[Lance]: Are these people… from Team Universe?
[Cynthia]: It seems so.
[Volkner]: It's really easy to recognize these people from Team Universe. You can tell right away just by looking at their Pokémon.
How did Lance and the others immediately recognize they were members of Team Universe? You could tell just by looking at their Pokémon. Whether it was the Fearow or the Geodude, there was no trace of rationality in their eyes—only violence, godlessness, and anger… Their pupils were vacant and their auras chaotic. This was exactly the same as the Pokémon under Vicious before. These Pokémon had been enhanced and driven mad by the Dark Balls, so… they were in such a frenzied state!
[Flint]: Team Universe… what a disgusting group. Not only is Vicious a member of the Rainbow Rockets, but those grunts are no good either.
[Professor Oak]: The invention of the Dark Ball… is an item that will bring chaos to the world. Fortunately, Vicious is dead, and this Poké Ball will become an out-of-print item. But there's one worrying thing…
[Will]: What Professor Oak means must be what the Rainbow Rocket Giovanni said, right? After Vicious died, they would send people there again, but this time it would be members from other teams…
The tunnel created by the Rainbow Rockets was not a one-time passage. This was definitely not good news for the Black World. At this time, Black Ash was still kept in the dark… We could only hope he would discover it as soon as possible.
In a Black World —
Facing the arrogant and domineering quartet who didn't look like good people, Ash stepped directly in front of the severely injured Zapdos.
Misty and the others also determined that these four were the ones who had seriously injured Zapdos! It was just… how could those low-level Pokémon from these guys pose a threat to Zapdos? Ash cast out his Aura power and clearly sensed the opponent's strength. Although their Aura was chaotic and unstable, the strength of those Fearow was undoubtedly at the peak Gym Leader level, and even a few of the Geodude were at Gym Leader level. This lineup wasn't impossible to defeat, but it required some strategy. For members of Team Universe, playing dirty was as natural as eating and drinking, so Zapdos capsizing in the gutter became understandable.
"You're really looking for death, kid!"
"How laughable, a kid who doesn't even look fifteen, playing with a Pikachu—does he really think he can stop us?"
"Kid, are you weaned yet? If not…"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Ash didn't want to listen to these guys anymore. Just like the Team Rocket trio, they were too talkative—but at least the Team Rocket trio's lines were somewhat interesting. These four… were just mocking others. What kind of third-rate villains were these?
Pikachu wasn't polite either. Upon Ash's command, golden lightning spread across its body and erupted like sudden thunder!
The leader of the four villains reacted first, ordering the Geodude to use Rock Slide to block!
With one command, sixteen Geodude instantly used the move in unison! Countless small rocks appeared in mid-air and then shot out like bullets!
Now Ash understood how the opponents had defeated Zapdos. The movements of these Geodude were completely synchronized. An Elite Four–level Pokémon was still only Elite Four–level. Fighting one against many was possible, but one against sixteen—and these sixteen Pokémon were all at Gym Leader level, plus they had a type advantage over Zapdos, the opponents' synchronization, and the four Fearow harassing from the side… losing wasn't unreasonable.
But… Zapdos was Zapdos, and Pikachu was Pikachu!
The Rock Slide from the sixteen Geodude was like countless bullets filling the sky. However, Pikachu's Thunderbolt was like a laser cannon cutting through the ages! Bullets versus a laser cannon… the consequence was predictable. In the blink of an eye, all the Rock Slides were shattered by the Thunderbolt! Immediately after, the undiminished power of the Thunderbolt directly exploded among the opponents' ranks!
Afraid of electrocuting the humans to death, Pikachu deliberately avoided them, only instantly taking out the Geodude and Fearow behind them! Although Geodude had the Ground type… when electricity was powerful enough, it produced terrifying heat energy. The opponents weren't just stunned—they were scorched!
The four villains were dumbfounded… What was this? Do you call this thing a Pikachu?! Why don't you translate what "Pikachu" means? Is it pronounced "Pikachu" but actually written as "God of Thunder"?!
They hadn't been this panicked even when fighting Zapdos!
After dealing with the Pokémon, the rest was easy. Regardless of whether these four were skilled in combat, they were no match for Ash. After a few quick moves, these people were tied up—don't ask, they just used whatever was at hand.
Ash confirmed the names and organization of these four, and a strange look appeared on his face. Because their names were really weird: A Jue, A Shi, A Ren, A Zha. Jue… Shi… Ren… Zha? Scum? Okay, guys, so you know you're scum! Were you quadruplets? Who gave you these names?!
