Pokémon: Master System.

Nearly Master-level?

Haha, almost a museum master level?

What are you pretending to be with the strength of a quasi-gyū master?

Given its enormous size and bizarre appearance, it turns out it's just a pretty face.

Two Pokémon floated in the air, their Psychic-type energy surging, and a deep, ancient voice emanated from them.

"Challengers...only by defeating...us...can...we...advance...to...the next level!"

Hearing the voices of the two Pokémon, Xia Yu smiled faintly.

Two Pokémon with near-Gym Leader level strength are nothing special.

"Metamorphoses, Comet Punch! Take them down."

Xia Yu's voice rang out. Metagross, with its near-champion level strength, would be insulted to use even one more move against two Pokémon with near-Gym Leader level strength.

Metagross's body burst forth with astonishing speed, its blue metallic forelimbs gleaming with silver light, flashing past in the rainy night as it flew towards the Claydot.

"The power of the earth!"

Faced with Metagross's overwhelming attack, Claydot unleashed Ground-type energy, colliding with Metagross's metallic body.

To Xia Yu's surprise, the Earth Power released by the near-Gym Leader level Claydot actually caused some damage to Metagross and slightly hindered Metagross's attack.

What's going on? Something's not right. Before Xia Yu could think about it, Metagross broke through the earth's power barrier and unleashed a powerful punch that landed on the Claydot.

"boom!"

With a soft sound, the scene Xia Yu had envisioned—the Metagross monster annihilating the Psychic Clay Golem and the Bronze Bell—did not occur.

Instead, Claydol unleashed Psychic-type energy, colliding with Metagross and stopping it!

The Claydol, a near-Gym Leader level psychic, actually blocked Metagross's attack, and only took a slight step back, putting it at a slight disadvantage.

what happened?

Xia Yu was shocked and stared in disbelief at the scene before him.

However, before Xia Yu could even think, the bronze bell beside him launched an attack!

"Shadow ball!"

Ghost-type energy surged, forming a shadow ball in front of Bronze Bell, which entered Metagross's body, causing significant damage and resulting in a painful expression on Metagross's face.

Something is wrong!

Xia Yu frowned, his eyes filled with surprise and doubt. How could Metagross, with its near-champion level strength, be injured by Claydol and Bronze Bell?

Xia Yu's gaze fell on Metagross, and he noticed that Metagross's strength had somehow increased from near-champion level to near-gym leader level.

At the same time, the bronze bell rang out again.

"Human...you can...send another Pokémon...for another battle!"

"Both...together!"

…………

Xia Yu's face darkened as he looked at the two Pokémon present, vaguely sensing that things were getting a bit tricky.

What's going on? Does this secret realm have the ability to limit one's strength?

Xia Yu took a deep breath and began to verify his conjecture. He took out Gengar's Poké Ball from his waist and threw it out.

The Steel/Psychic type Bronze Bell and the Ground/Psychic type Claydol share common weaknesses to Dark and Ghost types.

Therefore, Xia Yu's best choices are Ghost-type Gengar and Dragapult, and Darkrai-type Darkrai.

However, Metagross's sudden drop in strength made Xia Yu hesitant to send out any more powerful Pokémon, so he ultimately chose to send out Gengar.

Ghost-type energy surged, and Gengar appeared on the field.

With pale purple skin, a plump figure, and red eyes, it stared intently at the bronze bell and the psychic clay figure.

After releasing Gengar, Xia Yu's gaze remained fixed on Gengar. He noticed that Gengar's strength was at the Gym Leader level when it first appeared, but its strength instantly dropped to the Gym Leader level after it flew into the Ring Field!

Oh, I see! It was a problem with the circular playing surface.

This circular arena actually has the effect of limiting strength; the strength of all Pokémon that appear will be limited to below the level of a Gym Leader.

No wonder the Bronze Bell and the Psychic Claydot look so imposing, but their actual strength is only at the level of a Gym Leader.

Xia Yu's eyes flashed. It seemed that the effect of this venue was to eliminate the influence of strength.

It comes down to pure talent, attribute advantages, combat awareness, skill coordination, and dual tactics.

"The challenger... battle... has begun... Are you... ready...?"

