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

"Is there?"

"there must be!"

Faced with his friend's cheating, Daigo angrily snatched the phone from the tea table and started checking the call history.

"Honestly, you're the one who answers my calls without my permission again."

"Haha, I just didn't want to disturb you because you were so engrossed in restoring the fossil."

"I was worried that it might be something important, so I took the liberty of answering it for you."

Normally, someone as self-possessed and elegant as Michael wouldn't act so tactlessly, but he's an exception when it comes to Daigo.

Their close friendship, both overt and covert, is unmatched by others.

For example, this villa was bought specifically by Daigo, a rock enthusiast, so that he could better mine rocks.

Michael has a key to places like this and can come in whenever he wants.

Besides, he is Daigo after all; once he digs up a precious stone, he immediately becomes ruthless and forgets all sentimentality.

As soon as he got back, he locked himself in his studio and ignored any outside disturbances.

That's why I accidentally left my phone outside, and unexpectedly, it was answered by Mikey, who suddenly came to visit.

"But it's not a big deal that you missed the call just now, Daigo, because the person who called was looking for the league champion."

"Wouldn't it be perfect for me to pick them up? Oh ho ho..."

"You bastard, don't think you can provoke me like this just because you beat me once..." Daigo's eyebrows twitched, and tic-tac-toe marks kept popping up on his forehead.

He had to show Mikkelsen just how strong a man who had been mining for years could be.

Daigo's turn-based card draw summons his fist in an attack form!

Mikoli, known as the Water Prince, immediately dodged the attack with a noble but flamboyant posture.

Amidst their playful antics, Daigo finally managed to find his contacts.

"It was Ash who called." Daigo was quite surprised.

"Yes, he brought some rare good news to the problem of the giant meteorite, so I plan to go and meet him."

"And while we're at it, let's see what kind of person that girl Rukia talks about all the time is really."

"Oh, Ash is an interesting boy, very strong. You don't want to accidentally fall down shortly after becoming champion."

"Don't worry, he's still better than you, who's so focused on digging stones that you've become lax."

This time, Daigo wasn't angry anymore, and he went straight to open the door.

"Say whatever you want. Now that you're all settled, please leave my house immediately."

"The league champions are so busy, they shouldn't be slacking off here all the time."

“My dearest friend, how can you be so heartless? I’m here because I need your help with something important.”

Upon hearing this, Daigo stopped in his tracks. He was a responsible person and wouldn't completely abandon the league just because he had relinquished his championship title.

"what's up?"

"Things related to rocks and ancient Pokémon."

—The Ripples of Water—

After contacting the League Champion and bringing the Miraju Kingdom matter to a close, Ash and his friends were ready to officially set off to leave.

Xiaoxia was the first to leave.

Because she was going back to Kanto, she wasn't on the same airship as Ash and the others.

Xiaoxia originally thought she was just going out to attend a gathering of trainer enthusiasts, but she didn't expect it to take so long.

During her absence, the Cerulean Gym was in complete chaos.

Xiaoxia wasn't there, and her sister and students were too weak.

When the challenger couldn't find the gym leader and started causing trouble, her sisters actually decided to just give her the badge.

Xiaoxia immediately and sternly stopped her, then ran back without saying another word.

She worked so hard to secure a better chance for the Cerulean Gym to gain entry into the Kingdom of Miraju, only to have her family sabotage her efforts.

How can this be fair to her tired back and throat from working so hard every day?

"I absolutely cannot let those unreliable older sisters ruin the reputation of Cerulean Dojo that I worked so hard to rebuild!!!"

After leaving behind such harsh words, Xiaoxia disappeared from Xiaozhi's and his friends' sight along with the airship.

"It seems that being a gym leader is really not easy."

"Yes, after all, Xiaoxia is a gym leader of one of the eight major gyms in Kanto. Basically, there are always a lot of people coming to challenge her every day."

Upon hearing Ash say this, Max immediately thought of his own gym.

"I really don't know how my dad manages to handle such high-intensity challenges every day so well."

Sarah finally arrived to say goodbye to Ash and his friends.

