Brock decided to stay at Professor Ivy's laboratory. Considering Brock's lifelong happiness, Ash and Misty didn't stop him. It was rare that Brock didn't immediately confess his love and talk about spending his life with someone this time, but instead chose to pursue her step-by-step.
As long as he stayed here for a while, with Brock's level of housekeeping skills, he should be able to impress Professor Ivy.
As for them, after the Poké Ball analysis was complete, they would head to the other islands of the Orange Islands to search for Lugia's whereabouts and take a vacation. Speaking of which, Brock was right about one thing: with him around, the two of them really couldn't fully relax.
They even wanted to walk hand-in-hand on the road, but because Brock was there, their fingers would touch repeatedly before eventually pulling apart. Showing affection in front of a single person like Brock was, after all, not very polite.
It was mainly because they were embarrassed.jpg.
Now that Brock had left, they could be more open, which was a benefit for them, although Brock's departure still made them somewhat sentimental.
After all, they had been companions traveling together from the very beginning, accompanying each other across the entire Kanto region, experiencing the Indigo Plateau Conference, and the Mewtwo's strikes together—all these experiences would never be forgotten and would be deeply etched in their hearts!
"Hey, hey, hey, what's with those looks! I haven't even left the team yet, so don't look like you're reminiscing about the dead, okay! Even if I leave the team, it doesn't mean we'll never see each other again. Your expressions make it look like I've passed away!" Brock looked at Ash and Misty's expressions and couldn't help but complain.
Although he was also a bit reluctant to part with Ash and Misty, for the sake of their lifelong happiness and his own, parting was inevitable.
A temporary parting is for a better reunion—however, the expressions on these two weren't like he was leaving the team, but more like he had kicked the bucket! What was that supposed to mean?!
"Ahem, don't mind the small things—by the way, Professor Ivy, the analysis should be about finished, right?" Ash quickly changed the subject.
"Yes, it should be ready now," Professor Ivy said as she stood up and walked toward the lab. Brock stayed behind to clear the dishes. Although he hadn't officially left the team yet, Brock seemed to have already settled into his new role.
The three little assistants on the side were helping Brock. After all, Brock was still a guest for now, and even if he stayed, he wouldn't be familiar with everything at first. Of course, they couldn't let Brock do everything by himself!
Cooking for you and then cleaning up after you—how would that look? That's why Professor Ivy had Charity and the others stay to help Brock.
After returning to the lab, the progress bar on the computer had finished. Professor Ivy moved the mouse and clicked for details, and immediately a large amount of data appeared that Ash and Misty couldn't understand at all.
So, the two could only silently turn their gaze toward Professor Ivy. Professor Ivy looked at the data displayed on the computer with a solemn expression, an unusual light emanating from her beautiful eyes.
"This is—the power of a god! And it's not just the power of a single god, but the power of two Legendary Pokémon!" Professor Ivy said, her words shocking everyone.
Ash, who already knew it contained Ho-Oh's power, wasn't overly surprised. Even before heading to the Orange Islands, Ash knew Ho-Oh's power was inside, but he didn't know who the other god's power belonged to.
"Two Legendary Pokémon? Can you find out which ones they are?" Misty asked curiously.
"We can only guess based on the nature of the power. After all, our understanding of Legendary Pokémon is very limited. One carries fire, while the other carries wind—what's certain is that these two are Legendary Pokémon with Fire and Flying types. They might be the Legendary Birds."
Even the most advanced machines couldn't directly analyze the source of the power inside the GS Ball; they could only judge which Legendary Pokémon's power was contained within based on the elemental power inside the ball.
As for how the equipment detected the power of a Legendary Pokémon—it was because the power of a Legendary Pokémon is completely different from that of a normal Pokémon!
Not to mention that both powers inside this Poké Ball carried a divine position!
The Legendary Birds also held divine positions, and the ones with divine positions were right here in the Orange Islands. As for where they lived, there was no information on that for now.
