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

Chapter 495 Feng and Nan

Ash initially thought the blue-haired mature woman was the Gym Leader of Mossdeep City, but unfortunately, he found out after asking that she wasn't.

"If you're looking for the Green Ridge Gym Leader, I think they should be at the Space Center right now."

"should?"

"It's very likely, but I'm not sure exactly where."

After finishing speaking quickly, the other person slammed the gym door shut and ran off into the distance, leaving Ash looking dejected.

"Are you kidding me? I rarely find a trainer to battle right away when I arrive at the gym. Is this some kind of curse?"

"That kind of thing won't exist."

Seeing that the gym was closed anyway, May took Ash and Max's hands and was about to lead them to the shopping street she had been longing for, and her mental fatigue was swept away.

However, Xiao Sheng suddenly stopped.

"Wait a minute, sister! The news recently mentioned that the Sunflower Monster rocket is launching soon. Shall we go watch it launch?"

"Didn't we already see a rocket launch in Yinyu City?" Haruka didn't want to go.

"That's different. Back then, we were just sitting in the command center and couldn't see anything."

"That launch site was built in an emergency to deal with a meteorite crisis, and calling the surrounding facilities rough would be an understatement."

"I want to see a properly functioning rocket launch site! Only Lilycove City and Mossdeep City in the entire Hoenn region have them; if I miss it, I'll never see one again!"

Seeing Xiao Sheng rolling around on the ground and acting spoiled, Xiao Yao sighed.

"Alright, we'll go as long as Ash agrees."

Upon hearing this, Xiaosheng immediately jumped up and ran to Xiaozhi, looking at him with his big, watery eyes, even though he was nearsighted.

"Ash~"

"—Let me make this clear first, we're not going to watch the rocket launch, we're just going to find the Gym Leader."

"Great! Anyway, you'll definitely be interested in rocket launches, Ash, so it doesn't matter as long as I can go."

"How could that be? What do you take me for?"

Ash Ketchum is a man who has personally ridden a rocket into space, so he wouldn't be interested in an ordinary rocket launch.

Then, as soon as he arrived at the Green Ridge Space Launch Center, he was immediately attracted by the things there, just like Xiao Sheng.

Wow, so many facilities!

"Of course, this is what a proper space center should be like."

After skillfully guiding Ash and May through the Trainer Pokédex, Max swaggered inside.

Any organization affiliated with the Pokémon League can enter for free by virtue of being a Pokémon Trainer.

Led by Xiao Sheng, the group passed smoothly through the hall and room after room until they arrived at the astronaut training room, the best spot to watch the rocket launch.

During his visit, Xiao Zhi was amazed by all the novel items in the space center.

The launch site in Inyu City was built with the primary goal of being sturdy and durable, and only the necessary facilities were retained.

After all, it's meant to be used to deal with a major meteorite crisis. If it's built too luxuriously, and the plan fails and the spaceport gets destroyed, wouldn't that result in maximum losses?

Therefore, Ash has never actually visited any of Hoenn's space centers.

No, it's more accurate to say that he has never seriously visited a space center in both of his lifetimes.

This was truly an eye-opening experience.

"It turns out that the center has more than just rockets; the astronaut training ground alone has so much stuff."

Ash arrived at a zero-gravity walking trainer that simulated the surface of the moon and carefully touched the handles on it.

Then he jumped up with Pikachu and experienced it for himself, and it really was not much different from wandering in space.

"High-tech! Pikachu running in the sunset reminds me of my lost youth!"

"Pikachu, Pikachu!" (Me too!)

"It's the middle of the day! Ash, hurry up and come down with Pikachu to find the Gym Leader at Mossdeep City! I want to play too!"

"No rush."

"Ah~!"

Just as Ash was rudely fighting with Max for the play equipment, May suddenly noticed that there was a training field behind a few glass windows in the corner of the training room.

"Ash, Max, look! There are people battling here!"

"What, inside the space center?"

