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

Chapter 442 The Mysterious Masked Man

"Toriko and Blaziken, use Solar Beam!"

"Depend on--!"

"just--!"

Early in the morning, on the grassy field in the woods, a muscular man was training a tortoise and a chicken rigorously.

Under the sun, several rays of light, varying in size and intermittent, were continuously focused and bombarded onto a rock wall.

Beside the turtle and the chicken, there was a green lizard that seemed to be acting as a coach, holding a twig in its mouth and looking at them with a serious expression.

That's right, it's Ash with his Torkoal, Blaziken, and Sceptile.

After Blaziken evolved and Torkoal was caught yesterday, Ash has been thinking about how to make them play a greater role in his Hoenn team.

First up is Torkoal, whose speed is slow enough to be Ash's starting choice for setting the weather.

With its incredible Speed stat of 2000, Ash should focus on building up its armor, and Torkoal will be unbeatable in any battle for terrain or weather conditions.

Under sunny skies, Fire-type Blaziken and Sceptile, which can use Solar Beam and Photosynthesis, both receive a powerful boost.

As Ash's current top Hoenn champions, they can definitely perform better sweeping tasks with the help of Torkoal.

However, Torkoal and Blaziken are both Fire-type Pokémon, which are weak against Water-type Pokémon.

While Coal Tortoise has strong defense, its stamina is only average.

Not to mention Blaziken, its base stats in HP, Defense, and Special Defense are all quite average.

Although Ash dedicated himself to making each of his Pokémon into a muscle monster, greatly enhancing their resilience.

But type matchups are the fundamental law of the Pokémon world.

If they encounter a skilled user who is adept at using Water-type Pokémon and knows how to stack them, it could be very dangerous.

For example, under normal circumstances, Gary's Blastoise would be no match for Ash's super-strong Charizard.

Currently, Ash's various stats are all around 250, and Charizard, as the main character, can receive a 10% boost to Ash's stats.

This means that the old Charizard's stats are all 25 points higher than those of a regular Charizard of the same level, which should make it quite strong.

However, as is well known, with higher levels and higher values, percentage bonuses are far stronger than fixed value bonuses.

Experienced and skilled trainers like Gary can amplify the power of Pokémon moves several times over by combining various factors such as type, weather, skills, abilities, and items.

In this situation, even a veteran Charizard would be severely injured if hit by two Water Guns from Blastoise.

Of course, if it were a regular Charizard, it would die from just a glancing blow. It's amazing that Ash's Charizard could withstand two solid hits in the rain.

However, Ash is no pushover either; he is also a very good Pokémon trainer.

Others may use various tactics, and so may he.

In addition to his overwhelming strength over other trainers, Ash already possesses many advantages from completing so many missions.

The corresponding attribute skills of badges are enhanced, and the power of various quest rewards is also strengthened.

The items were dazzling, and he had even collected several of Arceus's tablets, whose bonuses were also increased by a percentage.

It's like every Pokémon he has comes with a boost status as soon as it appears.

Others have to go through a lot of trouble to find opportunities on the battlefield so that Pokémon can use boosting moves like Shell Smash or Swords Dance.

Ash's Pokémon can just stand there.

If a trainer of insufficient skill allows Ash to control the rhythm of the attack, the battle will quickly end in a one-sided manner.

However, after carefully counting all the buffs he currently possessed, Xiaozhi discovered that they were all attack-related buffs.

There are almost no defensive buffs.

"But it doesn't matter. Only cowards think about defense. Real men only attack fiercely."

"All the fear stems from insufficient firepower. As long as the attack is successful, everything will be fine!" Ash said.

Ash has already figured out how Torkoal and Blaziken will deal with Water-type Pokémon.

"Why not just teach them to better counter Solar Beam against Water-type Pokémon?"

Perfectly, Torkoal and Blaziken are both dual-wielding fighters with similar Attack and Special Attack stats, allowing them to maximize the power of Solar Beam.

There are no better Fire-type Pokémon than them to learn Solar Beam.

"Good lizard king, show us Solar Beam one more time!"

Ash wasn't very satisfied with the Solar Beams that Torkoal and Blaziken had unleashed earlier, as they weren't perfect.

"You still need to practice more!"