The only thing that could be known was that the Orange Islands were not only home to the Legendary Birds with divine positions, but possibly even Lugia, the god of the sea, who also held a divine position!
However, so far, there was no concrete evidence, only accidental encounters or sudden sightings before the subject disappeared. Unless you had a camera on your head twenty-four hours a day, it was basically impossible to capture a Legendary Pokémon the moment it appeared.
After hearing Professor Ivy's words, a completely different answer appeared in Ash's heart.
The Fire-type Legendary Pokémon was undoubtedly Ho-Oh, and the other Legendary Pokémon with the Flying type—that being was on the same level as Ho-Oh.
Although the Legendary Birds with divine positions were powerful, they were a step below Ho-Oh in both species and divine position, so it basically couldn't be them.
Are there any beings that are both Flying-type and on the same level as Ho-Oh? Yes, my friends, there are.
The Sky Dragon, the god of the sea, and Yveltal—these three Legendary Pokémon are all on the same level as Ho-Oh and carry the Flying type. Even Ho-Oh itself is a Tier 1 God with the Flying type.
As for who was most likely to be the other power, Ash guessed it might be the god of the sea.
Because this Poké Ball contained the Power of Space and Time, and integrating powers into the Power of Space and Time required the assistance of Psychic power, or the being itself possessed the Power of Space and Time.
Therefore, the two Legendary Pokémon powers contained in this Poké Ball stood out: Lugia and Ho-Oh. These two gods were also known as Johto's Gold and Silver Twin Gods!
"...Besides confirming the presence of two Legendary Pokémon powers, we also detected that this Poké Ball carries the Power of Space and Time. It must be a new power generated by the integration of the two Legendary Pokémon's powers. It's precisely because of this power that the Poké Ball cannot be opened."
A standard Poké Ball possesses the power of space, allowing it to contain Pokémon. However, this GS
Ball has integrated the power of time on top of its original spatial power, completely locking the interior.
It can only be opened under specific conditions. Forcing it open would only damage the Poké Ball.
"It's a pity the equipment didn't analyze the method to open the Poké Ball, only the analysis of the ball's modification. So, I'll leave the rest to you, Ash. Take this data and the GS Ball back to Professor Oak." As Professor Ivy spoke, she imported the data onto a USB drive and handed both the GS Ball and the drive to Ash.
"Alright, I'll deliver them to Professor Oak." Ash put both items into his Spatial Backpack and then called Professor Oak to briefly explain the situation.
Professor Oak wasn't in a hurry and said Ash didn't need to rush back. He should finish his business in the Orange Islands first and then enjoy a good vacation.
Hearing this, Professor Ivy curiously asked Ash what else he had to do in the Orange Islands besides bringing the GS Ball over.
Regarding the matter of Little Lugia, Ash naturally couldn't reveal it casually, but he did need to search for information about Lugia here, so his words became this—
"You said you're looking for Lugia, the god of the sea???"
"Yes, I came this way because I heard Lugia might have appeared here in the Orange Islands, so I wanted to come and admire the majestic presence of a legendary Pokémon." Ash racked his brain, searching for the few sophisticated words he knew, before managing to say something that sounded somewhat respectable.
Translated, these words meant—I want to come and trade a few blows with Lugia!
In fact, if there were no Team Galactic and no business with Little Lugia, if Ash knew Lugia had appeared here, his reason for coming would indeed be exactly that.
Regardless of how big the gap was between him and Lugia, if one only looked at the gap and surrendered or didn't dare to challenge, then Pokémon battling itself would lose its meaning.
Especially for Ash, let alone having a God Domain Level Mewtwo now, even if he only had an Ordinary level Pikachu, he would still issue a challenge if he met Lugia.
Call him overconfident or say he's asking for trouble, but that's just Ash's style.
But for now, he was looking for Lugia only to find Little Lugia's father. Additionally, he had to find Cynthia's whereabouts. Although it was unlikely Cynthia would encounter any misfortune given her strength, Ash was still somewhat worried after being out of contact for so long.
