"Heat Wave!"
As the cold voice rang out, the frigid high altitude suddenly became sweltering.
A scorching aura surged from Flygon and spread rapidly in all directions.
"Gah~"
The several Skarmory flying at the very front were instantly struck by lightning, falling from the sky without any power to retaliate.
The other Skarmory, seeing this, quickly retreated to the side, not daring to confront the Heat Wave.
Just like that, Adrian's anticipated dangerous ambush turned into Flygon's solo rampage, as it straightforwardly pierced through the Skarmory formation and flew past.
The aerial hooligans, the Skarmory, didn't even dare to make a peep.
"As expected of a Gym Leader, this power is truly terrifying!"
Watching the fleeing and dispersed Skarmory, Adrian was filled with emotion.
Compared to Clair's pokémon, his Gyarados and Pichu were as immature as infants.
Although Adrian had now obtained three badges, in reality, apart from the Cerulean Gym, both Flint and Erika's true strength was extremely high, and the pokémon they sent out were not their main team.
Fortunately, Adrian had his cheat ability!!!
...After flying for a while longer, Clair exclaimed with delight, "The Johto Region has arrived!"
Blackthorn City is located in the eastern part of the Johto Region, adjacent to Mt. Silver, but Clair did not stop in Blackthorn City. Instead, she saw him all the way through, directly taking Adrian to the Pokémon Center in Goldenrod City.
"Miss Clair, it's Miss Clair. Miss Clair, I love you!"
"Huh? Who is that person? Why is he riding Flygon with Miss Clair and holding her waist? They seem very close."
No matter the city, a Pokémon Center is a place where people gather, so when Flygon descended, it immediately attracted the attention of many.
There was no helping it; as one of the Gym Leaders of the Johto Region, Johto was Clair's home base, so her popularity was naturally extremely high.
Only Gym Leaders like Jasmine and Whitney, also beautiful girls, could compare with her.
But in terms of strength, Clair was still the strongest!
Too lazy to bother with the gossip of the crowd, Clair stood on Flygon's back and said from above, "You fish in Goldenrod City first, and I'll go back to report to my family elders. We'll keep in touch by phone if anything comes up."
With that, Flygon flapped its wings and flew high, disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Having a flying mount is really great. Mom no longer has to worry about me being stuck in traffic."
Watching the disappearing Flygon, Adrian was filled with envy.
However, thinking of the wild pokémon groups encountered when flying over Mt. Silver, this gave Adrian a reminder: without absolute strength, even if Gyarados could truly fly, he must never fly over Mt. Silver; that would be an extremely dangerous thing to do.
"Pi~"
From Adrian's pocket, Pichu, who had been sound asleep, poked its head out, curiously surveying everything around it.
Adrian was no exception!
Although on the same continent, due to the obstruction of Mt. Silver, the pokémon in Kanto and the Johto Region also showed great differences.
"Hmm~ This is Totodile!"
"This is Chinchou, so cute!"
"Wooper, so adorable!"
...Just by glancing around, Adrian saw several unique Water-type pokémon of the Johto Region, which were relatively rare in other regions.
Most importantly, these were all pokémon Adrian had never caught before, making his mouth water.
As Adrian lingered, a pokémon appeared with blue skin, a constantly sticky and wet liquid covering its body, a white belly with a black counter-clockwise swirl, and two hands that looked like they were wearing white mittens.
That pokémon walked straight to Adrian's side, then rudely pushed Adrian, causing him to stumble and almost fall.
And Pichu in Adrian's pocket was almost squashed.
"Hey, whose Poliwag is this? It's not watching where it's going, it bumped into me!"
Looking at the rude Poliwag walking past, Adrian's face showed dissatisfaction, and he tried to find Poliwag's trainer to complain.
"What's wrong with my Poliwag?"
A young man appeared, wearing an orange vest, carrying a tackle box in his hand, and a fishing rod on his shoulder.
Adrian immediately recounted what had just happened, but he didn't expect Poliwag's trainer not to feel he had done anything wrong.
He said righteously, "My Poliwag was just walking normally. Who told you to stand in the middle of the road daydreaming? Besides, it was just a slight bump, what's there to talk about?"
"And your Pichu is too useless, isn't it? It actually hid behind its trainer, not even having the courage to face Poliwag."
The young man spread his hands and said disdainfully, "This can only mean your pokémon is too weak."
"What did you say?"
Adrian's face instantly darkened.
This was originally a small matter; pokémon, like children, often make mistakes, but as long as the trainer is reasonable and admits fault, most people wouldn't pursue it further.
But someone as unreasonable as the young man in front of him was rare.
His words seemed to have a magic power, causing Adrian's blood pressure to instantly skyrocket, making him furious.
"That person seems to be Andreas, right?"
"Andreas? That famous fisherman? He looks so young."
"So he's Andreas. It's said his fishing skills are quite impressive, and he's made a name for himself at various fishing tournaments. Whenever he participates in a fishing competition, he almost always takes first place."
"Then he must be here for the 'Seaking Fishing Tournament.' With Andreas's strength, he's practically a top contender!"
...Many people nearby noticed the conflict on Adrian's side, especially since many recognized the identity of the young man, with admiration and concern in their eyes.
"Andreas?"
Looking at the arrogant young man in front of him, Adrian finally remembered: "Isn't this the fisherman from the Johto Region arc of the pokémon anime? He'll eventually lose to Misty in the fishing tournament..."
Listening to the crowd's praises and exclamations, Andreas enjoyed it, saying smugly, "That's right! Tomorrow's Champion will definitely be me..."
With that, Andreas prepared to leave with Poliwag.
But Adrian took a big step and blocked Andreas's path, saying with an unfriendly expression, "Did I say you could leave?"
"You are truly being unreasonable."
Andreas glanced at Adrian and said helplessly, "It was just a slight bump, what else do you want?"
Adrian's gaze was firm, and he shouted, "Either apologize to my Pichu, or we'll settle this the trainer's way."
In the anime, when Andreas met the protagonists, his Poliwag had already evolved into Poliwrath, making it stronger.
But it still ultimately lost to Misty's Poliwag, which shows that while his fishing skills might be good, his battle strength wasn't actually very strong.
Adrian was still confident in defeating Andreas.
"Apologizing is impossible, never in this lifetime."
Andreas glanced at Pichu around Adrian's neck and scoffed, "If you want a beating, I can certainly oblige."
"Then we'll settle it the trainer's way. Let's see who's stronger."
"Bring it on, will my Poliwag be afraid of you? I just hope that little mouse in your arms doesn't cry after it loses."
Andreas clearly didn't take a 'baby' pokémon like Pichu seriously.
"Alright, let's go to the battle arena."
Adrian pointed to the nearby battle arena and turned to leave.
Andreas immediately followed.
Many of the curious onlookers, seeing this, also quickly followed.
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