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Ash's sudden sentimentality wasn't without reason; he was truly moved.
His fate had quietly changed on the very first day of his journey.
If he hadn't encountered the chat group and his parallel self on that first day, could he have achieved his current accomplishments in just six months? The answer, of course, was no.
Without the help of the chat group, he wouldn't know if he could have overcome the numerous life-and-death crises he encountered along the way—the Millennium Gastly, Sabrina, Mewtwo, ancient Pokémon... These were all resolved by the Aura granted by the Aura expert in the chat group. The Aura within him could be said to be the greatest gift the chat group had bestowed upon him.
All the other powers he later drew were not as effective as Aura, at least for now.
Those S-rank abilities offered more for the future, while Aura gave him the present.
The help the chat group provided, whether knowledge or ability, whether for the present or the future, was immense. Without the chat group, there would definitely be no him today.
Let alone entering the Indigo Plateau Conference and reaching the Top 32 in six months, whether he could even enter the Indigo Plateau Conference in six months was another matter entirely... 'Are you an old man in his seventies or eighties? What's with all this sentimentality now? Instead of wasting time, you should get more sleep or train your Pokémon. You are not the world's top Trainer yet.'
Mewtwo's figure instantly vanished after speaking, returning to her Poké Ball.
She was a bit shy, flustered by Ash's blunt words, because his 'we' included her.
"Is Mewtwo... shy?"
"Pika Pika~" Pikachu nodded affirmatively.
'You're the one who's shy! What do I have to be shy about!' Mewtwo's somewhat flustered voice echoed in Ash's mind, further solidifying his belief that Mewtwo was shy.
"Sigh, it's been so long, and she's still so unforthcoming. Don't you think so, Pikachu?" Ash shrugged, asking Pikachu with a hint of helplessness.
Pikachu still nodded affirmatively.
Soon, Ash realized that Pikachu's nodding wasn't just a simple nod; he was already starting to doze off.
It was already past one in the morning, which was quite a challenge for Pikachu, who usually had a regular sleep schedule.
Ash gently picked up Pikachu and whispered, "Come on, let's go home."
...The main competition was seven days away. This was the last preparation time for the contestants. Once the main competition began, there would be no rest at all.
The Top 32 matches would take two more days. The Trainers who played earlier could still rest, but from the Top 16 onwards, all battles would conclude within a single day!
Then it would proceed to the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and the Finals.
So these seven days were the last chance for contestants to rest, prepare, and gather information.
If they wanted to understand their opponents' information or make final improvements to their Pokémon, this was the last opportunity.
Ash, as always, continued to improve at his own pace. The day after the celebration banquet, Delia and Professor Oak had already returned. Delia still had to tend to the plants at home. Although Mr. Mime helped, she couldn't put all the responsibilities on Mr. Mime.
And Professor Oak, needless to say, had a whole bunch of Ash's Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. He had temporarily asked the villagers of Pallet Town to help look after them, but all they could do was exchange Pokémon or feed them.
Doing more than that was impossible; it was beyond their capabilities.
So, both of them were people who couldn't leave home for long. If there was nothing important, they naturally had to return to Pallet Town.
On the third day, Ash's opponent was revealed: a Trainer named Ritchie. Ash had even met Ritchie face-to-face, and the other person gave him a very familiar feeling, as if he was looking in a mirror.
Ash had also looked up Ritchie's information. He was a very rare Trainer who, like Ash, used Pikachu.
When Ash first defeated Koga, the entire Kanto League did spark a craze for catching and using Pikachu. However, after that period of excitement, the number of people using Pikachu dwindled, eventually returning to its former state.
This was because, apart from Ash's, Pikachu as a Pokémon ultimately couldn't make it to the big stage. Not all Pikachu were Ash's Pikachu, and not everyone was Ash.
Therefore, it was highly unlikely to encounter a Pikachu in a competition like the Indigo Plateau Conference. Ash hadn't expected to meet another Pikachu user besides himself, and that person's demeanor was surprisingly similar to his own.
Furthermore, besides Pikachu, Ritchie also had Butterfree, Charizard, Fearow... The Pokémon in his possession were highly similar to Ash's, practically a carbon copy of Ash.
When they first met, Ash wasn't very familiar with Ritchie, but Ritchie was more than familiar with Ash, because he was Ash's loyal fan!
As a Trainer who also used Pikachu, no one knew better than him how difficult Pikachu was to train. His main Pokémon was also Pikachu, and the kind with spiky hair.
Trainers who could use Pikachu as their main Pokémon were extraordinary. Ash was like that, and so was Ritchie.
Ritchie had been traveling for nearly a year and a half, and his Pikachu was already Professional Level intermediate. This level almost completely surpassed ninety percent of the world's Pikachu!
Pikachu that reached Professional Level and didn't evolve were extremely rare, almost non-existent.
Ash had encountered so many Pikachu in the wild and some Trainers using Pikachu in wild battles, but their Pikachu were basically never above Superior Level, and those in the wild were rarely even Advanced Level.
Yet, Ritchie's Pikachu had already reached Professional Level. This was the first Professional Level Pikachu Ash had encountered besides his own.
This demonstrated the powerful aptitude of Ritchie's Pikachu and Ritchie's own qualities as a Trainer.
But for Ritchie, Ash was even more legendary. He had trained his Pikachu to Professional Level intermediate in a year and a half, but Ash, in just a few months, could already make his Pikachu contend with Elite Four Class Pokémon.
That's right, it was that battle against Koga three months ago. Regardless of what methods Pikachu used at that time, Pikachu was already on par with Elite Four Class. Now, three months later, it was unimaginable how much Ash's Pikachu had grown.
