Ash, with his invincible physical body, wants to become a Pokémon Master

"Wow, there are so many older ladies in kimonos here!"

All I can say is that Xiao Gang is indeed Xiao Gang; he's too strong. He managed to harass four mature women in kimonos who were passing by in just ten seconds.

Even if they look down on me, I can still shamelessly ask for their contact information.

"Actually, he must be secretly pleased to be looked down upon. I was worried about him for nothing."

Finally, Xiao Zhi couldn't stand it anymore, so he quickly apologized to the older girls while grabbing Xiao Gang's ear and dragging him away.

He quickly removed the collar from his neck, not wanting anyone to discover that he was in cahoots with him.

"Xiaogang, are you no longer thinking about Xiaoxue?"

"Sigh, Xiaozhi, you're still too young. How can a man keep dwelling on the past forever!"

"We should always look forward in life!"

Look towards the beautiful women!

Someone who was lying on the roadside saying they wanted to become a paramecium has the nerve to say that.

However, seeing that Brock had finally recovered and was fully healed, Ash and Misty were finally relieved.

"Xiao Zhi, you could have easily lured him away with just one mature woman magazine, right?"

"Judging from this situation, it should be..."

Then Xiao Gang took them to see the famous Five Sisters of Yuanzhu City perform classical dance. Xiao Gang's eyes widened when he saw the beautiful women in ancient style appearing in the audience.

Those five sisters aren't actually as pretty as Xiaoxia, but they have a great aura.

Every time one of the five sisters appeared, Xiao Gang's heart would skip a beat.

Except for the last one, Xiao Gang immediately reverted to a state of sage-like composure.

Although the last one was equally cute, Xiaogang was able to keenly judge...

"No, this person is younger than me, I don't like him."

"So that's how you figured it out!" Xiao Zhi couldn't possibly tell their ages from their heavy makeup.

"That's because you don't understand, Xiao Zhi!" Xiao Gang is the kind of person who would insist on choosing a larger bullet even if he were to be executed.

He simply wouldn't accept anyone who wasn't older than him; his "older sister radar" had already reached its peak.

At this point, Xiao Gang wanted to stay and watch the older girls perform, and even planned to harass, or rather, comfort, them after the performance.

Ash, on the other hand, was more focused on Ecruteak Gym, and he genuinely couldn't appreciate the slow, deliberate dance.

They agreed to meet at the Pokémon Center later, and Ash and Misty went ahead first.

Along the way, the scenery of Einju City, so different from that of traditional metropolises, was quite pleasing to the eye.

However, when they passed through another ancient gate and arrived at the dojo, they were a little dumbfounded.

What appeared ahead was the ruins of a dilapidated tower, which looked as if it had been burned down.

Marshadow, which was in Ash's shadow, suddenly perked up because it sensed Ho-Oh's presence.

"Is this a gym?" Ash looked at the map back and forth, still a little incredulous.

"Is Xiaoxia's book reliable? Are you sure we haven't gone to the wrong place?"

"Although Sakura-nee gave us a guidebook from ten years ago, Edo Tenjuro City is known for remaining unchanged from ancient times to the present, so the location of the gym should not have changed either."

Xiaoxia lacked confidence when speaking to her unreliable older sisters.

However, it was indeed a rather large tower. Since he was already there, there was nothing he could do, so Ash decided to go inside and check the situation first.

It's hard to say whether the dojo owner has some strange fetish and deliberately decorated the dojo like this.

Moreover, the surrounding buildings are in good condition, and even the forest next to the tower shows obvious signs of careful maintenance.

This tower is the only one that remains dilapidated, which suggests that it might hold a great secret.

Ash's curiosity was instantly piqued, and he had to go in and find out what was going on.

As soon as they entered, the gate suddenly closed automatically, and then the area around the tower immediately began to burn fiercely.

"Ah, what's going on?" Xiaoxia was so frightened that she hid next to Xiaozhi.

Ash quickly released Crocodile and Squirtle to use the water gun.

Surprisingly, the water gun seemed to have no effect on the flames.

"It's really weird." Xiao Zhi reached out and touched it; these flames had no temperature.

He immediately used his waveguide perception to scan the area, and sure enough, there were several very unusual waveguide fluctuations scattered around.

“These fluctuations are familiar…” Ash was certain that he had experienced this situation more than once.

An idea suddenly came to mind.

"Xiaoxia, don't be afraid, these fires aren't real."

"It's you I choose! Night Hawk, use Insight!"

Under the red light wave released from Noctowl's large eyes, all the Ghost-type Pokémon around it revealed their true forms.

"It really is Gastly, Gastly and the others."

"It seems that this tower is usually deserted and always in shadow."

"That's why these Pokémon are attracted here and use this place as their nest."

The hallucination we just experienced was just something those pranksters used to play on Satoshi and Misty.

Gastly and Gastly were surprised to see that Ash wasn't scared away by them. Instead, they became interested and began to surround Ash and his friends in large numbers.

"Oh ho, instead of running away, they're surrounding me?"

Ash was overjoyed to discover such a large group of Pokémon and immediately became excited.

"Then use your experience to nourish my Pokémon!" Ash waved his hand and entered battle mode.

