“Boss, is this the gym badge meow?”
Meowth looked at the badge in Ash’s hand with curiosity.
“Yeah, collecting all eight will let you participate in the competition. I wonder what kind of opponents there will be then.”
“Who cares meow. We’ll win anyway meow.”
“It’s good to be confident, but don’t underestimate your opponents. Also, Pikachu, don’t you think you should eat a bit less ketchup?”
Looking at Pikachu who was chugging a bottle of ketchup, Ash was speechless.
“Raruu!”
“Okay, okay, hold hands with Ralts. But don’t act like this when you grow up, okay? Girls need to be more careful.”
Seeing Ash interact with his Pokémon, Brock couldn’t help but say, “Ash really is liked by his Pokémon.”
Misty nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Ash’s Pokémon are pretty clingy to him.”
As for why Brock was traveling with Ash and Misty, it was actually quite simple. The old man named Wu Neng was Brock’s father, and it was unknown what thoughts he had after watching Ash and Brock’s battle, but he ended up going back home. At the same time, he told Brock to start his own journey. This surprised Brock a bit, but he also had his own dreams, so after reminding his father what his brothers and younger siblings liked to eat, he chased after Ash and Misty.
Ash and Misty welcomed Brock’s joining, as it was nice to have company on their adventures. Along the way, Brock also saw Ash’s Pokémon, and he was most impressed by Ash’s Milktank.
“Ash’s Milktank is well-trained. The milk she produces is truly fantastic.”
“It’s also a lot of work to take care of her. I have to give her a massage every day. Okay, wake up!”
Ash patted Milktank, who was so comfortable she was about to fall asleep, ending her massage. But after that…
Looking at all the Pokémon lining up waiting for him to massage them, Ash suddenly felt like practicing martial arts might be a good option.
——Divider Line——
“Mount Moon, it is said to have a meteorite.”
To save time, Ash and his companions chose to take a shortcut, which happened to be Mount Moon, a place rumored to have a meteorite. Looking at Mount Moon, Brock couldn’t help but sigh, while Ash thought thoughtfully, “Meteorite? But I remember that’s supposed to be a Moon Stone, which can help certain Pokémon evolve…”
“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
Ash’s words were interrupted by a scream. Hearing this scream, the three of them wouldn’t just stand there, so they quickly followed the sound.
When they arrived, they saw a researcher being attacked by a Zubat. However, to save time, Ash took out his Houndour’s Luxury Ball.
“Houndour, Flame Wheel, save him!”
“Woof! Woof!”
However, Ash forgot one thing. While his Houndour had not participated much in battles since it was released, this wasn’t because it was too weak, but because it had been trained enough by those powerful Pokémon, and therefore its Flame Wheel…
“WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
With the researcher’s scream, the massive Flame Wheel engulfed both him and the Zubat. Ash looked at the scene and lowered his cap slightly, saying, “Everything is going according to my plan, Chansey, heal him.”
“…” *2
Misty and Brock were certain that nothing was going according to Ash’s plan. After Chansey healed the researcher, Ash and his companions left. As for the researcher, he was still unconscious…
Let’s just forget about the researcher. We trust Chansey’s skills.
However, when Ash entered the cave of Mount Moon, his expression turned grim. The mining methods here were seriously problematic.
“While the Pokémon League allows mining Mount Moon, that doesn’t mean they agree with these methods. It seems there are some problems that need to be taken care of.” As he spoke, Ash contacted Professor Oak.
“Hey, Professor Oak, there’s a problem here on Mount Moon. The mining methods are completely illegal and have severely impacted the Pokémon ecosystem. You should send someone to take a look. Okay, I’ll handle things here.”
After ending the call with Professor Oak, Ash looked at Misty and Brock and said, “Someone will be here soon to take care of this. But before that…”
Looking at the Jigglypuff hopping and jumping beside him, Ash took out a Poké Ball and said, “I need to catch a Jigglypuff for a friend of mine. She wants a Jigglypuff to help her with her work.”
Thinking about how Serena had mentioned needing a Jigglypuff to help her act, Ash had already decided to catch one after seeing the Jigglypuff hopping past him. However, just as he was about to throw the Poké Ball, someone rushed over, seemingly trying to stop him.
“Someone’s attacking meow!”
Seeing someone rushing towards Ash, Meowth kicked him without hesitation. After knocking the person away, Pikachu immediately jumped off Ash’s shoulder and unleashed a Thunderbolt at the person.
“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
With a scream, the attacker lay on the ground, smoking.
“Meow, how dare you attack the boss meow.”
Misty looked at the still-smoking person and asked, “Ash, is he alright?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. He’ll just be laying here for a while. I’m still catching the Jigglypuff.”
“Wait!”
Just as Ash was about to continue, the person lying on the ground stood up and said, “Wait! Can’t you just let the Jigglypuff live here peacefully? Don’t you know this will make her life miserable? So just let her live peacefully here.”
Seeing the sincerity in the person’s eyes, Ash was stunned for a moment, then his face turned sour, “Beat him up.”
“Charge meow!”
“Pika-pi!”
“Raruu!”
“Lucky!”
“Woof!”
“WAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
Looking at the person being beaten up, Brock shook his head and said, “Seriously, how can someone be so suicidal…”
Misty asked curiously, “What do you mean? What’s so suicidal about it?”
Seeing Misty’s confusion, Brock explained, “Well, you should know that my dream is to become the world’s greatest Pokémon Breeder, right?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“Ash actually counts as a breeder too. Look, before, the massages Ash gave Milktank and the others were actually a special technique. And what a breeder cares about is whether their Pokémon can be happy. You can see how much Ash’s Pokémon like him, so you can understand his breeding abilities. But that person said…”
“Alright, I get it… he deserves it…”
Misty no longer felt sorry for this person. After all, he had touched on a breeder’s taboo, which was the same as insulting Ash’s Pokémon, so it was only natural that they would beat him up.