"Ash, is it really necessary to work so hard so early in the morning? Your Pokémon are already so strong—"

Awakened by the continuous explosions, Xiaoyao rubbed her sleepy eyes and groggily walked out of her tent to Xiaozhi's side.

Perhaps because she hadn't slept enough, she had just finished complaining when she pulled Xiaozhi's arm, rested her head on it, and closed her eyes again.

Ash wasn't about to let her get away with it, so he immediately flicked May's white forehead to wake her up.

"May, I'm going to be a Pokémon Master, so my vision can't be limited to just the Pokémon League."

"In the future, I will be facing the Four Heavenly Kings, champions, and even stronger opponents."

"Therefore, my Pokémon are naturally not satisfied with their current strength. Even Pikachu is working hard to train and seek to become stronger."

"If you want to go further, you definitely have to hold yourself to higher standards."

"Instead, I'd say it's you." Ash pinched Haruka's soft, chubby cheeks, making her look at him with her big eyes.

"We'll be arriving in Greenshade Town around noon. Are you ready for the upcoming grand competition?"

"Miss Haruka, you only got one ribbon! You should know that you need five ribbon medals to participate in a grand festival, right?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyao immediately shook her head and broke free from Xiaozhi's large hand.

"Of course! I plan to send out Tailcat for this Grand Contest. This kid just learned a new skill, Blizzard, yesterday. Would you like to take a look?"

Provoked by Ash's words, May, who had regained a bit of her senses, immediately and triumphantly released Skitty.

The kitten was as energetic as ever, jumping and hopping around chasing its own tail as soon as it appeared.

He chased after the car for several laps, and before he even started performing, he almost ran out of energy.

In the end, Xiaoyao had to quickly pick it up to prevent it from spinning itself into a daze.

"Skitty, now's not the time to play."

"Hurry up and use the Blizzard skill you just learned yesterday, and show this muscle man who looks down on people how strong you are!"

Meow~

Under Haruka's expectant gaze, Skitty finally started wagging its big tail, and a gust of cold wind was released as it waved its tail.

The strong wind mixed with fine snow made this move quite impressive in terms of both range and power.

Haruka has really grown up, managing to train Skitty all by herself this time.

However, before Ash could even offer a word of praise, our erudite girl accidentally failed to keep an eye on Skitty.

The energetic kitten, still unleashing its skills, had its attention diverted by a butterfly that happened to fly by.

With a slight turn of its tail, Xiaoyao was immediately terrified.

"Ah, don't touch Cheetah!"

"Meow?"

It was too late to stop it; the blizzard quickly veered off course and, by sheer coincidence, blew onto Torkoal and Blaziken, who were practicing Solar Beam nearby.

"Depend on?"

"just?"

The two Pokémon, who had just finished charging up their energy in their mouths, were startled by the sudden gust of cold wind and fell into chaos.

Then, with a loud bang, Ash and his friends' camp flew into the sky.

"Haruka!"

"They didn't do it on purpose~"

Sunblade Greentown, as its name suggests, is a large town with numerous parks and forests, boasting a beautiful environment.

Meanwhile, Ash and his friends, covered in dust and dirt, finally arrived at the place.

"Ah~, I really didn't expect we'd arrive so quickly." Xiaoyao exclaimed, pretending everything was normal, as she looked at the clear weather.

"I originally thought we'd be walking until noon at the earliest."

However, Xiao Sheng, who looked displeased, didn't want to play along with her pretending to be confused. He pointed at his unreliable older sister and shouted.

"Thanks to whom, sis!"

"The tents were all destroyed and our luggage was torn to pieces—we couldn't stay at the campsite in that state, so we had to keep going!"

Do you know how I felt when I woke up in the middle of the night and found myself flying in mid-air?

At that moment, Xiaoyao quickly covered Xiaosheng's mouth.

"Keep your voice down, Xiaosheng. Don't talk to me like that. How about I take you out for something delicious later?"

"Pah! Don't think you can bribe me like that!"

"Alright, you two, aren't we conspicuous enough already?"

On the town's roads, Ash and his friends, covered in dust and dirt, were walking briskly.

At this moment, all three of them, including Pikachu, were covered in a dusty gray.