Her opponents weren't exactly pushovers either!
Team Galactic, the largest criminal organization in the Sinnoh region, was capable of even converting the attribute of a god of the sea's descendant, and they even had the medium for Yveltal's power in their hands.
With all these factors combined, even a Champion could potentially stumble before this organization if they weren't careful.
So Ash's concern was not without reason.
Professor Ivy was also startled by Ash's goal this time, setting his sights on a legendary Pokémon, and one of the strongest legendary Pokémon at that—even for an Indigo Plateau Conference Champion, this goal was perhaps a bit too massive.
However, Professor Ivy didn't try to dissuade Ash. Instead, she thought seriously and said, "In that case, you can go to the nearby Trovita Island. It's a popular tourist area in the Orange Archipelago. You should be able to collect all kinds of information about the Orange Islands there. It's best to find Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center; she's a walking human information gatherer~"
If you wanted to know who had the most information, it was definitely the Nurse Joy of the current city. It was much the same in the Orange Islands, just replacing cities with islands.
If you wanted to know any information, go find Nurse Joy; you couldn't go wrong.
Afterward, Ash and the others stayed at the Ivy Lab for a day. On one hand, they played on the beach, but because of the weather, they couldn't go into the sea at all. Although the temperature in the Orange Islands was much higher than in the Kanto region, the temperature on Tanoba Island was still around sixteen or seventeen degrees. One could say they didn't need down jackets, but going into the sea was still a bit much—
As for how Professor Ivy managed to play with Gyarados in the sea, one could only say that her physical fitness was exceptionally good.
At this temperature, Ash was the only one of the trio who could enter the water without feeling cold. Even Misty, known as the mermaid, would probably catch a cold within five minutes of entering the sea in this weather.
But it was said that the temperature on Trovita Island was different from here; it would be hotter there. Out of three hundred and sixty-five days a year, at least three hundred and thirty-three days were scorching sun.
That's why Trovita Island was a travel sanctuary rather than Tanoba Island.
In the evening, Ash and Brock collaborated once more to prepare a meal, which could be considered the final cooking lesson Ash gave to Brock.
After all, without Ash, Brock alone wouldn't be able to achieve the level of cooking they had at noon.
But Brock's comprehension wasn't low either, especially with his housekeeping talent maxed out. Just two short lessons had already significantly improved Brock's cooking level.
Although he was still far from Ash, he should already be able to independently make dishes that gave off a faint starlight.
After eating and drinking their fill, Ash and Misty went out for a walk in the evening. Pikachu stayed home to babysit (Togepi), while Brock stayed home to have a heart-to-heart with the kind older sister figure. This time, Brock was truly serious.
The night sky was adorned with sparse stars, and the sea breeze carried a salty, damp coolness, gently brushing against the corners of their clothes.
Ash and Misty stepped onto the soft sand side by side, their footsteps swallowed by the gentle lapping of the waves. The beach shimmered with a faint silver glow, a thin veil cast by the moonlight. The two didn't say much, just walked slowly.
It seemed they rarely had scenes like this, walking side by side together. The only time they had gone on a date together could be traced back to the end of the Indigo Plateau Conference, which was also when they confirmed their relationship.
In a way, Brock's departure was indeed a good thing, if one could set aside the sadness of a companion's parting~
"Next, it'll just be a journey for the two of us," Misty suddenly spoke.
"Yeah, a journey belonging just to us," Ash said, and suddenly reached out, taking Misty's fair hand and holding it tight.
Both of their heartbeats quickened significantly at this moment. Neither of them spoke; everything was understood without words.
The moonlight etched their silhouettes onto the beach, side by side, hand in hand. Their shadows were drawn long and slender, like a beautiful and soft painting.
Early the next morning, after finishing breakfast, Misty and Ash bid farewell to Professor Ivy and Brock.
The two boarded Blastoise and began heading toward Trovita Island!