Chapter 41: The Fourth Badge, Scoring a Mega Stone!

“Electabuzz, Thunderbolt!”

“Charizard, Solar Flare!”

When it came to unleashing their signature moves, Electabuzz was definitely faster than Charizard! After all, Solar Flare required two full turns to charge unless the sky was perfectly clear.

However, even after Electabuzz’s Thunderbolt struck Charizard first, Charizard, with its fierce willpower, did not have its move interrupted!

“What!”

At that moment, Gym Leader Iron Spin stared at Zhang Feng’s Charizard, seemingly ignoring Electabuzz’s attack, and was stunned into silence.

He had been a gym leader all his life, yet this was the first time he had seen such a formidable Charizard capable of disregarding his Electabuzz’s assault.

Right then, Charizard’s Solar Flare was fully charged. The seeds on its back glowed brightly, and in the next instant, a dazzling white light burst forth!

The entire battlefield was engulfed in this brilliance before everything settled into silence.

When the battle ended, Electabuzz had been blasted out of the arena, crashing deeply into the wall of the Violet Gym, embedded firmly within!

The power of Solar Flare—truly terrifying.

“Ding dong, Charizard defeated Electabuzz, gaining 457 experience points. Level up! Current level: 44!”

“Electabuzz has lost battle capability. Charizard wins the match. Since all three of Gym Leader Iron Spin’s Pokémon are unable to continue, the final victor is challenger Zhang Feng!”

As the referee’s words fell, Iron Spin laughed heartily.

“Impressive, Zhang Feng. This proves your victory over the Violet Gym. Here, the Thunder Badge. I hope you perform excellently at the Ever Grande Conference!”

With that, Iron Spin handed Zhang Feng the Thunder Badge.

Nearby, Electabuzz, just regaining consciousness, gave Charizard a thumbs-up in acknowledgment.

Seeing this, Charizard nodded coolly, returning Electabuzz’s respect.

After receiving the Thunder Badge, Zhang Feng now held more than half the qualifications needed to compete in the Hoenn League Ever Grande Conference.

The Orange League Scale Badge, Kanaz Rock Badge, Martial Arts Gym Boxing Badge, and now the Violet Gym Thunder Badge—four in total!

Placing the Thunder Badge into the badge case Miss Joy from Orange City had given him earlier, Zhang Feng felt an overwhelming sense of joy at having secured more than half the gym badges.

Unlike the game, holding these physical badges brought an indescribable sense of accomplishment.

It had been nearly three months since he left Never White Town. The Ever Grande Conference was still four months away, but he had already made significant progress.

From now on, there was no need to rush so much on the journey ahead.

After bidding farewell to Gym Leader Iron Spin, Zhang Feng returned to the Pokémon Center. After handing over his battling Pokémon to Miss Joy for recovery, he stepped outside to explore Violet City.

Consulting the map, he discovered a museum in Violet City—a Fossil Pokémon museum with revived fossil Pokémon on display. Intrigued, Zhang Feng headed there to visit.

Paying 180 PokéDollars for the ticket, he entered the Violet Museum.

Gazing at the fossils, Zhang Feng couldn’t help but feel a spark of anticipation.

In the Hoenn region, fossil revival machines had long been developed, though not widely used.

Yet the Violet Museum was one of the investors in this technology, which explained the abundance of prehistoric Pokémon in the Pokémon world.

Take Steven, for example—he possessed an ancient Pokémon, the Archeops, clearly revived with the help of Devon Corporation’s fossil technology.

The Violet Fossil Museum stored many fossils: Shieldon, Cranidos, Bastiodon, Archeops, Lileep, and more.

They even had a special area where revived fossil Pokémon were grouped together for visitors to see.

This amazed Zhang Feng, much like his first visit to a zoo in his previous life—a truly novel experience.

Nearby, a museum staff member was explaining that these fossil Pokémon had been revived using fossil revival machines, an effort that required significant resources.

Seeing these prehistoric creatures alive before him stirred the desire to capture such Pokémon.

Of all the fossil Pokémon, only the legendary Aerodactyl truly captivated Zhang Feng’s heart.

Unfortunately, there was no Aerodactyl on display in the Violet Museum.

He recalled that in the Kanto region, the mysterious Giant Valley housed an Aerodactyl that once captured Ash, forcing his Charmeleon to evolve, and also led to Misty receiving a Togepi egg. However, by now, Togepi had likely left Misty and remained in Togepi’s Garden.

“Excuse me, does the museum have a living Aerodactyl?” Zhang Feng asked a staff member.

The staff member paused before replying cautiously.

“Aerodactyl is too ferocious. Although we have its fossils, we have not revived it here, so you won’t see one in the park. Sorry about that.”

“Perhaps there will be an opportunity in the future.”

Though disappointed, Zhang Feng was undeterred. If he couldn’t find Aerodactyl here, he would visit the Giant Valley in Kanto after the Ever Grande Conference and try to capture it there.

After touring the Violet Museum, as Zhang Feng prepared to leave, he noticed a crowd gathered around a museum researcher promoting merchandise.

“These are scattered fossils we’ve found. If any visitors want to collect or purchase them, please pay me.”

Realizing this was a museum fundraising effort, Zhang Feng was initially uninterested. But after scanning the items with his system, he was pleasantly surprised.

“Ding dong, Aerodactyl’s Mega Stone detected. Host, please pay attention!”

Prompted by the system, Zhang Feng quickly approached the merchandise area to inspect the goods.

“Are these fossils freshly excavated? What are their prices?”

Looking at the stones marked with fossil traces but barely recognizable in shape, Zhang Feng doubted their authenticity.

If the system hadn’t told him an Aerodactyl Mega Stone was among them, he wouldn’t believe these were genuine treasures unearthed from various places.

Hearing his question, the researcher smiled.

“These fossils are incomplete. First, they cannot be revived into fossil Pokémon by the revival machines. Second, they can’t be exhibited in the museum. So, we decided to sell them to give visitors a chance to collect and to quickly raise funds for the museum.”

“Sir, please take a look—these are genuine fossils!”

Encouraged by the researcher’s words, Zhang Feng’s gaze fixed on one particular stone.

This was the Mega Stone for Aerodactyl that the system had detected, though it was currently encased in fossil material, hiding its usual gleam.

“How much for this one?”

“You have a keen eye, sir. This stone might contain amber. Its price is 100,000 PokéDollars.”

Hearing that figure, Zhang Feng’s lips twitched.

If Mega Evolution had become widespread, a single Mega Stone would cost far more—easily reaching the millions or even tens of millions!

But for now, bargaining was necessary.

After some haggling, Zhang Feng secured the treasure for 30,000 PokéDollars.

A fantastic deal!

…