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

"Bone Strike!" Without giving his opponent any chance, Lucario instantly conjured a bone club and launched a continuous barrage of attacks on Nihilego!

When Xyzsonic unleashes its full power, even an Ultra Beast would find it difficult to withstand it, not to mention that Ash's Aura was also involved. Nihilego was soon panting heavily.

"Lucario!" After completing a combo, Lucario split the bone club in two, crossed it into a pincer shape, and locked Nihilego's body, pinning it directly to the ground!

Meanwhile, Lucario has already condensed a super-sized giant wave missile in his hand!

"Ugh!!" Nihilego seemed to have finally regained its senses. Seeing the huge energy ball crashing down, it couldn't help but let out a scream of fear and grievance.

"Wait a minute!" Just as the Aura Missile was about to hit, Ash suddenly intervened and managed to hold the energy in place in front of Nihilego.

Just now, he seemed to hear the thoughts of Kyogaido.

"Nihilego, what did you just say?" Ash asked in a deep voice as he deactivated the Aura Sphere.

“Ugh…” Nihilego explained urgently. It seemed to understand what Ash meant, but no one could understand what it was saying.

Ultra Beasts are not creatures of this world, and neither Aura nor Viridian can accurately communicate with them.

"Ugh!" Due to the communication breakdown, Nihilego, which had just been bathed in ultimate energy, went berserk again, and its wildly flailing tentacles glowed with a purple light...

"Looks like this is the only way... Ultimate Ball!"

Ash couldn't let this dangerous creature continue its antics, so he shoved the sample Ultra Ball onto its head!

"Huh?!" Nicholas had no time to resist and was immediately turned into a red light and sucked into the ball. After shaking for a couple of moments, he could no longer get out.

"Blue, you're the most reliable one when it matters." Ash breathed a sigh of relief after successfully capturing the opponent.

"Let's go back to the Pokémon Center first. Lila, come with me." After collecting Chikorita into the Pokémon Center, Ash helped Lila walk towards it.

The final mishap caused serious damage to the chrysanthemum leaves, requiring immediate treatment.

Moreover, Ash was also waiting.

When something like this happens, someone will definitely try to explain it to you…

So, from afternoon to evening, Xiao Zhi finally received a video call from Xiao Lan.

Xiao Lan, on the other end of the phone, lowered her head and began apologizing incessantly.

"I'm sorry, Xiaozhi, I couldn't keep an eye on that woman..."

Little Blue couldn't fully monitor the Aether Foundation's actions; Lusamine did indeed secretly conduct experiments on the Ultimate Void, and her lab did indeed have an accident today.

An ultimate rift that Lusamine believed should have opened normally suddenly expanded and then contracted instantly. The rampaging energy not only destroyed the equipment on the spot, but also left several seven-colored spatial rifts in the laboratory space, which gradually dissipated after a long time.

Blue doesn't know what happened in Kanto yet, but she does know the reason why Guzzlord invaded before, which is why she's worried and wants to ask Ash about the situation, and also to confess her dereliction of duty.

"Lusamine keeps saying that it was interfered with by an unknown force, and she refuses to admit that there was a problem with her experiment... Ash, it's all my fault..."

"Xiao Lan, this isn't your fault at all." Xiao Zhi shook his head on the phone. "Take good care of yourself during this time and wait patiently for me to come over."

"Huh?" The girl on the other end of the phone was taken aback. "You...you're coming to Alola?"

Amidst her astonishment, boundless joy welled up on the girl's face.

Chapter 366 Do you want another enemy or an ally?

Guan and the city are Ash's base of operations. Ash will not venture out to other places until the hidden dangers in these two areas are completely eliminated.

Especially in Johto, Team Rocket is showing signs of resurgence, the scattered poaching groups still need to be pursued, and there's that mysterious guy who was causing trouble and spreading nightmares everywhere...

None of them are as important as Little Blue!

Since it concerns an Ultra Beast, even if it's just a false alarm, Ash has to go and check on Blue's safety himself!

After ending the call with Blue, Ash immediately activated the teleporter, sending Charizard, Lucario, Alakazam, Steelix, Crobat, and Gengar's Poké Balls over.

With these six by his side, Little Blue can at least hold out for a while even against champions or legendary opponents.

He then gathered his companions and explained his plans to travel to Alola.

“I said before that I’m going on this trip with you, so naturally I’ll go wherever you go,” Xiaoxia said, clearly expressing her support.

She'd go anywhere as long as she was with Xiaozhi... and she hadn't seen him in a long time.

“Alola must have many special Pokémon, right? Even for the sake of a breeder’s training, it’s worth seeing them.” Brock readily agreed.

The stipend that Ash applied for earlier completely relieved his worries, and Brock is no longer the miserable gym leader who used to have to worry about his family all the time.

"I'll definitely go with my brother." Lila nodded silently... though her eyes darted away slightly.

After all his travel companions voted unanimously, Ash finally turned to a certain red-haired boy.

"Little Silver, I want to ask you a favor... If you encounter teams like the Rockets in the future, could you help them out if you can? Of course, this is a way of giving back for working for the league..."

