I caught a Pokémon

Is a long-planned scheme really that simple?

Xia You calmly observed everything. Suddenly, he saw in the corridor on the second floor that the man codenamed "Handsome Guy" was battling a man with two Pokémon, who was wearing a Team Rocket uniform and had a purple mohawk hairstyle.

With a sudden thought, Xia You ran up the stairs and arrived at the corridor on the second floor of the hall without even saying hello to Xiaoxia and the others.

The handsome guy's two Pokémon are a smug-looking frog called Croagunk and a Growlithe with tiger stripes and a lion-like mane.

The effeminate man's Pokémon were Zubat, which had no eyes but a gaping maw, and Weezing, which constantly emitted poison gas.

The four Pokémon were locked in a fierce battle when they saw Xia You arrive. The handsome man's face lit up with surprise, while the effeminate man's expression became even more unpleasant.

"Xia You!" the handsome guy called out, then pointed at the man and shouted, "This guy's name is Lambda, one of Team Rocket's four top executives, and also the on-site commander of this heist. If we catch him, we'll truly stop this riot!"

"Damn it, get out of my way!" Lambda roared. "Whether you're Interpol or any other trainer, anyone who dares to obstruct Team Rocket's plans will pay the price!"

It turns out he was the on-site commander, and now he's entangled here. No wonder the Rocket Team members below are in such a chaotic mess.

"Give up," Xia You said. "Look down. Your plan has been completely ruined. Your men have been routed and are fleeing in all directions. Defeat was inevitable! Kirlian, use psychic attack!"

The next second, Lambda's Zubat was slammed to the ground as if someone had grabbed it by the neck.

With Xia You joining the fray, the previously evenly matched situation was instantly decided.

Seeing this, no matter how unwilling he was, Lambda could only swallow the bitter pill of defeat.

"Don't be too happy yet, we'll be back!" After glaring at the handsome guy and Xia You, Lambda ordered, "Double gas, use smoke screen!"

A large plume of black smoke billowed from Dual Gas's body, enveloping Lambda.

"Oh no!" the handsome guy exclaimed in surprise. But when he covered his nose and crawled into the smoke, he found that Lambda and his Pokémon had long since vanished without a trace.

Chapter 29 Cruise Ship Sinking

"Damn it!" The handsome guy slammed his fist on the corridor railing. "He still managed to get away!"

Before Xia You could speak, he had already taken the initiative to explain: "This Lambda is the high-ranking Rocket executive I've been tracking. I thought I would capture him today to cut off one of Rocket's key allies, but in the end, it all fell through!"

"You've done a great job stopping this heist," Xia You comforted her, then suddenly changed the subject, "But now is not the time to wallow in self-pity. The most urgent thing is to take care of those ordinary Team Rocket members down there!"

“You’re right.” The handsome man nodded solemnly. “Then let’s get started!”

A gentle breeze stirred the once calm sea, creating ripples. Looking into the distance, the sky had changed color, and a thick, massive dark cloud was slowly approaching the Saint Anne.

In the lobby on the first floor, with everyone working together, they quickly defeated Team Rocket.

The Rockets members scattered and fled, disappearing completely in the blink of an eye.

The handsome man was powerless to do anything about it and could only watch them escape.

After all, he couldn't bring so many Team Rocket members to justice on his own. So, after saying goodbye to Xia You and leaving his phone number, he also chose to leave quietly.

At that moment, a huge wave crashed onto the ship, causing it to shake violently. The passengers, caught off guard, lost their balance and fell backward.

Xia You reacted quickly, grabbing the table beside him to avoid falling. Before he could even look up, a petite body bumped into him.

It's Xia!

Xia You quickly wrapped her arms around her waist to prevent her from falling, and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

Xiaoxia blushed slightly, looked up at Xia You, and gently shook her head.

The Saint Anne swayed violently from side to side as the waves crashed against it. Its balancing mechanism was of little use in such terrible weather. People rushed to the windows and looked out. The sky was as dark as night, and all they could see were lightning and thunder.

"It's a storm!"

Someone shouted something, which instantly caused panic in the surrounding area.

Xia You helped Xiaoxia up and sighed, "With such terrible weather, this ship definitely can't return."

On the other side of the hall, the captain, who had been missing from the beginning, was suddenly found. Although he looked flustered, he tried to appear calm and said, "...When I noticed, the ship was already surrounded by a storm. But please rest assured, the St. Anne is a battle-tested vessel with a huge tonnage. I guarantee that it will not sink!"

Just as he finished speaking, another huge wave crashed onto the ship, and everyone was jolted and fell to the ground. When they got up, they saw that the captain had already run to the end of the emergency passage and sat in a lifeboat!

