The following day after he spent the night with Risa, he had fun again with her, Officer Jenny, and Nurse Joy throughout the day.
The day after, he sent Molly back to her home with her dad, and then took a luxury blimp ride back to the Kanto Region.
"Ahh~ Viridian City, I really miss you!" From getting off the blimp and going back to Pallet Town, of course he has to pass through the nearby large City of The Eternally Green Paradise.
Unknowingly, Ash has already completed the journey to three major regions and won two Regional League Championships.
But then again, it really does feel good to come back to his home. After all, no matter how much things had changed, deep inside, he was still that kind-hearted boy who yearned for adventure and home.
"Huh?"
Ash was planning to go straight through Viridian City and go back to Pallet Town when he suddenly discovered that the large Viridian City Gym had been renovated.
The old Gym, when Giovanni, the Leader of Team Rocket, was the Gym Leader, made it look like a whole arena, with two large men in full gladiator armor standing guard at the door.
Ash's eighth official Gym Badge in Kanto was the Earth Badge from the Viridian City Gym. However, due to Mewtwo's escape at that time, Giovanni had no time to take care of the affairs of the Gym, so he let the Rocket Trio take over temporarily.
Gary, on the other hand, had actually fought against Giovanni, and was tortured by Mewtwo until he doubted his life. Literally.
Now, this Gym looks more like a bright museum, with the color of the exterior wall having changed to white, giving people a much warmer feeling.
"That idiot Giovanni… wonder what he's up to? Anyhow, has the Viridian Gym reopened?" Ash hesitated for a second whether to go in and take a look.
At this time, a car stopped next to Ash, and a fat man in beach clothes with a navigator hanging around his neck got out of the car. He recognized him at first sight, "Ash Ketchum?"
"Do you recognize me?" Ash smiled.
Yes, he was a Top Coordinator, two-time Regional Pokémon Champion, but having a stranger who can recognize him with his Aura masking was still somewhat impressive.
"Of course, my name is Scott." He introduced himself and quickly continued, "Do you know about the Battle Frontier?" The man looked expectant.
Now this is something Ash had actually heard of, and seemed to remember this part of the plot, but it had been so long that he had forgotten most of it. Originally, he planned to go back to Pallet Town to stay with his mom and at the upgraded and bigger house, and then go to Cerulean City to see his beloved Misty, and then take her to see Maya, before heading to the Sinnoh Region.
The two were chatting happily, and suddenly an old woman's cry of pain was heard. Looking back, they saw an old woman with ash-blond hair falling off her bicycle.
Ash and Scott rushed over immediately and helped her up, "Are you okay?"
The old woman shook her head, but her eyes lit up when she saw Ash. She smiled and said, "I just lost my balance and fell. I really can't help it. It's all my fault for buying so many things."
Look at the things, the old lady must have gone on a big shopping trip. There were all kinds of ingredients in her handbag, and she also had a big bag on her back. She was also on a relatively old bike, so it made complete sense she lost her balance.
"Let's help you get it, Grandma Agatha!" Ash said, a pink light flashed in his eyes, and all the packages were suspended in the air under his control. The bicycle was also helped up and stood perfectly without needing to be held.
Hearing that Ash called her by her name, Agatha also smiled and said, "What a convenient ability you have, Ash. Please help me move it."
From just now to now, neither party has introduced themselves, but they have already recognized each other.
"I'm surprised that a member of the Kanto Elite Four is stationed in Viridian City." Ash asked while following Agatha into the new Gym.
While the two didn't meet while Aah battled Lance, it was easy for Ash to get along with new people.
"Well, it can be regarded as a garrison of sorts. I am only temporarily acting as the Gym Leader here. When the official Gym Leader arrives in a little while, I can leave and enjoy my vacation without Lance begging me for the next month." Agatha said bluntly to Ash, knowing he also knew what kind of person Lance really was.
After all, Ash was under Lance in the Pokémon G-Men.
"Ahh, so that's how it is." Now that the new Gym Challenge has begun, this place will only get busier and busier.
Someone of Agatha's status would never stay here for a prolonged period. She was far too strong and there were far too many places where there could be better use of her time and skill.
Walking into the Gym, Ash found that it was still of the style left by Giovanni. He could tell that the floor was much harder than even Steel-type Gyms and the feel of the place was very cold.
