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The appearance of Professor Spencer Hale allowed Ash's tense nerves to finally relax. Though he had assured Mitsumi that he would definitely find Professor Spencer Hale, no matter how confident he was, Professor Spencer Hale had still been missing for quite some time.
The rescue team from the League couldn't even find a trace of Professor Spencer Hale, despite possessing a wealth of mystical powers. He wasn't necessarily able to find Professor Spencer Hale.
Yet before he took action, the Unown had already found Professor Spencer Hale, or rather, released him.
That unknown space, which should be the habitat of the Unown, was somehow where Professor Spencer Hale was imprisoned. The Unown were taken away by the rescue teams and brought to Mitsumi's side.
According to Ash's conjecture, Professor Spencer Hale unintentionally activated the power of the Unown, resulting in him being confined within their space.
Meanwhile, the Unown, having consumed their power by opening the space, turned into ordinary puzzle pieces and were eventually taken away from the site.
Later, Mitsumi accidentally activated the Unown's inherent power. Her wish was to find her father, yet the young girl was mentally deranged due to the loss of her father, mistakenly identifying Entei on her father's 'relic' album as her father.
Consequently, the Unown exerted their power, manifested Entei, replacing Mitsumi's father's role in her heart, leading to Mitsumi's real father being forgotten in the ruins.
Now, without a guiding subject, the Unown began returning to their own ruins space, causing Mitsumi's father to be released as they returned.
All of this was merely Ash's speculation.
As for the actual situation, even Professor Spencer Hale wasn't sure. After he regained consciousness, Ash inquired about the situation, but Professor Spencer Hale only mentioned discovering the existence of the Unown, then fainting due to a mysterious force.
When he woke up, he saw Ash, but he couldn't remember anything that had happened in between.
Given Professor Spencer Hale's amnesia regarding his disappearance, the cause and effect are hard to unravel. Nonetheless, it doesn't matter, as long as Professor Spencer Hale is safe and unharmed; the reasons are trivial.
Moreover, Professor Spencer Hale's lack of memory is a blessing, considering his prolonged disappearance. Staying alone in that space for such a long time might have unknown impacts on his mental state.
Currently, Professor Spencer Hale's mental and physical condition appeared healthy under Ash's examination.
If there are no issues with him, then everyone is happy.
After taking Professor Spencer Hale back to Pallet Town, Mitsumi was reunited with her father, and Professor Spencer Hale was unsure how to express gratitude to Ash, to which Ash replied it was no big deal.
Speaking of gains... this trip indeed yielded substantial results. Capturing the Netherworld Dragon was just the start, and his own Aura Power had significantly increased, with an unprecedented degree of enhancement.
Perhaps it was because this time he completely exhausted his Aura Power, or possibly due to the initial group Aura Fusion with multiple partners... Regardless, this boost in power surpassed all his previous months of training combined.
According to Ash's estimation, once he fully recovers, his strength could reach a new pinnacle!
Currently, his Aura Power is at the Intermediate Divine Realm level, advancing further means Divine Realm Advanced! On par with Mewtwo!
This kind of power will surely deliver a huge surprise to Cyrus, who is watching secretly!
Aside from himself, Gardevoir and others had their powers enhanced as well. Such battles where their power was entirely depleted often lead to rapid progress in strength post-recovery.
This is why battling with same-level Pokemon or cross-level duel prompts exertion of full-force explosion, accelerating the speed of becoming stronger, and amplifying experience accumulation.
Additionally, the Pokeball for Giratina had been researched and transported over; it was a gray-black ball with golden edges, exuding an inexplicable regal sensation just from appearance.
The quality resembles that of Mewtwo's Pokeball; creating such a Pokeball with infused Divine Domain energy is incredibly challenging.
In the world, people capable of crafting such Pokeballs are few, probably countable on one hand.
Among those Ash knew, only Mr. Kurt could manufacture them.
After producing Giratina's Pokeball, Professor Oak's proposal for approval also came through, increasing Ash's Pokemon carrying slots by two.
Originally, Ash's carrying slots were seven, now increased to nine. The reason for the increase was not submitted by Professor Oak, but given his status, aiding in adding two Pokemon slots for someone wouldn't be difficult.
Not to mention it was Ash himself, even based on Ash's own standing, it wasn't difficult to add more slots.
As for whom these two slots are designated for... naturally, they are for Little Lugia and Giratina.
Since Little Lugia followed Ash, it hadn't always stayed by his side. Previously, it was about returning Little Lugia to find its mother. It wasn't yet Ash's true Pokemon, thus always accompanied him.
However, when Little Lugia became Ash's Pokémon, Ash's carrying slots became a bit insufficient. After all, he currently has quite a few Pokémon, and it's too tight to rotate them for training.
So Little Lugia was often sent back to Oak's Research Institute by Ash, and Professor Oak made good use of this opportunity to conduct extensive research.
Now, the Pokémon carrying slots have increased by two, one specifically for Giratina, and the other naturally for Little Lugia.
The three added slots for Ash correspond to two Legendary Beasts and one artificial Legendary Beast, which can be said to be perfectly reasonable.
This reasonable explanation, of course, cannot be reported to the League, otherwise some insightful person in the League might target Ash.
Not everyone in the Pokémon League is purely good-natured...
...
After handling the matters in Pallet Town, Ash and the others bid farewell to Delia, then had Mewtwo send them back to the starting point before coming to Pallet Town, Ecruteak City.
Returning to Ecruteak City, Ash felt a sense of "absence for a day feels like three years". Even though only a few days had passed, it felt like a long, long time had gone by, perhaps because so many things happened in these few days, giving him this feeling.
