Pokémon, Ash's art style is off!

"Theoretically speaking, high concentrations of toxins could indeed stimulate Pokémon, thereby increasing their toxicity resistance..."

Xiaoxia: "???"

"I see," Ash crouched down, looking directly at the furball, "How have you been lately?"

"Empty pong!"

The fluffy ball nodded vigorously.

It turned and pointed to the depths of the hall, then gestured a sleeping or eating posture, a happy expression on its face.

"That's good."

Xiao Zhi smiled and patted its head.

The fluffy ball comfortably squinted its compound eyes.

Then it suddenly remembered something, opened its eyes wide, looked at Ash, and pointed to the hall.

"Oh, we are indeed here to challenge the gym!"

Xiao Zhi explained.

"Empty pong!"

The fluffy ball patted its chest, its little paws making a "slap slap" sound.

He had a confident expression that said, "Leave it to me."

He knows the routes here like the back of his hand!

It turned around and waved to the three of them, then trotted forward on its short legs.

The three of them quickly followed.

The fluffy ball led them through a maze of twists and turns, nimbly navigating the seemingly empty hall—

Turn left, turn right, go straight, then turn left again...

Finally, it stopped at a corner.

It looks no different from other places here—white walls, wooden floors.

But the furry ball stretched out its little paw and pressed it on a piece of the floor.

"Click—"

A floorboard silently slid open, revealing the space beneath.

"There's a secret passage too!"

Xiao Zhi was amazed.

"Kongpong~"

The fluffy ball was the first to crawl inside.

The three exchanged a glance and followed without hesitation.

The secret passage was very narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time.

Small oil lamps were lit at intervals on the surrounding walls, their dim yellow light flickering in the narrow space.

I walked about ten meters.

Light appeared ahead.

Maoqiu was the first to emerge, followed by the other three.

Suddenly, everything became clear—

This is a quiet backyard.

The path, paved with bluestone slabs, meanders and twists, with low shrubs and unidentified flowers and grasses planted on both sides.

A small pond was hidden in a corner, where several carp swam leisurely to and fro.

In the center of the courtyard—

A girl was standing with her back to them, muttering something while holding a small notebook.

She was wearing a form-fitting ninja outfit—

He wore a dark blue short jacket, tapered trousers, and bandages wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

Her long purple hair was tied high in a ponytail, the ends of which gleamed in the sunlight.

She has a slender figure, but her posture is exceptionally upright.

"...Ninja Code of Conduct, Number Six: You must enter the battlefield accompanied by a smoke bomb and deliver a cool line..."

Her tone was extremely serious, so serious that she had to pronounce every word clearly, but if you listened carefully, you could hear a slight tremor in the last syllable of her voice.

"...Seventhly, never reveal your emotions; always remain calm..."

She paused, then muttered to herself.

"This is so difficult..."

"Empty pong!"

The little ball barked happily and ran towards her with its short legs. Its short legs clattered as it ran very fast.

Ah Xing didn't turn around, but simply raised her hand and waved it towards the fur ball.

"Shhh - don't make any noise."

Her tone was somewhat tense, as if she were doing something very important.

"It seems a challenger has arrived."

"I need to hurry up and review the ninja entrance speech my dad wrote for me."

Taking a deep breath, Ah Xing raised the small notebook in her hand again.

The corners of the notebook were already curled up, and the cover read "Ultimate Kill! Ninja Lines," indicating that it had been read many times.

The girl stared at the words above, her brows furrowed slightly, her lips moving as she silently recited a few sentences. Then she cleared her throat, straightened her back, and tried to make her voice sound steady and powerful.

"aieeee—Ninja, ninja—"

"..."

She had barely uttered the words when her voice faltered.

The word "ninja" trailed off for a long time, growing weaker and weaker until it finally disappeared completely into the air.

"...No, no, no!"

The girl suddenly shook her head violently.

She slammed the notebook down on her face with a muffled thud—

"How do I pronounce 'aieeee' with that kind of imposing aura like Dad?! Why does it just... just..."

Upon hearing that there was a problem, Xiao Zhi was startled again.

"You have to use your chest to push, not just your throat. Like this—aieeee!"

"Oh, I see."

Ah Xing nodded unconsciously, and was just about to take out her notebook to write it down.

and many more?

Where did the sound come from?

Does he have someone backing him up?

When was it?

Her mind went blank for a moment, and in her excitement, she crushed the smoke bomb in her hand.

"Snapped!"

A cloud of smoke exploded instantly in her hand.

"Cough cough cough-"

The smoke spread rapidly, and Ah Xing coughed violently from the smoke.

She frantically waved her sleeves trying to disperse the smoke, but the more she waved, the bigger the smoke became.

"I see! I see!"

Xiao Zhi nodded.

He watched the girl frantically trying to make a move in the smoke, his tone full of admiration.

"Is this what a ninja's smoke bomb is like?! It's amazing! It comes with its own smoke effect and can even cover its own body!"

138. What? The intelligence was actually true!?

"Pickup!"

Pikachu squatted at Ash's feet.

Hearing his words, she nodded in deep agreement.

To be honest, I really learned a lot.

Aside from a few sounds coming from the smoke at the beginning, you can see that there was no sound after that.

Such skill is truly worthy of a ninja!

Pikachu spoke with a straight face, but the furball next to him was jumping up and down in a panic.

Is it possible that it's not that no sound was made—but that no sound was ever made at all?

Holding a smoke bomb, she took a super-powerful deep drag; Ah Xing was probably really knocked out by the smoke!

Pikachu blinked.

"Pikachu?"

"Did she really faint? I also thought it was some kind of ninjutsu to confuse people?"