[Lance: Turtle turtle, has Black Ash's mindset really expanded to this point? I can't even watch low-level competitions anymore!]
[Misty: Our Ash would compete even if he had to borrow a duck…]
[Cynthia: I think Black Ash isn't unable to watch the competition, but he doesn't have a Pokémon on hand that's a suitable match for it.]
[Steven Stone: What do you mean?]
[Cynthia: For example, Wallace, would you enter such a fire competition with a Milotic?]
[Wallace: Absolutely not! Me entering that kind of competition would be pure bullying!]
[Cynthia: If you were given a Squirtle, would you choose to challenge it?]
[Wallace: Eh... Probably not. It doesn't feel meaningful.]
As the Hoenn Champion and resident master of Contests, he didn't pay any attention to such events. He wouldn't even go to such a competition! For a Champion to participate would truly be showing off.
[Cynthia: But if you gave Black Ash a Squirtle, he would definitely choose to participate!]
[Cynthia: That's why I said Black Ash doesn't look down on the fire competition. If he truly despised it, he'd be like Wallace—no matter what Pokémon he had, he wouldn't choose to enter.]
[Cynthia: And Black Ash is actually very interested in all sorts of competitions, but... he's already begun to develop the bearing of a true strong trainer. He won't do things that bully the weak with overwhelming strength, unless he's forced to help~]
For example, the one-sided matches at the Indigo Plateau Conference. Even if Black Ash had used his weakest six Pokémon, Black Gary likely still wouldn't have beaten him. That was the helpless version of a mismatch.
Based on Cynthia's observation of Black Ash, he chose which Pokémon to use based on his opponent. This was both a challenge to the opponent and a challenge to himself! It was as if... he was like a Gym Leader! Many Gym Leaders possessed Elite Four or even Champion-level strength, yet they still battled novices. This was because a Gym Leader adjusted the level of Pokémon they used to roughly match the challenger. This not only tested the challenger's training and command skill but also honed their own command ability—killing two birds with one stone!
Black Ash was now gradually moving closer to this practice...
[Brock: That's certainly true! Before Charizard left the team, our Ash would often use Charizard to crush opponents indiscriminately!]
[Brock: But after Charizard left, Ash also slowly began to improve in this regard. He's a mature trainer now.]
White Ash's growth indeed accelerated after Charizard left.
[Wallace: Although... but... why use me as an example! I never said I looked down on fire competitions, did I?]
Wallace chose to save face. After all, this was a live broadcast the whole world could see. Surely the organizers of the fire competition had seen this scene. To say he looked down on it… was a bit offensive!
[Cynthia: Emmmm, Lance brought it up first, not me. You tell Lance.]
[Lance: Huh? Did I? Sorry, I have amnesia.]
[Wallace: ???]
You really are the champion of passing the buck, aren't you?!
...
In the Black World—
Blastoise was overjoyed to see his original little brothers. The brothers didn't recognize Blastoise at first. It wasn't until Blastoise took out his signature sunglasses that they recognized their boss!
Learning of their boss's evolution, the brothers were thrilled. They didn't reject evolution; they just hadn't reached that level themselves. Compared to the battle-hardened Blastoise, the Squirtle Squad brothers mostly engaged in firefighting and had barely experienced real battles.
To this, Blastoise imparted a truth to his four Squirtle brothers: "Only by becoming stronger can you fight fires better! Teamwork is important, but individual strength matters too!"
The Squirtle brothers promised to remember this!
Subsequently, the fire competition began. The nervous Squirtle brothers couldn't hear Officer Jenny's commands, resulting in chaotic coordination! Just as they were about to lose, Officer Jenny shouted, drawing all the Squirtles' attention.
They saw Officer Jenny raising a jade-like hand, upon which rested a pair of cool sunglasses! These sunglasses were…
"Everyone! Since your boss has entrusted you to me, I will absolutely not betray his trust!"
"He once told you that you are already powerful Pokémon who can stand on your own!"
"So don't panic, listen to my commands!"
With that, Officer Jenny put the sunglasses on her face. The Squirtles couldn't help but look at Blastoise standing beside Ash, who gave them a thumbs up. That's right—Officer Jenny's sunglasses were his sunglasses! Blastoise had completely entrusted the Squirtle Squad to Officer Jenny.
