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

"GenGen~" As soon as Gengar appeared, it stuck out its tongue and made a face at Nana. With its chubby body, it did not seem very aggressive.

"Even if it's a weird Pokémon, we won't lose! Pidgey, start with Quick Attack!"

Nana waved her hand with great bravado, but the onlookers covered their faces at the same time.

"She," "used a Normal-type move," "to fight a Ghost-type?"

"Gengar?" Gengar was also completely dumbfounded. Having played high-level games for so long, this was truly the first time it had ever seen such a move.

"Don't just stand there! Use Hypnosis!" Ash quickly reminded him from behind. Gengar then reacted and, as its opponent passed through its body, shot out a red light and knocked it down.

"Quick Attack didn't work? Pidgey, come back quickly and switch to Rattata!" Nana was shocked and hurriedly switched Pokémon.

Ash, on the other hand, kindly reminded her, "Nana, actually, Ghost-type is... against Normal-type..."

"Little Rattata, use Impact!"

"Immune..." Ash said the rest of the sentence speechlessly, then watched Gengar use the same trick again to knock down Rattata.

Meanwhile, Xiaoxia and the other two frowned in unison.

Nana's little Rattata is the one we just caught!

"Normal types are ineffective against Ghost types... I had absolutely no idea!" Nana recalled Rattata, a little frustrated. "In the end, I guess I can only rely on you..."

"Wait a minute!" Ash suddenly stopped the battle. "Are you going to use Chikorita next?"

"That's right, this is my best general..."

“If that’s the case, then the match shouldn’t continue.” Ash recalled Gengar and looked at Nana seriously. “Rattata and Chikorita have just gone through a capture battle… As their trainer, you should help them recover first before considering finding someone to battle them!”

"Ah...right!" Nana slapped her forehead, instantly feeling incredibly guilty. "It's all my fault. I was only thinking about the battle and didn't even consider that they need to heal..."

"So, let's end the battle here. We'll have another chance to duel next time!"

Seeing that Nana immediately reflected on her actions, Ash smiled and offered a suggestion, secretly relieved at the same time.

Chapter 331 Team Electabuzz, I Bought Them!

Actually, battling against a complete novice trainer is a really troublesome thing.

Especially in situations like Ash's, who has just arrived in a new region and hasn't yet gained any new partners, he might just crush his opponent's future in an instant.

That's why Ash chose to send out Gengar, using its type advantage to win, though the method was somewhat gentler.

But this only applies to the Guan and Cheng regions. Outside his own territory, Ash wouldn't worry about so much.

For example, if someone from Unova dares to cause trouble like in the original story, Ash would never hesitate to crush their beliefs!

"Nana, I'm going to the Pokémon Center now. If we meet again next time, we must continue this battle!" After some self-reflection, Nana hurriedly prepared to leave.

However, before leaving, she seemed to remember something and turned back to Ash.

"Oh, right... since you like Team Electabuzz so much too, I'll give you a team jersey next time we meet. It's the one I'm wearing, isn't it awesome?"

"I think I'd better not...go for it." Xiao Zhi imagined himself wearing that outfit and immediately shook his head in refusal.

But Nana obviously didn't hear her and had already run away.

"Nana and Chikorita, good luck! Team Electabuzz, good luck too! We must win the championship this year!!" A girl's energetic shouts came from afar... followed by an awkward singing voice.

"Nana is a very energetic trainer." Recalling their encounter, Brock couldn't help but smile. "It's just that... Team Electabuzz seems to be a losing team. This year, let alone winning the championship, they should be grateful if they don't disband."

"Team Electabuzz... Wait!" Ash suddenly remembered something and immediately dialed Nanami's number in Kalos.

"Nanami-neechan, how have you been lately? Are you finding it difficult to adjust over there?"

"You must take good care of yourself and not overwork yourself. You don't need to worry so much about company matters..."

"Of course I miss you too. Come back soon once the company over there is running smoothly!"

Amidst Xiaogang's infatuation, Xiaoxia's eye-rolling, and Lila's indifference, Xiaozhi had a long phone conversation with his older sister from afar, his mouth agape as if he had stolen honey from a bear cub's winter honey.

While pretending to be obedient and ingratiating, Ash also made his intentions clear—to ask Nanami, the head butler, for money.

"How much working capital does the company have? I'm currently traveling around Johto and I'm thinking of buying a baseball team for fun."

These words left Lila and her two companions speechless. That was an entire baseball team! They just bought it like that. The whole place was practically filled with the aura of a nouveau riche!

But if you think about it carefully, besides being a high-ranking official in the league, Ash also owns a technology company that can soon rival Silver's, and he is also the founder of the largest Pokémon game IP on the market. His net worth is now completely immeasurable, so it's not surprising that he wants to buy a team.

But the question is... why buy Team Electabuzz?

"Judging from what Xiaogang said, they've lost so much they're about to disband. Won't buying them back just leave them stuck with bad debts?" Xiaoxia asked, puzzled.

"It's cheap precisely because they're about to disband," Xiao Zhi said with a laugh. "Besides, a team doesn't only make money from home games, and results don't tell the whole story... Also, I actually have high hopes for them; who knows, they might pull off an upset this year!"

