Pokémon: Master System.

After talking with Zhao Ruohan for a long time, Zhao Ruohan finally agreed to sign a lifetime contract with the Xia family, and Xia Yong also agreed to formally take her as his apprentice and provide her with resources.

Xia Yong had his own reasons for agreeing to Zhao Ruohan's request. First of all, the Xia family's foundation was in Xingguang City.

Although Xingguang City has consistently ranked among the bottom three in Xishu Province, the discovery of the Grass Insect Secret Realm has brought a development opportunity to Xingguang City.

Airports, large shopping malls, five-star hotels, major tourist attractions, and prestigious universities are all undergoing site surveys and selection, and construction is expected to be completed within three years at most. If the Xia family can ride this wave of development, its power will undoubtedly increase significantly, making it a behemoth family in Starlight City. However, the Xia family also faces a problem: who will inherit the family business in the next generation?

Xia Yong knew his two sons' personalities well; both were proud and arrogant, much like himself in his youth. First was Xia Luo. Although his strength had plummeted due to the loss of two Pokémon, leading to his removal as Gym Leader, he harbored a deep resentment and focused on preparing for the Gym Leader Ranking Tournament three years later. He was determined to rise from where he had fallen, and he had clearly stated his intention to return to Cinnabar City and regain his position as Gym Leader. Therefore, staying in Starlight City was out of the question.

As for Xia Yu, he is already a leading figure in the scientific research field at a young age, and he has also become a Dragon-type Pokémon trainer under the tutelage of Long Fan. It is even more impossible for him to return to Starlight City to inherit the family business.

His future should not be confined to Xingguang City or Xishu Province; his stage should be the entire country of China and even the world.

Therefore, the Xia family is now facing a situation where no younger generation remains in Starlight City, so Xia Yong must plan ahead. The income from the Grass and Insect Realm is the foundation of the Xia family; as long as there is a continuous source of funds, they can cultivate one near-Elite Four level trainer after another. The foundation of Starlight City must not be broken.

Moreover, when Xia Yong recently saw news about Xia Yu, he realized that Xia Yu had grown up and made a name for himself. Coupled with Yu Mengyu's pregnancy, this made Xia Yong suddenly realize that he was getting old and was about to become a grandfather.

He could clearly feel that his body was not as good as before, especially in recent years. He had begun to feel powerless. At most, he could only hold on for another ten years before he had to step down as the head of the business. Who would take over the Xia family's business then?

Besides, everyone is born, grows old, gets sick, and dies. If he suddenly passes away, there will be no one to inherit the family business in Starlight City.

Therefore, Xia Yong has been urgently looking for someone who can safeguard the Xia family's foundation, someone who can hold on for twenty years, as long as they can persist until Xia Luo's child grows up and takes over the Xia family.

Under these circumstances, Xia Yong discovered Zhao Ruohan and, through careful observation, found that Zhao Ruohan was very suitable to be his successor.

First, Zhao Ruohan has an extremely solid foundation in Pokémon theory, is hardworking, intelligent, and ambitious, and most importantly, she has an inherent tenacity. Second, her family background is impeccable; her brother and father both got their jobs arranged by Xia Yong. Finally, the Xia family has been kind to her, and while Zhao Ruohan might not be expected to repay kindness in every way, she is at least a polite and well-mannered young woman.

A combination of factors led Xia Yong to decide to take Zhao Ruohan as his disciple. At the same time, a contract was signed as insurance, with the Xia family allocating resources to fully cultivate Zhao Ruohan and strive to make her the Bug-type Gym Leader to succeed her as the Gym Leader of Starlight City.

In fact, Xia Yong didn't need her to be outstanding; he just needed to protect the Xia family's business in Xingguang City.

Chapter 139 Leaf Blade Special Training

Xia Yu and Zhao Ruohan only glanced at each other briefly in the crowd before passing each other by.

Zhao Ruohan unconsciously recalled the night a few months ago when Xia Yu accompanied her to sell barbecue. Compared to Xia Yu's current status as the center of attention, she still preferred Xia Yu that night, when the two of them sold barbecue together like friends. Back then, Xia Yu had a more down-to-earth and relatable charm.

It was from that night that her life changed, and everything started to get better.

…………

Xia Yu didn't feel anything special. He thought Zhao Ruohan seemed to have become even more beautiful. He wondered if it was just his imagination because they hadn't seen each other for a long time.

The two continued towards the forbidden area. Xia Yu released the Forest Lizard. This time, when he returned to Starlight City, he only brought one Forest Lizard with him. As for the other four Pokémon, he temporarily entrusted them to Teacher Long for foster care and training in the Dragon-type Secret Realm.

