The soul penetrates Xiaozhi and destroys Gou Hao at the beginning

Seemingly out of curiosity, the little guy stayed inside watching Ash direct the Pokémon in their training, neither coming out nor leaving.

Ash didn't disturb it, since he'd seen Celebi before anyway, and continued training with his Pokémon.

"Scaled Dragon, use Tile Splitting!"

Meltan, use the spinning top ball.

"Blazing Roaring Tiger, unleashing DD Golden Hook Arm."

Ash assigned Incineroar to be the training partner for the two little guys.

Through Ash's meticulous training and Incineroar's own exceptional potential as the number one Pokémon in the universe,

At this moment, Ash's Incineroar had already surpassed Professor Kukui's Incineroar in strength.

Even if they stand still, the two little guys can't hurt them, so they are perfect as their sparring partners.

All I heard was a loud "boom"!

Both the Scaled Dragon and Meltan's attacks landed on the Blazing Roaring Tiger's pectoral muscles, but the Blazing Roaring Tiger stood still and spun around quickly with its DD Golden Hook Arm, easily knocking the two little guys back.

Perhaps because the energy blasts from the attack were too intense, Celebi, who was hiding in the bushes, was startled.

Driven by its instinct to protect itself, it used its time travel ability to open a time tunnel, allowing it to return to the forest of the past to escape danger.

Because of the energy storm generated by the skill's energy blast, Ash and Incineroar were also accidentally sucked into this time tunnel.

When the smoke cleared, Meltan and Kommo-o, who had been defeated, Pikachu and Eevee, who had been watching from the sidelines, and Rowlet, who was sleeping in Ash's backpack, were all seen.

Apart from Rowlet, who was still fast asleep, the other Pokémon were completely dumbfounded.

Ash and Incineroar had vanished into thin air.

This made them frantically search everywhere, but they searched almost the entire forest and still couldn't find Ash and Incineroar. Pikachu was so anxious that it almost called for Lava Hound to come.

Meanwhile, Ash and Incineroar felt themselves being pulled away by a powerful suction force, and the sudden blinding light made them involuntarily close their eyes.

When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves sitting in an open space, surrounded by a familiar yet strange environment.

It was familiar because Xiao Zhi recognized it; this forest was the same one where he had just been training.

It felt unfamiliar because, although it was the same clearing in the same forest, it looked different from before.

For example, there's now a large rock at the training area, and so on.

Just as Ash was about to use his Aura to explore his surroundings, a small red and black head suddenly popped out from the bushes beside him—it was a Litten!

Ash was particularly surprised to find that it was a Litten, because wild Litten are very rare.

But soon, a familiar aura emanating from the Litten dispelled Ash's surprise.

Then, the appearance of a boy of about 5 years old wearing a baseball cap with a fiery roaring tiger pattern, who had come looking for the Litten, further confirmed Ash's idea.

That's right, he was Dr. Kukui as a child and his Litten before his Incineroar evolved.

One time, Ash had to borrow a pot from Professor Kukui to cook because Meltan ate his frying pan. He happened to run into Professor Kukui and Professor Barnett cleaning their house, so he offered to help.

While tidying up her wardrobe, Dr. Barnett discovered an old book that was slightly dusty and had a small corner that was charred.

Although it's called a book, Xiaozhi thinks it's more like a children's picture book.

Dr. Kukui was overjoyed when he saw the book.

This book was his favorite notebook when he was a child; it contained records of combat techniques and skills he had learned from various sources.

She carries this book with her wherever she goes, and she takes it out to look at it whenever she has a battle. She writes down any new knowledge she learns in it, just like Shota.

When he was a child, he even gave this notebook a name: "Pokémon Super Move Stamps," and he practically wore it out from flipping through it.

For example, on one occasion, Dr. Kukui learned three skills while watching a challenger fight a young Hala in a great trial.

At that time, Hara's Iron Palm Warriors were still unevolved, un-evolved Muhi-warashi.

In this one-on-one battle, the challenger surprisingly sent out an Alolan Sandslash.

When Ash heard this earlier, he exclaimed how confident the challenger was, actually using an Alolan Sandslash that was four times weak to Fighting to challenge Hala, who was good at using Fighting-type Pokémon.

Furthermore, Ash noticed a mistake on it.

Haradon held back against the challenger, failing to use a Fighting-type move that, with its 4x super-effectiveness and 1.5x STAB power boost, would have a 6x effect.

Instead, Makuhime used a powerful ramming attack to hit the challenger's Alola Sandslash.

Dr. Kukui's childhood notes here indicate that this technique is extremely effective.

However, Steel-type moves deal normal damage (one times the effect) to a Steel/Ice-type Alolan Sandslash, not an exceptionally powerful move.

The challenger then had Alola Sandslash use Ice Puck to counter Ice Puck, while Hala had Makushita avoid the move and then counter with Close Combat. The whistling fists landed squarely on Alola Sandslash, four times super effective, instantly KO'ing it.

Ash knew what Professor Kukui looked like when he was a child because there was a photo tucked inside the book. It showed a little boy wearing a baseball cap with a fiery roaring tiger pattern posing with a Litten.

Dr. Kukui said this photo was taken when he was a child, and the fire-spotted cat was a gift from his parents.

His parents doted on this Litsea cat, and Dr. Kukui had been with the Litsea cat since he was a child. The two had a very good relationship, just like brothers.

It's clear that Dr. Kukui came from a very well-off family, because on the first blank page of this notebook, there is Hala's signature, which Dr. Kukui had Hala sign when he was a child.

After signing his name, Hala also wrote a blessing for Dr. Kukui, and at the very end, he wrote "To Master Kukui".

It's worth noting that even the island's king, Hala, addresses Dr. Kukui as "Young Master," which speaks volumes about their family's status and wealth.

Back to the present.

Ash figured out what was going on, but Incineroar was still a bit confused. However, it quickly sensed that something was amiss.