After leaving Cerulean City, Kasumi and Takeshi asked more questions during their travels. Although Satoshi had been sharing his experiences with them before, even helping Kasumi's Goldeen evolve into a Seaking, this time their questions were more detailed. After all, they both now understood that Satoshi was a monster in disguise, a cute-looking Meowth who could battle a Gym Leader.
And so, the three of them exchanged travel tips, and naturally, they battled with Pokémon trainers they encountered along the way.
“Shellder, use String Shot to trap the Raticate, then harden your body and charge with the recoil!”
“Got it!”
Shellder's hard body crashed against the Raticate, sending a passerby's Raticate crying to the ground.
“Growlithe, Flamethrower to take down the Weepinbell! Charmander, use Bite to deal with the Staryu! Ralts, use Psychic!”
With three commands, three more battles ended.
Kasumi and Takeshi watched as Satoshi ended each battle in a near-humiliating fashion.
“That, um, wouldn't you say Satoshi's strength is a bit too much for these people?”
Kasumi asked somewhat awkwardly, watching Satoshi being challenged by more and more people. After all, wasn't someone who could defeat a Gym Leader battling ordinary people a bit like bullying?
Meowth shook his head and said, “Nah, the Boss is training Ralts and the others right now, meow. Every battle is an improvement, meow. Maybe these fights don't mean much to us, but they're very helpful for Ralts and the others.”
“Lucky!”
Chansey nodded, confirming Meowth's statement.
“Is that so?”
As they were talking, Satoshi's Pidgeotto charged toward the last opponent.
“Hurricane, finish the fight!”
“Pidge!”
Pidgeotto flapped its wings, creating a whirlwind that knocked the last challenging Raticate to the ground.
“So strong... Maybe you could defeat that Beast Tamer, Xiaoming.”
A passerby trainer couldn't help but comment, and upon hearing the name “Beast Tamer”, Satoshi became interested. After all, if someone was called the Beast Tamer, they must have some skill. So, Satoshi asked the man, “Where is this Beast Tamer you speak of?”
“Not far from here, you'd definitely beat him with your strength.”
“Is that so? Thanks!”
Then, Satoshi told Kasumi and Takeshi, “Let's go take a look. Shellder's about ready to evolve.”
Kasumi and Takeshi had no objections to Satoshi's suggestion, thinking they might learn some new techniques.
They soon arrived at Xiaoming's location, finding it easily. After all, Xiaoming was boasting about his unofficial Gym's 98 consecutive wins.
“Unofficial Gym, that's pretty arrogant. Let's see if your skills match, is anyone home? I'm here to challenge you!”
Hearing Satoshi's call, a guy with a spiky hairstyle came out. He looked at Satoshi and said, “You're here to challenge the Gym? I'm Xiaoming, the Gym Leader here!”
“Unofficial Gym? Well, let me see your skills. Come out, Shellder!”
As Satoshi's Poké Ball flashed, Shellder appeared beside him. Xiaoming glanced at Satoshi with some regret and asked, “You're using Shellder?”
Satoshi's gaze shifted when he saw Xiaoming clearly not taking Shellder seriously. “No, your opponent isn't Shellder, it's...”
With those words, Shellder began to glow with the light of evolution, and soon, a sturdy Beedrill was hovering beside Satoshi.
“...Beedrill.”
Xiaoming was somewhat surprised to see Satoshi's Shellder evolve, but he didn't take much notice of the Beedrill, a Pokémon commonly found everywhere.
“In that case, go, Diglett! Win another victory!”
Seeing that Xiaoming sent out only a Diglett at the peak of ordinary strength, Satoshi's face turned even uglier. Didn't this guy know the true strength of a Gym Leader?
“Xiaoming, I have a question. What do you think of a Gym Leader's strength?”
Xiaoming was taken aback by Satoshi's question, but still answered, “Gym Leader? I've defeated a few, they're just like that, I guess.”
Hearing Xiaoming's response, Satoshi pulled his cap down and said to Kasumi and Takeshi behind him, “I'll just give him a little lesson, don't mind me.”
Then Satoshi told Xiaoming, “Let's begin.”
“Alright! Go, Diglett, use Rollout and knock down the Beedrill!”
“Screech!”
“Beedrill, use Focus Energy and Twin Needle, end this...”
Having finished his command, Satoshi turned his head. The moment Beedrill received Satoshi's command, its eyes flashed with determination, then it gathered its power and struck the Diglett, which had curled into a ball.
“Screech!!!”
With a scream, Diglett was flung from the air and fell to the ground.
“Diglett! How is this possible?!”
“Hey, Xiaoming is it? Staying in this place all the time won't help you grow. Go ask a Gym Leader to have a serious battle with you, you'll understand the true strength of a Gym Leader.”
After saying this, Satoshi ignored Xiaoming, while the Team Rocket trio watched secretly, muttering to themselves, “That Beedrill is so strong, the brat's Beedrill is incredible...,”
“If that's the case, we'll have even more to steal from the brat, meow!”
“Beedrill, use Drill Run on that bush.”
“Buzz!”
Hearing Satoshi’s voice, the Team Rocket trio froze. Then, Meowth asked, “Is the brat talking about that bush, meow?”
“Seems like it...”
“No way!” *3
“Ah, ow, ow, ow!!!” *3
Looking at the three of them, who were being pierced by Drill Run, Satoshi released his Charmander and said, “Charmander, use Flamethrower on them.”
“Char!”
Boom!
With a huge explosion, Team Rocket was sent flying again.
“Ugh, why can't we even release our Pokémon this time? We didn't even get to say our opening line!”
“That brat’s a man of action!”
“We still have to say our catchphrase, meow!”
“What a frustrating feeling~” *3