After Pokémon reach a certain level, their rate of improvement usually plummets.
From that point onward, advancing further requires something beyond hard work, it demands talent.
Without exceptional aptitude, progress slows to a crawl.
If Pokémon could continue growing steadily, making small gains every week and major ones every month, then the world would be overflowing with Champions, and Elites would be as common as Pidgey in a park.
Before the Gym tier, persistence could still compensate for mediocrity; time and effort alone could carry a Trainer forward.But beyond that line… progress depends on comprehension, talent, and the mysterious resonance between Trainer and Pokémon.
Unless a Trainer and Pokémon form an extraordinarily deep bond, one capable of creating miraculous synergy, Pokémon with poor aptitude usually find themselves stuck forever at Gym Level.
Ash's Pikachu, however, was a special case.
His aptitude wasn't bad, but it wasn't divine either, six A-grades in his six stats.
Among Pikachu species, that already made him one in ten thousand.Yet compared to Ash's Charizard and Gardevoir, there was still a clear gap.
So why was Pikachu improving at such an insane rate?
Even Ash didn't know.
When he asked the seniors in the multiverse chat group, they told him Pikachu's growth speed was "normal."
Normal?!
It was then Ash realized there might be some hidden truth about Pikachu that even he wasn't aware of.
But no matter how he pressed, the group's veterans only chuckled and said,
"It's not time yet. You'll understand soon enough."
Besides Pikachu's meteoric rise, his other partners were also progressing steadily:
His Wartortle, originally at Advance Peak, had evolved into Blastoise during a skirmish with Team Rocket and several daily battles.
After evolving, Blastoise's level jumped to Superior Intermediate.
Pidgeot, on the other hand, had reached Superior Peak.Although Ash seldom used him in Gym matches, Pidgeot appeared frequently in wild battles and trained tirelessly, remaining one of Ash's strongest team members.
Finally, there was Riolu, the youngest yet fastest-growing member.He had reached Intermediate Advanced, crossing an entire major stage in under a month!
Part of that was due to his natural talent, but the rest came from his Aura compatibility with Ash.
Every day, the two meditated together, synchronizing their energy and deepening their resonance.
No other Pokémon could train this way; only Riolu could harmonize with Ash's Aura.
If the others could meditate like him, their growth would have skyrocketed too.
During these twenty days, Ash also rotated Pokémon through Professor Oak's Laboratory.
He visited old friends he hadn't seen in a while, Primeape, Butterfree, Tauros, and even the Gengar.
They were all living comfortably under Oak's care, and thanks to Gengar's guidance, their progress was far from slow.
Gengar had taken on the role of an informal Trainer in the lab's backyard, running drills and sparring sessions for the others.
Ash even had Erika send bottles of her custom perfumes and tonics to the lab, ensuring that his Pokémon there also had access to auxiliary training aids.
They lacked the healing boosts of Ash's Tokiwa Power, his massages, and his nutritional meals, but they had Gengar.And Gengar's experience was priceless.
He was, after all, a millennium-old monster who had seen everything there was to see.
Under his tutelage:
Butterfree had reached Superior, a remarkable feat for a Bug-type.
Primeape had advanced to Superior Intermediate and even begun mastering Ghost-type energy, integrating it with his Focus Punch technique.
According to Primeape, each time he used Focus Punch, the Ghost energy inside him grew restless, spreading through his body like a living force.
He could sense that if he ever allowed it to completely engulf him, he would lose his chance to evolve forever.
Ash had consulted the seniors in the chat group about this, and their verdict was unanimous: Primeape's intuition was correct.
"He must control the Ghost energy, not be controlled by it. If it overtakes his body, he'll stagnate forever, even if he becomes powerful."
Interestingly, the veterans also revealed that in their worlds, Primeape's evolution didn't have this problem.
The difference, they said, was that Ash's Primeape might be the first of his species in his world to ever evolve.
