Ash crouched down in front of Arcanine and gently pressed his right hand against its forehead.
"Alright, leave the rest to me."
The gentle Power of Viridian slowly flowed out from his palm, quickly entering Arcanine's body.
Ash didn't rush to restore all the injuries Arcanine had just suffered in the battle in one go, but instead focused his attention first on that abnormal golden power.
While stabilizing Arcanine's extremely exhausted physical condition, he gradually cleared out the abnormal power that didn't belong to it.
The golden light on the surface of Arcanine's body quickly began to change.
Strands of abnormal energy separated from Arcanine's body one after another, and upon touching the Power of Viridian, they rapidly dissipated. The black markings that had been floating between its fur also gradually faded.
A few minutes later, the last remnants of the abnormal golden light finally disappeared completely.
Arcanine's rapid and chaotic breathing slowly calmed down.
Although the injuries from consecutive battles and the huge drain on its Physical Strength had not fully recovered yet, from Ash's Aura Perception, that abnormal power which had been affecting Arcanine's consciousness and body had completely vanished.
Only at this moment could this Governor battle be considered truly over.
"Phew."
Ash withdrew his hand, and a smile once again appeared on his face.
"This time it's really settled."
"Pika pi!"
Pikachu, who had been obediently waiting on the side just now, instantly perked up again. Its two short little hands went to its waist, its face practically spelling out: Hurry up and praise me.
Ash: "…"
So this guy was waiting all this time just for that, huh!
"Alright, alright, today Teacher Dapi is the greatest!"
Ash laughed as he picked Pikachu up and even lightly tossed it upward.
"Pika pika~"
After Pikachu fell back into Ash's arms, it nodded in satisfaction.
Ever since Arcanine truly fell into a berserk state, this battle had basically been fought head-on by Pikachu alone.
Not only had Arcanine inherited the power of the king, its body had also been reinforced by the abnormal golden light, and in the middle of the battle it had even voluntarily leapt into the lava once to recover and further strengthen itself, yet in the end it still failed to truly overturn the huge gap in strength between the two sides.
All that could be said was that once the current Teacher Dapi got serious, the vast majority of kings in the Hisui Region really might not be able to withstand him.
Teacher Dapi—the invincible Hisui edition!
Cynthia also walked over and reached out to pat Pikachu on the head.
"You did very well."
"Pika~"
Pikachu squinted its eyes in comfort, the battle-hungry look it had just shown facing Arcanine vanishing without a trace in an instant.
...
Ginkgo Landing.
The red-golden light that had erupted when Volt Tackle and Flare Blitz collided head-on just now was clearly visible to Irida and Palina even across the wide stretch of sea.
Immediately after, another Golden Thunderbolt flashed from within Firespit Island.
Then, the volcano, which had been producing constant booming noises, gradually quieted down.
Irida stood by the shore for a while. After confirming that there were no more violent battle sounds coming from the direction of Firespit Island, she finally made a decision.
"I'm going over to take a look."
Palina immediately looked up.
"I'm going too!"
"No."
Irida shook her head and looked at the Growlithe that Palina was tending to.
"Ash specifically asked you to bring this child out first because he didn't want to be distracted caring for others in the middle of the battle. We still don't know what the situation is like inside now; all of us going back would be meaningless."
Palina followed her gaze to the Growlithe. The worry on her face still hadn't faded, but she understood that what Irida said was right.
Irida then looked at Iscan.
"Could I trouble you and Basculegion to take me over there, just to the shore of Firespit Island? You can wait there; Espeon and I will go in on our own."
Iscan froze for a moment and glanced at Basculegion, who was still soaking in the shallows resting. His body instinctively tensed a little, but he quickly nodded.
"Alright."
"Baa?"
Basculegion, who had only just started resting not long ago, lifted its head and looked over.
Teacher Dayu was clearly a bit puzzled.
Heading out again already?
There was no helping it. After all, in the entire Cobalt Coastlands, he was currently the most suitable for ferrying people across the sea.
