“How does this swimsuit look on me?” Natz was cold and aloof, but her voice, betraying a hint of shyness, sounded quite arrogant.
“Fantastic! You could be an international supermodel.” Xiao Mao praised.
Natz, satisfied with the answer, turned and walked towards the hot spring passage. Xiao Mao followed.
Arriving at the open-air hot spring, Xiao Zhi and the others were already soaking in it.
“Wow! A beauty!”
“Indeed, very pretty.”
Xiao Gang and Xiao Zhi were instantly captivated by Natz.
“You two, be normal. Don’t bother her.” Xiao Xia warned.
Although Xiao Zhi was the core of the group, Xiao Xia was the one in charge of managing them.
“Xiao Zhi, how is the water temperature?” Xiao Mao asked.
“It’s pretty good, very comfortable to soak in.”
“Pika!”
Xiao Zhi and Pikachu answered simultaneously.
Xiao Mao tested the water temperature, found it acceptable, and went in to soak. Natz went to Xiao Xia’s side, and they soaked together.
“So relaxing, it’s been a while since I’ve soaked in a hot spring.”
Entering the hot spring, Xiao Mao felt warmth all over. The fatigue from his recent travels was quickly fading.
The Pokemon world, besides Pokemon, had incredibly advanced material resources. Take the hot spring for example, its ability to relieve fatigue was real and could effectively remove weariness.
In his past life, Xiao Mao would soak in hot springs, but it would only temporarily relieve fatigue. Here, the hot springs actually removed fatigue.
“Xiao Mao, what city are you planning to go to next?” Xiao Zhi asked casually.
“Vermilion City. I’ll take a look at the Safari Zone while I’m there.” Xiao Mao replied.
“Oh, we’re going to Vermilion City too. Want to go together?” Xiao Xia asked.
“Do you guys have mountain bikes?” Xiao Mao asked.
Xiao Mao and Natz had mountain bikes, while Xiao Zhi and his group relied on walking, which was incredibly time-consuming.
“No, we walk.” Xiao Zhi said.
“That’s too slow. You’re wasting time on the road, which will hinder your Pokemon training progress.” Xiao Mao said.
“Uh...!”
Xiao Zhi was speechless. Walking was indeed slow, and every time he arrived in a new city, he needed to spend a period of time training.
“If that’s the case, let’s see who can get the Vermilion Gym badge first.” Xiao Zhi said.
“That’s pointless.”
Xiao Mao could see what Xiao Zhi was thinking.
Xiao Zhi, having lost to him, wanted to find his way to make up for it. But this kind of competition, seeing who got the Vermilion Gym badge first, was truly meaningless.
And the Vermilion Gym Leader wasn’t worth challenging. Although Lt. Surge was a future Kanto Pokemon League Elite Four member, he was just a slacker now.
He even built the Vermilion Gym in the wilderness, deliberately choosing a location under the shade of trees, to avoid his responsibility as a Gym Leader, and to prevent trainers from finding his Gym.
Even if you found Lt. Surge’s Gym, he would only send out a few random Pokemon to fight.
When Xiao Zhi challenged the Vermilion Gym, Lt. Surge sent out a newly evolved Butterfree and a Golbat, both with low levels. Xiao Zhi’s Charmander was enough to defeat those two Pokemon.
Especially after Xiao Xia’s Psyduck helped drive away Team Rocket, Lt. Surge’s Golbat, probably even lower level than the Butterfree, was considered as a favor to them.
Even if Xiao Zhi really lost, considering the favor of Psyduck helping them, Lt. Surge would probably give the Gym badge to Xiao Zhi.
Honestly, Xiao Zhi, in his journey through Kanto, had eight badges, and half of them were either given to him or obtained through letting him win.
Cerulean Gym was given.
Vermilion Gym was given.
Rainbow Gym was given.
Vermilion Gym was a let-win.
Analyzing this, Xiao Zhi’s badges had a lot of water in their value.
“Guba.”
At this moment, a yellow duck appeared by the hot spring.
“Ugh! You’re out again!” Xiao Xia saw the yellow duck and got a headache.
Xiao Mao also looked over, and when he saw Psyduck, he was stunned.
[LV30 Psyduck♂/Champion Potential]
Xiao Mao’s pupils widened.
He knew Xiao Xia’s Psyduck had high potential, but he never thought it was this high, it actually had Champion potential.
Xiao Mao had travelled this far, and he hadn't even encountered a single wild Pokemon with Elite Four potential. Xiao Zhi, this guy, had encountered two. Because this Psyduck was given to Xiao Xia by Xiao Zhi, otherwise Xiao Zhi himself would have captured it.
This group of people is truly strange. They abandon and give away Pokemon, all of them with high potential. What kind of people are they? This is...!
“Guba.”
Psyduck tilted its goofy head, walked to Xiao Xia, and jumped directly into the hot spring, revealing a relaxed expression.
“You really know how to enjoy yourself.” Seeing Psyduck so relaxed, Xiao Xia was annoyed. Since catching Psyduck, Xiao Xia would get a headache every time she saw it.
She had also tried to train Psyduck, but as soon as she started, Psyduck would look clueless, completely unable to train.
After a period of nurturing, Xiao Xia gave up training Psyduck, intending to keep it as a normal pet, but even so, Psyduck would often run out of the Pokeball.
“Xiao Xia, your Psyduck has good potential. Train it well, and it will become a major force on your team.” Xiao Mao said.
“Good potential?” Xiao Xia looked dubious. Although she hadn’t owned Psyduck for very long, she had tried to train it, yet it hadn’t even used a single move.
“Gugua!! Gugua!!”
However, the next second, Psyduck went to the deeper part of the hot spring, and immediately started paddling.
“What’s wrong with Psyduck?” Xiao Zhi was puzzled.
“My goodness, you can’t even swim?” Xiao Xia, the Water-type trainer, immediately understood the problem with Psyduck and carried it out.
“Guba.”
Psyduck felt stable again and finally relaxed.
“Xiao Mao, is that what you mean by good potential?” Xiao Zhi questioned. He couldn’t see anything special about this Psyduck.
Especially after hearing Xiao Mao say Psyduck had good talent, he even regretted giving Psyduck to Xiao Xia, and seeing Psyduck unable to swim, he thought Xiao Mao had misjudged.
Although they were rivals, Xiao Zhi still believed Xiao Mao’s judgment, because they had played together since childhood, and during that time, Xiao Mao had introduced Xiao Zhi and the others to a lot of knowledge about Pokemon.
Xiao Mao originally hoped Xiao Zhi could learn something, but it seemed he had no effect whatsoever.
As people say, you can’t teach someone to teach, you can only teach them by doing, and this is true for most people in the world.
“Xiao Xia, don’t you dream of becoming the world’s strongest Water-type Pokemon master? Psyduck is a pure Water-type, don’t you know anything about it?” Xiao Mao asked.