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So what if he was lying? This was absolutely not the time to lose momentum!
Besides, he didn't say how he did it, just that he acquired the skills after he started his journey. There's nothing wrong with that statement!
The facts were laid bare; Ash's identity as a Trainer who debuted only a month ago couldn't be faked. Elite Student had verified it before the battle, including the fact that his two companions were Gym Leaders.
A Trainer who debuted only a month ago, yet possessed a strategy capable of defeating Elite Four level AI, the insight to see through Pokémon at a glance, and had trained Ralts to be so unusual, while also attracting two Gym Leaders to travel with him... What kind of freak was this guy, and where did he come from?
Pallet Town? It was just an unheard-of, obscure little town, right? What was so special about that place?
"Anyway, after the battle, you understand, don't you? What's in textbooks isn't absolute. Only by traveling with your feet on the ground can you learn more in the outside world. On your journey, there are countless things not found in textbooks waiting for you to discover," Ash said, holding Ralts and speaking grandiosely.
Setting aside everything else, the chat group in his mind could never appear in a textbook. The idea of communicating with his parallel self was simply too unbelievable.
"Hmph, consider this a win for you this time. Your goal must be the Indigo League, right?"
"That's right."
"Then I'll see you at the Indigo League. I'll defeat you with my own Pokémon then," Giselle said, tossing her hair and walking away gracefully.
Watching Giselle's retreating figure, Ash couldn't help but shout, "Wait a minute, can you tell us which way Vermilion City is?"
Giselle, who was leaving so gracefully, almost stumbled and fell.
In this atmosphere, you ask that question? Couldn't you just ask any student about something like that?
"Keep walking that way, and you'll see Route 107. Just follow that road," Giselle pointed in a direction, then walked away with hurried steps.
Although the remaining students really wanted to stay and ask Ash about his Elite Four level strategy, Giselle had already left, so there was no reason for them to stay. Wouldn't that be boosting someone else's morale and dampening their own?
So, before long, everyone except Joe also left the academy's training ground.
Joe escorted Ash and the others to the school gate, waving goodbye to them, while a look of determination appeared on his face.
He was also preparing to leave the academy and, like Ash, travel all over Kanto to challenge Gyms.
Staying here not only meant his family had to pay high tuition fees, but he also didn't know how long it would take to graduate. He might as well use that money to travel; perhaps he would learn even more on his journey.
Besides Joe, many other students in the academy also had this idea. The teachers of the Pokémon Advanced Academy never expected that they would take the intermediate and advanced students out for a training trip, only to have their home stolen...
After leaving the Advanced Academy, Ash and the others followed the direction Elite Student had pointed and indeed arrived at a proper road. If they followed this road, they should reach the next town or city soon.
They would also be able to replenish their camping supplies.
After reaching the road, Misty finally couldn't help but ask Ash the question she had been holding in her heart.
"When did Ralts learn Thunder Punch? How can you, someone who doesn't even recognize all the Kanto Pokémon, be so skilled at picking a team with Pokémon from the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions? And what's with that brute-force strategy? Did you come up with that yourself?" A torrent of questions poured out of Misty's mouth.
She had too many questions. She had been by Ash's side since the first day he started his journey, but Ash's changes made her increasingly unable to understand him.
How did he manage to pull off so many flashy things she didn't know about, right under her nose every day?
"Uh... that's a lot of questions. Where should I start answering?"
"From the beginning!!" Misty said, word for word.
Brock also looked at Ash with some curiosity. His silence didn't mean he had no questions; Ash's various actions today were constantly updating his perception of Ash.
They had been together for more than ten days, and the growth rate of Ash's Pokémon far exceeded his expectations. Every time he watched Ash battle, he would discover new things that Ash would display, which made Brock wonder if Ash was really a Rookie Trainer.
Which Rookie Trainer could perform like Ash?
"Alright, Ralts learning Thunder Punch was just a few days ago. Not just Thunder Punch, Ralts knows many, many moves: Disable, Confuse Ray, Mean Look... These are all moves Ralts inexplicably learned after leveling up. According to Ralts, she seems to have known them from birth; she just couldn't use them before because her level wasn't high enough."
