Chapter 93: The Electric-type Gym Leader, Wattson
"I am the Gym Leader of the Zidian City Electric-type Gym—Wattson."
The white-bearded uncle introduced himself very straightforwardly upon arrival, without any beating around the bush.
"Ah, hello."
Ming Rizhao hadn't expected the Gym Leader she had been searching for for several days to suddenly appear before her, and she seemed a little flustered.
"I've watched your matches these past few days. Not bad, quite exciting."
Uncle Wattson stroked his beard and said with a hearty laugh.
Ming Rizhao was first happy, then lowered her head with some shame.
Although she had won basically all her matches these past few days except for the last one, just as that Croagunk's trainer had said, many times she had won by relying on Rio's high level. The number of matches won through the trainer's precise commands, and the instances of being in perfect sync with her Pokémon during a match, were almost non-existent.
If it weren't for Uncle Wattson's straightforward expression, Ming Rizhao would have almost thought he was there to mock her.
Seeing the young girl lower her head and not speak, Uncle Wattson still used his loud voice.
"Don't be disheartened! Almost all rookie trainers encounter problems like yours when they first start out. It's no big deal."
Ming Rizhao's expression changed slightly.
Rio, using his Aura perception to understand the human language, was also listening intently.
The character Wattson, whether in the original Ruby/Sapphire series or the remade versions, was one of the earlier Gym Leaders players could battle. Although he wasn't as well-known as some of the more popular characters, there was one thing from which one could glimpse this cheerful uncle's spirit, which was second to none.
In the original Ruby/Sapphire series, Mauville City in the games was just a relatively small town. Besides the essential Pokémon Center, shop, and Pokémon Gym, there were only a few scattered buildings. But in the remade Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby series, Wattson boldly initiated his own urban redevelopment plan, transforming this city, subtitled "The City of Shining, Cheerful, and Fun," into a large, square, ring-shaped building. All the original buildings of Mauville City were placed indoors, and many new facilities were added. In the city center, a park where humans and Pokémon could coexist harmoniously was established.
It should be known that not every Gym Leader has the boldness to transform their own city so drastically.
If the Wattson in the games was so magnanimous, the Wattson in reality would surely be no less impressive.
Wattson's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Let me ask you a question first. What do you think is the first thing to do after capturing a Pokémon?"
"Understand my own Pokémon."
"Then what does it mean to understand your own Pokémon?"
"To know the Pokémon's level, type, ability, and move set, so as to command the Pokémon more accurately in battles."
"Have you achieved that in your matches these past few days?"
"...I feel that in the battles these past few days, my understanding of my Pokémon has been relatively clear. For Riolu's move set and how to use appropriate moves to counter the opponent, I feel I did nothing wrong."
Ming Rizhao's eyes became firm, her tone carrying a certain confidence.
Rio recalled the commands and move choices Ming Rizhao had made over the past few days. From an outsider's perspective, there really weren't any major problems. Dodging the opponent's powerful moves and then countering with moves that were super-effective against the opponent's type—even Rio, who had played Pokémon battles as a player in his previous life, couldn't find much fault with Ming Rizhao's commands.
"Since there's no problem with your commands, and no problem with your Pokémon's strength, and your Pokémon basically listens to your commands, then, where do you think the problem lies?"
"...I don't know."
Looking at the troubled expressions on Ming Rizhao and her two Pokémon before him, Wattson smiled again.
"Or perhaps, do you know why the Pokémon League has a recommendation that trainers should choose to capture Pokémon of a corresponding level based on the progress of their Gym badge collection?"
Rio listened, somewhat stunned.
Come to think of it, in the games, there really was a setting where obtaining a certain number of Gym badges would make Pokémon of a corresponding level obey commands. But in fact, the game never placed a mandatory requirement on the player when capturing Pokémon. For example, when a player had no badges, as long as their luck was good enough, or they were fortunate enough to get a Master Ball, then capturing various lofty legendary Pokémon was not out of the question. The so-called disobedience of high-level captured Pokémon was, in Rio's understanding, just a game setting.
In reality, it seemed there was a hidden story?
Ming Rizhao pondered for a moment, recalling that she seemed to have vaguely heard her teacher at school give such an analysis before.
"The higher the level of a Pokémon, with the growth of age and experience, such Pokémon often have extremely high intelligence and autonomy. Gym badges serve as the most basic assessment of a Pokémon trainer's strength. A trainer without a certain number of badges often represents a lack of a certain level of strength. Such a trainer cannot gain the recognition of high-level Pokémon. Even if a high-level Pokémon is willingly captured, the trainer, often due to a mismatch in experience, will be unable to bring out the high-level Pokémon's true strength..."
Speaking to this point, Ming Rizhao seemed to understand something.
Uncle Wattson laughed heartily and patted Riolu's head.
"This Pokémon of yours is quite remarkable."
"Generally speaking, the longer a Fighting-type Pokémon lives, the more scars or calluses they will have on their bodies. But this Pokémon of yours, looking at his fur color and appearance, should be a Pokémon that was born less than a few years ago. And for a Pokémon of this age to possess such human-like intelligence is enough to show his cleverness."
