In the White World —
Ash and his party arrived at Blackthorn City and met Clair, the Gym Leader of the Blackthorn Gym.
However, they didn't begin the Gym battle immediately, because Clair's Dratini was about to evolve.
Finally, with some unintended help from Team Rocket, Clair's Dratini passed its final threshold and successfully evolved into Dragonair.
Subsequently, Ash and Clair began the final Gym battle.
In the early stages, Ash's Pikachu and Noctowl were completely suppressed by Clair's Kingdra.
If this continued, Ash would likely lose this Gym battle.
But at this moment—Team Rocket stepped up!
They stole the treasure of the Blackthorn Gym—the Dragon Fang!
And ran to the sacred shrine behind the Gym. Ash and the others paused the battle and chased after them.
However, the Dragonite protecting the shrine was deceived by Team Rocket and turned to attack Ash.
Ash and the others were blocked outside the shrine by Dragonite's overwhelming power.
At the critical moment, a powerful ally arrived!
A figure rushed toward Ash, backlit by the sun.
It was a powerful orange dragon burning with massive flames!
That was—Ash's Charizard!
Reunions always came so suddenly. Ash's Charizard had returned.
At this moment, Charizard's body was no longer as thin as before—it had become much stronger. Even Liza's Charizard, which had once been slightly larger, was now smaller than him.
At the same time, little Liza had been attracted by his perseverance and rapidly improving strength through their daily training together.
She had become Charizard's girlfriend!
Charizard had a girlfriend? Who else didn't have a girlfriend?!!
With the powerful reinforcements of Charizard and Clair's Dragonair,
Ash and the others could finally contend with Dragonite.
Then, Team Rocket caused a huge mess this time—they knocked over the sacred flame in the shrine, setting the entire area ablaze.
The kind-hearted Dragonite realized it had been deceived, instantly lost control, raised its dragon rage, and rampaged through the shrine!
The three Pokémon—Dragonair, Charizard, and Pikachu—joined forces and finally calmed Dragonite down.
The Team Rocket trio was sent blasting off again.
The shrine would need time to recover.
The next day, Ash began the rematch!
This time, his lineup had changed—Snorlax started!
It successfully defeated Clair's Kingdra and slightly weakened her Gyarados.
Then came the duel between Pikachu and Gyarados.
Pikachu defeated Gyarados without much trouble!
Next, Pikachu was defeated by Dragonair!
Then came the final battle!
Charizard versus Dragonair!
The Charizard who had returned from training showed extremely powerful strength for the first time!
It sprayed flames three times to evaporate the pool, and could attack the opponent multiple times with ease.
In the end, it used a blazing Seismic Toss to declare to the world that it had taken more than one step toward becoming the world's strongest Charizard!
The Charizard at this moment was completely different from the one that had battled Blaine's Magmar.
This was all achieved through Charizard's own efforts and perseverance!
…
[Flint]: So cool! That blazing Seismic Toss was amazing! I really want my Infernape to try it too!
[Volkner]: Wake up—your Infernape can't fly!
[Fantina]: That's right. Such a gorgeous move isn't easy to pull off. Ash and his Charizard—one really dares to command, the other really dares to execute!
[Blaine]: While using the power of the flame vortex to offset the power of Dragon Rage, simultaneously using both energies against Dragonair—truly a clever technique. The Charizard that can use this move is genuinely amazing!
[Wattson]: Um… Mr. Blaine, weren't you criticizing them before? Why are you supporting them now?
[Blaine]: What criticism? Can you even talk? I call that rational analysis, okay? Although Charizard's current growth is indeed a bit beyond my expectations, ultimately it's only around Gym Leader senior level!
[Blaine]: Never mind Elite Four—let it reach the top of Gym Leader level first!
[Lance]: Waiting for that to age poorly!
[Lorelei]: Waiting for that to age poorly!
[Wattson]: Waiting for that to age poorly!
[Blaine]: Hey, hey, hey! Do you all know how to talk? You're supposed to be experienced trainers—can't you see Charizard's flaws?
[Leon]: Is it possible that everyone knows Charizard has flaws, but everyone believes in Ash, believes in Charizard, and believes in the bond between them? That's why they think Charizard can still reach the top!
