[First time receiving a Pokémon, lottery chance ×1 acquired]
[Lottery entrance unlocked…]
That was all Ash saw after tapping the glowing dot. One message told him he'd earned a lottery chance; the other pointed to a "lottery entrance."
Ash blinked.
'Lottery? What kind of lottery? Is this chat group seriously handing out prizes now?!'
[Champion Ash: You saw it, right? You've got a lottery chance.]
[Ash: Yeah, it says I got one for receiving my starter Pokémon. But… what can I even win in this lottery?]
[Champion Ash: Our abilities.]
[Ash: Your… abilities?]
[Champion Ash: Exactly. This lottery includes everything except physical items. For example, my battle experience, Breeder Ash's breeding knowledge, Tactician Ash's tactical skills, and so on.]
Ash's jaw dropped. He couldn't even wrap his head around it, but the idea that he could just draw knowledge and skills from other versions of himself was already ridiculously overpowered.
[Champion Ash: And it's not just experience. The lottery also contains our special powers. Some of us developed them fully, others never did. Take Aura Ash, for instance, he's almost completely mastered the power of Aura. With it, he can actually stand against Legendary Pokémon using his own strength alone.]
[Ash: Uh… what are Legendary Pokémon?]
[Champion Ash: What exactly have you been learning all this time? You don't even know Articuno, Moltres, or Zapdos?]
[Ash: Nope.]
[Champion Ash: "....."]
Champion Ash went silent. He'd spoken with almost every version of himself across countless worlds, but never had he met an Ash this… blank.
Not knowing Pikachu was one thing. But not knowing Legendary Pokémon at all, especially the three Legendary Birds of Kanto? This went beyond newbie. This was uncharted territory.
[Aura Ash: Put simply, Legendary Pokémon are the most powerful Pokémon in existence. They're top of the top-tier.]
[Ash: Really? And humans can actually fight against Pokémon like that? You're not pulling my leg, right?]
If they weren't all supposedly him, Ash would have assumed this was some kind of cruel prank. Humans competing with the strongest Pokémon in the world? That sounded like the biggest joke he'd ever heard.
[Champion Ash: We've got no reason to lie to you. Anyway, just try the lottery. Let's see what your first draw gives you.]
[Champion Ash: Abilities are ranked S, A, B, C, D, and E—S being the highest. The odds of pulling an S-rank are less than one in ten thousand. Most of us have drawn a hundred times or more, and only one or two have ever landed an S.]
Unlike the brand-new Ash, every other Ash in the group had joined as a "finished account." The moment they entered the chat, they were showered with more than fifty lottery chances at once.
Of course, most of what they drew turned out to be useless.
After all, in their own worlds they already stood at the very peak of their fields. General knowledge and low-level abilities didn't mean much to them anymore.
[Ash: The odds are that bad? By the way, who were the one or two people who actually pulled an S-rank?]
[Breeder Ash: That'd be me. But this broken system might as well have not given it to me! What use is a Breeder like me having the battle experience of a Tactician Master?! I laughed myself sick when I drew it!]
Breeder Ash was still bitter just thinking about it. To finally pull an S-rank, only for it to be completely unrelated to his specialty, it was cruel.
And yet, he had to admit, those tactics were fascinating. He even tried putting them into practice against Johto Champion Lance… who was so scarred by the experience he swore he would never battle Breeder Ash again!
The S-rank wasn't just raw experience. It also transmitted Tactician Ash's keen observation skills, predictive instincts, and ruthless thought processes in battle. That was why the ability was valued so highly.
In fact, if a complete novice got their hands on this ability, they'd instantly leap to the level of a top Champion, able to read opponents, strategize, and execute battles like a veteran.
It was just a shame it had landed in the hands of a Breeder…
[Tactician Ash: Hey! What's with the attitude? My ability is top-class! Even the Champion himself couldn't draw it if he tried! You should be grateful you got it!]
The difference between Champion Ash and Tactician Ash was stark. Champion Ash leaned on overwhelming force, his team packed with powerful Pokémon trained to their peak. Tactician Ash, on the other hand, specialized in toppling stronger opponents with… less-than-honorable strategies.
When Champion Ash first saw the kind of "methods" Tactician Ash employed, he was floored.
'This… this actually counts as battling?!'
Toxic. Toxic Spikes. A wall Pokémon that stacked defense boosts and just sat there while the opponent slowly keeled over. Was that even human?
And that wasn't all. There was Substitute + Toxic. There was Serene Grace Togekiss flinch-hax. There was Minimize + Soft-Boiled Chansey that refused to faint no matter what you threw at it.
Even Champion Ash admitted he never wanted to battle Tactician Ash.
It wasn't a battle. It was torture.
Whether he could win was one thing, but the sheer frustration of it was maxed out.
[Champion Ash: Anyway, rookie, go ahead and draw. You should see the lottery entrance in your notifications. Just head in and spin it.]
Ash set aside his urge to keep chatting and pulled up the notification page. With a deep breath, he entered the lottery entrance.
The moment he clicked in, a giant roulette wheel materialized before him.
It was divided into six colored sections, the six ability ranks Champion Ash had mentioned.
The S-rank slice, however, was so ridiculously tiny it was practically invisible. Just as Champion Ash had said, it couldn't have been more than one in ten thousand of the wheel.
Honestly, if the wheel weren't this enormous, Ash would've needed a microscope just to find it.
"No wonder the probability is so low," Ash grumbled. "With a section that small, how could anyone possibly land on it?"
Still, he willed his mind to give the wheel a spin.
The wheel whirled wildly, the colors blurring into one dizzying spiral. Ash couldn't tell where it was going and could only slam it to a stop at random.
Gradually, the spinning slowed. The pointer ticked across the rim… slower… slower… until it inched toward that near-invisible S-rank slice.
And then, click.
It stopped.
Dead center.
The pointer perfectly overlapped with the microscopic S-rank section.
Ash froze. His instinct was to rub his eyes, but as a floating consciousness, he had no eyes to rub.
That made it even clearer, it wasn't an illusion. He had actually hit the S-rank!
The wheel instantly shattered into sparks, replaced by a glowing prompt box:
[Congratulations! You have drawn the S-rank ability: Aura Power.]
[The Aura Power within your body has now been fully awakened to an S-rank state. Countless techniques and methods of Aura usage have been infused into your mind. You may access them at will.]