Chapter 173: Black Satoshi is a bit scheming!

Strong Croc's muscles were tensed all over, his eyes flashing with the light of battle as he looked at the white sea lion before him, seemingly assessing the opponent's strength.

He lightly twisted his body, let out a low growl, and smacked his lips.

This opponent was its first foe after evolution.

"Your Strong Croc is full of energy!"

Liu Bo observed from the side, noticing Strong Croc's newborn calf-like fearless vigor, as well as the tacit interaction between it and Trainer Ash. From Strong Croc's performance, it got along very well with Ash, having formed a deep bond.

"Yeah, that's just its personality—very cheerful."

Even as a little saw crocodile, it was lively and active; Xiaoxia's was too, but not as active as Ash's.

"As the challenger, you attack first."

Liu Bo said to Ash.

"Strong Croc, use Water Gun."

Almost as soon as the command was given, Strong Croc opened its mouth, and a thick stream of water shot out like an arrow from a bow, without any wind-up or hesitation.

The Water Gun was fast and powerful, rushing straight toward the white sea lion.

"That fast?"

Liu Bo saw this, his face showing surprise. He hadn't expected Strong Croc's Water Gun attack to be so swift, and he hadn't even had time to issue a command.

Only saw the white sea lion, defenseless, get hit by Strong Croc's Water Gun; its huge body was instantly knocked back several meters, slamming hard into the ice pillar behind. With a booming crash, the ice pillar cracked under the immense impact, while the white sea lion barely managed to steady itself.

Although the white sea lion is a Water-type Pokémon with relatively strong resistance to Water-type moves, this attack's impact was not to be underestimated, and the white sea lion let out a painful groan.

"White sea lion, jump into the pool ahead."

Liu Bo wanted to have the white sea lion race Strong Croc in speed within the pool.

After all, his white sea lion is fast in water, which could be used to defeat Strong Croc.

His white sea lion often trains in the suburban waterfalls; swimming quickly in water has become routine, its swimming speed is very fast, and upon jumping into the water to exploit its advantage, it would surely astonish Strong Croc.

The white sea lion was indeed agile in the water, using Water Gun to break ice elsewhere, occasionally leaping out to attack Strong Croc, then swiftly diving back in.

"Strong Croc, use Whirlpool."

Ash gave a faint smile; he still had a trick up his sleeve for dealing with the white sea lion. Since it jumped in and refused to come out, he'd just force it to act.

As Strong Croc acted, the water in the pool began to surge wildly, and the white sea lion had to keep swimming to avoid these turbulent currents.

"Get behind it and use Water Gun."

Liu Bo shouted.

"Blizzard!"

Ash's eyes narrowed, believing that the white sea lion's use of this move was exactly the opportunity.

Immediately, ice crystals scattering around Strong Croc caused the ambient temperature to plummet; the cold air emanating from the ground gradually spread outward. These cold airs, upon contacting the water flow, froze it into ice at visible speed.

When the white sea lion's sprayed water approached Strong Croc, it was instantly frozen.

"Strength!"

Strong Croc seized the opportunity, directly using the Strength move to strike the white sea lion repeatedly. It threw a heavy punch, then swung the frozen Water Gun, smashing hard into the white sea lion.

Bang!

After Strong Croc's successive blows, the white sea lion finally lost its ability to battle.

"The white sea lion has lost its battle capability; Strong Croc wins!"

The referee announced the match result.

Roar!

After winning the battle, Strong Croc became unusually excited, constantly waving its arms and legs, celebrating its first victory after evolution. Joy overflowed, and it even greeted the nearby Pikachu, the two dancing together happily.

Xiaoxia quietly watched the battle from the side, her eyes sparkling with bright light; although she said little, her heart was full of support and encouragement for Ash.

The Oddish leaf always clung close to Ash, sticking to him; seeing Strong Croc win, the Oddish leaf also showed a happy smile, feeling glad for Strong Croc's victory.

"Hall Master Liu Bo, is my breeding method okay?"

Ash was very pleased with Strong Croc's performance, looked toward Liu Bo, and told him that he felt his breeding method had a problem, saying that raising Pokémon this way was useless.

"Sweat!"

Upon hearing it, Liu Bo immediately showed an embarrassed expression; he realized what Ash meant by those words—those were his own remarks when he first released Ash's Pokémon, back when he truly didn't trust Pokémon, so he looked down on Ash's breeding method.

But he never expected Ash to hold a grudge like this!!!

【Liu Bo: I was wrong; I shouldn't have acted rashly back then. At that time I still had misconceptions about Pokémon, so I blamed Ash.

【Ash's way of raising Pokémon is far stronger than mine; he firmly believes in Pokémon, and his Pokémon strive hard for his expectations—both sides are mutually devoted.】

【Ash: Given Hall Master Liu Bo's situation at the time, saying such things is understandable.】

【Brock: If I went through what Hall Master Liu Bo did, I honestly wouldn't know what to do—whether to keep believing in Pokémon or keep distance from them.】【Ma Zhishi: Hahaha, Liu Bo, you've had your day; you started off talking big, now you've been beaten by Ash and even brought out to whip the corpse, tsk tsk!】

【Xiba: Black Satoshi is a bit scheming; he took Liu Bo's mockery to heart, didn't retort right away, but waited for an opportunity like this, defeating Liu Bo's Pokémon on the battlefield to prove that his breeding method produces excellent Pokémon, not useless as Liu Bo claimed.】

【Musashi: You've only just realized the little brat is scheming; whether in the Black World or White World, the little brat is hateful and extremely scheming.】

Musashi had to come out and denounce Ash; their Team Rocket had also been screwed over by this scheming Ash.

Black World—

Liu Bo sent out a Long-haired Pig, while Ash sent out Pikachu.

"Come on, Pikachu, show your strength!"

Ash sent out his main force.

"Pika pika!"

Pikachu was full of spirit, quickly running onto the battlefield.

A calm smile...... Ash and Pikachu are the same.

Liu Bo's heart shuddered as he watched the confident person and mouse, and he had a bad premonition.

Especially that tiny cute Pikachu......