Pokémon: Simultaneous time travel, this Ash is too versatile!

Chapter 177 Slander from the outside world, arriving at the Zheng Hui Lighthouse, the giant pincers crab rejected on the beach.

Ash's talent is undeniable, and even Professor Sakuragi, who isn't very familiar with outside information, knows just how famous Ash is now.

He defeated a Champion-level trainer despite being a complete novice, and is a super rookie with unparalleled talent. It is said that he has his own unique method for improving Pokémon in the moment.

Even so, Professor Sakuragi never expected that Ash would be able to raise Riolu to its advanced peak in just over a month!
A month ago, this elf was practically useless. A month later, while it may not be considered fully developed, it has at least gained considerable combat power.

Furthermore, Riolu hasn't evolved yet. If Riolu could evolve, it could easily reach the Elite level.

Isn't this cheating?
"Just reaching the peak of advancement is nothing. My goal and Riolu's goal are the stars and the sea! Speaking of which, where's Haru? Hasn't she finished school yet?" Ash first boasted about his Riolu, then looked curiously into the research institute, but didn't see Haru.

Some other researchers curiously peeked out of the lab to see why Dr. Sakuragi was so startled.

"Xiaochun should be out of school by now, she should be here around that time, right?" As soon as Professor Sakuragi finished speaking, there was a knock on the door of the research institute. As the saying goes, if you talk about someone, they will come. They had just been talking about Xiaochun when she arrived at the entrance of the research institute.

As Professor Sakuragi opened the door, Koharu, dressed in a school uniform, appeared before everyone. Koharu was taken aback by the sudden increase in people in the research institute, then her gaze settled on Ash, and a hint of surprise appeared on her pretty face: "Ash? What brings you here?"

"I finished challenging the Cinnabar Gym and stopped by Vermilion City on the way," Ash replied with a grin. After chatting with Chloe for a while, he found a place to sit down at the lab.

Xiaochun listened with great interest to the events that had happened to Xiaozhi on his recent journey. Although Xiaozhi had become quite famous recently, it was only limited to the incident at the Fuchsia Gym. Apart from that, there was not much information about Xiaozhi online.

People outside are even questioning whether Ash's existence is a publicity stunt orchestrated by the Kanto League, otherwise how could such a powerful newcomer suddenly appear?

The only experience that Xiao Zhi can talk about is successfully challenging the Crimson Gym; there are no other experiences that have made him famous.

The fact that Sabrina defeated the Goldenrod Gym Leader was basically only known to the Kanto League, since one of them challenged Sabrina in private, while the other challenged her in a public live stream.

Xiaochun responded to the doubts from the outside world whenever she had free time, fiercely criticizing those who questioned Xiaozhi. However, her strength alone was ultimately insignificant.

Ash isn't as famous as he used to be. After all, he hasn't been in the public eye for quite some time. If an ordinary person hasn't been in the public eye for a month, they might have disappeared long ago.

But Ash's reputation is still too high. Even a month later, there is still a lot of discussion about him, but the doubts are increasing.

Many people have questioned why, if Ash could truly defeat an Elite Four member, there's only one video of him defeating Kikyo, and no footage of him battling other Elite Four members. They've also wondered if the battle with Kikyo was scripted…

These mindless voices rang out online, and even though it was a live broadcast, there was still no way to block them out.

People tend to follow the crowd, and not everyone watched that live broadcast. Amidst accusations of fraud and forced accusations of being fake, many uninformed people also got involved.

Ash and his friends were unaware of this matter until Ash found out while chatting with Haru.

At first, Xiao Zhi was also very angry. So what if he's not famous? What's the point of slandering him?

