In the Black World—
As Entei turned to leave, Molly called out to stop him.
"Dad, where are you going?!"
Entei paused, replying telepathically without looking back, *The human named Ash already said it, didn't he? I am not your father, but a product of your imagination. Now, you need to go to your real father, and I… can fade away.*
"Don't! I want you to stay with me too!! You're also my dad!"
Hearing this, Entei's heart trembled. That Molly would still accept him after regaining her senses left him with no regrets.
*No, Molly. I am just a product of your fantasy. As you accept reality, I will begin to dissipate.*
*Don't be sad, Molly. I will always live in your heart. When you're in danger, perhaps I'll appear…*
As Entei's words faded, his form began to slowly blur—a sign he was fading away. Large tears continued to fall from Molly's eyes. She knew this father she'd had for less than a day was leaving. She recognized he was a creation of her own fantasy, yet… she couldn't help but feel sorrow and cry!
Ash could only pat Molly's head, silently comforting her. At least for now, he had no way to sustain Entei's existence. If Ho-Oh, the creator of life, were here… perhaps there'd be a chance.
By now, half of Entei's body had dissipated. At that moment, Entei seemed to remember something and turned its head—not to look at Molly, but at Ash.
*Young one… you possess incredible power. In my understanding, humans should not have such terrifying strength. You are an anomaly among humans, are you not?*
It was clearly referring to being pinned down and beaten by Ash earlier. The corner of Ash's mouth twitched; he hadn't expected Entei to bring it up now.
"An anomaly… not exactly. I just awakened Aura power, something ordinary people can't. I trained and learned to control it, and it took who-knows-how-much effort to reach this point!" Ash's tone held a trace of endless emotion. Many thought his power was abnormal, beyond ordinary humans. But in truth… this extraordinary strength was built step by step through his own training! Even now, he carried dozens of pounds of weighted gear.
*Don't misunderstand. I'm not mocking you. I was thinking… before I leave this world, perhaps I can leave something for you, or for Molly… After all, you're the one who guided her back to the right path.*
*Though I hate to admit it, if Molly had remained lost in this fantasy world, only to awaken years later, she would surely have regretted it…*
Entei's gentle gaze fell on Molly. After all, he wasn't her real father. If she remembered her true parents too late in the future… it would be a tragedy. Thus, Ash's appearance had indeed saved Molly—saved those he himself could not. That's why Entei wished to give Ash something before departing.
"No need. I didn't help Molly expecting any reward. I helped because I wanted to."
"And besides… if I didn't wake her up, my mom would always be on your 'to-kidnap' list~"
Ash ruffled Molly's silky hair teasingly. Honestly, he'd been prepared to come save Molly from the start—he just intended to assess the situation first. But Entei's attempt to snatch his mother made him charge over in a rage. Fortunately, he still accomplished his original goal of bringing Molly back.
Hearing this, a look of guilt appeared on Molly's tear-streaked face. Even as a child, she understood how awful it was to steal someone else's mother—especially from another child barely ten years old!
"I'm sorry… Brother Ash…"
"It's okay. I know you didn't mean it, Molly."
*Sorry to interrupt, but my time is almost up. Now, I will transfer my remaining power to you both—or rather, it's not my power, but the power of the Unown.*
*Molly, this is Daddy's final gift to you…*
With that, the remaining half of Entei's body suddenly vanished. In its place, motes of starlight rose, then all flew toward Ash and Molly!
As the starlight poured into them, numerous black, letter-like shapes appeared around—Unown! After manifesting, the Unown released a tremendous stream of energy, almost all of which was absorbed by Ash, with only a small portion flowing into Molly.
The immense power flooding their bodies made Ash and Molly's eyelids grow heavy. In the end, unable to resist, they closed their eyes and lay on the ground as if asleep…
Ten minutes later, the starlight faded. The Unown turned into lifeless letter-shaped plaques and fell to the ground. Ash, lying on the ground, slowly opened his eyes after the starlight dissipated. The Unown in the sky were gone, leaving only a few small wooden boards engraved with Unown symbols. The surrounding crystals had turned to ash, vanishing without a trace—this was originally Dr. Felina's residence, now restored.
Upon waking, Ash first checked Molly's condition: Aura normal, body seemingly fine. Then he checked himself… Aura was fine too, though there seemed to be a slight increase. But at his current level, the increase was minor—still capable of beating sub-Legendaries but not true Legendaries. However… the power the Unown gave him clearly shouldn't be this little. He'd distinctly felt his sturdy body nearly reach its limit—the energy almost exceeded his physical capacity! And it wasn't Aura power, but something else! Yet Ash couldn't find any traces of Unown power within himself.
"Wait… something's off. This Aura…"
Ash carefully examined his Aura again and began to notice something strange. He unleashed his Aura power. Initially, azure-blue Aura condensed into an Aura Sphere in his palm—energy of the Fighting-type. But then…
***Whoosh—***
The next second, the azure sphere turned crimson, with roaring flames burning atop it like a miniature sun!
"Fire… Fire-attribute Aura? No, this is Fire-type energy!"
In the next second, the flaming red sphere turned emerald green, then aqua blue, deep purple, pink, ice blue…
The experimental result was clear: a fact now lay before Ash's eyes.
He seemed… able to convert his Aura into energy of *any* type!
Was this the gift the Unown gave him?
In mere seconds, Ash envisioned the possibilities.
First, his own combat power would increase! Previously, he could only use pure Aura—barriers, spheres, detection, fusion—all inherent Aura abilities with no innate type. At most, Aura Sphere was a Fighting-type move. But now, he could imbue the Aura coating his fists with any of the seventeen types! Future battles against Legendaries… the advantage would be his! (Though generally, Trainers shouldn't brawl directly…)
But the second effect was even more helpful: Aura Fusion with his Pokémon!