After interacting with Nana, Ash had roughly recalled this part of the story.

In the original story, Team Electabuzz did indeed win the championship this year... so if things go smoothly, Ash essentially bought a championship team for a bargain price—why not?

He was also quite curious about what kind of expression Nana would have when she found out he was the owner of Team Electabuzz the next time they met.

...

After the minor incident, the group continued their journey, but along the way they found that the surrounding forest had become very desolate.

"What happened?" Xiaoxia frowned in confusion. "The forest used to be so lush, why is it all bare now?"

"It seems only the nearby trees are like this... Hey, aren't those Heracross?" Brock looked around and quickly discovered that on a huge tree, many rhinoceros beetle-like Pokémon were gathering and sucking tree sap.

"Are they... all bugs?" Xiaoxia couldn't help but feel conflicted. Although she was now considered a strong trainer and wouldn't lose her composure when fighting bug-type opponents, she was still afraid.

"Yes, they're powerful Bug-type Pokémon, and people often compare them to Pinsir," Ash explained. "Because of their appearance and personality, Pinsir's reputation has never been as good as theirs..."

Ash didn't say what came next—after Mega Evolution, their status was completely reversed.

In actual battles, despite having the highest Attack stat of 185 among ordinary Pokémon, Mega Heracross is not as powerful as Mega Pinsir, which has the Fly Skin ability.

Of course, Ash doesn't deny Heracross's power, and he himself likes this Pokémon very much.

If given the chance, you could certainly capture one like in the original story.

"That's strange. Heracross is supposed to be a gentle Pokémon, so how could they have destroyed the forest like this?" Brock said, puzzled.

"Because a group of outsiders have entered the forest." Lila had already communicated with the nearby rhinoceros beetles. "A group of giant stag beetles that originally lived in the forest on the other side of the river suddenly broke in for some reason. With a group of Pokémon vying for tree sap, the forest naturally began to decline."

"I didn't expect you all to know about this... It's because the giant katana came to take over our territory that the forest has gradually withered away!" At this moment, a middle-aged man's voice came from behind the group.

He was wearing work clothes and looked like the person who managed this forest.

"My name is Morio, and I'm a forest ranger here. You...aren't you Ash?" The man paused for a moment, clearly recognizing Ash's identity.

"We just happened to be passing by and wanted to see if we could solve the forest's problem," Ash explained.

"That's wonderful! With a trainer as powerful as you helping, we're sure we can drive the Pinsir back!" Mori was overjoyed upon hearing this.

Clang! Clang clang!!

Just as the group was talking, a group of beetles suddenly charged in aggressively, brandishing their pincers and trying to intimidate them. Meanwhile, Heracross, who had been sucking tree sap, ran away in a flash.

"Why did they all run away?" Xiaoxia was speechless. "Weren't they said to be powerful Pokémon?"

“Heracross are too mild-mannered,” Xiao Gang shook his head. “Their strength is certainly no less than that of the Great Armored Beasts, but they won’t easily provoke conflict.”

“Not entirely. If Heracross is disturbed while feeding on tree sap and nectar, it will also retaliate,” Ash interjected. “The reason it doesn’t retaliate is not because it’s timid or gentle, but because there’s plenty of food in this forest. So… instead of blaming Pinsir, we should first determine the source of the problem.”

Ash is really in a strange situation right now, because he's encountered another problem with the forced adherence to the original storyline...

But this shouldn't have happened!

Chapter 332 Solution to the Problem: Moving~

"Dajia, come with me to ask about the situation."

Something unusual must be going on. Ash wanted to find out the reason for this forced adherence to the original story, so he called out his Pinsir and planned to communicate with its kin.

"Hah..." The beetles, who were scrambling for tree sap, impatiently snapped at their pincers, but suddenly they saw a fellow beetle that was much larger than itself appear. They were all terrified and trembled all over, even giving up the spot with the most tree sap.

The law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, is often most vividly embodied in wild Pokémon.

"I called Pinsir out not to steal your food, but to prove that I am also a Pinsir trainer," Ash explained as he stepped forward. "I'm here to help you. Please tell me... what has happened recently? Why did you leave your original forest?"

Xiao Zhi believed that the real protagonist would never dare to disobey him, so it must be someone else playing tricks!

"What...you mean nightmares?" Ash frowned in surprise, not expecting this reason.

The giant beetles told him that they had suddenly had terrifying nightmares in their own forest, and because they were so scared, they ran to Heracross's territory to take over.

"Alakazam, Gengar, go scout ahead."

Ash sent two partners to investigate the forest on the other side, but they found nothing unusual there, and the trees were growing quite well.

"Strange..." Ash was also puzzled. If this were Sinnoh, he could blame it on Dracule... but it didn't make sense in Johto.

"I want to go check it out; we might camp there tonight," Ash explained his idea, and his companions naturally chose to follow.

The group crossed the river to the forest on the other side, where they searched carefully, but still found nothing.

The entire forest was completely normal, without even any signs of a battle!

"Looks like I can only turn to fortune teller for help~" After racking his brains for a solution, Xiaozhi decided to use the ability to predict the future.

He had a premonition that the matter might be related to him...