After the incident at the Celadon Game Corner ended, numerous news media outlets surrounded the mayor of Celadon City, practically stuffing microphones into his mouth and asking about the reason Team Rocket had been able to infiltrate the city's internal operations.
The mayor was furious but dared not speak recklessly. If he accidentally said even a single wrong sentence, the media in front of him would surely blow it out of proportion. By that time, losing his position as mayor would be the least of his problems.
The former owner of the Celadon Game Corner had also been arrested by Officer Jenny and escorted into a League prison. After all, half of the reason for this incident was that the owner had acted as an internal accomplice for Team Rocket.
Most of the Pokémon captured by Team Rocket were announced through public inquiries by the police and gradually returned to their trainers, while the wild Pokémon were temporarily cared for by Nurse Joy, who planned to contact a wildlife sanctuary to release them back into the wild.
At this moment, inside Team Rocket's underground experimental base...
Although most of the research data in the base had already been destroyed, in order to guard against hidden clues left by Team Rocket, patrol squads of officers were still stationed on every floor.
"Ugh—this pile of meat paste looks disgusting," one officer said nauseously, poking the charred flesh with an iron rod.
Whether it was the officer seeing things or the flesh truly moving, the officer felt as if the pile of meat in front of him had shrunk slightly.
"Forget it, maybe it's just because I haven't slept well these past few days," the officer muttered, no longer paying attention to the foul-smelling pile of meat as he turned and walked away.
With faint scorch marks still on its body, a pale purple liquid slowly flowed into the shadow of a corner.
(Damn humans. Luckily my body's self-regeneration ability saved my life!)
Ditto glared hatefully at the departing officer. Now was not the time to act recklessly.
(It seems that relying on ordinary gene serum can't mass-produce effective Three-Headed Sacred Birds...)
Ditto pondered countermeasures, but the regeneration ability brought with it an intense hunger. At this moment, Ditto had to consume energy to replenish its body's nutrients.
Although it was hard to swallow, in order to survive, Ditto had no choice but to treat the charred pile of meat in front of it as its first source of food. Trembling with its burned body, it reluctantly devoured the still-intact portions.
(Just wait. I will definitely make you pay a painful price… the boy from Pallet Town!)
...
In order to reach the location of the next League badge, Red once again set out on his journey alone.
This area was a vast plain. At the moment, Red and Hitmonchan were conducting training.
To better train Hitmonchan's evasion and observation abilities, Red deliberately set up a training field. He tied two wooden sticks to tree branches, then pushed them apart with force. The sticks tied by ropes quickly began swinging back and forth like pendulums.
"You stand in the middle and observe the movement of the sticks, and dodge their attacks," Red instructed.
After hearing this, Hitmonchan quickly ran to the center of the swinging sticks and began training while observing their movement directions.
Cubone, who hadn't appeared for a long time, was obediently sitting on a rock, gazing admiringly at Red as he trained Hitmonchan.
Thanks to Professor Oak's careful care during this period, Cubone's body size had quickly reached the average level and had even grown another 0.1 meters taller.
However, Red still hadn't allowed Cubone to enter the strict training phase. This inevitably made Cubone feel a little discouraged, but it also understood that Red was doing this out of concern for its health.
Right now, Cubone only wanted to become stronger as soon as possible so that Red would look at it in a new light and stop subconsciously treating it like a useless little baby.
Sensing Cubone's burning gaze, Red found it hard to refuse. He allowed Cubone to warm up its body first, telling it to find a rock and repeatedly swing its bone club against it to train attack speed.
"Once training is over, I'll take you to participate in the P1 Grand Prix being held nearby!" Red said.
"Hitmon!"
Upon hearing that it could participate in a fighting tournament, Hitmonchan's fighting spirit was ignited. This was exactly the kind of competition Fighting-type Pokémon longed for—the exhilarating feeling of punches landing solidly on the opponent was something Hitmonchan found intoxicating.
Sensing familiar Aura abilities approaching, Red turned his head and saw Ash's trio gradually entering his field of vision.
Since their brief separation from Red in Celadon City, both Misty and Brock had captured new Pokémon. The trio's journey seemed to be going quite smoothly.
Misty had captured Psyduck during the Drowzee hypnosis incident—the same goofy Psyduck from the original story with extraordinary psychic power. Although in truth Psyduck had jumped into Misty's Poké Ball on its own after seeing it fall, leaving Misty reluctantly accepting the capture.
As for Brock, while visiting the famous breeder Suzie in the Breeder's Street area, he helped defeat Team Rocket's scheme and was entrusted by Suzie to temporarily care for Vulpix.
On the other hand, Ash hadn't managed to build good teamwork with Primeape and hadn't encountered any Pokémon he particularly liked recently, leaving him quite troubled.
At that moment, a Hitmonchan practicing punches on the road appeared in front of Ash's trio, while behind a large tree a girl was secretly watching.
"Wow, it's a Hitmonchan just like brother's!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. "Alright, I'm going to catch it too. I'm counting on you, Pikachu!"
"Pika!"
Pikachu's soft ears immediately stood upright as it stared in shock at Ash. Was he really being sent out to fight?!
"Don't worry, Pikachu. With your strength, you definitely won't lose to this wild Hitmonchan," Ash assured confidently, though an ominous image suddenly appeared in Pikachu's mind.
In Pikachu's imagination, it stood in a boxing ring and was knocked unconscious by a single punch from Hitmonchan. The flashing lights on the ceiling illuminated Pikachu's battered body.
Thinking of that, Pikachu immediately hugged Misty's leg and shook its head in fear.
"It'll be fine! I'll teach you a killer punch technique. You'll definitely win!" Ash declared again.
Seeing this, Pikachu subconsciously chose to trust Ash.
"To practice for tomorrow, first you start by practicing a straight punch with your right hand, like this…"
Ash explained the theoretical knowledge he had learned from television to the innocent Pikachu. The small Pikachu imitated him in a clumsy but serious manner.
"I didn't know Ash understood boxing so well," Brock said in confusion.
"Me neither…" Misty added.
"Hitmonchan, I challenge you! Fight me in a duel!"
Ash issued a challenge to the Hitmonchan practicing punches. At his feet, Pikachu—temporarily brainwashed, no, taught by Ash—put on boxing gloves and stared at Hitmonchan with fighting spirit.
"Hitmon~"
Hitmonchan glanced at the small Pikachu and waved dismissively at Ash, signaling him not to humiliate himself. How could such a small, cute Electric mouse Pokémon possibly be a match for a Fighting-type Pokémon like itself?
"You're only pretending to be relaxed right now!" Ash provoked as he stepped forward. "Go, Pikachu!"
Pikachu launched the first attack, throwing continuous punches.
"Great job, Pikachu! First a series of jabs, then finish with a right straight!"
Although Ash gave instructions with great enthusiasm, because of the size difference Hitmonchan simply extended its right fist and pressed it against Pikachu's forehead. Pikachu couldn't get close at all and could only punch helplessly at the air.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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