It seemed that only the exterior had been renovated, but the interior had not been renovated.
"By the way, Scott, you are still as motivated as ever." Agatha looked at Scott who was following Ash closely, "Do you want to invite Ash to challenge that little Battle Frontier of yours? You have been in Viridian City a lot recently. You are wandering around here, probably just waiting for Ash to come back."
"Hehe, of course, it's only natural for me to invite someone like Ash to become the Frontier Brian!" Scott said his plan without hesitation, grinning at his brilliant plan.
"Well I have to give it to you, it's a good thing to be so passionate about work!" Agatha didn't intend to pay much attention to Scott's matter. Instead, she looked at Ash and said, "How about it, Ash, do you want to have a battle with me?"
Hearing this, Ash's eyes flashed, "Oh?"
Knowing that Ash would definitely agree, Agatha became excited, "The recent challengers have been too weak. Yesterday, two brats came to battle me, but they were defeated in a single attack. I really want to fight against a somewhat capable Trainer! You know the feeling, right, Ash?"
With the level of their strength, Agatha and Ash no longer get the urge to fight against weak Pokémon Trainers, they only do it when it's needed to. Fortunately, Ash always has a couple strong opponents during his travels, and that's mostly because he uses new Pokémon.
Scott happily served as the referee. According to the rules of an official Gym Battle, Agatha goes first.
"Hehe! Go, Gengar!" The Pokémon sent by Agatha made Ash's eyes shine. He knew Agatha, and of course he knew that she was best at using Ghost-types and Poison-types, all kinds of ferocious Pokémon, such as Arbor, Golbat, etc. And this Gengar is her strongest Pokémon.
This shows that Agatha attaches great importance to Ash's strength, also, Ash made another Pokémon exchange before leaving Fula City.
Now, in addition to the four Pikachu and Growlithe at the beginning, he also has Zeraora and a Pokémon that he has caught and is going to give to Misty.
The only ones who can fight against this Gengar currently are Pikachu and Zeraora.
"Let your lightning strike down, Zeraora!" Without any hesitation, Ash sent out his newly caught Mythical Pokémon.
Battling against a very experienced Elite Four member who could even be the Champion in regions like Unova and Kalos, Ash felt it was just a chance for him and Zeraora to better understand each other.
The arc flashed, and Zeraora appeared on the battlefield in a yellow strike.
As soon as this big cat appeared on the battlefield, Agatha and Scott exclaimed inwardly. They were seeing such a rare Pokémon for the first time.
"Here we go, Plasma Fists!"
Ash decided to ignore the stunned expressions of Agatha and Scott, and launched the attack first, electric arcs jumped about, and Zeraora arrived in front of Gengar in the blink of an eye.
A punch that shone with lightning sent the grinning and chubby Gengar flying away.
"Haha, now that's amazing!" Agatha didn't panic at all. Although it was her first time seeing a Zeraora, as a veteran Pokémon Trainer, she had already started analyzing all aspects of its data since she saw it.
First of all, it was obviously an Electric-type, and secondly, it was very speedy. And lastly, very cute. "Gengar, Shadow Ball!" Agatha's control of timing is naturally very high. She aimed at the gap where Zeraora landed, and a ball of dense, powerful Ghost-type hit it.
This is a skill that Ash's own Ralts love to spam very much now. She can even take the opponent's Shadow Ball and make it hit them back.
"Blow it up!" Ash clenched his fist, and the sparks on Zeraora's strong claws became more and more powerful, and he hit the Shadow Ball with a Plasma Fists.
With a bang, the Shadow Ball exploded, and the smoke filled the air, but golden sparks shone, and Zeraora jumped to Gengar. The compatibility between Ash and Zeraora was already high, and every move of Zeraora seemed like Ash was fighting with him.
"Double Team!"
Agatha used a Double Team to avoid this attack, and Gengar turned into several copies of itself and surrounded Zeraora.
"Use Shadow Ball barrage!"
A Shadow Ball was released just now, but only one was real and the rest were fake. There was no way to smash them all in such a small gap of time.
"Discharge!"
This is an Electric-type area-of-effect (AOE) attack, Zeraora's body emitted dazzling golden currents. Then those currents bloomed like a flower, and hit all the Gengars at once.
Gengar was undoubtedly hit, but the real Shadow Ball also managed to hit Zeraora.
