Ash, with his invincible physical body, wants to become a Pokémon Master...

Xiao Gang really went too far by lying on the roadside before; with Xiao Zhi by his side, at least he could stand up.

However, thanks to Brock's presence, although they were locked out tonight, their meals were much more plentiful than at the Pokémon Center, with Ash and Brock cooking together.

The dinner that day was a feast for the eyes and the palate. Xiao Gang channeled his grief and anger into motivation, and the way he gritted his teeth while chopping vegetables was quite frightening to watch.

After enjoying a delicious and satisfying meal, they asked a few nocturnal Pokémon to keep watch.

After a day's journey, the people and their Pokémon soon drifted off to sleep to the sound of cooing in the forest.

Everything was so peaceful and beautiful.

Aside from one strange thing that happened that night, Ash actually had a dream.

It's well known that legendary muscle men have excellent sleep quality; they often only need four hours of sleep to maintain their energy for the entire day.

Especially when I exercise during the day, I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I've never experienced anything like having dreams that affect my sleep quality before.

But tonight, Xiao Zhi had a strange dream.

In his dream, he came to a strange white space, and opposite him was a humanoid little guy that Ash had never seen before.

"This must be a Pokémon," Ash said curiously, looking at the little guy opposite him, who was also staring at him.

Strangely, Ash can feel that he is dreaming, but the sensations around him are so real.

The unknown Pokémon appeared to be shrouded in smoke, seemingly composed of grayish-smoky shadows, with the area around its face resembling a helmet.

It has a smoking collar around its neck and a shadow on each foot, which looks quite cute.

Hello, who are you?

In the dream, the little guy remained silent in the face of Ash's question; it simply stared calmly at Ash with its eyes that shone like candlelight.

Then suddenly the smoke around it will burn like purple flames, and its eyes will start to glow.

"Mah!" The little guy suddenly launched an attack on Ash.

Although small in size, its attacks are extremely fierce, like a master of martial arts who has been immersed in martial arts for many years.

"This move is a drain punch!"

Ash narrowly dodged the attack thanks to his beast-like instincts, and burst into laughter.

"Haha, so you've come to challenge me!"

Now Ash understood, and immediately swung his big fist to fight back.

It slammed the opponent into the wall of the space in one go, but the little guy seemed to be quite resilient.

It immediately pulled itself out of the wall and rushed towards Ash to attack again.

The two people and their Pokémon engaged in a fierce battle in the space, fighting until the very main road was obliterated.

The next morning, Xiao Zhi woke up and stretched comfortably, glancing at Xiao Xia beside him and Xiao Gang, who was talking in his sleep and shouting "Big Sister" not far away.

"Hmm, last night was definitely a dream. Could it be because I've been overtraining lately..."

Ash dreamt of battling a very strong little guy. Although the memory is a bit blurry now, he can still vaguely remember having a great time.

"It seems I need to pay more attention to the allocation of training volume in the next few days."

Xiao Zhi assumed he was just too tired to have a dream, so he stopped worrying about what happened last night and quickly got up.

After greeting the night owl and beaked bat on night watch, I began my daily morning exercise routine.

Meanwhile, in Ash's shadow, in a space unnoticed by anyone.

An anxious little figure was pounding on a transparent barrier.

If Ash were here, he would definitely recognize it as the unknown Pokémon he battled last night.

"Ma, Ma~" (How could this be~)

The little guy was so tired from banging that he could only sit helplessly on the ground, waving his little arms in frustration.

Marshall, a major crisis!

It was the Pokémon chosen by Ho-Oh to test and guide the Rainbow Warriors, how could it have fallen to such a state?

Despite possessing the ability to infiltrate into any shadow, he is now trapped inside and unable to escape.

If my colleagues found out, they'd laugh at me to death.

Marshall is able to slip into the shadows of others, mimicking their movements and strength, and gradually understanding their feelings in the process.

And because it never appears in front of people, no one discovered it for a long time.

Marshadow was simply resting in the shadows of the forest near Ecruteak City when he was suddenly drawn to Ash's Rainbow Wing.

At the time, it was happy, thinking that there hadn't been a new Rainbow Warrior for many years, and this one was a very powerful one at that.

It immediately jumped up and down, determined to fulfill its duty this time.

Following the usual practice, he immediately slipped into Ash's shadow.

Even last night, Marshadow specifically challenged Ash to a battle in his dream.

Then, to everyone's surprise, they discovered that this new rainbow warrior was incredibly strong, practically a monster.