Watching Officer Jenny put on the sunglasses, the little Squirtles looked at each other, then simultaneously pulled out their own sunglasses! Once the shades were on, all the Squirtles seemed to transform. Their teamwork and Water Gun coordination improved dramatically!
In the end, they successfully defeated their opponents! Not only that, they advanced all the way to the finals.
Just as the final was about to begin, Team Rocket showed up to cause trouble. Blastoise used a super-powered Hydro Pump to blast them off again! Try to mess with his little brothers? Ask him first!
In the final, the Squirtle Squad and the rival team fought neck-and-neck. Ultimately, the Squirtle Squad won by a narrow margin, clinching the fire competition!
Afterward, Blastoise gave the sunglasses to Officer Jenny, representing his will. The sunglasses are here, so the boss is here! These sunglasses were the anchor for the little Squirtles. As long as Officer Jenny wore them, the Squirtles would never again panic or feel timid!
And Blastoise… he wanted to continue training by Ash's side and at Professor Oak's lab! Now he was a trainer's Pokémon. He wanted to become stronger and stronger—for his trainer, for himself! Until he became the world's number one Blastoise, even the world's number one Water-type Pokémon!
...
[Officer Jenny (Route 24): So the sunglasses are the symbol?]
[Lance: Eh… What's with the name? To distinguish this Officer Jenny? This Route 24… seems to be between Cerulean City and Vermilion City, right?]
[Brock: That's right!!]
[Brock: She is the beautiful Officer Jenny who leads the Squirtle Squad!! Ah, Officer Jenny, long time no see, do you remember little old me?!]
[Misty: Remember you, my foot! You're going crazy through the screen!]
Misty reached past Ash and gave Brock a knuckle sandwich on the head, snapping him back to reality.
[Caitlin: Hehe, Brock is… the one squinting next to Ash, right? He's really interesting~]
[Jimmy: By the way, did the Squirtle Squad recognize the sunglasses instead of their boss?]
[Cynthia: They don't recognize the sunglasses; they recognize Blastoise. So they trust Officer Jenny, who inherited Blastoise's sunglasses.]
[Officer Jenny (Route 24): I see. So in the end, Black Ash's Blastoise and White Ash's Squirtle took completely different paths!]
One entrusted his will to another. The other picked up that will again to become the boss once more! Both approaches had their merits. It was impossible to say which was better, only that each was most suitable for them.
After all, Squirtle gained plenty of experience in the fire brigade and grew much stronger! For him, who chose not to evolve, routine fire training and firefighting duties were excellent training grounds. But for the fully-evolved Blastoise, that might not be the case.
For Ash, though, this wasn't bad. It wasn't a release—just a different assignment. Even if sent to the fire brigade, it was just training in a different place~
...
In the Black World—
After the fire competition, Ash and his group of four continued toward Goldenrod City. A few days later, Misty's Poliwag and Horsea evolved simultaneously, becoming Poliwhirl and Seadra!
At the same time, Brock's Zubat and Geodude also completed their evolution, becoming Golbat and Graveler!
Ash wasn't the slightest bit surprised. Did they think their year-round training was for nothing? It's just that Brock's Geodude took so long to evolve, which once made Ash wonder if it simply didn't want to evolve.
Subsequently, Ash found a Totodile! This Totodile was playful, loved to dance, and always wore a happy smile. After easily defeating it using Bayleef, Ash successfully caught it! There was no situation like the fight between Misty and Ash in the White World. The reason? Everyone who understood knew why~
After that, Ash caught a shiny, highly intelligent Noctowl! This Noctowl also possessed outstanding psychic talent!
At this point, all the Pokémon in Ash's team, except Pikachu, had been replaced with Pokémon from the Johto region! Snorlax's self-discipline training was also complete, so Ash could teleport it back with peace of mind. As for food… Professor Oak might need to shoulder more responsibility. Fortunately, they'd sold a lot of crystals back in the Orange Archipelago; feeding many Pokémon was still feasible. But… this kind of one-time windfall couldn't last forever.
So, Ash kept an eye out for money-making opportunities on their journey, but unfortunately found none~
One day, the group of four arrived at a small town called Greenfield. This town was originally a beautiful place filled with greenery and windmills, but… upon arrival, they found a crystallization phenomenon at the town's center. Almost the entire center was encased in crystal, making normal passage impossible!
