I'm a Pokémon Master from School City (by mistake)

The Pokémon in the mountains and forests panicked and wandered around like headless flies, desperately trying to survive.

'The effect is good.' Chiyo thought to herself.

Everything is going pretty much as expected. The main characters and Officer Jenny are among the witnesses, and Team Rocket is the culprit. Now all we need to do is get to town as quickly as possible and start dragging Ash along to rescue him...

"Miss Officer Jenny!"

Before Chiyo could say anything more, Ash took action first, shoving the Pikachu in his arms into Officer Jenny's without hesitation. "Pikachu, I'm counting on you."

Before the words were even finished, the person had already turned and was about to run into the forest!

"Snapped!"

Chiyo, quick as a flash, grabbed Ash. "Are you an idiot?! The best thing to do now is to head towards the town and, before the fire spreads too much, quickly build a firebreak and use Water-type Pokémon to create a barrier."

"You're running into the forest? Are you trying to die?!"

As the mastermind behind this, she knew that this was not a homemade bomb made by Team Rocket in the anime!

The weaponry in the Pokémon world is also very advanced. Team Rocket's robbery was just a pretext. The real bombs dropped were napalm bombs that Team Rocket had urgently transported. The local capitalist also had a similar plan and had prepared a lot of flammable materials, which he had already scattered in the forest beforehand.

Once this fire starts, it will quickly turn into a massive forest fire.

Fires caused by various human factors are so dangerous that even professionals with full equipment would have to be prepared for a near-death experience.

What's more, Ash doesn't have any fireproof equipment, or even a decent Water-type Pokémon!

It's absolutely true that there's no chance of survival.

"Squirtle!" Ash voiced his concern.

"Those guys ran away a long time ago!" Chiyo was genuinely angry. "Why would they be waiting for you here?!"

“They must be there,” Xiao Zhi said stubbornly.

"How is this possible?!" Chiyo was really anxious. She could probably just leave without caring about anyone's life, and she could even ignore the fact that the little town in the anime was burned to the ground. But she still needed to care about the main characters.

"Those bastards are nothing but a gang of abandoned Pokémon. You have no basis for friendship with them, and they even kidnapped you. What makes you think they'll go back to that cave?"

“Because we made a promise,” Ash said confidently. “Because they were abandoned, I won’t blame them even if they attack us. It’s their trainer’s actions that made them disappointed in humans. That’s why they attacked us, and I can sense that they were just playing a prank and didn’t really want to do anything bad.”

"So I want to save them. I want them to know that there will always be people in the world who will do anything to fulfill a promise. I want them to know that there will always be people in the world who care about them and love them. I want them to regain their faith in humans."

Chiyo's mouth dropped open; she suddenly felt as if something had stabbed her in the heart.

She seemed to see something in Xiaozhi, something familiar yet strange, a shadow she had forgotten for a long time.

But if Ash runs in, she...

Chiyo gritted her teeth, let go of her hand and said, "You brat, don't think that just because I owe you a bicycle I have to care whether you live or die. If you die, I'll just go to your mother to get the bicycle back, and while I'm at it, I'll send your ashes back."

"I'm warning you! This fire looks like it's going to get out of control very quickly. If you rush in, you'll basically be dead, and those bastards have probably already hidden in a safe place."

"And don't forget, those bastards stole my things while I was sleeping!"

Chiyo said fiercely, "If you rush in, I will absolutely not go in to save you."

So even if the answer is unknown, and the situation is certain death.

Are you going?

"They are not stinky turtles."

Ash turned the brim of his baseball cap behind his head and revealed a big smile.

"They are Squirtle."

Without a word or the slightest hesitation, he turned and rushed into the forest that had begun to burn fiercely.

"Ash!" "Wait for us!"

Xiaogang and Xiaoxia followed Xiaozhi into the forest without hesitation.

"Pikachu!"

Even though its injuries weren't fully healed, Pikachu jumped out of Officer Jenny's arms and followed.

Now only Officer Jenny and Chiyo remain.

Miss Officer Jenny knew that the fire needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Either mobilize resources to stop the fire from spreading, as Chiyo suggested, or quickly notify the townspeople to evacuate.

She looked at Chiyo and asked, "Aren't you going to help?"

Chiyo stared blankly at Officer Jenny and said coldly, "Me, go help? Are you sure this isn't suicide?"

"Haha~" Officer Jenny just chuckled dryly, "No, I just think you can. Besides, aren't they your friends?"

"Friends?" Chiyo shrugged as if she really didn't care. "They're just fellow travelers, people I met by chance. Why should I fight them?"

As she spoke, Chiyo leaped up a tree like a lively monkey.

They disappeared into the woods in a couple of swift movements.

All that remained was the sentence, "Life is precious, there's no way all other people's children will die."

Miss Officer Jenny wasn't angry. She seemed to see through everything and smiled, saying, "What an dishonest girl."

"but..."

