In the black world—
Ash had finally collected eight badges.Next up: preparation for the Quartz Conference.
It was worth mentioning that, before leaving Viridian Gym, Ash had also gone back to investigate the powerful Aura he'd sensed underground.
That presence… was gone.
Giovanni must have taken it away to do something.
Whether it was that terrifying Beedrill or the unknown Pokémon beneath the Gym,Ash had been shown just how huge this world really was.
Before, when he saw Champions and Elite Four members on TV,They'd just been vague titles to him—no real sense or scale.
But after fighting Giovanni's Beedrill and sensing that mysterious Aura,Ash finally got his first real glimpse of the "Champion's world."
That said…
Both Beedrill and that unknown Pokémon still felt completely different from the Ho-Oh he'd seen on his very first day of traveling.
The same went for that giant Dragonite.
If he had to compare them—
The Aura of that giant Dragonite was a little weaker than Beedrill's,And the Aura of the mysterious Pokémon was a little stronger than Beedrill's.
They should all… be Champion-level, right?
Afterward—
Ash, Misty, and Brock returned to Pallet Town.
Ash introduced his two partners properly to his mom, and explained that, for the next little while,The two of them would be staying here.
There were still two months left until the Quartz Conference.
Misty and Brock didn't really have anything pressing to get back to,So they decided to stay in Pallet Town and help Ash with his "special training."
Of course, "special training" didn't mean practicing moves in a stuffy room all day.
Every day, they'd head out to the areas around Pallet Town—To see more places, more Pokémon, and more kinds of battles.
That kind of experience was part of training too.
Not long after Ash got back to Pallet, Gary returned as well.
He'd managed to collect one more badge than Ash—
Nine.
For someone who'd been suppressed by Ash ever since they were kids,This finally gave Gary something he could hold over him.
"Ha… hahaha! Who would've thought, Ash—after traveling for the same amount of time, you only got eight badges! This time, your big bro wins!"
"Do you have the Earth Badge?" Ash asked.
"…No."
"What about the Soul Badge?"
"…Also no."
Gary's arrogance shrank a little with each question.Fuchsia and Viridian were both notoriously difficult Gyms.
Back in Fuchsia, all the intel on Koga had come from Gary in the first place…
Since Koga was training to join the Elite Four, Gary hadn't planned on going there just to get crushed.
And Viridian Gym was even more extreme.
By the time he went to Viridian, it was already almost time to head home to Pallet.
He was confident in how far he'd come,And he'd wanted to challenge the man known as Kanto's strongest Gym Leader.
The result…
His first and second Pokémon had handled themselves pretty well.Then, just like always, he got cocky and started taunting.
And then he was completely annihilated by a Pokémon he'd never seen before.
Even now, he had a psychological shadow when it came to Viridian Gym.
"Then… you've at least got the Volcano Badge, right?" Ash pressed.
Gary: "…"
"I just remembered—Gramps told me he needed something, so I gotta go back!"
With that, the Gary who'd happily come over to show off literally bolted out the door,Leaving Ash and Pikachu laughing their heads off in the living room.
Misty and Brock exchanged helpless looks.
Mature, steady Ash definitely had a childish side.
He just rarely showed it.
But whenever he was dealing with Gary, that side of him came out automatically.
Maybe that's what it meant to be childhood rivals.
...
[Ash: Hahahahaha! Gary, serves you right!]
[Gary: Shut up, you useless brick! That's me in another world! If you compare this me to that you, it's not obvious who's stronger or weaker!]
[Ash: Oh yeah? But the "you" in the other world still got blasted by Mewtwo!]
[Gary: ...]
I swear, if I knew where that bastard was right now, I'd go squash him flat.
[Professor Oak: Ahem, anyway… Ash in the other world should be about to run into that incident, right?]
[Lance: You mean Mewtwo Strikes Back?]
[Professor Oak: That's right. By my calculations, there should be about a month left. I wonder if Black Ash will end up going to see Mewtwo—and whether someone will manage to talk him out of it in time…]
[Lorelei: At the end of the day, the real problem is still Team Rocket.]
[Giovanni: ???]
First of all, I didn't do anything to you personally!
Second, I didn't do anything to any of you personally!
Can you people stop pinning everything on Team Rocket?!
In the black world—
Time flashed by. A month passed in the blink of an eye.
The images that followed were a rapid montage—two or three seconds to summarize the entire month.
Ash and Misty eating breakfast together.
Misty asleep on Ash's bed while Ash lay on the floor.
Ash on the phone with Sabrina…
...
