Why is my Pokémon acting a little weird?

"Starting from car one, the three of you will each challenge car five three times. Whoever completes the most cars within an hour will qualify for the final challenge. If the number of cars is the same, the time taken to complete them will be compared. The winner will battle our conductor in car six."

"In other words, we shouldn't just consider winning, but also how quickly the other two people clear the level. We need to be faster than them, right?"

Qiao Ran looked at Meiyi and Miyue beside him and couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, everyone is a competitor. It is necessary to overcome the urgency of time and to be able to pass the level calmly."

The secretary pushed up his glasses.

"Everyone, you can take a break. When the training is about to begin, our staff will notify you. Of course, if you need anything else, please feel free to let us know and we will have a plan in place."

"Okay okay."

When Qiao Ran saw that the secretary had a businesslike attitude, he no longer had the desire to chat with him. Besides, he did have to participate in a series of battles soon, so it was extremely necessary for him to take a short break to calm himself down.

"By the way, I heard that your show will be broadcast live online?" Qiao Ran suddenly asked a question.

"Well...it was originally scheduled to be broadcast live online, so just treat it as an online show."

The secretary was slightly taken aback, but still gave an answer: "However, with your participation, our program team has made some minor adjustments over the past few days and cancelled the plan to directly broadcast the event. We plan to use more sophisticated editing and post-production to optimize the content."

"The TV station is currently considering whether to broadcast our program directly on TV. If the quality of the finished program is up to standard, it might actually be possible."

————————————————————————

"Everyone is in his place——"

After a short break, the filming of the show officially began.

Under the guidance of the host, Qiao Ran and Meiyi who participated in the competition also introduced themselves one by one, and each of the three of them also said some routine trash talk such as "I will not lose, please support me", which were basically arrangements made by the program team to increase dramatic conflicts.

However, they all have the same desire to get first place. Even if the two people next to them are the ones they are most familiar with, as a trainer, they should only have that one peak in their eyes.

The three of them boarded carriage No. 0 of the train together. As the carriage door closed and the train started, the show officially began.

Of course - the other people in the program team, as well as irrelevant personnel like Liliae, had actually been hiding in the other end of Carriage 0. Unlike Qiao Ran and others who officially participated in the competition, they were able to observe the entire situation of the competition through the cameras here.

Not only that, this is also the place used to comment on the game after it officially starts. Some invited professional guests will comment on the game in real time. Lillie and Acerola, who were passing by, were also temporarily pulled here because they had the guarantee of Gym Leader Nancy and Qiao Ran, and because they looked quite good.

Even if it is used as a mascot and is occasionally captured by the camera, it is still a profit for the program crew.

His gaze returned to Qiao Ran and the other two.

"Okay, first, let's draw the order in which the three contestants will act!"

In front of the host, a Rotom began to roll on the screen, and soon, the rolling wheel finally landed on the position with Mei's portrait.

"The first one to go...is our contestant Mei!"

Mei became the first person to take on the challenge. She walked forward excitedly. She had been eager to try this form of entertainment, which was very similar to the subway battles in her hometown.

"Thank you, and everyone—just look at my speed!"

She excitedly smiled brightly at the camera in front of her, and even turned around and waved her fist provocatively at Qiao Ran and Meiyue.

Qiao Ran and Meiyue could only watch her performance with a mixture of laughter and tears, but they also knew in their hearts that they would all use their best strength to deal with this match. Mei, who had just broken through to the Heavenly King realm, was indeed a formidable enemy, but... this was a match on the train, and even Mei's Monarch Snake might not be able to exert its full strength.

"..."

Moreover, the same is true for Qiao Ran. Many legendary Pokémon are relatively large in size, and their performance will be restricted in such a small area.

Miyue thought secretly that she definitely still had a chance to win this competition.

Qiao Ran and Mei Yue, who were waiting in carriage 0, had no idea what the battle situation was like on the other side. However, after about forty-five minutes,

Later, the two got the news.

"Congratulations! It took 44 minutes and 32 seconds! It didn't even take an hour. Mei has set a new record for the first speedrun since our train opened!"

The host clapped his hands and congratulated Mei on her achievement, but he added one more thing at the end.

"Of course, this is also the first contestant since our train started operating! Since he's the first contestant, breaking the record is really easy."

