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

Chapter 248: Hiro, one of the top 32 opponents, unexpectedly encounters the Sinnoh champion.

Xiao Zhi didn't suddenly express his feelings here for no reason; he genuinely felt compelled to do so.

His fate was quietly changed on the very first day he set off.

If he hadn't encountered the chat group and met his parallel universe self on the first day, could he have achieved what he has today in just six months? The answer is definitely no.

Without the help of the chat group, he didn't know if he could have overcome the many life-or-death crises he encountered on his journey, such as the Millennium Gastly, Sabrina, Mewtwo, and the ancient Pokémon...

All of these crises were ultimately resolved thanks to the Aura Power granted to him by the powerful Aura Power expert in the chat group. The Aura Power within him can be considered the most powerful gift the chat group gave him.

All the power he drew upon afterward was completely insignificant compared to the effect of the waveguide power, at least for the time being.

Those S-class abilities offer more of the future, while the power of waveguides offers him the present.

The help the chat group has given him, whether in terms of knowledge or skills, both now and in the future, is immense. Without the chat group, he would definitely not be who he is today.

Let alone making it to the top 32 of the Indigo League in six months, whether he can even make it to the Indigo League in six months is another matter entirely...

"Are you a seventy or eighty-year-old man? What are you lamenting about here? You should use that time to sleep more and train your Pokémon. You're not the world's best trainer right now."

After saying that, Mewtwo vanished from its spot and returned to its Poké Ball.

She was a little embarrassed by Xiaozhi's straightforward words, because she was one of the "us" in Xiaozhi's group.

"Is Mewtwo... shy?"

"Pikachu~" Pikachu nodded firmly.

"You're the one who's shy! What do I have to be shy about!" Mewtwo's slightly embarrassed and angry voice rang in Ash's mind, making Ash even more convinced that Mewtwo was shy.

"Hey, it's been so long, and you're still so dishonest, don't you think, Pikachu?" Ash shrugged and asked Pikachu with a hint of helplessness.

Pikachu nodded affirmatively as before.

Ash soon realized that Pikachu's nodding wasn't just a simple nod, but rather that it was starting to doze off.

It was already past 1 a.m., which was a real challenge for Pikachu, who always had a regular sleep schedule.

Ash gently picked up Pikachu and whispered, "Let's go home."

……

The main competition is in seven days, which gives the contestants their last chance to prepare. Once the main competition begins, there will be no time to rest.

The round of 32 will take two more days to finish, allowing the earlier contestants to rest. However, starting from the round of 16, the battles will be completed within a single day!
Then it went on to the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.

So these seven days are the final rest, preparation, and investigation time for the contestants.

If you want to learn about your opponent or make a final upgrade to your Pokémon, this is your last chance.

Ash continued to improve slowly and in his own way. The day after the celebration party, Hanako and Professor Oak had already gone back. Hanako still had to take care of the flowers and plants at home. Even with Mr. Mime's help, she couldn't put all the work on Mr. Mime's shoulders.

As for Professor Oak, needless to say, Ash's entire Pokémon collection is at the Pokémon Center. He's currently having the villagers of Pallet Town look after them for the time being, but all they can do is trade Pokémon or feed them.

It's impossible to do more; it's beyond our capabilities.

Therefore, neither of them can stay away from home for long, and they will naturally return to Pallet Town if there is nothing else to do.

On the third day, Ash's rival appeared. It was a trainer named Hiro. Ash even met Hiro, and Hiro gave him a very familiar feeling, as if he were looking in a mirror.

Ash also looked up Hiro's information. He is a very rare trainer who uses Pikachu just like Hiro.

When Pikachu was first defeated, the Kanto League did indeed experience a surge in the popularity of catching and using Pikachu. However, after that period of popularity, the number of people using Pikachu decreased, and it eventually returned to its previous state.

Because Pikachu, apart from Ash's, is ultimately not considered a top-tier Pokémon. Not all Pikachu are Ash's Pikachu, and not everyone is Ash.

