novelhk Chapter 344 Aftermath, An Unexpected Challenge, Citrus Arena!
Chapter 344 Aftermath, An Unexpected Challenge, Citrus Arena!
Chapter 344 Aftermath, An Unexpected Challenge, Citrus Arena!
Ash wondered what other Pokémon besides Rayquaza could possibly reach Arceus's level. Was it Xerneas, the god of life? Yveltal, the god of death? Kyogre, the master of the sea? Groudon, the master of the earth? Or perhaps Ho-Oh? Or Kyurem, the legendary Pokémon that possesses the power to fuse multiple legendary Pokémon?
But the champion Ash told him that the other Pokémon that Arceus thought could reach the same level as him was called Pikachu!
This Pikachu was undoubtedly the Pikachu he knew.
Ash always knew that Pikachu possessed unfathomable potential, and he believed that Pikachu could definitely reach the level of a god, it was just a matter of time.
That strange power of reincarnation is something even mythical beasts don't possess. Among so many mythical beasts, there are countless strange and wonderful abilities, but which mythical beast can be like Pikachu, constantly expanding its upper limit as it travels to more and more areas?
If mythical beasts also possessed such abilities, their power ceiling would likely have already reached Arceus's level.
However, on the other hand, perhaps it is precisely because of Pikachu that it can possess such power. Since Pikachu's starting point is very low, if some Pokémon that already have a high starting point were to possess such power, not to mention legendary Pokémon, but just to give pseudo-legendary Pokémon like Salamence, or Pokémon with excellent growth like Charizard, they would be able to take off from the ground in no time.
Now that Pikachu has undergone two reincarnations, its growth potential should be close to Champion level. If it were given a special ability like Charizard, Charizard's growth potential would probably have already soared to the peak of the Divine Realm.
The world has a way of balance, and such heaven-defying power cannot be placed on an equally heaven-defying elf.
However, even with such incredible abilities, Ash never imagined that Pikachu could one day grow to the point of being on par with Arceus. In fact, ever since he learned of Arceus's existence, Ash never thought that any Pokémon could reach the same level.
Therefore, he was quite shocked when he heard that some of the experts in the group were actually challenging Arceus. Could they even challenge that? Wasn't it just a free kill?
In the end, his experience was still too shallow. Arceus was not invincible. As long as he could reach the same level as Arceus and fight against Arceus after removing the stone tablets, he would have a chance to win!
It sounds like there are a lot of prerequisites, but there's no other way, it's Arceus after all!
It's already incredible that we have a chance to beat him, so it's normal to ask for more conditions.
[Champion Ash: I'm now the strongest Pokémon in the entire world, but I still feel powerless against Arceus. However, I'm still young and have many more possibilities. Currently, Pikachu and I are working as teachers in the Padilla region, partly to experience what it's like to teach and nurture, and partly to explore everything in the Padilla region.]
[Champion Ash: Once I've explored everything in the Padina region and Pikachu has advanced to the next rank, that will be the time for my second challenge against Arceus.]
The second challenge against Arceus — How wonderful! This is the confidence of the world's strongest. When will he be able to have such power?
Ash thought to himself with a touch of envy, while his fighting spirit surged within him. Even after experiencing a battle at the pinnacle of the God Realm, judging from what he knew, he was still far from the end of his journey. Even the champion Ash had not yet reached the end of his journey, so he had to work even harder than before!
[Champion Ash: Keep it up, newbie! I'm waiting for the day you reach our level. I hope we can exchange tips on battling Arceus then.]
[Advanced Ash: Okay, boss! That day will come! I'm heading back to Pallet Town now!]
[Champion Ash: Okay, go ahead.]
The day after the Orange Islands incident, Lorelei and Cynthia said goodbye to Ash.
Kona needs to go back to the League to report, while Cynthia needs to bring back many members and executives of Team Galactic.
After all, Team Galactic is an organization in their Sinnoh region, so they need to be taken back to Sinnoh to be detained and interrogated there.
Before leaving, the two girls asked Ash about Mewtwo. They knew a little about Mewtwo's power, but the power Mewtwo displayed in this battle far exceeded their expectations.
It's worth noting that Mewtwo was facing Dark Lugia, a top-tier Digimon, but instead of being suppressed by Lugia, it actually dominated Lugia, rubbing it against the surface of the sea. After multiple clashes, Lugia didn't gain any advantage whatsoever.
After Mewtwo transformed, it easily shattered the darkness on Lugia with just a few punches and kicks. It seemed that Mewtwo was even a level above Lugia. But in reality, just over three months ago, Mewtwo's strength was only at the initial stage of the Divine Realm. How did it become so powerful in such a short time?
Mewtwo remained silent, then returned to Ash's Poké Ball without saying a word, leaving the rest of the burden to Ash. After all, she had already finished the fight, and not only finished it, but had a great time.
Although she didn't know where her sudden surge of power came from, Ash always managed to come up with some strange and wonderful things, and she knew that from the first time they met.
The blue-skinned dog that she didn't take seriously back then evolved into someone who could see through her. Later, when she battled Ash on New Island, although the dog no longer displayed that power, Ash's own power still surprised her.
Today, it was her turn to enjoy the privilege of a power surge. After the surge, she not only thoroughly defeated a peak-level god, but also felt the increase in her own power after the power subsided.
She was already close to breaking through to the intermediate level of the God Realm, just one step away.
Today's series of battles allowed Mewtwo to break through that final hurdle and reach the intermediate level of the Divine Realm.
Each minor level within the Divine Realm is vastly different. An ordinary Divine Realm Pokémon might need five to ten years to advance to a minor level, but with Ash by her side, she already felt a breakthrough after only three months.
Now, in the fourth month, they have broken through the bottleneck and reached a new level.
