There’s a saying—life is full of surprises.
Right now, the driver deeply resonated with that sentint.
Staring at the massive Ting-Lu before him, his mind raced with countless thoughts, all of which eventually condensed into a single word:
Dood.
Although he was just a middle-aged man with a passion for fishing and never really kept up with internet forums, ssage boards, or social dia, he had at least heard a little about the recent hype surrounding Ting-Lu.
The gist of it? This was an incredibly powerful and ferocious Legendary Pokémon.
Sure, soone had apparently managed to capture it.
But that didn’t change its nature.
Back then, all this fishing enthusiast could think was—why do I keep pulling up Magikarp? Where are the other fish? Do I just bring out a water pump at this point?
So he never really paid much attention to the details.
But now, standing face-to-face with the legendary Pokémon, those scattered fragnts of information slowly pieced themselves together in his mind.
“Uh, sir… are we here… already?”
From the back seat, the lead examiner slowly opened his eyes, looking toward the driver with curiosity.
But as he spoke, his initially strong and confident voice gradually weakened.
Because the mont he laid eyes on Ting-Lu—
He, too, fell silent.
This… doesn’t seem right.
“What’s wrong, leader? We—”
Another voice chid in from the back—a petite young girl poked her head forward.
Yet before she could even finish her sentence, her words got stuck in her throat.
What… the hell… is going on here?
For a brief mont, all three passengers in the car sat frozen in stunned silence.
anwhile, the Ting-Lu sprawled in front of their vehicle also seed lost in thought.
What’s up with these three humans?
No one told anyone was coming to visit.
Are they here to cause trouble?
…Doesn’t seem like it.
Knock knock.
“Yadong~”
Just as the atmosphere plunged into an eerie silence, a gentle tapping sounded against the car window.
It was followed by a slow, drawn-out cry.
Turning toward the source of the sound, they saw a Slowking standing outside, one hand tucked behind its back, casually poking at the window with the other.
"Yadong~"
【Hello, are you here to inspect the gym?】
A steady voice echoed directly in their minds.
The Slowking was using telepathy to communicate with them.
Compared to Natsu, who was practically a human-shaped Pokémon interpreter, normal humans still found it a bit challenging to understand Pokémon through telepathic projections.
After all, telepathy wasn’t actual speech—it was more of a direct transmission of thoughts, which could sotis lead to misunderstandings.
"Yes! Are you one of Mr. Natsu's Pokémon?"
The lead examiner was the first to snap back to his senses, nodding repeatedly in response.
Saved!
That was the only thought in his mind right now.
Yes, Ting-Lu had already been captured by Natsu…
But that didn't change the fact that it was a Legendary Pokémon once infamous for massive destruction.
It had always displayed an indifferent attitude toward both humans and Pokémon alike.
To be honest, compared to those malevolent Legendary Pokémon, these aloof ones were even harder to deal with.
For malevolent ones, at least you could prepare your last words.
If you had enough determination, you might even try to fight back—either escape with your life or go out in a blaze of glory.
But when facing an unpredictable Legendary Pokémon…
You couldn’t show hostility first.
You couldn’t release your own Pokémon as a precaution.
You couldn’t even entertain thoughts of escape.
Any of those could make the Pokémon perceive you as a threat and attack.
If he got attacked, that was one thing.
But the bigger concern was that his actions might push a neutral Legendary to develop hostility toward humans, possibly leading to large-scale destruction as retaliation.
Yet, if he didn’t remain cautious, what if Ting-Lu just happened to be in a bad mood today and decided to lash out anyway?
With Pokémon like this, there was no such thing as being too careful.
Now, with a Slowking stepping in to diate, the examiner finally felt like he could breathe again.
Thank goodness. He got to keep his life.
The young girl beside him, who had been responsible for record-keeping, also snapped back to reality—only to realize that cold sweat had soaked the back of her uniform.
She knew Natsu had captured a Legendary Pokémon.
But she never imagined he’d let Ting-Lu roam freely on his farm like this.
And she definitely didn’t expect the driver, who had been blindly following the GPS, to drive them straight into Ting-Lu’s face.
What a… spectacular surprise.
"Yadong."
