Hong Meiling Sleepwalks Through the Heavens

After the two left, Hong Meiling inspected her newly captured Swablu.

Even though she was rightfully captured by Meiling, her cute eyes were still filled with tears seeing that she was forcefully separated from her parents and siblings.

Hence, Meiling decided to use the [Food is the Fastest Way to Somebody’s Heart!] method and fed it some Pokémon food.

The Swablu cried as it ate, but after a dozen munches, the floodgates began to shut, and it begun to eat the food on Meiling’s hand voraciously.

Meiling smiled, poking the Swablu’s head with her finger. You sure are something.

After she was sated, Meiling decided to let her fight some wild Pokémon to help strengthen her. However, she could barely even put a dent into the Pokémon. Meiling simply sighed: Seems like it’s still long before she can become strong.

Wandering around the grass, they didn’t encounter any Pokémon, nor did they encounter any Pokémon that caught Meiling’s eye, so she unsummoned the Swablu.

She no longer plans on catching more Pokémon – she already has Plusle, Minun, and Swablu. She has completed her goal of catching more Pokémon.

Moreover, she realized along the way that it takes time and energy to train them. Although Plus and Mine were capable of fighting, they were not very strong, and as for Swablu, she couldn’t help but laugh at how pitiful her fighting capabilities were.

Therefore, she wants to spend more time training her existing Pokémon.

Of course, if something strong decides to offer itself up to me, I have no complaints… she thought cheekily to herself, though no Ralts decided to stumble upon her the entire journey.

Soon, she walked along the main road towards Veilstone City.

Veilstone City is built on a steep mountain of rock that was excavated to accommodate the city. The Northern Region faces the sea, and the other three cardinal sides were surrounded by mountains and forests. There is a pier on the Northern coast, though once a person gets off the ship, they have to walk a steep mountain path to get to the city. Moreover, there was little bus services here, so Veilstone City was somewhat cut off from the outside world.

Meiling walked along Route 210 to Route 215, approaching from the west side. The route is also a steep mountain road, and normal human beings would find it difficult to traverse to Veilstone City.

Of course, Meiling is no human. This was nothing but a warmup to her.

She would occasionally pass through rest areas and bus stops, but figured that waiting for a bus would take too long.

Ensuring there was no one around, she paced herself to walk as fast as a vehicle, though controlling herself to not travel too fast – she didn’t want other people to witness her abnormal moving speed. When she would travel past a rest stop, she would slow down until she was out of view, before picking back up speed.

Finally, in the afternoon, she reached Veilstone City.

She had eaten before getting here, munching on the bread and cheese that Cynthia packed for her. Three slices of bread and two slices of cheese was enough to sate her hunger.

Perhaps it was because the city was integrated into the natural environment, but the city’s layout felt somewhat cold and uncanny to her. Although Veilstone City is somewhat cut off from the outside world, it is still an incredibly large city in Sinnoh, consisting of many facilities and buildings like large department stores, Pokémon Centers, boutiques, and anything you would find in a respectable city. Plus, Team Galactic, a villainous organization based in Sinnoh, is established here.

Meiling had a stray thought of blowing up their headquarters. That must be a big achievement, right?

However, they hadn’t done anything bad yet. It wasn’t reasonable to just blow up their headquarters, and Officer Jenny might hunt her down.

She shook her thoughts away and instantly headed towards the Pokémon Center.

Arriving, she requested Nurse Joy to treat Plus, Mine, and Cotton (the nickname she gave her Swablu), since they were fighting a couple of wild Pokémon earlier.

After they were treated, she bought some more Pokémon food at the counter, then took her Pokémon to challenge Veilstone City’s Gym.

Standing outside the gym, it was clear that it looked like a martial arts gymnasium. Knocking on the door, it didn’t take long for somebody to greet her.

The person who greeted her looked like a teenage girl. Must be a student.

“How can I help you?” she asked curiously.

Visiting a gym does not necessarily mean you want to challenge them – you might want to become their student, like the girl before her. Gym Leaders train students in addition to dealing with Trainers who wish to challenge them.