"Let's go onwards to Blackthorn City, this time it may take about a month."
Ash glanced at his phone to check the destination, which requires crossing multiple cities to reach Blackthorn City.
Along the way, there will be other Gyms, but those Gyms do not have foreign Gym Leaders stationed, and the Gym Leader's strength isn't considered strong, so they aren't in Ash's challenge plans.
However, though these Gyms along the way don't meet Ash's challenge goals, they can give Serena some practice.
Originally, Ash planned to head directly to Blackthorn City because Cynthia mentioned she would wait for them there ahead of time, and naturally, they shouldn't keep Cynthia waiting too long.
But Cynthia mentioned she would also take her disciple to see the sights in other parts of Johto, suggesting Ash need not rush and could simply call her when they're almost in Blackthorn City.
Since Cynthia said so, Ash decided not to rush straight to Blackthorn City but instead find some Gyms along the way for Serena to challenge, increasing her battle experience.
If they could get badges, it would be great. If not, accumulating experience is also fine.
...
Time jumps forward, and half a month has passed.
On the streets near Olivine City, Ash was directing battles between Frogadier and Pikachu.
"Frogadier, use Cut!"
Ash's voice rang out on the open ground outside Olivine City.
Frogadier forcefully kicked the ground, transforming into a stream of blue light, with its right forearm gathering white light, slashing directly at Pikachu.
Pikachu's ears slightly moved, and its body dodged to the side, Frogadier's Cut grazed the tip of Pikachu's ear, not touching a single hair.
After landing, Frogadier quickly turned and prepared to attack again.
"Stop for a moment."
Ash raised his hand to halt Frogadier's actions. He walked to Frogadier, squatting down to point in Pikachu's direction.
"Do you know why you missed, Frogadier?"
Frogadier shook its head, looking confused.
"Your Cut speed is indeed fast, but the power point is too early." Ash extended his hand to grasp Frogadier's forearm, simulating the trajectory of the move, "At the moment of initiation, you explode with all your strength."
"Though this results in strong explosiveness, strength starts to diminish before reaching the target, and the body's inertia makes it hard to adjust direction on the way."
Frogadier looked down at its arm, then across to Pikachu.
"Another point, your shoulder moves a bit each time before executing a move." Ash pointed to Frogadier's shoulder, "Pikachu uses this to predict your attack route. You need to learn to hide the sign of exertion so opponents can't see your actions."
Frogadier thoughtfully nodded.
"On another note," Ash stood up and patted Frogadier's shoulder, "Pikachu's level is much higher than yours; it's normal you can't hit him."
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu protested unhappily from the side.
"I know, you've suppressed your power to match Frogadier's level, but as an Elite Peak, even when suppressing your power to the Elite Advanced Level, your control over power is far superior to Frogadier's."
If Pikachu were to fight using his normal strength level against Frogadier, Frogadier would not be able to touch even a single hair of Pikachu, no matter how exhausted he becomes.
Therefore, during practice sessions, Ash instructed Pikachu to suppress his power to match Frogadier's level, and if they exceed the power levels, Pikachu loses.
However, even with suppressed power, Pikachu is still not someone Frogadier can challenge effortlessly; suppressing power doesn't change Pikachu's essence as an Elite Peak.
Indeed, within just half a month, Pikachu's level successfully returned to Elite Peak!
This level of upgrade speed is unprecedented for Ash - it's extraordinarily fast... so fast it leaves him in disbelief.
Since the Third Transformation, Pikachu's upgrade speed is multiple times faster than before.
In half a month's time, progressing from Mid-Elite Level to Elite Peak… it should be noted that Frogadier has only advanced from Advanced Peak to Elite Intermediate Level, improving by two levels.
Although both improved by two levels, the value of Pikachu's levels compared to Frogadier's is not comparable!
Frogadier's enhancement speed is not considered slow, yet Pikachu's speed excels even further.
No wonder the experts in the group say his Pikachu, even from a global Pokémon Realm perspective, is unique, rarer than Legendary Beasts, and its potential is terrifyingly immense!
The Third Transformation is already this formidable. According to experts, Pikachu might achieve up to the Seventh Transformation...
A Pikachu of that level, what a spectacle could that be?
"Frogadier, you have quite a few issues too." After talking about Pikachu, Ash turned to critique Frogadier, "Although Pikachu has more experience, the main reason you're struggling so much is that you haven't fully mastered your current level of strength."
He paused, then continued, "After leveling up, your body's abilities also improved, but your power usage patterns are still stuck in old habits."
"Your previous Cut, although bursting with all your power, created a fatal flaw in the move due to excessive force explosion. Cut requires quick, fierce, precise execution, congruence in momentum and footwork, locking the opponent down and delivering a fatal blow!"
With that, Ash casually picked up a tree branch, tucked it at his waist, then suddenly swung it out!
A fierce wind rose in the air, with the movement of the branch seeming to slice the air open!
Frogadier's mouth opened slightly, staring at the broken branch, momentarily unsure of what to say.
Though aware his Trainer isn't ordinary, encountering a human who can execute Pokémon's move Cut with a branch is truly unheard of for him...
"Well, that's roughly the feeling. The rest is just practicing diligently; although Cut is a move with limited power, I feel in your hands it can display a far greater power than the skill itself." Ash casually discarded the branch, earnestly speaking to Frogadier.
"Gie-ro!" Frogadier seriously nodded, then created a blade with energy, continuing to practice on the spot.
"Ash! Frogadier! Pikachu! Time to eat!" Brock's voice called from afar.
"Coming!!"