【Alright, I’ll take you to Natsu.】
With that, the Slowking casually opened the car door and climbed into the passenger seat.
It fastened its seatbelt with practiced ease, adjusted its seating position, then glanced at the driver, who was still staring at it in shock.
Slowking raised its chin slightly, gesturing.
"Yadong."
【Drive. The road’s wide open, isn’t it?】
"Oh—oh! Right!"
Snapping out of his daze, the driver, looking as if he had just seen a ghost, hurriedly turned the car around.
He had seen plenty of Psychic-type Pokémon before.
But one acting this naturally—so human-like—was definitely a first.
It was… eye-opening.
anwhile, in the backseat, the examiner and the girl watched in silence as Slowking lowered the car window and greeted Ting-Lu outside.
"Yadong."
【Dumb Bird said we’re all watching a movie together tonight. Sa place as usual.】
"Hoo~"
Alright.
Ting-Lu responded simply.
Sotis, you just had to admit—those who were a little… off in the head had an easier ti getting along with others.
They didn’t care about awkwardness or when to back down.
And thanks to its relentless evangelizing, Corviknight had managed to get along with most of the Pokémon on the farm.
After all, they were all close buddies who had stayed up late together, watching ani and movies.
"Yadong."
【Just go straight ahead.】
Under Slowking’s guidance, the driver spent quite a while navigating through the farm before finally arriving at the gym’s entrance.
They had practically driven across the entire farm.
If it weren’t for the recent road construction in the area, they would have taken even longer.
For the entire drive, the atmosphere inside the car remained heavy with silence.
By protocol, as mbers of the inspection team, they weren’t supposed to engage in casual conversation with the person being assessed.
That was the standard procedure.
Normally, an assessnt team consisted of a lead examiner, two deputy examiners for oversight, and a record-keeping team of four to five mbers.
The examiners were temporarily assigned from different departnts to ensure impartiality.
They wouldn’t even et each other before the assignnt to prevent bias.
But for Natsu’s case, this was mostly a formality.
All they needed was so video docuntation, and that would be enough.
So, a little small talk during the drive was fine—
As long as no sensitive information was shared.
That said…
There were no rules against talking to the Pokémon of the person being assessed.
Glancing at the Slowking, who was leisurely enjoying the passing scenery, the girl fell into deep thought.
She had always been curious about Slowking.
She had seen plenty of Slowpoke.
She had seen plenty of Slowbro.
But Slowking? Not so much.
For one, Slowking required a King’s Rock to evolve.
That special item wasn’t cheap.
It not only helped Pokémon evolve but was also a collector’s item, keeping its market price constantly high.
And even if you had a King’s Rock, evolving a Slowking wasn’t easy.
In the wild, Slowbro evolved because Slowpoke’s tail secreted a fluid that Shellder liked, prompting it to bite down.
But Slowpoke didn’t have anything on its head.
So getting a Shellder to bite its head was a whole different challenge.
Unless you caught a Shellder separately and forced it to do the job without bonding first—
Which was kind of ssed up.
The girl wanted to ask Slowking about this.
She really wanted to.
There weren’t any rules saying she couldn’t.
For most people, if sothing wasn’t explicitly forbidden, it was allowed.
But for soone in her position… it was better not to.
So, she chose silence.
It was best not to say anything unnecessary.
No point in causing trouble.
As for her curiosity…
She could ask after Natsu’s assessnt was over.
Because in her mind, Natsu passing the test was already a given.
In fact, not just her—the entire league, from top to bottom, had pretty much assud this outco.
The higher-ups of the Jadeleaf League were incredibly optimistic about Natsu’s future.
So had even suggested that he should start preparing for an Elite Four challenge right now.
Eighteen years old.
Defeated Ting-Lu head-on.
Has a team of Legendaries: Ting-Lu, Pecharunt, Cresselia, Okidogi, Fezandipiti, Munkidori, and more.
This was practically a Legendary-tier lineup, strong enough to compete in national tournants—
And give all those so-called "geniuses" a reality check.
In the past, the term "genius" was reserved for the rarest prodigies.
But now?
Everyone and their owth was a self-proclaid genius.
The internet was flooded with news about these so-called "prodigies."
