Chapter 21: Starter Pokémon Gathered!

【Miss Junsha: Yes, Squirtle and its companions are all Pokémon abandoned by trainers; they cause trouble and play pranks in town to take revenge on humans. If they had met a good Pokémon trainer from the start, they wouldn't have ended up like this.】

【Xiaoxia: I really don't get those guys—why would they abandon Pokémon? If they didn't want them from the beginning, why not just not choose them? Why abandon them after a while?】

【Yulongdu: Those people don't know how to raise Pokémon; every time they lose a battle, they blame the Pokémon, thinking it's too weak to win, so they want to replace it and abandon this one, without any self-reflection on whether the problem lies with them.】

【Brock: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are mostly abandoned like this, but fortunately they met Ash. It's a pity that if they had met Ash from the start, they wouldn't have been abandoned!】

Black World——

Black Satoshi and his gang saw the Squirtle squad; hearing the siren, they fled immediately, but while fleeing they still remembered to take all the sushi, leaving nothing for Team Rocket.

Because Meowth was communicating with the Squirtle squad, it was considered a bad person.

"I see you three acting sneaky, wearing strange clothes—you don't look like good people at all!"

Meowth was translating Squirtle's words.

"Squirtle, your judgment is spot on—we are indeed bad people, the infamous Team Rocket!"

Musashi praised Squirtle's judgment, even the Pokémon could see they weren't good people.

"You guys are just causing mischief in town—you can't compare to us; we are an organization plotting to conquer the world!"

Xiaocilang said excitedly.

"Squirtle (. -_.)"

The Squirtle squad looked at them, like the Team Rocket trio, and simply didn't believe it—conquer the world?

Having been looked down upon by the Squirtle squad, Team Rocket glared at them, determined to teach these clueless Squirtle a lesson.

Afterwards, Miss Junsha arrived; the Squirtle squad ran off quickly, leaving only a disheveled Team Rocket in the wind.

Naturally, Team Rocket was caught by Miss Junsha.

Ash and his friends also asked Miss Junsha about those Squirtle, learning that they too were abandoned Pokémon.

Ash's Bulbasaur and Charmander Poké Balls at his waist twitched slightly.

Afterwards, Ash and his friends bought some supplies, then saw Team Rocket break out and launch an attack on the Squirtle squad.

Ash and his friends sent the Team Rocket trio flying, rescuing the Squirtle and its companions.

With Team Rocket's help, Ash caught the Squirtle leader...... the Squirtle wearing specially styled glasses.

The other four Squirtle were taken in by Miss Junsha, changing from pranksters to firefighting water cannons.

"Come out, everyone!"

Ash released all his Pokémon.

Since starting his journey, after obtaining two Badges he has caught six Pokémon.

"Sniff~"

"Click~"

"Squirtle~"

All six Pokémon came out to play.

Pikachu, as the elder brother, enlivened the atmosphere; Charmander, newly joined the team, wasn't quite used to it yet and was a bit shy.

Squirtle, meanwhile, was a social butterfly, greeting everyone one by one.

Bulbasaur used its vine whip to shake hands.

After Butterfree and Pidgeot got acquainted with them, they began training, specializing in high-speed aerial flight.

"What the heck?"

The starter Pokémon looked up at Butterfree and Pidgeot, a hint of doubt appearing in their eyes.

Pikachu told them that Butterfree and Pidgeot were training to win in the Gym challenge battles, training every day.

Moreover, it's not just them training—Ash...... their trainer also trains, and the training intensity is no lower than theirs.

"Squirtle?" Squirtle didn't quite believe it.

Bulbasaur and Charmander were the same; they looked at Ash.

At that moment, Ash had just finished preparing the food; he only needed to wait for it to cook before eating. He took this opportunity to pull two dumbbells from his spatial backpack and began lifting them himself.

"Squirtle?" (Just two dumbbells?)

Squirtle walked over, preparing to lift one of the dumbbells.

"You want to lift a dumbbell?"

Ash looked at Squirtle and cautioned, "This is pretty heavy—be careful!"

Squirtle grinned, reaching out with both hands; the small dumbbell seemed to have no weight at all in its eyes.

Ash stood aside, watching Squirtle's eager-to-try demeanor, feeling a bit hesitant involuntarily.

He slowly handed over the dumbbell; only after Squirtle had firmly gripped it did he carefully let go.

Just as Ash pulled his hand back, the dumbbell pressed down on Squirtle's hand and slammed heavily onto the ground.

A dull thud rang out instantly, accompanied by Squirtle's pained cry; the ground cracked open, and the dumbbell dug a deep pit.

"Squirtle Squirtle (? ﹏?)!!!"

Squirtle, in pain, teared up, struggling to pull its reddened hand from under the dumbbell, shaking it continuously.

"What kind of dumbbell...... how can it be so heavy!"

Pikachu shook its head helplessly.

"Sniff~"

"Click~"

Seeing the pit the dumbbell had made and Squirtle's reddened hands, Bulbasaur and Charmander instantly felt relieved, glad they hadn't gone to lift that dumbbell.

Now, Bulbasaur and Charmander were certain that Ash's training intensity was indeed higher than theirs.

"Squirtle, are you okay?" Ash hurriedly applied medicine to Squirtle.

Xiaoxia watched from the side, astonishedly looking at Squirtle, which actually dared to lift that dumbbell.

Brock still thought something had happened, but when he saw that the commotion was caused by Squirtle lifting the dumbbell, he felt it was quite normal.

I really don't know how Ash managed to lift such a heavy dumbbell!

"Come over and eat!"

Ash healed Squirtle, then shouted for the Poké Balls to stop what they were doing.

Each Poké Ball's food is different; Ash prepared some berries and Poké Ball feed according to their tastes and conditions.

Pikachu and the others ate with relish, eagerly scraping their own plates, thinking about finishing quickly to get a second helping.

The scene froze on Ash and his two companions following the Poké Balls as they ate lunch together.

【Xiaomao: Black Satoshi's Squirtle feels like a lively treasure.】

【Xiaoxia: Squirtle initially did have a bit of a lively atmosphere, but Ash's Squirtle is the leader of their Squirtle troop, very strong; it's just that Black Satoshi's dumbbell is too heavy, so it's normal for Squirtle to not be able to catch it right away.】

【Brock: How heavy is that dumbbell? Squirtle can't even lift it, yet Black Satoshi can still lift it with both hands—is his own strength really that great?】

【Xiba: Black Satoshi has been training with Poké Balls since childhood, and also trained with Machop and Machoke; even while traveling outside, he persisted in training, and his physical quality is very strong.】

【Kenan: Black Satoshi's strong physical quality is one thing, but how long has he just set out on his trip? To have caught six Poké Balls so quickly, and even three starter Pokémon from the Kanto region, is extremely rare!】

At this moment, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander were looking at the Black Light Screen, recalling the time when they first met Ash and traveled together.

Ash and Pikachu were the same; they watched the Black Light Screen showing footage of Bulbasaur training and eating together.

Ash felt a bit dazed for a moment.