Chapter 181: The Calm Before the Storm

"Yeah, isn't it too beautiful?"

When Celebi was brought over earlier, its body was like a withered tree branch, basically without any extra changes.

But now it's different; Celebi is now shimmering all over.

I don't know if it's because it just came out of the water or what, but Celebi is now closer to the color of the forest.

"This is too beautiful, and it can actually fly."

Everyone then noticed that Celebi was different from other Pokémon.

After landing, its feet would grow larger unconsciously, and it had wings for flying.

"Sure enough, this must be its special feature. It's a good thing we saved it, but this Mirror Mirror Lake of Life is really magical."

"Just like what that old lady said, it has special effects."

Samuel Oak sighed, then jumped down and swam a few more laps.

"Can I make my body stronger this way too?"

As soon as he got up, he was mocked by everyone.

Misty spoke up.

"Is there a possibility that this only works on Pokémon? At most, you'll just get your clothes wet."

"Hey, if that's the case, then let's quickly let our Pokémon go down and strengthen their bodies."

Misty reminded the others, who nodded quickly; even Pikachu seemed to understand.

It jumped directly into the water, but because Pikachu jumped in, it released various electrical currents.

Water conducts electricity, so the Pokémon below all became jittery.

"Pikachu, you'd better come up quickly. Because of you, they don't dare to go down."

Although they usually get along quite harmoniously with Pikachu.

But once in the water, they get shocked, and Pikachu is extra happy inside, so it increases the voltage, causing the surrounding situation to become more serious.

"Yeah, hurry up and come up." Ash reached out helplessly. Pikachu was a bit reluctant.

"Wait until they've had enough fun and come up, then you can go down, to ensure there's no one inside."

After all, water conducts electricity, and if they were shocked and collapsed, the situation might be more serious than usual.

Pikachu had no choice but to climb onto Ash's shoulder, feeling aggrieved, watching those people playing in the water with envy in its eyes.

"I'll get you a small shed later, and you can play by yourself. That way, you can do whatever you want." Ash said lightly, and Pikachu then smiled with satisfaction.

"Wow, did you see that after swimming two laps inside, their bodies are different?" May said, looking at her Pokémon.

And the others naturally noticed this too.

"I noticed it too; they have indeed become different."

Immediately after, the Pokémon were tired of swimming and came out of the water.

Then they came to their respective owners.

Celebi was also happily circling around them, seemingly expressing friendliness.

"My goodness, I like it so much. I didn't expect to have such a connection with it."

"If I hadn't gone into the forest to sketch, I wouldn't have encountered this scene. But that hunter is truly hateful."

Speaking of that hunter, Samuel Oak was grinding his teeth in anger.

If it weren't for his good luck in meeting Celebi, Celebi might have already been caught by now.

"How should I put it? If we meet him again, we definitely won't let him go. Celebi is so cute, how could it be caught by him for research?"

And just at this moment, the Masked Marauder circled around the area...

He finally discovered something was wrong, because walking from his original direction would only lead him back to the same place.

But if he walked in the correct direction, he would get further and further away. Originally, he was almost out of the forest.

As a result, he circled back to the center and encountered that pile of Pokémon.

He couldn't help but directly order the Pokémon on his body to discharge electricity.

The Pokémon below almost couldn't hold it and fled everywhere, causing birds to fly away in terror.

"Did you hear that? There seems to be a sound over there."

At this moment, Celebi was excitedly defending on the ground, staring inward.

"Did Celebi discover something?"

Because this place is considered Celebi's territory, it's not surprising that it discovered a problem.

However, its expression made everyone a bit curious.

"Yeah, let's see what's going on first." Misty spoke up quickly, and the group turned their attention to the side where the birds were flying.

"I think I heard the sound of Pokémon screaming. Hurry, everyone, let's go take a look. We can't let anything happen to them, otherwise, it would be really dangerous."

Someone said this. Ash was still a bit hesitant; it wasn't that he didn't want to go.

It was just that he felt that if they went over now, they would very likely encounter that masked person from earlier.

"Are you all ready?" Ash mentioned what happened just now, and everyone was a bit uneasy.

But before they could react, Celebi rushed out first.

Samuel Oak felt very sorry for Celebi; how could he let it act alone?

The moment Celebi rushed out, he followed.

"Celebi, wait for me." Now everyone was forced to follow closely, only Ash was frowning.

"Things will work out in the end. There's no use in you being anxious now. Besides, those two like it there so much, or maybe there really is some other problem over there. Don't worry too much."

Misty comforted Ash seriously from the side. Ash sighed helplessly; he thought so too.

But the situation later might not be the same as he thought.

"Celebi, walk a little slower, we can't keep up with you, wait for us."

Samuel Oak said while chasing, but Celebi just didn't want to stop.

And just at this moment, they heard a wild voice.

"Finally found you. It really was 'hard to find after wearing out iron shoes, but easy to get without effort'."

The Masked Marauder's voice rang out, and everyone couldn't help but shiver.

The situation of the Pokémon around was very tragic.

"What exactly did you do to them?"

"Why did they become like this?"

May questioned this person loudly, but the Masked Marauder only had eyes for Celebi.

He had worked hard for so many years, searching through so many forests, just to find Celebi.

"Don't say so much. Thank you for helping me bring Celebi here. Once my plan succeeds..."

"I'll treat you to a meal later. After all, you are all my great contributors."

Hearing this, they realized that this was the terrifying guy Ash mentioned.

"This person is too scary. Celebi just recovered, what exactly does he want to do?"

And Celebi saw those Pokémon injured.

That's why it couldn't bear it and ran over.

Seeing this hunter, Celebi couldn't help but tremble.

And Samuel Oak directly pulled Celebi into his arms, staring fiercely at the person in front of him and said.

"What do you want to do to Celebi? You'll have to get past me first. Don't think that others don't know about these behaviors of yours."

Facing Samuel Oak's accusation, he was even more dismissive.