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

Because Machoke had just taken a hit from Bear's apprentice's elementally countered Swallow Return, and the counter-damage from Hell Roll had also caused it a lot of damage.

Now, Martial Arts Master Xiong unleashed another powerful Dark Nether Strike, striking a vital point, and Hao Li immediately collapsed to the ground, losing his ability to fight.

After running over and carefully checking the situation, the referee immediately waved his flag.

"Ash from Pallet Town has won this match!"

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the main quest: Strike Badge! : Please defeat Azure Gym Leader Asa]

[Rewards: Alliance Coins +5000; Stamina +2; Attack +2; Free Attribute Points +3]

"That was a great battle, I lost." Ah Si came over and handed the Strike Badge to Ash.

[Strike Badge: When you have this badge, the power of your melee skills increases by 5%]

Ash has finally collected all 5 badges after putting them away.

However, Ash noticed that his battle with Ash had drawn almost everyone in the gym to the area.

But Ash couldn't spot the cute little gray-haired creature in the crowd.

"Speaking of which, Master Si, did you know that Cai Dou is still here?"

"Oh, do you know the young lady?"

"Miss..."

"Haha, Cai Dou is our master's daughter. We brothers have always liked to call her Miss since we were little."

"She did stay here for a period of time for a spiritual retreat."

"She is a remarkable young woman. She is diligent in her cultivation and her strength is improving every day. I really look forward to seeing how high she can lead our sect to the future."

Chapter 266 Whirlpool Islands

"However, yesterday Ayaka left in a hurry for some reason."

"They've already left."

It was such an unfortunate coincidence that Xiaozhi came today, while she left yesterday.

Actually, it wasn't a coincidence. According to Cai Dou's original plan, she was going to stay with A Si for a while longer.

After all, he was her senior brother, so there was no need to be too polite. But just yesterday, she accidentally saw the message from the gym's front desk that Ash had made an appointment to challenge the gym.

She immediately packed her things and left that very night.

There's nothing she can do; Bea can't face Ash with a normal mindset anymore. She still dreams about Ash's ferocious and strong shiny sea rat from time to time.

Then, when she wakes up in the morning, her face will be completely flushed...

Bea, whose mind has always been focused on training, finally experiences her blushing and heart-pounding puberty after meeting Ash.

If Bea saw Ash now, she would jump up immediately.

Bea knew she wouldn't be able to properly face Ash in the short term, so she quickly found an excuse to run away.

Unfortunately, Ash knew nothing about these things and just thought he was unlucky and didn't catch Little Gray.

They bid farewell to Ah Si and the others and boarded the ship bound for the Whirlpool Islands.

————The finishing touch————

Q: What should I do if I encounter a shipwreck at sea?

A: Serena doesn't know.

Because she's currently lying in Ash's arms and her mind is completely blank.

Ash and his two friends are currently sitting on Suicune's back, standing alone on the vast ocean.

Furthermore, they were surrounded by huge ocean currents and whirlpools, and they were trapped there.

At this moment, Serena suddenly felt that her first experience of traveling away from her mother might have been a little too exciting from the start.

"Xiao Zhi, what should we do next?"

Ash, sitting upright with his eyes closed, simply made a shushing gesture, then looked deep in thought.

Because he didn't know either, and was waiting for Xiaoxia to decide on the direction to set off.

Xiaoxia, on the other hand, was using Xiaozhi's broad back as a desktop, opening up the map to find their current location.

"Seriously, if Ash hadn't said that you could encounter more Pokémon by driving a speedboat alone, we wouldn't have sunk here."

"What? You were excited and agreed when you heard about Water-type Pokémon, Xiaoxia. Now you're blaming me for everything."

Ash did make a small mistake.

Because he was chasing a Pokémon that suddenly appeared, he steered the boat into the whirlpool, causing the speedboat to be torn in half by the whirlpool's suction.

but……

Okay, it's mainly Ash's responsibility.

However, there was a reason for it at the time. Ash clearly sensed a very familiar waveguide from the seabed.

Moreover, it was quite similar to the mysterious, enormous figure that had passed by their speedboat, just like the one on Xiao Hei's body.

