Chapter 31: The Golden Town Capture Contest, Metang and Aron!

After obtaining the Knuckle Badge from the Dewford Gym, Zhang Feng bid farewell to Gym Leader Brawly and continued his journey toward Mauville City, the location of the next Gym.

Zhang Feng now possessed three Gym Badges: the Stone Badge, the Knuckle Badge, and the Knuckle Badge (as previously noted). His next target was the Dynamo Badge from the Mauville Gym. The Mauville Gym Leader, Wattson, was an elderly man who specialized in Electric-type Pokémon and held the most seniority among all the Gym Leaders in the Hoenn League. To prepare for this challenge, Zhang Feng planned to use the new Pokémon he had recently captured.

Therefore, his goal for the coming period was to raise the levels of Aron and Beldum, ideally helping them evolve quickly. Fortunately, both were already close to their evolution levels, so there was plenty of time to achieve this before the Gym challenge. This would give them a chance to participate in the battle against Wattson. As for Grovyle, it had been ready to evolve for some time but had held back, likely needing to accumulate more strength. Regarding Chimchar, it was still in its initial form, having just hatched from an egg, so Zhang Feng did not want to place too much pressure on it. He let the little one balance play with training for now, waiting until it grew a bit more before pushing it harder.

It had been nearly two months since Zhang Feng set out from Littleroot Town with Treecko, and only five months remained until the start of the Hoenn League Ever Grande Conference. Zhang Feng needed to pick up the pace to secure the remaining badges required to qualify for the tournament.

While traveling toward Slateport City, Zhang Feng stopped to rest in a town called Golden Town. Upon entering the Pokémon Center, he handed his Pokémon over to Nurse Joy. Once they were fully restored, she returned his six Luxury Balls. At that moment, Nurse Joy mentioned, "Xiao Feng, Golden Town will be hosting a Pokémon Catching Contest in three days. If you’d like to participate, you can pay an entry fee of 2,000 Poké Dollars."

"Participants will receive thirty Safari Balls to catch any Pokémon they find within the protected area over the next three days. The top three trainers will win extremely generous prizes, and even if you don't place, you get to keep all the Pokémon you catch!"

Zhang Feng was intrigued. A Pokémon Catching Contest sounded interesting. He asked Nurse Joy what kind of Pokémon could be found there. As a trainer, he never missed an opportunity to encounter wild Pokémon. Moreover, being able to catch up to thirty of them was a perfect chance for Zhang Feng to expand the ecosystem within his system's internal space. Even if he only caught a pair of a certain species, he could establish a breeding group within that space. If their offspring turned out to have high potential, he could even raise them as part of his core team. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

After receiving a detailed explanation from Nurse Joy, he understood the full history. Golden Town had once been a relatively underdeveloped area, but centuries ago, villagers discovered gold and began large-scale mining, which brought great wealth. However, the over-extraction caused the surrounding environment to deteriorate, and the wild Pokémon eventually fled. Sixty years ago, when the gold deposits were exhausted, the wealthy villagers sought to restore the local ecosystem and earn the forgiveness of the wild Pokémon. They spent a fortune creating a massive wildlife preserve nearby. Thanks to generations of effort, the environment slowly recovered, attracting many trainers and eventually leading to the creation of the catching contest.

With the town’s wealth, they had imported a vast variety of Pokémon, making the number of species in the preserve astronomical. The event was intended to promote harmony between nature, humans, and Pokémon, discouraging trainers from over-harvesting. For a fee of 2,000 Poké Dollars, trainers received thirty Safari Balls. Those who caught the most or the rarest Pokémon were rewarded by the town organizers with mysterious evolution stones, items, and even significant cash prizes. For Zhang Feng, however, the chance to catch thirty Pokémon was far more valuable than any stones or money. Although the catch rate for Safari Balls was low, with a bit of luck, he could indeed capture thirty Pokémon. It was a deal he couldn't pass up.

"Nurse Joy, I'd like to sign up," Zhang Feng said. After paying the fee, he settled into Golden Town to wait. Before the contest began, he continued training his team.

Eventually, after defeating a wild Onix, Beldum gained enough experience to level up and began its evolution. As the light faded, a sturdy Metang stood before him.

Pokémon: Metang
Level: 22
Ability: Clear Body
Type: Steel, Psychic
Potential: Gold
Bond Evolution: Locked
Mega Evolution: Locked
Moves: Headbutt, Confusion, Metal Claw, Flash Cannon, Bullet Punch, Take Down...
Intimacy: 140
Background: Meted in Dewford Town, entrusted to the trainer by Steven Stone, aspires to surpass Steven's Metagross.
Hobbies: Battling, eating minerals.

Looking at Metang's new stat sheet, Zhang Feng nodded in satisfaction. Even though he had used a Potential-Boosting Stone, the Beldum had remained at Gold potential upon evolving into Metang rather than reaching Red. It seemed that achieving Red potential was still incredibly difficult. He then turned his focus toward Aron. As a Shiny Pokémon, Aron’s potential should be on par with Steven’s Shiny Metagross. Even if pseudo-legendaries could be stronger, an Aggron was certainly no pushover.

"Ding! Aron has defeated Graveler, gained 281 experience points, leveled up, current level: 32!"

As the system notification chimed, a white light enveloped Aron. Evolution had begun once again.