Although Xia Yu was also worried about the safety of the other four Pokémon, after careful consideration, he believed that leaving them in the Dragon-type Secret Realm was safer than keeping them by his side. Moreover, Xia Yu had absolute trust in Teacher Dragon; what couldn't Xia Yu trust about a woman who would risk her own health to help him hatch eggs?

The forbidden area was the territory of the Sceptile and Venusaur clans. Returning to a familiar place and walking on the lush grass, Xia Yu was momentarily dazed. He thought of the man named Xu Xiu again. It seemed that the guy had not been captured yet and was still at large.

"The grass-type energy here is indeed very concentrated." At this moment, Lin Xueyang, the younger uncle, released a Fengmi Dragon (pictured above). The concentrated grass-type energy in the forbidden area was quite beneficial to the Fengmi Dragon. Walking in the forbidden area, watching the Fengmi Dragon's excited and joyful appearance, Lin Xueyang said, "The energy in this newly discovered secret realm is indeed much more concentrated. Generally, this situation will last for a year before returning to the normal level of a secret realm. Is this where you tamed your Forest Lizard?"

"Hmm." Xia Yu nodded, then briefly explained to his uncle how he had tamed the forest lizard: "It was a coincidence, I suppose."

As they traversed the jungle and gradually approached the territory of the Lizard King's clan, the increasingly familiar surroundings, including the towering trees, stirred excitement even in the usually composed forest lizards.

"Chamo!"

With a cry, a forest lizard jumped down from a tree and stood in front of Xia Yu and the forest lizard, looking at them warily.

Compared to Xia Yu's forest lizard, the forest lizard opposite him looked rather small, like a miniature version.

"Chamo."

Xia Yu's Forest Lizard seemed to recognize the Forest Lizard in front of it, and the two Pokémon walked over and began to communicate, which Xia Yu and his uncle could not understand.

This made Xia Yu secretly determined to catch a Psychic-type Pokémon as soon as possible so that he could communicate with it. It seems that Latios and Latias have the ability to communicate telepathically.

"What are they saying?" Xia Yu couldn't help but ask.

Lin Xueyang glanced at Xia Yu: "I'm not a Pokémon, how would I know?"

…………

The two Pokémon communicated for a while, and then the petite Forest Lizard finally confirmed their identities and led Xia Yu's Forest Lizard into the depths of the jungle.

"Chamo!"

In the dense jungle, on the territory of the Lizard King clan, the two Lizard Kings stood up warily as they saw Xia Yu, Lin Xueyang, and the forest lizards suddenly appear.

The lizard king, who was in the lead, looked at Xia Yu and felt that he looked familiar. Then it remembered that Xia Yu was not the human from a few months ago.

"Lizard King, I've returned to see you with the forest lizards."

As the Lizard King listened to Xia Yu's words, he looked at the enormous forest lizard, a hint of disbelief flashing in his eyes. The Wood Gecko had actually grown to this level in just over three months.

"Chamo."

Xia Yu's forest lizard walked up to the Lizard King and began to communicate with him. He observed that compared to the last time, the number of wood geckos and forest lizards around the Lizard King was about half, most likely taken away by the association's people, while the two adult Lizard Kings were still left here to breed.

The Lizard King was delighted to see the Forest Lizard return, and the other Forest Lizards and Wood Geckos in the group also gathered around, chatting incessantly. Xia Yu smiled as he watched them reminisce.

"Chamo." After waiting for a long time, the Lizard King walked to Xia Yu's side, let out a clear call, pointed at the forest lizard, looked at Xia Yu, nodded, and had gratitude in his eyes.

What do you mean?

Xia Yu couldn't guess either. Was he saying thank you?

Xia Yu was in great pain and couldn't help but lament that it would be great if Team Rocket's Meowth were here at this moment.

…………

"Uncle, I'll train the forest lizards here. You can go ahead and do what you need to do."

"Hmm, I'll go take a look around."

After the forest lizard and its family finished catching up, Xia Yu took it to train in the secret realm. The rich grass-type energy around it made the forest lizard very comfortable.

Compared to the Dragon-type Secret Realm, the environment here is clearly more suitable for the Forest Lizard in front of it. It is originally a pure Grass-type Pokémon, and it will only become Grass/Dragon-type when it Mega Evolves. After three months of training in the Dragon-type Secret Realm, the Forest Lizard has enough Dragon-type energy in its body. What it lacks now is Grass-type energy.

"Chamo!"

Just as Xia Yu was focusing on training the forest lizard, the Lizard King suddenly came over and gestured for the forest lizard to look at it.