Although Misty left early because of the gym, which was a bit of a shame, Sarah mainly came to see Ash.

As long as Xiao Zhi is still here, that's fine.

"Little Zhi, take care on your journey, and remember to come back and visit us often."

Sarah held Ash's hand and said goodbye reluctantly, which made May pout.

Ash smiled helplessly.

"Don't worry, I will definitely come back to see you often."

At the same time, Ash gave a couple more instructions.

"The two sisters, Sanna and Lian, sent by the Crimson Group, are trustworthy. If there are any problems with the construction, we can discuss them with them."

"If all else fails, you can contact Sundae directly."

The person in charge of the Miraju branch sent by the Crimson Group this time is the former Phantom Thief Sisters whom Ash previously worked on to adjust the focus.

They have now shed their former glamour, reformed themselves, and become competent servants under Ash's command, helping Sundae a great deal on a daily basis.

This includes Ash helping the young lady share the firepower of Milk Cannon when he returned to Red Headquarters.

However, since he used to be from the evil world, his behavior can sometimes be misunderstood, and it would be bad if things went wrong back home.

So Xiaozhi said a few more words.

Sarah obediently nodded in agreement.

Believing that everything would be alright, Ash and his friends boarded the airship and flew off into the distance.

Now, due to the changes in the local climate caused by the Lugia, sandstorms are much less frequent in the Great Desert.

The airship left much faster than when Ash and his friends arrived, and they returned to the Hoenn League territory in just half a day.

The airship landed near Autumnleaf Town. After thanking the pilot, Ash and his friends disembarked.

"Hey, why don't we just go straight to Autumn Leaf Town?"

Looking at the surrounding forest environment, Xiaoyao asked in confusion.

"There's no suitable helipad for airships there. Anyway, it's not far from here. We can walk a little further and reach Qiuye Town by tomorrow morning."

"Ok."

With the Grand Contest approaching, Haruka is extremely excited and can't wait to participate.

Now, May is becoming more and more like Ash, even perfectly mimicking his pre-match excitement.

Ash spoils her, so since she's so excited, he'll just speed things up a bit.

Even while traveling, Ash didn't slack off on his training.

Along with Xiaoyao, who was about to compete, she also enthusiastically joined in.

"The Hunting Swallowtail Butterfly makes its charming debut!"

"Use Silver Whirlwind to send the frisbee back!"

"Sister, are you still planning to use the Silver Whirlwind and Frisbee for your first round of judging in this year's Grand Contest?"

"That's the plan, what's wrong?"

Faced with Xiaosheng's question, Xiaoyao became nervous for some reason.

"Sister, the judges for our Grand Contests, apart from Miss Joey, are usually Mr. Conkenstein and Mr. Sugizo."

"If you keep using the same tricks in the first round of review, you might get a low score because people get tired of seeing it."

"Huh, is that really the case?"

"Of course, although the rules of the conference do not say that the same performance cannot be used all the time, it is definitely not good to keep the same."

Upon hearing Xiaosheng say that, Xiaoyao's face immediately scrunched up.

Xiaoyao was confident that she could pass the first round of review perfectly this time, just like she did last time with the Hunting Butterfly.

I never imagined I'd have to rack my brains to come up with a new performance again.

However, Xiaoyao couldn't think of anything for the time being, so she could only sit to one side, pulling her hair, feeling extremely distressed.

Just then, Ash walked over and gently tapped May's head with the frisbee that she had placed to the side.

"Don't worry so much. This is only your second time participating in the Grand Contest. Relax."

“That’s true, but Lord Mikkelsen is coming this time, isn’t he? I don’t want to lose face in front of him.”

At the same time, there was something else that Haruka didn't say: she didn't want to lose face in front of Satoshi. Although she was a little slow on the ups and downs when it came to matters of the heart, she wasn't stupid.

She eventually became aware of the ambiguous atmosphere between Ash, Misty, and Sarah.

Xiaoxia and Sarah are both of a higher social standing than her, so Xiaoyao doesn't want to lose in her career either.

Chapter 425 An Encounter

"Haruka, if you can't think of anything, don't force it. Throwing a frisbee is a good alternative."