The strongest gym leader starts by beating up Gary.

Upon seeing that it was a human, the little Rattata closed its eyes in despair.

Instead of a fierce attack, he was greeted with delicious elven food and rapidly healing wounds.

Little Rada looked at Fang Yuan with a puzzled expression.

With the help of food and Tokiwa, Fang Yuan quickly gained Rada's trust.

"Little Rada, tell me what happened? Who kidnapped your friends and companions?"

Little Rada nodded quickly and told Fang Yuan everything he knew.

"So there really were three humans? And a modified jeep too."

Although Little Rada provided a lot of new information, it couldn't offer any information on the most crucial aspect: the direction the poachers had fled.

After telling Rada to keep hiding, Fang Yuan returned to Mao and the others with a belly full of questions.

Just then, Xiaowen and Xiaozhi made a new discovery.

"Master! Come quick! I've found something amazing!"

Xiaowen discovered well-hidden tire tracks on the roadside not far away.

Looking at the tire tracks several hundred meters away from the target location, Fang Yuan couldn't help but ask Xiao Wen, the first person to discover them, a question that fueled his curiosity.

"Xiaowen, how did you know there were tire tracks here?"

Fang Yuan's question caught Xiao Wen completely off guard.

Xiaowen stood there stunned for a moment before stammering an explanation.

"I...this is my intuition! You should remember, Master, I told you that my intuition is very accurate!"

Fang Yuan looked at the faint blue fluctuations emanating from Xiao Wen and whispered a sentence.

"Waveguide power?"

Xiaowen, who was already panicked, was now on the verge of tears. She looked at Fang Yuan and carefully explained...

"Master, I didn't mean to hide it from you, it's just that there are some things..."

Just as Xiaowen was about to explain, Fang Yuan reached out and patted her head, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret. Everyone has their own secrets. Unless you decide to tell me on your own that day, I won't ask any further questions."

Xiaowen looked at Fang Yuan with a complicated expression, but her eyes held a hint of gratitude.

"They really are tire tracks! These guys are a bunch of bastards!"

Ash saw the tire tracks on the ground and said angrily.

Beside Ash, Gary, Brock, and Misty all looked rather pale.

With the help of Xiaowen's waveguide power, Fang Yuan and his team quickly found more tire tracks.

However, so many tire tracks also caused a small problem.

"Master, these tire tracks are all heading in different directions. Why don't we split up and search them as quickly as possible to find these damned poachers! We absolutely can't let them escape!"

Xiao Mao said with a somewhat serious expression.

Fang Yuan remembered the little Rattata that trembled with fear at the sight of him, and nodded.

“Okay! Let’s split into three groups: Xiao Mao and Xiao Zhi in one group, Xiao Xia and Xiao Gang in one group, and Xiao Wen and I in another group.”

"And this is a signal flare. Everyone take one. Fire it immediately when you spot the enemy."

"By the way, the strength of these people is unknown, so you must, you absolutely must be careful!"

After saying that, everyone scattered and went in different directions to look for the tire tracks.

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

Meanwhile, they were still in that dimly lit cave.

The poacher trio frowned as they watched Fang Yuan and Xiao Wen approach.

"Damn it, the Alliance really came!"

The poacher leader remained completely calm and gave orders.

"Ignore them for now, deal with these three Team Rocket guys, and then we'll make a run for it."

"Yes, boss!"

When the poachers tried to get rid of Team Rocket, they found only the cut rope on the ground.

"Damn it! How could we let them get away?! Chase them! Chase them right now!"

"They've seen the treasure we worked so hard to get; we absolutely cannot let them leave alive. We must eliminate them quickly!"

----------

Meanwhile, after traveling for more than ten minutes, Fang Yuan and Xiao Wen quickly obtained an important clue thanks to the detection effect of Xiao Wen's waveguide power.

"Look, curator! There's a cave ahead!"

Fang Yuan and Xiao Wen entered the cave where the poachers were hiding, but the cave was already empty.

Where have all the poachers gone?

Fang Yuan frowned as he looked at the poachers' hideout in front of him.

Just as Fang Yuan and Xiao Wen stormed into the poachers' deserted lair, in the nearby forest, Xiao Zhi and Xiao Mao, while searching, spotted a familiar figure.

"Kojiro!"

In the jungle, the battered and bruised Kojiro limped out of the woods, leaning on a cane.

"You little brat?" Kojiro's face lit up with surprise upon seeing Ash, then he shouted in a panic.

"Run! They're strong, kid. You're no match for them. Watch out for their black Poké Balls..."