Marshadow had to use every trick in the book to barely hold his own against Ash.

Even so, it was only thanks to Marshadow's home advantage in the Dream Space that he was able to battle Ash for so long.

However, in those intense physical collisions, Marshadow could feel Ash's domineering spirit beneath Ash's fists.

Ash's burgeoning masculine energy almost overwhelmed Marshadow.

Marcia is very satisfied with this new rainbow hero.

I'm planning to keep creating little surprises for Ash during our upcoming trip, for example...

He sabotages Ash's battles with Pokémon, deliberately causing Ash to lose in order to test his character.

When Ash is feeling down, give him a little extra encouragement to toughen him up.

In daily life, they often do good deeds such as secretly throwing away things that Ash values, or subtly provoking arguments between Ash and his friends.

Finally, when Ash was guided to meet Ho-Oh, Marshadow was already eager to try.

But unexpectedly, Marcia no longer needs to create small surprises; it has already encountered major problems on its own.

Once inside Ash's shadow, it was as if it were locked up and couldn't get out at all. The little guy was so anxious that he almost cried.

"Ma, Ma!" (Ho-Oh, come save me!)

————Shadow Attack————

After waiting for quite a while, the gates of Ecruteak City finally opened, and Ash and his friends immediately and happily entered the city.

The people here are inexplicably punctual, and they absolutely refuse to open the door early.

In keeping with the city's ancient atmosphere, the people on the street were dressed in a classic style, as if they were in a period drama.

Locals walk on the street with a steady and silent demeanor, exuding an inexplicable elegance in their every move.

As soon as Xiao Gang entered the city, he completely let loose and stopped caring about the necklace around his neck.

"Wow, there are so many older ladies in kimonos here!"

All I can say is that Xiao Gang is indeed Xiao Gang; he's too strong. He managed to harass four mature women in kimonos who were passing by in just ten seconds.

Even if they look down on me, I can still shamelessly ask for their contact information.

"Actually, he must be secretly pleased to be looked down upon. I was worried about him for nothing."

Finally, Xiao Zhi couldn't stand it anymore, so he quickly apologized to the older girls while grabbing Xiao Gang's ear and dragging him away.

He quickly removed the collar from his neck, not wanting anyone to discover that he was in cahoots with him.

"Xiaogang, are you no longer thinking about Xiaoxue?"

"Sigh, Xiaozhi, you're still too young. How can a man keep dwelling on the past forever!"

"We should always look forward in life!"

Look towards the beautiful women!

Someone who was lying on the roadside saying they wanted to become a paramecium has the nerve to say that.

However, seeing that Brock had finally recovered and was fully healed, Ash and Misty were finally relieved.

"Xiao Zhi, you could have easily lured him away with just one mature woman magazine, right?"

"Judging from this situation, it should be..."

Then Xiao Gang took them to see the famous Five Sisters of Yuanzhu City perform classical dance. Xiao Gang's eyes widened when he saw the beautiful women in ancient style appearing in the audience.

Those five sisters aren't actually as pretty as Xiaoxia, but they have a great aura.

Every time one of the five sisters appeared, Xiao Gang's heart would skip a beat.

Except for the last one, Xiao Gang immediately reverted to a state of sage-like composure.

Although the last one was equally cute, Xiaogang was able to keenly judge...

"No, this person is younger than me, I don't like him."

"So that's how you figured it out!" Xiao Zhi couldn't possibly tell their ages from their heavy makeup.

"That's because you don't understand, Xiao Zhi!" Xiao Gang is the kind of person who would insist on choosing a larger bullet even if he were to be executed.

He simply wouldn't accept anyone who wasn't older than him; his "older sister radar" had already reached its peak.

At this point, Xiao Gang wanted to stay and watch the older girls perform, and even planned to harass, or rather, comfort, them after the performance.

Ash, on the other hand, was more focused on Ecruteak Gym, and he genuinely couldn't appreciate the slow, deliberate dance.

They agreed to meet at the Pokémon Center later, and Ash and Misty went ahead first.

Along the way, the scenery of Einju City, so different from that of traditional metropolises, was quite pleasing to the eye.

However, when they passed through another ancient gate and arrived at the dojo, they were a little dumbfounded.

What appeared ahead was the ruins of a dilapidated tower, which looked as if it had been burned down.

Marshadow, which was in Ash's shadow, suddenly perked up because it sensed Ho-Oh's presence.

"Is this a gym?" Ash looked at the map back and forth, still a little incredulous.