Ash, with his invincible physical body, wants to become a Pokémon Master.

Chapter 362 An Unexpected Encounter

Two days later, Ash and his friends finally emerged from the forest and arrived at the next town, Rinne City.

This was a big city they hadn't visited in a long time, and Xiaoyao was incredibly excited as soon as she saw the city's outline.

"Ah, what a wonderful flavor! This is the taste of the city!"

"People like me who grew up in the city should definitely breathe this kind of air more often."

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"Okay, so next up is shopping, going to a restaurant, and then ————"

"Wait a minute, May. We should go to the Pokémon Center first, and we need to buy some medicine and food."

Stopping the girl who was about to rush out, Xiao Zhi immediately pulled up the city map from the navigator and started looking for suitable shops.

But then Haruka came up to him with a smile and hugged Ash's arm.

"Wow, I didn't know the navigator had this function! That's great!"

"Let's hurry to the nearest shopping mall; I've already found out which restaurant is the best there!"

"Xiaoyao, did you not hear a thing I just said?"

Not only Satoshi, but also Max had objections.

"No, sister, I want to go find Pokémon. There are Pokémon in the city too. Going shopping with you is a waste of time!"

"Oh right, there might be some Pokémon in the city that are rarely seen in the wild."

"No, let's go to the restaurant first!" Xiaoyao immediately leaned over and pulled Xiaozhi towards her.

That soft, marshmallow-like touch unleashed an evil power, instantly drawing Ash's attention away. May is really getting better and better at using her advantages to persuade Ash.

[Ding! A new side quest, "The Soft and Cuddly Battle," has been triggered: Go on a date with Haruka to increase her affection level! Don't you want to bury your head in that mysterious place and enjoy yourself?]

[Rewards: Alliance Coins +2000; Free Attribute Points +2; Sensory Enhancement Potion +1 (Makes her extremely sensitive!)]

But Victory isn't without a secret weapon: "Let's go find some Pokémon!"

"Before I came here, I heard that someone had caught a wild Pokémon with a unique color!"

"What? A Pokémon with an unusual color? It might be a Shiny Pokémon!"

[Ding! A new side quest has been triggered: "A Huge Number of Pokémon Appears!": Head to the city's Pokémon habitat to find Shiny Pokémon!]

[Rewards: 2000 League Coins; 2 Free Attribute Points; 1 Valley Attraction Team (highly attractive to land-based Pokémon)]

A flashy move is quite rare, so Ash leaned slightly towards a small victory.

"Rare Pokémon have been around for so long, they've probably already been caught by someone else, but the restaurant won't move, Ash!"

"A rare Pokémon, Ash!"

Being dragged around by the siblings has become a new part of Xiao Zhi's daily life.

Finally, it was when May accidentally pulled Pikachu's tail while pulling that everyone got shocked and things calmed down.

"Pikachu!!!"

"Oh dear, well then—let's go eat at the restaurant May mentioned first, and then go find the Pokémon Max mentioned."

""

"Okay~, I agree~" ×2

Amidst the astonished gaze of a mysterious man in sunglasses, the three black charcoal foals led Pikachu towards the restaurant.

Seed bomb—

"We should go shopping at cute stores after dinner!"

As soon as they came out of the restaurant, Xiaoyao used her signature cuteness to ask Xiaozhi to go shopping with her.

But Ash won't spoil her forever.

"May, who was it that said they were determined to become a Coordinator Trainer?"

"You only have one Pokémon yet!"

"Well----"

"That's right, sister. You can't become a Pokémon Coordinator if you only have one Pokémon."

At this moment, Xiao Sheng also joined in to finish off the opponent.

"And that Pokémon with the unusual color is said to be small in size by witnesses. It might just be the cute type of Pokémon you like."

"Cute Pokémon—Alright, let's get going!"

At this point, Xiaoyao finally cheered up.

However, she hadn't walked more than a few steps when her small, delicate ears suddenly twitched, and she immediately ran to a pair of passersby who were talking.

Passerby A: "What? Cursed?"

Passerby B: "Yeah, don't you know? Everyone in the city's been talking about this lately—"

"Excuse me, what kind of curse are you talking about?"

