Pokémon: Simultaneous time travel, this Ash is too versatile!

Chapter 42 Rare Pokémon in Mt. Moon, Goodbye Team Rocket.

Mt. Tsukimi is located between Cerulean City and Pewter City. It was originally an unknown mountain, but one day, someone discovered the presence of moonstone on Mt. Tsukimi, and it became famous overnight.

Compared to other evolution stones, Moonstone is not actually that rare, but that's only relative to other evolution stones.

Even a single moonstone of extremely poor quality can sell for at least tens of thousands of yuan, while a high-quality moonstone is priceless.

Pokémon have varying levels of aptitude, and generally speaking, it's very difficult to change a Pokémon's aptitude. However, there are exceptions. There's a magical phenomenon among Pokémon called evolution, and after a Pokémon evolves, there's a tiny chance that its aptitude will change.

Some Pokémon can evolve after reaching a certain level, while others require special methods to evolve, such as using evolution stones.

The higher the quality of the evolution stone, the higher the level the Pokémon will gain after evolution. In addition, high-quality evolution stones have a significant chance of changing the Pokémon's aptitude, making it even better.

"...However, all of the above are just rumors. The aptitude of Pokémon is generally difficult to see with the naked eye. It requires specialized equipment for testing, but such testing costs tens of thousands of dollars each time. Only wealthy people would do such a thing." Walking on the mountain road of Mt. Tsukimi, Xiao Gang explained in a serious manner.

Upon hearing this, Ash's mouth gaped open slightly, his face showing some surprise: "Huh, so testing a Pokémon's aptitude costs that much money?"

"Of course, the actual cost of testing aptitude is not high, but if it were easy to test a Pokémon's aptitude, then countless trainers around the world would test the aptitude of their Pokémon immediately after catching them, and release and abandon them if they found that the aptitude was not good. This behavior is inhumane and is not allowed by the League."

"Therefore, increasing the cost of testing Pokémon aptitude will prevent people from easily testing aptitude. This will discourage people who want to catch a lot of Pokémon, test their aptitude, and keep the best Pokémon from doing so."

Xiaoxia also explained to Xiaozhi why testing a Pokémon's aptitude is so expensive.

It's not that the testing qualifications require a lot of materials, leading to high costs, but rather that the pricing is intentionally set to deter many people from even considering testing the product's qualifications.

"But... if you don't want others to test your Pokémon's aptitude, wouldn't it be better not to develop this thing in the first place?" Ash said, somewhat puzzled.

"Who knows? Maybe they developed that kind of thing unintentionally." Xiaoxia shrugged, indicating that she wasn't quite sure why either.

As the three chatted and ventured deeper into Mt. Tsukimi, the path was quite long, and with their plans to explore caves, time slipped by unnoticed until evening. Just after they finished dinner, a cute and playful pink sprite suddenly appeared before them: "Pipi~~"

When Xiaoxia saw the pink fairy, her eyes lit up instantly: "It's Pippi! There really is a Pippi on Mount Tsukimi!"

Rumor has it that besides Moonstone, Mt. Moon also contains Clefairy. Clefairy is a relatively rare Pokémon. Although it is not very strong, it is very cute and is loved by many female trainers, including Misty.

When Xiaoxia came out, she only planned to catch Water-type Pokémon, but when she saw Clefairy, she suddenly felt that catching a Clefairy would be pretty good too.

"So this is Clefairy? It looks pretty cute." Ash said as he took out his Pokédex to examine Clefairy.

The Eye of Insight can see through a Pokémon's aptitude, but it can't provide a general description of the Pokémon or its attributes. For these aspects, you still need to rely on the Pokédex. If you had a complete Eye of Insight, then you probably wouldn't need the Pokédex.

Clefairy: Because of its adorable appearance, it's very popular as a pet, but it's not easy to find. Rumor has it that it's a Pokémon from the moon.

"Huh, a Pokémon from the moon? Really?" Ash put away his Pokédex, looking surprised. Clefairy is rare, but saying they came from the moon is a bit far-fetched, isn't it?

"There is such a rumor, but it's a bit hard to verify." Xiao Gang nodded, indicating that it was true.

"Why? Can't we go to the moon with our current technology?" Ash squatted down in front of Clefairy and curiously poked Clefairy. This wild Clefairy didn't seem to be afraid of Ash. Instead, it smiled as Ash teased it with his finger and swayed slightly from side to side to show its friendliness.

"Yes, current technology is not enough for humans to land on the moon... But that's not quite right either. Technologically speaking, it's enough for humans to go to outer space, but once we break through the ozone layer, we seem to encounter some inexplicable obstacle, so humans have not been able to leave Earth so far."

Breaking through to the ozone layer… Xiao Zhi pondered for a moment, then said solemnly, “What is the ozone layer?”

One sentence almost made Xiaogang and Xiaoxia fall flat on their faces. Sometimes Xiaozhi seems to know a lot of things, but other times he is so ignorant about common sense that it makes people feel helpless.

"This is aviation knowledge, and I'm not entirely sure about it either. Basically, you can think of the ozone layer as a protective shield that prevents us from being scorched by the sun. Besides, now's not the time to focus on that. It's rare to meet Pipi. Don't you all want to tame her? If you don't, she'll leave." Xiao Gang pointed into the distance.

Ash, who was listening intently to Brock's explanation, and Misty, who looked helpless, quickly turned around and found that Clefairy was already carrying a shiny, transparent stone and hopping and skipping towards the depths of Mt. Tsukimi.

"Wait a minute, Pipi!" Xiaoxia shouted as she ran towards Pipi. Suddenly, three figures appeared in front of Pipi before them, and then a large net instantly enveloped Pipi, along with the ore in her hand.

"What's going on!?" Ash and his friends stopped and stared in confusion at Clefairy trapped in the net.

Suddenly, a spotlight appeared in the dimly lit Tsukimi Cave, revealing the three somewhat indistinct figures to everyone.

"Since you asked the question sincerely!"

"I will tell you with great mercy!"

"..."

As the opening remarks began, Ash and Misty stared wide-eyed at the three people in disbelief.

"Team Rocket! What are you three doing here?!" The former shouted out the three men's names—Team Rocket!

That's right, the trio from Team Rocket—Jessie, James, and Meowth—appeared before Ash and his friends.

　The Pokémon world has satellites, and the setting here prohibits any living creature from crossing the ozone layer, otherwise they will be hunted by Rayquaza.

　　Additionally, there's a minor researcher in Tsukimiyama, but since he doesn't contribute anything to the plot, I cut him out.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)