Pokémon: Simultaneous time travel, this Ash is too versatile!

Chapter 154: Togepi hatches, encounters with Gary on a cruise ship, and Gary's warning.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Ash saw that Professor Oak was extremely anxious, so he simply placed Venusaur on the teleportation device and teleported it back.

After all, Professor Oak was not only waiting for Venusaur to renovate the backyard, but also wanted to find out exactly what the Life Branch Venusaur had obtained was.

On the surface, this is what Professor Oak guided Ash to find in the Mystery Garden, so how could he not know what it is? But in reality, it is a message left behind by Ash, the champion of the group.

Therefore, Professor Oak was extremely curious about the Life Branch. Even though it had been integrated into Venusaur's body, the professional instruments in the research institute could still detect some of its properties.

Fortunately, Professor Oak didn't know that Charizard had the Rainbow Feather fused to its body, otherwise he probably would have been even more frantic and made Ash send Charizard back.

Compared to a life branch of unknown origin, the iridescent feather inside the Charizard's body is clearly more worthy of study.

But Professor Oak doesn't know about this yet...

After teleporting back to his Pokémon and hanging up the phone, Ash stretched and then called to Misty and the others to prepare to continue their journey to Cinnabar Island.

But suddenly, he felt something was amiss with his backpack, so he quickly opened it and took something out.

Togepi's Pokémon Egg!
After obtaining Togepi's Pokémon egg in Big Fool Valley, Ash immediately went to the Pokémon Center in the next city and asked Nurse Joy for a Pokémon egg incubator.

The incubator ensures the health of the sprites hatched from the eggs and also provides them with regular nutrition, allowing them to hatch earlier.

When the Pokémon egg is about to hatch, the incubator will give a notification and wake the trainer up so that the trainer can know immediately.

Furthermore, placing a Pokémon egg in your backpack without an incubator is extremely dangerous; the egg could easily suffocate.

Aside from initially using his spatial backpack to store the Pokémon egg, Ash kept it outside until they reached the first Pokémon Center, where he finally placed the egg in the incubator and put it back into his Pokémon backpack.

The incubator issued a notification, which Ash sensed immediately. He then took the Togepi egg out of his backpack.

"What's wrong, Ash? Is the Pokémon egg about to hatch?" Misty came up to Ash and blinked her big eyes at the Pokémon egg in his hand.

"Hmm, the incubator is responding, it should be hatching soon. I'll take it out first." Ash said, taking the Pokémon egg out of the incubation tank and placing it in his palm.

Pikachu curiously climbed onto Ash's shoulder, its bright eyes fixed on the Pokémon egg.

"Crack crack crack!!" Just as everyone's eyes were focused on the Pokémon egg, it cracked open inch by inch right in front of everyone.

Xiao Gang patted Xiao Xia on the shoulder, then gestured behind him. After a moment of surprise, Xiao Xia instantly understood what Xiao Gang meant and silently took two steps back.

The sprites that hatch from the sprite egg will have a great affinity for the first person they see.

This is one of the advantages of raising Pokémon from hatching eggs. It saves trainers a lot of time that would otherwise be spent getting to know and bond with their Pokémon, and it also virtually eliminates the chance of Pokémon disobeying commands.

However, if someone else is nearby when the Pokémon egg is hatching, and that person is the first thing the Pokémon sees, then there will be big trouble.

If the Pokémon develops feelings for that person, it will be a huge blow to the trainer.

Not only do you need to rebuild your relationship with the elf, but you also need to prevent the elf from seeing that person again so that the elf can slowly return to being its own elf.

That's why Xiaogang reminded Xiaoxia to step back a bit. Even if she was curious about the Pokémon inside the egg, she shouldn't get too close.

If the Pokémon that hatches from the egg accidentally sees this, it will be a huge problem.

A few seconds after Misty stepped back, the top of the Pokémon egg in Ash's hand was covered with cracks, and then it suddenly cracked open!

A creamy white face appeared above the elf egg, and short limbs extended from the eggshell. Instead of completely shattering, the eggshell became like a garment, covering the elf's body.

