Chapter 32: The Spirit Capture Tournament, Free Hunting with Thirty Spheres!

As Lairon’s body gradually elongated, a Lairon that stood 1.2 meters tall, golden in color, and covered in steel appeared before Zhang Feng!

Pokémon: Lairon (Shiny)
Level: 31
Ability: Heavy Metal
Type: Steel, Rock
Potential: Gold
Bond Evolution: Unlocked
Mega Evolution: Unlocked
Moves: Harden, Metal Claw, Rock Tomb, Dragon Rush, Iron Head, Head Smash, Protect...
Friendship: 185
Background: Encountered in the Rustboro City mining area; a special Lairon that wishes to earn more glory for its Trainer.
Hobbies: Eating metal.

It was no surprise that even as a Shiny Pokémon, since the Aron started with gold potential, it remained gold after evolving into Lairon! It seemed that if he wanted to reach red potential, he would have to look toward the final evolved forms of Metang and Lairon; there might still be a chance there. As for Zhang Feng’s other Pokémon, like Grovyle and Monferno, they likely had no such opportunity. After all, Grovyle and Monferno only had purple potential, and jumping two full potential tiers during a final evolution was nearly impossible.

Of course, even without reaching red potential, Metagross and Aggron would still be incredibly powerful existences, perfectly capable of serving as Zhang Feng’s core team. It was just that seeing Steven’s Shiny Metagross with red potential made him a bit envious, to the point where Zhang Feng also wanted a Shiny Pokémon with red potential. But on second thought, Steven’s red potential was cultivated using the "power of money," and Zhang Feng at least had a Rayquaza with rainbow potential! That was something no amount of money could buy, so he immediately felt relieved.

...

Soon, three days later, the Golden Town Wild Pokémon Catching Tournament began! For a small town, hosting such a large event attracted hundreds of trainers, which was quite a significant turnout considering the foot traffic in the Hoenn region. After all, even for regional tournaments, it seemed that only a few hundred trainers passed the preliminary selection. A large-scale event covering an entire region usually had at most two hundred participants. Perhaps because the barrier to entry was low—requiring only 2,000 Poké Dollars—many Bug Catchers also joined the tournament. For them, catching a few Bug-type Pokémon was victory enough.

When the mayor of Golden Town appeared, dressed in gaudy finery and delivering a speech, with the mayor, Nurse Joy of Golden Town, and the captain of the security team serving as judges, the three-day Wild Pokémon Catching Tournament officially began!

To Zhang Feng’s surprise, he spotted a relatively familiar trainer in the crowd—Jackson! He was one of the three trainers who debuted at the same time as Tyson and Morrison, choosing Torchic, Treecko, and Mudkip respectively. Among the three, Jackson defeated Ash’s Charizard with his Blaziken at the Silver Conference in the Johto League, though unfortunately, he didn't win the championship because his Blaziken was too severely injured. Tyson was the champion of this year’s Hoenn League Ever Grande Conference, possessing a powerful Sceptile and a Meowth. As for Morrison, while his strength wasn't exactly top-tier, he was roughly on par with Ash; if he hadn’t been so focused on friendship, resulting in a crushing defeat, Ash might not have been his opponent. (Plot note: these trainers are fixed as debuting in the same period.)

After receiving thirty green Nature Balls from Nurse Joy and depositing his six Luxury Balls at the Pokémon Center, Zhang Feng was finally able to enter the wild Pokémon preserve.

Because catching Pokémon had to rely on the trainer’s own abilities rather than the strength of their own Pokémon, the Pokémon Catching Tournament was created. Otherwise, if one could use their own Pokémon, everyone could easily catch the maximum of thirty. Over time, the Pokémon here would be rapidly depleted, turning this into a town abandoned by Pokémon! That was not the intention of the villagers of Golden Town, and it would also make the outcome of the competition difficult to judge. After all, the criteria for winning were based primarily on the number of Pokémon caught, with rarity only being considered in the event of a tie.

Someone might ask, if a trainer caught thirty Caterpie, would that count as reaching the maximum number? Regardless of the species, Bug-type base-form Pokémon were indeed easy to catch, but the rules included a clause: you could not catch more than ten of the same species, or you would be disqualified! However, if a Pokémon caught within the preserve was willing to follow the trainer’s commands, one could conduct battles within the preserve to catch other Pokémon! In short, as long as it wasn't a Pokémon the trainer brought from outside, you could do whatever you wanted with the Pokémon caught within the preserve.

