Chapter 136

After nightfall, a light drizzle tapped on the top of the cave, making a faint "rustling" sound.

Huo La, Ash, and Pikachu sat around the campfire. The firelight illuminated a corner of the cave and dispelled the chill after the rain.

"Huo La, do you think Entei will be okay now?" Ash stared at the hazy rain curtain outside the cave, his brow furrowed, his tone full of worry. He kept remembering the way Entei staggered away during the day.

Huo La added a piece of firewood to the fire, thought for a while, and shook his head: "It should be fine. Although it was injured and hit by some anesthetic, as a legendary Pokémon, its recovery ability must be very strong. And since it left on its own, it must have its own place to go."

"It's all our fault for wanting to battle it during the day. If we hadn't consumed its stamina, Team Rocket wouldn't have had an opportunity." Ash was still a bit annoyed, his fingers unconsciously picking at the corner of his clothes.

"Don't think about these things, let's eat first." Brock walked over with three bowls of hot soup and handed the bowls to the three respectively. "I cooked some berry soup to warm up. Maybe the rain will stop tomorrow."

Huo La took the bowl and drank a big mouthful. A mouthful of hot soup dispelled the chill brought by the air.

"Huo La, the Pokémon egg is reacting!" Brock drank a mouthful of hot soup and said.

"Oh? Really?" Huo La was a bit surprised. "Which one?"

"Only your Salandit egg has the most obvious movement; the other two are estimated to wait a few more days." Brock explained.

"Salandit?" Ash heard the name and immediately took out his Pokédex to search. The image of Salandit instantly jumped out on the Pokédex screen, accompanied by attribute and habit introductions. "So Salandit looks like this! It's a Poison and Fire-type Pokémon."

Ash wasn't surprised at all that Huo La had a Pokémon egg; when Huo La asked Professor Oak for it, he didn't hide it from him.

"Huo La, do you really plan to continue developing toward Poison-type specialization?" Ash put away the Pokédex and asked curiously.

Huo La had mentioned this idea during a previous chat, and he had been paying attention to it.

"That's the plan for now, but it's not completely set in stone. Let's try this path first and take it one step at a time." Huo La answered, changing the subject to ask him, "What about you? Have you thought about what specialization route you want to take?"

Ash shook his head immediately, his eyes shining like sparks in the campfire, his tone exceptionally firm: "I don't want any specialization! I want to become the world's #1 Pokémon Trainer. As long as it's a partner that shares my heart, I want to battle with them! Attributes or whatever, they don't matter at all!"

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu immediately put down the berry in its mouth, raised its little paws and nodded forcefully, and after agreeing, lowered its head to continue gnawing on the berry, its round eyes full of satisfaction.

Huo La looked at Ash deeply and didn't speak again.

This purity of Ash's "only recognizing partners" might be the real reason why Ho-Oh chose him and left behind the Rainbow Wing.

He just wanted to ask Brock about other things when a familiar system prompt sounded in his ear with a "ding," interrupting his train of thought.

【Suicune's aura detected, task issued】

-Task Type: Battle Task

-Task Content: Battle Suicune

-Task Time Limit: 7 days

-Task Reward:

1. Defeated by Suicune: Reward random Secret Machine

2. Defeat Suicune: Reward condition for one random Pokémon to improve

3. Capture Suicune: Reward Master Ball

Huo La's brow furrowed tightly instantly. He looked toward the cave entrance instinctively, only to see a light blue figure slowly walking in: the Pokémon was covered in light blue fur, dotted with snow-white block patterns, a protrusion like a sapphire embedded on its forehead, two white ribbon-like tails swaying gently, and faint water vapor lingering around its body.

It was exactly the task target—Suicune!

"Suicune..." Huo La muttered in a low voice, his eyes full of surprise.

Behind Suicune followed more than a dozen wild Pokémon soaked through, including shivering Rattata, Pidgey with drooping wings, and a few withered Oddish, clearly having lost their strength from being drenched by the rain and following Suicune to the cave to shelter from the rain.

After Suicune entered, it just swept a faint glance at the three of Huo La, Ash, and Brock with those clear eyes, and then walked to the dry corner at the very back of the cave and lay down gently.

The wild Pokémon that followed it in immediately gathered around it, some curling up to keep warm, some curiously looking at the three, but didn't dare to move forward another step.

Huo La stared in Suicune's direction, unable to stop himself from smacking his lips, his doubts growing heavier: clearly, he had already lost the battle with Entei during the day, but the system didn't prompt that the task was completed; now it suddenly issued Suicune's battle task. Both tasks not only had identical reward structures, but also didn't have "Accept/Give Up" options, being issued directly and forcibly, and there wasn't even a penalty for failure—as if these tasks were just "optional suggestions," and whether to do them or not depended entirely on him.

What on earth is this system doing?

Ash is the "Rainbow Hero," and his encounter with Entei, Suicune, and Raikou is inevitable—the three legendary beasts are responsible for verifying the hero's qualifications, and this encounter was destined long ago.

But why is this system joining in the fun? Every time it senses a Divine Beast's aura, it issues a battle task, and the rewards always include a Master Ball, clearly wanting him to capture all three legendary beasts.

He didn't even need to guess; if he encountered Raikou later, the system would definitely pop up an identical task, and the rewards would still include a Master Ball.

The more Huo La thought about it, the more suspicious he felt—the system clearly knew Ash's hero identity, but insisted on bypassing Ash and pushing the task of capturing Divine Beasts to him. What on earth is hidden behind this?

He stared at Suicune lying quietly in the corner, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the Poké Ball in his pocket, but after thinking about it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out the system's intention, only feeling that this matter was permeated with an indescribable strangeness.

"Sigh, this kind of rainy weather is really hard for wild Pokémon." Brock looked at the Pidgey and Oddish huddled in a ball in the corner and couldn't help but sigh.

He stood up, rummaged through his backpack for several empty bowls, took out Pokémon food of different flavors, and filled them one by one. The bowls were soon piled up with small "food mountains."

Brock carried the bowls and walked lightly to a place a few meters away from Suicune, slowly placing the bowls on the ground, fearing to disturb them.

He spoke gently to those shivering wild Pokémon: "Don't be afraid, we won't hurt you. Eat something to warm up."

Seeing this, Ash immediately had an idea and said to Charmeleon, who had just finished eating: "Charmeleon, go and start a small fire, just near Suicune and the others, not too close to avoid burns, just enough to block some cold air."

Charmeleon nodded, turned and walked to an open space not far from Suicune, spat out a small cluster of flames, and soon a warm campfire was lit, the firelight making the surrounding air feel a bit softer.

"Suicune is staring at you, and its eyes are quite strange." Gengar's voice suddenly sounded in Huo La's heart, carrying a hint of a tone of watching the fun.

Huo La's already furrowed brow furrowed even tighter.

Why is Suicune staring at him specifically? When he encountered Entei before, the other party just swept a few glances at him, not like Suicune, whose gaze almost never moved away from him.

This abnormal behavior made the doubts in his heart deepen another layer. He always felt that Suicune seemed to be confirming something, but he really couldn't figure out what was on him that was worthy of special attention from a Divine Beast. After all, he wasn't the "Rainbow Hero."