The townsfolk didn't know what was happening… All they knew was that the people living on the crystallized side seemed to be a doctor and a little girl.
Ash, who had been heading to Goldenrod City, couldn't help but stop. Needless to say, the phenomenon was bizarre. What's more… people were likely trapped inside that towering crystal tower! How could the warm-hearted Ash stand idly by?
But before Ash could act, his mother Delia and Professor Oak arrived in Greenfield and told Ash and the others the general situation.
It turned out the one trapped in the crystal tower was an acquaintance of Ash's—Suicune Researcher Dr. Felina's daughter, Molly! The girl named Molly had come to play with Ash when he was six or seven, more than once. Although Ash back then was focused on training, he still made time to play with the little girl, so they were relatively familiar.
Just as Ash was about to go inside to check the situation, a sturdy figure suddenly leaped forward, landing in front of him! Orange-red fur fluttered in the wind, and metallic rings adorned its powerful limbs. It had a red, six-pointed star-like structure on its cheeks and a golden, clover-shaped tuft of hair embedded on its forehead. Behind it trailed a drifting white smoke.
This was…
"Entei?!"
Ash shot to his feet, shouting in disbelief. How could there be an Entei here? Could this crystal tower be related to Entei, or even to Ho-Oh?!
"En… tei?" Delia tilted her head, a look of doubt in her eyes. She knew very little about Legendary Pokémon and naturally wasn't familiar with Entei, a rare existence even among Legendaries.
Human, move aside. I'm going to find a mother for Molly.
Ash: ?
Telepathy?
Never mind, that's a necessary skill for Legendary Pokémon. The question was… What did it mean, "find a mother for Molly"?! Molly was the child who came to play at his house, right? Her mother wasn't here, and… why would Entei be the one helping her find her mother? Did she have connections that big?
Before Ash could finish his thoughts, Entei roared at everyone. Everyone except Delia and Ash was forced back several steps. Even Sabrina, who subconsciously defended with her psychic powers, couldn't block Entei's penetrating roar. However, Ash blocked it effortlessly, and Delia wasn't among Entei's targets.
Seeing Ash stand his ground without flinching, a flash of surprise crossed Entei's eyes. This human… feels a bit unusual! But… he's still just a human.
Thinking this, Entei ignored Ash and shifted his gaze to Delia. A strange red light flickered in his eyes. Subsequently, the light in Delia's dark eyes gradually faded, her pupils grew dull, and her whole person seemed hypnotized into sleep, weakly falling forward.
The wind swirling around Entei's feet instantly caught Delia and placed her on his back. All this happened in the blink of an eye. By the time Ash reacted, Entei was already about to leave with Delia!
"BOOM!!"
Just as Entei charged forward, an azure sphere of energy shot out, exploding violently in front of him and blasting a large crater in the ground! Entei was forced to halt his advance.
He looked back to find the boy he'd just disregarded now radiating an extremely terrifying blue aura. Ash's expression was ice-cold. He stretched out a hand, palm facing Entei, with a few wisps of white smoke slowly dissipating from it. Without a doubt, the Aura Sphere just now was Ash's doing.
Ash, who rarely got angry, was now as cold as absolute zero. He looked at Entei with sharp, furious eyes, the rage in his heart completely unrestrained.
"What the hell are you trying to do to my mom?!"
A frigid voice emerged from Ash's throat, the chill in it making even Professor Oak and the others in the distance feel a cold dread. Misty and the others were seeing Ash this enraged for the first time. Usually, Ash showed an annoyed expression toward his mother's doting and fussing, but in reality… Delia's status in Ash's heart was likely the highest. She was one of the few true triggers for his wrath, and Entei had just touched that nerve!
She is Molly's mother. I want to bring her to Molly.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?!!"
Ash's foul language exploded as his body instantly shot forward. In the blink of an eye, he was beside Entei, snatching Delia up. The moment he picked her up, he didn't forget to deliver a kick to Entei—
"BANG!!"
The terrifying force sent Entei flying dozens of meters, carving a long trench in the ground! At that moment, Entei's head was spinning, utterly bewildered.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
After a long moment, Entei regained his senses, only one thought remaining in his mind—Is that guy even human?!
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