[Professor Oak]: There's another possibility, Blaine—you actually认可 Charizard already, but because of what you said earlier, you have to keep criticizing it?
[Agatha]: Hah. To put it bluntly, you're just too proud to admit you were wrong. Now you know what it means when your own words come back to bite you?
[Blaine]: …
Fine!
You're all so noble! You're all so amazing!
I'll just sit back and watch you wait for me to be proven wrong!
Although Blaine had been publicly embarrassed, he wasn't too angry.
As Professor Oak and Agatha said, he was just too proud to admit his mistake. Even though he usually dressed up funny and told corny riddles, he actually cared quite a bit about his reputation as a Fire-type expert.
But now, after being exposed by those two, Blaine was resigned.
What's wrong with saving face? Is saving face against the law?!
Yes, Ash and his Charizard were very powerful—growing this much in just half a year!
But unless he was proven wrong to the very end, he would keep playing the role of the skeptic!
…
At this point, after challenging all eight Gyms, the story of the White World wasn't over yet.
Ash watched himself on the screen walking toward the most beautiful city in the world—Alto Mare!
In this city, they would gain a new bond, but at the same time… they would also lose a friend.
…
In the White World —
After defeating Dragonair, Ash successfully obtained the final Rising Badge and qualified to participate in the Silver Conference!
The group began heading toward Mt. Silver, training along the way.
However, while traveling, they learned that a water competition was being held in Alto Mare, known as the most beautiful city in the world. So the three decided together to participate in the competition and visit this fabled city.
After arriving at Alto Mare, both Ash and Misty entered the water race, but unfortunately neither won.
Afterward, Ash met a girl being chased by two strange women. Their names were Zanna and Lion.
With Ash's help, the girl successfully escaped.
However, when Ash found the girl again, she claimed not to know him at all—which confused Ash.
After experiencing a series of events, Ash finally understood why the girl hadn't recognized him.
It turned out the girl Kanon he had met earlier wasn't Kanon at all, but a Pokémon in disguise!
That Pokémon was—Latias!
That's right—Latias, the Legendary Eon Pokémon whose speed rivaled a jet plane!
At the same time, Ash, who had come to the Secret Garden in Alto Mare, also saw Latias's brother—Latios!
These two Pokémon were known as the guardians of Alto Mare, the protectors of the Water City!
Kind-hearted and simple, Ash had no evil intentions after seeing them. Instead, he happily played with the two Legendary Pokémon all afternoon.
Misty and Brock were completely forgotten by Ash~
When they left, Ash promised Kanon he would never tell anyone about the Secret Garden.
But the good times didn't last.
The two women named Zanna and Lion were actually thieves—among the most notorious in the world!
They had come to Alto Mare specifically for Latias and Latios!
That morning, they had discovered Latias transformed into a girl and chased her, but Ash had interrupted them.
However, they used special means to discover the Secret Garden!
Immediately afterward, they infiltrated the garden and captured Latias and Latios!
In the end, Latios was caught protecting Latias, but Latias successfully escaped and ran to ask Ash for help!
Meanwhile, after capturing Latios and stealing the Heart Drop from the Secret Garden, the two thieves entered the Grand Cathedral of Alto Mare.
Inside was a device meant to protect Alto Mare, but these two women used it for evil!
They revived Omastar and Aerodactyl, hoping to capture the escaping Latias!
At the same time, Ash brought Latias with him, preparing to rescue Latios!
The two sides clashed. After surviving countless dangers, Ash finally brought Latias to the Grand Cathedral!
By then, the device in the cathedral had begun running wild!
If the Heart Drop was used by someone with an impure heart, it would become tainted!
Now, the Heart Drop had reached its limit!
Ash, with Pikachu and Latias, successfully rescued Latios.
After losing Latios, the device stopped rampaging.
Originally, this wouldn't have been too bad.
After all, although the two thieves had done something terrible, at least there were no casualties yet.
However… Lion, the sister, still coveted the gems.
She actually reached out and touched the tainted Heart Drop on the device.
Then, she was gloriously blasted into the device.
The device went berserk again!
At the same time, the Heart Drop shattered. All the power contained within it burst out at once!
This power diverted all the water sources in Alto Mare.
Simultaneously, the entire city began to sink.
