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

“It must be because of this, the Whirlpool Islands Tournament.” Xiao Gang said, flipping through the guidebook. “It’s the triennial tournament period right now, and the main competition will start in ten days, so there will be a lot of spectators and contestants coming. I heard that it’s been quite lively here for the past month.”

"Really?" Xiaoxia snatched the guidebook and looked at it carefully. Her eyes lit up immediately. "Great! It's a tournament specifically for Water-type Pokémon. I have to participate!"

"It's held every three years... then there should be quite a few experts." Lila was clearly intrigued.

"I'll join in the fun then," Ash finally decided.

Water-type is his current main type for catching monsters, and Ash wouldn't miss such a good opportunity to train his troops.

"It would be great if Ash joined us, I'm determined to play you to the final match!" Misty shouted with high spirits.

Nowadays, Misty no longer feels the frustration that has always been overshadowed by Ash; instead, she enjoys her duels with Ash.

Although each time it ends in a crushing defeat, I'm sure I'll gain even better experience.

So, everyone agreed immediately and went to the local Pokémon Center to register for the competition.

When they arrived, there was a huge crowd of people queuing up.

"Wow, these are all people who want to sign up for the competition?" Lila exclaimed in surprise.

"After all, it's a grand event held every three years, and it has a great influence in the local area and even the city. I heard that the number of participants this year has already exceeded two hundred," Xiao Gang said from the side.

"I'm getting more and more interested!" Xiaoxia exclaimed excitedly.

What does it mean to have over two hundred participants in total?

Just to determine the top 64 in the preliminary rounds, at least two rounds of matches are needed to screen all the participants.

This is about the size of a typical alliance conference.

Even some individual conferences don't reach this level!

I must specifically criticize the Unova Higaki Tournament and Carlos's Miare Tournament from the original manga, which only had 128 and 64 participants respectively, making them incredibly stingy.

Alola, as a newly formed league, at least had 151 players in the Royal Rumble preliminary round.

"The formalities are all completed. The competition will be held in ten days at the ancient arena on Red Rock Island. Good luck to all three water system experts!" Miss Joey from the center helped the three of them with their registration.

"Thank you!" *3

...

"Ten days might be a bit rushed." After leaving the center, Xiao Gang pondered, "Xiaoxia and Xiaozhi are fine, but Lila only has one Water-type Pokémon, so we need to catch some more. Besides, isn't Xiaozhi still looking for someone here?"

As the breeder in the small team, Brock knows everything about his friends' Pokémon.

Since starting her trip, Lila has only had Hippo King, a Water-type Pokémon, which puts her at a disadvantage in the competition.

Moreover, Ash had previously accepted a request from Wallace, so he had to travel around here.

"Catching Pokémon is fine as it comes, there's no need to force it just for the sake of participating in competitions." Lila didn't care.

In fact, she even felt it was a bit unfair to use the King Hippo in the competition.

"Don't worry about me. We're going to Silver Rock Island next. The person we're looking for should be there too," Ash said with a smile.

"By the way, I still don't know who Xiaozhi is looking for," Xiaoxia asked curiously.

All Xiaoxia knew was that Xiaozhi met Wallace in Goldenrod City, and she was even a little disappointed because she regretted missing the opportunity to meet the Water-type master.

"Mr. Wallace asked me to find his niece here," Ash explained. "That young lady is a famous Contest idol in Hoenn. She was originally on a business trip to Oguri with Wallace as an ambassador, but she skipped work and came here instead."

"She came all the way here?" Xiaoxia was taken aback. "Could she be participating in the competition too?"

"She might participate... but she's actually here to see Lugia~"

"What?!"*3

Chapter 481 Silver Rock Island, The Runaway Idol Girl

For the average trainer—especially those without a suitable flying mount—traveling through the Whirlpool Islands is actually quite inconvenient.

If they want to travel, they can only rely on the connecting boats with fixed schedules and routes within the four islands, so they can't really travel at will.

That's how Ash and his group in the original work are; they can easily fill a lot of everyday scenes by repeatedly using the same trope of missing the contact ship.

But there's really nothing we can do about it. The Whirl Islands are different from the Orange Islands. Trying to swim freely in the Whirlpools with Water-type Pokémon like in the original story is just wishful thinking.

Those four enormous whirlpools, which churn day and night, each contain astonishing power. If you're not careful while traveling in the water, you'll be swept in and never be able to get out!

Ash had done some testing and found that it was definitely not a force that ordinary Pokémon could break free from.

In their small team, only he and Mewtwo could completely ignore the drag of the vortex, and only the Latios siblings could barely move through the vortex.

Every single other Pokémon was unable to resist the power of the vortex, not even Ash's Blastoise!

As expected of Lugia's power, it was truly extraordinary. Ash couldn't help but look forward to seeing what kind of adventure Blastoise would have.

If even they faced such difficulties, one can only imagine how challenging it must have been for others to travel across the Whirlpool Islands.

The four great whirlpools are turbulent, and only experienced captains can find the right course to ensure the passengers reach their destination safely.

