Pokémon Court

Where is the Pokémon?

While everyone’s attention was on Phoebe, Terrance craned his neck to look over, searching for signs of Phoebe’s Pokémon.

This barrier was a variation of the Psychic move.

Psywave had materialized into a tangible, invisible wall, blocking everyone outside.

Such a level of control was something not even a Mismagius could achieve.

“Hidden, huh?” Terrance exhaled, giving up on his search.

The crowd was massive. Phoebe seemed to have noticed the traffic congestion as well. She looked up at the sky with a troubled expression and said, “Everyone, let’s try to maintain some order, okay?”

The voice of an Elite Four member was indeed more effective than anything else. The jostling crowd immediately stopped, and the group, almost entirely composed of Trainers, instantly began to whisper and talk among themselves.

“Please be quiet!!! Lady Phoebe is very busy!” Phoebe’s assistant, unable to contain their frustration, shouted. The crowd fell silent again.

Seeing this, Phoebe smiled in satisfaction and said, “Alright, now that’s settled, let’s get started.”

The event was taking place in a spacious area of central park. Around a hundred people had gathered, but now it was quiet, and everyone clearly heard Phoebe’s words, their excitement growing.

“Let me see…Trainer friends in the front row, if you don’t mind, how about sitting down to watch?”

Terrance looked at the crowd in surprise and noticed that everyone had naturally made room. Some even sat down obediently. Observing this, Terrance hesitated. It seemed the prestige of an Elite Four member was quite high. If this were a celebrity from his previous life, they’d probably struggle to manage such a situation.

Wait a minute…

“It feels like Psywave is interfering with my thoughts.”

Terrance frowned, recalling Phoebe’s earlier words. It felt as if there was a power subtly compelling people to comply.

Glancing at Chisana, who seemed to not sense it, Terrance shook his head. Maybe he was overthinking it.

However, thinking of Phoebe, Terrance grew curious. She was neither too young nor too old, belonging to the same generation as Steven and Cynthia.

Reaching the position of Elite Four at her age was something to look up to.

However, what intrigued Terrance most were the rumors about Phoebe—apparently, she claims to possess the ability to communicate with Ghost-type Pokémon. Some speculated it was similar to telepathic communication used by psychics, but the exact method remained unclear.

This ability was widely believed to be the reason Phoebe had managed to become an Elite Four member at such a young age.

As for the so-called lecture, it was actually pretty boring, covering basic strategies for fighting Ghost-type Pokémon and tips about how to train them. While crucial for most Trainers, for Terrance, it was somewhat redundant.

Although what she said was good, with her own unique understanding, and it can give people a lot of insights, the target audience was still the ordinary Trainers at beginner level and offered little help for someone at Terrance’s level.

“Mismagius’ level has already surpassed the training knowledge she’s discussing. As for advanced training methods, there’s no way she’d reveal those,” Terrance chuckled dryly. Expecting her to share the secret techniques to becoming a Ghost-type Master? Even if Phoebe was generous, that seemed unlikely.

After listening to the long lecture, Terrance realized that this knowledge was extremely important to most Trainers who owned Ghost-type Pokémon but didn’t know how to train them. Seeing many people’s expressions of sudden realization, he was certain that after this, these Trainers would definitely feel immense gratitude towards Phoebe.

“Besides demonstrating her strength, this is a smart way to solidify her position as an Elite Four. Hosting one or two of these events annually could garner a substantial following.”

When the lecture ended, it was time for audience questions, and just like the battle quota—there were only three opportunities.

But these three opportunities, naturally, can’t take care of everyone. Those who are lucky enough to personally ask the Elite Four questions, if they make good use of this chance, it might be a good opportunity to improve themselves.

However…

Faced with an enthusiastic crowd of Trainers, Phoebe opted to select questioners at random. The first two individuals asked disappointingly generic questions:

“Master Phoebe, how can I become as strong as you?”

“Master Phoebe, can you tell me how you usually train your Pokémon?”

These kinds of questions… Terrance rolled his eyes. You could write a whole textbook about them. Not to mention whether she could answer you without reservation, but you should at least think a bit before asking questions!

Why can’t you ask some of your own problems that you encountered while training your Pokémon…?

“Oh, I see! Putting your heart into training your Pokémon—that’s the key to Lady Phoebe becoming an Elite Four!” Chisana murmured thoughtfully, jotting down Phoebe’s response.

When the final questioner stood up, Terrance was surprised. Isn’t that one of the challengers from Rogge Gym?

It was one of the first four challengers—the Trainer who used Ghost-type Pokémon and had been defeated by Gallade’s Slash.

The young man stood up, face flushed, stammering, “Master Phoebe, I have a question I’d like to ask you.”

“Why did my Shuppet get hit by a Normal-type move, Slash, even though my opponent didn’t use Foresight or Miracle Eye?”

This question had puzzled him for two months, and he still couldn’t figure it out.

Getting Master Phoebe’s guidance now was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Slash?” Phoebe said, surprised.

It was the first time she displayed an expression other than a smile.

This question…quite a high-level one.

She gazed deeply at the young man standing before her and said, “That’s a very interesting question.”

She smiled. This question isn’t exactly a secret, it’s just that this kind of thing that subverts common sense, its practical value among ordinary Trainers is not high, so it hasn’t been widely circulated. It’s knowledge that only experienced Trainers can understand and make use of.

“As we all know, Ghost-type Pokémon have the innate ability to conceal themselves. However, this concealment isn’t absolute. For a detailed explanation, I recommend Professor Taro’s book《The Structure of Anomalous Energies》. To put it simply, Ghost-type Pokémon can enter a subspace that exists between reality and illusion, which creates the illusion that they have no physical form.”

“This subspace is formed by an incomplete wall of anomalous energy. Energies like fire, lightning, hurricanes, and water can directly penetrate this anomalous energy wall and attack the Ghost-type Pokémon itself.”

“However, this energy wall has a unique resistance to Normal-type and Fighting-type energy, deflecting these energies the moment they make contact with the Ghost-type Pokémon. This is why Normal and Fighting moves typically can’t affect Ghost-types.”

“As I mentioned, this energy wall is incomplete, meaning Ghost-type Pokémon don’t completely disappear into subspace. They still have physical forms in the real world. However, due to the interference of the anomalous energy, their existence in terms of time and location is rapidly changing within a second. The Foresight move allows Pokémon to pinpoint the exact moment when their physical form appears.”

“If your opponent really did not use the Foresight move, it might have been just a lucky hit? There is still a chance of that happening…” Phoebe said.

Although… this chance is less than one in ten thousand. Under the interference of anomalous energy, locating the physical form of a Ghost Type is the biggest challenge. Unlike other types, which can directly ignore the fluctuations of anomalous energy, it is simply too difficult to deal with Ghost Type Pokémon using Normal Type moves.

The young man still looked confused; why does it feel like… what he experienced was not like this?

At the back, Terrance smiled. Gallade had captured the moment when Shuppet’s physical form appeared by sensing the fluctuations of resentment. In a sense, it can indeed be considered luck, but they have something to rely on.

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