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The captain, inside the lifeboat, repeated his words to the astonished crowd, "I assure you, this ship will absolutely not sink! Please stay here without worry!"

However, seeing that the captain had boarded the lifeboat, these people no longer believed him and rushed to the lifeboat.

In the chaos, women screamed, men shouted, and children cried, creating an extremely chaotic scene.

"Let's hurry up and go too." Xia You waved to Xiaoxia and Xiaogang, and was about to take a step when she realized Xiaozhi was nowhere to be seen. "Huh? Where did Xiaozhi go?"

Xiaoxia and Xiaogang hurriedly searched and finally found Xiaozhi in front of a machine in the corner.

"He's there!"

When Xia You and the others arrived at Xiao Zhi's side, they saw him exchanging Pokémon with the man in the suit on a machine.

So you finally figured it out...?

As the man in the suit operated the machine, he was surprised to see Xia You: "So it's you!? In such a short time, your Ralts has evolved into Kirlia. It must be stronger than before!"

Xia You nodded in a friendly manner without giving any further reply.

At this moment, Ash picked up the Poké Ball containing Butterfree again, but before he could even grip it tightly, the St. Anne shook again, his hand slipped, and the Poké Ball fell to the ground and rolled into the corridor next to him.

"Bartholin's Butterfly!"

Ash called out and quickly chased after it, while his companions Misty and Brock, out of concern, also ran into the corridor.

Xia You glanced back at the lifeboat; now was the best time to leave safely.

Logically speaking, with such large waves, even boarding a lifeboat would be extremely dangerous, right?

He shook his head. Instead of leaving alone, he followed Xiaoxia and Xiaogang into the corridor.

He ran forward several dozen steps before catching up with Ash. Just as Ash picked up the Poké Ball and was about to stand up, an unprecedentedly huge force swept over the Saint Anne. The next second, Xia You felt a dizzying sensation, his body was lifted into the air, and he crashed into the wall.

The fall was quite severe. After a long time, when Xia You stood up with Kirullian's help, she found that the entire ship had completely flipped over.

Moreover, he could clearly feel that the entire ship was sinking continuously, and from the occasional cracking sounds, he could hear streams of water rushing into the ship.

It finally sank...

Beside him, Xiao Zhi and the others were also dazed and confused from the fall. Xia You woke them up one by one, and when they realized what had happened, their expressions changed.

With another tremor, the St. Anne appeared to have sunk to the bottom of the sea and come to a complete stop.

The corridor lights still illuminated the cabin, indicating that its electrical system had not been affected for the time being.

"What do we do now?" Ash asked, his face filled with shock, as he peered out the window. "This ship has completely sunk to the bottom of the sea!"

"Calm down," Xia You reassured him. "We need to find a way out quickly; we must escape before we're completely submerged!"

Fortunately, due to the large amount of air inside the ship, the seawater would not completely fill the ship for the time being due to water pressure, giving them ample time.

The group hurried along the corridor, but unfortunately, due to the ship capsizing, the bottom became the top and the top became the bottom. In some places, the road was impassable, and because of the accumulated water, it became very difficult to continue forward.

When they reached the top of the stairs, seeing that the stairs were completely submerged and there was nowhere to go, they couldn't help but stop nervously.

Chapter 30 The Way to Leave

"So, are we going to dive into the water next?" Ash asked.

Xiao Gang gently stirred the seawater with his hand, saying worriedly, "But if we dive down and swim for a long time, only to find that it's a dead end or we encounter a sluice gate that we can't open, then we'll be in trouble."

"In this situation, we definitely need Pokémon!" Misty said, taking out her Poké Ball and releasing a Goldeen into the water. "Goldeen, go down there and see what's going on. Find an escape route!"

The goldfish nodded, sank into the water, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

However, it did not return even after a long time.

"So it still doesn't work?"

Xiaoxia frowned. Just as she was about to go down and check the situation herself, the water surface suddenly rippled.

After waiting for a while, as the water rippled, the first thing to emerge was a disheveled human head that looked like a water ghost!

Because they were completely focused, everyone was startled. Xiaoxia screamed and hid behind Xia You, clutching his clothes and trembling.

Compared to the girls, Xia You was braver. He forced himself to remain calm and waited for the head to continue rising before realizing that it was actually Team Rocket's trio, stacked on top of each other, pushed up from the water by Goldeen.

"Don't be afraid, everyone, it's the Rockets."

Xia You patted Xiaoxia on the shoulder, and Xiaoxia breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was indeed the Team Rocket trio.

"What the hell! How did they get in the water?"