We must contact them as soon as possible to extinguish this fire, otherwise it could cause a huge disaster.

"Speaking of which, it's amazing that that girl was able to come up with a solution so quickly."

"You seem to be very skilled at it."

I always felt that girl was a veteran of countless battles.

I couldn't think of a solution for the time being.

Why is she so skilled?!

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Heart of Truth

"Squirtle!"

A promise, an agreement.

There will always be some fools in the world who will keep their appointments even when some smart people think it is completely unnecessary and impossible to achieve.

There were no mandatory conditions, and everyone had already left; it seemed that no one would return.

Can...

"Johnny..."

A weak voice echoed from the dim cave.

Perhaps this is what they call destiny.

Ash arrived at the deepest part of the cave.

That place where they were once imprisoned, and also where the agreement was made.

Several Squirtles were huddled inside, shivering. The one wearing black thunder sunglasses was at the very back and looked extremely weak.

"Squirtle?!" Ash rushed forward immediately, feeling both joy and relief.

"You're really here."

Xiao Zhi was so excited he wanted to say something, but the next second...

"Squirtle? What's wrong?"

Squirtle's boss looks to be in bad shape, with many black wounds all over his body, and he looks like he's on the verge of death.

“It’s burns.” Xiao Gang, who had come along, was also very surprised. He hadn’t expected the Squirtles to actually return to this place.

Is it keeping its promise, afraid that Ash might come back unaware of the situation, and wanting to stay here to explain things before leaving, or is it because the fire has already started and there's nowhere else to go, so it has no choice but to return to this place?

Maybe it's both.

However, adults don't pry into things as much, so Xiaogang didn't ask any questions.

As a Pokémon trainer who also aspires to be an excellent breeder, he quickly stepped forward.

"It's a burn." Xiao Gang took a towel out of his backpack and said, "Cool it down with running water, then put ice in the towel and apply it to the wound..."

Ideally, there should also be medication specifically for treating burns.

What made him unable to continue speaking was that he discovered he had no medicine at all.

Just like Meow Meow said, the three of them couldn't even scrape together a bottle of medicine to heal their wounds.

Without medicine, the current measures can only be used for emergency treatment.

Moreover, there is no water source or ice available now, so even if you wet a towel, you can't keep it in a damp and cold state for half an hour.

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice; even if I knew how to treat it, there's nothing I could do now.

"Use the water gun," Ash said to the other Squirtles, quick-wittedly. "Just use the water gun and control the flow."

"I'm begging you all."

With Ash's command, the other Squirtles sprayed water on their leader.

Although it can temporarily relieve some of the pain.

Can...

"Cough cough~" Xiaoxia coughed violently. She covered her mouth and nose and felt a dry heat in her lungs. She said, "We have to leave this cave quickly because the smoke is coming in."

Xiaoxia is right. Many people who die in fires are not burned to death directly by the fire, but suffocate because they inhale toxic and harmful high-temperature smoke, which causes their lungs to fail.

If they don't leave in time, the toxic fumes will soon fill the small, poorly ventilated cave.

"let's go."

Ash carefully picked up Squirtle and said, encouragingly and reassuringly, "Don't worry, Squirtle, we will never abandon you."

Ash's movements were light, yet swift.

The group quickly left the cave, but if this was all a test of the bond between the protagonist and his companions, then this was not the end of it.

Stepping out of the cave was just the beginning.

This was premeditated arson. Even though it is not the peak season for wildfires, with the help of someone with ulterior motives, the fire has already blocked their way like a mountain wall.

"Johnny..."

Squirtle let out a weak cry.

It is content knowing that there are still people in this world who keep their promises and who care about it.

I'm already a burden now, so let me go. If I don't take myself and my friends with me, I'll have a chance to survive.

"Absolutely not!" Ash said firmly, "I will never abandon you."

"What should we do?!" Xiaoxia was already panicking. She slumped to the ground and pointed desperately at the way they had come from, saying, "It's already burned this far. We can't escape at all."

It is already surrounded by fire.

Without water and without roads, they will die!

He will definitely die!

"There must be a way!" Xiao Zhi tried his best to calm himself down.

'What should we do?!'

Xiao Zhi frantically racked his brains for every possible solution.

Sudden.

"Dig a firebreak!" Ash remembered Chiyo's words: "Right, Chiyo said to organize Water-type Pokémon to put out the fire and dig a firebreak to stop the fire from spreading."

"Using a Water-type Pokémon would be fine," Misty said, picking up her Water-type Pokémon as she asked, "Do you know how to make a barrier?"

"As for the isolation zone," Xiao Gang thought for a moment and took out his Pokémon, "it should mainly mean 'isolation,' clearing away everything flammable around it before the fire reaches this area."

"I'll dig the hole and turn over all the soil around it to make an earthen wall. Ash, you figure out a way to cut down all the trees."

Ash took out his Poké Ball.

"I choose you, Bulbasaur. Use Razor Leaf to chop down all the trees around you and throw them aside."