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

After all, no one else has a ring like his. If they tried to do it like him, they would probably ruin themselves first.

"It's precisely because Ash's method is unreplicable that I think he's so amazing," Professor Birch said with emotion. "It proves that even the same Pokémon will grow very differently depending on the environment it lives in... I came here to study how different habitats affect Pokémon."

As he spoke, he took out two Poké Balls.

Upon opening, a pair of super-powered babies dressed in white and sporting green hair appeared before everyone.

"This is..." "Is that Ralts?"

Haruka and Rukia were both drawn to the spotlight.

This is an extremely rare Pokémon. Although it is famous in Hoenn and has many trainers, wild individuals are very difficult to find!

Unexpectedly, I saw two of them here at once.

Moreover, the two seem to have very different personalities. In this unfamiliar environment, one of the Ralts trembled slightly and hugged its shoulders with both hands to protect its body.

The other one stood upright with its arms outstretched, and a pair of red horns on its head trembled slightly, clearly alert to its surroundings.

“These two Ralts come from different places,” Professor Birch explained. “The one that’s a bit timid was found in Hoenn; while the other one was found near the paulownia forest in Johto.”

"Jokyo...does it have Ralts there too?" Haruka asked in surprise.

"It was only recently discovered, and I think it's because trainers from different regions are communicating more frequently, which has artificially facilitated the spread of this habitat," Dr. Birch speculated.

That's certainly the case; the habitats of wild Pokémon are often determined by humans.

For example, when humans expand cities and encroach on forests, some Pokémon will start wandering in the corners of the city.

Trainers who travel to various regions may introduce exotic species into the local area for various reasons such as releasing animals or incubating eggs.

Ash's League did indeed enact a law to release animals, but such matters cannot be absolutely controlled.

All the League can do now is keep wild Pokémon in relatively suitable environments; it cannot guarantee that every wild Pokémon will be returned to its original habitat.

“I’ve been discussing this with Professor Oak, trying to figure out how these two Ralts would differ in their growth if we continued to breed them,” Professor Birch continued, her expression becoming somewhat troubled. “I originally wanted Yuuki to try breeding them, but my son wouldn’t agree…”

Ash understands this perfectly. Yuuki is a typical muscle enthusiast and size fanatic, so he won't be interested in the Ralts family.

Swampert, Aggron—his favorite Pokémon are all of this style; otherwise, he wouldn't have picked out Buzzwole from among a group of Ultra Beasts at a glance.

On a side note, one of the champions in Unova chose pheromones back then…

"How about this, May and Rukia each take charge of one," Professor Oak suddenly suggested. "They are both Coordinators and are about to start the Kanto Grand Festival, so they can train them while traveling."

"We're breeding Ralts?" *2

The surprise came so suddenly that both Haruka and Rukia were completely bewildered.

That's a rare Psychic-type Pokémon, and you just... handed it over to them?!

"I think this is a good idea, you guys should give it a try, go and choose one yourselves," Ash urged slightly.

Two silly girls, this is a super big pie falling from the sky, why don't you hurry up and catch it?

“In that case… I’ll choose the one from Johto.” Haruka made the decision first. “It looks quite energetic, and I used to move out of Johto, so we’ll definitely get along well.”

"Leave this Hoenn to me. I will definitely raise it to be the most authentic Hoenn environment!" Rukia also made her choice.

The two girls smiled at each other and simultaneously reached out their hands to the little cutie in front of them.

"Ralts, nice to meet you~" *2

Seeing this, the two little ones also tentatively raised their arms and lightly touched the center of the two girls' palms.

In this way, everything is fine.

Just as everyone was preparing to leave the research institute, another incident occurred.

"Li~" The little guy from before actually chased her all the way to the door, grabbing Nemo's ankle with his little paws.

When the girl lowered her head, it immediately began to gesture anxiously, and finally breathed out a ball of flame from its nostrils.

"Ha, little guy, you don't actually want to fight me to save face, do you?" Nemo chuckled as she squatted down and patted the little dragon's head.

"It has probably decided on its own trainer, so why don't you take it with you?" Professor Oak said with a smile.

"Really?!" Nemo was also filled with surprise and joy.

"Of course, although the starter Pokémon are chosen by the trainer, their own wishes are also important." Professor Oak nodded. "I'll have Tracey get Charmander's Poké Ball. As for the Pokédex... I won't give it to you. Ash's Porygon phone will be more useful."

“No need. As for a phone, I have Rotom… uh.” Nemo casually agreed, pulling a phone possessed by Rotom from her pocket… but her movements and expression suddenly froze.

It was only then that she remembered that, besides being a formidable champion, Ash was also her family's business rival...

Although it was only her father who thought so.

Chapter 971 Return to Dragon Island

The trip to Oak's lab ended a little awkwardly at the end.