Hearing this, Misty and Brock looked at each other, clearly seeing the confusion on each other's faces.
It was normal for Pokémon to learn new moves when they leveled up, but according to Ralts, she wasn't learning moves; she was just unlocking them after leveling up, which was very strange.
"As for the strategy that defeated the Elite Trainer... actually, Professor Oak taught it to me! Although I used to hate studying, I was very interested in anything related to Pokémon battles. One day, I saw Professor Oak using this strategy to battle someone online, and I quietly memorized those Pokémon."
When in doubt, blame Oak. He absolutely couldn't expose the chat group.
One lie requires countless other lies to weave, and Ash greatly exaggerated the story of Professor Oak teaching him, insisting on pinning the blame on Professor Oak.
Anyway, Brock and Misty couldn't verify it with Professor Oak now, and by the time they reached a place with a phone, they might have already forgotten about it.
Thus, Ash successfully fumbled his way through this incident, but Misty and Brock quietly noted down the matter of Ralts.
A Pokémon Egg appearing out of nowhere, a Shinny upon birth, growth abilities that differed from its species, and diverse moves that didn't require learning... All these signs indicated that this Ralts' origin was quite extraordinary.
The two also cautioned Ash not to tell others about Ralts' peculiarities and to try to show less of Ralts' exaggerated, level-defying strength.
To this, Ash replied—
"What exaggerated, level-defying strength? Oh, you mean Ralts' Strange Power, right? That's because after fusing with my Aura, Ralts gained a part of my strength, which is why she has such exaggerated power. She herself is still very delicate, don't misunderstand her~" Ash rubbed the small head of Ralts on his shoulder, defending her.
Hearing this, the two looked at Ash with increasingly strange eyes.
Turns out, you're the one who absolutely shouldn't tell others about your special qualities!
...After the incident at the Pokémon Academy, three more days passed. Ash successfully arrived at a small town following the path Giselle had pointed out, replenished some outdoor camping supplies, and then continued his journey.
However, less than a day later, they realized they... were lost again!
"What kind of place is this? All these trees look the same! We have no idea where we are right now!" Ash complained, looking at the map with a dissatisfied expression.
Now they were surrounded by forest on all sides. After wandering around for a long time, they ended up back where they started. Even looking at the map, they couldn't figure out where they were.
The road to Vermilion City was too difficult! How did other people even get to Vermilion City?
"Don't worry, Ash, this forest isn't that big. Even if we're lost, we'll be able to get out soon. More importantly, it's lunchtime. Let's make some food together!" Brock said, already starting to take out various cooking utensils from his spatial backpack.
Brock was already very interested in cooking, and with Ash, a like-minded companion, he became even more enthusiastic about preparing meals.
Now, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Ash was responsible for helping, Misty was responsible for setting up the eating utensils and cleaning up afterwards. The three had clear divisions of labor, and their journey was quite harmonious.
Compared to half a month ago, Ash was like a different person. He, who could only chop vegetables before, could now make many dishes. Although there was still a slight difference in taste compared to Brock, for a beginner, this progress was already quite astonishing.
For some reason, Ash felt that his memory and physical coordination were much stronger than before, with "before" referring to before he started his journey.
Perhaps it was related to the transformation by Aura. Aura also represented the source of life within the human body, and the sudden surge of Aura might have significantly enhanced his memory.
Because of this, Ash learned things exceptionally quickly. Whether it was in cooking, Pokémon breeding, care, or knowledge related to Pokémon, Ash could even apply what he learned to new situations.
According to Breeder Ash in the group, Ash should now be considered an Intermediate Breeder.
Besides Ash's progress, his Pokémon had also improved.
Butterfree and Pidgeotto finally reached the Advanced Level, both reaching Advanced Mid-level.
However, the latter reached Advanced Mid-level faster than the former, as Pidgeotto's species advantage was gradually showing.
Pikachu had reached Advanced Peak, almost at the Elite Level.
