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

Before Ash could react, she had already skipped away with Ditto.

As Xiaozhi watched her leave, his expression gradually changed from relaxed to tense.

Time to head back to the Goldenrod Gym…

Chapter Ninety-Nine: Naz's Unresolved Issues, the Enemy's Identity!

Ash is really conflicted about Sabrina right now.

Given the dire situation in Kanto, and considering that Sabrina, like Lt. Surge, is an extremely powerful gym leader who hinders trainers from obtaining badges, her identity is indeed highly questionable.

Especially this time, she even got involved in the Jade Rainbow City incident, making Team Rocket's suspicion almost irrefutable!

However, ever since she joined the Saffron City Gym, Sabrina has been helping her, even at the cost of her own power, to help her calm down...

"Did you go to Yuhong City? Were you injured before?!"

As soon as Ash returned to the Goldenrod Gym, Sabrina rushed out to greet him anxiously, bombarding him with questions.

She was extremely worried, not only about Xiaozhi, but also about the other person in the fire.

Sabrina only saw Ash meeting the other person through her doll before her psychic powers were severed.

She didn't know if either of them was injured, or if any further conflict had occurred...

"Miss Sabrina, I'm so sorry." Just as Sabrina was filled with worry, Ash's sudden apology surprised her.

"I promised you before that I would let you know where I was going, but I hid it from you this time..."

"I... I didn't really care about that..." Naza was stunned, unsure how to answer.

Before Ash returned, she was even prepared to be questioned, but Ash avoided the topic and instead sincerely apologized to her...

“Even if you don’t care, it’s still my fault… Consider this my apology.” Ash took out the golden perfume he had bought earlier and handed it to Sabrina.

"Is this... perfume?" Naz asked blankly as she reached out to take it.

"I'm not very good at choosing things for girls, and I don't know if you'd like them," Xiao Zhi explained casually.

He did buy it casually before, but the word 'gold' reminded him of someone in Golden City, so he picked out a bottle as a thank-you gift for the help he received previously.

"I've actually never used it before..."

Not only are these kinds of girly items, but Nazi has been completely detached from the vast majority of things since she was a child.

Later, she finally found a Psychic-type Pokémon, and finally had a companion who could handle her psychic powers... But after she became the Gym Leader of Goldenrod City, everything changed again.

Quietness turned to coldness, strength to eeriness; the genius girl with superpowers became a freak who could turn people into dolls at the slightest provocation…

But now, receiving this bottle of perfume makes Naza feel that Xiaozhi is treating her as a normal person, a normal girl.

Although she hasn't used it yet, Naza has a strange feeling that she'll really like it...

"Ash!" Sabrina suddenly called out to Ash without thinking, "Thank you~"

“We’re friends, so giving each other gifts is a normal thing.” Xiao Zhi smiled and shook his head. “Besides, you’ve always taken such good care of me, so I wanted to do something to repay you.”

“Friends…?” Sabrina was lost in thought again; this was something no one had ever said to her before.

She was always alone when she was a child, and after becoming the dojo master, her apprentices were obviously not her friends.

Pokémon might be considered psychic, but during gym battles, that doll would firmly control their minds, forcing them to act like puppets...

Can someone so deeply mired in this predicament still have friends?

This problem deeply troubled Sabrina, and she didn't even dare to think about the reward Ash mentioned later.

She was constantly tormented by her past troubles, and even though she wanted to ask Ash for help, she always felt it wasn't the right time.

...

What could be the knot in Sabrina's heart...?

In the days that followed, Ash kept thinking about what exactly was troubling Sabrina.

He had also asked Yungjila in secret, but she didn't know either.

Kadabra had always slept in the form of Abra, and all its emotions came from Sabrina's influence... It probably knew less about the real Sabrina than Ash did.

"It's probably related to my childhood experiences..."

Ash wandered aimlessly through the gym. He unconsciously came to the hall outside the battle arena and saw the sandbox town displayed in a glass case.

That's where Sabrina stores her dolls. The original trio were once caught there and chased by Sabrina's dolls bouncing balls around their heads.

However, the Sabrina that Ash encountered was very different from the original story, so he never paid attention to this part.

Let's go take a look...

