He knows Pokémon better than me.

After receiving treatment with the life-giving water droplets, and being fed some high-calorie food, [the patient was treated].

“Poga.”

Soon, the Prince of the Waves woke up and seemed much better. Pokémon are quite resilient.

This was clearly not a wild Pokémon, and it showed no fear of humans at all. After scanning Ash, its gaze fell on Mr. Mime.

“Poga!!”

Prince Bo's eyes lit up instantly, and he immediately rushed towards the Mr. Mime, hugging it tightly as if he had seen an idol.

This caused the Mr. Mime to instinctively take several steps back, completely bewildered.

"Boga, boga!"

The prince pointed enthusiastically at himself, then lowered his head and pecked his own toes—

This action finally made Mr. Mime remember.

When it was working at the aquarium, one of its colleagues was a group of Piplup from the Sinnoh region, and one of them liked to peck at its own claws.

I never imagined it would evolve into Prince Bo.

"Bari?"

Mr. Mime couldn't help but ask questions. Of course, the observant little devil beside him didn't forget to calm him down and let him understand first.

After listening to Prince Bo's account, the Mr. Mime's expression gradually turned cold.

After hesitating for a moment, it took out a Poké Ball from its pocket and threw it—

Ash felt something was off about Pokémon capturing Pokémon.

Snapped!
However, just like Mr. Mime before it, Prince was already captured, and the Poké Ball bounced away.

Mr. Mime scratched his head, realizing he had forgotten about that.

"Bari."

So it patted Prince Bo on the shoulder, indicating that the latter should stay there for the time being.

With its ice and water, Zhanjing Bay is quite suitable for Prince Bo's life.

Mr. Mime left some more food before pulling Ash back onto Lapras's back and swimming towards Battlegrounds.

However, looking back at the wave prince who was watching it leave from the shore, it secretly memorized the location.

"What exactly happened? Can you tell me now?"

Seeing that Mr. Mime's expression had softened, Ash couldn't help but ask him a question.

Prince Bo seems to have something to do with the past experiences of Mr. Mime.

The purpose of returning to his hometown this time was to resolve this matter. Mr. Mime sighed and began typing on his Rotom phone, recounting his past for the first time.

"Actually, I used to work at the Zhanjing Ice and Snow Ocean Park."

Zhanjing Town is already surrounded by ice and snow, so it doesn't need much landscaping to have the perfect polar environment.

At this moment, the Mr. Mime raised two fingers.

The aquarium is divided into two parts: one is the ice and snow show, which is a pure performance and display of ice-type Pokémon.

The other part is the circus performance, which is not limited to Ice-type Pokémon; any Pokémon with a special skill can perform on stage.

Featuring ice-type Pokémon imported from all over the world, along with dazzling acrobatic performances, the Battle Ice and Snow Ocean Park attracts numerous visitors every year.

"Bari~!"

The Mr. Mime mascot rests its hand on its chest with a hint of pride; it is the mastermind and conductor of the Ice and Snow Oceanarium.

Being an Ice-type Pokémon and capable of using special moves like Light Screen, it enjoys immense popularity on both sides.

Coupled with its intelligence comparable to humans, it was elected as a leader by the Pokémon in the aquarium, responsible for negotiating its salary and benefits with the human curator. "Lapp~!"

The dragon let out a low cry, indicating that there were icebergs and reefs ahead and that it needed to detour.

The two quickly adjusted their posture, and a smile appeared on Xiaozhi's face:

"Isn't this nice?"

Unsurprisingly, my cousin's past was also that of an exceptional individual.

The Mr. Mime nodded, but quickly wiped the proud smile from his face, turning it into a sigh and a shake of his head.

"Bari."

Unfortunately, the most popular attractions in the Galar region have never been model performances, online celebrity live streams, or ice and snow ocean circuses.
Instead, it's Pokémon battles!

Especially in the last two years, due to Dynamax battles and the World Championships, their popularity has been ridiculously high, causing the popularity of their aquariums to plummet.

Despite the large number of Pokémon, the cost remains extremely high.

The difficulty of acquiring rare and unusual Pokémon is also increasing.

With expenses exceeding income, the aquarium changed its director and its business strategy underwent a complete 180-degree turn.

"Bari."

Mr. Mime shook his head. From then on, the warm and loving atmosphere in the aquarium disappeared, and everything he did was for profit.

Ash scratched his head, so the culprit was still...
President Loz?

After the strategy shift, the circus performances began to require Pokémon to perform more bizarre and eye-catching acts, with 20 hours of high-intensity training a day.

Some actions are simply impossible to perform, and can even cause great damage to the Pokémon's body.

No new rare or exotic Pokémon?
Then they'll resort to underground transactions, black market trading, or even counterfeiting.

"Bari."

The Mr. Mime holds up a picture book, which includes footage of the aquarium's latest performances.

On the stage, on the right is a normal ice goose with a white belly and black back, its head encased in a square block of ice, and a single tuft of hair on its head.

On the left is the "Ice Goose" disguised as Prince Bo.

This Pokémon's ability is "Frozen Head," meaning it's used to having its head frozen and can still live normally.

Although it is a native Pokémon, Goosey is not very common and is extremely expensive to catch.

So the aquarium's management set their sights on another, even "cheaper" penguin—the Prince of the Sinnoh region!
As starter Pokémon, Piplup and Chimchar now have a unified breeding base, so it's not difficult to bring them in, and the cost isn't high.

There are also quite a few Piplup in the aquarium, usually used as part of a cute performance.

After feeding Piplup to some experience candies, many individuals successfully evolved into Prince Piplup.

Of course, it only looks good; its combat ability is much weaker than that of an average individual.

Then, a thick layer of ice is placed over its head, and with the help of stage lights, it can be displayed as an "ice goose".

However, because Prince Bo's characteristics are not "frozen head", the thick square ice blocks are like shackles, making it difficult to eat and breathe.

So it ran away.

It ran haphazardly from Battleground Town to the nearby Battleground Bay, but because it evolved using experience candies, it didn't even have the strength to smash through the thick ice on its head.

He had difficulty eating and breathing, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was in a state of fainting.
Luckily, they ran into two people who were passing by.

“So that’s how it is”

Hearing this, Xiao Zhi frowned deeply. This behavior had completely gone beyond what a circus performance could do! (End of Chapter)