Ash and his friends immediately ran over and pressed themselves against the glass window with May to watch.

There was actually a closed battle arena with a blue theme inside that room.

Among them, a Sun Rock and a Moon Stone are engaged in a fierce battle.

The two Pokémon darted and weaved within the grid space, unleashing a continuous barrage of attack beams.

Both the Sun Rock and the Moon Stone are quite powerful.

The trainers who command them are two boys who look extremely similar and wear the same uniform.

The young boy and girl were both focused intently on the battlefield.

After the Sun Rock was blasted open by the Moonstone, the boy inside shouted.

"Sun Rock, bathed in blazing sunlight!"

At that moment, the girl opposite him immediately smiled.

"Hmph, Feng, this is where your immaturity lies."

"Solar Blaze takes a long time to charge up and fire, so the timing of its use is crucial to a trainer's skill. You're far from good enough."

"Moonstone, Freeze Ray!"

The crescent-shaped Pokémon instantly fired an icy blue beam from its pointed mouth, shooting straight towards the center of Solrock.

The Sunrock didn't even have a chance to dodge; the beam of light overhead was still gathering power, but the entire Pokémon had already been frozen into an ice sculpture.

It quickly rolled over in mid-air, losing its ability to fight.

"Ah, Sun Rock."

Seeing this, the boy named Feng had no choice but to quickly recall his Pokémon.

"Damn it, we were so close just now! If we hadn't been hit by the impact earlier, the solar rock would have been able to absorb enough solar energy!"

The boy seemed very unwilling to accept his narrow defeat, but at that moment the girl opposite him revealed the truth in a single sentence.

"When it comes to trainer command, you're not just a little bit lacking, you're way behind me. I won again this time, I don't even know how many consecutive wins I've had."

"Nan, don't get too cocky! You fierce, dinosaur-like woman, I will definitely defeat you!"

The girl's eyebrows twitched. "How dare you say your cutest older sister is a dinosaur—"

After the Pokémon battle, they soon faced off in a melee between trainers.

Just then, Ash and his friends opened the door to the room and walked in.

Before they could even say hello, they were instantly lifted into the air, feeling weightless.

Seeing this, Feng and Nan immediately stopped arguing and came to Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng's side to help them steady their bodies, which were spinning around in panic.

Ash doesn't need that. He's experienced in weightlessness and can fly. Floating in mid-air makes him feel like he's home.

However, after realizing that this was actually a weightless but not vacuum environment, he immediately became interested.

"Interesting. This weightlessness was created by Libra using her telekinesis, right?"

"That's right, this is the most perfect and realistic simulation of space. It would take at least ten Libra puppets to achieve this. It's amazing that you could tell the difference on your first visit!"

After helping May regain her balance, Nan immediately went to Ash's side out of curiosity.

"Your balance is really good in zero gravity."

"Thank you for the compliment, because I go to space often."

"?"

"He wasn't lying. Back in Lilycove City, he took Pikachu and flew into space in a rocket all by himself." May leaned on Ash's shoulder, her head still spinning from the swaying.

"Really? That's amazing!"

At that moment, Maple looked at Ash with admiration.

"I usually only play on simulators in the control room; I've never been to space. Can you tell me what it's like in space?"

"Feng, don't start asking a bunch of questions to a guest you're meeting for the first time!"

Among the twins, the older sister was clearly the more dominant one. As soon as she spoke, Feng immediately pouted and flew to the side.

"What the hell, Nan, she was only born a few minutes before me, but she acts like an older sister every day."

At that moment, Xiao Zhi immediately recognized their identities from their names and exclaimed excitedly.

"You two are the gym leaders of Greenmots Gym, Maple and Minami, right?"

"I'm Ash from Pallet Town, and I've come here today specifically to challenge the Mossdeep Gym. Please accept my challenge!"

Upon hearing this, Nan's mouth gaped slightly; she hadn't expected that a challenger would still come all the way here today.

"Does it have to be a match now? Can't we wait until after the rocket launch?"