Although he may appear to be far inferior to the Heavenly King in terms of strength, if it really came down to a fight, he could definitely put up a fight against the newly minted Heavenly King!
Ash did indeed use a trick to defeat Victini, but he also explained why he did it. It was because a group of people online didn't know what Victini was and were just making things up and distorting the truth. Ash just couldn't stand it!
"These people are despicable! I clearly won based on my own strength... at least that's how it was against Mr. Aju's first two Pokémon. How come they've made it sound like I cheated?! Is there no justice in this world?! Just you wait, I'll go and beat another Elite Four member and show them what I'm made of!"

Xiao Zhi said with a hint of indignation, "I can accept that I'm gradually becoming less famous because it's the result of my deliberate low profile, but I can't accept being slandered!"
By then, the fame that had finally faded will rise again, and it will even become infamous!

“I feel something’s not right, Xiao Zhi… There’s no evidence to prove what they’re saying is true, and their so-called script evidence doesn’t hold up to scrutiny at all, yet a bunch of people are echoing them, as if they just want you to reappear in the public eye to prove yourself.” Xiao Gang stroked his chin, analyzing thoughtfully.

The comments that Xiaochun showed them all seemed like madness. The evidence and proof couldn't stand up to scrutiny at all, yet most of the people were still slandering Xiaozhi.

Either those people are all idiots, or there's someone behind them who's paying to slander Xiaozhi in hopes that Xiaozhi will stand up again. The latter is more likely.

Hearing this, Xiao Zhi calmed down a bit. Now that he heard it, it seemed to make sense. Even if there were people who disapproved of him stirring up trouble, any normal person would find this level of evidence too far-fetched.

After all, he streamed the battle live back then, and no amount of solid evidence can compare to the evidence of his live stream battle with Aju.

So those people might not be jealous or envious of him, but are actually after him.

"Ash, have you offended anyone recently?" Professor Sakuragi asked, frowning.

Xiao Zhi shook his head. He's basically been a 'lone wolf' lately. Wherever he goes with Xiao Gang and Xiao Xia, they all wear masks. Otherwise, why would his reputation be declining day by day?

"That's strange... So who exactly is targeting you like this?"

"Whatever, this guy is just trying to force me out, right? I'm not coming out! I'll just stand up at the Indigo League and turn the tide!" Having been trained by the big shots in the group, Ash isn't the kind of person who rushes in on a whim.

The more the other party tries to get him to stand up, the less he will stand up. A little bit of public opinion can't affect him at all. As the saying goes, a straight body has nothing to fear. Only those who have used unorthodox methods are afraid of such so-called public opinion.

Because they really can't do that kind of thing!

The brief public opinion incident quickly passed. It was getting late, and it was time for Dr. Sakuragi to leave work. He packed up his things, announced to the researchers that he was leaving, and then took Haru, Satoshi, and the others home.

Upon arriving home, Professor Sakuragi, having previously informed his wife Yoshino that Ash and his friends were coming to stay, prepared a feast to warmly welcome the trio. This made them feel a little embarrassed, as it seemed they were always freeloading whenever they came over.

After finishing their meal, Xiaogang and Xiaozhi took the initiative to wash the dishes and chopsticks, while Xiaoxia wiped the table and did other things.

Yoshino didn't want the group to do this kind of thing; how could he ask guests to do housework?
However, the three said that since they had come here to eat, drink, and stay, they would feel guilty if they didn't do something. Giving them money would be too formal, so they decided to help Yoshino with the housework.

Yoshino couldn't persuade them otherwise, so he relinquished the housework to them.

After finishing their chores, everyone sat down and chatted for a while before going to sleep. The next morning, after breakfast, they left Konoha City. Professor Sakuragi had originally suggested that they stay and play for two more days.

However, there really isn't much to do in Vermilion City. If we were to go there, we'd have to go to the resort we visited before, which would waste a lot of time. Ash hasn't even gotten his last badge yet, so he politely declined Professor Sakuragi's offer to stay.

Besides, Xiaochun has to go to school. If Xiaochun goes to play with them, they might stay.

Before leaving, Professor Sakuragi told Ash and the others something: on the way to Viridian City, there was a place called Bright Lighthouse, where a person named Professor Bright lived.