Passersby cast strange glances at them, some even thinking they had gone to dig coal that morning.

The shy Xiaoyao blushed as she was stared at.

"Ash, let's hurry up, I need to get to the Pokémon Center to change my clothes."

"Now you know how to be shy?"

Ash glanced down at the map on the navigator again and said.

"Fortunately, we're not far from the Pokémon Center now, we'll be there soon."

"Then I'll finally be able to enjoy the free showers and take a refreshing bath."

Long live free!

Actually, Ash could have bought a new portable outdoor shower from the system shop when he was on the forest path earlier.

They were so close to Greenwood Town at the time, and this trouble was caused by May not keeping a close eye on Skitty. Ash wanted to teach her a lesson.

Of course, the main reason is the price; the muscle man's miserly nature kicked in again.

Just as Ash and his friends were about to run to the Pokémon Center.

Just then, at the park gate in front of them, a serious-looking green-haired man hurriedly ran out, carrying a Pokémon.

Xiao Zhi recognized him at a glance and even greeted him.

"Shun!"

The green-haired guy on the other side was also stunned, and then turned to look at Ash and his friends in surprise.

"It's you guys—what's with this outfit?"

"Well, there was a little accident on the way here, haha." Xiaoyao scratched her head sheepishly.

She didn't want to delve any further into the matter and quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Shun, are you here also to participate in the Grand Contest in Greenshade Town?"

"Of course, don't compare yourself to me. Every step I take is carefully planned, unlike someone who always makes decisions on a whim."

"Hehe, that's true. My sister only plans ahead when looking for restaurants."

"A narrow victory!"

Xiao Shun flicked his bangs, his tone as arrogant as ever, but then he suddenly remembered something, and his expression turned forlorn as he changed the subject.

"But this time, I'm planning to withdraw from the competition. Congratulations, Xiaoyao, you'll have one less competitor."

"what?"

Shun is definitely a formidable rival to Haruka, so his withdrawal from this Grand Festival is certainly good news for her.

Judging from Green Hair's past fondness for the Grand Contest, he is not someone who would make such a decision easily.

"Why did you withdraw from the competition, Shun?"

Not only was May incredulous, but Ash and the others also looked at the green-haired creature with bewildered expressions.

Suddenly, Ash and his friends realized that the Pokémon that Shun was holding in his arms was actually his signature Rosaline.

At this moment, it looked haggard and covered in wounds, appearing even more disheveled than Ash and the others.

Green Hair looked grim and silently turned away.

"Hmph, just now in this park, I accepted a fancy battle invitation from a masked Coordinator."

"In the end—I lost. His wandering night spirit was both beautiful and powerful. There are no excuses for defeat."

"Given Poison Rose's current injuries, she definitely won't be able to fully recover before the tournament starts tomorrow."

"So for the sake of Poison Rose's health, I'm withdrawing from tomorrow's Grand Contest."

"By the way, that guy looks like he's going to participate in this Grand Contest too. Good luck, Haruka."

After saying that, he immediately ran towards the Pokémon Center, leaving May and the others puzzled.

"A Coordinator wearing a mask?"

Ash and his friends' curiosity has now been piqued by the little green hair.

The three exchanged a glance, immediately understanding each other, and walked into the park in unison.

Haruka knows best what Green Hair's strength is like.

If that masked man in the park really does defeat Shun in the Grand Contest, he will definitely be a formidable opponent for Haruka in this Grand Contest. She definitely needs to go and see him beforehand.

When they entered the park, the masked man was still there.

He took out a pen and carefully wrote something down in a small notebook.

The man was dressed in a black tuxedo, wearing a top black hat, and also had a black cloak draped over his back.

What's most striking is that he's wearing a mask that looks remarkably like a wandering night spirit.

He instantly sensed Ash and his friends approaching and leaped up from the spot, waving his cape.

He jumped straight to the top of the children's climbing ladder in the park, and a strong wind suddenly arose behind him.

"Hahaha, I sense the aura of a powerful being. Is any of you a Coordinator?"

"This masked messenger has decided to claim the spoils of victory in this Green Field Tournament."

"If you're not convinced, then accept my challenge!"

, "7

"So cringey."

"He's handsome!"