"..."

The corner of Qiao Ran's mouth twitched, and he suppressed the urge to complain, because he had already noticed that on the roulette wheel that had started spinning again, the pointer was pointing to his avatar.

"Okay, our second contestant has been chosen."

"He's our most anticipated young trainer in recent times. In the exhibition match, he brought us an unprecedented aesthetic experience. At the Magic City Gym, he once fought against the old Gym Master Nian Hai, giving us a century-defining final battle. This time, can he surpass the result just achieved by our trainee Mei?"

"Let's wait and see!"

Chapter 526 [Car No. 1]

After the battle, Mei has returned to the original car No. 0. Judging from her appearance, she seems to have indeed consumed some physical strength.

"..."

Qiao Ran didn't say much, but stood in front of the gate between the carriages. With the host's shout of "Let's go!", the gate slowly opened and his turn began.

Qiao Ran took a few steps forward and soon arrived at another carriage.

As a new challenger, Qiao Ran looked around at the situation here. To be specific, there was nothing very special here. In terms of decoration style, it was very similar to car No. 0. As for the interior furnishings, it was very similar to the interior of a subway without automatic doors. There was a row of seats on both sides of the car, and in the middle, there was a lot of empty space for fighting.

At the doors on both sides of the carriage, there stood a dancing magic wall puppet, and at the other end of the carriage, there sat a girl wearing JK clothing.

"Come on, I'm the first trainer to accept the challenge!"

"Just call me Pleated Skirt."

She looks very motivated, but as the first trainer guarding the gate, her strength must be the lowest among the trainers.

Moreover, her name is represented by a title like a "code name" instead of directly reporting her own name. I'm afraid this is also the requirement of the program team.

However, Qiao Ran still did not let his guard down. In order to be faster than Mei, he had to defeat the opponent more quickly.

"Come on! My Pokémon!"

As Pleated Skirt threw her Poké Ball, a Pokémon that looked like a "flower" with drooping eyes and a transparent liquid flowing from its mouth appeared in the car.

With the appearance of this Pokémon, a strange smell also emanated.

"Stinky flower?"

Qiao Ran frowned subconsciously. Although he didn't hate any Pokémon, every time he smelled such a smell, he couldn't help feeling nauseous and uncomfortable.

However, according to the information he had, the stinking plant seemed to be an important source of some "perfumes". It seemed that after the stench was diluted and processed, it would produce some special fragrance, but he didn't know much about the specific details.

"Then—I've decided it's you!"

"Vulpix!"

The first Pokémon that Qiao Ran sent out was Vulpix. As an ice-attribute Pokémon, it would definitely perform better in this battle.

Moreover, Vulpix is ​​small in size, so even in such a crowded carriage, she can jump up and down at will without any restrictions at all.

The most important point is that ice-type skills are different from skills of other attributes. They usually do not produce strong "destructive power". Instead, they are most suitable for fighting in a carriage.

"So cute~"

The girl in the pleated skirt opposite seemed to like Vulpix as well, and even praised Qiao Ran specifically.

"The fact that you can choose a Pokémon like this shows that you really understand this kind of battle. If you just choose some large Pokémon right away, I'm afraid it would be a bit strange~"

"Then the battle is about to begin."

As the timer above the carriage quickly returned to zero, the battle in the carriage began instantly.

"Stinky Blossom! Sludge Bomb!"

Pleated Skirt took the initiative and directly let her Slime use a Sludge Bomb. However, her Sludge Bomb seemed a little special. It did not spray a large area of ​​venom directly from its mouth like other Pokémon, but shot it out little by little like small bullets.

"So fast!"

Qiao Ran was surprised by the speed of the opponent's spray. Perhaps this is the meaning of high-speed train battle - to control the power of the moves and kill more effectively.

However, the opponent's hard power is still far inferior to Vulpix.

"Vulpix, Freezing Wind!"

The narrow carriage was perfect for using ice-based skills. Under the blowing of the icy wind, Vile Flower's sludge bombs turned directly into frozen marbles and fell to the ground with a clang.

Not only that, in the midst of the freezing wind

In the gap, Vulpix had already jumped onto the seat next to him and sprinted directly to Vulpix.

"what?"

"Vulpix is ​​so fast?"

