After finishing the phone call with Professor Oak, Ash and the others booked two rooms at the Pokémon Center. Now that the number of travelers had increased to four, one room was a bit cramped.
Although one room had enough beds, two girls and two boys sharing a room was still somewhat inconvenient. Ash and Misty were in a relationship, so it would have been fine, but Brock and Serena would feel a little awkward. So they could only book two rooms. Misty and Serena in one, and Ash and Brock in the other.
This arrangement still made Ash a little uncomfortable. Since becoming Misty's boyfriend, their most intimate physical relationship had been holding hands. They hadn't taken things any further. If Ash himself knew nothing about it, that would be one thing.
The main issue was that every evening, during the Chat Group where his senior counterparts were exchanging information, the "Harem King" would occasionally pop up and teach him a few things. Under the Harem King's guidance, Ash had grown a lot. But all of it was just theory. Nothing had been tested in practice, not even once.
Setting other things aside, wasn't kissing between lovers a completely reasonable step? Yet so far, he and Misty hadn't done anything like that.
In the eyes of Harem King Ash, this behavior was simply humiliating. Every night when Ash entered the Chat Group to learn about Pokémon, Harem King Ash would be there, egging him on, urging him to take the first step.
In Harem King's words: "If you don't take the initiative, are you going to let the girls take the initiative? The confession happened because of someone else, and now the first kiss needs someone else to start it too? You're a human being!"
In short, Ash had been thoroughly humiliated by Harem King Ash, and he'd taken the words to heart. He was planning on finding a moment when he and Misty were alone together to try to take things a step further. However, the awkward thing was that they simply didn't have a chance for that.
If it were still the original trio of Misty, Brock, and himself, then they could have two separate rooms. Leaving Brock alone in one room would have been fine. But now the group had grown to four, and one of the new additions was a girl.
Of course they couldn't have Serena share with Brock. But opening three rooms just for that would feel forced and awkward.
In short, Ash was feeling quite uncomfortable right now.
After arriving at the Pokémon Center's room, Ash put down his backpack, pushed aside all the chaotic thoughts in his head, and then released Lucario.
"Ash, what are you doing?" Seeing Ash release Lucario, Brock's face showed confusion.
"I want to see the potential of Lucario's other Mega Evolution. The Mega Stone contains a life force not much different from Lucario's, so this other Lucario Mega form definitely exists. But whether it's Gurkinn's Lucario, Korrina's Lucario, or mine, none of us react to this Mega Stone at all. I want to figure out where the problem is." Ash explained.
In fact, he already knew where the problem was, but he wanted to feign ignorance a bit, and besides, he wasn't sure he could actually solve it.
In Champion Ash's case, the Mega Evolution had been unlocked because Darkrai's power had activated Lucario's hidden gene sequence. So Ash either had to use a similar method, finding a Darkrai to allow the Mega Evolution, or he had to rely on the power of his Aura.
His Aura was at god level. In theory, he could do what a Darkrai could do. The latter involved using his own abilities to pull people and Pokémon into a dream world and fulfill their expectations within that dream world, provided that what they wished for actually existed.
For example, if you wanted a flying Groudon, it was obviously impossible, because such a thing didn't exist in the real world. But if you just wanted a Groudon, that could be created for you in a dream, depending on how much power the dream-maker had, and how persistent the dream itself was.
Although it was a bit difficult, it was ultimately possible to create, because the object existed in the real world. If it didn't exist in reality, even Darkrai's power couldn't forcibly create it.
Therefore, Lucario's hidden gene sequence definitely existed. It was just that the method of activating it was still unclear. But as Champion Ash had said, he could use his omnipotent Aura to figure out a way. God-level Aura, even if it couldn't directly stimulate the gene sequence, could certainly explore the reason behind it.
Ash's Aura surged into Lucario's body. The immense Aura probed the hidden things deep within Lucario's genes. Previously, he and Lucario had performed countless Aura fusions together. It could be said that both were incredibly familiar with each other's Aura and bodies, but Ash had never attempted to extend his Aura down to Lucario's genetic material.
This first attempt yielded results. Ash's Aura went deep, and once it did, he realized that Lucario did indeed possess an extra gene sequence hidden within. However, that gene sequence was almost completely obscured by the original one, which meant that this sequence was fundamentally unable to resonate with the other Mega Stone.
Regarding what to do in this situation, Ash wasn't entirely sure. He could choose to use his Aura to suppress the surface gene sequence, allowing the other sequence to emerge, but that was only a possibility. F
urthermore, doing so would prevent Lucario from undergoing his original Mega Evolution. He could still use his Aura to assist in switching between them, but it would still be extremely troublesome.
Therefore, he had to do some research to get some mastery of dual Mega Evolution. That way, he might be able to find a method that would allow Lucario to freely evolve into either Mega form.
Time flew by, and it was already the morning of the second day. Ash and the others arrived at Kurt's mansion early. Kurt revealed a variety of colorful Poké Balls to everyone.
"These Apricorn Balls are all made from the Apricorns you collected."
"They're all well-made, and the quality is pretty good. This is a Moon Ball. Its effect is that the capture rate of Pokémon that evolve using Moon Stones will be much higher. This is a Heavy Ball." Kurt introduced the various uses of the Apricorn Balls to them. These Poké Balls, made from Apricorns, not only looked good, but under special conditions, the capture rate of Pokémon could also be increased. Outside, these Poké Balls were quite valuable.