He and Professor Oak were old acquaintances, and he also knew Professor Sakuragi. Recently, he called Professor Oak and said that an extremely large Pokémon had appeared in his area, which seemed to be a species that had never been seen before, but the aura emanating from that Pokémon made him not dare to approach it at all.

So I wanted to ask Professor Oak to come and take a look.

Professor Oak's combat prowess is almost universally acknowledged among the professors, so seeking out Professor Oak shouldn't be a problem.

However, Pallet Town is not close to Bill's Lighthouse, and Professor Oak knew that Ash and the others had just returned to Vermilion City, so he asked Professor Sakuragi to tell the three of them about it and let them go and take a look on their way.

Ash readily agreed upon hearing this and then set off.

……

A day later, as dusk approached, Ash and his friends arrived at the Bright Lighthouse that Professor Sakuragi had mentioned. The place was close to the beach and had a pretty good view, but it seemed to be relatively remote and therefore had not been developed into a tourist area.

Xiaoxia originally wanted to play on the beach, but after thinking about it, she realized that important matters came first, so she gave up her idea.

Xiao Zhi never intended to play on the beach, but he accidentally saw a phenomenon on the beach.

A group of large king crabs were slowly approaching a smaller king crab. Ash frowned upon seeing this and rushed forward to block the smaller king crab.

"What are you doing?"

Ash suddenly appeared in front of the small Kingler, causing the Kingler species to instinctively take a step to the side. Then, the leader of the Kinglers clenched its large pincers and mumbled something to Ash.

"Ash, what is he saying?" Misty, who had caught up from behind, turned to Ash for a translation after hearing what the Kingler said.

"He said that no crab in the group was willing to claim this large-clawed crab, and it was very small, so they suspected that it might have been born in their group, or that it was a spy planted in another group."

Xiaoxia & Xiaogang: ……

And this kind of operation?

Let alone Xiaoxia and Xiaogang, even Xiaozhi himself, the translator, felt speechless. They were from the same race, so why were there spies planted in?

Does your Great Crab clan have internal conflicts? If there are conflicts, shouldn't they be with other Elf clans? How did it become a conflict between members of the same race?
"Kuka Kuka!!" The Krabby, which was behind Ash, strode forward sideways, shouting excitedly.

Even without Ash translating, Misty and Brock knew what Krab was saying; it was nothing more than him not coming from another species.

"Kuka kuka!" the leader of the Kinglers shouted again, not to be outdone. The Kingler in front of Ash paused for a moment, then silently took two steps back.

"What did he say?" This time, Xia couldn't understand.
"That giant crab said if we want to prove we weren't planted by another group, then we have to defeat him."

Xiaoxia:? ? ?
No, is there any necessary connection between defeating you and being infiltrated by another race? Why does defeating you not mean I'm a spy infiltrated by another race?
Besides, isn't it strange that a giant crab that's even more powerful than the leader of the group would appear?
"Is it enough to beat you? I accept this challenge! I'll take charge of you, Kingler!" Ash waved his hand, indicating that he was determined to get involved in this matter, and then looked at the little Kingler to ask for its opinion.

The little Krabby already had a good impression of Ash, who suddenly stepped in to protect it. Now that Ash was standing up for it, coupled with the natural friendly aura brought by Ash's Viridian Power, Krabby's goodwill towards Ash immediately rose to a very high level.

However, he was still a little apprehensive about being asked to fight the tribal chief.

But when he looked into Ash's eyes and saw the unwavering determination in them, the little Kingler's unease gradually subsided. He then walked sideways in front of Ash, waving his rather small pincers to indicate that he accepted the battle!
Seeing this, the leader of the giant crabs narrowed his eyes, then waved his hand to signal the giant crabs behind him to retreat, indicating that he could handle this battle by himself.

Dealing with a large pincer crab of this size would be a piece of cake.

I don't know how to type this!

(End of this chapter)