Ash and the others ran outside the Grand Cathedral. A deafening sound echoed in the distance—a white line rose from the horizon. A massive tsunami, enough to submerge all of Alto Mare, was approaching!
When everyone was helpless, Latias and Latios stepped forward.
They channeled the last of their power and successfully calmed the tsunami!
But… Latios paid with his life. He perished from this world.
…
[Lillie]: Ah! Latios! No!
[Serena]: Waaah! How could such a cute, reliable, handsome Latios die?! Ash, tell me this is fake, right? Latios gets revived later, right?!
[Ash]: I'm sorry… I couldn't save Latios…
[Caitlin]: Aaaaaah!! You rotten, rotten, rotten thieves! You deserve to die! Curse you!!
[Korrina]: Waaaah!! Why did Latios have to die?! Why did Latios have to pay for the crimes committed by those two phantom thieves?! I can't accept this!
[Lorelei]: Gah! A knife! There's a knife hidden in the White World too!
[Professor Oak]: I thought the White World story was relatively lighthearted, but this…
After finally watching White Ash's journey to relax and unwind—what was this?!
They could only watch Latios die with their own eyes, powerless to do anything.
If this were a future event, they might still find a way to change it. But this had already happened… Unless they found Dialga and went back in time to stop it, Latios definitely couldn't be revived.
[Lance]: In comparison, although the Black World story is much heavier, I believe Black Ash would definitely be able to prevent Latios's death!
[Lance]: Ah, Ash, don't misunderstand—I'm not comparing you negatively. You did an amazing job.
The strength of this world's Ash was what it was.
You couldn't expect him to stop such a massive tsunami by himself.
Of course, for Black Ash… Forget stopping the tsunami—he probably wouldn't even let such a tsunami happen. If those two sisters dared to attack him,
they'd likely learn what true terror meant!
…
In the White World — Latios's death was an irreversible fact. Latias had barely survived thanks to Latios's sacrifice.
Finally, with the help of water-type Pokémon, they followed Latias to find Latios's body and made their peace.
Learning of Latios's sacrifice, Ash and the others fell silent.
It was so unjust—Latios had died for the unnecessary greed of two small-minded people…
Although Latios had died, he had left something behind—a new Heart Drop!
With this Heart Drop, the waters could return to their former peaceful state. But this peace… had been bought with Latios's sacrifice!
After everyone returned to the Grand Cathedral, they tied up the two phantom thief sisters and handed them over to the police. They would spend the rest of their lives in prison, reflecting on their actions.
With the incident over, Ash and the others continued toward Mt. Silver for the Silver Conference. They said goodbye to Kanon and Professor Hendricks.
Just as Ash was about to board the ship, Kanon came running after him, waving.
She handed Ash a rolled-up piece of drawing paper, and then her cherry-red lips gently pressed against Ash's cheek.
Even with Ash's low emotional intelligence, he couldn't help but freeze.
Misty, holding Togepi, had been smiling, ready to say goodbye to Kanon. But when she saw the scene before her, Togepi slipped from her hands. Her emerald eyes widened, her lips trembled slightly, and the smile on her face instantly vanished—replaced by blank shock.
Misty… was broken.
Pikachu, meanwhile, had its eyes wide open, the corners of its mouth slightly raised, arms folded, thoroughly enjoying the show.
After Kanon ran off, Ash realized he should stop her, but in the end, he didn't know what to say. He could only blankly open the scroll in his hand.
On the scroll—Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, Ash's palm gently touching Pikachu's red cheek, both of them wearing bright, radiant smiles.
It was undoubtedly a beautiful picture!
The image on the White World screen slowly ended here.
…
The real world exploded because of that kiss!!
[Caitlin]: Wow!! There's sugar hidden inside the knife?! I remember—Ash once mentioned that Latias kissed him before, right?! So the one at the end isn't Kanon—it's Latias, isn't it?!
[Lorelei]: The development of this story is truly amazing. This is the first time I've seen candy hidden inside a knife. It's so cruel!
[Serena]: Another one… another one… another one…
The others watched helplessly as Serena kept typing, dark aura emanating from her body, her mouth repeating the same phrase over and over.
Misty in the image had shattered when she saw that scene.
Serena now… was seeing more than just one scene!
Wasn't her counterpart also broken?
Ash… what a sinful boy.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789