"What kind of Pokémon is this? It's quite cute!" Xiaoxia instantly fell in love with Togepi after seeing its appearance. After all, girls have little resistance to cute things.

Xiao Gang rubbed his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. After a moment, he snapped his fingers and said with a look of sudden realization, "I remember now, this is Togepi, the legendary Pokémon that brings good luck."

"Pokeby?"

"Yes, this is a Pokémon discovered in the Johto region. However, it is very rare even in Johto. In terms of rarity, it should be no less than pseudo-legendary Pokémon, and it could even be said to be rarer."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoxia looked at Togepi with surprise. Was this cute little guy really that rare?

Ash found such a rare Pokémon in an underground cave? What incredible luck!

"I wonder how many years this Pokémon egg had been in that cave. Ash got it and it hatched not long after, just like Riolu, as if it had been waiting for Ash to come," Brock said with a sigh.

This can't be described as just good luck; it's almost as if it was destined for Ash.

"That's great, Togepi! From now on, I'll be your trainer!" Ash said, lifting Togepi up with a big smile.

He was the first to know what kind of Pokémon was inside the egg, and even so, he was overjoyed when he saw Togepi hatch and grew to love Togepi terribly.

Perhaps this is the attraction between lucky people. Legend has it that Togepi is an extremely lucky creature, and it will bring good luck to trainers who are good to them. In addition, Ash's Togepi has the hidden ability Super Luck, so the lucky buff is fully stacked.

"Jioji Dui?" Togepi looked at Ash, tilted its head to the left, and then laughed happily.

She was like a newborn child when she first hatched, with a mind even more innocent and simple than Ralts was back then.

The reason she was laughing was simply because the trainer she saw for the first time was smiling, so she laughed too.

As for what Ash meant by "trainer," she didn't really understand, but she knew that this human she saw for the first time was the person closest to her.

The hatching of Togepi was a minor incident; after tidying up, the group continued on their way to their next destination. Since Ash had teleported Venusaur back, one of his Pokémon slots was now empty, perfect for placing Togepi's Poké Ball.

Previously, Ash had reserved one of his seven Pokémon holding slots for Riolu, who was unable to train.

Now Riolu has not only returned to normal, but is also improving rapidly. Ash originally wanted to reduce the number of Pokémon holding slots to six, since it's not good to keep making special ones all the time.

There was a reason for it before, but Riolu has already recovered, so what's the big deal about having seven carry slots?

Now it's all good, we don't need to reduce it anymore, the seventh position is now reserved for Togepi.

After all, Togepi doesn't look like someone who can train and fight at all. It's similar to Ralts back then, or even a bit more delicate.

Ralts is small, just born, but her intelligence and comprehension are outstanding. After evolving into Kirlia, she is almost unmatched among her peers. Even if there is a difference of one or two levels, she can still fight. She can be called a Valkyrie!

As for Togepi... besides being small, she also has a dull way of thinking. Apart from being cute, she has almost no other use, and training is out of the question.

So let's use this extra Pokémon slot for Togepi to be cute and act as a mascot.

……

Seven days later, under the bright sunshine, on a luxury cruise ship, Xiao Zhi stood on the deck, leaning against the railing, comfortably enjoying the sea breeze.

Pikachu stood steadily on Ash's shoulder, gazing at the boundless ocean.

"Ash, that should be Cinnabar Island, right?"

Misty, who was next to Ash, was holding Togepi in one arm and pointing to a small island in the distance that looked like a tiny black dot.

"Probably, where else could this ship go besides Cinnabar Island?" Ash shrugged.

However, his movement almost caused Pikachu to fall off his shoulder. It was standing perfectly fine, but then the 'ground' moved, so how could it not almost fall over?

"It really took a long time to get to Crimson Lotus Island. We only traveled for a little over three months in total, but it took a whole month just to get there," Xiao Gang said, leaning against the railing with a sigh.

Their trip lasted a little over three months, but it took them a full month to get to Cinnabar Island. This means that the first six gyms took only two months, while the seventh gym took a full month!