Somewhat curious, Ash shrunk himself to the size of a doll and teleported into the sandbox.

He is now quite skilled at using this level of superpower.

The layout of the buildings in the sandbox vaguely resembles Golden City, but some of the signs look very nostalgic, suggesting that the city used to look like this.

Xiao Zhi walked all the way to the edge of the city and finally found a large villa that looked somewhat familiar.

"Is this Sabrina's childhood home...?" Ash stood in front of the villa, recalling the scene he had seen before.

Young Sabrina, due to her uncontrolled superpowers, turned her own home into ruins with her own hands…

"Hmm... what's this?" Xiao Zhi stopped in surprise as he strolled around to the side of the villa.

A family photo appeared in front of him; it was a picture of Nazha, her family of three when she was a child!

Nazi's parents were both on the show; they were very young then.

At that time, Sabrina had probably not yet come into contact with superpowers; she was a cute girl with a bright smile on her face…

"I understand!"

Upon seeing this photo... or more precisely, the man in the photo, Xiao Zhi suddenly realized!

He finally confirmed that the mysterious person who appeared at the fire scene, and the waveguide signal he had only seen once before, was actually Naz's father!

Sabrina was never a member of the Rockets; her father was!

Great!

Xiao Zhi rubbed his hair in frustration, truly annoyed by his oversight.

Previously, because he was too worried about Gary, and since the other party was just a single episode NPC, Ash completely ignored this person!

Looking back now, that guy was also a superpowered person in the original work. He was even able to teleport the main characters away right under Sabrina's nose, so his strength was obviously extraordinary!

Regarding the incident in Yuhong City, Naz must have learned about her father's plan through some medium—perhaps the doll—which is why she wanted to stop me from going there.

She didn't want to clash with her father, but she also didn't want to help him do bad things, which is why she remained silent and didn't take sides.

Therefore, Nazi's father was unaware that he had gone to Yuhong City, which led to the operation being disrupted by a series of unforeseen circumstances!

This person might be the one who has been bothering Nazja all along... He might have been manipulating Nazja through that doll all along!

As for whether Sabrina has any other unresolved issues... Xiaozhi turned his gaze to the woman in the photo, and a guess began to form in his mind.

In the original story, Sabrina's mother was turned into a doll by her, but Ash searched the sandbox and still couldn't find that aunt.

Whether she has disappeared or something else has happened to her clearly requires further investigation.

Now, Ash only needs to be wary of Sabrina's father!

Recalling the message Xiaolan had sent not long ago, Xiaozhi had already confirmed the other party's next plan.

Silver's chief researcher and the chief designer in charge of the development of the Master Ball is none other than Lijia's father!

Because of Ash, Sabrina's father failed to kidnap Rika, and thus lost his leverage for blackmail.

All he can do now is snatch the master ball!

Chapter 100 Reunion, Xiao Mao's Second Consecutive Kneeling

Two months have passed since Ash became an apprentice at the Goldenrod City Gym.

During this time, Ash seemed completely unhurried, focusing entirely on practicing both magic and martial arts in Saffron City.

His only recent long trip was to Yuhong City... but he hasn't retrieved the Rainbow Badge yet.

However, Ash isn't worried about this. Even if he only has three badges, there are still at least six months until the tournament starts, so he can get one badge a month.

In comparison, focusing on cultivation is more important.

His relentless training not only greatly improved his fighting skills and superpowers, but also made significant progress in the skills of his companions.

Ash even got carried away and dragged Sabrina's Kadabra into training him, as a way of thanking it for helping him train his psychic powers.

These twelve Pokémon have now mastered their own moves and tactics. Some of them have undergone a complete transformation, while the rest can emit white light almost as soon as they move.

The ones that received the biggest boost were undoubtedly Gengar, who was carrying the Always Curse Talisman, and Pikachu, who had two Electric Balls.

Especially the latter, with the increased power of the moves brought by the Electric Ball, coupled with two well-practiced partner moves, Ash is sure that Pikachu can easily defeat everyone below the Elite Four level!

Regardless of whether it's a reverse attribute or not, and no matter how many units the opponent fieldes, the outcome will remain the same.

A 100,000-volt attack with twice the power of a Destructive Ray, and guaranteed to hit without causing any stun—how can you block that?