- 147 - A Hot Spring Inn on the Verge of Bankruptcy (Please Subscribe!)

According to the regulations of the Pokémon League, gym badges are divided into two categories: gold and silver.

Gold badges can only be challenged by professional-tier trainers. After obtaining a sufficient number of gold badges, trainers become eligible to participate in the National Tournament and the Masters Tournament.

This is one of the pathways for a professional-tier trainer to advance to a three-star (Master-tier) trainer.

As for silver badges, they are intended for trainers of the Novice, Elite, and Gym Leader tiers.

Upon acquiring eight silver badges from different cities within the same province, a trainer earns the right to participate in the Provincial League Tournament.

It was precisely to participate in the Provincial League Tournament that Tōshi began challenging gyms and collecting silver badges.

"My challenge is for the silver badge."

Tōshi stated frankly.

Upon hearing this, the burly man before him shook his head.

"Sorry, I cannot accept your challenge."

"Why?" Tōshi asked, puzzled.

"Because this gym... is down to just me! There are no gym battle participants available to accept your challenge!"

The burly man spread his hands with a helpless expression.

As the Gym Leader of Nanwei Gym, he was nothing more than a commander with no troops.

What could he possibly do about that?

"Well, this..."

Tōshi was left speechless. Such a massive gym... oh, wait, such a massive hot spring resort—with a gym in the backyard, yet it had only the Gym Leader himself?

How, pray tell, could such a thing be deemed acceptable?

No wonder the League had ordered its dissolution.

It all made sense now.

"Who says there's only you? I am also a member of the gym."

Just at that moment, another young man walked out from behind the building, looking about two years older than Tōshi.

"A-Ji, stop messing around!"

Catching sight of him, the burly man directly ordered him off to clean the hot spring pools.

Tōshi inquired, "Who is he?"

"Just a odd-job man."

"I am not just an odd-job man! Master, even if you don't acknowledge me, and even if the gym is about to collapse, I will always remain a member of Nanwei Gym!"

A-Ji dropped the brush in his hand and spoke with utmost seriousness.

Seeing A-Ji drop the brush, the burly man grew slightly angry and strode toward him.

Frightened, A-Ji fled back inside the hot spring building.

"Apologies, this fellow just talks nonsense."

The burly man scratched his head, looking somewhat apologetic.

"I don't mind, but I did hear him say he's also a member of the gym?"

Tōshi pointed toward A-Ji, who was now peeking his head out to gaze at the backyard.

"No, this guy is merely a handyman who came to do odd jobs at my hot spring resort."

The burly man glared at A-Ji, signaling him to get back to work immediately.

Afterward, the burly man went back to his own tasks as well.

Tōshi had originally intended to leave Nanwei Gym, but he noticed A-Ji waiting by the entrance.

"Hey, you're a traveling trainer, aren't you?" A-Ji asked.

"Huh? Yes, I am. My name is Tōshi."

Tōshi nodded at him and offered a greeting.

"A-Ji!"

With that, he proactively extended his right hand, as if intending to shake hands with Tōshi.

Tōshi politely reached out his hand in response.

As he grasped A-Ji's hand, Tōshi could feel calluses, suggesting that A-Ji must have done a tremendous amount of grueling physical labor.

"Leaving just like that?" A-Ji inquired.

"Yeah, otherwise there's nothing much to do in Nanwei City. I mainly came here to challenge the Nanwei Gym, but since no one is available to battle, I have no choice but to leave."

Tōshi answered truthfully.

"How about having a Pokémon battle with me?"

A spark flickered in A-Ji's eyes.

Ardent and blazing.

"A Pokémon battle with you?"

"Yes! Although Master won't admit it, I actually am a member of Nanwei Gym. Two months ago, Nanwei Gym still had two other senior disciples, but they left after the League issued the notice that Nanwei Gym was about to close down. Originally, I should have set out on a journey too, but I wanted to stay with Master until the day the gym closes."

When A-Ji said this, a trace of melancholy appeared in his eyes, clearly showing his deep reluctance to let go.

Hearing these words, Tōshi suddenly felt that the A-Ji before him was quite a loyal and sentimental person.

"Well? Would you like to have a Pokémon battle with me? Staying cooped up in Nanwei City with hardly any trainers passing by, I was practically dying of boredom!"

A-Ji once again requested a Pokémon battle with Tōshi.

"Of course."

Tōshi readily accepted.

Since he had already come all this way, he couldn't just leave empty-handed, right? Farming some points before departing wouldn't be a loss.

"Thank you so much, Tōshi!"

A-Ji clenched both hands into fists with excitement and let out a cheer.

Tōshi could easily sense that the lack of Pokémon battles for such a long period had driven this guy out of his mind.

Following that, A-Ji led Tōshi to a dilapidated building.

A tattered sign still hung from the eaves of this house.

Tōshi squinted and saw that the legible characters on it read "Poké● Cen".

"Could this possibly be a Pokémon Center?" Tōshi muttered to himself.

"That's right, this used to be a Pokémon Center, but it had no business, so it went bankrupt," A-Ji said casually.

"No business?"

Tōshi was speechless, never expecting Nanwei City to have fallen to such a desolate state.

The gym had no business and was on the verge of closing.

The Pokémon Center had no business and had long since gone out of business.

Truly deserving of being called a backwater rural town.

"How many Pokémon do you have, Tōshi?"

Upon arriving at the dilapidated battle arena in the backyard of the former Pokémon Center, A-Ji asked about the size of Tōshi's team.

Tōshi raised four fingers and gestured.

"Four."

"Four? That's fantastic!" A-Ji smiled and said, "Then let's follow the standard gym challenge format and make it a three-on-three, how about that?"

A-Ji suggested with a hint of excitement.

"Either way is fine with me."

Tōshi indicated he didn't mind.

He was quite familiar with the standard gym challenge format.

Conventional gym challenges always took the form of three-on-three battles.

The gym battle participant was not allowed to swap out their chosen Pokémon during the match, while the challenger could substitute theirs freely.

The battle would conclude only when all three Pokémon of one side had lost their ability to battle or had surrendered in advance.

Unless under exceptional circumstances, the gym battle participant was prohibited from surrendering early.

This regulation was actually implemented to prevent certain gym participants from deliberately throwing matches to let novice trainers pass the trial.

After all, apart from taking on apprentices to nurture exceptional trainers, every gym also served as a threshold to test novice trainers.

Only trainers who successfully passed eight gym trials were qualified to participate in the Provincial League Tournament.

"Since there's no referee, shall we just begin directly?"

As A-Ji's words trailed off, he was already gripping a Poké Ball in his hand.

"Alright!"

Tōshi pulled out a red-and-white Poké Ball.

For the first match, he chose to send out his ace Pokémon, Electivire.

"Take to the field, Electivire!"

"Go, Persian!"

Both sides dispatched their respective Pokémon simultaneously.

"Bzz-rt!"

"Meow~"

As soon as the two Pokémon entered the arena, they began glaring at each other with intense hostility.

Utilizing his scanning eye, Tōshi checked the specific data panel of this Persian:

Persian
Level: 32
Potential: Gym Leader Tier
...

"A level 32 Persian with Gym Leader-tier potential?"

Tōshi let out a dry, unexpected chuckle. This was getting interesting.

"Let the battle begin!"

A-Ji signaled Tōshi to take the first move. In all gym challenge matches, it was customary for the challenger to initiate the attack.

... (To be continued)