors, the popularity of the Sunshine Gym inexplicably surged again, leaving even Qingyu a bit confused.

However, since it was a win-win or even a four-win situation, he was happy to see it.

The students gained confidence, Mewtwo was able to grow vigorously—his progress speed over these two days was visible to the naked eye—and the Sunshine Gym was also flourishing.

Even Qingyu's popularity soared rapidly.

He truly hadn't expected that the chemical reaction between Mewtwo and the Sunshine Gym would be so good.

At the same time, through the probing over these two days, Qingyu also had a rough idea of Mewtwo's level.

A bit stronger than a rookie, but the strength was limited; however, his learning ability truly surpassed humans completely, and just two days of high-intensity battles had allowed his strength to improve quite a bit.

Perhaps in a few more days, newcomers with slightly weaker strength would already be inferior to him in terms of command level.

It sounds unremarkable, but if you think about it carefully, it's quite terrifying.

After all, Paldea follows the path of universal education, and from a young age, these newcomers have been in contact with trainer-related knowledge to varying degrees, and have also systematically studied it in school.

And their efforts over the past half year or even longer could not even compare to Mewtwo's improvement in a week…

And this was still the result of Qingyu adding restrictions to Mewtwo, not letting him use more psychic powers to assist his Pokémon like Sabrina did.

If one were to really count Mewtwo's off-field abilities as a trainer, it might be enough to be a slightly weaker gym leader.

As expected, the Pokémon world is still too ridiculous.

Although he felt some emotion in his heart, Qingyu was also a bit curious—

Under the education of this teacher, himself, what level will Mewtwo eventually grow to?

With such thoughts, time soon arrived at Wednesday.

Today is the day Lance and Clair come to Paldea for a short trip.

Waking up, Mewtwo had already arrived at the battle field early.

Taking advantage of the time before the students arrived, Mewtwo would start his morning training, using psychic powers to apply various effects to assist the training of the clone Pokémon.

Psychic power is still too comprehensive; under Mewtwo's continuous development, functions such as applying pressure, gravity reversal, and Trick Room have gradually become small techniques he can master.

The clone Pokémon he has subdued also have decent talent, and under various obstacles, they can still complete Mewtwo's not-so-easy training plan on time.

In a sense, Qingyu even feels that Mewtwo, as a trainer, is much stricter than himself…

After all, he seems to have never arranged any serious training for his own Pokémon, focusing on a "let it be" approach.

Sylveon didn't want to train before it evolved? Then focus on cultivating interests!