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

But before it could launch another attack, it suddenly felt a touch on its back, and then it was swallowed up by a ball without its control!

Ash executed a back throw, successfully catching Pelipper!

"Knock...knock~" Magikarp originally planned to dive underwater to hide, but found that it suddenly had no opponent. It was stunned for a moment, but quickly came back to its senses and happily carried the Poké Ball to Ash.

"Well done, you can cut your training load in half today," Ash praised with a smile.

"Knock~" Magikarp jumped three meters high.

The hard training day after day has been arduous, and the current results are certainly something to be happy about, but the hard work is truly immense... The only word Magikarp really wants to hear right now is 'vacation'.

"Honestly, conceding like that is a bit unsportsmanlike," Little Blue said with a mischievous grin. "Can't you see the long-winged gulls are getting angry?"

“But they can only be angry but dare not speak out, and this is the best solution to the problem,” Lila interjected. “In the end, it was actually them who broke the rules here at Munchhill first.”

"Come out, Pelipper!" Ash then released Pelipper, using the power of Viridian to heal it... and soothe it at the same time.

"Pelican..." Pelipper was still a little dissatisfied, but it had already been captured and had witnessed Ash's strength, so it happily decided to go with Ash.

"Pelipper, tell the gulls to disperse first," Ash instructed. "Tell them that Wishiwashi is a Totem Pokémon, and if they are all eaten up by you, the humans here won't stand idly by."

Ash wasn't trying to scare it. As the dominant species, Wishiwashi is closely related to the trials of Akala Island... If the flock of birds goes too far, it might not just be humans who come to drive them away!

Furthermore, the key word for the Alola Islands is 'harmony'. Once this harmony is broken, whether you are a human or a Pokémon, regardless of whether you are at fault or not, you will all be punished by the guardian spirits!

What is harmony?

Preying on widowers is fine, but ganging up to prey on the dominant fish is not!

"Peli~" The big-billed gull obeyed the order and left. It bid farewell to its flock, and a moment later, all the long-winged gulls scattered.

"Looking forward to working with you from now on." Ash extended his hand to the returning Pelipper. "Your abilities are excellent. You led your own group before, and you will become the core of your companions in the future!"

Honestly, this beak was a complete surprise.

Since becoming a trainer, Ash has caught many powerful Water-type Pokémon, but even now, when he wants to use weather tactics, he has to have Dragonite manually pray for rain with a wet rock.

But things will be different from now on. The Pelipper, with its rain-inducing ability, will definitely be the standard-bearer for rainy days in the game.

Admittedly, in this realistic environment, it's impossible for Ash to build a rain team that can cover all aspects, from weather control to offensive units.

For example, in order to coordinate defense during rainy days, people would happily go and collect a Grass Steel...

Even simply putting Blastoise and Lapras in with Pelipper can achieve pretty good results!

Ash always thought he would only encounter a weather team core like this in Hoenn, but he never expected to have such a great find in Alola.

He's already starting to imagine that after a month, once he's finished the Island Tour, he'll return to Johto and, with a bunch of new favorites from out of town, continue to challenge the League Tournament. The local players will be utterly crushed.

Rainstorms and storms with Pelipper, Iron Defense against Corviknight, plus Mega Evolution and Z-Moves... just imagining it is terrifying!

"Yo yo~" With the great crisis of being eaten averted, the group of Weasels no longer trembled in fear.

As the fish scattered, the Wishiwashi, acting as the commander, came to Ash and spat out a blue crystal.

"Thanks a lot." Ash smiled and accepted it; he had his Water Z.

"Hmm..." The ugly fish was watching the whole scene intently, seemingly lost in thought, and didn't even notice that the weak fish and the nanny Mambo were about to leave.

"By the way... there's something I wanted to ask you guys." Ash called out to the Pond King who was about to leave, "You guys were trained by the captain before, right?"

Ash felt that this was the only possibility: the battle abilities of the Totem Pokémon, and the Feebas that had learned Light Screen and Scald; they must have been trained by the captain in the past.

Having a rare opportunity, Ash was eager to hear from the Overlord himself.

Why did they drift apart from the captain, even becoming unable to cooperate and challenge the challengers?

Chapter 399 The Promise of the Weakling, the Choice of the Ugly Fish!

As Ash predicted, Feebas and Wishiwashi were indeed friends of Captain Chimney Hill and had even teamed up with him to test the challengers.

According to their recollections, the former captain of Munchhill was a very powerful water-type trainer and also a fishing expert.

The trial process at Munch Hill was determined by him.

He selected the Ugly Fish, which had just hatched, as the starting point for the test and nurtured it to a certain extent.

Challengers who come here must first catch the Feebas and demonstrate their strength to it before they can officially challenge the overlord.

The dominant widower was carefully trained by him and even specially selected Mambo, the caretaker, as its companion to maximize the advantages of the fish's characteristics.

Those days were fulfilling. They always encountered all sorts of challengers. The ugly fish tirelessly played hide-and-seek underwater, and sometimes they would deliberately bite through the fishing line to enjoy the frustrated expressions of the anglers.