"Use Hypnosis!" At the moment when Zeraora avoided the shadow ball, Agatha issued an effortless order. Gengar, who was hit and flew backwards, suddenly opened his scarlet eyes, and the red light shot toward the rushing Zeraora.
This is how much trust you have in your Pokémon to have such a battle, to not consider other matters. Agatha's battle was a new kind of eye-opener for Ash.
The time has come to decide the outcome. Ash wins if he avoids it, and he 60/40 loses if he falls asleep.
Ash shouted almost the next moment, "You know the rules, and so do I! Plasma Fists on yourself!"
Zeraora did not disappoint Ash. Its thunderous speed was the key to victory. It avoided the effects of Hypnosis by hitting itself and knocked Gengar away with another punch.
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Ash used his newly caught Zeraora to battle and defeat Elite Four Agatha.
The battle was naturally thrilling, after all, a powerful Ghost-type Pokémon like Gengar and a very experienced Pokémon Trainer like Agatha was nothing to scoff at.
For Gengar, ever since Ash reached a certain level and started catching more Ghost-type Pokémon, he has been determined to catch a Gengar.
During Ash's trip around the Kanto Region and now his Johto Region, he did meet a lot of Gastly and Haunter, but he just couldn't catch any one of them because the compatibility was too low.
And catching a Pokémon with a naturally high level of compatibility all depends on fate and luck, and so Ash never does anything to insist on it, knowing he'll have it one day because he's the Main Character. There are still many Pokémon in his hand that need the attention of Lady Luck, or maybe Lady Arcoos.
After bidding farewell to Agatha, Ash and Scott walked outside side by side. Scott was full of praise for Ash's strength, but he didn't expect that he could actually defeat a Champion-level Elite Four like Agatha with a Pokémon he never saw before.
"By the way, Ahs, regarding the Battle Frontier I mentioned to you before, there are many powerful Pokémon Trainers there who are not inferior to Granny Agatha. I think you will definitely be very interested!" Scott could see that Ash was very enthusiastic about the Pokémon battles.
"The Battle Frontier refers to the seven battle facilities scattered around the Kanto Region. Each facility is hosted by a Frontier Brain, which is someone similar to a Gym Leader, but only much stronger!"
"Fight against the Battle Facilitates. If you win, you can get their respective symbols. At the beginning, you will be given the location of the first six facilities. After you get the Symbols in these places, you can know the location of the seventh and final facility. Got it?"
It feels like leveling up to defeat a boss. Ash was really interested, "Well, it certainly does sound very interesting."
While he wasn't sure if they were really as strong as an Elite Four member, he understood they were definitely a level above the official Gym Leaders.
"Exactly! You get me, Ash!!" Ash's reaction played into Scott's plan. He had been waiting in Viridian City for several days just to guard Ash's return.
Yes, as soon as Ash walked off the blimp, which Scott's company owned, he was notified.
That's why he was able to perfectly appear at the door of Viridian City Gym, Scott drove over and pretended it was a chance encounter, but Agatha knew his plan, which he didn't seem to care about but he was actually a little nervous.
In any case, Ash quickly expressed his agreement to challenge the Battle Frontier. He also wanted to go through the regrets left by his previous self's trip around the Kanto Region.
After bidding farewell to Scott, Ash finally returned to Pallet Town with Pikachu and his other partners. The first thing he did was of course go home to visit his mother.
"I'm back!"
"Pika!"
This trip to the Hoenn Region really felt like he hadn't been home for longer than he was gone.
However, Togetic suddenly seemed to sense something and ran-flew (?) into the newly upgraded larger house.
"Welcome back!" Misty actually came out of the house and caught Togetic who rushed towards her. She looked at Ash and smiled, "Long time no see, babe! And Togetic!"
"My incompetent sisters have recently come back, so l stayed at your place every day and went to the Professors Lab to ask Slowking to help train my Pokémon." She smiled sweetly.
"I also heard from our new sister Risa that you will be back soon, so I was feeling a little restless…" Misty came over and kissed him and patted Pikachu's soft head.
"Yep, she was super giddy waiting for you to come back." Delia and Professor Oak also walked out of the back room, "Great, you're back safe and sound!" The Professor said happily.
At this time, an Azurill ran to Misty's feet.
"This one hatched from the Egg Tracey gave me not long ago," Misty picked up Azurill, who was Tracey's Maril's child.