Musashi, Kojiro, and Meowth were lying on the ground, each spitting out a few mouthfuls of seawater. They were originally on the verge of death, their eyes rolling back in their heads. However, upon hearing Misty's voice, they instantly regained their vitality and jumped up.

Musashi exclaimed, "What a small world! It's you guys!?"

Tensions immediately rose between the two sides, who both took out their Poké Balls. Jessie and James released Ekans and Koffing, while Ash and Brock released Squirtle and Geodude.

"Hey! Hey!" Xiaoxia reached out to stop them from escalating the situation. "You need to understand, it was my goldfish that saved you. And look around you, this is not the time to fight! If we don't find a way to escape quickly, we'll all die here!"

Despite this, Ash, Brock, and Team Rocket still glared fiercely at each other, none of them willing to back down.

Just then, Kojiro suddenly saw Xia You standing to the side and pointed at him in surprise, saying, "Ah! It's you! Thank you so much before, otherwise I would have been cheated by that guy who sells Magikarp!"

"Idiot, we're the bad guys! Why are you thanking someone else!" Musashi smacked Kojiro on the head, then asked in confusion, "But speaking of which, who is he?"

Kojiro blushed slightly, not daring to tell the truth. If Musashi found out, he would definitely kill him himself for almost using two people's salaries in advance to buy a Magikarp that could only jump around.

Xia You advised, "Let's stop here. Xiaoxia is right, we really don't have much time left!"

With Xia You's mediation, both parties were able to retrieve their Pokémon.

Through questioning, Xia You and the others learned that the two members of Team Rocket and their cat had not left the St. Anne in time. After the cruise ship capsized, in their haste to escape, they broke through the hull, causing seawater to rush into the cabin and sweep them into the current.

If the goldfish hadn't happened to pass by, these three would probably have already become underwater ghosts.

"Hmph, fine then." Musashi put his hands on his hips and said arrogantly, "But don't get too cocky. This is just a temporary truce, and it doesn't mean I'll let you off the hook in the future!"

“I said…” Xia You asked tentatively, “You don’t have any Water-type Pokémon, do you? We’re going to leave the sea soon, is it really okay for you to act so arrogantly?”

"this…"

The Rockets' trio's expressions changed, as if they had just realized the problem. Their attitudes instantly shifted 180 degrees, and they all bowed and apologized.

"Ah! I'm sorry, we were wrong!"

Xia You smiled and shook her head. No matter how heavy the atmosphere was, as long as they were there, it seemed to become funny and joyful.

Having dealt with the Rockets, they can now finally focus on discussing countermeasures.

Xiao Gang stroked his chin and asked, "Now, how exactly do we get out of here?"

“Leave this to me,” Xiaoxia said, puffing out her chest. “I’ve made a model of the St. Anne before, so I know the layout here very well. Since the road down below is blocked, we’ll have to go up. I remember the hull under the engine room is quite weak. If we can make a hole there, we can escape!”

Xiao Zhi and the others nodded in agreement, but Xia You raised an objection.

"We can't drill holes in the bottom of the ship!"

"Huh?" Xia asked in confusion, "Why?"

Xia You explained, "If we break through the bottom of the ship, the water will flow down from above, and the water pressure will be extremely high, making it very difficult to go upstream. Moreover, after breaking through the cabin, the air pressure will be unbalanced, and seawater will quickly fill the entire cruise ship. If we fail to get out of the bottom of the ship, it will definitely be too late to try other methods."

Xiaoxia suddenly realized and said, "I see. Do you have any ideas?"

Xia You continued, "Since the area below is completely submerged in seawater, I think we should have the Water-type Pokémon break through a section of the ship's hull in the submerged area and swim out with us! That way, the water pressure we face will definitely be much lower!"

“But if we do that…” Xiaoxia hesitated, “it will definitely take longer than leaving from up there, and I’m afraid we can’t hold our breath for that long.”

"Don't worry about that. I just glanced out the window. Although the ship has sunk, the terrain in this area is relatively high, so we're not actually that far from the surface."

As she spoke, Xia You pointed to the seawater beneath her feet.

"And look, what's that!"

Everyone looked down and saw that in the direction Xia You was pointing, several plastic water bottles were floating!

After the drinks in these water bottles were finished, they were filled with air and somehow ended up here!

Xia You said, "With the bottles in our mouths, even one more breath will definitely help us last a few more minutes than usual. Besides, the seawater here isn't deep, so we don't have to worry about the seawater crushing them!"

If it were someone else who raised this objection, Xiaoxia might have insisted on her own opinion, but when Xia You spoke up, she became the most supportive one.

As for the others, they looked at each other, undecided. But since Xiaoxia supported Xia You, there was nothing more for them to argue about.

"Alright, let's do it that way!"

Chapter 31 The Great Underwater Escape