Chapter 247

We lost both matches!

Aqi admitted defeat, having chosen the wrong person; he should have picked that kid—just looking at him you could tell he had no Poké Ball, then he borrowed a Poké Ball from someone else, wasn't very good at directing, and so he easily beat him!

Xiaosheng stepped forward and told Aqi about Ash's identity, picking the strongest among the three.

It would have been better to challenge Brock; he's a Gym Leader and would go easy on you, so it wouldn't be too hard.

It's my problem; I still need to train!

After learning their identities, Aqi felt speechless; the trainer he'd randomly picked was either a Gym Leader or a Tournament Champion—what a joke!

Ash and company were also resting here, and Aqi saw Ash's Splash Fish.

Splash Fish, Fire Chick... hearing Xiaosheng say they were just obtained Poké Balls.

He also wanted to battle Ash's Splash Fish to see what differences existed between Splash Fish of the same type.

Saying is doing; Ash also wanted to see how far his Splash Fish, after so much training, had pulled ahead of its peers.

The battle started quickly and ended quickly.

Aqi's Splash Fish launched the first attack, using Collision, Water Gun, Rock Fall, Mud Shot, and all its moves.

It didn't inflict any damage on Ash's Splash Fish; all were dodged by the opponent, as if Ash's Splash Fish knew the attacks in advance.

Finally, Ash's Splash Fish defeated Aqi's Splash Fish with Collision plus Water Undulation.

Now Aqi was utterly convinced of his loss.

Even a newly captured Poké Ball was stronger than his; I truly don't know how Ash trains.

After watching Ash's training with his Poké Ball, Aqi immediately felt his loss was justified.

That tiny Weight Ring... his Splash Fish could barely lift it.

And Ash's Splash Fish and Pikachu were both tied to his legs.

After finishing lunch, Ash and company set out again, only to encounter the Team Rocket Trio.

This time, seeing the Team Rocket Trio, they were actually in fierce combat with the Pokémon Hunter.

They were confronting a huge Bengal Ras. The robot's mechanical arms swung flexibly, emitting roaring sounds. Meanwhile, Musashi and Xiaojiang sent out Cypress Monster and Double Bomb Gas to cooperate in battle outside.

Cypress Monster darted flexibly across the battlefield, attacking enemies with poison; meanwhile Double Bomb Gas floated in the air, continuously releasing toxic gas to disturb the Bengal Ras.

The disparity in strength between the sides was too great; the machine the Team Rocket Trio built was merely maxed out on electric defense, its defensive strength obviously insufficient, and the robot's hull gradually cracked under the Bengal Ras's heavy blows, emitting a piercing metallic screech— the situation was not good.

Cypress Monster and Double Bomb Gas were likewise only maxed out on electric resistance, and the Bengal Ras's blows made them yelp in pain.

They'd had many encounters with Ash, specializing in countering Pikachu, but they hadn't expected to run into such a ferocious Pokémon Hunter—not only capturing Cypress Snake and Gas Bomb, but also taking their Cypress Monster and Double Bomb Gas together.

As Team Rocket, they were the only ones who snatched others' Poké Balls, with nobody daring to take theirs—but today they met that, and Musashi and Xiaojiang fiercely resisted.

"Damn it, you dare to dream of taking our Poké Balls!"

Xiaojiang sent out Desert Nya: "Desert Nya, use Absorbing Punch!"

Since the Bengal Ras kicked up sand, the surroundings were engulfed in a sandstorm; Desert Nya's trait is Sand Veil, so in sandstorm weather it can burrow into the sandstorm, making the opponent unable to locate it, and it doesn't lose stamina from the sandstorm.

Desert Nya appeared behind the Bengal Ras, its sturdy arms glowing with white aura, and it punched the Bengal Ras in the back.

Boom!

The Bengal Ras roared in pain, staggered forward a few steps, and fiercely fired a Hyper Beam backward, but since Desert Nya had already hidden again in the sandstorm, the Hyper Beam only hit the sand dust kicked up around.

Desert Nya had long since left that spot.

"Dissolution Liquid."