(Rio was feeling wronged: No, no, no, you've misunderstood.)
"And facing such an intelligent Pokémon, child, are you really sure you understand him well?"
"Do you know which fist he is accustomed to leading with in battle? Do you know what kind of battle scenes he likes? Do you know what fighting style he is best at? Or even the most basic question, do you know what he likes to eat?"
A series of questions left Ming Rizhao completely stunned.
"In my opinion, in the matches these past few days, you have a habit of making this Pokémon dodge attacks and then wait for an opportunity. In a tactical sense, there's indeed nothing wrong with that. However, have you ever understood whether your Pokémon genuinely likes this fighting style?"
Uncle Wattson pointed a finger at Ralts, who was hiding behind Ming Rizhao with only half its body showing.
"You have two Pokémon of one could say completely different styles. For your Ralts, its inherently weak defensive ability and the wide range of Psychic-type moves mean she will adapt very naturally to your battle system. But, for this little fellow, being unafraid of the enemy and bravely charging forward is probably the style he likes best."
Rio and Ming Rizhao looked at each other.
"Am I really that reckless?"
Rio asked himself. He actually didn't dislike Ming Rizhao's opportunity-seeking fighting style, but in the deepest part of his heart, whether it was the professional fighter from his previous life or the Fighting-type Pokémon in this life, there was a flame that longed for head-on collisions and feared no challenge, burning fiercely.
"You must know, a Pokémon Trainer, besides 'training'—which means taming and capturing—also has 'practicing'—which means nurturing and exercising—within it. Only in this way can one be a true Pokémon trainer."
Indeed, reality was not a game. In games, nurturing was mostly about how to set up move sets or feeding various potions and candies to increase a Pokémon's base points. But the Pokémon in reality were living, intelligent creatures, not rigid game data. So how to properly raise one's own Pokémon was also a difficult problem that all Pokémon trainers had to face.
After listening to Uncle Wattson's words, Ming Rizhao was suddenly enlightened.
She quickly stood up and bowed to Uncle Wattson. "Thank you very much for your guidance!"
Uncle Wattson smiled and waved his hand. "This is the first piece of guidance I'm giving you as a Gym Leader and a senior. If that kid Norman hadn't asked me to keep an eye out, I probably wouldn't have gone out of my way to guide you."
"Ah, Mr. Norman sent you a message?" Ming Rizhao was a little surprised. Although Norman had also taken good care of them in Verdant Leaf City, she hadn't expected to receive Norman's extra help even after coming to the neighboring Zidian City.
"Yeah, look, that kid even sent me a special message..."
Uncle Wattson took out his phone, cheerfully wanting to show the message to Ming Rizhao.
Suddenly.
"Click!" All the lights in the Pokémon Center went out directly, leaving only some equipment like the Pokémon healing machine running on emergency backup power.
Not just the Pokémon Center, but the entire Zidian City seemed to have plunged into a blackout at the same time.
What was worse, it was already night. Without the support of lights, the city was left in pitch darkness.
This sudden blackout made the people and Pokémon in the Pokémon Center somewhat restless and uneasy.
"Huh, what's going on?"
"Woof, woof, woof, (Pokémon Language) so dark, so dark!"
"Mom, your electric scooter is going to be stolen!"
"Silly child, what nonsense are you talking about? It's pitch black, how can you see anything... Ah, my electric scooter! Thief, don't run!"
"Chirp, chirp, (Pokémon Language) humans are so funny, hahaha."
"No, Zigzagoon, stop spinning! I can't hold on, I'm getting dizzy..."
"…"
Rio, who had good night vision, looked speechlessly at all this chaos.
He looked up at Uncle Wattson. In the illumination of the faintly glowing phone screen, Uncle Wattson's brows were tightly furrowed, his originally optimistic and cheerful round face now wearing an angry expression.
Fortunately, the blackout didn't last long, only about ten minutes. The lights in the city came back on, and brightness returned to the city once more.
Ming Rizhao and Ralts hugged each other, staring wide-eyed at the chaotic scene around them.
But Rio's attention was entirely on the pondering Uncle Wattson.
"By the looks of it, it seems Uncle Wattson knows something?"
As expected, after thinking for a while, Uncle Wattson spoke, "Child, your name is Ming Rizhao, right? Then I'll take the liberty of calling you Xiao Zhao... In a couple of days, I hope you can come with me to a place. Just consider it my second lesson for you. What do you think?"
"If you're willing, in two days, just come to the Zidian City Gym and find me."
After hastily dropping these words, Uncle Wattson left the Pokémon Center.
Although she was very curious about what this powerful Gym Leader could possibly need her help with, seeing Uncle Wattson's hurried figure, Ming Rizhao swallowed her questions back down.
After resting for a moment, the three little ones also left the Pokémon Center.
…
In a corner of the Pokémon Center.
A woman wearing sunglasses, who seemed to be reading a newspaper, unhurriedly put down the paper in her hands, then brushed her hair back.
"Hey, it's me... The old guy is gone. You guys hurry up."
The woman, speaking softly, chewed her gum while watching the Pokémon Center slowly recover from the chaos with great interest.
An inexplicable look flashed in her eyes under the sunglasses.