"…Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!" Ash swung his arm forward, commanding Pikachu to unleash his move on the Spearow in front of them!
Golden sparks shot from Pikachu's body, tearing through the air and striking the Spearow squarely.
The Spearow shrieked, its feathers singed black, before collapsing weakly to the ground.
"Nice! That makes ten down!"
Ash pumped his fist and high-fived Pikachu's tail in celebration.
With this latest victory, they'd defeated their tenth wild Pokémon. At the same time, Ash could clearly sense Pikachu's Aura growing stronger, to the point where even he could feel it.
Aura in both humans and Pokémon didn't just represent life force—it also reflected raw strength.
The stronger the Aura, the stronger the fighter. That had been one of the explanations in the manual he'd absorbed earlier.
The problem was, the manual hadn't listed any kind of standardized ranking system. Ash had no idea what level Pikachu had reached now.
Actually, scratch that—he didn't even know how the Pokémon world categorized levels in the first place.
Still, it didn't matter. What he did know was that every time Pikachu beat another Pokémon, his move proficiency increased and his Aura grew. That alone was enough for Ash.
But he'd also noticed something else. The more Pokémon Pikachu defeated, the slower his growth became. After that tenth Spearow, the increase in Aura was almost negligible.
Ash brought the question up in the Chat Group, and the veterans explained: Pikachu's level was rising, but the wild Pokémon he fought weren't strong enough to keep pace. That's why his progress was slowing down.
It was like playing a game—when your level goes up, low-level monsters give less experience. On top of that, higher levels require more experience to advance. Put those two together, and of course leveling slows down.
So if he wanted faster progress, Pikachu needed to battle stronger opponents. Win or lose, the growth would be far more substantial.
Taking "his own" advice to heart, Ash planned to head to Viridian City and check out the so-called Gym challenge first.
But just as he thought that, a whole flock of Spearow showed up…
"An experience bundle delivered right to my doorstep? Perfect—wait, what the—?!"
Ash and Pikachu had been fired up, ready for action. But after the first dozen Spearow appeared… another dozen swooped in behind them… and then another dozen…
All told, the Spearow swarm was now over a hundred strong!
And right in the middle of the flock, Ash spotted the very same Spearow they'd taken down as their tenth victory.
"So you brought your whole clan for revenge, huh?! Was it that deep of a grudge? Pikachu, they're all yours!" Ash flung his arm forward, signaling Pikachu to fight.
But Pikachu immediately darted behind Ash, shaking his head furiously.
Fight? No way!
He was just a little rookie Pikachu! Asking him to take on a hundred Spearow was practically asking for his life!
"Pika pi! Pikachu!" Ash, it's you! You're the one fighting this time!
"Hey hey hey! What's that supposed to mean?! I'm human! You want me to take on a hundred Spearow?!"
"Pika? Pikachu pi." Aren't you the strong one? Sounds like the perfect time to show off.
"You little—!!"
"Skreeee!!"
While Ash and Pikachu bickered, the Spearow had no patience for their comedy routine. With a deafening cry, the swarm dove down like a storm of arrows.
Ash froze for a second, then scooped Pikachu into his arms and bolted!
"Pika pika!" Why are you running?! Fight them! (LOL ;-;)
"Fight your head! Do you not see how many of them there are?! Why don't you fight?!" Ash snapped back, sprinting at full tilt.
Sure, he'd awakened Aura, but he still wasn't sure exactly how powerful he was. If it were Aura Guardian Ash here, he'd have swatted the entire flock aside with a single strike.
But for this Ash, who had only just obtained Aura? A hundred Spearow was still terrifying.
Even so, boosted by Aura, his speed now completely surpassed normal human limits.
The Spearow were fast, but not as fast as Ash.
Pikachu climbed onto Ash's shoulder, clinging tightly to his shirt. Watching the flock fall further behind, he couldn't help but make a face.
Was this really human speed?
Spearow were Flying-types. Speed was supposed to be their strength—far beyond what humans could manage. But Ash was outrunning them. It was downright bizarre.
Then again… considering this was the guy who had beaten Pikachu barehanded, maybe outrunning Spearow wasn't so impossible after all.
"Pipipi~~"
Feeling safe again, Pikachu stuck out his tongue and made a face at the flock behind them.
He'd only beaten one Spearow, and they brought over a hundred back for revenge. That level of pettiness was disgusting.
So he decided to disgust them right back!
If he couldn't beat them, he could at least mock them.
Seeing Pikachu's taunting face made the Spearow even angrier. They flapped their wings furiously, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't match Ash's speed. The distance only grew. If this went on, they'd lose him entirely!
"Skreee!!"
Several higher-leveled Spearow shrieked, and suddenly their speed multiplied several times over.
Move—Quick Attack!
With Quick Attack's boost, the stronger Spearow quickly began closing the gap!
"Pi! Pika pi!!" Ash, run faster! They're catching up!
"What?! But I just pulled ahead!" Ash glanced back—and sure enough, a dozen Spearow were rapidly closing in!
"I'm warning you, don't push me! Just because I don't want to fight doesn't mean I'm afraid of you!"
The flock narrowed the distance to fifty meters.
"You still have time to leave! Turn back while you can!"
They closed in to twenty meters.
"I mean it… Damn it—Aura Sphere!!"
Realizing words weren't working, Ash gritted his teeth, thrust his hand toward the incoming flock, and gathered power.
Blue energy swirled in his palm, condensing into a brilliant sphere in less than a second before blasting forward!
The Spearow had never expected the human's threat to be real. With no time to dodge, the Aura Sphere exploded dead center in their formation!
BOOM!!
A black cloud rose over the grassy field. Ash skidded to a stop, spinning around to see the results.
He'd poured half his power into that Aura Sphere.
Now he wanted to know—just how many Spearow had he taken down? If it was at least five…
Then he wouldn't run anymore.
If they liked chasing so much—today he'd play with them to the end!