If someone manages to catch a Feebas, then it will be the dominant Wishiwashi's turn to frolic in the water. It will occasionally capsize the Pokémon or boat that the challenger is riding, and when they are in a panic, it will create waves that will sweep them directly into the grass on the shore.

They joked and frolicked like that, but gradually fewer and fewer people came to the babbling hill to participate in the test, until finally no one came to visit.

The team leader at the time also resigned because he was unable to preside over the test.

The last time they met, the other person said they were leaving and never appeared again.

Uglyfish and Weakling can only idly stay in a pond, leaving behind only the empty title of 'pond overlord'.

Once the bighead gulls gathered in flocks, fewer and fewer people came to visit, and the fish almost stopped surfacing...

After hearing Xiaozhi's retelling of the story, the three girls all fell silent.

"Frill and Wishiwashi..." Xiaoxia hesitated for a moment. Out of her love for Water-type Pokémon, she wanted to give a 'heartbreaking and pitiful' assessment, but in the end, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

There's nothing to pity about the ugly fish and the whelping fish. If you really want to figure it out, they're the ones who brought this situation upon themselves.

"When the number of challengers decreased before, that captain must have asked you guys for a favor... Hopefully, Feebas will bite the hook quickly, and Wishiwashi won't take it so seriously?" Ash suddenly asked the two little fish.

"Yo..." "Hmm~"

The Weakling and the Ugly Fish nodded at the same time.

See, isn't that the problem?

The trials at Munch Hill are set to be even more difficult than the great trials of the Island King, which would naturally deter ordinary challengers.

The very first challenge, catching the Ugly Fish, will give a lot of people a real headache.

Do you really think everyone is like Lily, who doesn't need to accumulate breasts but has great luck, and can catch anything from Feebas to Kyogre at will?

There is only one ugly fish in the babbling hill, and it is a version with a strong personality that has become a spirit after being caught. It disdains most of the baits.

Xiao Zhi guessed that if the ugly fish hadn't been so bored all these years, it might not have even bothered to bite his hook.

The ugly fish is competitive and refuses to bite, while the weakling is even more outrageous. If you're going to fight, then fight properly. What's the point of capsizing someone else's boat?

The challenger spent countless hours and patience to finally catch the ugly fish, only to be choked by water before he could even finish demonstrating a single trick. It would be strange if he didn't develop a psychological trauma.

But these little fish thought it was only natural, and they wanted to show the challengers how powerful they were!

Even when the previous captain discovered the challenge was flawed, they refused to go easy on them, resulting in their infamous reputation... not only did they personally end the trial, but they also ruined the former captain's career.

What happened at Munch Hill is actually a microcosm of the overall decline and simplification of the Alola Islands Tour. All the problems, in the final analysis, boil down to the word 'freedom'.

Feebas and Wishiwashi are not the team leader's Pokémon, so they can disobey orders and act solely according to their own whims!

However, it seemed that it was not allowed at the time to subdue them and then use them for testing... Otherwise, given the captain's abilities, he would have done so long ago.

"I won't judge your past as right or wrong... I just want to ask you one question." Ash looked earnestly at the two little fish, "Are you still willing to battle challengers and continue to put them to the test?"

"Yo!" The wakiwa nodded eagerly, it couldn't have asked for this.

If it cannot gather into a school of fish, it will be the weakest Pokémon, only able to hide in the lake.

However, if it gathers into a large fish, it will become the most powerful creature in the pond, and all the Pokémon will avoid it.

It was impressive, but also quite boring.

Therefore, the wispfish needs this opportunity; being weak itself, it has always wanted to show its strength to the outside world!

Conversely, the ugly fish clearly hesitated.

Should I continue living this kind of life...?

The wispfish is a dominant predator capable of fighting humans, but it is merely a catalyst to begin the trial; all it has to do is be caught and reeled in.

It was really getting tired of this kind of life, especially after witnessing Ash's battles!

That Magikarp, which was clearly a piece of trash and food on par with itself, was trained to have such strength that it could even defeat Pelipper, a predator!

But all I could do was squat in the water and keep biting at the bait that I was already feeling nauseous about!

The resentment in Feebas's eyes grew stronger. It had been carefully hiding it, unaware that Ash had seen it all.

“Wisps, if you want to put people through challenges again, you can’t go overboard like before, otherwise no one will bother you here.” Ash thought for a moment and said, “Your challenges need to be changed, and… you also need a new captain to guide you.”

"Oh..." Having at least helped resolve the threat from the flock of birds, Wishiwashi trusted Ash to some extent. After pondering for a while, it reluctantly nodded.

Changing the form of the test is fine; it was originally set by the former captain, who is no longer here, so there's no need to stick to it forever.

The problem is that Wicked Fish needs to think carefully about teaming up with a new captain.

It won't easily acknowledge a human... unless that person can demonstrate strength similar to Ash or the previous captain.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm just making a suggestion for now," Xiaozhi explained. "If there's an opportunity in the future, I might bring someone over. As for whether you're willing to accept that person as the new captain, that's up to you two."

"Oh!" Upon hearing this, the Weakling Fish readily agreed.

Anyway, it's just a verbal agreement, so the decision is still in your own hands.

Hmm... If he really did bring other people, I'll definitely have to arrange a tough test so he won't just easily accept them.