Furthermore, these ferries are generally sturdy enough, especially large-displacement cruise ships, which can largely ignore the twisting of whirlpools.

As Ash flew low over the sea aboard his Corviknight, watching the massive ships nearby rumbling and displacing huge amounts of seawater, he couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of mixed emotions, including nostalgia and reflection).

In ancient times, Lugia divided the war-torn Whirlpool Island into four parts, leaving behind a huge whirlpool around the islands forever.

Its original intention was to hope that the people of Whirlpool Island, who were constantly fighting, would never meet again, thereby ending the war.

However, with the development of technology, humans are now able to use steel ships to cross the whirlpool and re-establish the connection between the four islands, and the war has long since disappeared.

I wonder what Lugia would think if he saw this scene...

After leaving Blue Rock Island, Ash and his friends headed towards Silver Rock Island, while also exploring the entire Whirl Islands.

Along the way, Ash and his friends heard mostly legends about mysterious Pokémon.

When they passed by Scarborough Shoal, Misty caught a very energetic Corsola, while Ash and his friends learned from the islanders that recently, someone had witnessed a huge black shadow flashing across the water in the surrounding sea.

They asked more locals about it, and some even described the shadowy figure quite accurately: it had a pair of huge wings, like a large bird, or perhaps some kind of unknown dragon.

That said, this really does look very close to Lugia, which shows how much the whereabouts of this sea god who is currently taking care of his child have been leaked recently.

When they passed by Red Rock Island, Ash overheard some news that really bothered him.

It seems that some of the trainers who came to participate in the Whirl Islands Tournament have gone missing.

The trainers who went missing generally said they were going to Silver Rock Island to buy some local specialties, but they haven't returned yet.

The Whirl Islands Tournament is, after all, just a regional event, and the organizers can't manage trainers as meticulously as the League Tournament. Therefore, this news is currently just an unfounded rumor and hasn't attracted enough attention...

But Ash takes this very seriously!

If we refer to the original storyline, Lugia and her son attracted the attention of Team Rocket. At this critical juncture, the trainer went missing, which could very well be the work of those remnants of Team Rocket!

With these considerations in mind, Ash quickened his pace and arrived at Silver Rock Island, the southernmost point of the Whirl Islands, almost without stopping.

In Caçado, a city on the island, the group took a short rest and began gathering further information.

And... let's see if we can find that teenage idol who skipped work here.

...

Casardo City is the only city on Silver Rock Island and a well-known commercial and artistic metropolis in the entire Whirlpool Archipelago. Influenced by ancient legends, the entire city has an extremely enthusiastic pursuit of the Silver Feather, and various Silver Feather-style paintings and decorations can be seen everywhere on the commercial streets.

Meanwhile, silver feathers are also a local specialty.

It certainly couldn't be Lugia's feather, but rather a badge carved from silver rock, a local specialty of the island, that closely resembled the original feather in appearance.

In Cazzado, there are many artisans who make a living carving silverstone... but there are also quite a few unscrupulous individuals who will use fake materials to carve inferior products to pass off as genuine ones.

All of this information was obtained by Xiaogang from an older woman who was already in a relationship… Well, he's currently squatting in a corner, crying his eyes out. It's truly a pitiful situation.

Meanwhile, Xiaozhi, who was walking through the shopping street, suddenly heard a girl's angry exclamation.

"That's outrageous! How could you sell me a fake Silver Feather?!"

A girl dressed in sky-blue clothes and adorned with cloud-shaped accessories stopped a shifty-eyed vendor on the street, her pretty face full of anger.

Holding a chipped silver feather, she questioned the vendor with dissatisfaction, stomping her small feet on the ground to vent her emotions, causing the pleated hem of her skirt to rise and fall.

Well... she might think she's very imposing, but to an onlooker, all she sees is cuteness.

Such questioning obviously had no effect on the shameless counterfeiters.

"Little brat, don't delay my business!" the vendor retorted disdainfully. "What proof do you have that the Silver Feather I sold you is fake? And how can you prove that I sold it to you?!"

"How can you be like this..." The girl was completely defeated by the other party's shamelessness, her face flushed and she didn't know how to refute him.

Just then, a hand suddenly reached out from beside her and grabbed a silver feather from the vendor's box.

"Your silver feather seems to be of good quality?"

"Of course, you have excellent taste, sir!" Seeing that a customer had come in, the vendor glared at the girl threateningly and hurriedly began to introduce the product to Xiao Zhi, who had come later.

"Hey, the silver feathers he's selling are completely fake, don't fall for it!" the girl immediately warned anxiously.

"Is it fake...? It really does seem to be~" Ash casually pinched it, and the fake silver feather shattered into dust.

Before the vendor could even speak, Xiao Zhi grabbed a handful of defective products from the box and then crushed them into pieces!

"These... seem to be all fake too." Ash looked at the counterfeit vendor calmly. "I've heard that the silver rock on Silver Rock Island is extremely hard and can even be used to make parts for ships. Your imitation is really bad."

"Ugh..." Cold sweat immediately broke out on the counterfeiter's forehead. He was about to turn around and run away when he found that his way back had already been blocked by Xiao Gang and his two companions!