In just one month, going from Normal High-level to Advanced Peak was already extremely fast, not to mention he was just a Pikachu.
The normal growth rate of a Pikachu should not be much faster than Butterfree. This was a species limitation, although there might be some differences due to different training methods, battle quantities, etc.
But it couldn't be that much faster than Butterfree, as both Pikachu and Butterfree had the same Trainer.
This could only mean that his Pikachu was indeed quite different from a normal Pikachu, and it was no wonder Team Rockets were so persistent.
Finally, there was Ralts. During the battle three days ago, she was already Normal High-level, and she was still Normal High-level now.
Actually, according to Ralts' growth rate, it would be normal for her to reach Normal Peak by now. Her growth rate was simply too fast, even Pikachu couldn't keep up.
However, the experts in the group suggested to Ash that for training Ralts, it would be best to maximize Ralts' ability values to their current limit before allowing her to level up.
Ralts' six ability value caps were S-rank, but so far, Ralts' ability values had only been trained to B-rank at most before she leveled up.
Once she leveled up, the ability value rating would decrease, so Ralts' ability values had never reached full value.
However, according to Breeder Ash in the group, it was best to train a Pokémon's current ability values to their limit, as this would make it extremely easy to advance to the next level.
The higher a Pokémon's level, the more difficult it was to level up. But not only that, the higher the level, the more difficult it became to raise ability values!
It was much harder for an Elite Level Pokémon to raise its ability value from C to B than for an Advanced Level Pokémon to raise it from B to A.
But if you level up, the ability values would only drop by half to one level. So, if a Pokémon's ability values were raised to the limit of its current level, then it would be easier to raise them again after leveling up.
Therefore, Ash was no longer pursuing leveling up his Pokémon first. Instead, he was following the method taught by Breeder Ash, continuously training his Pokémon to maximize their ability values first.
This would also greatly benefit their future.
Finally, there were Brock and Misty's Pokémon. The latter's Staryu had reached Elite Peak, just like Starmie, stuck at the threshold of Professional Level.
The former's Geodude and Onix had both reached Advanced High-level. Geodude was able to catch up in level because he evolved into Graveler, and with the boost from evolution, his level increased by a small increment, successfully catching up to Onix.
Zubat's level was in a slow progression stage, currently only Normal Mid-level, having been Normal Low-level when first caught.
The above summarizes the improvements of the three after more than half a month since leaving Cerulean City.
(One week encountering the Beast Tamer Xiao Ming, one week arriving at the Pokémon Academy, and then three days later, which is now, totaling seventeen days.)
Half an hour passed, and Brock and Ash had prepared a table full of dishes, including food for all the Pokémon. Just as the three were about to start eating, a small Oddish appeared before them.
Oddish's appearance drew the attention of the three. She looked at Ash and his companions with teary eyes, softly mumbling something.
Misty and Brock simultaneously looked at Ash; only Ash could understand her.
"Oddish says she's hungry and asks if we can share some food with her? Of course, that's no problem. Here, for you." After translating, Ash immediately took out a bowl, quickly put some food into it, then went to Oddish and gently pushed the bowl towards her.
Oddish instinctively took two steps back, then hopped forward and began to eat heartily.
"This little one looks really hungry," Misty also leaned over, squatting beside Ash, and said with emotion.
"Yeah... I'm thinking of catching her. I don't have a Grass-type Pokémon yet," Ash suddenly said.
Oddish's final evolution, Vileplume, was actually a quite powerful Pokémon. Although a Leaf Stone was precious, it was still quite worth it compared to Vileplume's strength.
Among the Kanto Grass-type Pokémon suggested by the experts in the group, the Oddish family was included.
The moves Ash listed were Ralts' Egg Moves, but Misty and Brock didn't know much about Ralts, so they didn't have many questions about those moves.
Also, Ralts' origin has already been thought out; she isn't just a Pokémon that appeared out of nowhere due to S-rank abilities.
One more thing, Brock still doesn't know that Ash met Ho-Oh and that he has a rainbow wing~
The world where only Brock is kept in the dark has been achieved.