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

"Skimmy belongs to the latter category. As long as you use a Moon Stone on it, it can evolve into Cheshire Cat."

Upon hearing Ash's words, May immediately took out her Pokédex and began looking up information about Elegant Cat.

At this moment, the second son—no, the younger brother, Xiaosheng, who had been at a disadvantage in the sibling battle earlier, spoke up.

Although he was bruised and battered, it didn't stop him from agreeing with Ash's suggestion.

"Sister, I think Xiaozhi's suggestion is great!"

"The biggest problem with the Skitty right now is that it's too much fun. It's lively, active, and still in the mischievous stage like a child."

"If we can evolve it into an elegant cat, maybe it will become a bit more mature."

Some Pokémon have completely different personalities after evolving.

Seeing that Ash and Max both suggested this, May also fell into deep thought.

However, after a moment, she firmly refused.

"Ash, thank you for your kind offer, but I think I'd better not." May didn't say anything about forcing evolution being counterproductive or that she wanted to experience more trials with Skitty.

Instead, he stated the real reason for his refusal in the simplest, most straightforward, and most direct way.

That is……

"After evolving, Skitty isn't cute anymore!"

"Ouch!" Ash and Max collapsed to the ground.

"Is that why you're here?!"

"Do I need any other reason? To me, cuteness is the most important quality of a Pokémon!"

Xiaoyao acted as if it were perfectly natural; she's definitely a cutie.

"Seriously, I can't stand you."

As long as May and her Pokémon are okay, Ash will naturally have no objections.

Skitty does indeed have a childlike nature, but that's its true nature. Forcing it to evolve might not be a good thing for Skitty itself.

Just like Ash's Pikachu, you can become stronger without evolving, it just requires more effort.

"It's more important to keep going."

Just then, Ash glanced at the sky and exclaimed, "Oh no, a thick fog is about to roll in!"

His intuition suddenly went off, and he quickly released the Coal Turtle to bring clear skies.

Force the area around their current location to switch to a "clear blue sky" mode.

Then, looking constipated, he said to his companions.

"May, Max, Pikachu, I have a feeling we might get lost again soon."

"Pikachu?"

"Oh, don't scare us!"

"I absolutely don't want to, Ash. We can't take the shortcut again this time."

"May, you know this isn't something we can decide whether or not we take a shortcut; it's fate!" Ash has given up on this whole thing.

Although they are currently on the route specified on the map, in situations like this, even the slightest mishap can cause Ash and his friends to immediately get lost.

Even the best sense of direction is useless; they'll just wander around the forest like headless flies.

What should have been a three-day journey took them a full week to complete, a real ordeal for any traveler.

Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng immediately hung their heads in dejection.

"Why is this happening? We've been looking forward to going home for so long."

"I understand you. Actually, I've been itching to fight Uncle Qianli for a long time now."

It's safe to say that Petalburg Gym will be the most challenging gym Ash will encounter throughout his entire Hoenn journey.

This will be a major test for Ash, the final trial of the first half of his journey through the Hoenn region.

Facing Ash, Senri, a trainer with the strength of an Elite Four member, would absolutely not hold back.

Furthermore, Ash doesn't plan to use Pikachu when battling the Petalburg Gym; he intends to use only the partners he caught in the Hoenn region.

This means that Ash must do everything in his power to hone his team in the Hoenn region to defeat one of the Elite Four members head-on, and the difficulty is unimaginable.

However, the thought of fiercely battling powerful opponents, exhausting Pokémon, and shedding sweat and passion on the battlefield...

Xiao Zhi was so excited that he raised his flag and bared his teeth, something he hadn't done in a long time.

"No, I really want to fight Uncle Senri right now! Haruka and Kacchan, you must be homesick too, right?"

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyao immediately puffed out her adorable cheeks, while Xiaosheng lowered his head to wipe his glasses.

"How could someone who's been away from home for so long not miss home?"

"I really want to see my mom and dad soon too."

This is the first time they've been away from home for so long; they've been traveling and haven't been back, and they're currently experiencing the strongest homesickness.

At this moment, Ash chuckled.

"Therefore, we must get to Orange City before we actually get lost!"

"Ah, what's the difference between saying that and not saying anything? Of course we know."

May immediately rolled her eyes at Ash, but Ash waved his hand to indicate that he shouldn't rush.

"I would say that because there is a way, but I don't know if you dare to try it."

For some reason, looking at Ash's expression, May and Max suddenly had a bad feeling.

But he was so eager to go home that he had no choice but to agree to let Xiaozhi give it a try.

Then, their ominous premonition came true.

Ash's solution was simply to fly directly through the air.

"This area is all forest and there are no flight paths, but we haven't gotten lost yet, and we can confirm our location's latitude and longitude..."

"Therefore, using the navigator and map to pinpoint the straight-line direction to Orange Blossom City and fly there directly is the fastest and safest method!"