Taking advantage of the Bengal Ras's attention on Desert Nya, Musashi had Cypress Monster use Dissolution Liquid on the Bengal Ras, which was attacked again.

"Is that how you play, Big Beak Sparrow? Use Swallow Counter on Cypress Monster."

Pokémon Hunter Aron intended to first deal with the Cypress Monster, so it wouldn't sneak attack from behind.

"Don't even think about moving the Cypress Monster, Meow."

Meowth grabbed the robot from behind and seized the Big Beak Sparrow, shouting at Musashi: "Quickly use Thunder Fang on it, Meow!"

"Hyper Beam!"

Aron panicked, quickly ordering the Bengal Ras to use Hyper Beam on the robot's arm.

Boom!

Hyper Beam hit the Robot, but that was blocked by Meowth using the Robot's body, and we absolutely cannot let Fearow go.

「Ariados, use Thunder Fang. 」

Having been teammates for so long, the Team Rocket Trio had great rapport; Musashi immediately let Ariados use Thunder Fang on Fearow.

It bit Fearow's body fiercely, and electricity instantly rampaged inside Fearow. Fearow let out a shrill cry, its feathers scorched by the electricity, giving off a burnt smell.

「Whoa whoa whoa!!! 」

After a moment, Fearow finally collapsed helplessly to the ground, losing its ability to battle.

「This power is unbearable; if it hit that brat's Pikachu, it'd be charred outside and tender inside from the shock! 」

Musashi snorted from the side, though he couldn't hide his smug expression.

Seeing Fearow under attack, Bengal Ras was about to help when it was hit by a Sandaconda attack; just then the sandstorm stopped, Bengal Ras attacked Sandaconda, and Weezing rammed its body into Sandaconda to drive it away.

Then it was grabbed by Bengal Ras, and the Fire Punch dealt it considerable damage; at that moment Weezing sacrificed itself, using Explosion on Bengal Ras.

With a loud bang, Weezing and Bengal Ras were both engulfed by the massive explosion wave, ultimately resulting in a forced one-for-one trade.

The Team Rocket Trio is actually this strong?

Ash and company watching the battle were greatly shocked in their hearts—could that really be the Team Rocket Trio?

The Team Rocket before them, however, displayed a completely different strength; their coordination was flawless, their tactics properly employed, especially their use of the sandstorm tactic, which made Ash and company look at them anew!

「Is that Team Rocket? 」

Brock was doubtful; from Kanto to the Johto Region, whenever the Team Rocket Trio fought them, they basically always lost, never using such impressive coordination or tactics—they were just constantly blown away by Pikachu's 100,000 Volts.

Could it be that the Team Rocket Trio had been faking it all along?

Ash was also puzzled, having fought Team Rocket so many times and never seen them use any tactics or the like; now seeing the Team Rocket Trio display their true strength, he seriously suspected that the Team Rocket Trio was pretending to be weak to strike strong!

This was the first time seeing the Team Rocket Trio win a battle!

Everyone looked astonished, at one point suspecting that Team Rocket had been swapped out!

【Ma Zhishi: That... really Team Rocket? Feels so unfamiliar!】

【Xiba: Appearance-wise they look the same, but their behavior is different; after watching the Light Screen for so long, it's hard to imagine the Team Rocket Trio becoming this strong.】

【Dian Ci: Their teamwork is really good, and that weather-based attrition tactic is truly strong!】

【Wuzang: Tch, usually I just think you're a little brat and let you have your way; you really think we're just slacking!】

【Xiaocilang: Hmm, now you should know how strong we are, right.】

「Stood up, meow! 」

Miaomiao was very excited, seeing the Team Rocket Trio under the Black Light Screen defeat the Poké Ball hunter Along using their own strength; they didn't have to struggle as hard as they did, exerting all effort to buy time so that Abaiguai and them could escape.

Indeed... inside the Black Light Screen, not only were that bunch of little brats getting stronger, but their Team Rocket Trio was also getting stronger...... Who said they were comedians? Now the Black Light Screen displays their true strength, proving themselves!