But for Zhang Feng, winning was a secondary matter. His real goal was to catch Pokémon he liked in this man-made "Wild Pokémon Preserve" to serve as the pioneers for his clan's propagation! Of course, if the partners he caught had good potential, he would also train them as part of his core team. If the potential was poor, they would become part of the ecosystem in his system space, working to reproduce and expand the clan. Once the numbers grew, purely by probability, he would eventually get Pokémon with gold or even red potential, right?

Although it was a Pokémon preserve, if a participating trainer encountered danger, they could forfeit at any time and be rescued by the Golden Town security team! Thus, Zhang Feng headed into the preserve with a basket of Nature Balls. The entire preserve was quite vast, featuring lakes, mountains, grasslands, and a wealth of wild environments, covering an area roughly the size of a county! It was clearly impossible to explore the entire preserve on foot within three days. Therefore, to truly explore the whole area, he needed the help of Pokémon!

Zhang Feng’s first target was a mount-type Pokémon. These were typically Arcanine, Rapidash, Dodrio, and the like. However, a Pokémon like Arcanine clearly couldn't be caught without a Pokémon battle, and Dodrio had a fiery temper, so that wasn't the first choice. That left Ponyta, the pre-evolution of Rapidash, as his target.

Entering the Pokémon preserve, no matter how experienced a trainer was, they effectively became a novice because they had no Pokémon on hand and had to start from scratch! Thus, luring these greedy little guys became crucial. Zhang Feng was lucky; after an hour of searching, he discovered a lone Ponyta!

"Ding-dong, Ponyta's current stats are as follows:"
Pokémon: Ponyta
Level: 15
Ability: Flash Fire
Type: Fire
Potential: Blue
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Ember, Flame Wheel, Stomp...
Hobbies: Spicy food, quite gluttonous, likes to run.

Looking at Ponyta’s stats, Zhang Feng nodded to himself. As long as it was gluttonous, there was a possibility of catching it, not to mention that Zhang Feng had plenty of spicy items!

Once Zhang Feng caught it, he would have sufficient mobility to ride Ponyta through the preserve! Thinking of this, Zhang Feng took several Figy Berries out of his system space. Although using a trainer’s own Pokémon was prohibited inside the preserve, there were no rules against bringing your own berries to lure wild Pokémon! Fire-type Pokémon were naturally sensitive to and fond of spicy flavors; Zhang Feng’s Monferno loved Figy Berries, and so did his Grovyle! Furthermore, although the Pokémon in the preserve were free-roaming, they frequently encountered the preserve staff, so Ponyta wasn't afraid of humans!

When Zhang Feng placed the Figy Berries on the ground, Ponyta hesitated for a moment, but its gluttony won out, and it slowly moved toward him! Step one of the plan: success!

After luring the Ponyta, Zhang Feng brought out more Figy Berries, as he had plenty in his system space. At this moment, Zhang Feng said with gentle persuasion:

"Ponyta, would you like to be my Pokémon? If you do, you can eat these good things every day! And the place where we’ll live in the future is far larger and more open than this area, enough for you to gallop to your heart’s content every day! Later, I can also find you some companions so you can live happily in a new place without any pressure!"

Tempted by Zhang Feng’s sweet talk and with several Figy Berries in its mouth, the Ponyta nodded gently. Seeing that Ponyta was willing to be caught, Zhang Feng was overjoyed and pulled out a Nature Ball, touching it to the Ponyta. With a flash of red light, the Ponyta was drawn into the Nature Ball! After shaking three times, the ball finally emitted a crisp click!

Ponyta successfully caught—the first one was in hand!

With the first Pokémon secured, Zhang Feng gained more autonomy within the preserve. Once Ponyta settled down in the system space, Zhang Feng released it again. Apparently, after confirming that Zhang Feng wasn't lying, Ponyta’s friendship level rose to 80. Soon, Zhang Feng was riding the Ponyta; because it had given its initial approval, the flames on its back were no longer searing or hot.

"Ponyta, do you know the distribution of Pokémon in this preserve? I wonder if there are any Eevee here?"

After hearing Zhang Feng’s question, Ponyta thought for a moment and suddenly neighed toward the northwest! This was Ponyta indicating that it knew the location!

Receiving confirmation from Ponyta, Zhang Feng was secretly delighted. His approach was correct; a trainer arriving for the first time wouldn't know the environmental distribution, let alone find the Pokémon they liked! It was much better to catch a new Pokémon and use their knowledge of the preserve for targeted catching! This was the only way to use up thirty Nature Balls within three days and obtain the Pokémon he wanted!

Thus, a figure riding a Ponyta sped toward the northwest. Eevee was a very rare Pokémon, and since they were in this preserve, Zhang Feng would certainly not let the opportunity slip by! Since he could catch up to ten of the same species, Zhang Feng could definitely collect all the Eevee here!

...
PS: Verification period begins tomorrow.