He knows Pokémon better than me.

The next day, after a simple breakfast, the three of them set off for the Ice and Snow Ocean Park.

"Don't worry, if anything happens, I'll rush in with Miss Officer Jenny!"

Magua stayed at the Arena to oversee operations; he had already contacted Officer Jenny and was ready to provide support at any time.

Ash, Sonia, and Mr. Mime, dressed in a tuxedo and wearing sunglasses, formed a temporary team.

"Uh, isn't your Mr. Mime a bit too intelligent?"

Sonia was also seeing Ash's Mr. Mime for the first time. Except for not being able to speak, it was no different from a human.

No, thanks to the Rotom translation function on my phone, it's no different from normal conversation!

"After this is all over, please make sure I can interview your Mr. Mime!"

Sonia said earnestly that she had always wanted to study what the spiritual world of Pokémon was like.

On the way, seeing that Mr. Mime's expression was unusually serious, Ash patted it on the shoulder and comforted it:
"Don't worry, I'm here for you."

He had already planned it out in his mind: if Mr. Mime were to cause chaos at the aquarium, then the two violent giants, Bear and Melmeta, could rush out and wreak havoc at any time.

"Bari."

The Mr. Mime nodded, slightly toning down the aggressive look in its eyes, and led the way for the two.

Its goal wasn't to destroy the house; it just wanted its former colleague to be able to perform normally.

The Ice and Snow Oceanarium is located in the northeast corner of Zhanjing Town, near the mouth of Zhanjing Bay. In front of it is an endless exhibition area with floating ice floes, offering a superb view.

The aquarium itself is a building with colorful exterior walls and many colorful ribbons.

It was covered with a wide, dark red cloth, like a large tent for a traveling circus.

It's not even 9 a.m. yet, but there's already a long queue outside the aquarium, making it look very lively.

Wow, it's getting a lot of buzz!

Sonia exclaimed in surprise; there were more people than at Lulina's fashion show.

"Bari."

Mr. Mime frowned; there were far too many of them.

When it left, the number of people who entered the venue throughout the day was only about 1/20 of the number in the queue now.

Weird!
The three of them quickly lined up at the very back of the queue.

The ticket check process was quick; it took less than ten minutes for Xiaozhi to enter.

This brother-sister duo, along with a Pokémon dressed in a flashy and fashionable outfit, didn't stand out much. They seemed to be just ordinary travelers in the Galar region, and the three of them entered smoothly.

The museum was packed with people, and the air was filled with the sounds of lively conversation.

"Hmm? Why does it feel colder inside?"

Sonia hugged her shoulders and shivered. It was nine in the morning, and the sun was still shining brightly outside.

But inside it's like a giant icebox, with the refrigeration unit running at full blast?

"It wasn't done by a machine."

Xiao Zhi glanced around, finally fixing his gaze on the ceiling—

The performance hall has an extremely high ceiling, with many hexagonal "snowflake decorations" hanging from it, suspended by ropes.

But upon closer inspection, one can see that they are not inanimate objects, but rather geometric snowflakes.

This Pokémon typically lives in icy regions, absorbing and exhaling cold air to achieve a balance.
But now they've become air conditioners that blast out cold air in one direction.

"The aura doesn't seem very strong," Ash muttered to himself. From a distance, there was nothing particularly special about it to the naked eye.

But once he activated his waveguide power, he could clearly sense the geometric snowflakes hanging from the ceiling along his path. The waveguide energy was unstable and significantly smaller than that of a normal individual.

This means they are in an unhealthy state.

Xiao Zhi suppressed his anger and didn't rush to lash out.

Click!

Mr. Mime, meanwhile, held up his phone, Rotom, and took a series of photos of the ceiling; these would later become irrefutable evidence.

Following the crowd, at the front of the performance hall were two display stands, one on the left and one on the right. On the left was an Alolan-style Sandslash, and on the right was an Alolan-style Ninetales.

Ninetales is fine; it's already a Pokémon with extremely high visual appeal. The gentle sway of its soft, ice-blue tail is enough to elicit screams from passing tourists.
"Wait a moment."

Ash's eyes darkened. Something about this Alolan Ninetales looked strange.

He remembered that the tail of the Alola Ninetales was spread out like flames, while the tail fur of the one in front of him was folded up.

Despite being an Ice-type Pokémon, it possesses an inexplicable burning heat.

Even its eyes are red, not the sapphire blue of the Ice Nine-Tails—

Lillie has an Ice Nine-Tailed Fox, and she knows it very well.

Beside it, the Alola Sandslash, which originally looked ordinary, now had ice spikes and steel needles on its back that were now multicolored.

"Wear and drink!"

The pangolin lay on the stage, arching its back, and its flashy, colorful steel needles immediately attracted cheers and exclamations from many people.

Ash glanced at Mr. Mime, who shook his head.

Even in the Alola region, Ninetales is a rare and precious Pokémon, and this aquarium does not have the extra budget to import one.

Alola Sandslash isn't rare; it can even be found in snowy mountain areas outside of Alola. The venue has imported some before, but their backs aren't usually this colorful.

"So it's a regular-looking nine-tailed fox with dyed fur?"

"Were the ice spikes and steel needles on the Pangolin's back also injected with dye?"

Sonia stroked her chin and quickly made a judgment.

In this way, the cost is indeed reduced significantly, and it is attractive enough.

But prolonged and extensive dyeing can cause some damage to Pokémon, right?
Click!

The Mr. Mime quickly took pictures of each one.

The two then witnessed quite a few more strange scenes—

For example, a seal ball was being tossed around like a ball by two sea lions. Because the performance stage was quite far from the audience, the tired expression on the seal ball's face was completely invisible.

Or rather, seal balls are naturally adorable creatures; no matter what expression they make, they become "kawaii."

For example, the ice rock monster, whose shape has been polished and sculpted into the shape of a small car, has its originally sturdy lower legs, which are narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, now sculpted into an oval shape that is wide in the middle and narrow at both sides.

From a distance, its limbs look like ice-sculpted tires. But such a shape is hardly enough to support the heavy ice rock monster as it walks.

For example, in the bear exhibit, there are tundra bears sitting on stone platforms—

This wasn't a disguise made by dyeing a tundra bear, but the absence of any condensed "ice cone whiskers" on its chin indicates that this tundra bear is not in good condition.

Of course, there's also the most classic one.

Five princes, their heads covered with thick blocks of ice, stood in a row, creating a bizarre sight of them disguised as ice-carved geese! (End of Chapter)