As stated before, no two Auras in the world are identical. The reason Ash could fuse with his Pokémon's Aura was mediated by the ethereal power of bonds—emotions acting as a catalyst. However, the two Auras weren't of the same nature, and only Ash could manipulate Aura actively. Unless the linked Pokémon also used Aura, they bore the fusion passively. This forced Ash to expend vast amounts of Aura to convert and match their wavelengths, striving for equilibrium to reduce burden and improve efficiency.
But… that was before!
Now, with the mysterious power gifted by the Unown, his Aura's very nature had been altered! His Aura was now like a blank slate, capable of mimicking the form of any other Aura! All he needed was the other's Aura pattern—and that wasn't hard for him. While Aura detection could only grasp superficial differences, the subtle nuances could be grasped through Aura Fusion itself!
In other words, for future fusions, he no longer needed to expend large amounts of Aura to adjust its properties. He could simply transform his Aura to match the Pokémon's!
In summary:
1. **Duration:** Post-fusion, he and his Pokémon could last much longer! If before he could convert three parts of his Aura into one part of theirs, now it was a direct 1:1 ratio—increasing duration several times over!
2. **Power:** Because his Aura could now perfectly mimic the Pokémon's, theoretically the enhancement from Aura Fusion should be greater than before!
Other effects required further exploration, but the ability to freely transform Aura attributes was already outrageous enough!
*Is the power of the Unown really this formidable? Powerful enough to allow a person's Aura to transform freely…*
...
**[Lance: Turtle turtle, what an outrageous ability! It was already broken, and now it's even more so! Compared to Black Ash, White Ash seems too plain.]**
**[Steven Stone: Geez, I'm starting to mourn for the Champions and Elite Four of that world!]**
**[Koga: Originally, Black Ash could already do wonders with ordinary Aura. Now… he might as well shout to the world, 'The times have changed!']**
**[Cynthia: Black Ash may seem to have many 'cheats,' but fundamentally, it's all his own power developed through Aura. What's formidable isn't the cheat, but Black Ash's own mind and perseverance.]**
**[Cynthia: Now, the power granted by the Unown allows Black Ash—who already wielded Aura masterfully—to reach even greater heights. If he continues evolving like this, facing a Legendary-tier Pokémon alone won't be a problem!]**
**[Lugia: Agreed.]**
**[Ho-Oh: I concur.]**
Ho-Oh never expected another world's Ash to be this outrageous. If that world's Ho-Oh knew, it wouldn't know whether to be pleased or troubled. Imagine the chosen Rainbow Hero standing before it, pointing a finger and shouting, "I'll be your opponent!" Just when it expects him to send out a Pokémon, Ash clenches his fists and charges forward, pummeling it violently… *Better not think about it.*
**[Professor Kukui: By the way, why did the Unown give Ash that power?]**
**[Dr. Felina: No one in the world has thoroughly studied the Unown. But through the Crystal Tower and the Entei evolved from Unown, we can guess something: creation from nothing, fantasy from void… Unown power is unfathomable, with its greatest feature being *transmutation*!]**
**[Dr. Felina: Therefore, Black Ash's Aura gaining the ability to change attributes—even transform into other Aura patterns—boils down to one word: Change!]**
**[Dr. Felina: It may seem Ash obtained this ability easily, but in fact, referencing the Unown in our world… the energy they unleashed could have engulfed an entire city! If not for Molly's firm will, the fantasy Entei's power would have expanded infinitely, becoming unstoppable! In other words, Black Ash absorbed energy capable of engulfing a city and gained only this ability!]**
Put that way, it was staggering. Everyone thought Black Ash's power-up came too easily, but after Dr. Felina's explanation… using such immense energy to completely transform the nature of Ash's Aura, even draining the Unown back into inert plaques, showed Ash had utterly squeezed the Unown dry!
**[Mewtwo: I wonder if Black Ash and I, cooperating now… could defeat you—Ho-Oh!]**
**[Ho-Oh: My strength is not merely what you've seen. Unless you reach the next stage, you cannot challenge me.]**
Mewtwo wasn't speaking idly. While Ash's Aura Fusion was enhanced by his Aura's new transformative nature, the greatest effect would be with a Pokémon of equal level—like a Mewtwo matching Black Ash's strength! Their fusion might truly threaten a Legendary-tier Ho-Oh. But Ho-Oh wasn't concerned. After all, a sub-Legendary was still a sub-Legendary. Did they really think the Legendary threshold was so easily crossed? If it were, why had no Champion in the world today reached that level? Thus, Ho-Oh didn't believe Ash and Mewtwo currently posed a threat, even with Aura Fusion. Whether that held true would require an actual battle.
Not only Ho-Oh and Mewtwo, but many also looked forward to that scene—the Rainbow Hero versus Ho-Oh!
...
In the Black World—
After sorting out his own situation, Ash gently shook Molly awake. Upon waking and learning Entei had vanished, Molly couldn't help but feel lonely. Ash, meanwhile, wondered what Molly had gained. He received Aura attribute transformation, so what did Molly get?
...
PS: You might think Black Ash's power-up is a bit much, but honestly, you need some serious upgrades to take on the final boss. When planning this story, I'd already finalized the final antagonist. As he is now, Black Ash can't even handle a true Legendary, let alone that boss. So, a little boost isn't a deus ex machina—it's all part of the plan. Everything is under control.
PS2: I've been consistently releasing chapters for many days now, and If you want to support my work and read the 70 chapters ahead you can check out
my P@treon. -> patreon.com/Sagamaster789
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