After saying that, Kojiro collapsed to the ground and passed out.

Seeing this, Ash quickly stepped forward to help Kojiro up.

"How did you get injured like this? Speak up! Why are you here? Where are your companions?"

Just as Ash was anxiously trying to wake James, Gary, who was standing behind Ash, reached out, grabbed Ash's collar, and said with a serious expression...

"Never mind that guy for now, he's not dead yet, the enemy is coming!"

Xiao Mao immediately fired the smoke grenade in his hand.

"Houndoom Flamethrower!"

But at that moment, a powerful jet of flame burned the smoke bomb that Xiao Shi had launched into a charred mess.

And it charged toward Xiao Mao with undiminished power.

"Warlock, Water Gun!"

Water and fire collide in mid-air, creating a large plume of steam.

"Yo~ Not bad, it actually withstood a hit from my Houndoom."

In front of Shigeru and his friends stood a short man, and beside him was a Houndoom that was much taller than him.

Seeing the size of this Houndoom and the power of its recent flamethrower, Gary frowned and said...

"A veteran-level Pokémon?"

"Not bad, kid, you have some eye for things, but unfortunately you saw something you shouldn't have. You all have to die here today!"

"Big character explosion!"

The raging flames engulfed Shigeru and Wartortle.

After this period of training, Xiao Mao's Wartortle has reached level 25, but it is still far behind the Houndoom that is clearly over level 30 (veteran level).

"Shigeru, let's attack together! Pikachu Thunderbolt!"

The three attacks collided in mid-air, producing a violent explosion.

"Useless! You can't even take down two kids!"

"I'm sorry, boss!"

The short man who had just been swaggering around immediately bowed and apologized after hearing the deep, middle-aged man's voice.

At that moment, Shigeru and Ash looked up and realized that they had been surrounded by two other people without them noticing!

Xiao Mao and Xiao Zhi's expressions immediately changed.

"This is really not a good situation."

Chapter 34 A Close Call, Severely Injured Xiao Mao

"This is a real problem."

Xiao Mao frowned as he looked at the two people who were surrounding him.

Even Ash felt something was wrong when he saw the two people flanking him from the front and back.

"Delay as much time as possible. Master is nearby and will come soon if he hears the commotion."

Xiao Zhi nodded in agreement.

"I'm telling you, the Alliance's main force is already nearby! You'd better just surrender!"

Upon hearing Xiao Mao's words, the little dwarf panicked. After all, in the Pokémon world, the League was undoubtedly the number one power. How could they not panic when they heard that the League was surrounding them?

"Boss, should we retreat first?"

"Idiot! Can't you see these two are stalling for time? Stop talking nonsense! Hurry up and take care of them, then we'll go help the second brother and take them down one by one."

"Damn it!"

At this point, both Gary and Ash knew that this battle was unavoidable.

"Pikachu! One hundred thousand volts!"

Ash immediately launched a fierce attack!

Meanwhile, Shigeru took out a Poké Ball.

"Come out, Eevee! Use Protect to buy some time!"

"Wartoroo! Use Rain Dance!"

At Xiao Shi's command, the two elves immediately sprang into action.

Wartortle produced a ball of light from its hand and threw it into the sky. The once clear sky instantly became overcast, and a heavy rain began to fall.

"So it's a rare weather-based trainer? Not bad, really not bad, a Wartortle that can use Rain Dance, and it's in such good condition."

"Don't worry, I'll help you sell Wartortle for a good price."

"As for you! Considering you gave me such an excellent elf, I'll spare your corpse!"

Xiao Mao snorted coldly, but didn't say anything more.

"Warlock! One more bubble bath!"

"Ibu, use help."

[Help: Increases the power of a Pokémon's next move by 50%]

With Eevee's help, Wartortle's Bubble attack instantly increased by 50%! Plus, it gets a 50% power boost from rain-type moves.

The power of Wartortle's Water Cannon made even the poacher's Houndoom uneasy.

If this move is aimed at him, the probability of instantly killing him is extremely high!

Fortunately, this move was aimed at the poachers' leader, the middle-aged man who hadn't released any Pokémon.

"At your age, and with this level of strength, you must be a direct descendant of the League trainer, right?"

"And even among the direct trainers, they are among the most talented!"

"What a pity, someone like you is destined to die by my hand."

Looking at the middle-aged man, Xiao Mao instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

But looking at the middle-aged man who hadn't even released any Pokémon, Shigeru couldn't immediately figure out where the problem lay.