Moreover, you might not even be able to successfully challenge this gym, not because the Crimson Gym is particularly difficult, but because the Crimson Gym Leader might not be on Crimson Island.

"I wonder if Blaine, the Gym Leader of Crimson Lotus Gym, is still on the island," Ash murmured, clearly worried about whether Blaine was still at the Gym.

Although he had already anticipated the possibility of failing when challenging the Crimson Lotus Gym, that's just how people are; even if they've expected to fail, they still feel a little disappointed when they actually do.

"So what if he's not here? Cinnabar Island is a very popular tourist destination now. If Blaine isn't here, we can go to Cinnabar Island and relax for a day or two. Then we can go to other cities to get another gym badge, and finally go to the Viridian Gym," Misty said, trying to comfort Ash.

If they treat this trip as a vacation, then even if they don't meet Xia Bo, the difference won't be so great.

"Hey, isn't this Ash?" A rather arrogant voice came from behind Ash. Ash turned around and saw a boy with spiky hair standing on the deck, wearing a beach outfit and sunglasses, looking dashing.

"Xiao Mao? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, that's a really insightful question. Besides Crimson Lotus Island, can this ship go anywhere else?" Xiao Mao rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses and said irritably.

"Are you going to challenge the Crimson City Gym too?" Ash asked directly, ignoring Gary's sarcastic tone.

"Crimson Lotus Gym? Isn't that closed? I was planning to go there, but after I heard it was closed, I went to collect badges elsewhere. Now I've collected all eight badges!" Gary said, his face full of pride.

Collecting all the badges in just three months is an absolutely unparalleled achievement among rookie trainers!

In the history of Kanto, there are definitely only a handful of trainers who have been able to do this!
"Heh, are you proud of driving your beat-up car all the way to different cities? If I were in a car, I would have collected eight badges by now." Ash chuckled, mocking him without any politeness.

Although he only collected six badges, he did not think he had lost to Shigeru. On the one hand, Shigeru drove while he walked, and the time spent on the journey was not proportional.

On the other hand, the value of his six badges is absolutely unprecedented. Putting aside the two normal badges, the Vermilion City Gym badge was obtained by defeating a professional-level opponent one-on-one.

The Goldenrod Gym Badge is obtained by defeating an Elite Four member, the Rainbow Gym Badge is obtained by defeating two Elite Pokémon and one Class Pokémon, and finally the Crimson Gym Badge is obtained by defeating three Elite Four members!
This is a feat that no rookie trainer could possibly achieve!
Gary knew this, so he didn't criticize Ash based on the number of badges. He just showed off that he had eight badges, but Ash immediately brought up his sports car.

Xiao Mao's face darkened. He really wanted to say—is walking such a big deal?!
But he didn't say it in the end, because walking is truly an amazing thing.

To walk for three whole months—that kind of willpower is something he can't do right now. He walks occasionally at most, but most of the time he's driving. Making a rich young master travel on foot? What a joke!

"Don't worry about how I collected eight badges. You should think about how you collected eight badges in the first place! Did you go to Cinnabar Island to see Blaine from the Cinnabar Gym?" Gary took a deep breath and retorted coldly.

“That’s right, we’re going to find Uncle Xia.”

"Didn't you know the Crimson Lotus Gym is closed? How many badges do you have now?"

"I know, we're just going to try our luck. Even if Blaine isn't here, we can treat it as a trip to Crimson Island. We only have six badges for now."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. There are only two months left until the Indigo League. If you don't collect eight badges to participate in the competition, I'll be very disappointed," Gary subtly hinted to Ash.

With only two months left until the Indigo League, Ash hasn't collected all his badges yet. Although anyone who registers a week before the league starts can participate, if Ash stubbornly goes to challenge the Viridian Gym at the next gym and fails, he might really miss the deadline.

If that were to happen, it would be a huge blunder.

"Don't worry, I will definitely collect all eight badges. After all, I still want to defeat you at the Indigo League and win the championship." Ash clenched his fist and looked at Gary with high spirits.

(End of this chapter)