Ash's sudden reflection here wasn't without reason—it was truly prompted by emotions.
His destiny was quietly changed from the very first day of his journey.
If he hadn't come across the chat group and met his Parallel World self on that first day, could he have achieved his current accomplishments in just half a year? The answer is obviously no.
Without the help of the chat group, who knows if he'd have been able to survive through the multiple life-and-death crises he encountered: the Millennium Gastly, Sabrina, Mewtwo, the Ancient Pokemon…
All these crises were resolved thanks to the Aura Power given by the experts in the chat group. The Aura Power he possesses can be considered the most powerful gift the chat group bestowed upon him.
All the powers he acquired later did not compare to the utility of Aura Power, at least for now.
Those S-Class abilities were more about the future, while Aura Power was about the present.
The help from the chat group, whether it was knowledge or abilities, now or in the future, was incredibly immense. Without it, he definitely wouldn't be the person he is today.
Let alone reaching the top thirty-two in the Quartz Conference; whether he could even participate in the conference within half a year is another matter entirely…
'Are you an old man in your seventies or eighties? Why are you being so sentimental here? With that time, you'd be better off getting more sleep or training your Pokemon, as you're not the top Trainer in the world yet.'
Mewtwo vanished instantly into the Pokeball as soon as the words were spoken.
She was a bit shy due to Ash's straightforward words, because Ash's "our" included her as well.
"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 annoyed voice echoed in Ash's mind, which only confirmed Ash's thoughts that Mewtwo was indeed shy.
"Hey, after all these years, still so not straightforward, don't you agree, Pikachu?" Ash shrugged, asking Pikachu somewhat helplessly.
Pikachu continued to nod affirmatively.
Quickly, Ash realized that Pikachu's nodding wasn't just nodding; Pikachu was beginning to doze off.
It was already past one in the morning, and for Pikachu, who usually kept a regular sleep schedule, it was indeed a huge challenge.
Ash gently picked up Pikachu and whispered, "Let's go. We're going home."
…
The official competition is seven days away—this is the final preparation time given to participants. Once the competition begins, there will be no time to rest.
The fight for the top thirty-two takes two days. While the earlier matches allow for some rest, starting from the round of sixteen, all battles finish within a single day!
Then it proceeds to the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
So these seven days are the last period for participants to rest, prepare, and investigate.
If one wants to gather intelligence on opponents or make final enhancements to their Pokemon, this is the last chance.
Ash, as usual, took his own pace to steadily improve. The day after the celebratory banquet, Delia and Professor Oak returned home; Delia had to tend to her plants at home. Though Mr. Mime helps, she couldn't dump all her responsibilities on him.
As for Professor Oak, he's even more preoccupied. A bunch of Ash's Pokemon are still at the Pokemon Center. He's temporarily letting the villagers in Pallet Town help take care of them, but all they can really do is exchange or feed the Pokemon.
Doing more than that is beyond their capability.
So the two couldn't stay away from home for long; naturally, they had to go back to Pallet Town if there was nothing of major importance.
On the third day, Ash's opponent was revealed: a Trainer named Ah Hong. Ash had already come face to face with this Trainer named Ah Hong, who gave him a strangely familiar feeling, almost like looking in a mirror.
Ash also looked into Ah Hong's profile. He's a rare Trainer who, like Ash, uses a Pikachu.
After Ash defeated Koga, the entire Kanto League sparked a craze for capturing Pikachu and using Pikachu. But after that craze passed, people using Pikachu became rare again, eventually returning to how things were.
Because aside from Ash's Pikachu, a Pikachu generally wasn't viable at top-tier competitions. Not all Pikachu were Ash's Pikachu, and not everyone was Ash.
So encountering a Pikachu in the Quartz Conference is almost impossible, and Ash never expected to run into another Pikachu user besides himself, especially one who eerily resembled him in demeanor.
And aside from Pikachu, Ah Hong also had Butterfree, Charizard, Fearow… The Pokemon he had greatly overlapped with Ash's, almost like a copy of Ash.
The first time they met, Ash wasn't too familiar with Ah Hong, but Ah Hong couldn't be more familiar with Ash, because he was Ash's loyal fan!
As a fellow Pikachu-using Trainer, no one understood how difficult it was to train Pikachu better than he did. His main Battler was also Pikachu, the kind with spiky fur.
Any Trainer who considered Pikachu as their main Battler was remarkable, like Ash, and Ah Hong was the same.