Chapter 20: Plum blossoms bloom a second time, Team Rocket gets hung up on a tree over and over!

The next day.

Charmander had already recovered; it got up and looked at Ash and Pikachu, who were accompanying it beside.

In its eyes was reflected Ash's face; the scene of Ash rescuing it in the rain left a deep impression in its mind.

Ash and Pikachu sensed Charmander's movement as it got up.

"Charmander, are you okay?"

Seeing the flame on Charmander's tail burning brightly, Ash finally put his mind at ease.

"Char!" Charmander shook its head and remained silent with its head lowered.

"That's good then!"

Pikachu went over to chat with Charmander, hoping to cheer up the bored Charmander, and told it about its experiences together with Ash.

Charmander listened attentively, occasionally glancing at Ash, its eyes sparkling.

"Ash, aren't you going to rest?" Xiaoxia approached.

"I've rested!" Ash replied.

Brock had breakfast ready and called them to eat.

"Charmander, let's go eat together!"

Taking Charmander along to have breakfast.

Brock also specially prepared an extremely abundant breakfast for Charmander.

Staring blankly at the food before it, then looking at Ash and the others beside it, Charmander felt a bit dazed, having never been treated so importantly before.

"Charmander, are you willing to come with me?"

After finishing breakfast, Ash kept looking at Charmander.

Charmander immediately nodded, then actively tapped the Poké Ball at Ash's waist. After entering the Poké Ball, it showed no movement at all.

"Ash, thank you for capturing Charmander. If you hadn't captured it, Charmander would have been left in the wild; having learned from its previous trainer, it wouldn't trust other trainers much, and might even become hostile toward them—so only you have entered its world."

Miss Joy walked over, her eyes carrying a hint of pleading: "Please treat it well!"

"Hmm, don't worry, Miss Joy!"

"Ash values Pokémon greatly; he's even learned to make food and give massages for them."

"Really?"

"Of course, when Pokémon are tired he helps them with massages, and if any Pokémon encounters a problem, he's the first to respond!"

Xiaoxia and Miss Joy talked about the events that happened during their journey following Ash.

Miss Joy's eyes suddenly lit up; she hadn't expected this boy to care so much about Pokémon, which is extremely rare.

Ash felt a bit embarrassed from the praise.

"You understand him quite well!"

Miss Joy looked at Xiaoxia with a meaningful glance, then checked the time: "Then I won't take up your time."

"Understand what..." Xiaoxia's heart skipped a beat, her eyes darting; she glanced at Ash, saw him looking at her, and a blush rose on her face, even her ears turning red.

After chatting with Miss Joy for a while, Ash, Xiaoxia, and Brock continued onward to Withered Leaf City.

On the road, Ash, Xiaoxia, and Brock saw a trap set on the road.

"Could it be Team Rocket again?"

Ash had been harassed by Team Rocket several times; whenever he saw a trap or something similar on the road, his first thought was Team Rocket.

"No need to say, it's definitely them, coming again to snatch Pikachu!"

Xiaoxia looked around, wondering if Team Rocket was hiding in the grass beside the 'nian'; those few guys, unable to beat them head-on, started pulling some small tricks.

For example, robots, hot air balloons, etc. —Team Rocket always manages to come up with something strange and bizarre.

"There's movement ahead!"

Ash keenly heard the sound coming from the nearby bushes.

Sneaking over, they saw Team Rocket tied up and hanging from a tree, while right in front of them was a Squirtle.

The Squirtle before them gave them a weird feeling, wearing sunglasses, eating their bento right in front of Team Rocket; no matter how Team Rocket argued, the Squirtle paid no attention, even provoking them.

They all felt a sense of societal vibe... Ash, Xiaoxia, and Brock thought.

After finishing their bento, the four Squirtles looked at the Squirtle wearing the specially styled sunglasses, awaiting its next command—obviously it was the leader!

"Team Rocket is tied up in a tree again!"

"They always boast about how strong they are, wanting to snatch Pokémon, but end up being subdued by Pokémon, hung up in a tree, and even forced to watch their rice ball sushi being eaten right in front of them!"

"This looks more like they're just here to be funny!"

【Ash: Oh dear, what's wrong with Team Rocket? How are they tied up in a tree again!】

【Xiaoxia: Usually they design the traps and others suffer, but now it's reversed. Though one time would be excusable, there's actually a second time—Team Rocket looks rather unintelligent!】

【Brock: Having fallen for the first time, they fell for the same trick again—this really does look unintelligent!】

【Musashi: You damned brats, you're the ones who aren't smart!!!!】

【James: You didn't see there were five Squirtles, and they're strong too—otherwise we wouldn't have been hung up there.】

【Meowth: Exactly, those five Squirtles are always causing trouble in town, good at setting traps; it's normal for us to underestimate them and fall into their hands. Come to think of it, everything should be blamed on you!】

Seeing Meowth's comment pop up, everyone was stunned—how did this involve Ash and company? Clearly it's their problem, or the 'nian' or the Squirtle legion's problem!

【Ash: What does this have to do with me? Shouldn't it be your ill intentions toward Pokémon? How could this drag us in?】

【Meowth: If it weren't for you trainers abandoning them, the Squirtles wouldn't be running around causing mischief; they're doing this to get revenge on you.】

【James, Musashi: Exactly!!!!】

A silence fell.

"Meowth spoke well; now we've successfully shifted the focus away from us."

Musashi praised Meowth.

"Why are we in the Black World always so unlucky? We've actually been targeted by Little Caramel's characters several times."

Kojiro suspected that the little demon friends in the Black World had all received epic-level power-ups, but their Team Rocket remained the same, feeling even weaker.