Chapter 56: Meowth's Egg‑Hatching Hobby!

The Black World dimmed, and it was time for the White Light Curtain to play.

Ash and his companions rested in a town.

At that moment, Pikachu fell from under an apple tree, in poor condition.

Taken to the hospital for treatment, they discovered Pikachu had actually swallowed an apple whole.

Later, the truck escorting the Poké Balls met with an accident.

The Poké Center was overwhelmed and could only send the patients to the emergency hospital.

Thus, Ash and his group stayed on at Doctor Du's request to help as assistants.

Among the Poké Balls sent over, an Aipom and a Weezing from Team Rocket appeared.

While Ash was treating the Doduo, he almost triggered a combo attack!

Just as Ash and his friends were busy treating the Poké Balls, Jessie and James came out to cause trouble again.

After some maneuvering, they managed to restrain Ash and his group.

A Chansey Egg blocked Ash's path.

Both the Aipom and the Weezing hesitated.

Finally, under the counterattack from Ash and the doctor, Team Rocket fled in defeat.

【Ash: See? Your Poké Balls are better than you; Poké Balls always feel grateful, but you three are always ungrateful.】

【Brock: No, Meowth is also a Poké Ball, and it's ungrateful too......】

【Meowth: Although I'm a Poké Ball, I'm still Team Rocket Meowth!】

【Jessie: Of course, we said it then—because we're Team Rocket!】

It's practically a nemesis...... Everyone saw that the Team Rocket Trio, whether in the Bai Shijie or the Black World, always followed behind Ash and his group, occasionally popping up to cause a ruckus, but most of the time they caused no harm, sometimes even helping Ash and his group; overall, the Team Rocket Trio are villains, but not entirely villains.

In the Bai Shijie, Ash and his companions arrived at this town; at this time, March 3rd is Girl's Day.

On this day, girls receive preferential treatment—not only can food be discounted, but men must obey them, and all goods in the mall can be bought at low prices.

Xiaoxia, who came to the mall to shop, encountered Jessie from Team Rocket, who shared the same goal. Although both ladies were delighted, the men in the group suffered greatly; to be honest, Ash and Brock verbally complained a little, and James also had some complaints, but their actions were quite good.

After Jessie did a big shopping spree, she encountered a slow-walking Lickitung, which ate the food she had painstakingly bought; the Lickitung paid for its behavior and was captured by Jessie.

The Xiaoxia and Jessie who met at the mall were not only adversaries in daily life, but also shared a common goal: they both wanted to win the Girl's Day doll.

Brock's focus was quite different; he just hoped to meet many beautiful older sisters.

In this Queen's Competition, Xiaoxia let her hair down, becoming even more beautiful.

But it wasn't just a makeup contest; there was also a battle contest.

Xiaoxia and Jessie, who were participating in the Girl's Day competition, after learning they needed to field four Poké Balls for battle, each borrowed Poké Balls from their teammates.

Xiaoxia and Jessie's tactics also differed; Jessie excelled at using Poison-type signature moves, while Xiaoxia relied on her Poké Balls' type advantages to battle through, and thus Jessie and Xiaoxia successfully met in the final.

Although in the battle Pikachu single-handedly took on three opponents and reduced Team Rocket to just one Lickitung, the Lickitung went berserk, and soon Xiaoxia was beaten back repeatedly, down to just one, when a suddenly appearing Psyduck helped Xiaoxia secure the final victory.

【Yulongdu: Is Meowth really that useless?】

【Professor Oak: I think Meowth's potential is all used in speaking human language, so it's not good at battle; one could say...】

【Ash: It's a five-trash, just a filler!】

【Xiba: Team Rocket's strength is still decent; at least they can make it to the finals, and being able to face Xiaoxia, who is a Gym Leader, is already pretty good, and they specialize in using Poison-type Poké Balls.】

Meowth saw on the bullet screen that many people were complaining about its combat ability, especially the little brats they both love and hate.

"Why won't you help me speak, Meowth!"

Meowth looked at Jessie and James.

"What they say is also correct!"

Jessie glanced at the bullet screen and found their comments were spot-on.

"Exactly, it's all posted on the Light Screen—solid evidence, no amount of rebuttal helps!"

James held up the camcorder, thinking it's better not to refute, to avoid them also being criticized, so let Meowth just endure it!

Ash and his group encountered a swindler and a big scallion duck on the road; the swindler had pulled a switch on five backpacks, and even Team Rocket fell into his hands.

Following the Psyduck's guidance, they finally found the swindler, and in the end they relied on the Psyduck and Team Rocket to punish him.

The viewers saw here a boy worse than Team Rocket, who had defrauded so many Poké Balls; fortunately, Team Rocket finally taught him a lesson.

After retrieving the Poké Balls, Ash and his group came to the Poké Center of the nearby city.

Team Rocket launched a snatch for the Fairy Egg that Ash had taken from Big Stupid Valley.

Because Ash is careless, the person naturally responsible for keeping the egg warm was Brock.

Afterwards, Team Rocket snatched Celebi's egg, and it was Meowth who carefully looked after this Fairy Egg. As for the other two Team Rocket members, Jessie and James did nothing for Celebi, and James kept eating fried eggs; thus, Meowth straightforwardly kicked them both out.

Meowth knows how to incubate eggs; to give Celebi a good environment, it simply tied Celebi to its own body each day, warming it with body heat, helping it bathe and taking it to hot springs.

However, after a series of struggles over the egg, the Fairy Egg finally hatched into Celebi, and the first thing it saw was Xiaoxia.

Because Celebi has the habit of regarding the first person it sees as its parents, and since the first thing it saw was Xiaoxia, it naturally became Xiaoxia's Poké Ball.

【Professor Oak: It's rare that Meowth even knows how to incubate eggs!】

【Xiba: Needless to say, Celebi's birth, Meowth made a major contribution; Team Rocket always ends up giving Ash and his group an assist.】

【Jessie: You big blockhead, can you even speak? What do you mean by giving those brats an assist! We're trying to snatch Celebi!】

【Xiaomao: Isn't that so?】