Of course, Nemo was just overthinking it; Ash didn't mind at all.

Even if he and Rotom Mobile are barely considered business competitors, it has nothing to do with Nemo, the pampered second daughter of the family.

His relationship with Nemo is currently limited to that of compatible rivals who have the opportunity to spar frequently.

As for the Rotom mobile phone itself, Ash's attitude has never changed—he wouldn't do it himself, but he doesn't mind if others did.

Mass breeding of a particular Pokémon might be a bit inappropriate, but it's not illegal... especially since it's in Padia, which has absolutely nothing to do with Ash.

Incidentally, Xiao Lan mentioned to him that Dr. Akihabara was indeed upgrading the 3D Dragon phone's system.

Just like evolution, by adding upgrade data to the main program, the phone's system will be upgraded to the 3D Dragon II version, with more powerful functions.

Overall, its performance is better than Nemo's current phone, the Rotom. It remains to be seen whether her company will continue to upgrade it.

Meanwhile, the 3D Dragon Unit 1 and Unit 0, which had been residing in Lan Mao's and Lan Mao's phones, have evolved into the genuine 3D Dragon II, and will be able to better cooperate with the management spirit to cause trouble in the future.

...

On the third day after returning to Pallet Town, Ash's next journey had to be put on the agenda... but before that, he had to take care of something important.

"Let's go to Dragon Island." Leaving May and the others to prepare and tour Pallet Town, Ash took Serena and Sienna and flew to the sea off Kanto.

On the vast ocean, Ash gazed into the distance from the back of Dragonite and soon spotted the distinctive rocky mountain in the sea.

Standing alone in the water, it looks like a large fox sitting cross-legged...

And there really was a fox up there!

"Teacher, I've come to see you!" Xiao Zhi shouted, waving from afar.

"Hey, isn't this my good disciple? What brings you to visit your teacher today?" The laughter from the ancient Hu region echoed happily from the sea ahead.

It had indeed been a while since it had seen Ash. During the last Alola crisis, Ash had transferred almost all the Dragonite from the island, but he hadn't brought it, the Dragonite, or the giant Jigglypuff.

It still harbors some resentment about this...

"Hey kid, what happened last time... wait a minute!" The giant Alakazam immediately sensed something was wrong as soon as it saw Ash. "What's going on with your psychic powers? Why are they so severely depleted?!"

"It's a long story, but it's not all bad news." Afraid of worrying his teacher, Xiaozhi quickly explained the whole situation.

"You can still laugh?" the giant Alakazam scolded irritably. "You almost lost all your superpowers... Do you know that if it had plundered any more ruthlessly, your mental world might have been torn apart, and you might have even lost your life!"

"Oh, teacher, I'm fine." Xiao Zhi quickly reassured and comforted him.

“If something really happened, it would be too late! You should have…” Hu Di paused, then didn’t finish his sentence.

Ash didn't call these ancient Pokémon by name because he was worried that if they fought, their power would be greatly depleted, and they would become extremely weak...

Even though that's the logic, the ancient Hun region still couldn't help but feel frustrated.

After these lucky survivors returned to their hometown, is there only one path left for them: to live a life of idleness and waiting for death?

"Let's not talk about that now, teacher. Can you call Dragonite and the others over? I've come here on important business." Ash said eagerly, "I've found a way to temporarily make up for some of your energy depletion."

"Really?" The giant Alakazam was stunned for a moment. Looking at Ash's incredibly sincere gaze, it couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions.

At first, it did take on this apprentice out of calculation, but Xiao Zhi always treated it with great respect, and it gradually regarded the other party as a junior it truly cared about.

Unexpectedly, even while he was running around outside, he was still thinking about the difficulties these old guys were facing...

Alakazam sent a signal amidst its emotions, and a giant Dragonite quickly crossed the sea, accompanied by an ancient Jigglypuff that floated over as a balloon.

A while later, a giant stinging jellyfish also emerged from the sea.

As soon as he saw the other person, Xiaozhi couldn't help but frown.

Sure enough, these people weren't having an easy time either.

His own teacher, as well as Dragonite and Jigglypuff, all suffered from varying degrees of depletion, and their power was much weaker than before.

The most tragic case is the stinging jellyfish, whose power was originally obtained by chance, and now it has almost been completely lost, leaving only a huge empty shell.

"Thank goodness we got back in time... Serena, please." Ash thought to himself with relief, then turned to look at the girl who had accompanied him.

"Yveltal, come out!" Serena also sent out Y God.

The first thing they need to deal with on Dragonite Island is that ancient Gengar!

The seal that Alakazam had previously set up was reopened, and the ancient Gengar had just revealed itself when a jet of dark energy shot directly into it!

Deathwing!

Before it could even regain consciousness, the ancient Gengar turned into a stone and was then thrown back into the seal.