Sobody beat their teacher a month after getting their first Pokémon? Genius.
Sobody bred Pokémon well? Genius.
Sobody won a tournant after just a year? Genius.
Sobody turned pro right after college? Genius.
So of these were actually respectable.
But others… were just nonsense.
And these "geniuses" loved fighting over who was superior.
Like so never-ending contest.
It was like how "singer kings" used to be rare and legendary—
But now, anyone could claim the title, backed by hordes of fans.
Honestly, the league wanted a real genius to co along—
Soone to put all these posers in their place.
And Natsu was perfect for the job.
Maybe even too perfect.
"Mr. Natsu."
As soon as he got out of the car, the examiner quickly stepped forward to stand in front of Natsu.
This was the rising star the League had placed such high hopes on.
No, scratch that—he wasn’t just so promising talent waiting for his potential to be realized.
He was already strong.
The girl behind him, clutching a notepad, hurried to catch up. After flashing Natsu a polite smile, she stood silently behind the examiner, simply nodding respectfully when Natsu’s gaze t hers.
"Hello, and thank you for coming all this way."
Seeing the middle-aged man in formal attire and the girl behind him, Natsu returned their courtesy with a smile.
After all, they had traveled quite a distance to get here.
As long as they weren’t deliberately here to make trouble, there was no reason for him to act all cold and aloof—that would just be trying too hard to look cool.
That kind of attitude wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but… still.
"Yadong."
I brought them here.
Slowking strolled out of the car at a leisurely pace, stopping for a brief, unnatural mont as he stepped down.
That dumb bird really hit hard.
Even after being treated by Chansey, Slowking could still feel a faint ache—like the kind that lingers after getting jumped by a group of people.
Even if the bruises are gone, you just don’t feel quite right.
"Thanks for your help, Slowking."
Natsu chuckled, patting Slowking on the shoulder.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t reach Slowking’s head—he just found Shellder’s side-eyed stare a bit unsettling.
Every ti he reached out, it felt like Shellder was this close to snapping at him.
"Alright, shall we get straight to business?"
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the examiner tentatively looked at Natsu.
This young man might very well beco his superior in the future.
It wouldn’t do to offend him.
"Sounds good. I’ll leave it to you two, then."
With a nod, Natsu led them into the gym.
Slowking followed along behind them.
"Mr. Natsu, the first part of our evaluation will be an assessnt of the gym’s facilities."
"We’ll need you to guide us through an inspection."
The girl who had been standing behind the examiner stepped forward, and a Rotom Phone floated out of her pocket, automatically beginning to record.
This Rotom wasn’t her personal Pokémon—it was an official League-registered staff mber.
"Understood."
Natsu nodded and led them on a brief tour of the gym, ensuring they checked all the necessary facilities.
As they walked, the girl busily took notes in her notepad, occasionally marking items off on the assessnt checklist.
"And now, for the final part of the evaluation—the practical battle assessnt."
Standing at the edge of the battlefield, the girl spoke with a serious expression.
At first glance, she seed completely stern and professional.
But if you looked closely, you could catch the faintest hint of amusent in her eyes.
That amusent? It was directed at her fellow examiner.
The examiner, in turn, shot back a helpless look.
? Evaluating Natsu?
Are you kidding ?
When he first received this assignnt, he had felt like the sky was falling.
At his level?
Forget about Ting-Lu.
Even that Corviknight alone might be too much for him to handle.
That was the sa Corviknight that had tanked a relentless onslaught from Ting-Lu and still had the energy to charge forward and taunt it afterward.
A literal indestructible wall of steel.
But there was no getting out of it.
The battle had to happen.
At least Natsu probably wouldn’t use his main team… right?
"Now then, we will begin the official Gym Evaluation Battle!"
"The battle format will be 3v3 on a standard battlefield. The first trainer to have all three Pokémon unable to battle loses!"
Standing at the edge of the battlefield, the girl raised a small flag, temporarily taking on the role of referee.
Later, Natsu would have to hire a proper gym referee himself.
As the flag waved, Natsu released his first Pokémon.
The mont his choice appeared, the examiner’s face turned pale.
Wait—bro, are you serious?!
On the battlefield, a Pecharunt silently observed its opponent.
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