"Thank you, Mr. Kurt!" Ash held a Fast Ball with obvious delight. He had a good feeling about this yellow Poké Ball, perhaps because of Pikachu.
"Glad you like them. I have some information about the GS Ball, too." Kurt said, taking out the GS Ball, his expression slightly emotional. "This Poké Ball is truly amazing. Inside, there's a lock that's incredibly difficult to unlock. I put in all my effort but couldn't completely decipher it.
I only managed to glean a little information from it. This Poké Ball has a specific capture function for a Time-Space Pokémon. For Pokémon capable of controlling time and space, it possesses an extremely strong binding property. Once trapped inside, there's virtually no possibility of escape. As for its other functions, I haven't been able to figure them out."
One could only say that Kurt truly lived up to his reputation as a Poké Ball expert. Even Professor Oak and Professor Ivy couldn't figure out the reason behind the GS Ball, yet Kurt had managed to decipher some of its mysteries in just one day. Although this wasn't the entirety of the Poké Ball's secrets, being able to research even this much was already quite something.
"It can capture Pokémon with time-space abilities? This Poké Ball is truly miraculous. I don't know who made this Poké Ball, or what their purpose is." Brock stroked his chin, his face showing a mixture of awe and admiration.
When talking about Pokémon that controlled dimensions, the first ones that came to mind were naturally Palkia and Dialga, the two time-space gods. Could the creator of this Poké Ball be targeting those two? If so, this person had quite a lot of ambition.
"You can take these Poké Balls for now. I'll keep the research materials. If there are any new developments later, I'll call Professor Oak directly." Kurt indicated that Ash and the others could take the GS Ball. They wouldn't need it anymore. The research materials would suffice.
Ash, hearing this, put the Poké Balls back into his backpack and also collected the Apricorn Balls. He then said goodbye to Kurt. "We'll take the GS Ball back to Professor Oak. We'll take our leave now, Mr. Kurt."
Kurt stood at the door, watching Ash and his group slowly walk away. The morning sunlight cast long shadows of the four young people. They carried their bags, chatting and laughing as they walked along the small road outside Azalea Town.
Time flew by. Three days passed, and Ash and his companions were far from Azalea Town. During those three days, Ash encountered a timid Cyndaquil who couldn't use fire. With Ash's encouragement and guidance, Cyndaquil successfully overcame his fear.
Despite his shortcomings, Cyndaquil unleashed a flame far exceeding his own level, defeating a wild Onix. Afterward, Ash captured Cyndaquil, bringing his team to two of the three Johto starters, leaving him with only one more to complete the set.
On the fourth day after leaving Azalea Town, Ash and his group arrived at a wilderness forest. The path was difficult, with dense trees and waist-deep weeds that rustled underfoot. Brock held the map at the front, leading the way, while Ash followed behind, using Aura to help determine the direction.
Suddenly, Ash stopped, his expression serious as he looked toward the depths of the forest.
"What's wrong, Ash? Is there something there?" Misty, who had been following Ash, asked curiously when she saw him stop.
"Over there is a huge robot, and two signal signatures are being chased by that robot."
"What? Is it Team Rocket?" Serena was shocked, instinctively thinking of Team Rocket. After all, when it came to robots, the first thing that came to mind was the three members of Team Rocket. Besides them, who else would be using those things now?
"It's not those three Team Rocket members, it's a very unfamiliar signal. And on top of that robot, I sense an evil aura. I'll go check it out first." Ash said, then led Pikachu to leap into the forest, rushing toward the direction indicated by his Aura.
"Wait for us, Ash!" Brock and the others hurriedly followed Ash, but Ash ran too fast, disappearing from their sight in seconds. Fortunately, the path Ash had run through was cleared, acting as a trail marker in this dense forest. Following this sign would lead them to where Ash had gone.
"Something big must have happened to make Ash so anxious!" Misty, holding Togepi, said worriedly as they ran.
"It must be something very urgent, otherwise Ash wouldn't be running so fast. Let's hurry and catch up!" Brock's expression also turned serious, and as he spoke, his running speed increased.
Deep in the forest, a rough voice echoed through the trees.
"Don't struggle anymore! You're just a child, where can you possibly run to with Celebi?"
A gigantic robot stood at the front, and atop its cockpit was a burly, cold-voiced man wearing a mask. In front of them, a young boy of perhaps fifteen years old, clutching a Celebi in his arms, was running at full speed. However, his physical abilities were only at the level of an average teenager. How could he possibly match the speed of the nearly ten-meter-tall robot? For every step the robot took, he needed to run ten or fifteen just to keep pace.
"I will never hand Celebi over to a bad guy like you!"
"Haha. You really don't cry until you see the coffin."
The burly man sneered, suddenly pushing the control lever with his hand. The enormous robot lifted its foot and stomped down. This time, the strike was aimed straight at the teenager. If he were directly trampled by this gigantic thing, even a body made of iron would be flattened.
"Damn it." The young man watched helplessly as the iron foot came crashing down, and could only tightly cover Celebi with his arms, turning his back to the mechanical foot. Even in the face of death, he was still protecting Celebi.
Boom!
A resounding tremor echoed through the forest.
The young man, who had prepared himself for death, found himself unharmed a few seconds later. He slowly opened his eyes and turned around to see a figure in a blue jacket with a red and white cap standing behind him. Ash had punched the robot's foot away.
Ash glared furiously at the stunned young man. "You want to get this Pokémon killed, and yourself too?"
Those familiar with Ash would know from the tone of his words that he was livid.