This time it was the Pleated Skirt on the opposite side who was frightened. In her opinion, the Pokémon that did not choose to evolve probably had not reached a certain level of strength, just like her Skank, which had been accumulating strength to evolve into Vulpix, but... this Vulpix did not seem to be the case.

Looking at the white fluffy ball rushing towards her, she even imagined a giant white tiger with bared fangs.

"Idea hammer!"

Following Qiao Ran's voice, a blue light emerged from Vulpix's head. She jumped high from the seat and crashed straight into Vulpix on the ground.

During the time at Nancy's house, some of Qiao Ran's Pokémon also specially learned some psychic-attribute skills, and this skill is one of the few physical attack moves among the psychic attributes.

The reason why Vulpix learned this skill is simply because her dual attacks are not particularly outstanding, so there is not much difference between physical and special attacks.

"Bang!!!"

The headbutt containing supernatural attributes directly knocked the poisonous and grass-attributed Vulpix away, but this was not the end. After knocking it away, Vulpix also easily followed up with a freezing ray.

"Click."

The Stinky Flower, which had turned into an ice lump, fell to the ground with its eyes spinning in circles after a series of smooth moves. Even the girl in the pleated skirt opened her mouth wide, looking at the scene in front of her in surprise.

"Battle duration... one minute?"

"The battle is over?"

She walked forward tremblingly and used the thawing medicine on Stinky Flower. The door of the carriage behind her slowly opened and the red light on the top turned to a safe green.

"Congratulations."

When Qiao Ran passed by her with Liuwei, she couldn't help but say something.

"But don't be careless, I'm only the weakest among the five."

Among the five goalkeepers in the first round, her level and experience were not as good as others. She was indeed surprised that she could be defeated so quickly. However, as she was arranged in the first place, her fate was probably to be defeated.

So, there is nothing to be proud of in defeating her.

"Don't worry, the same goes for the remaining ones."

Qiao Ran curled the corners of his mouth, and Liuwei jumped directly onto his shoulder.

"In this kind of battle, Vulpix is ​​the strongest."

Chapter 527 [Final Section]

When walking out of car No. 1, Qiao Ran couldn't help but say something harsh. In fact, before the recording officially started, the program team had emphasized that they should say more words like flags during the challenge to increase the effect of the program.

However, after saying this, Qiao Ran couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

There's nothing special about this sentence itself, but... if I switch Pokémon to other Pokémon in the middle of the game to speed up the process, wouldn't that be a slap in the face?

Fortunately, Vulpix's level did create a strong suppression. Although she did not catch up with the first echelon at the front, her level has always been very stable, and now she has reached the level 40 standard.

A Vulpix that's higher level than the elite trainer team - even challenging some weaker gym leaders would probably be no problem.

Not to mention that this Vulpix is ​​his own Vulpix.

Arriving at the second carriage, Qiao Ran still adopted a similar speed-running method. He first used the Freezing Wind to defend and counterattack, while interfering with the opponent's vision. Then he used the white body of Vulpix to hide in the attack, and then sneaked up on the opponent - and finally won the game in one fell swoop.

"here you go."

Qiao Ran came to Liuwei's side, bent down slightly, let Liuwei jump onto his shoulders, and then trotted to the next carriage.

The difficulty of the first few carriages was not very high, but starting from the second section, the time Qiao Ran spent increased a lot.

In the third quarter, his opponent was a young man in a doll costume, and the Pokémon he sent out was the very tricky Flareon. When facing the fire attribute, the weakness of Vulpix's pure ice type began to show.

If you use ice attributes in long-range attacks, they will basically be cleared by the opponent's fire. If you get close to the opponent, it will undoubtedly be tantamount to seeking death.

"Flameev, Flame Spray!"

Upon hearing the order from his trainer, Flareon pursed his lips slightly and spit out a long, thin flame. In order to control the power, the other party also made certain height trade-offs.

However, it is precisely this act of controlling power that directly leads to the lengthening of the battle line. If Pokémon can only withstand a few skills of the opponent in normal battles, in this kind of battle, the number of skills that can be taken on has undoubtedly increased a lot.

"Get out of the way! Then use your supernatural powers!"

Vulpix's petite body left her with room to dodge, so she slid to the side, got under the seat, and used the seats on both sides of the car to block a wave of attacks.