He knows Pokémon better than me.

The next day, Ash left Waterloo Town.

Lurina, meanwhile, has already begun searching for fossil fish and fossil dragons.

If she acts quickly, she might be able to breed her own Gillfish Dragon or Gillfish Sea Beast before the Galar Alliance Conference opens. That would definitely be her ultimate weapon!
Instead of returning to the castle, Ash decided to continue north to Spiketown, Marnie's hometown.

Along the way, Doronmesia perched on the head of the armored dragon, curiously looking around.

On one side is a ghost dragon, and on the other is an evil dragon; they get along quite well.

During the journey, Uncle Pierre also called to express his gratitude, his voice filled with excitement.

"Oh? Business is good? Congratulations, Uncle Pierre!"

The combination of Xicui specialty products and flying wing balls has made the grocery store a fortune these past few days.

Relying solely on Lucario to hand-craft the process is too inefficient. Pierre has arranged for two Ironbone Golems to temporarily put down their steel bars and focus on learning the ancient art of washing jade from Lucario.

However, for the rough and tough local laborers, suddenly having to do delicate manual work was a challenge.

It's like having a Pokémon with the "Iron Fist" ability struggle to fully utilize the "Technician" ability.

"Good luck to you guys!"

Ash said with a smile, "If someone else takes over, Lucario can finally rest and relax."

Wait, Lucario seems to be going to analyze how to cook Max Soup next.
Without Lucario, this house will collapse!

Xiao Zhi put away his phone and looked ahead; this was the end of the road.

Further ahead, there is only an elevated train line running through the rugged mountain road, with no stops in Shuizhou Town.

"Armored Dragon, come back first, and then it's decided that you'll be the one!"

Since they couldn't reach Spiketown on foot, Ash temporarily recalled his flightless Kabuto. Dragapult naturally flew back onto his shoulder, and then Ash released Corviknight.

The officially recommended travel route to Spike Town is a direct route that crosses Quantum City.

No problem. This area is no longer within the territory of Hammerlocke City, so there's no need to worry about being attacked by those bluffing demons guarding the city walls.

Holding onto the bird's claws, Ash flew north along the train tracks, and after reaching the highlands, he soon arrived above a three-way intersection—

To the west is a straight tunnel leading directly to Quanguan City.

"Does the road to the north lead to Zhanjing Town?"

Ash looked at the Pokédex map and realized it was the same arena that Yu had challenged in the live stream.

What I saw back then was an ice arena, and now, looking into the distance, I can indeed see a vast expanse of white in that direction.

Occasionally, you can feel the cold wind blowing from the north.

To the east lies our destination: Spike Town.

Like Shuizhou Town, it is also a seaside town, but the atmosphere is quite different.
Xiao Zhi's lips twitched slightly.

Water Boat Town is scenic and leisurely, but Spike Town, whether it has its own barrier or for some other reason, is suddenly shrouded in dark clouds, giving people an ominous and oppressive feeling.

While still in the air, the Shellder Dragon managed to escape from its Poké Ball again, its bulky body preventing it from maintaining its previous exaggerated ability to stay airborne.

Boom!
His whole body fell naturally, his limbs landing steadily with a dull thud.

Mount Tai is overwhelming!

"Aww~!"

The seemingly ominous town held a considerable attraction for a dragon like it.

Seeing this, Ash could only hurriedly recall his Corviknight after landing and quickly chased after it.

The layout of Spiketown is very strange—

Unlike a normal small town, the buildings radiate outwards from the town center in three or four rings.

Spiketown is more like a straight, narrow street, with buildings packed tightly together on both sides, seemingly inaccessible from either side. Entry is only possible through an entrance at one end or an exit at the other.

No wonder it's called Spike Town.

Xiao Zhi then realized what was happening.

When he approached, someone was already waiting for him outside the abandoned roller shutter door next to the entrance of the town.

At this moment, Mary is sitting on a wooden crate, legs crossed, idly scrolling through her Rotom phone.

Zizzi——!
On the purple paint bucket next to him, Morbeco, who was in a "full" state, was constantly bursting with lightning, seemingly expending his energy to quickly enter a "fasting" state.

"Yo~ Mary~!"

Xiao Zhi stepped forward and greeted her. Her expressionless face quickly turned into a faint smile as she climbed down from the wooden crate.

The two had arranged to meet outside Spiketown.

"Hey Ash, is this your newly caught Pokémon?"

When Mary saw that Doron Messiah had flown up to her and greeted her politely, she was taken aback.

This is another very rare Pokémon.

"Haven't captured it yet. Oh well, it's definitely newly captured~"

Ash thought about it for a moment, but decided he was too lazy to explain. The current relationship was really no different from having captured the animal.

He pointed to the Morubec on the oil drum and asked curiously:

"So, where is this?"

"I'm getting Morpeko into top shape so I can challenge my brother later!"

Mary replied, her tone tinged with annoyance.

Upon returning to Spike Town, she immediately went to find her brother, Nie Zi, to inquire about the Shout Team.

In response, Nie Zi said that he did ask the cheering team to help take care of her along the way.

This includes cheering for Mary during the competition.
However, he was unaware that the "care" was being taken care of in order to obstruct or even attack other trainers' "rivals".

Mary breathed a sigh of relief.

But just as she was about to take the matter of the cheering squad further to the next level—

She couldn't control this group, but the members of the cheering squad had complete faith in Nie Zi. If he were to regulate them, things would be much simpler.

"As a result, I was kicked out."

At this point, Mary clenched her fists.

"You were kicked out?"

Xiao Zhi was stunned. He thought that Mr. Nie Zi must be a doting brother, right?

"Uh, I might have overused the word 'rush,' but it's about right."

Mary frowned, wondering if her brother was possessed. After returning from this trip, she noticed that Nie Zi seemed unusually agitated.

Before they could even exchange two words, he told her that he was busy preparing for a band performance and that she shouldn't come looking for him unless it was something important, effectively kicking her out of the dojo.

Of course, it can't really be called a dojo at all; it's just an open space surrounded by a wire fence.

Besides being used for Pokémon battles, it's also where band performances are held regularly.

Mary looked at Morubek with a serious expression:

"So I'm going to challenge him now! Defeat him and see if he'll still kick me out!!" (End of Chapter)