"Hey, sister!" Xiao Sheng was still worried that it was rude of her sister to suddenly interrupt.

But by this time, Xiaoyao had already won over the passerby's heart with her beautiful face and warm, cheerful smile, and the other person naturally became friends with her.

"Here's the thing, at the end of this street, there's an old mansion called the Green Mansion."

"And then, and then what?"

"Not long ago, construction started there. They said they were going to demolish the mansion and the courtyard together to build a new residential area."

"But then strange problems started to occur one after another. Even though no one had lived there for a long time, passersby could still hear strange walking sounds and eerie screams coming from inside."

"New footprints will suddenly appear in places where no one ever walks in the corridor; workers entering the mansion will suddenly fall into a painful coma and wake up remembering nothing."

"Everyone says that mansion must be cursed by a vengeful spirit, and we must never go near it."

As soon as she finished speaking, the passerby suddenly felt a chill in her heart and quickly left with her companion, leaving Xiaoyao deep in thought.

"So that's how it is, it's a cursed house."

"Wow, there are such strange tales in this city! Now that May's finished gossiping, let's hurry up and go find some Pokémon."

"What are you talking about, Ash? It's rare to encounter something so interesting, of course we should go explore it!"

"what?"

Because Xiaoxia used to be terrified of ghosts and monsters, Xiaozhi instinctively wanted to avoid the house when he heard about it being a haunted house.

Ash is still a little confused when May says she wants to go on an adventure.

"Didn't you say before that Pokémon in the city are often hidden in forgotten corners?"

"Maybe the Pokémon we're looking for is inside that big mansion!"

At this moment, Xiaoyao excitedly made a camera lens shape with her hands and walked to the front of the line.

"Haruka's expedition team is on the move, let's go go go!"

"How childish, sister."

"Yeah, it's okay, isn't it cute?"

Ash tossed his hair and transformed into his handsome form, then spun into the arena with Pikachu.

"So, Captain Haruka, where are we going next?"

"Pika, Pika pika".

A bright smile immediately bloomed on Xiaoyao's face.

[Ding! Xiaoyao: Affection +2]

"Then of course we'll head towards the Green Pavilion first!"

She enthusiastically led the way, and Xiao Zhi obligingly played along, and they all happily headed towards the end of the street.

At that moment, a mysterious man wearing sunglasses, completely covered up from head to toe, quietly followed them.

The street was long, and the further they went into it, the fewer people they saw. Finally, they arrived in front of the abandoned, haunted house.

This large house occupies a considerable area, but it looks quite dilapidated and old.

The courtyard was also planted with lush trees, but it seemed to have been neglected for too long, so it was overgrown with weeds.

"Ah, it really is eerie, like dark energy would come out even in broad daylight—" Xiao Sheng quickly observed the messy footprints at the door.

"It looks like a lot of people have been here recently."

"What does it matter? Let's go in quickly, there must be some secret waiting for us to discover inside!"

"Yes, Xiaoyao is right, there really is something in here."

"Ah, Ash, don't scare me."

Unexpectedly, the person who was afraid of ghosts became Xiao Sheng.

"Don't worry, Max, it's not a ghost, it's a Pokémon." Ash just used his Aura Sensor to check.

Surprisingly, we found several little creatures moving around inside. It turns out that Xiaoyao was right; there really are wild Pokémon living here.

However, just as May and the others were about to enter the yard, Ash suddenly stopped them.

"What's wrong, Ash? Aren't you going inside?"

"There are a lot of Pokémon in that house, and there might be a battle later. I'm worried that I might forget to keep an eye on your safety, so we need to eliminate any risks in advance."

"Hey, miss, you've been following us all this way. Is there something you need?"

"That lady hiding behind the old house, wearing a baseball cap, a brown trench coat, and black sunglasses, wrapped up like a rice dumpling!"

""

Hearing such a detailed description from Xiaozhi, the follower finally realized that he had really been discovered, and could only awkwardly come out from behind the wall.

"You're really something. I thought my years of experience would make my tracking foolproof, but I didn't expect you to find out."

