The strongest gym leader starts by beating up Gary.

"Thank you, Lady Kikuko, for upholding justice for Director Fang!"

In the end, Qiao Yixue stabbed Juzi in the heart again.

After hanging up the phone, Kikuko sighed and looked up at the sky.

"I'm getting old, I'm getting old, and I was so confused that I actually agreed to that old man's sweet talk!"

Kikuko closed her eyes and thought for a while before dialing Professor Oak's number.

"Old man! Do you even realize how serious a problem it is that you're using personal relationships to interfere with the alliance's internal decisions?!"

"If it weren't for considering..."

Professor Oak was then subjected to a barrage of insults from Akiko!

It wasn't until Professor Oak had been scolded for half an hour that he finally figured out what had happened.

"So Kikuko got angry because a junior scolded her and came to me to vent her anger?"

Professor Oak touched his groin and sighed.

"I think I did make a mistake in handling this matter..."

After some hesitation, Professor Oak made up his mind.

"It seems I still have to go to Matsumo City myself to bring Gorilla back, and also give that young gym leader some compensation."

Meanwhile, Kikuko made up her mind and dialed her assistant's number.

"Help me investigate the Meng family and give them a warning. Also, upgrade the benefits of the Songzao Dojo from D to C."

Kikuko recalled Qiao Yixue's words and narrowed her eyes.

"I remember there seem to be quite a few good Ghost-type Pokémon near Matsumo City. If I have time, I'll go check it out."

Although Kikuko wouldn't admit it, she still wanted to see for herself what kind of gym leader could earn such high praise from Joiyuki, which even led to her being scolded!

Kikuko is absolutely not petty and wants to get revenge, absolutely not!

Chapter 32: Are the poachers Team Rocket trio?

Matsumo City, Pokémon Center.

Ash and his two friends sat on a bench at the Pokémon Center.

But unlike before, the usually energetic Xiaozhi was now bowing his head and remaining silent.

This was the first time Xiaogang and Xiaoxia had seen Xiaozhi like this, and they exchanged a glance.

Then Xiaoxia stepped forward to comfort her.

"Don't worry, Ash, you'll definitely get the badge if you keep trying!"

"Yes, I believe Ash can definitely do it!"

Faced with encouragement from his two teammates, Ash shook his head and said...

"Even with all three of my Pokémon attacking together, I couldn't defeat even one of Gym Leader Fang's Pokémon!"

"While I won't give up the challenge, I don't want Pikachu and the others to get hurt for nothing if I'm not confident in my ability to win."

Upon hearing Xiaozhi's words, Xiaogang and Xiaoxia's eyes were filled with shock.

This hot-blooded idiot who only knew how to charge ahead has actually learned to think!

But with Xiaozhi's current knowledge base, he couldn't come up with any good solutions.

"Should I charge Pikachu like last time to pass the challenge?"

"But Gym Leader Fang's Larvitar is a Ground-type Pokémon, and Pikachu felt unwell for a long time after that charging..."

Xiao Zhi held his head and stared at the ceiling.

"Never mind, let's take Pikachu and the others to battle with nearby trainers and gain experience. I must get the Weather Badge from the Matsushima Gym no matter what!"

Just as Ash was excitedly making his announcement, someone walked over and unceremoniously poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"Don't even think about it. With your strength, you wouldn't be qualified to defeat Master even in a hundred years!"

Ash and his two friends looked back in the direction of the sound.

Then, Gary appeared at the Pokémon Center.

"Xiao Shigeru? What are you doing here? Are you here for a match?"

Just then, Nurse Joy from Matsumo City pushed three Poké Balls towards Ash.

"Hello, all three of your Pokémon have been healed."

Ash picked up Pikachu and put away the Poké Balls of Bulbasaur and Squirtle.

"Come on, Xiao Mao! I'm going to show you that I'm not the same person I used to be!"

Looking at Ash in front of him, Gary's fighting spirit also burned fiercely.

But remembering the task Fang Yuan had given him, and the sudden appearance of the poachers, Xiao Mao put aside his thoughts of fighting.

"I would like to fight you, but now is not the time."

"What do you mean?"

Ash looked at Gary with a completely bewildered expression.

Xiao Mao's eyes turned cold, and he slowly said...

"We've discovered traces of poachers in the forest east of Matsumo City. I'm going to go with the curator to take care of those damned poachers."

"So let's put the Pokémon battles on hold for later."

Shigeru glanced at Satoshi out of the corner of his eye.

As a childhood friend, Gary knows Ash's personality all too well. He knows that Ash would never sit idly by and do nothing about something like this!

As expected, upon hearing Xiaobai's words, Xiaozhi immediately stood up and said without hesitation.

"I want to go too! Eradicating poachers is what we trainers should do!"

