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

After everyone went inside, the large wooden door suddenly and mysteriously closed itself. Xiaoyao quickly turned around and pushed it hard, but found that the door did not budge.

"...Wow, this is so interesting! It's an incredibly spooky development!"

Xiaoyao immediately switched into her dramatic persona again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Xiaoyao Expedition Team has finally arrived at the haunted house after going through many hardships, but we immediately encountered a major crisis. It seems that everyone is trapped in the room and cannot get out."

"Let's ask our special guest, idol Rukia-sama, what she thinks."

"Hmm, I think... this was definitely done by a ghost!"

"Alright, you two, let's hurry inside."

Ash pushed the two girls along, urging them on; he wanted to hurry up and find the Pokémon they had just encountered.

"Yes, we need to hurry up and explore the depths of the mansion!"

They immediately held hands and ran inside.

"When did these two become so close?"

"I don't know, maybe it's a resonance of souls."

Ash and Max quickly followed.

"But it seems like no one has been here for a long time; there's so much dust on the ground."

Those who came to demolish the house had only ever been to the main hall area before being driven away by strange occurrences.

So the messy footprints on the ground only went that far.

Suddenly, in the corridor ahead, May spotted the same Pokémon from before, surrounded by five other identical Pokémon.

"found it!"

"Those Pokémon look like mushrooms, and their color is different from the usual ones—it's orange! It must be the legendary rare Pokémon!"

Xiao Sheng immediately stepped forward excitedly to take a picture of the navigator, which he would later send to his parents.

"Mushroom~"

"It's so cute, I want to tame it!"

Having finally found her favorite Pokémon, May immediately threw out Torchic's Poké Ball without any hesitation.

"Torchbear, use Quick Attack!"

"Chama!"

Torchic immediately transformed into a streak of light and rushed out, but unexpectedly, the Mushroom on the other side also charged in without giving in.

After the collision, both sides retreated to their original positions, but it seemed that Torchic was slightly at a disadvantage.

"Chama~"

"This mushroom is incredibly strong!"

"Torchic is too weak! It just learned Quick Attack and hasn't practiced it much, yet you dare to let Torchic use it in actual battle!"

"But that's how Ash usually battles."

"Xiaoyao, simply imitating blindly won't work. You should flexibly incorporate your own grasp and understanding of timing in battle."

By this time, Ash had finished reading the information about Mushroom in the Pokédex.

"It can learn all sorts of powder and spore-based skills, and after evolving it will also have a fighting attribute... Okay, I've decided, I'm going to catch a Mushroom!"

The shiny mushroom was small, so he left it with May; Ash wanted to catch a stronger one.

Although Ash already has a Grass-type Treecko in the team, Shroom's various support moves are quite practical and will definitely come in handy when Ash is hunting wild monsters.

But before Ash could decide which Pokémon to send out to battle, May had already come to his side and tugged at his clothes.

"Uh, Ash seems to be in a bit of a predicament right now."

"Isn't there a bit too many Pokémon here?"

May quickly picked up Torchic and joined the others in gathering around Ash.

Only then did everyone realize that there was more than just that one mushroom with a special color. Pairs of eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness, and heavy footsteps slowly approached.

"Oh no, we're suddenly in a huge crisis! Who is the owner of these menacing eyes? Captain Haruka, what should we do now?"

"Um, I think~" May snuggled closer to Ash.

"We should ask Ash for his opinion!"

"Oh, I see!"

Seeing this, Rukia immediately snuggled into Ash's arms.

Smelling the two different fresh scents in his arms, Xiao Zhi was forced to achieve the feat of having two women on his left and right.

Although I wanted to hug him a little longer, I couldn't help it because Ash is a gentleman.

"You don't need to be so afraid, these are all mushrooms."

"Ah, they're all mushrooms." ×2

Just then, clouds drifted by on the second floor, and sunlight streamed into the room through the window.

Haruka and Rukia finally realized that the hall was covered with mushrooms, which were densely packed around them, on the ceiling lights, and on the handrails of the second-floor corridor.