“I would like to challenge your Gym and earn a Gym Badge for myself!” Meiling replied with utmost confidence.

“Oh? You seem confident,” the student smiled in admiration. Usually, Trainers held a sense of caution before challenging a gym, but seeing this girl-in-green’s confidence, it must mean that she is very strong in terms of commanding her Pokémon.

The student welcomed Meiling into the gym, and she went off to notify the Gym Leader that a challenger has arrived.

Looking around, she could see that the interior of Veilstone Gym was also reminiscent of a martial arts gymnasium. The student returned, leading Meiling further into the facility, where the Gym Leader was waiting.

The current Gym Leader of Veilstone Gym is a man in his thirties. He was not very tall, probably 1.7 meters tall, but underneath his loose clothes concealed a tough and lean body.

He also had pink hair, just like Maylene. They must have a father-daughter relationship.

“Greetings, my name is Petal, and I am the current Gym Leader of Veilstone Gym,” the man said. “Do you wish to challenge me for a Gym Badge?”

Unexpected to Meiling, he has a strong body, yet such a delicate name. The contrast felt poetic.

Meiling simply nodded, and pointed at him with confidence, “My name is Hong Meiling, and I am here to make that Gym Badge mine!”

Petal laughed, “It’s not easy. Are you sure you’re strong enough to do so?”

He scoffed lightly, and another man walked towards the center of the battle ring.

Judging from his appearance, he must be one of Petal’s students, who is acting as a referee.

“Both parties may use up to three Pokémon, and if all three of the party’s Pokémon faints, they will be declared the loser – only the challenging party is allowed to swap out their Pokémon during the battle. You may now… begin!”

As he swiped his hand down to indicate the start of the match, Meiling and Petal sent out their first Pokémon at the same time.

Meiling sent out her Minun, while Petal sent out a Hitmontop.

Hitmontop is a well-known Fighting-type Pokémon that evolves into Hitmonlee. Hitmontop seemingly fights while upside down, and is incredibly proficient at fighting.

“A Minun?” Petal smiled. “Such a nothing-burger Pokémon – Hitmontop, launch three kicks at it!”

The Hitmontop flipped onto its head and lunged towards Mine.

“Mine! Don’t let it get close and zap it!” Meiling ordered.

Immediately, Mine sent out a burst of electricity that zapped through the Gym’s floor, but Hitmontop was extremely agile, bouncing over each electric shockwave with ease.

When Meiling saw this, she couldn’t help but remember that Ash’s Pikachu summoned an Electric Terrain to restrict Hitmontop’s movements, and is an environment modifier.

Would be nice if my Pokémon could do that, but they can’t yet.

Leaping over the final electric shockwave with ease, the Hitmontop soared up into the air to kick Mine right in the face.

“Mine! Watch out!” Meiling shouted. However, it was too late, and with three swift kicks, Mine was kicked away violently.

Its kicks may seem slow to Meiling, but it was incredibly fast to Mine, and she couldn’t avoid it at all.

Triple Kick is a Fighting-type move. The first kick is not very powerful, but in a combo, the second and third hit’s power will increase incrementally.

Three consecutive kicks are fighting skills. Although the first kick is not very powerful, if it hits and forms a combo, the power of the second and third kicks will increase considerably.

Moreover, it benefits from the Same-type Attack Bonus (STAB), which amplifies a move that matches the Pokémon’s type.

Thus, these kicks must have caused serious damage to Mine.

“Well done!” Petal’s voice sounded in the gym. “Now, use Focus Energy and end it off with Tackle!”

Focus Energy increases a Pokémon’s critical hit ratio, which makes it easier for them to land critical hits, while Tackle, as the name suggests, tackles.

Hitmontop took a deep breath, before lunging towards the weakened Mine who was flailing in the air from the kick, and it had no way of dodging the incoming Tackle.

Although Tackle is not very powerful on its own, with Focus Energy, it was still able to land a firm strike onto Mine.