Irida boarded Basculegion with Espeon, and Iscan once again forced himself to sit on it.
Palina stayed behind at Ginkgo Landing to look after the other Growlithe. Even after Basculegion carried the three figures quickly away, her gaze remained fixed in the direction of Firespit Island.
...
Basculegion soon arrived back at Firespit Island.
As Irida had requested, Iscan stayed at the edge of the island to wait, while Irida went with Espeon along the path Palina and the others had taken before, heading straight into the volcano's interior.
Before she even reached the central flat area, she had already noticed numerous traces of the battle on the surrounding rock walls and ground.
When she finally emerged from the tunnel, the first thing Irida saw was Arcanine, who had already returned to its normal appearance.
"Is it over already?"
A familiar female voice came from behind, and Ash and Cynthia turned their heads at the same time.
"Miss Irida?"
Ash was a little surprised.
"How did you make it back so quickly?"
"The Thunder from here was visible from Ginkgo Landing. Later, the noises suddenly stopped, and I still felt uneasy, so I asked Iscan and Basculegion to bring me back to take a look."
As Irida spoke, she had already quickly walked over to Arcanine, who was lying on the ground resting.
Seeing that the layer of abnormal golden light on Arcanine's body had completely disappeared, the worry on her face finally lessened considerably.
"Looks like you've successfully completed the Governor's task."
"Yeah."
Ash nodded.
"That abnormal Golden Power has been completely cleared out, but Arcanine exhausted a lot of strength during the battle and still has quite a few injuries. It'd be best to let him rest properly for now."
Irida immediately knelt down, took some potions from the simple pack she carried with her, and began treating several of the more obvious normal battle wounds on Arcanine's body.
These potions couldn't deal with the abnormal power that caused the king's berserk state, but now that Ash had completed the true Governor's work, using them to help treat external injuries and restore Physical Strength was no problem at all.
After she finished treating a few wounds, Irida finally let out a small sigh of relief and then had the mind to look at Pikachu, who was lying on Ash's shoulder.
"Those bolts of Thunder just now were all Pikachu's doing, weren't they?"
"Pika!"
Pikachu puffed out its chest proudly.
That's right, it was Teacher Dapi himself!
Although Irida had long known that Pikachu was very strong, seeing with her own eyes from such a distance the Thunder that had practically lit up the sky above Firespit Island was an entirely different feeling.
"You and Pikachu must have been traveling together for a long time, right?"
"Of course."
Without even thinking, Ash nodded with a smile and reached out to rub Pikachu's head.
"Pikachu has been my partner ever since I first started traveling and is my Starter Pokemon. We've trained and battled together for a very, very long time to get where we are now."
"Pika pi!"
Pikachu immediately nodded along.
How many battles they had gone through and how many opponents they had faced along the way—even they themselves probably couldn't count anymore.
An expression of realization appeared on Irida's face.
No wonder it was that strong—so it was the Starter partner that had been with Ash from the very beginning…
"By the way, Miss Irida."
The smile on Ash's face gradually faded as he looked again at Arcanine, who was still resting.
"How much do you know about that Golden Thunderbolt that fell from the Space-Time Rift just now?"
Irida's expression also turned serious.
Ash continued, "Arcanine was completely normal before evolving, and there was no berserk state when it accepted the king's power just now."
"But right after it truly became the new king, the Space-Time Rift suddenly appeared in the sky, and that Golden Thunderbolt came crashing down. Arcanine immediately turned into the state we saw earlier."
"So the abnormal Golden Power that was on Kleavor and Lilligant before should also be related to this kind of Thunderbolt, right?"
Irida pondered for a moment, then finally nodded.
"That's right."
"And it's not just Kleavor and Lilligant. According to the information I've received, the Electrode in the Coronet Highlands and the Avalugg in the Alabaster Icelands also experienced similar Golden Thunderbolts before their rampages."
Ash's eyes narrowed slightly.
Electrode and Avalugg?