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With Noctowl acting as the strategist, Charizard, Pidgeot, and Sceptile immediately headed to Viridian Forest.
They prepared to set up an arena and issue a direct challenge, using energy cubes as a reward.
As their Trainer, Ash was unaware of this.
Instead, while on the road to Solaceon Town, he happened to run into an old acquaintance in a small town: Eterna Gym Leader, Gardenia.
For some reason, Ms. Gardenia had specifically come all the way from Eterna Gym to entertain the children here.
Although it was incomprehensible why a Gym Leader would travel such a long distance to this small town, it clearly had nothing to do with Ash and his friends.
They simply exchanged a few greetings, rested for the night at the Pokémon Center, took care of the pokémon egg, and continued their journey the next day.
It is worth mentioning that James of the Team Rocket Trio was once again pestered by Gardenia, the reason being the same old issue with Drain Punch.
However, once James showed that his Cacnea had already learned Drain Punch, she had no choice but to let it go!
As a reasonable Gym Leader, Gardenia naturally wouldn't force others; everything she did was for the sake of Grass-type Pokémon.
So, upon seeing that Cacnea had successfully learned Drain Punch, she immediately trusted that James could take good care of it.
"Young boys and girls, direct your attention to this Auntie; I have something to tell you..."
After Ash and his friends passed by a dilapidated little village, an old woman suddenly jumped out from somewhere, shouting some bold words that caught their attention.
"Uh, Auntie, is there something you need?" Hearing the familiar tone, Ash couldn't help but subconsciously interrupt her.
He was afraid this old woman was imitating some legendary figure.
"Let this Auntie tell you a story, young man with the Pikachu!"
This toothless old woman looked at Pikachu with a reminiscent expression and, under the bewildered gazes of the three, began telling her story.
The story was long, but it could be summarized as follows: hundreds of years ago, an evil ghost was passing by when an Aura Guardian with a Pikachu sealed it away.
It sounded like a boring short story, but combined with the dilapidated state of the village and the term Aura, it made Dawn and Brock look surprised.
"Ash, it's an Aura Guardian, and they have a Pikachu! Could they be your ancestor?" Dawn said, peeking between the three of them and whispering.
"Don't be ridiculous. Everyone has Aura; it doesn't necessarily mean we're related by blood!"
The girl's words made Ash sweatdrop, and he gave her a light flick on her forehead to signal her to stop talking nonsense.
Although he was an orphan in his past life, he knew one thing: you can't just claim anyone as your ancestor.
"Ouch~"
Dawn immediately covered her forehead and cried out softly.
"Ahem~"
Brock, on the other hand, was suppressing his laughter, almost bursting out because of Dawn's funny remark.
Because, as Ash said, Aura is not necessarily inherited through bloodlines.
It is also possible for it to arise from mutations in ordinary people.
A similar special ability is Psychic, which is a special power hidden within humans.
"In any case, young people, since you are stopping in this village, you must not touch the spirit tower in the distance!"
Actually, the old Auntie had said so much just to give the passing Trainers a routine warning to be careful.
It was just that this time she had met Ash with his Pikachu, so she had included a little story as a bonus.
"Spirit tower? Is that used to seal the Pokémon that was doing bad things?" Dawn asked curiously.
After speaking, she looked around, trying to find the tower-shaped seal made of stones that the Auntie had mentioned.
"Yes, young girl, inside is the Pokémon that was sealed by the Aura Guardian five hundred years ago!"
After saying this, the Auntie turned her frail body and pointed her wrinkled finger toward the tower-shaped seal within their line of sight.
However, in Ash's eyes, it looked a bit like a toy stacked up by a child, only the materials had been replaced with stones.
"Spiritomb, huh! Should I catch one too?" Ash looked at the Spiritomb tower and couldn't help but mutter to himself.
He also knew about the Pokémon sealed inside; it was a Ghost and Dark-type Spiritomb, and it was quite powerful.
The Ghost and Dark-type combination made Spiritomb an existence without weaknesses before the Fairy type appeared, lacking natural predators.
It was very suitable as a support Pokémon in battle.
Most importantly, Cynthia also had one, which meant that this guy was worth raising.
The only thing that made him hesitate was that this guy had a very nasty temperament.
According to the Auntie, it had been causing trouble for five hundred years, until a passing Aura Guardian shouted: "You are too strong, I must seal you away."
It was evident that this Spiritomb was a nasty-tempered and irritable guy.
"Seviper, use Poison Tail!"
Just as Ash was thinking, a Seviper—mostly black, with a golden head and belly, and red fangs in its open mouth—suddenly darted out from afar and unleashed a Poison Tail.
To everyone's astonishment, it struck the spirit tower with its tail.
Bang~
With one blow, the entire stone tower crumbled into rubble and fell to the ground.
"Hahaha, Pokémon from five hundred years ago, show yourself!" Jessie jumped out and shouted loudly.
"We'll catch it and present it to Boss Giovanni, meow!" Meowth was equally excited.
Only James, holding his Cacnea, stood there looking quite embarrassed.
Because in the last town, Gardenia had kept pestering him, and it was all thanks to Ash teaching Cacnea Drain Punch.
So this time, James felt quite embarrassed when facing Ash.
But the old Auntie didn't care about that; she angrily scolded in the direction where the Team Rocket Trio had appeared: "You young people, you never listen to this old woman!"
"Auntie, why is that stone glowing?" The calm Brock observed this scene and pointed to the stone.
"Oh no, the bad guy is coming out! I'll leave it to you three Trainers, Auntie has to go find a way!"
After saying this, the Auntie, who looked old enough to have no teeth, slipped away and vanished from their sight in a flash.
"Hey, Auntie..."
Dawn reached out her hand, wanting to call out to her, but in just a moment, she had disappeared.
"Oh no, it's coming out!" Brock exclaimed.
At this moment, Ash had no mind to deal with the Team Rocket Trio, as a sudden anomaly was occurring before his eyes.
The sky above them suddenly started to darken locally, the area they were in dimmed abruptly, and a slightly peculiar stone flew out from the pile of rubble of the spirit tower.
Bursts of ghost-like mist emerged from the stone, forming a Pokémon that was primarily purple and accompanied by green bubbles inside.
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