Pokémon, Ash is going to become a perfect man from now on.

With Ash's current fame, he is basically a household name in Johto. Although he will encounter many people who take the initiative to make friends with him, he can indeed save a lot of trouble when dealing with outsiders.

"Professor, Mr. Ash has come to visit."

"Ash? That's... Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch~" The bespectacled professor, who was busy with some kind of research, hurriedly got up to greet Ash after hearing his name... and then bumped hard against the door frame.

"You flatter me," Professor Oak said, rubbing his temples and awkwardly greeting Ash. "You must be Ash. Professor Oak has mentioned you to me many times. Welcome to my lab."

"Thank you," Ash replied politely, introducing his companion to Professor Elm.

After chatting for a while, Professor Elm was reminded by his assistant to go to the breeding room at the research institute, and he took Ash and the others with him.

The group found the three lively little creatures there, along with Miss Joy and Chansey who were taking care of them.

"These are the starter Pokémon of Johto! They all look so cute... especially the water-type one in the middle!" Misty's eyes lit up as she looked at the three little creatures with their different appearances on the table.

And given her love for water-themed things, she naturally thinks the little crocodile in the middle that loves to take a bath is the best!

"The starter Pokémon in Johto should be Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Chikorita, right?" Brock said with interest. "They're completely different from those in Kanto. If we could catch them, they would definitely be worth raising."

The three royal families of Johto... well, they're notoriously miserable.

No Mega Evolution, no exclusive Z-Moves, no Gigantamax... and it's a single type!

They have the same base stats as the Kanto starter Pokémon, yet they remain forever overshadowed by Kanto.

However, all of the above are just game settings.

In reality, if Ash could actually encounter the three Pokémon from the original series, he wouldn't give up.

Raising the fiery Cyndaquil, the cheerful and energetic Vani, and the jealous chubby-faced Laurel Queen, and making them shine even brighter than in the original story, would be an achievement in itself.

Of course, this is on the premise that Ash can encounter them and that they are willing to work hard to become stronger.

If all you want is to coast along and wait to die, then let's not make things difficult for each other...

"Sigh..." Just as Ash and the others were playing with the three little ones, Professor Elm looked at the little Totodile in the middle and suddenly sighed deeply.

"Doctor, are you thinking about that little saw-totosh again?" Miss Joy asked with concern. "It's been a long time since then, you can't keep blaming yourself."

"But I feel so guilty... It's all my fault!" Dr. Elm grabbed his hair in anguish. "If I hadn't been so engrossed in my research, Totodile wouldn't have been stolen..."

"Wait a minute!" Ash interrupted, "Has a Pokémon theft occurred at the research institute?"

“That happened two months ago. The little saw-toothed tortoise that I was going to give to the newlyweds was stolen,” Miss Joey explained.

"Two months ago...it was around the time the Quartz Conference ended, right?" Xia realized.

From the time Ash won the Indigo League title to the end of his journey in the Orange Islands, only two months had passed.

"Yes, I was busy with a research project with my assistant at the time and didn't pay much attention to what was going on outside. As a result, Totodile's Poké Ball was stolen along with its Pokédex!" Professor Elm said regretfully.

"The Pokédex was also stolen?" Ash immediately asked. "That Pokédex shouldn't have been registered yet, right?"

"That's true... because it hasn't been confirmed yet which of the three starter family's children will be adopted," Dr. Elm nodded.

“We later asked Ms. Officer Jenny to investigate for a long time, but we still couldn’t find any clues,” Ms. Joy said helplessly. “Dr. Kongmu has also been blaming himself from that time on.”

"Totodile, Pokédex... Nurse Joy, if we want to challenge the Johto League, is it only possible to register here in New Leaf Town?" Ash asked in a deep voice, his entire demeanor now in detective mode.

"Yes, that is also the origin of the winds of beginnings."

How long are the security cameras at the Pokémon Center front desk stored?

“Uh… anything within a month is definitely fine, but anything longer is uncertain. The surveillance footage here is automatically deleted when the memory is full.” Joey asked, puzzled, “You suspect that the other party might be attending a conference, so they registered at the center?”

"Very likely! The research institute only lost a Totodile, which means it was a choice of three, and they even took the Pokédex... This behavior pattern is similar to that of a new trainer. Therefore, he will most likely want to register for the tournament later!"

“But he might not know that the Pokédex also requires user authentication… So when he goes to the Pokémon Center, he’ll probably run into some trouble, and the surveillance footage will definitely reveal something!” Following Ash’s train of thought, Lila also pointed out the key point.

"This...this is possible?" Miss Joey couldn't help but marvel inwardly. Professional investigators are truly different; no wonder they're senior investigators at such a young age.

Before Ash arrived, everyone's attention was drawn to Totodile, and they didn't even remember about the Pokédex!

And the subsequent surveillance footage!

"Miss Nurse Joy, please go back and check the surveillance footage and submit any suspicious clips to me," Ash instructed. "Also, please provide me with a list of all Trainers who registered to challenge the Johto League from the end of the Indigo League until now!"

"I'll get it done as soon as I get back!" Miss Joey immediately agreed.