However, today's gains were not limited to that. After the enormous power that had suddenly surged into his body receded, Mewtwo sensed that some of the energy remained within her body.
Once she absorbs and digests that portion of energy, she might be able to reach an even higher level and ascend to the advanced stage of the Divine Realm!
For her, who had just leveled up, this was simply an incredible thing, and it was Ash who brought this incredible thing to her.
Although Mewtwo really wanted to ask Ash why her power suddenly skyrocketed to that level, since Ash didn't tell her directly, it must be related to the secret Ash himself had.
Ash has a secret she can't see through. This secret is related to Ash's rapid improvement in Pokémon and her temporary power boost. Moreover, when Ash commanded her, she felt that Ash was like a different person.
The secrets involved in this power enhancement must be complex. Since Ash didn't tell her, it's probably because the time wasn't right yet. In that case, she wouldn't ask any more questions.
As for how Ash explains it to Lorelei and Cynthia, that's his business.
Mewtwo's escape left Ash somewhat flustered when facing Cynthia and Lorelei, but he managed to get through it in the end.
The reason is quite reasonable: because Mewtwo underwent its first Mega Evolution, it activated the power of the Mew Gene within it, thus gaining power beyond its own strength for a short period of time. However, this power can only be activated during the first Mega Evolution.
Once it's used up, that's it.
After the battle, Mewtwo remained at the same level as before, but after several battles with legendary Pokémon, its level rose to intermediate level in the Divine Realm.
Ash's explanation seemed to convince Lorelei and Cynthia on the surface, but whether they truly believed it was something only they themselves knew.
After saying goodbye to Ash, Ash and his friends stayed on Asia Island for a while, experiencing the local customs and culture. Since the three legendary birds had returned to their places, the weather around Asia Island had returned to normal.
Little Lugia eventually became Ash's Pokémon. Team Galactic's information was correct; the little Lugia on Ash's body was indeed the child of Lugia, the sea god. Seeing its child stained black, Lugia wasn't angry; instead, it expressed its gratitude to Ash.
He knew what it felt like to bear that dark power, and he also knew how difficult it was to integrate that power into his body. Little Lugia was in a perfectly normal state and had no rejection reaction, which was enough to show that Little Lugia had completely integrated that power into his body.
This was clearly not something Lugia could have done on its own; it was Ash's doing.
Lugia's current state is quite different from before. When he was invaded by the power of darkness, although he appeared to be black, it was because the existence of that power suppressed his power, rather than because it merged with his body.
If there are no other interfering factors, it should take about 30 minutes to return to normal.
But given the methods of those humans, who knows what they might do in thirty minutes? They might even take him back to their base to strengthen their control. So without Ash, both His child and Him would face unspeakable calamities.
Therefore, Ash is like a savior to the father and daughter. It is for this reason that Lugia chose to entrust baby Lugia to Ash and also gave Ash her signature feather, the Silver Wing.
Before saying goodbye to Lugia, Ash asked about the GS Ball. The GS Ball is a Pokémon Ball created using the power of Ho-Oh and Lugia. Ho-Oh's whereabouts are currently unknown, but Lugia is right in front of him.
Unfortunately, Lugia was also unaware of this. It seems that the GS Ball was simply created using the power of the two legendary Pokémon, without the two Pokémon's knowledge.
Ash also showed the GS Ball to Lugia. Although Lugia still couldn't open the GS Ball, it told Ash about its purpose: it's a Poké Ball containing the power of time and space, specifically used to catch Pokémon with the power of time and space.
When it comes to the power of time and space, the first things that come to mind are Dialga and Palkia. One of these Pokémon controls time, and the other controls space. Could it be that this Poké Ball is specifically designed to catch Pokémon?
But that doesn't make sense. There's only one Poké Ball. You can't catch two Pokémon with just one Poké Ball.
The trail went cold again; we'll just have to take the GS Ball back to Professor Oak and figure things out there.
Before returning to Pallet Town, Ash has to go to another place, Orange Island in the Orange Islands, where he will battle Yonex, the current head trainer of the Orange Islands, at the Orange Stadium.
Logically speaking, to challenge the top trainer, one should collect enough Southern Cross Badges, but this challenge qualification was given to him by Yuji, and by Tokona.
The reason was that Yuji seemed very interested in him. After learning that he had come to the Orange Islands, he wanted to fight him, but Yuji did not have his contact information.
So he contacted his distant relative, Lance, the current Kanto Four Heavenly Kings and Johto League Champion.
After learning the news, Lance went to Lorelei's place because he knew that Lorelei and Ash were together. Coincidentally, the notification came on the night the Orange Islands incident ended. So the next morning, Lorelei told him that Yone wanted to challenge Ash.
So Ash, who was originally planning to go straight back to Pallet Town, changed his destination once again and headed towards Citrus Island.
The group finally left Asia Island four days after the battle of the divine beasts. They had spent two days on the island, and after resolving the important matters, they finally had some time to relax. There was no need to set off again so soon.
The journey from Asia Island to Citrus Island doesn't take too long; with the Laplace, it only takes half a day.
Upon arriving at Citrus Island, Ash and his friends headed straight for Citrus Stadium. After being stopped by the gatekeeper, Ash gave his name and asked the gatekeeper to find Yuuji.
Since they didn't have badges, only Yuji's personal presence could confirm whether the battle could begin.
If you have a badge, you generally just need to register at the Pokémon Center and then be notified to go to the Citrus Stadium to prepare for the competition.
Without the badge, Ash had no choice but to come and find Yuuji himself.
Fortunately, Yuji seemed to have instructed the gatekeeper to notify him immediately upon hearing the name Ash.
So it wasn't long before Yuji ran up to Ash and his friends.
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