The battle between Pikachu and Regice, between Ash and Brandon,
was simply too exhilarating. Everyone had been so absorbed in the constant reversals of the fight
that they completely forgot they had placed bets!
Some had gone all-in with their points, some hadn't bet at all, and others only wagered a little.
But without question, the overwhelming majority of the world had lost!
Only Ash—who believed wholeheartedly in Pikachu—his two companions who trusted him,
and the trio of Rocket Team die-hard Pikachu fans had walked away with rewards!
Ash received 60,000 points! Brock and Misty each got 30,000!
And the Rocket trio… they raked in a staggering 120,000 points!
In the Exchange Shop, a hundred thousand points could buy a top-tier held item.
For example: Mystic Water—boosts Water-type moves by 20%.
In the real world, similar items were far weaker: most gave only 5% or 10%.
A full 20% boost was almost unheard of!
And if you tried to buy such a treasure with money? You'd need millions—if you could even find one.
That was how precious points were!
The shop also had rare ingredients, materials for Poké Balls, and more.
For Brock the gourmet, it was pure heaven!
Ingredients impossible to find in the real world—Kobe beef, deep-sea lobsters—were all there.
And since these weren't for powering up Pokémon, their prices were relatively cheap!
…
[Lance: Didn't think I'd lose the very first bet!]
[Professor Oak: Not a big deal. What I want to know is—who bet on Ash to win?]
[Ash: Me, me, me!]
[Alder: Hahaha, I knew it was you, Ash!]
[Leon: If you went all in, that's 60,000 points. Still not enough to buy a held item, though. Is this the only way to earn points?]
[Diantha: Ugh, there are so many gorgeous clothes here! They're cheap in points, but now I can only look!]
[Cynthia: …My ice cream cone is gone.]
[Steven: At least the rare stones I wanted were unaffordable anyway. Nothing to be sad about.]
The truly expensive items in the Heavenly Exchange were all for Pokémon—
held items, evolution stones, Pokéblocks, Rare Candies.
All insanely overpriced!
But for humans? Much cheaper.
Brock's ingredients, Diantha's clothes, Cynthia's ice cream cone.
As for Steven… Well, what he wanted were fossils. Who else would pay that much?
As the wealthiest heir in Hoenn, he already owned every stone money could buy.
The rest—the ones money couldn't touch—were naturally sky-high in the Exchange.
After the wagers were settled, the giant screen lit up again with new lines of text:
[Victorious Pikachu receives an extra reward from the Heavenly Record!]
[Reward: Pikachu-exclusive item—Light Ball!]
[Light Ball: When held, Pikachu's Attack and Special Attack are both doubled.]
The world: !!!
Holy crap!! Holy crap!! HOLY CRAP!!
Double both offenses?! And a Pikachu-exclusive item at that?!
Before this broadcast, if anyone had claimed Pikachu had such an item,
the world would've scoffed.
"Pikachu's offenses doubled? What good is that? It's just an electric rodent! Double its stats and it's still average at best!"
Even if the item sounded broken, nobody would have cared.
But now—given to Ash's Pikachu? Completely different story!
What level of power had that Pikachu just displayed?
It had one-shot Regice—a feat equal to instantly deleting a Champion-tier Pokémon!
Now slap a Light Ball on it?! This was insane!
Even Zapdos would have to bow its head and say: "Sorry, bro Pikachu!"
Raikou would come running: "Please, Pikachu, spare me!"
…
At the Indigo Plateau, Ash stared at the bold words on the screen, dumbstruck.
When he realized what the Light Ball could do, joy exploded across his face.
"Pikachu's offenses doubled?! No way!!"
"Brock, what's Attack and Special Attack?"
Brock could only sigh. Compared to the Ash in the footage, this Ash still had a lot of growing to do. He didn't even know the basics!
Once Brock explained in detail, Ash was fired up again.
Double offenses meant Iron Tail and Thunderbolt would both get boosted!
That was like strapping wings on a tiger!
"Pikachu! With the Light Ball, our goal is the sea of stars!"
"Pika–Piii!!"
Boy and mouse were both inflated with pride. After all, the vision had shown them defeating Legendaries.
Now, with a ridiculous new item on top of that, Pikachu was ready to blitz Zapdos itself—
and show it who the real God of Thunder was!
Above them, a radiant light flared and streaked down like a falling star.
In an instant, it merged into Pikachu's body.
Pikachu felt its electricity surge explosively.
From now on, it was unbeatable!
…
"The brat's Pikachu got even stronger, meow!"
"Which just makes it more worth capturing!"
"Right! If we present Pikachu to Boss Giovanni, we'll get promoted to Executives—maybe even Division Heads! Just imagine… ahhh, it feels amazing already!"
The Rocket Trio were already lost in their dreams…
…
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