"Larvitar, use Rock Slide!"
Larvitar waved its arms, and countless rocks crashed down from above.
Within the sandstorm, Beedrill couldn't even locate Larvitar's position, and was defeated in a frustratingly helpless manner.
"Beedrill is unable to battle! The winner is Red!"
As the referee raised his flag, the first match came to an end.
Red defeated Zheng Xiong with a clean 3–0 victory, advancing to the next round.
After the match, Zheng Xiong walked over and sighed.
"Sigh… I'm still no match for you, Gym Leader Red."
Looking at him, Red offered a bit of guidance:
"You might want to change Shedinja's held item—try Safety Goggles."
"That way it can ignore damage from sandstorms and hail. Next time you face a similar opponent, it won't get instantly knocked out."
"With your strength, winning that item from department store tournaments shouldn't be difficult."
Hearing this, Zheng Xiong nodded in realization.
"Thank you for the guidance, Gym Leader Red! I understand now!"
Watching his excitement, Red shook his head.
"This kid still has a long way to go as a trainer…"
As Red stepped off the stage, Clair approached him.
"Gym Leader Red is really diligent—still giving advice even during battles."
Red smiled.
"Well, he's half a friend. Helping a bit doesn't hurt."
Clair took a deep breath.
"Then I'll be looking forward to your guidance too!"
With that, she stepped onto the battlefield.
Red looked toward her opponent—
Mewtwo, disguised as Xiao Ai, slowly walked onto the stage.
He couldn't help but feel curious about the outcome.
After stepping down, Ninetales bounced over and tightly hugged his arm, looking at him with teary eyes.
"Master… why do you smell like another woman's perfume?"
Red's mouth twitched. He raised his hand and gave Ninetales a firm knock on the head.
"Behave yourself. We're in public."
Ninetales squatted to the side, sulking.
Sitting in the contestant area, Red tapped the Poké Balls at his waist.
"Watch closely. If nothing unexpected happens, that'll be our opponent in the finals."
Larvitar, Marshtomp, and Castform all reacted differently—
but none of them were particularly interested in these so-called "clone Pokémon."
After all, they firmly believed—
that with their strength and training, they were far beyond mere copies.
But the fact that Mewtwo had made it this far using cloned Pokémon—
meant it clearly had its own methods.
"Go—Dragonair!"
Clair sent out her second Pokémon—a graceful Dragonair.
[Dragonair ♀]
[Level: 27]
[Talent: Top]
[Ability: Shed Skin]
[Description: A rare Dragon-type Pokémon, once considered legendary, capable of manipulating weather]
"This should be Clair's original starter," Red muttered.
"But since pseudo-legendaries take so long to raise, Seadra ended up overtaking it as her ace."
Still, he was very interested in Dragonair's weather control.
At one point, he had even thought his own starter might be a Dratini.
Of course—
Dragonair's weather control mainly specialized in rain, at most extending to thunderstorms.
Castform, on the other hand, was one of the few Pokémon capable of truly controlling rain, sun, sandstorms, and hail.
The undisputed ace of Songzao Gym.
And the most perfected Pokémon developed by the Gym.
Red patted Castform's head.
"Do you think you can wrest control of the weather from that Dragonair?"
Castform puffed up angrily.
Seeing this, Red laughed.
"Alright, alright—dumb question."
"How about I buy you a little crown tonight?"
Castform immediately nodded, its anger vanishing.
Red held Castform in his arms, while Marshtomp stood beside him like a disciplined bodyguard.
Larvitar, seeing nothing urgent, simply sat down—
pulled out a watermelon from who-knows-where—
and became a literal spectator.
(As a side note: Marshtomp had reached level 30, and Castform had risen to level 28.)
But the fastest growth belonged to Larvitar.
As Red's highest-potential Pokémon—and his first with Top-tier talent—
it had been training especially hard ever since being provoked by Hunter J.
While it couldn't match Marshtomp's sheer perseverance, its training intensity rivaled Castform.
Combined with Red's resource-heavy training methods—
its level had skyrocketed to 27.
For a pseudo-legendary in its early stage—
that was practically a miracle.
Meanwhile, the battle had already begun.
In midair—
two Dragonair clashed, coiling around each other.
Both were breathing heavily.
But it was obvious—
Mewtwo's Dragonair was superior in speed, strength, and even move execution.
As for battle experience…
Even with his beginner-level psychic power, Red could clearly sense it—
Mewtwo was directly communicating with its Dragonair via telepathy.
"So it's feeding its own battle experience directly into its Pokémon…"
Red finally understood.
"Better physical stats, faster skill execution, and Mewtwo personally guiding the battle…"
"No wonder it's undefeated."
A mirror match wasn't scary—
the weaker side was.
Under Mewtwo's control, the clones' biggest weakness—battle experience—
was completely eliminated.
In fact, it was enhanced.
"What a bug-level strategy…"
Yet Red remained calm.
On the battlefield, Clair looked at her Dragonair falling behind, confusion filling her eyes.
"Why…? Same Pokémon, yet I'm losing… Does that mean I'm just not a good trainer?"
As doubt consumed her—
she quickly lost.
"Dragonair is unable to battle! The winner is Xiao Ai (Mewtwo)!"
At that moment—
Mewtwo stood on the stage and glanced at Red with clear disdain.
Red responded without hesitation—
raising his thumb…
and slowly turning it downward.
Ninetales and Xiaowen were both stunned.
Xiaowen grabbed Red's shoulder and whispered:
"Gym Leader! Provoking a Legendary Pokémon like that is a bad idea!"
Red waved it off.
"Relax. Mewtwo isn't that narrow-minded."
Hearing this—
Mewtwo, who had been about to teach Red a lesson, paused… and withdrew its hand.
"Once you lose and are trapped on this island forever… I'll have plenty of time to deal with you."
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