The blade on the Lizard King's wrist glowed with green light, and Grass-type energy burst forth. Then, the Lizard King swung it forcefully at the rock on the ground, instantly slicing the rock into pieces!

Leaf Blade Skill!

"Chamo, Chamo!"

The Lizard King kept talking to the Forest Lizard, as if he were teaching it the secret of the Leaf Blade skill. After a few minutes, the Forest Lizard began to try it out.

A green light also burst forth from the Forest Lizard's wrist, and then grass-type energy condensed into a green scythe-shaped blade on the Forest Lizard's wrist.

"Chamo!"

The forest lizard was full of energy, swinging its leaf blades to cut at the rocks on the ground, but the result was not very good. Unlike the Lizard King, it failed to cut through the rocks. It was obvious that the forest lizard was not very skilled at using the leaf blade skill for the first time.

"Chamo!"

The Lizard King shook its head and kept talking to the forest lizard. As it spoke, it raised its right hand and gathered grass-type energy on its right wrist to form a sharp grass-type energy blade.

It diligently taught the forest lizard, breaking down the Leaf Blade skill and teaching it step by step how to form a Grass-type energy blade!

Xia Yu watched this scene silently, standing aside, not wanting to disturb the father and son's conversation.

………………

Chapter 140 The Changes of the Charmander

The capital city, a forbidden area.

On the third day of Xia Yu's absence, Long Yan Ning stared blankly at Xia Yu's Pokémon in the forbidden area.

Doronmesia and Yaya were training diligently, keeping Xia Yu's words in mind and training hard every day without any slackening.

As for the buzzing bat, although it remembered Xia Yu's words, it was lazy by nature and always wanted to rest whenever it had the chance. But when it thought of that strict woman, the buzzing bat could only grit its teeth and continue to persevere.

In the end, only Charmeleon completely let loose after Xia Yu left. In the days without Xia Yu and the Forest Lizard, Charmeleon somehow got hold of a pair of sunglasses, put them on its nose to block out the bright sunlight, and lay on the ground leisurely, pretending to take a nap.

Those unaware of the situation might think that Charmeleon had become lazy and started to completely slack off, but only Long Yanning knew that Xia Yu's Charmeleon was doing this on purpose, which could be described as quite insidious.

Every night at midnight, Charmeleon would sneak out to a secluded place to do extra energy training while Xia Yu's other Pokémon were asleep. If it weren't for the perceptive Noivern discovering Charmeleon's whereabouts and telling Long Yan Ning, she wouldn't have known that Charmeleon was secretly working so hard at night.

Charmeleon trains from midnight until 5 a.m. the next morning, sneaking back just as the other Pokémon are about to wake up.

Meanwhile, during the daytime, especially in the morning physical training, Charizard would slack off and take a nap in front of Doronmesia, Buzzbat, and Axew, making a lazy appearance.

What's most infuriating is that Charmeleon not only slacked off itself, but also encouraged Xia Yu's other Pokémon to slacken off too, letting them rest and sleep together. If it weren't for Long Yan Ning strictly supervising them, that silly Nombat would have really been fooled by Charmeleon.

Long Yanning also discovered that after these past few days of behind-the-scenes effort, Charmeleon seemed to have broken through to the Lord level and learned the Flamethrower move. However, Charmeleon didn't make a fuss about it, only using Flamethrower during its evening training sessions to practice its skill proficiency. During the day, it never used it in front of other Pokémon, clearly harboring some mischief.

Especially during its daily training battles with Buzzbat, Long Yan Ning could clearly see that Charmeleon was not going all out, only using its peak elite-level strength, and it hadn't even used its Flamethrower skill once, holding back its trump card, and was defeated by Buzzbat every time.

As the saying goes, a barking dog doesn't bite, and that's exactly the feeling that Fire Dinosaur is giving Dragon Smoke.

What Long Yan Ning didn't know was that Charmeleon's purpose in doing this was to seize the second-place position in Xia Yu's team, a position it had coveted for a long time. Now, it was essentially "farming" a pig, and Nombat was that pig. In recent battles, Charmeleon deliberately lost to Nombat in every match to lull Nombat into a false sense of security, waiting for Xia Yu's return to slaughter the pig!

Charmander secretly vowed in his heart: As long as Xia Yu comes back, that will be the time for me to show my true colors. Don't underestimate me, all my forbearance is for the purpose of surpassing you. Just wait, Buzzbat, the second place in the team will definitely be mine!

At this moment, the silly buzzing bat had no idea that it had been targeted by a sixth brother. All it felt now was that the training was so tiring. How come Teacher Long was even stricter than Xia Yu? It was really tired and it could hardly hold on anymore. It just wanted to find a place to rest.

…………

"beep!"