Chapter 132

The forest outside the Pokémon Center.

"I'm full, you guys eat!"

Ash had already been fed his fill by Oddish, and it was still the first time he had been fed so much food by a Poké Ball.

Oddish happily let out a "peep" sound, then lowered its head to continue enjoying the food before it.

The Bulbasaur standing to the side glanced with its deep eyes at the Oddish clinging to Ash, its gaze unwavering. It thought, let Oddish take care of looking after the master; I will help the master win battle after battle.

As Bulbasaur was lost in thought, it caught sight of the busy Pikachu in its peripheral vision. Pikachu always wore a shining Weight Ring on its tail, seemingly never tiring, constantly striving to increase its strength.

At the same time, Squirtle was lying on the ground, doing push-ups with meticulous precision, each rise accompanied by a deep, powerful breath.

Still this intense.

When it saw Charizard also training intensely, it immediately became unsettled, hearing from Pikachu that this big guy could actually evolve again, not only changing his appearance but also becoming much stronger.

And it's cheating!

You guys are all cheating, while I'm the only one training honestly, right?

Bulbasaur felt a bit indignant, and trained even harder.

Seeing Bulbasaur and the others wearing Weight Rings of various shapes but the same color, Celebi's eyes lit up with excitement as it hopped over, as if discovering a new toy.

It tried to lift the Weight Ring with its tiny hands, but obviously the ring's weight exceeded its expectation.

Celebi's little face twisted slightly from the effort, but it persisted until, finally out of strength, its whole body leaned back and it sat down on the soft grass, while the Weight Ring remained completely unmoved.

Celebi then waved its finger, shaking it, and produced a Psychic.

An invisible force surged from its body, and see, the previously motionless Weight Ring slowly floated up, as if pulled by an invisible string, swaying left and right.

Celebi's face lit with joy as it waved the Weight Ring back and forth, extremely unstable, making Pikachu and the others feel nervous.

"Is that Psychic?"

Xiaoxia sat nearby watching, her face lighting up as she just saw Celebi actually use Psychic to control the Weight Ring.

Celebi, motivated by Pikachu and the others to train, actually ended up using Psychic.

"Yeah, when did Celebi learn this move?"

Ash also didn't notice that Celebi had learned this Psychic.

Could Celebi have figured it out on its own?

Pikachu chased after Celebi to prevent it from getting hurt, making it put the ring down to avoid injuring itself.

Celebi thought Pikachu wanted to play, so it circled around Squirtle and Charizard.

They caught Celebi, but the controlled Weight Ring was about to drop above Squirtle; Charizard seized the moment, swept its tail, and knocked the ring away.

With a whoosh, Squirtle touched its head, feeling a slight chill just moments ago, a bit close-call.

It could have dodged sideways, but Charizard's strike brought it

Bang!

The Weight Ring flew out, accurately striking the bushes ahead; immediately, a moan they knew all too well came from the bushes.

"Whoo~"

Ash and his group looked over.

Only saw the bushes shake, then the figures of Team Rocket gradually emerged, with Musashi and Kojiro working together to drag what appeared to be an unconscious Meowth, and on Meowth's head a conspicuous bump had swollen.

"What's going on?" Brock stared wide-eyed at the scene, his eyes darting between Musashi, Kojiro, and Meowth, "Did you guys split the loot unevenly and want to knock out Meowth?"

Kojiro's mouth twitched, a face of speechlessness.

"Damn you big idiot, it's not like you guys did anything good." Musashi snapped angrily, then threw the Weight Ring over.

It was Charizard who threw it.

Pikachu and the others pushed Charizard out.

"Meowth is fine!"

Ash saw that Meowth was just pretending to faint; usually it takes many of Pikachu's 100,000 Volts, but now just getting hit by the Weight Ring would injure it, which he found hard to believe.

"Pika~"

Pikachu threatened Meowth with electricity.

Meowth jumped up with a "whoosh", "Don't shock me!"

For a moment, the surroundings fell into brief silence, only Meowth's hurried breathing from tension echoed in the air.

Before they could act, Pikachu had already charged up; a brilliant bolt of electricity sliced through the air, striking Team Rocket directly. Accompanied by a deafening explosion, the trio was hit again by 100,000 Volts, turning into a fireball that vanished into the horizon.

The Team Rocket scam ended, Ash and his party set off, continuing to train as usual, enjoying the tranquility and beauty of the journey. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows.

Along the way, Ash's brow slightly furrowed, as if sensing something unusual.

Pikachu also noticed Ash's oddness, immediately becoming alert, its small eyes scanning around, always ready to respond to any sudden situation.

Because hidden in the darkness was a person and a Poké Ball.

"Left."

A black shadow flashed like a ghost to a large tree not far ahead, attempting to evade their sight.

Pikachu hesitated not at all; electricity crackled on its tail as it flung a dense electric net at the hiding figure.

Swish!

Zap-zap!

The electric net instantly unfurled, tightly binding the Poké Ball trying to escape to the tree, immobile, emitting only a 'zizi' electric sound.

At a glance, it was a giant pincer mantis.

Wait.

A middle-aged man jumped out from the nearby bushes, shouting loudly, his eyes filled with anxiety and helplessness.

He saw Pikachu preparing to continue using electric shock, quickly jumped out to stop it, fearing his old partner would suffer more.

"Who are you? Why did you ambush us?"

Ash frowned, seeing this uncle, recalling his journey so far, he had never seen him before, but why would the other party ambush him? That needed to be asked.

"Uh, I saw you and your Poké Ball training on the road; you must be a very strong Trainer, so I wanted to test you."

The uncle was called Cunzheng; he somewhat embarrassingly scratched his head and explained his motives to Ash.

"A test? You call this a test? If we weren't paying attention, wouldn't we get hurt by you?"

Xiaoxia loudly argued, she was very dissatisfied with the uncle's ambush just now; fortunately Ash noticed in time.

Cunzheng heard this, his face instantly flushed with shame; indeed it was his fault.

After Ash's persuasion, Xiaoxia also calmed down.

Cunzheng told Ash about his son Xinwu's situation: after Xinwu defeated many Trainers with his giant pincer mantis, Xinwu found it boring and lost interest in actual battles, turning instead to specializing in researching Poké Ball data, using data analysis to decide battle outcomes.

The reason he was seeking Trainers around was to find a strong Trainer to defeat his son, so his son could return to the right path, not relying solely on those machines.