"Kid, what do you think you're doing!"
"Damn it! We're Team Rocket—we're the ones who steal other people's Pokémon! No one takes Pokémon from us!"
"Who is your Pokémon? We're teammates, teammates!"
owth, held high in the air, didn't forget to correct Jessie and Jas.
"Doesn't matter. First, we'll teach this brat a lesson."
Jas said, and together with Jessie, they jumped down from the hot air balloon, chasing after Natsu.
They had already checked with the top; the organization hadn't sent any supervising officers.
As for how he knew there was a Koffing in the Pokéball… Jas assud the kid was just guessing.
"Stop! We won't just stand by!"
Ash grabbed Misty, blocking them.
"You block them, I'm going to save owth!"
Jessie gestured for Jas to chase Natsu.
Team Rocket had their Pokémon *stolen* by soone else—or rather, by a *teammate*. It was a humiliation compounded by old grudges.
Jas quickly caught up to Natsu.
"owth! There's a pervert! Help !"
As soon as Jas tried to stop Natsu, he heard owth's cries.
Ahead, Natsu was examining owth's hind legs, muttering to himself.
"Judging by the residue near the Steel Gym entrance, this owth's diet isn't great."
"And by size, strength, and fur glossiness, all seem below the average for owth of the sa age."
"This probably isn't due to diet alone."
He murmured to himself, then pulled out his Rotom Phone, opened the evaluation app, and scanned owth.
The results were grim.
"You're a worthless owth!"
Natsu noted it carefully in his notebook.
"owth, what are you saying, ow!"
owth exploded in anger. This maniac was not only poking around but checking its hind legs, now trying to *attack* owth's body.
"Whatever you're doing, let owth go!"
Jas arrived just in ti, stopping Natsu from drawing a syringe to test owth's blood.
"Huh?"
Natsu looked back, puzzled, at Jas.
"Go, Koffing!"
Without hesitation, Jas threw the Pokéball.
Battle ti?
Seeing the floating Koffing, Natsu's eyes lit up. He had almost forgotten—he hadn't yet used the so-called battle arena. This was the perfect chance to test it.
"Activate Battle Arena!"
At Natsu's shout, a sharp, powerful BGM filled the air.
"What? What's that sound?"
Jas looked around, confused, but saw no speakers.
"Go, Midchu!"
Natsu threw his Pokéball.
A red light flashed, and a Pikachu with a center-part hairstyle and slicked-up hair appeared in the battle arena.
**Lv.20**
A string of numbers appeared above his head—his level.
"What's that?"
It was Jas's first ti seeing sothing like this, and he couldn't help but be curious.
He noticed that his Koffing also had a string of numbers above its head.
**Lv.32**
In an instant, Jas realized that the number probably represented the Pokémon's level.
To actually visualize a Pokémon's level—what kind of technology is this?
He was stunned. In this tiline, such technology didn't exist yet.
Trainers could only estimate a Pokémon's level based on its condition and behavior. To know the exact level, one had to go to a research lab for a series of evaluations.
"No matter what, I'll capture it and give it to Giovanni!"
Jas was full of determination. His Koffing was a full ten levels higher than the opposing Pikachu.
"Koffing, use Tackle!"
"Koffing!"
At Jas's command, Koffing slamd into Midchu. Though the attack was ordinary, the huge level gap left Pikachu's HP nearly depleted.
Outside the arena, owth watched the red bar above Pikachu rapidly drop, pondering.
"ow? Is that like a health bar in an electric ga, ow?"
"This tech is incredible, ow! Giovanni will love it, ow!"
"Jas, this kid seems to be a researcher! He must know what this technology is—capture him and take him to Giovanni!"
owth, freed from Natsu's bag, found a Pokémon Researcher ID. Ecstatic, he imdiately used a loud encouragent on Jas.
"Don't worry! Capturing this kid will be no problem!"
Jas glanced at the nearly empty red bar above Midchu. Seeing the visualized HP gave him confidence.
"Go, Koffing! Use Tackle again!"
*Koffing!*
Just as Jas expected Pikachu to fall, he strangely stayed in place, unmoving.
"What's wrong, Koffing?"
Jas looked at his Pokémon, confused.
*Koffing, Koffing!*
Koffing seed anxious, turning back to call at Jas.
"There's a strange force restraining it, preventing it from moving, ow!"
owth acted as translator from outside the field.
A strange force? Could this really be turn-based?
Natsu raised an eyebrow at owth's words. Since that was the case—
> **Trainer Natsu used a Potion!**
> *Midchu's* HP has been restored!
As the system announced in his mind, a glowing orb appeared on Natsu, entering Pikachu.
Pikachu visibly recovered, and the HP bar above his head instantly refilled.
"What is going on!?"
Jas noticed the change in Pikachu's HP bar. Pokémon battles—are items allowed?
No, the effect of that potion was way too fast!
Seeing Pikachu lively again, Jas realized the key problem.
In real-world Pokémon battles, no one administers items mid-battle. In reality, a potion takes ti to work. His opponent wouldn't give him that ti.
But Natsu didn't care. Reality is reality—what does it have to do with the ga?
"Midchu, Quick Attack!"
Having understood the rules of the ga battle arena, Natsu didn't hesitate and imdiately issued the command.
*Pikachu!*
Midchu transford into a flash of white light, crashing violently into Koffing.
*Koffing!*
Koffing let out a pained cry, but only a tiny fraction of its HP above its head dropped—about one-fifth.
Seeing this, Jas didn't feel relief at all; instead, an ominous sense of foreboding grew stronger in his mind.
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