Then, Ash scratched his head a little embarrassedly and said...

"Of course, after we wipe out the poachers, I hope you can talk to Master Fang for me. I also want to study at the Matsuzo Dojo for a while, just like you."

Xiao Zhi stated his thoughts very directly.

Shigeru stroked his chin, looking at Satoshi, and for a moment he really couldn't tell whether his friend was genuinely stupid or just pretending to be wise.

"Alright, if you can contribute to this effort to eradicate poachers, I'll speak to my master on your behalf."

"Hehe~ Thank you so much, Xiao Mao."

"Pack your things in thirty minutes and head to Highway 13, east of the Matsuzo Dojo. We won't wait for you if you're late."

"Okay! We'll pack our things right away!"

------------

Twenty-five minutes later, at the end of Route 13 in Matsumo City, Ash and his friends were already waiting in ambush.

Just then, an SUV rushed up in front of them.

Fang Yuan, wearing sunglasses, sat in the driver's seat and opened the car door.

Xiao Zhi and his two friends quickly climbed into the car.

Fang Yuan slammed on the gas pedal, and the SUV sped off into the forest.

"According to Officer Jenny's information, the poachers are a trio, two of whom are a man and a woman, and the last one is short in stature. They should be skilled at using high technology to capture Pokémon."

Upon hearing the information provided by Fang Yuan, three familiar faces involuntarily came to mind for Xiao Zhi, Xiao Xia, and Xiao Gang.

"Could it be them?!"

Xiao Zhi couldn't help but think to himself.

Fang Yuan frowned at this moment. After reviewing the detailed report, he also suspected that it might have been done by the Rockets trio.

"Could it be that they came to Matsumo City to capture Pokémon in order to get revenge on me?"

Fang Yuan silently vowed in his heart that if it really was the Rockets trio, he would definitely send them to prison and never let them out for the rest of their lives!

The off-road vehicle sped up and soon reached the edge of the forest.

Fang Yuan and Xiao Zhi, along with three others, began their hike up the mountain.

----------

Meanwhile, in the forest, three people dressed in camouflage were hiding in a cave.

Behind them was a pickup truck, inside which were hundreds of Poké Balls piled up like a small mountain.

But next to these Poké Balls piled up like small mountains, three people dressed in Team Rocket uniforms were trapped on the ground, covered in wounds.

The three people who were tied up were none other than the Team Rocket trio that Fang Yuan and his friends had been longing to see: Meowth, Jessie, and James.

"Boss, what should we do now?"

The shortest of the three men in camouflage said to a middle-aged man.

"What should I do? You're asking me what to do? How should I know?"

"Who knew you, you idiot, would actually arrest Team Rocket! Don't you know Team Rocket is the underground kingpin of the entire Kanto region? How dare you arrest them! Aren't you an idiot!? Aren't you an idiot!?"

The middle-aged man they called "boss" kept kicking the short man as he spoke.

It took four or five kicks before it stopped.

"I originally planned to do one last job and then quit. If I got wanted by the league, I would join the Rockets! Now, I have no way out!"

The short guy, who had been kicked several times by their leader, said with a trembling face.

"I didn't want to either, boss, but I saw them secretly following us, and I thought they were people sent by the Alliance..."

The middle-aged man they called "boss" sat down on a rock and took a deep breath.

"Forget it, with these treasures, where can't we brothers go? At worst, we can just go and make a living in other regions."

"Yes, the boss is right."

Just then, the last of the poacher trio, a slender man with long hair, spoke.

"Don't make a sound, the detector has detected someone going up the mountain again."

Chapter 33 Ash vs. Poachers

"It should be around here."

Fang Yuan looked at the somewhat blurry photo in his hand and found the scene of the incident.

"Everyone, spread out and see if you can find any clues around here."

Under Fang Yuan's command, the group of six immediately began to search the surrounding area.

Fang Yuan, however, chose to close his eyes, and then an invisible green wave spread outwards.

Fang Yuan wanted to use Tokiwa's power to find a few nearby Pokémon and see if he could get some information from them.

However, to Fang Yuan's astonishment, his Tokiwa power spread for a full kilometer without finding a single Pokémon!

This density of sprites is clearly abnormal!

"Those damn poachers!"

Fang Yuan had already mentally declared these people dead.

Left with no other option, Fang Yuan could only expand the search range of his Tokiwa power.

Finally, after spreading Tokiwa's power to a radius of two kilometers, Fang Yuan finally found the elf's trail.

"You guys keep looking here, I'll go take a look over there."

It was a fallen tree, and the elf happened to hide in a hole under the tree, which allowed it to escape.

Fang Yuan released Mudkip and Tyranitar, and together they lifted the dead tree, revealing the Pokémon underneath.

A little Rattata trembled as it looked at Fang Yuan.