And when that happened, it would be a once-in-a-world phenomenon, one that might even draw the blessing of the world itself.
So while evolution was difficult, those who endured would be richly rewarded.
As for Gengar himself, his level hadn't budged.
But recently felt his bottleneck loosening ever so slightly. Maybe, in another ten days or half a month, he would finally touch Peak.
These were the results of twenty days of continuous training, the fruits of Ash and his companions' efforts.
When Ash last contacted Professor Oak to exchange Pokémon, the Professor had given him one more reminder before hanging up:
"Ash, if you plan to challenge the Viridian Gym, remember to bring me along."
Ash blinked, puzzled.
Professor Oak's explanation for wanting to accompany Ash to Viridian Gym was simple:
"The Gym Leader there is an old friend of mine," he said with a warm smile. "If you're going to challenge him, I'll come along and catch up while I'm at it."
Ash didn't think much of it.
Having the Professor come along to watch a match wouldn't affect anything, after all.
After nearly twenty days of travel, Ash and his friends finally arrived at a place that had recently become the talk of the region, the Grand Canyon.
Rumor had it that Fossil Pokémon remains had begun appearing there.
With the current advancements in Pokémon research, the world had already developed technology capable of reviving life forms that were nearly extinct, Pokémon preserved in fossils or amber, their bodies long dormant but not completely lifeless.
So, finding a fossil wasn't just a matter of archaeology.
It was a chance to own an extinct Pokémon.
Whether it was for wealth, fame, or personal pride, countless people had flocked to the Grand Canyon.
Everyone dreamed of unearthing a Fossil Pokémon of their own.
Ash's group came for two reasons.
The first was simple curiosity, and the faint hope of finding a rare fossil.
The second was far more important:
Ash's one-time ability, the "MEGA's Guidance," had finally begun to react.
The ability promised to lead him to at least one Mega Stone and one Key Stone.
Which Pokémon's Mega Stone it would be, no one knew.
But having even a single lead was already invaluable, because this world had never seen anything like Mega Evolution before.
How powerful would it be if a Pokémon could evolve again after its final form?
Normally, every evolution brought a massive leap in strength, a full-scale qualitative transformation.
The later the evolution, the greater the jump.
The difference between a first-stage and second-stage evolution was already vast; a third-stage evolution like Mega Evolution would be on an entirely new level.
That was why the system fascinated Ash so much.
According to the veterans in the multiverse chat group, Mega Evolution wasn't just another gimmick. It was the only evolution system that could rival the outrageous Gigantamax phenomenon.
The Gigantamax system could double a Pokémon's HP and massively enhance its moves, every attack becoming a devastating STAB move with unique secondary effects.
For instance:
Max Airstream boosted Speed,
Max Quake raised Special Defense,
and every Max Move reshaped the battlefield.
It sounded broken, but Gigantamax had severe limits, energy constraints, three-turn durations, and the inability to recall the Pokémon mid-battle.
Under those restrictions, it was powerful but not invincible.
Mega Evolution, on the other hand, had no such limitations.
No time limit, no field constraints, just pure, sustained power until the battle ended.
That was what made it so terrifying.
All this information came from the chat group's seniors.
Ash himself had never seen any of the four major systems with his own eyes.
To him, they were little more than stories, legends from parallel worlds.
But if he could truly find a Mega Stone and Key Stone in the Grand Canyon…then Mega Evolution would become his first system.
His heart burned with excitement.
Upon arriving, Ash was stunned by the scene before him.
The entire Grand Canyon was crawling with people, miners, Trainers, merchants, adventurers.
Everywhere he looked, someone was swinging a pickaxe, shoveling dirt, or inspecting stones.
From cliffsides to riverbeds, hundreds of dig sites littered the landscape, each man hoping to strike gold, or in this case, fossilized life.
Here, ambition filled the air thicker than dust.