The two Pikachu Trainers had a very good impression of each other upon their first meeting. Trainers who used Pikachu as their main Pokémon were already few, and now encountering someone who could train a Pikachu to Professional Level, Ash immediately felt a sense of regret that they hadn't met sooner.
Unfortunately, their first meeting was not as friends, but as rivals.
Four days later, they would battle in the Indigo Stadium. They met for the first time, and both had a good impression of each other, but they needed to determine a winner in a match a few days later. The loser would end their journey in this Indigo Plateau Conference.
It must be said that this was a very cruel thing... The fourth day arrived. Ash was training his Pokémon at an outdoor training ground on the Indigo Plateau. The training here was just ordinary skill moves and physical conditioning. If he were to conduct actual combat training, Ash would naturally find a more secluded place.
After all, the Trainers he would encounter in the upcoming battles were not to be underestimated, especially Kouhei. He already had Gym Leader Level strength. If he were to gather any more information, it would be a big problem.
So, Ash conducted basic training outdoors. More advanced training was done in private.
"Good job, Pikachu! Encore Thunderbolt."
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded vigorously. Just as he was about to use Thunderbolt again, he suddenly froze.
"What's wrong, Pikachu? Is something amiss?" Ash asked, puzzled, seeing Pikachu suddenly stop.
"Pika Pika~" Pikachu pointed behind Ash. At this moment, a cacophony of noises also erupted around them.
Ash followed Pikachu's direction and looked behind him. Behind him, at some point, stood a beautiful woman.
The woman was dressed in a blue casual sleeveless top, with light-colored jeans that accentuated her long legs.
Her bare arms were exposed, reflecting a clean, jade-like luster under the sunlight. Her golden hair flowed down, almost reaching her waist. On her fair, beautiful face were a pair of bright eyes, one of which was half-covered by her golden hair, while the other was exposed, her golden eyes sparkling with an interested glow.
"Are you... Sinnoh Champion Cynthia?" Ash asked, somewhat uncertainly, looking at the woman. He had seen Cynthia on television many times, and also in the special spectator stands during the Indigo Plateau Conference preliminaries.
But this was the first time he had seen her this close, and it was also the first time he had seen Cynthia in casual wear.
"Hehe, nice to meet you, Ash. I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time," Cynthia said with a smile, walking up to Ash and stopping less than half a meter away.
Only when they were closer did Ash realize that her height was almost the same as his. He was fifteen and a half years old, already 1.75 meters tall. Although he could still grow a bit more, he wouldn't exceed 1.8 meters at most.
But Cynthia, wearing high heels, was almost his height. Among women, this height was already considered 'giant' level.
After a few seconds, Ash reacted to Cynthia's words and scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, saying, "What long-awaited? I'm just an ordinary Trainer right now. I'm still very far from you, Miss Cynthia. It should be me who's been looking forward to meeting you."
With his strength, he would definitely be an admired existence among ordinary Trainers, but when it came to Cynthia, he was the one looking up to her.
Without considering Mewtwo, his absolute limit would be to use all his might to take down one of Cynthia's Pokémon.
Unless Gengar was stacked with Aura, perhaps he could contend with Cynthia, but even then, it would only be enough to deal with one of her Pokémon. And a Champion was not to be trifled with. Fighting her with a forcibly boosted Champion peak was no different from asking for trouble.
He was still very far from being a Champion.
"Shall we find a place to sit?" Cynthia looked at the gradually gathering crowd around them, then gestured outside.
Ash also noticed that they had caused quite a stir, so he nodded and said, "Let's go to my place. It's almost lunchtime now, and my companion is a great cook. Let's have lunch together, Miss Cynthia."
"Alright~" Cynthia narrowed her eyes and replied with a smile.
Thus, the two, meeting for the first time, headed straight to Ash's home. Before leaving, Ash recalled all the Pokémon he had released, then took the lead to show the way.
Before they could cause a complete commotion, the two left the outdoor training ground on the Indigo Plateau.
Among the surrounding crowd, a sharp-looking young man with glasses adjusted them. The eyes behind the lenses gleamed with precise light.
"To attract the Champion's attention, he's quite a lucky kid. But no matter what efforts you make, it's useless. The equation for victory has already been written," the bespectacled Kouhei murmured softly, then turned and left the crowd... Fifteen minutes later, Ash brought Cynthia to their rented place on the Indigo Plateau. On the way, Ash curiously asked Cynthia why she was there.
Cynthia explained that with no battles to watch these past few days, she had been exploring around the Indigo Plateau. Because she appeared everywhere without concealment, what started as a huge commotion gradually became something the public grew accustomed to.
This was why there wasn't a huge commotion immediately at the training ground earlier.
The commotion that gradually arose later was due to Ash and Cynthia appearing together. After all, two prominent figures appearing, and seemingly having some interaction, how could that not pique people's curiosity?
Fortunately, Cynthia reminded Ash to leave the area before the crowd gathered, otherwise, once people gathered, it would be difficult for them to leave.
As for why Cynthia noticed Ash, it was actually just a coincidence. She had just bought an ice cream and was eating it as she walked. After finishing the ice cream, she happened to walk to where Ash was. Seeing Ash training, she also stopped to observe for a while.
"...I've heard quite a few rumors about you, Ash. To be able to train your Pokémon to that level in just six months, I'm curious to know what's so unique about your training methods~"
"Actually, those are just the most basic training methods. It's mostly the Pokémon's own talent," Ash said humbly as he opened the door.
"You're back, Ash! Lunch is ready..." Hearing Ash's voice, Misty happily came to greet him, but when she saw Cynthia following behind Ash, the spatula in her hand clattered to the floor.
"Ch-Champion?!!!"