The fact that Black Ash was still in contact with Sabrina came as a surprise to everyone.
Back then, Sabrina in the black world had clearly shown a special affection for him—
But months had gone by since that battle.
Everyone had assumed she'd long since forgotten her promise to come watch his Quartz Conference matches.
Yet judging from Sabrina's smiling face on the screen…
It looked like she'd been waiting for Ash to call.
[Brock: Black Ash really is a sinful man, huh…]
[Misty: Hmph, what a flirt.]
[Gary: You can't say that. He's not flirting, he's just a popular guy. When I first started traveling, I had six girlfriends! And they're still with me!]
[Brock: That's… insanely enviable, actually. If you don't mind me asking, are your kidneys okay?]
[Gary: …None of your business.]
[Melody: Hehe, whether it's Black Ash or White Ash, they're both pretty sinful if you ask me. But still, I care more about our Ash—after all, he's my reality.]
[Ash: Hey, Melody, you're talking a little too much!]
[Melody: What? I'm not allowed to say anything? I'm a Trainer who summoned the Sea Guardian, you know. Why shouldn't I speak? Besides, I'm surprised you even remember me.]
[Ash: Of course I remember! You suddenly kissed me back then—I was scared stiff! I only found out later that it was a local custom!]
[Melody: ...]
[Serena: ...]
[Misty: ...]
If you're this bad at talking, maybe just don't talk.
Did he have no sense of shame at all?
Did he have to announce to the whole world that someone kissed him?
Well, too late. The whole world knew now.
Misty found herself remembering things she really didn't want to remember.
The boy she liked had been kissed right in front of her,And all she could do back then was stay silent.
Truly a tragic, long-suffering heroine.
[Professor Oak: Tell us more about the Sea Guardian!]
[Delia: No, tell us more about the kissing!]
[Serena: Can we not talk about this… I really don't want to know…]
[Melody: W-wait, don't misunderstand! It really was just a local custom! It was only a kiss on the cheek, nothing… more!]
[Grace: Oh, big deal, it was just a kiss. And not even on the lips. Serena, you can go for it boldly—Mom will always support you!]
[Serena: Mom… please stop showing up just to embarrass me…]
The entire world instantly shifted into full gossip-eating mode.
Black Ash, who'd just been calmly calling Sabrina a moment earlier,Had unintentionally kicked off a drama-level wave of love gossip.
Melody… who exactly was she?
Now counting Melody, Misty, Serena, and Sabrina—Ash in this era already had four different girls involved with him in one way or another.
As people scrolled through the comments and "ate melons,"More than a few tears of envy were shed.
Damn it. Damn this lucky protagonist.
In the real world, everyone was in an uproar, some asking who Melody was,Some wanting to know everything about Lugia and the Sea Guardian—
While the footage in the black world jumped forward to one month later…
In the black world—
One day, about a month later, Ash and his friends were out doing their usual training.
Since it was inconvenient to drag around too many Poké Balls,Ash normally brought just a few and trained in the back field of Professor Oak's lab.
By this time, Wartortle had evolved into a Blastoise.
Funny enough, it had evolved in the middle of getting beaten up.
Because their future Blastoise was meant to serve as a walking fortress,Ash had focused Wartortle's training on defense.
With no official battles scheduled during that period,Wartortle was free to transform its role completely.
Training defense sounded simple,But in reality, it meant suffering far more than normal.
What's the fastest way to harden your defense?Getting hit. Over and over.
Over that month, Wartortle had been punched around more than any other Pokémon—no contest.
And because of that, once it evolved,Blastoise's defense was like a wall of iron—solid as a mountain.
Blastoise could attack well too, of course.
It was now a proper mobile gun emplacement—High attack, high defense, low speed.
The rest of Ash's team had improved in various ways as well.
The most noticeable was Dratini—it had started to shed its skin.
Normally, after two good molts, a Dratini could evolve.
Once Dratini became Dragonair,It would go from a cute little noodle that only knew how to look adorableTo a mighty pseudo-legendary that could command storms and lightning.
Just as Ash was putting everyone through their drills,A familiar rotund figure descended from the sky.
Orange scales, a friendly, harmless expression, and a small pair of wings.
It was Dratini's final evolution, and Kanto's pseudo-legendary—
Dragonite.
Dragonite had come bearing an invitation.
It was calling all powerful Trainers in Kanto to a place called New Island,There to compete for the title of "strongest Trainer."
But…
The invitation hadn't said who was invited.
Ash was naturally curious.He wondered if Kanto's Elite Four would also be showing up on New Island.
