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

“I also think we don’t need the champion to step up,” the newly crowned Heavenly King, Rika, chimed in. “Although the young officer is impressive, he is still too young. Whether he can beat the champion is just a topic of discussion, but it’s all just for fun. Once he faces you, regardless of the outcome, people will think it’s fake.”

"Yeah, people are strange sometimes. No matter what you do, you can't shut them up." Kazuki shrugged helplessly. "And even if Commander Ash beats you with his own strength, there will still be people who think... He's twelve years old, why isn't he challenging the world's strongest yet?"

"This..." Yu Longdu fell into deep thought. To be honest, he wanted to do this himself.

The entire Johto Champions League was defeated by a twelve-year-old child, which was undoubtedly a loss of face. Of course, Lance could not exclude himself and leave only Shiba and the other three to carry the team.

"Everyone, I think we can reach a conclusion on this issue." The usually low-key A-Ju suddenly interjected, holding up her phone. "I just checked, and Mr. Xiao-Zhi only registered four main characters this time. That Kangaskhan is missing."

"Is that so?" Yu Longdu was taken aback.

“That’s right, so five people together aren’t enough to go around, the four of us will do,” A-Ju said with a final nod.

“Alright then…” Yulongdu finally agreed. “I’ll find an opportunity to talk to him about this before the finals… Thank you, everyone.”

"Hey, no need for thanks, it's all for the alliance." Shiba waved his hand dismissively. "Besides, I also want to have a good spar with that kid."

"Without Commander Satoshi's gift, Rika and I wouldn't have reached the Champion level so quickly," Kazuki said seriously.

“That’s right, we should always repay our superiors, right?” Rika fiddled with her big, wavy hair, a very seductive smile on her face.

A-Jie didn't say anything, but his attitude was equally firm. After all, he and Ash had already formed a bond of mutual benefit back in the Kanto era.

"Then I'll leave it to you!" Lance nodded one last time. "Also, start preparing for the attack now. We plan to launch a full-scale assault on the remnants of Team Rocket entrenched in the Ruins of Alpford by the end of the tournament!"

This was Ash's suggestion, and Lance could only say that when it came to creating a grand spectacle, they really couldn't compare to Ash.

This kid always has a knack for making a mountain out of a molehill, creating a huge news story at the most unexpected moments.

...

The Johto champion and the Elite Four secretly passed a resolution, but Ash, who was involved, was completely unaware of it, as his attention was focused on the tournament.

With the competition reaching the quarterfinals, the outcome was already becoming clearer.

The lower bracket is basically a battle between Shigeru and Aya. The only suspense is who can advance to the finals.

On the other hand, the only variable in Ash's upper bracket is the match between Ye Yue and Du She.

The former was the Hoenn visitor who eliminated Ash, while the latter was the original tournament champion from the anime... It was also he who caused Ye Yue, whose main player was injured, to stop in the semifinals.

"Match over! Feraligatr is unable to battle, Blaziken wins, and Ye Yue advances to the semifinals!"

In the first match of the quarterfinals, Ye Yue and Du She were evenly matched, and both sides fielded their strongest players, resulting in a fierce and exciting battle.

In the end, all they had left was their willpower to keep going.

Ultimately, Blaziken narrowly defeated Feraligatr, becoming the only one of the twelve Pokémon from both sides to remain on the field…

Of course, it didn't stand there for long. After the referee announced the result, Blaziken was completely finished.

It was too tragic...

Even Xiao Zhi, standing in the audience, could tell that at least half of Ye Yue's main players were seriously injured, and it was definitely not something that could be cured overnight.

However, the schedule is very tight at this stage. The semi-finals will start tomorrow, and he will be playing in the morning session!

Perhaps I should help him… Xiao Zhi pondered in his heart what he could do.

But that's all after the competition. Now he has to fight Kenta to win the second spot in the semifinals!

"In the second match of the quarterfinals, Ash from Pallet Town (red team) will face Kenta from New Leaf Town (green team). Both players can use six Pokémon, and Ash will go first!"

"Lucario, go for it!" "Lucario!"

With absolutely no intention of holding back, once he said he wanted to have a battle to make his name known, Ash wouldn't consider his opponent.

“This one…” Kenta couldn’t help but look bitter. Even if he didn’t know Ash well, he should know who his main players were.

"As for me... I'll leave the first battle to you, Donphan!" Kenta finally made his choice. Donphan had high attack and defense and was also effective against Steel-types, so it was a good choice.

"Lucario, Bone Smash!" The battle began, and Ash, who went first, was not aggressive. He simply had Lucario condense an energy bone rod and waited for his opponent's attack.

"Donjia, earthquake!"

"Jump to a high place!"

Seeing that Ash didn't intend to attack first, Kenta immediately signaled Donphan to unleash a powerful shockwave. However, such a simple attack had little effect, as the jackal simply leaped lightly and completely dodged the earthquake.

"Defend immediately with a roll and use the rocks on the ground to attack!" Kenta's eyes lit up, and he immediately seized the opportunity to continue his attack.