For many, the fossils weren't for battle, they were for profit.A single intact fossil could be sold for millions, sometimes tens of millions, depending on the species.
And because a fossil wasn't considered a living Pokémon until revived, there were no League trade restrictions.
If you could dig one up, you could sell it openly.
For some, this was the perfect get-rich-quick dream.
Ash, however, didn't need to chase money.
These days, his daily income already reached into the millions, and unless he decided to purchase something absurdly rare, it was more than enough to sustain his Pokémon's training indefinitely.
So if someone happened to dig up a fossil and wanted to sell it, Ash wouldn't hesitate to buy it, not for profit, but for curiosity.
Still, when it came to efficiency, the miners around him couldn't hold a candle to him.
Fossil Pokémon can be revived by machines because they didn't completely die when they entered their fossil state; their bodies still retained vitality, but they turned into fossils for self-protection.
In the fossilized state, Fossil Pokémon still clung to a fragile spark of life, but without outside help, they could never break free from the stone prisons that preserved them.
Turning into a fossil, in truth, was a last resort for survival.
And that made Ash's advantage extraordinary.
Because Ash possessed Aura Power.
Everything in the world carried Aura.
As long as even a flicker of life remained, Aura left traces, faint, rhythmic waves pulsing through existence.
Though Fossil Pokémon were locked in their petrified shells, they were not dead.
Their life-force was simply dormant, flickering weakly in the dark depths of stone.
And through Aura, Ash could feel them.
At the moment, Ash and his friends were all wearing masks, and Ash had even tucked away his trademark hat.
Unless someone knew him intimately, it was almost impossible to recognize that the Champion-slayer from Fuchsia Gym was quietly wandering among them.
And with the Grand Canyon bustling with thousands of fortune seekers, no one paid him the slightest attention.
"There are too many people here," Ash muttered, scanning the sea of miners.
"The Aura from so many humans will make it hard to detect anything faint. Let's find somewhere emptier."
Misty and Brock exchanged a nod.
Ash released Gardevoir, who immediately understood.
With a shimmer of psychic light, the trio vanished from the crowded dig site and reappeared at the canyon's outer rim, a quiet, barren stretch of cliff and stone that few would bother to visit.
The chance of finding fossils here was supposed to be nearly zero.
But for Ash, every place looked the same once Aura detection came into play.
"Alright," Ash said, closing his eyes. "Let's see what's sleeping down there."
He steadied his breath, letting his Aura extend outward, then downward, seeping through layers of rock and soil.
Seconds ticked by. His expression shifted slightly. Then his eyes opened, glowing faintly blue before dimming again as he pulled the power back.
"How is it, Ash?" Brock asked, leaning forward eagerly.
Ash's lips curved. "They're here. And not just one or two—there are many."
"MANY?!"
Both Misty and Brock yelped in unison.
Fossil Pokémon were supposed to be extinct.
Only in recent years had the League developed revival technology capable of awakening a fossil's lingering vitality.
Even so, fossils remained exceedingly rare, and expensive.
Just one revivable fossil could fetch a fortune on the open market, and there were only a handful of recorded finds every year.
For a Trainer, even owning a single fossil Pokémon was considered a once-in-a-lifetime privilege.
And now Ash was saying there were many of them below?
That kind of discovery could make them rich for several lifetimes!
Misty's eyes sparkled. "Ash, if we find this many fossils, we could each take one and sell the rest! We could fund training for years!"
Brock grinned. "Or decades! Fossils are rarer than evolution stones, this could be the find of the century!"
But Ash only shook his head slowly.
"When I said there were many," he said quietly, "I didn't mean fossils."
He turned toward the ground beneath their feet, his Aura still pulsing faintly.
"I meant… there are many Fossil Pokémon."
Misty blinked. "Wait, what's the difference? Aren't fossils of Fossil Pokémon?"
Ash's gaze hardened. "The ones down there… are alive."
Both Misty and Brock froze.
"Alive?!"