Ash gently stroked the little one's head and said with a smile, "That's really unfortunate I guess, after all the hard work I put through to bring you a new Pokémon…"
"What?" Misty suddenly exclaimed, "A new Pokémon? What is it? What is it? Pretty please!?"
Just when the two were about to come outside, the sound of a car horn came from the door of their houses
They looked over at the opened door, only to see it was none other than Professor Birch and Max standing at the door, "Big Bro, I'm here!"
"Sis said she wanted to challenge the Pokémon Contest held in Kanto, so she left me alone and ran away. I hurriedly chased her out. It happened that Professor Birch said he wanted to come to Professor Oak. I think you will definitely come back to Pallet Town, so..." Seeing Ash's expression, Max quickly explained.
Could Ash be impatient? It was hard to get rid of this annoying at times little guy who seemed to always ruin his time with May...
"So you hitchhiked to the Kanto Region? Finally, Professor Birch took care of you, otherwise how do you want me to explain to Mr. Norman and Mrs. Caroline?" Ash said and "gently" hit him with an iron fist of love.
After the beating, Ash lost his temper and said, "Just wait here for May to come over."
Now that May is on the road alone to come to Kanto Region, her first stop must be Pallet Town. Given her personality and somewhat of an air-head brain, it is normal for her to arrive later than Professor Birch and Max.
After saying that, Ash and Misty looked at each other and said with a smile, "Are you ready to see your new partner?"
"Uh-huh!"
Ash took out a Poké Ball and said, "Come out!"
With a bang, what came out of the white light was not the Luvdisc that Ash had decided on before. Ash had neglected it because Ciel kept telling him about how it's not a good match for Misty, who wanted to be a future Water-type Pokémon Master.
Fortunately, Ash made amends when he went to Fula City, as the Pokémon that was about to be handed over to Misty was a Totodile.
As the Water-type Royal Starter of the Johto Region, Misty showed her admiration for his Feraligat many times during their Johto Region trip, but she never had the chance to catch herself a Totodile.
However, during his short time in Fila City, Ash met the one beside Grandma Harriet.
Ever since Ash summoned his Blastoise, the little guy came closer and immediately began to call Blastoise his big brother. Finally, it said goodbye to Granny Harriet and its friends who stayed side by side with him ever since it was a child. Ash also promised to help train it into a powerful Feraligatr.
This, in his mind, was the best Pokémon for Misty currently.
"Wow, it's a Totodile!" May became starry-eyed.
"Ash, you are the best, I love you so much!" She gave him a big kiss in front of them all. "Totodile! Hi, hello, I am the world-class beautiful girl Water-type Pokémon Trainer Misty, who'll raise you! Let's be great partners!"
Seeing this, Ash smiled and said, "After I separated from Brock and the others, just in time to catch up with the Wind Festival in Fula City, where the Catching Contest was being held… (yap yap)^3…"
Ash began to tell about what happened during his short trip, and took out both trophies and pictures of Risa and handed them to Delia and Misty.
Hearing that Ash had conquered another Mythical
Pokémon, Professor Oak and Professor Birch's eyes widened, urging Ash to take it out and let them have a look.
Sensing there was no other way, Ash had no choice but to throw an Ultra Ball, "Zeraora, please try to not attack these weird guys."
The large electric cat was summoned. Facing so many strangers, the big cat was quite shy and a little afraid of the looks they were giving him, but since Ash explicitly told it to not attack them, well try to, he'll do his best.
Ahs pointed to the two Professors with golden eyes and introduced, "This is Professor Birch and Professor Oak, and then these are my mother, and Misty... and although those two Professors look scary, they really aren't."
"My name is Max!" Max came out and stood in front of Zeraora,
"You are so cool. Big Bro, every Pokémon you have is so cool and powerful!"
Zeraora looked arrogant and ignored Max completely and nodded slightly to Delia and Misty.
"What a good boy. Everyone must be hungry. I cooked a lot of food. Let's chat while eating!" Delia received a call from Ash last night that he was coming back, so she quickly started preparing food with Mr. Mime helping.
Ash's return made the family lively after a long absence, and Delia was really happy.
The story of Fula City this time was really exciting, and Ash's performance made Professor Oak pay even more attention.
Just like what Agatha told him over the call, Ash will definitely become the most powerful Pokémon Trainer in the world.
A Pokémon Master!