Then, these four told the story of their pursuit of Zapdos. They were indeed the culprits who had severely injured Zapdos—not just because of the Pokémon on hand, but also because of the Dark Balls! Ordinary Dark Balls couldn't forcibly control Zapdos. However, they had ambushed it and used nearly ten Dark Balls in succession to capture Zapdos. In the process of breaking free from the Dark Balls, Zapdos was harassed by the Geodude and Fearow, plus the erosion of dark energy inside the Dark Balls, causing Zapdos to be unable to fight effectively and nearly fall into their hands. If Zapdos hadn't happened to meet Ash, it wouldn't have been a close call—it would have been captured!
"...Why do you have so many Dark Balls?"
"N-not many left!"
"Sabrina, please hypnotize him."
"Alright."
Under the frightened eyes of the other three, A Jue was hypnotized. After hypnosis, everything was exposed in detail. It turned out these four were one of the culprits behind the complete collapse of Team Universe! They possessed half of Team Universe's Dark Balls! The four of them had nearly two hundred in total! At the same time, the other half of the Dark Balls had been taken by another team. This meant… the Dark Balls of Team Universe were now mainly concentrated in the hands of two groups: one was the "Peerless Scum" group they had just met, and the other… was also a cadre of Team Universe. As for the specific number of people, they only knew the other party's appearance and that one member was named—Yamato!
When Ash heard this name, an expression of extreme surprise appeared on his face for the first time. Yamato… this was one of the rival duo from the Team Rocket trio! The first time he met them was during the Dark Lugia incident, but… they weren't dead! It wasn't that Ash was cursing them—it was that the place had been bombed by Dark Lugia! How the hell did they survive?! Were they as immortal as the Team Rocket trio?
Ash shook his head and didn't think about it further. In short… knowing the Dark Balls were taken by two groups was a silver lining. At least now they had switched from a majority of targets to a smaller target group, and they had even caught one group by mistake. As long as they caught the Yamato duo… Team Universe should be completely dissolved!
"You… will spend the rest of your lives in prison." Ash sentenced these four. Based on their crimes, they would probably never get out of prison.
At the same time, Ash also smashed all the Dark Balls these people had. Upon seeing the Dark Balls destroyed, the four, who still hadn't changed their ways, cried bitterly, lamenting the loss of the Dark Balls. After all, these balls were already out-of-print items. Without Vicious, no one in the world could reproduce this kind of Poké Ball.
After Ash had Sabrina's Jigglypuff sing a song to these people, the four fell to the ground directly, and Jigglypuff angrily drew long-missed graffiti on their faces.
After taking care of the four so-called cadres of Team Universe, it was Zapdos's turn next… Zapdos's injuries meant it either needed to go to a Pokémon Center or… go into this lake. Although the principle wasn't clear, the water in this lake seemed to have a healing effect on Electric-type Pokémon, which was just right for Zapdos.
Ash approached Zapdos. Zapdos slightly raised its eyelids, glanced at Ash, and then calmly closed its eyes. Ash carried the Aura left by the King of the Zapdos clan, so… Zapdos wasn't wary of Ash at all—or even not wary in the slightest. This saved Ash some effort. He transferred a bit of Aura power into Zapdos's body and then placed Zapdos into the lake.
The injuries on Zapdos's body, and even the Aura within, slowly recovered as it sank to the bottom of the lake. Ash finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, Zapdos's injuries were quite serious, so it probably wouldn't recover for a while. So, Ash and the others simply called the police first to deal with these four people.
Officer Jenny from a nearby town quickly arrived and arrested the four. And at the same time… Lorelei, one of the Elite Four!
"Miss Lorelei! Why are you here?" Upon seeing her idol, Misty couldn't wait to greet her.
When Brock saw Lorelei, he could barely breathe. His face turned red. As a master of courtship, he actually didn't know how to approach Lorelei this time! In fact, Lorelei was so different from other women he'd met before! (Referring to figure.jpg) For a moment, Brock actually became shy…
"Haha, I was planning to go to Silver Town, but I happened to pass by a nearby town and came over when I heard news about Team Universe. I didn't expect you to be here!" Lorelei was also very surprised to see Ash and his team from the Orange Archipelago again. She looked at Ash and Pikachu, who were bowing slightly to the side, and a flash of surprise appeared in her eyes…
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