Seeing the eager look on Bulbasaur's face as it watched him assign training tasks to the other Pokémon, Ash couldn't help but smile. He then proceeded to arrange a training plan specifically for Bulbasaur as well.
Ring—!
By the time Ash and his Pokémon finished their jog and arrived outside Pallet Town, another familiar figure came cycling over.
It was Gary.
And sitting on the back seat of his bicycle was Green.
Gary currently had four Pokémon under his command: Wartortle, Umbreon, Magikarp, and Fletchling.
Different Trainers had different standards when it came to raising their Pokémon.
In Gary's eyes, Wartortle and Umbreon had already reached the stage of being fully battle-ready.
However, Magikarp and Fletchling still required enormous amounts of time and effort.
The former needed to evolve into Gyarados before it could truly fight.
The latter had only recently been caught and was still in its first evolutionary stage, making intensive training essential.
Compared to Ash, however, Gary's training process was far more difficult and considerably less efficient.
Of course, Ash wasn't going to overinflate his own talents.
Gary was Professor Oak's grandson and undoubtedly a gifted Trainer in his own right.
But Ash possessed something Gary didn't.
The Ascension Trainer System.
Even though the system had been severely damaged when he first crossed into this world after being attacked by the world's will, the remaining core functions still provided tremendous support in raising Pokémon.
The Level Advancement Module allowed Pokémon to gain more experience and level up more efficiently after battles.
The speed of growth was often three or four times faster than that of ordinary Pokémon.
The Skill Copy Module enabled Ash to copy moves from other Pokémon and teach them to his own Pokémon, making the construction of move frameworks vastly easier.
Although he occasionally shared some of this benefit with friends like Gary, Ash still held back certain details because the system itself was a secret.
The Proficiency Module guaranteed proficiency gains whenever a Pokémon trained a move.
As a result, improving move mastery became dramatically easier.
Among Gary's Pokémon, only a handful of moves had reached the Proficient level.
By contrast, aside from the newly captured Bulbasaur, nearly every core move possessed by Ash's Pokémon had already reached the Mastered level.
The Ascension Trainer System might be severely damaged.
It had no system shop.
No lucky draw wheel.
No sign-in rewards.
No inventory expansion cards.
None of those flashy features existed anymore.
But the ability to level Pokémon faster, teach moves more easily, and improve move mastery more efficiently was already an advantage beyond the reach of most Trainers.
Combined with the exceptional talent possessed by his Pokémon, Ash's healing abilities, his capacity for direct communication through Aura, the benefits of Natural Affinity during captures, and the ability of Viridian Power to enhance Pokémon potential...
Ash simply possessed advantages that ordinary Trainers could never replicate.
And because he fully utilized those advantages, he continued to improve.
The more he improved, the more resources he obtained.
The more resources he obtained, the larger his advantages became.
It was a positive cycle.
A virtuous loop.
One that continuously accelerated his growth.
And as that growth accelerated, he left his peers further and further behind.
Even his closest friends could only watch his back as he advanced.
But that was simply the privilege of being the protagonist.
...
...
Green had also come along with Gary.
Originally, she had trained alongside Ash and Gary because she had enrolled in a Pokémon Breeder study program.
The program required participants' Pokémon to meet certain strength requirements.
That was why she had joined their training sessions and asked them to help level up her Pokémon.
Now, her Dedenne had already met the qualifications.
Even so, after spending so much time training with the two boys, she had grown accustomed to the routine.
Furthermore, not long ago she had used Ash's Remote Capture method to catch ten Flabébé in the Kalos region.
"Ash, where did this Bulbasaur come from?"
"When did you catch another Pokémon?"
Gary and Green both stared at Bulbasaur in surprise.
After all, starter Pokémon were incredibly rare.
"Hehe~"
Ash scratched his cheek with a grin.
"Yesterday I took Clarissa into Viridian Forest to help her catch an Oddish."
"We ran into Bulbasaur by accident."
"And then I just happened to catch it."
He summarized the story briefly.
"Seriously..."
Gary clicked his tongue.
"I'm so jealous."
"You stroll into Viridian Forest for one afternoon and somehow run into a wild Bulbasaur."
"I admit it."
"I'm jealous."
Looking at Bulbasaur beside Ash, Gary's face was filled with envy.
The expression practically screamed:
Why do these kinds of lucky encounters never happen to me?
Ash laughed.
"Come on, what's there to be jealous about?"
"If you really want one, just ask your grandpa."
"Whether it's the Kanto starters or the starters from other regions, he could probably get you one immediately."
Gary rolled his eyes.
"My grandpa is strict with me. He'd never do that."
"My dad, on the other hand? Yeah, probably."
Ash immediately laughed.
"Uncle is seriously the ultimate son-spoiling father."
"Now I'm the jealous one."
...
...
After joking around for a bit, the three finally reached the riverside outside town.
Each of them picked a suitable area and began supervising their Pokémon's training.
[Ding! Move "Scary Face" trained once. Proficiency +1.]
[Ding! Move "Feather Dance" trained once. Proficiency +1.]
...
...
Just as Ash was about to begin directing his own Pokémon, a string of system notifications suddenly sounded in his ears.
"Hm?"
Ash paused.
Then realization dawned.
"Fearow?"
The notifications were clearly coming from Fearow.
The Fearow he had temporarily left behind in Pokémon Sanctuary to act as Melanie's bodyguard.
"That guy is pretty diligent."
A smile appeared on Ash's face.
"Even without me supervising him, he's still training on his own."
"Is he secretly trying to get stronger and surprise everyone later?"
Ash couldn't help laughing inwardly.
But then he glanced at the Pokémon standing neatly before him.
Pikachu.
Greninja.
Pidgeot.
Gyarados.
Milotic.
Bulbasaur.
Every single one of them worked incredibly hard.
"Looks like everyone's putting in the effort."
Ash blinked before grinning mischievously.
"Everyone."
"Fearow has already started training."
"You'd better get moving too."
"Don't let Fearow overtake you."
"Pika?!" (What?!)
Pikachu's eyes widened instantly.
"Fearow's already training?!"
"Then what are we waiting for?!"
"Everybody, hurry up and get to work!"
The entire training ground instantly exploded with motivation. Everyone suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of urgency, as if an invisible rival had just begun sprinting ahead.
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