Chapter 217 Wetland Gym
While Hikaru and Lina were chatting, Cloud was sitting alone in the backyard of the Pokémon Center.
He gazed quietly at the crystal clear Lizhi Lake. The moonlight sprinkled on him like water, as if merging him with the entire lake. The tranquility of the night made him feel extremely comfortable, and his heart gradually calmed down.
Suddenly, Xiaoyun whispered, "Come out, I know you have been following me."
Xiaoyun's voice was not loud, but it carried a special kind of confidence.
As soon as he finished speaking, a ripple appeared on the originally empty lake.
Immediately afterwards, a transparent figure slowly emerged, and as the figure gradually became clearer, a light blue Pokémon appeared in front of Xiaoyun.
It has a triangular head and big, lively eyes. It is the legendary Pokémon - Akonome!
Akonom stared at Xiaoyun's black pupils, his eyes full of curiosity. He really couldn't understand how this boy was aware of his existence?
You know, it has been using powerful mental power to wrap itself up and is in an invisible state. Logically speaking, it should be impossible for ordinary people to discover it.
However, Xiaoyun seemed to see through Akonom's thoughts. He smiled and explained softly, "Well, I can feel your breath. Although you hide it very well, I can still detect some subtle changes."
Hearing this, Akonom could not help but become more interested in the boy in front of him. It began to look Xiaoyun up and down, trying to find the answer from him. Xiaoyun looked at Akonom fearlessly, with a firm and friendly light in his eyes.
"But I didn't expect that it would be you who has been following me these past two days."
"Akonom!"
Xiaoyun was a little surprised when he saw Akonom, because Darkrai said that a mysterious figure had been following them these days with strong mental power, but Xiaoyun didn't care because he had no ill intentions.
At first, Xiaoyun thought it was some wild Pokémon with psychic abilities, but she didn't expect it to be Akonome.
But speaking of which, aren’t these three holy mushrooms all in a dormant state? How come they still have time to follow him and watch the show every day?
"Wu." (How did you find me?)
Akonome asked curiously.
"Um....., Darkrai, you should come out too."
Xiaoyun shouted to the shadow under his feet.
Then the shadow turned into a solid entity, and Darkrai's figure began to appear, floating quietly behind Xiaoyun, his scarlet eyes staring straight at Akonom.
"Wu." (Nightmare God Darkrai, I told you, this isn't surprising.)
When Akonome saw Darkrai, he understood that the mental power he was so proud of was indeed useless against the evil-type Darkrai.
Akonom just doesn't like to think, but it's not stupid. Most of the time it's quite smart.
"Aknom, now that I've said that, you should also tell me why you've been following me."
Xiaoyun asked Akonom again.
Xiaoyun has never been hostile to Pokémon like the Three Sacred Mushrooms, especially since his super-power was given to him by Emrido, so he was just curious why Akonome kept following him but didn't come out.
"Wu." (I don't know about this. Maybe I'm just bored.)
Akonom spread out his little hands. His personality was different from Emrido's. He sensed Emrido's presence and followed him because he thought it was fun.
"Huh? You don't know what it means, then why are you with me, it's fun."
After hearing this, Xiaoyun felt that the God of Will was so unreliable. If Emrido had given him the feeling of maturity, unknown and mysterious before.
This Akonom gave him the feeling of a child who had not grown up, with a naughty and interesting personality.
"Wu." (Yes, yes, it is really fun.)
Akonom blinked cutely and replied that it usually spent its time sleeping, and it was really interesting to watch the duel with Xiaoyun these two days.
It could be a straightforward duel but it has to be played so weirdly, but it's really nice to watch with all the fancy moves.
The time is a bit short.
"Well, I just wanted to see who the Pokémon that's been following me for the past few days is, so keep playing."
After understanding Akonom's character, Xiaoyun felt a little helpless. Knowing that it was nothing serious, he just ignored it and was about to get up and leave.
"Wu." (You are leaving now, so... I will give this to you too, take it!)
When Akonom saw that Xiaoyun was about to leave, a light blue light condensed from the ruby on his forehead, and then flew towards Xiaoyun's head.
"No, come again?"
Practice makes perfect. Seeing Akonom's posture, Xiaoyun did not resist. The ball of light entered Xiaoyun's mind. The gentle power continued to nourish Xiaoyun's mind, making his spiritual world more solidified and making him more proficient in mastering the power of super-control.
"Three Holy Mushrooms, right? I hope you have no ill intentions."
After feeling that Xiaoyun was fine, Darkrai just glanced at Akonome. Although Akonome was a second-level god, his main role was ultimately to provide support.
As a combat-type Darkrai who is under attribute restraint, he can easily defeat Akonome.
"Wu." (Hehe, don't worry, it's a spiritual seed. Didn't Emrito give it to him? It won't do any harm to the boy. He will wake up soon.)
(I'm leaving now. Bye.)
Akonom replied with a smile, and then his body turned transparent again. With a fluctuation in space, Akonom's figure disappeared.
After a while, Xiaoyun woke up and said subconsciously:
"Darkrai, stop fighting..."
"Hmm? What?"
Darkrai looked at Xiaoyun with a puzzled look on his face, wondering how come his mental power became stronger but his brain also became stupid.
"Uh, that's not important."
"By the way, Darkrai, where is Akonom?"
Looking at the lake which was empty except for Darkrai, Xiaoyun's face turned red, and he tried to change the subject to ease the awkwardness.
Just now he thought that Darkrai would fight Emrido like the Lizard King did before, and then have a fight with Akonome. It seems that he was overthinking it.
"He's down there, probably continuing to sleep."
Darkrai didn't think much about it and pointed his finger at the sparkling Lizhi Lake to indicate that the other party was right below.
"Well, in that case we should take a break."
After hearing this, Xiaoyun didn't want to call the other party out anymore, and returned to the Pokémon Center.
Although he didn't know why Emrido and Akonom would give him benefits, there was no free lunch in the world, and he would have to repay the favor sooner or later.
The next day, since Xiaozhi and his friends needed to stay for some reasons, Xiaoyun and the other boy said goodbye to each other and continued their journey.
A few days later, the two finally arrived at their destination, Wetland City.
Wetlands City is famous for being located next to a huge swamp, which is called the Great Marsh. The wetland was once part of the sea, and the water was drained to form land. There are many rare Pokémon that can only be found in the swamp area.
Because there are a large number of Frogs living in the swamp, Frog is also the auspicious Pokémon of Wetland City. Every year, a Frog Festival is held to select the most charming Frog.
Although Xiaoyun didn't understand how to determine the charm value of a Pokémon like Frog, he didn't have a Frog so had no intention of participating in the celebration. After a simple tidying up at the Pokémon Center in Wetlands City, he headed towards the Wetlands Gym in the north.
The Wetland Gym is a water-based gym. Inside the gym is a huge indoor swimming pool with three water levels and some floats. It is said that the switches on the ground can change the height of the water surface to increase the difficulty for the challengers.
"Young man, are you today's challenger?"
Inside the gym, the shirtless gym leader Jixian, who was wearing a strange headdress, shouted at Xiaoyun.
"Master Jixian, I am Xiaoyun from Shuangye Town. Please accept my challenge."
Xiaoyun bowed politely to the other party and offered his own invitation to a battle.
"Haha, you seem to be a very confident young man. I can't wait to fight you."
Jixian put his hands on his hips and laughed unrestrainedly. As a gym leader and a professional wrestler on the side, he liked this kind of confident challenger, because that would make the fight more exciting.
He immediately agreed to Xiaoyun's invitation to fight.
. . . . .