"Stop bringing up that useless stuff!" Little Silver waved his hand impatiently. "I won't let those weaklings get in my way!"

"Then I'm relieved." Xiao Zhi nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

He hadn't known Silver for very long, and Silver's identity was quite special, but Xiao Zhi was willing to believe... that this kid would definitely not let him down!

After making simple arrangements for the rest of the trip, it was already quite late. However, when his companions went off to rest, Ash called out to Lyra alone.

"Lila, have you already told him?"

"Um..." The girl nodded weakly, her face showing some apology.

When will he call?

"Tomorrow... they said you needed to think about it one more night, brother," Lila said truthfully, her head bowing guiltily. "Brother, I'm sorry..."

She was apologizing for taking it upon herself to act. After regaining her senses in the afternoon, Lila guessed that Ash would definitely go to Alola, so she quickly told someone the news, hoping that the other person could give some advice.

"I'm not blaming you, I was just checking." Ash gently stroked Lila's hair.

He certainly wouldn't blame his sister, and he knew that she was only thinking of him.

Ultra Beast and Lyra share a deep-seated grudge, but she can't just stand by and watch her brother impulsively confront her!

...

The next morning, Xiao Zhi unsurprisingly received a call from someone.

"Kid, I heard you're going to Alola?"

"Ah."

"Must go?"

"Must go!"

“Then go ahead.” The man on the other end of the phone agreed with unusual ease. “However, I have some information here related to the Aether Foundation. Would you like to hear about it?”

“Okay…” Xiao Zhi nodded blankly.

Somewhat surprisingly, he had thought the other party would try to dissuade him... after all, adults are used to considering the so-called big picture.

“I know you’re worried about Xiao Lan and you’re really annoyed with that woman, Lusamine, and to be honest, I am too. But I have to tell you… this whole thing was a misunderstanding. Xiao Lan is safe now. Lusamine just wanted to test the opening of the Ultimate Void. She and the Aether Foundation don’t have the ability to cause a large-scale runaway of Ultimate Energy!”

"But…"

"Let me finish." The man didn't give Ash a chance to interrupt. "I know you care a lot about what happened a few years ago. It was actually a misunderstanding. The Aether Foundation was conducting a similar experiment at the time, but it was interfered with midway, which caused an uncontrollable mutation! After that, the monsters invaded Kanto, and Lusamine lost her husband. We were all victims, just like her."

"Are you telling me not to blame her and the Aether Foundation?" Ash asked, frowning.

"I want you to calm down and not mistake the enemy for someone else." The man's tone was very serious. "Faced with an unknown threat, would you rather have one more enemy or one more ally?"

"This..." Xiao Zhi fell silent for a moment.

After a long while, he took a few deep breaths and nodded, as if he had been taught a lesson: "I understand."

Indeed, both the feedback from Xiao Lan and the statement made by someone just now indicate that the Aether Foundation's research on the Ultimate Hole has always been in a testing phase.

In other words, besides the Aether Foundation, there is another force also vying for control of the Ultimate Space!

The two incidents that have occurred now and in the past were very likely caused by them, and the Ethereum Foundation was just coincidentally scapegoated!

"How can I turn the Aether Foundation into an ally?" Having figured out this key point, Ash immediately asked for advice humbly.

This kind of scheming and backstabbing is something the experienced old fox on the other side is far better at than I am.

“Go directly to Rosamund and tell her it’s time. Guan Yu needs to collaborate with her on the research of the Ultimate Space.” The man said bluntly, with a hint of smugness in his tone. “And the collaboration will definitely be led by you. Don’t worry, we have an agreement with her signature and fingerprint on it… If she dares to break the agreement, just deal with her.”

"This... how did another agreement come about?" Xiao Zhi's eyes widened in disbelief. The benefits of this phone call were just too great!

"I personally negotiated with them seven years ago," the man said with a matter-of-fact smile. "I knew back then that the alien invasion had nothing to do with the Aether Foundation, but I insisted on making Lusamine take the blame, so she had no choice but to sign an agreement with Kanto... She was not allowed to research Ultra Space for six years, and all research after the deadline had to be completed under Kanto's supervision!"

"Rosamina has been relatively well-behaved for the past few years, but now she's suddenly starting to have ulterior motives. She's probably trying to exploit a loophole in the agreement... After all, Little Blue is also under Kanto's surveillance."

"I see." Ash nodded in understanding, but was still a little confused. "Why is the time limit six years?"

“Because you’ll be ten years old in six years, silly boy~” The man laughed heartily on the other end of the phone. “Ever since you brought Lila home, I knew you would want to handle this yourself.”

"This..." Xiao Zhi was speechless for a moment. He didn't expect that his father had already paved the way for him.

"Alright, no need for that look." Seeing Ash's wistful expression through the screen, the man casually waved his hand. "I still prefer seeing you secretly complaining about my favoritism~"

"You still know you're being biased?!" The moment this was mentioned, the little bit of fatherly love and filial piety that Xiaozhi had painstakingly cultivated vanished instantly.

What the hell is this "raise sons frugally and daughters lavishly" nonsense?

But having a dad like this... wait!

Suddenly, Ash had a flash of inspiration and remembered what Nihilego had shouted in desperation...