Ash displayed a shocking scene on the screen—
A human body moving on par with a Pokémon!
However, despite his incredible performance, there were simply too many Beedrill!
Even though Ash had formed an airtight defense,
several powerful Twinneedle strikes still pierced through!
The wooden stick in Ash's hand struck one of those sharp stingers—
It instantly snapped!
Then those terrifying stingers struck Ash's body directly
and sent him flying!
Two holes tore open in Ash's clothes, but fortunately, the body underneath suffered no severe damage!
Viewers around the world exhaled in relief,
and at the same time couldn't help sighing—
As expected of the Super Rookie!
Such mighty Twinneedle attacks that could easily pierce wood and tear clothing…
They still couldn't do serious harm to Ash's body?!
This level of defense—
Even regular Steel-type Pokémon probably weren't much sturdier!
No wonder, at the beginning of his journey, Ash could endure wind and rain,
jumping off cliffs into raging rivers,
falling thousands of meters while riding a bike—
and yet walk away nearly unharmed!
Although Ash was fine,
being blasted away broke his defensive formation completely!
Dozens of Beedrill swarmed toward him!
Sceptile jumped in front of Ash immediately!
Just like the day before, he would use his own body to shield Ash!
Under everyone's worried gaze, the Beedrill rushed in—
At that final critical moment, a streak of golden electricity shot across the sky like a chasing thunderbolt!!
The powerful electric blast paralyzed all the Beedrill mid-air!
"Pika-pi!"
That uplifting voice came from a distance.
Ash turned—Pikachu was sprinting toward him!
Along with Pikachu came a sweet, refreshing breeze—
"This is Meganium's Aromatherapy. It has a calming effect~"
An elderly voice spoke.
Behind Pikachu was a large group—
An old man with a white beard, a Meganium, and his partners!
At Ash's most dangerous moment,
his companions finally arrived!
Everyone watching let out a relieved breath.
That was truly a crisis!
With their rage calmed by Aromatherapy,
the Beedrill all returned obediently to the forest.
Ash and Sceptile's ordeal in the jungle should have ended here—
But then Team Rocket appeared again!
They immediately used two mechanical arms to grab Pikachu and Sceptile!
…
"Team Rocket again! How do they always manage to follow Ash everywhere!?"
"Isn't that a skill in itself?"
"Ash's entire journey—they're the only villains who never changed! True love, confirmed!"
"They're honestly the least villain-like villains ever! Hahaha!"
"…"
While most viewers focused on Team Rocket's persistence,
the Champions and Elite Four noticed something else entirely.
[Lance: Are they… using some kind of top-secret Rocket technology? Where do all those fancy machines come from?]
[Cynthia: It does feel like they always pull out bizarre machines from nowhere.]
[Steven: I can see it—those three are rare talents. If only they'd work for the League!]
[Leon: I'm more curious… where do they get the materials and money to build so much machinery? They keep saying they'll bring Pokémon to Giovanni, but… they've literally never succeeded.]
[Diantha: Mm~ if they never succeed, Rocket HQ definitely won't fund them. Money should be a real issue.]
[Jessie: Don't underestimate our money-making ability, you jerks!]
…
Team Rocket HQ
Giovanni covered his face. He couldn't bear to watch.
These three idiots… Why do they always do things that defy logic?!
Even Giovanni himself was curious—
Where did their funds come from?
Although, due to special circumstances, Giovanni sometimes secretly gave them small amounts of money…
It was only enough for food and Pokémon rations.
Building those kinds of robots?
Impossible!
Even if money existed, the construction of such machines required large teams of Rocket engineers—
How did three people pull that off?
"Could it be… they truly ARE geniuses?"
For the first time, Giovanni doubted his own judgment.
…
Jessie's rant abruptly stopped on the screen—
likely because James and Meowth dragged her away again…
The footage continued—
Sceptile and Pikachu had been seized by Team Rocket's mechanical arms.
Ash still had Swellow, a Flying-type—
So retrieving them should've been easy.
But Ash didn't release Swellow.
Instead, after shouting at Team Rocket,
he started running—
Chasing the balloon on foot!
[Cynthia: Right—Ash left Swellow and the others behind yesterday! He didn't bring them!]
[Lance: Brock and the others must've left Ash's Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. So now… he has no Flying-type available!]
[Bruno: But even so… no matter how strong Ash is, he shouldn't be able to reach Team Rocket's balloon! That height is at least several dozen meters!]
Bruno estimated the balloon's altitude—it was at least twenty meters high!
No matter how fast Ash ran, he shouldn't possibly reach that height!
But the next moment nearly made Bruno's jaw drop—
Ash scanned his surroundings while running.
His eyes hardened.
He dashed toward a broken tree whose trunk was angled upward like a ramp!
Reaching the tip of the upturned tree, Ash bent his knees—
His expression showed pain.
His knees were still injured!
But he shouted:
"Push through! I can't let them get away!"
Then—
Ash shot into the sky like a loosed arrow!!
He didn't jump—
He flew.
He soared nearly twenty meters upward!
His hands extended and grabbed the mechanical arm of the balloon!
[Lance: HOLY—]
[Diantha: HOLY—]
[Steven: HOLY—]
[Cynthia: What… what IS this!?]
[Bruno: After Fury Attack-level punches, he can now use Flying-type jumps?! What kind of body does he HAVE!?]
[Bea: …Excuse me, I think I need two more years of training before I dare go to Kanto.]
[Bruno: And don't forget—Ash's knees were injured! Jumping THIS high while injured?! If he were unharmed, would he just ascend to heaven?!]
[Caitlin: Too late—he already ascended.]
Even the ever-elegant Cynthia nearly cursed.
Because—
This was no longer something a human could do.
Actually, everything Ash had done so far wasn't something humans could do.
Fury Attack punches, Bullet Seed breath, mountain-river acrobatics,
and now—full-on flying jumps!
Just Ash's physical ability alone
could probably fight evenly with an average Gym Leader's Pokémon!
If Ash grew any stronger…
Forget Gym Leaders—
Even Elite Pokémon would be afraid of him!
[Wallace: Even Groudon would look at this and feel jealous!]
…
Team Magma
"Don't stop me!! I'm going to kill Wallace! How dare he insult Groudon like that!!"
"Um, Tabitha, we're… not stopping you."
"…"
These subordinates—
No sense for timing at all!
Fire them. Immediately.
…
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