It turned out that the sounds of the Torchic fighting had attracted all the mushrooms in the house.

"They're all mushrooms. It looks like this is the mushrooms' home."

Ash's Aura carefully scanned the entire house, finding over a hundred mushrooms, including a huge one that had made the heavy footsteps earlier.

"It's actually the Overlord Mushroom! What a steal!"

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the side quest "Mushrooms are appearing in large numbers!": Please head to the Pokémon habitat in the city to find Shiny Pokémon!]

[Rewards: 2000 League Coins; 2 Free Attribute Points; 1 Valley Attraction Team (strongly attracts land-based Pokémon)]

"Wow, mushrooms are usually found only in forests, it's so rare to see so many of them gathered in the city!"

"Is now the time to consider this? They're clearly provoked."

Feeling the unfriendly gazes from the mushrooms around him, Xiaosheng quietly hid behind Xiaozhi.

"I feel like even if we back out right now, they won't let us go."

Suddenly, Ash pressed May and Rukia's heads down, and a wave of Leech Seeds came crashing down, hitting Max all of them.

"Ah, I feel so weak all over, why am I the only one..."

"Xiao Sheng, why are you standing behind me?"

"I thought this place was safer..."

Ash quickly tore off the parasitic vines binding him, and at that moment, the shiny mushroom swiftly arrived beside its leader and chirped a few times.

The tyrant mushroom's gaze grew even more malevolent.

"Mushroom!"

Another large number of parasitic seeds attacked from above.

"Pikachu Iron Tail, sweep away all these parasitic seeds!"

"Pickup!"

One by one, the parasitic spores that were flying in mid-air and had not yet entangled were swept away by Pikachu like ping-pong balls.

"Wow, Pikachu is amazing!"

"Right? Ash and his Pokémon are very strong. As long as Ash is there, we don't have to be afraid even in dangerous places like this!"

"They are so reliable."

Faced with being besieged, our Xiaoyao and Miss Idol were not afraid at all, but were actually quite excited.

But then, Xiao Sheng suddenly smelled a strange odor.

"What's going on? My body suddenly feels numb... Oh no, it's numbing powder!"

Not only do the mushrooms have troops on higher ground, but they also have several partners hidden in the corner at the bottom of the hall, secretly releasing paralyzing powder.

Using their familiarity with the old house, they stealthily crept into Ash's vicinity through the passageway beneath the floor.

Moreover, the location for releasing the paralyzing powder was cleverly chosen at the house's ventilation opening, relying on the wind blowing from it to accelerate the spread of the paralyzing powder.

"These mushrooms are much smarter than I thought. Is it because that overlord is directing them?"

He immediately waved his broad, powerful hand, creating a hurricane that dispersed all the paralyzing powder that was spreading around him.

However, because he was relatively short, Xiao Sheng had already inhaled a large mouthful of numbing powder when he collapsed.

"Why am I the only one again..."

"Hey, Xiaosheng, cheer up!"

"Don't worry, Xiaoyao, the paralyzing powder won't endanger a person's life. It just means that inhaling too much at once will temporarily cause them to lose their ability to move."

"Also, for the next few days, Xiao Sheng will probably have to endure a tingling, electric shock-like sensation all over his body."

"It's numb... Waaah, it's all my sister's fault, I shouldn't have come to the haunted house."

At this moment, Pikachu had perfectly dealt with a wave of parasitic seed attacks from the mushrooms.

As soon as it landed, it wanted to run over and check on Xiao Sheng, but suddenly its little nose twitched and it smelled something.

"Swish..."

"Pikachu..."

Pikachu's eyes suddenly became glazed over, and it collapsed.

"Pikachu!"

Ash quickly ran over and picked up Pikachu, only to find that it had fallen asleep.

"It's mushroom spores."

This time it wasn't those lurking mushrooms, but the overlord mushroom itself that released it.

Unlike the other mushrooms that hid, it stood in the very center of the hall, facing Ash and his friends.