After increasing its power, Donphan activated its ability and launched itself into the air using a protruding rock, flying straight towards Lucario who was already in the air!

"Fight back with a bone strike!" "Luca!"

Bang!

The powerful impact swept across the field, and the Don's roll was easily stopped by the bone club.

Immediately afterwards, Lucario swung his bone club three more times, causing Donphan to scream in agony in mid-air!

With a final blow, Lucario gripped his bone club and slammed it down, smashing Donphan's heavy body to the ground!

"This... Donja, use Rain Dance quickly!!" Kenta didn't have time to think too much and could only rely on his intuition to make Donja use his last move immediately.

"Wave missile!"

Boom!

Sure enough, before Donjar even landed, the ultimate attack came one after another, blasting it down with even greater force, and it even crashed directly into the field!

Fortunately, before losing consciousness, Donja managed to release the rain-praying water sphere.

Feeling the raindrops falling on his body, Kenta finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Donbas were almost eliminated without achieving anything...

Chapter 591 Quarterfinals, Lucario, Martial Valor!

Letting the drizzling rain patter on his body, Kenta hastily wiped his face and pulled out a second Poké Ball.

"Go, Golduck!" The light blue, humanoid walking duck leaped out of the ball, its agile figure seemingly giving Kenta a boost of confidence.

SwiftDuck has a hidden ability, so it's quite powerful if you can catch it!

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!" Seeing that his opponent had already taken a stand, Ash signaled Jackal to unleash a condensed Aura Sphere.

"Golduck, use Focus Blast!" Kenta reacted immediately, Golduck gathering powerful Fighting-type energy between its palms and unleashing it forward with all its might.

Kenta used a little trick; this energy blast wasn't meant to block the attack, but rather it was aimed straight at Lucario's body!

"Control the Aura Sphere to stop it." But this won't cause Ash any trouble. Lucario flicks its wrist, and the Aura Sphere changes its trajectory, colliding with the opponent's special move.

"Use Surf to get there!" Kenta was clearly waiting for this opportunity. Taking advantage of the smoke from the energy explosion, Golduck created a huge wave out of thin air, and then rode the wave at an extremely fast speed towards Ash's half of the field!

In the rain, the Swiftness ability doubles its speed. In addition, Golduck is already one of the best swimmers in Pokémon. It is now riding the waves so fast that it can only be seen as a blue shadow!

"Break the waves and stop it!" "Luca!"

Lucario swung his bone club like a spear, with a terrifying force capable of sweeping away thousands of troops, directly cutting the oncoming wave in half!

As the water burst open, Golduck's body involuntarily fell off the crest of the wave... but Kenta's face showed a smile!

"Golduck, use mental interference to control it!"

An invisible force instantly enveloped the jackal's body, and Golduck unleashed all of its psychic powers, trying its best to suppress Lucario!

"Well done!" Kenta was overjoyed to see that his opponent seemed unable to move. "Next, use..."

"Break free, interrupt it."

"What?!" Before Kenta could even utter the command, Lucario broke free of his restraints with a powerful effort.

Then, as if it had foreseen the future, it raised its hand and waved, disturbing Golduck's eyes that had just lit up with blue light, and the hypnosis immediately failed!

Immediately afterwards, Lucario swung his bone club with one hand, sending Golduck flying far away!

"Aura missile!" The additional aura missile flew in, and Golduck, which had landed, could no longer stand up.

"Golduck... you've done a good job." Kenta recalled Golduck and looked at Ash with a serious expression. "You... you guessed in advance that I was going to use hypnosis?"

"If it were any other negative status effect, there would be no need to get that close," Ash said casually.

Kenta's strategy was pretty good. Before Donphan left the field, he used Rain, Golduck used Swift Surf to get close, and then used Psychic to control Lucario, before flawlessly using Hypnosis.

However, he overlooked a key point... not every Pokémon is Ash's Alakazam. When there is an absolute power difference between the two sides, Golduck's Psychic ability is completely unable to restrain Lucario's actions!

All Ash has to do is anticipate Golduck's next move, Hypnosis, when it activates its psychic powers, and then prepare a countermeasure in advance.

"Phew... I can only rely on you now, Marill!" Kenta took a deep breath and pulled out a large water rabbit...

"Why is it this one again..." Ash frowned slightly.

He was honestly getting a little bored after encountering the same Pokémon repeatedly.

However, there was nothing that could be done. Ash had checked the players' information beforehand, and Kenta, Marina, and Junichi had all registered Marill.

These three must have come from the same litter, and all three have the Strongest ability, clearly designed specifically to take down Dragon-type gyms.

Ash guessed that if Marina hadn't seen Chunyi's crushing defeat, she might have pulled out the same model in that match too.

It's actually quite nice that the three members of Ruoye Town are tied up so tightly...

Let them enjoy their love triangle within themselves; Little Silver shouldn't get involved.

"Lucario, charge up!" Ash commanded in a deep voice, determined to finish the battle quickly!