"Oh, so someone was following us the whole time!" Xiaoyao hadn't noticed at all.

Why are you following us?

"Well—"

The follower suddenly glanced around furtively, and after confirming that there were no people around, quickly pulled off his coat.

With a bang, smoke and petals suddenly appeared.

While Xiaozhi and the others were still in surprise, a pretty girl with light blue hair, wearing a light blue shorts skirt and a playful smile walked out with light steps.

"Sparkling~! Spinning around~? A miraculous encounter, the dreamlike miracle☆Rukia has arrived!"

"What?! It's Rukia!"

"Xiaosheng, is she famous?" Xiaozhi was still a little confused.

"Please, Ash, Lucia is a super popular idol here!" Max incredulously pulled out a Lucia poster from the Navigator app and showed it to Ash.

"She is known as Ryuhime by fans, and together with her uncle Mr. Mikuri, she is considered a role model for promoting the Grand Contest."

"Wow, she's so amazing."

As expected, May, who had blocked Pokémon news, knew just as much as Max, who needed to brag to his friends.

"All I know is that she's a regular on fashion magazines, and the accessories she recommends are always adorable."

"Thank you for the compliment. I am Rukia, the idol of the Pokémon Contest!"

"Hey girl over there, I accept your face. Do you know about the Grand Contest?"

"Huh, me?" Haruka looked around and realized that besides Rukia, she was the only other girl there.

"That's right, it's you, Haruka, the cute little beauty. Would you be interested in participating in the Grand Contest?"

"Wow, how did you know my name!"

"Hmph, that's the secret of pretty idol girls."

Of course, it's because Rukia had been following them all along and had already overheard their names.

"Xiaoyao, you haven't answered my question yet."

"Yes, of course I know about Pokémon Contests, and I've already decided to become a Pokémon Coordinator and pursue that path!"

"Really? That's wonderful!" Rukia immediately hopped over like a little rabbit, took Haruka's hand, and shook it happily.

"My uncle and I are both dedicated to promoting the glamour contest, and I think you definitely have the potential to become a great star!"

"Is that so~"

Xiaoyao was a little embarrassed by the compliments; it was truly rare to meet a girl as lively as her.

"But wait a minute, you, such a big idol, are following us just to try and persuade Haruka to participate in the Grand Contest?"

Xiao Zhi couldn't quite believe it.

At that moment, Rukia immediately reached out and created a fragrant breeze, then placed her white fingers on Ash's lips.

"Hey there, this awesome, handsome, muscular guy, please be patient."

"Discovering children with potential is only one of my goals; the real reason is that I'm currently experiencing a plateau in my own abilities."

"Traveling around to gather inspiration for performances at glamour shows."

"Getting inspiration?"

"That's right, traveling around the Hoenn region in disguise to relax and discover interesting people and things—don't you think that's a wonderful thing?"

Ryukia swayed gracefully to Pikachu's side, picked it up, and then rubbed her face against its cute belly.

"Pikachu~?"

"Ah, this is it! This Pikachu is absolutely outstanding in every way—its size, fur color, vocalizations, and even the lightning it unleashes!"

"I was terrified by the power of the lightning it unleashed at the main gate of Rin Shin City."

"But what surprises me even more is you guys!" Ryukia's sharp eyes quickly swept over Ash and the others.

"After being hit by such a powerful lightning bolt, you were able to walk around freely as if nothing had happened, without feeling any discomfort whatsoever."

"You guys are definitely special, especially you, Ash. I knew right then and there that I'd finally found someone interesting!"

"That's why I'm following you, wanting to see what adventures you have in store. So please, when you go exploring the haunted house next time, okay? I won't hold you back!"

Rukia launched a dazzling, adorable attack on Ash, leaving Ash hesitant.

"Ah, this—"

"No problem, let Rukia come along too."

"Yeah, Ash, it's good to have one more person in this gloomy house."

Just as Ash was about to speak, a small creature that looked like a mushroom suddenly darted out from the bushes by the door.

They ran quickly, passing through the broken glass windows and entering the house.

"Ah, a Pokémon with a unique color has appeared!"

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