As for a Kanto Champion—
Well, there wasn't officially a single "Kanto Champion" yet.
With that hopeful thought, the three of them headed to the harbor.
The Pokémon Center at the docks was packed with Trainers.
However…
There wasn't a single Elite Four member in sight.Not even a Gym Leader.
"Hey, Misty, Brock… you think we got scammed?" Ash muttered. "All this 'strongest Trainer' stuff… Is this just a plot to lure us out here to spend money?"
He'd been pouring almost all his time into training lately.
All the money he'd made selling fossils had already been used up.
He'd even been helping Misty cover some of her Cerulean Gym duties in his spare time, just to earn a little extra—All so he could afford the nutrition and gear needed for such intense training.
At this point, he hated spending money on anything that wasn't his Pokémon's growth.
No one—no one—was going to trick him out of a single Poké Dollar.
Every coin he had was for his Pokémon.
"Th-that… probably isn't it, right?" Misty said, a little uncertain. "I mean, it was a Dragonite that delivered the invitation! I can't imagine someone who can use a Dragonite as a mailman would bother scamming small fry like us out of pocket change…"
"You don't get it," Brock said. "Rich people's money comes from squeezing the poor. So I don't think Ash's theory is totally impossible."
Still, since they were already here, they might as well go and take a look.
And then—
A massive storm rolled in out of nowhere.
The sky turned black, lightning flashed nonstop, rain hammered down like a waterfall, and the wind howled.
Wave after wave slammed into the harbor.
In conditions like this, an ordinary ship didn't stand a chance.
Miranda, the harbor manager, and Officer Jenny both came out to try and talk everyone down.
The storm clearly made crossing the sea impossible,So the "strongest Trainer" gathering would have to be postponed.
At least, that's how it should have gone.
But storms like this couldn't stop truly exceptional Trainers.
Two men and a woman slipped past Officer Jenny and Miranda,And headed straight into the raging ocean.
Watching the storm explode just outside the Pokémon Center doors,Ash couldn't shake the bad feeling in his chest.
"Misty, Brock, are you going?" he asked quietly.
"What about you?" Brock countered.
"I want to go see what's happening…"
"Then of course we're going with you," Misty said, as if it were obvious.
"Exactly," Brock added. "You're seriously asking if we're coming at a time like this? Some friend you are."
"Thanks… In that case, we'll use Blastoise. With him, getting through that storm won't be a problem."
With that, the three of them dashed out into the wind and rain,And Ash released Blastoise to carry them across the sea.
The storm was fierce,
But Ash's Blastoise was no pushover.
Using Rain Dance to manipulate the downpour and nearby currents,Blastoise managed to stabilize the waters just enough to forge a path forward.
Thanks to that, they reached New Island safely.
What they didn't know was—
There were three familiar shadows secretly following behind them.
...
[Ash: Wow, crossing the sea is so much easier for me in the other world!]
[Misty: Yeah, we almost died out there in the sea because of someone.]
[Ash: Hey, that's not fair! Back then my Squirtle hadn't evolved yet! And I didn't have any other big Water-types!]
[Brock: And now you do…]
[Lance: Now that you mention it, I do remember some commotion back then. I thought it was just some private event, so I ignored it. Didn't expect it to be Mewtwo behind it all…]
[Damalanthi: Yeah, there really wasn't much information about Mewtwo at the time. Even I didn't know anything specific, old as I am.]
[Lorelei: The invitations were sent based on Team Rocket's surveillance footage. They monitored Trainers mid-battle, and anyone who performed well was invited. As for us Elite Four, we weren't out battling, so of course we weren't chosen.]
[Bruno: Yeah, but Black Ash hadn't been battling publicly either, right? Why was he selected?]
[Professor Oak: Probably because Mewtwo remembered him from the Viridian Gym basement. After all, the battle between Ash and Giovanni almost brought the whole Gym down.]
[Bruno: Ah… that explains it.]
In the black world—
Ash and his friends successfully arrived on New Island.
In addition to them, four other Trainers had made it there.
A stocky guy named Fergus,A skinny boy named Corey,And a young woman named Neesha.
And the last one…
Was Gary.
Ash was a little surprised to see his rival, but it made sense.
Even if Gary spent his childhood being crushed by Ash back in Pallet Town,Out in the wider world, he was still an elite Trainer.
"Gary, you got an invitation too?" Ash asked.
"Hmph. Of course I did. Just look at me." Gary crossed his arms. "What I want to know is—who were all those people back in the harbor? I thought only elite Trainers got invited. Does this island's host have any eye for talent at all?"
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