He's temporarily put aside his plans to help wild Pokémon; challenging the gyms is his top priority.

Release Salamence and let May and Max climb onto its back with Pikachu.

Ash then picked up Salamence and charged into the sky.

They sped along the road, arriving in just two days...

Orange Blossom City!

"It's North Orange City."

With his hair all messy and disheveled, Max immediately jumped off Salamence's back and corrected Ash's mistake.

This left Xiao Zhi, who was about to shout out to express his excitement, standing there awkwardly.

"North Orange City?"

At this moment, May followed closely behind, carrying Pikachu down. However, her legs were so weak that she couldn't stand up without leaning on Ash's shoulder.

"Oh my god, I never want to travel by sky again... I'm going to throw up, I'm going to throw up..."

"Was it really necessary to go to such lengths? Didn't I specifically release Salamence to shield you from the wind?"

"How dare you say that? Why didn't we just fly over with our Salamence?"

"Salamander doesn't have the stamina for such a long flight, and most importantly, it can't fly as fast as me!" Ash said proudly.

He had long wanted to try a super long straight flight spanning 300 kilometers.

As it turns out, he can do it now if he wants to.

Since the stone tablets returned to their original form, he has gradually mastered some of their hidden functions, and this time the Blue Sky Stone Tablet played a significant role.

However, both Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng looked like they were about to die.

"Do you know how scared we were when you were carrying the Salamence flying so fast? We were worried that you would slip and throw us off!"

"That's two thousand meters in the air! We might as well hang on you!"

"Hehe, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of training you?"

That's right, Ash did it on purpose. He had wanted to test the siblings' abilities for a long time.

If I don't improve my physical fitness after traveling with him for so long, wouldn't that tarnish his reputation as the Muscle Supreme Little Wisdom Martial God?

The result made Xiaozhi very satisfied.

"Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng have made full use of their muscles to withstand the strong winds and cold, and have perfectly completed the two-day and two-night flight test... This round is over!"

Pikachu, who was responsible for acting as the safety officer on Salamence's back, also gave a thumbs up.

"Pikachu, Pikachu!" (You guys are awesome!)

Ash slapped May and Max's shoulders hard with his broad palms, and the two siblings immediately stared at Ash with resentful eyes.

Do you mean there will be a second time?

Xiao Zhi immediately laughed it off.

"Right now, we should head to the Pokémon Center to rest. By the way, Max, what's this North Petalburg City you mentioned earlier?"

"It's North Orange City." Xiaosheng irritably fixed his hair.

"Ash, when you came to Petalburg City before, you only came to the Petalburg Gym with your sister, right? You didn't get to properly explore our hometown."

"Citrus City is the most economically developed metropolis in the Hoenn League. Its industrial spillover alone has driven the development of a number of surrounding towns."

"North Orange Blossom is one of the many late-developing cities that have grown up right next to Orange Blossom, hence the name North Orange Blossom."

"So that means we haven't arrived in Orange City yet?"

"That's right, we still have to walk a little further."

"Oh, why didn't you say so earlier? Why didn't we locate Orange Blossom City?"

Xiao Zhi was immediately disappointed, but Xiao Yao quickly comforted him.

"There are many air routes to Orange Blossom City, so I'm worried about affecting normal operations there. Anyway, once we get to North Orange Blossom City, Orange Blossom City is very close!"

"No, I need to challenge the gym right now. Let's take off again for Petalburg City!"

"reject!"

"We'd rather die than go on our journey to heaven with you again!"

Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng spoke at the same time; the two-day, two-night trip was simply torture for them.

Naturally, Ash's proposal was thwarted by May and her friends' threat of suicide.

With no other option, the group had to stay at the Pokémon Center for the time being and set off again the next day.

However, when they entered the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy stopped what she was doing and looked at May and Max in surprise as they appeared at the door.

"Oh dear, are you Lord Qianli's children? Didn't you go on a trip? How come you've suddenly returned here?"

"Haha, we've come full circle because we have some things to do."

Although she didn't know why Miss Joy suddenly asked in such a strange tone, Haruka still answered politely.

But at that moment, an elderly woman who happened to be delivering vegetables to the center was so surprised when she heard that Xiaoyao and Xiaosheng were Qianli's children that she exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh no, it really is Lord Senri's child! This is terrible..."

The woman's expression was extremely exaggerated. She screamed and ran out after dropping the vegetables in her hand, leaving Xiao Zhi and the others completely bewildered.

"What exactly is going on?"

"I don't understand."

Fortunately, Nurse Joy behaved normally and completed the check-in process while treating their Pokémon.

Ash and his friends then left together, intending to have lunch at the restaurant recommended by May.

"But speaking of which, Xiaoyao, you guys are really amazing. Even Miss Joey from the next city knows about you."

It's rare for a child from a dojo to become this famous.