He knows Pokémon better than me.

Afterwards, the two returned to the Pokémon Center and packed their belongings.

Then we shook hands at the door, ready to say goodbye.

"Ash, let's travel together again next time~"

Mary smiled; she had learned a lot from Xiao Zhi these past few days.

"Oh, by the way, if you're planning to challenge the Dynamax Den, remember to call me anytime. I'll let you know when I'm going to challenge the Spike Gym~"

Xiao Zhi nodded, and the two roughly agreed on a time to visit Mary's hometown.

boom!
Then Marie released her Vulpix, which lay on top of her and waved at Ash.

With her heavy purple eyeshadow makeup, Vulpix winked at Ash, making Ash and Pikachu's hair stand on end. The former then spread its wings and quickly disappeared into the thick fog in the air.

Although they could turn back to the open field and part ways, what the shouting team said earlier...
Mary is now eager to go back and question her older brother about whether he knew anything about what the Shouts team had been doing over the past few months.

"They probably don't know about it, right?"

Mary frowned. Her brother's punk rock look was even more flamboyant than the Screamers'.

However, his brother is a real singer, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to dress like that.

After watching Vulpix disappear, Ash shrugged and said to Pikachu:

"Let's go too~"

My shoulder suddenly feels empty; I'm still a little unaccustomed to it.

Now that Baby Dragon has evolved to nearly 1.5 meters in size, it can no longer perch on its own shoulder.

boom!
He released the Corviknight with a backhand, grabbed its claws with one hand, and rose into the air. This “muscle monster” appearance made many passersby in Dance Town look up and exclaim in surprise.

There's no need to revisit the Mystic Forest.

Corviknight soared into the sky, flying over the tallest, thickest tree canopy in Dancingtown, a height even greater than that of Dynamax Pokémon.

"As expected of Xerneas."

Xiao Zhi couldn't help but sigh in amazement. It was amazing that even the leftover dead wood shells could cause such towering trees to grow nearby!

Having determined the direction, the Steelraven immediately flapped its wings and flew south.

Looking down, you can see the Misty Forest below is hidden by dense foliage, like a continuous green hill, with no gaps in sight.

"Gah~!"

The Steelraven was very fast, and it returned to Sussex Town in less than twenty minutes.

Ash originally planned to fly directly over Strangetown in one go and try to reach his hometown by the afternoon.

"Hmm? What happened down there?"

However, when passing by the high slope north of Suchuan Town, Xiaozhi found that a large number of people had gathered there, making it impossible to pass through.

"I remember that place."

Xiao Zhi blinked. Hadn't he and Marie visited that place before?
The huge rock paintings, covered with all sorts of colorful graffiti, are iconic relics of Su Chuan Town, but he couldn't understand this art at all.

Curiosity arose, and Ash patted Corviknight's iron feathers. Corviknight understood and immediately landed.

Corviknights are not uncommon in the Galar region, but Ash's ability to fly with his bare hands, gripping the bird's claws without any protection, still attracted a lot of attention.

"Huh? This mural."

Upon landing, Ash discovered that the huge mural had been completely altered.

The graffiti mural collapsed and crumbled, revealing a large hole with a hollow, enormous recess inside.

Ash's first thought was Peter, but that guy is currently being trained by Popira, so he probably doesn't have time to come here.

Inside the mural, a huge stone sculpture was miraculously revealed—two wolf-shaped Pokémon statues, one biting a long sword and looking extremely aggressive, and the other leaning against a shield, crouching low in a defensive posture.

"What Pokémon is this?"

Ash curiously went closer to take a look. He'd never seen a wolfhound with a shield before, but this Pokémon was biting a sword horizontally.
"Pickup!"

Pikachu twitched its ears, and its tail stood up instinctively.

I don't know why, but I always feel a strange sense of kinship with this sword-biting dog!

Just then, Xiao Zhi suddenly felt something warm covering his feet. Looking down, he saw a small brown dog lying on his lap, sticking its tongue out at him.

"Huh? Isn't that the electric dog?"

Xiao Zhi instinctively picked it up and held it in front of him.

"Woof woof~!"

The electric dog was waving its short arms, its tail flashing with a faint electric current, trying to grab Pikachu.

"Was it attracted by Pikachu's electricity?"

Ash looked around and saw that they were probably domesticated Pokémon.

There were crowds of people around, but no one could see who the trainer was.
"Hey! Electric dog! I'm focused on my investigation, don't wander off!!"

After a while, a complaining female voice came from behind. Xiao Zhi turned around and found a woman dressed in a very fashionable way.

Her long, slightly wavy orange hair was tied into a ponytail on the side, and she wore sunglasses.

She wore light makeup, was beautiful and looked to be around twenty years old, with a friendly smile like a girl next door.

She was tall and slender, wearing a light brown leather jacket and light blue skinny jeans, with a pair of cyan boots on her feet, exuding a sense of competence and vitality.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my dog ​​likes to run around all day!"

The orange-haired woman quickly took the electric dog, rubbed its head a few times, and then put it back into the ball.

Then he enthusiastically introduced himself:

"My name is Sonia, and now... yes, that's right! I'm now a full-fledged Pokémon Professor!"

Speaking of Professor Pokémon, Sonia couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth, revealing a smug smile.
Now I can finally introduce myself like this instead of "doctoral intern"!
"Such a young Pokémon professor? Hello, my name is Ash, and this is my partner Pikachu."

Xiao Zhi blinked; she looked much younger than another female PhD he knew—Dr. Yew.

After a few seconds' delay, the two looked at each other simultaneously, their expressions of surprise revealing their unison:

"Wait a minute, are you Sonia?"

"Are you Xiaozhi?"

Ash had heard Professor Mulan mention her granddaughter's name before; this must be the one in front of him.

As for Sonia—

"I heard from Lulina that she met a very powerful trainer and received a lot of help from him. I didn't expect it to be you!"

Sonia exclaimed in surprise.

Based on Lulina's tone during the phone call, she thought she was a peer who had made her best friend fall in love.

He was more than 5 years younger than he expected.
However, age doesn't seem to be taken very seriously in the Galar region.
Sonia's gaze toward Ash suddenly became playful.

"?"

Xiao Zhi scratched his head, feeling both confused and impressed. However, he was now more interested in the stone statues behind the collapsed mural and couldn't help but ask:
"By the way, Miss Sonia, what's the deal with these stone statues?" (End of Chapter)