"Sure, sure." Xiao Zhi didn't have any objections, after all, the rocket launch time wasn't far off.

"But why?"

"Well, our father is the director of this space research institute, and the astronaut who will be piloting the Sunflower Monster into space today. We're here to see him off."

"Our dad is one of the most amazing astronauts in Hoenn! His purpose in going into space this time is to investigate the Pokémon that live in space!"

"Like sun rock and moonstone."

"That's right!"

No wonder they can freely use the Libra doll at the space center here; it turns out it's the director's child.

With his own children serving as the city's Gym Leader, and himself being the director of one of Hoenn's largest space research institutes, the twins' father might be quite a formidable figure.

It's only natural for Xiaozhi to want to see his father off first, so he naturally wouldn't have any objections.

They immediately agreed and arranged to hold the gym challenge immediately after the rocket launch.

Maple and Nan could then give Ash and the others a proper tour of the research institute.

"Rocket launch is a very delicate project. Every launch cannot tolerate the slightest carelessness. All steps need to be checked repeatedly to eliminate potential problems."

"But even with such careful precautions, accidents still happen from time to time."

"However, our dad's research institute has maintained a 99% launch success rate all year round, which is the best in Hoenn, so there's absolutely no problem."

After touring the area, Nan led everyone back to the huge floor-to-ceiling window of the training room and introduced the launch pad in the center of the plaza to Ash and the others.

"My dream is to one day land on a space station and build a dojo there."

"What an amazing dream, to build a dojo in space!"

If such a gym really existed, Ash would definitely challenge it.

"But is a 99% launch success rate really okay?" Xiaoyao wasn't really trusting of anything that wasn't 100% certain.

"I feel like the more confident I am, the more likely something unexpected will happen."

"Sister, if you don't jinx it at a time like this, no one will think you're mute."

"Haha, nothing is absolutely foolproof, but with everyone at the research institute conducting repeated and meticulous checks, the probability of an accident is extremely low. The launch will definitely be a success!"

Even though Xiaoyao said that, Feng and Nan were still full of confidence.

Xiao Zhi and his friends also sent their best wishes for the rocket launch.

However, at this moment, Xiaozhi seemed to detect two rather discordant figures quietly approaching the rocket launch pad.

"Hmm, why is it them?"

"A mental leap forward, Amazon? Do we really have to do this?"

"Of course, that goes without saying!"

Below the rocket launch pad, two figures in spacesuits were furtively trying to touch the rocket.

These two are none other than the familiar Amado and Kosaburo.

Unexpectedly, these two also happened to arrive here, and came up with a similarly wicked idea.

No wonder they're considered mortal enemies of Musashi and Kojiro; they're always on the same wavelength.

"Hey, speaking of the Rockets, how can we not mention them!"

"If we steal this rocket, equipped with the most advanced technology in the Hoenn region, and present it to Boss Giovanni!"

"He'll definitely praise us highly, and we'll be promoted like rockets!"

"It's Kosaburo! Is it really going to happen? I feel like it's highly unlikely."

"Just do it!"

There was nothing he could do; after all, Yamato was the team leader, so Kosaburo could only silently follow behind him.

However, just as they evaded layers of surveillance and all ground crew, and were about to successfully sneak into the cockpit before the rocket launch—

Several long tentacles suddenly touched their shoulders.

"Wait a minute, Yamado, I'm almost done picking the lock."

"I didn't touch you!"

"Oh, who was that who just touched my shoulder?"

The two of them froze and turned their heads, only to see an alien face right in front of their helmets.

"Ah, what is this thing!"

"Beep, beep!" (Warning sound)

Amado and Kosaburo nervously pulled out their Poké Balls, ready to fight, but at that moment the booster under the rocket ignited.

Seeing this, Deoxys used his telekinesis to send them flying.

"What, what—what's going on?"

"Who am I? Where am I? What are we supposed to do? —"

"Ugh, what a horrible feeling!" ×2