"Pikachu, Noctowl, prepare for battle!"

"Pickup!"

"Cuckoo!"

Just as Ash was about to start his rampage, a voice suddenly came down the stairs.

"Please wait a moment."

A young man wearing a sports bandana and blue clothes slowly walked down the stairs.

“These children meant no harm, and you were the ones who broke into their home first, so let’s just let it go.”

"Please stop disturbing the Ghost-type Pokémon that inhabit this place."

The young man spoke gently, and a Gengar was with him. At his command, the Gastly and Haunter around him immediately disappeared without a trace.

"Also, because this is the original Bell Tower, now the Tower of Repentance, I don't want it to be damaged again because of Pokémon battles."

"A bell tower?"

"Yes, the tower where Ho-Oh once lived."

Chapter 251 The Legend of the Phoenix King

"I know that. The Bell Tower is the most famous attraction in Enoki City. It was built when Enoki City was still the capital during the Kingdom era."

"And it's also related to Ho-Oh, so it's a must-see attraction when visiting Ecruteak City."

"Wow, Xiaogang, when did you get here?"

The sudden sound from behind startled Xiaoxia.

"Didn't you say you were going to bravely pursue the two sisters? You failed again so quickly?"

"No, Xiaoxia, I just encountered a little setback on my romantic journey through life," Xiaogang shook his head repeatedly.

"I'm already 50% successful in pursuing love!"

Approaching someone, asking for their contact information, dating, marriage—the whole process—Xiao Gang got to the point of being rejected after asking for their contact information. How can that not be considered half the battle won?

"I firmly believe that a happy ending will be achieved very soon!"

"And those two sisters even helped me get a taxi after they found out I was going to the Pokémon Center, and I also got to see the lovely Officer Jenny along the way."

Xiao Gang happily picked up Pikachu and spun it around.

"When I left the police station, I suddenly realized that the dojo seemed to be surprisingly close, so I thought I'd come and see my best friend's match, and here I am."

"Wow, Xiaogang is so amazing!"

"How could that be? He was clearly harassing someone and got arrested because he was mistaken for a pervert."

Seeing that Xiaoxia and Pikachu were somewhat fooled by Brock's serious-sounding nonsense, Ash quickly and impatiently exposed him.

"Oh dear, the pursuit of love is always full of thorns."

Actually, with his years of practiced sweet talk and confession lines, Xiao Gang really has a chance to get the older women's contact information.

But he was too much of a womanizer; he confessed his feelings to all four of his girlfriends in a row. Afterwards, when the four of them checked their accounts, Xiao Gang immediately gave up.

Ignoring the poor, dark-skinned man who was hypnotizing himself, Ash continued to look at the mysterious young man who had suddenly appeared.

"May I ask who you are?"

“This tower and this entire area are my home.”

The young man walked down slowly with a gentle smile.

"I am Komatsu, the headmaster of the Enju Dojo."

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have triggered a new main quest: Phantom Badge!: Please defeat Ecruteak Gym Leader Komatsu]

[Rewards: Alliance Coins +5000; Stamina +2; Attack +2; Free Attribute Points +3]

"You're the gym leader!"

It was truly effortless. Although we failed to find the dojo, catching the dojo master had the same effect, didn't it?

"I'm Ash from Pallet Town, come and battle me in a Pokémon battle!"

Now Ash can't wait to bother the other person right away.

"Oh, you're a trainer here to challenge the gym? How did you end up here?"

Upon learning that Ash was a trainer who had come to challenge the gym, Komatsu's expression visibly softened.

But he quickly shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Ash, I'm afraid it's not possible today, because I still need to clean up this charred tower."

"Although it has been abandoned, occasional maintenance is still necessary, otherwise it will really collapse."

"Why not ask someone else for help?"

Ash was puzzled. "Such a big tower, it would probably take Matsu three days to clean it all by himself."

"Shoji, do you remember me saying this is the original Bell Tower?"

"The bell tower that Xiaogang mentioned is actually a newly built bell tower, while the only place where Ho-Oh once descended was this charred tower." Xiaosong stroked the broken walls and ruins of the charred tower around him with a pained expression.

"Excuse me, what exactly is going on?"

As outsiders, Xiaozhi and the others were unaware of this secret, and they all looked at Xiaosong with curiosity, hoping he could answer their questions.

"It's no secret," Komatsu said slowly with a slight smile.

"In ancient times, the Bell Tower was the only place where the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh could communicate with humans, and the Bell Tower is famous for this reason."

"Only a select few, my ancestors, were able to contact Ho-Oh."

"Our ancestors were the high priests of Ho-Oh for generations, and they have been guarding the Bell Tower so that humans and Pokémon could coexist and prosper together."

"Ho-Oh, which visits Bell Tower, is thus regarded as a symbol of peace, using its powerful strength to maintain harmony on this land."

At this point, Xiaosong suddenly sighed dejectedly.

"But three hundred years ago, the Phoenix King's overwhelming power aroused the covetousness of humans, and a group of people who wanted to use the Phoenix's power to do evil started a war."

"The Bell Tower was burned down during that conflict, and after that, Ho-Oh cut off all contact with humans and refused to show itself again."