Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [89]

Hearing the Cerulean Sisters pin the blame on Gary, August finally couldn’t hold back his laughter.

"Gary Oak?"

Lily noticed something was off about August’s tone, but at this point, she had no choice but to go along with Daisy’s story.

"That’s right! He was the strongest challenger we’ve faced recently. We put up a hard fight, but in the end, we still lost to him!"

Violet, who had been silent until now, quickly nodded in agreement.

"But I saw Gary in Lampurchi over ten days ago," August said, raising an eyebrow. "He even showed me his Badge collection at the time… There’s no way your Pokémon have been recovering for more than ten days, right?"

The sisters stiffened.

"Besides, if he really challenged your Gym, his name should be in the battle records. Next time you lie, at least come up with something more believable—like saying Team Rocket attacked you or something. That would be a lot more convincing."

As soon as August finished speaking, one of the auditors handed him Cerulean Gym’s challenge records and projected footage of Gary’s battle onto a screen.

Even though Gary had only used a single Pidgey, the match was brutal.

The Cerulean Sisters’ performance could only be described as a textbook example of what NOT to do in a Gym battle.

It was painful to watch.

Busted!

The sisters turned pale.

They had never imagined that the examiner standing before them actually knew Gary Oak.

The assessment hadn’t even officially started yet, and they had already left a terrible first impression. This was bad.

But August didn’t dwell too much on the fact that they had tried to deceive him. After all, the camera footage—and Blue’s notes—had already documented everything in detail.

Once Blue finished recording, August finally spoke.

"I’ll report this to the League and let them decide how to handle it. But for now, what you need to do is get your Pokémon ready for the assessment."

"But…"

"There are no buts," August interrupted. "If you were planning to say your Pokémon are injured, you’ll be glad to know that Nurse Joy and her Chansey are waiting outside in the medical van."

He had no intention of wasting too much time in Cerulean City, so he had come prepared.

Hearing this, the Cerulean Sisters completely lost hope.

There was no more stalling until Misty returned.

They had no choice but to go through with the Gym assessment.

After receiving treatment from Nurse Joy, the Cerulean Sisters’ Pokémon were back to full health.

After some careful selection, they chose what they considered their three strongest Pokémon for the evaluation.

However, when Blue saw the lineup—Seel, Shellder, and Seaking—she was speechless.

She turned to August and whispered, "Are they seriously using these?"

Among the three, the only one that could even be considered remotely battle-ready was Seaking.

As for Seel and Shellder? Even the low-level grunts under Lt. Surge wouldn’t bother using Pokémon like those.

Compared to Vermilion Gym, Cerulean Gym wasn’t even in the same league.

"This is Cerulean Gym’s true level of strength."

Unlike Blue, August wasn’t surprised at all. He had long been aware of how weak the Cerulean Sisters were.

If they had managed to pull out anything remotely impressive, that would have been suspicious—he’d have to start wondering if they had secretly joined Team Rocket.

"Are these the Pokémon you’ll be using?" August asked, following protocol to confirm.

"…Yes."

"Then let’s begin."

With that, August tossed a Poké Ball into the air.

"Yee!"

A lively Mudkip landed on the battlefield.

Ever since capturing Mudkip, August had mainly focused on training it rather than using it in actual battles. Facing Cerulean Gym’s weaklings was a perfect opportunity for some practice.

"That’s… Mudkip, the Hoenn starter?"

Despite their lack of battle prowess, the Cerulean Sisters had enough exposure to recognize Pokémon from other regions due to their frequent participation in water ballet exchange events.

This Mudkip didn’t seem very high-level.

Is the examiner going easy on us?

Why else would he send out such a low-level Mudkip?

For the first time, the sisters felt a flicker of hope.

...

Ten Minutes Later

After both Shellder and Seel were swiftly knocked out, the Cerulean Sisters finally realized—August had no intention of going easy on them.

With no other options left, they sent out their strongest Pokémon—Seaking!

Their one and only hope!

"Mudkip, use [Rock Smash]."

"Seaking, dodge it!"

SMACK!

Mudkip’s punch landed squarely on Seaking.

Seaking tried to counter with a [Horn Attack]—

But Mudkip had already anticipated the move and dodged effortlessly.

"Seaking, use [Horn Attack]!"

Seaking dove underwater, attempting to launch another [Horn Attack] from below.

But Mudkip’s radar-like fin sensed the movement in advance, allowing it to dodge with ease. As Seaking surfaced, Mudkip struck back with another [Rock Smash].

That feeble attempt at an attack was probably the only noteworthy moment of Seaking’s entire performance.

From that point on, Seaking was completely overwhelmed.

Weakened by repeated blows, it could barely move, while the nimble Mudkip darted around, landing hit after hit.

Even when Seaking tried to retreat underwater, Mudkip easily dragged it back out.

In the end, after being pummeled by consecutive [Rock Smash] attacks, Seaking was left sprawled on the ground, unable to battle.

Lily, who had been commanding it, was frozen in place.

She simply couldn’t understand.

Seaking’s level was higher. Shouldn’t it automatically be stronger?

As trainers with zero strategic sense, the Cerulean Sisters had always believed that strength was determined purely by level.

They couldn’t comprehend why Seaking had lost.

Meanwhile, Blue—who had watched the entire battle—could hardly bear to look.

If someone had told her before today that this was the level of Cerulean Gym’s trainers, she would have assumed they were slandering them.

But reality was staring her right in the face.

Not only were the Pokémon weak, but the trainers' command skills were laughably bad.

Half of their instructions had negative effects.

Honestly, they would have been better off letting the Pokémon act on their own. At least then, Mudkip might have faced some minor resistance.

How can Cerulean Gym be this bad?

As August recalled Mudkip into its Poké Ball, Blue turned toward the referee.

The referee, feeling Blue’s gaze, finally snapped out of their stunned state and reluctantly announced:

"Seaking is unable to battle. Mudkip wins. Cerulean Gym’s Pokémon have all been defeated…"

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This is a fan translation of 人在实教，一之濑你会后悔的 by 作者：白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!