It's almost certainly Lugia!

A wild Lugia encountered in the wild!

There's never too many legendary Pokémon, so Ash couldn't resist chasing after them, and that's how things turned out.

“We traveled for more than half an hour in a speedboat at full speed. If you were to fly with me and Serena, how long would it take?”

Considering that he was flying with two people and had to ensure they didn't go at a dangerous speed, Ash thought for a moment.

"It can probably fly for more than forty minutes."

"Then we can't act blindly. There are no landmarks on the high seas, and it would be too dangerous to set off blindly."

Xiaoxia continued to look down at the map, calculating their current location.

Unfortunately, that Charizard guy, after learning that his girlfriend Lisa was being harassed in the valley,...

He immediately told Ash in a great hurry that he had to run back to Charizard Valley, otherwise Ash and his friends wouldn't have been trapped at sea.

The night owl is too small to carry people in flight...

Ash now realizes once again how important a mobile unit capable of rescuing people is on the high seas.

"I should have brought my Dragonite with me at all times."

Ash has had enough time to spend with his family in Professor Oak's backyard, so he plans to trade for Fatty at the next Pokémon Center.

"Oh dear, ancestors, can you hurry up? This is too dangerous!" Babaozhou, who had been released to do hard labor again, was already getting a little impatient.

"Is this vortex expanding?"

Although, thanks to the power of the north wind, Suicune can stand and glide freely on the water.

However, the vortex force surrounding them could easily tear a high-end speedboat apart.

If the whirlpool expands to its feet and disrupts the airflow beneath them, they could fall in in an instant.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the mysterious figure they had seen before reappeared deep in the sea beneath Ash's feet.

As the water passed beneath the group, the surrounding ocean currents were immediately altered, and the whirlpool gradually subsided.

"The vortex is gone!"

Ash carefully sensed the aura from before once more.

"It really was Lugia!"

The reappearance of the mysterious figure further confirmed Ash's suspicions about the other person's identity.

They immediately tried to give chase, but the other person vanished without a trace on the seabed.

"Oh no! Eight Treasure Porridge, hurry and catch up!"

"I can't dive, hey don't move around, my legs are so sore and tired from standing for so long."

When the Eight Treasure Porridge could no longer hold its own and was about to sink down with everyone else.

A pink coral head suddenly emerged from the sea and quickly swam towards Ash and his friends' location.

"That's sun coral!"

Misty, who is familiar with Water-type Pokémon, immediately recognized the creature with pink coral horns.

After the sun coral swam around them once, several tentacles suddenly emerged from beneath them and lifted them up.

Then, they quickly followed the lead of the Corsola Pokémon and swam together towards a ship not far away.

"When I saw it through the binoculars just now, I thought it was my imagination, but when I got closer, it really was you guys, Ash."

"Dr. Kongmu!"

The person who arrived was Dr. Kongmu. He was still the same tall, thin man with glasses, and he had a gentle smile on his face.

Corsola immediately jumped from the sea surface into the professor's arms, and Ash and his friends were gently placed on the deck of the ship by Tentacruel.

It seems these are the professor's Pokémon, which he sent to rescue Ash and his friends.

It was only then that Ash and his friends learned that Professor Elm had come to the Whirl Islands to conduct research on marine Pokémon.

They happened to see Ash and his friends during their exercise time, so they quickly sent out their Pokémon to rescue them.

Professor Elm was heading to the Whirl Islands, and Ash and his friends, since it was on their way, decided to hitch a ride.

Together, we follow Dr. Kongmu's research ship to Qingyan Island, the gateway island of the Whirlpool Islands.

The group went inside the ship to change their wet clothes, and Dr. Kongmu brought them hot tea and gave them an explanation.

"I see. Ash, you've already collected five badges in Johto. Time flies!"

After parting ways in Leaf Town, Ash's journey through the Johto region was already more than halfway over. Professor Elm took a sip of tea, then suddenly seemed to remember something and immediately got up.

"By the way, Ash, how's Blackie?"

"I heard from Mr. Oki that it had already hatched, but I haven't seen it yet."

"I really didn't know what would happen next. It's so great that they hatched successfully in the end. I wish I could study them properly..."