As two Pokémon appeared in the circular arena, the deep, resonant sound of the bronze bell, now that the conditions were met, rang out once more.

Their enormous bodies floated in the air, watching Metagross and Gengar; a battle was about to break out!

"Wait, I need to switch! Come out, Metagross!"

Upon hearing the sound of the bronze bell, Xia Yu quickly ordered Metagross to leave the circular arena. Metagross had just been injured and was not at a stat advantage. At the same time, Xia Yu wanted to continue verifying his guesses.

…………

As Metagross left the arena, and sensing that there was only one Pokémon left, Claydol and Bronze Bell both stopped in place, motionless.

Seeing this, Xia Yu nodded slightly. At this moment, he had a basic understanding of the rules of this secret realm.

The circular arena in front of them is like a fighting ring, possessing the ability to suppress strength, capable of reducing the strength of all Pokémon to below the level of a Gym Leader.

The bronze bell and the psychic clay figurine are the defending champions.

You can send out two Pokémon to battle them. Only by defeating Bronze Bell and Claydol can you advance to the next level!

…………

But... could I send out more Pokémon to gang up on them?

Thinking this, Xia Yu then took out Darkrai's Poké Ball and released it.

This means Xia Yu now has three Pokémon.

Metagross, Gengar, Darkrai.

"Darkrai, Metagross, you two, enter the Ring!"

Xia Yu wanted to try to exploit a bug to make it 3 vs 2. If there was a shortcut, they would never honestly try to pass the level.

As Xia Yu's voice rang out, Darkrai and Metagross entered the Ring Arena together.

As soon as they entered the circular arena, their strength was immediately restricted to below the level of a Gym Leader.

At the same time, the power of both the psychic clay puppet and the bronze bell suddenly surged to the quasi-Heavenly King level! They jumped a whole level!

"Stop...! Challenger... you... are... making a mistake!"

Seeing the power surge of Claydot and Bronze Bell, and hearing their warning cries, Xia Yu immediately ordered, "Come out, Metagross, Darkrai."

It seems... I have no choice but to fight honestly.

…………

Chapter 537 Thunderous Glory, Awe-inspiring Power (Part 3)

Cheating is not allowed.

Then it becomes a pure contest of strength.

Xia Yu began to think about which two Pokémon he should send out.

Darkrai, with its superior type advantage, will definitely be needed to defeat Bronzebell and Claydol, two Psychic-type Pokémon.

Its group hypnosis move, Dark Hole, can play a huge role in double battles, thus securing the first Pokémon.

As for the second Pokémon, Xia Yu thought about it and finally decided to send Gigantamax Lapras to fight.

Although Gigantamax Lapras's strength will be suppressed to the level of a Gym Leader, Gigantamax Pokémon still have an absolute advantage in double battles of the same level.

Various Dynamax and Gigantamax moves can produce unexpected effects.

Especially after Gigantamax Aurora Melody unleashes its Aurora Veil, it becomes ridiculously powerful in doubles battles.

However, after Xia Yu took out the Gigantamax Poké Ball, he discovered that the Gigantamax Poké Ball was malfunctioning, and he was unable to release the Gigantamax Pokémon at all.

This made Xia Yu's expression even more gloomy. Ever since entering the Dragon Spiral Tower, everything had seemed a little strange.

Since he couldn't use Gigantamax Pokémon, Xia Yu had very few options left.

Gengar, Cinderace, Dragapult...

First is Gengar. Although Gengar has learned Hypnosis, it can form a dual Hypnosis system with Darkrai, and it also has the advantage of being able to Mega Evolve.

However, it also has significant weaknesses in this doubles battle. Firstly, although Gengar's strength will increase after Mega Evolution, it is very likely that it will be suppressed back to the level of a Gym Leader by the Terrain Terrain.

In this way, the power boost from Mega Evolution is almost useless; the only thing that can be effective is its Shadow Tag ability.

The Shadow Tag ability is meant to prevent enemies from escaping or switching Pokémon, but in this battle, it's clear that you can't switch Pokémon, so the Shadow Tag ability is completely useless.

Secondly, there is another reason: Gengar and Darkrai have highly overlapping roles, both being high-speed special attackers.