“Professor Elm, don’t worry too much. I will do my best to help you find Totodile!” Ash comforted the professor. “Besides, the other party will probably raise it like a normal trainer… at least not abuse it like poachers do.”

"I hope so... Ash, please... I really want to know about Totodile!" Professor Elm pleaded earnestly.

"Don't worry, there will definitely be good news!"

Chapter 330 An unexpected encounter with Nana, the unfinished battle

To be honest, although Xiaozhi provided a new idea, he didn't have much hope for Miss Joy's surveillance footage.

After all, it has exceeded the usual retention period for video recordings, and besides, the other party may not actually register at the Pokémon Center.

However, Ash still decided to take on the task because he really found it strange.

If this is the original animated series, the one who stole Totodile should be the true protagonist, and they didn't go far at all.

When they were found, the baby saw-toothed crocodile was still biting Musashi's hair.

But it's clearly not one of those three who did it, so who could it be?

In Xiao Zhi's heart, the image of someone has appeared. Now, let's see if he will meet that person on his journey.

...

After leaving Wakaba Town, the group planned to head to Kikyo City, the location of their first gym.

However, while passing through a forest, they unexpectedly encountered a little incident...

"That's it, Chikorita! Give it a final straight shot, an impact!!"

"Chik!!"

The girl in her cheerleading outfit proudly waved her megaphone, her chikara leaf wrapped in a headband launching a spirited attack, defeating a small rattata with her unstoppable momentum!

"Great, we've captured it! Chikorita, let's sing Team Electabuzz's victory song together!" "Chikorita!"

Picking up the Poké Ball that had stopped shaking, the girl happily sang a song with her friends, and then…

"Can anyone tell me why we're standing here watching?" Xiao Gang asked, puzzled.

"I don't know... but her singing is really... indescribable." Lila covered her ears in distress.

"So when is she finally going to finish?!" Xiaoxia was clearly about to lose it.

To be honest, each note of this girl's voice was not off-key, but when they were played together, it was torture.

"Huh...that's Pikachu? It's Pikachu!!"

The embarrassing singing finally ended, because the girl saw Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and then ran over like a little zombie that had spotted blood.

"Pikachu?!" The other party's menacing appearance startled Pikachu, which immediately took to the air and floated high in the sky, refusing to come down.

"Oh my god! Pikachu is flying!!" The girl continued to exclaim in surprise, completely unaware of how much her voice was damaging everyone's eardrums.

"Miss, please calm down." Ash quickly stopped the other person's self-indulgent talk. "First of all, my Pikachu doesn't like being touched by strangers; secondly, theoretically, as long as you master the electromagnetic levitation system, you can fly."

Pikachu can indeed fly, but there's no need to go into details about that.

"Is that so?" The girl's eyes widened in surprise. "But that's amazing too! And its black and yellow stripes are just awesome! The way it flies is amazing too, like... uh, like a baseball hovering in the air when it hits a home run!"

"May I ask you to take back that analogy...?" Xiao Zhi twitched his lips speechlessly.

Pikachu in mid-air was speechless... Damn it, how could such an awesome Pikachu be described as a ball?

"Nana, I'm from Wakaba Town. I'm currently training with Chikorita to become a Pokémon Master!" The girl completely ignored Ash's rambling and introduced herself in a very familiar manner.

She's clearly a rookie trainer, and Chikorita seems to have only recently been acquired.

"You seem to really like black and yellow stripes, why is that?" Xia asked curiously after they had gotten to know each other.

"Because that's the color of the Electabuzz team!" Nana said matter-of-factly. "Our whole family are die-hard Electabuzz fans, starting with my grandfather!"

"Uh... is it a baseball team?" This part was clearly Xia's blind spot.

"That team is pretty good, isn't it?" Xiao Zhi replied casually.

Xiao Zhi doesn't usually follow sports news, but by using his management wizard to temporarily search online, he can still find a lot of information.

Nana's team, the Electric Beasts, is undoubtedly the worst-performing team in the baseball league. Not only has the team never won a championship in its entire history, but it has also recently suffered a ten-game losing streak and is on the verge of disbanding due to its disastrous record and financial deficit.

Even if that's the truth, telling the truth would still hurt, so Xiaozhi doesn't mind going against his conscience to appease the other person, which would reduce some trouble...

But what happened next was something he hadn't expected.

"Haha! It's rare to meet someone with such good taste like you. Let's have a Pokémon battle!" Nana patted Ash on the shoulder in a carefree manner, laughing heartily.

"What did you say?" Ash was completely dumbfounded... No, what's the connection between having the eye to battle Pokémon and having the ability to do so?

Ash is never afraid of roadside battles, but the question is... who should he send out when facing a newcomer?

With twelve burly men at his disposal, they could easily crush Nana's confidence.

"Ash, take it easy... the opponent is clearly a beginner." Even Uncle Gang understood the situation.

"Come on, come on, let's battle!" Nana was very impatient, urging Ash to come on, and even sent out Pidgey to lead the charge.

"In that case... Gengar, you go." Ash thought for a moment, seemingly having come up with a solution.