Therefore, it is highly unlikely that one would encounter Pikachu at a competition like the Indigo League. Ash did not expect to meet a Pikachu user other than himself, and that person was surprisingly similar to him in temperament.

In addition to Pikachu, Ahong also has Butterfree, Charizard, and Finch... His Pokémon are almost identical to Ash's, making him a carbon copy of Ash.

When the two first met, Ash wasn't very familiar with Hiro, but Hiro knew Ash very well because he was Ash's biggest fan!
As a fellow Pikachu trainer, no one knows better than him how difficult it is to train Pikachu. His main Pikachu is also the kind with frizzy hair.

Trainers who can use Pikachu as their main trainer are all extraordinary, Ash is one such example, and so is Hiro.

Ah Hong has been traveling for almost a year and a half now, and his Pikachu has already reached the intermediate professional level, a level that surpasses almost 90% of the Pikachu in the world!

Pikachu that reaches the professional level but doesn't evolve are extremely rare, practically nonexistent.

Ash encountered many Pikachu in the wild, and also met some trainers using Pikachu in wild battles, but their Pikachu were basically not above the Elite level, and even Advanced level Pikachu were rare in the wild.

However, Hiro's Pikachu had already reached the professional level, which was the first professional-level Pikachu that Ash had encountered besides him.

This demonstrates both Ahong's exceptional Pikachu aptitude and his own qualities as a trainer.

But for Ahong, Ash is even more legendary. He spent a year and a half training Pikachu to intermediate professional level, but Ash was able to make Pikachu compete with Elite Four level Pokémon in just a few months.

That's right, it was the battle against Ajuga three months ago. No matter what methods Pikachu used back then, Pikachu was on par with the Elite Four level back then. Now, three months later, it's unimaginable how much Ash's Pikachu has grown.

The two Pikachu trainers felt an immediate connection upon their first meeting. Trainers who use Pikachu as their main unit are rare, and Ash felt an instant connection with someone who could train Pikachu to a professional level. Unfortunately, their first meeting wasn't as friends, but as enemies.

Four days later, they will face off at the Indigo Arena. It will be their first meeting, and both sides will be very fond of each other. However, they will have to decide the winner in the competition a few days later. The loser will end their journey in this Indigo League.

It has to be said that this is a very cruel thing.

……

On the fourth day, Ash was training his Pokémon at an outdoor training ground in Indigo Plateau. The training here was just ordinary skill and physical training. If he wanted to do actual battle training, Ash would naturally find a more secluded place.

After all, the trainers they'll encounter in the upcoming battles are no pushovers, especially that guy named Koppin. He already has gym-level strength, and if he manages to gather any more information, things will get really messy.

So, Ash only does basic training outside; more advanced training is done in private.

"Great, Pikachu, let's use Thunderbolt again."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded vigorously, but just as he was about to use Thunderbolt again, he suddenly froze.

"What's wrong, Pikachu? Is something wrong?" Ash asked, puzzled, when he saw Pikachu suddenly stop.

"Pikachu~" Pikachu pointed behind Ash, and at that moment, a cacophony of noise rose from all around.

Ash looked behind him in the direction Pikachu was pointing, and there stood a beautiful woman behind him.

The woman was wearing a blue casual sleeveless top and light-colored jeans that accentuated her long legs.

A pair of bare, lotus-shaped arms reflected a clean, jade-like light under the illumination. Long, golden hair cascaded down, almost reaching her waist. Her smooth, beautiful face had a pair of bright, watery eyes. One eye was partially obscured by her golden hair, while the other eye was exposed, its golden gleam sparkling with interest.

"You are... Sinnoh Champion Cynthia?" Ash asked the woman uncertainly. He had seen Cynthia on TV many times, including during the Indigo League preliminaries when he saw her in the special audience seats.

But this was the first time they had met so closely, and it was also the first time he had seen Cynthia in casual clothes.

"Hehe, nice to meet you, Ash. I've been admiring you for a long time." Cynthia walked up to Ash with a smile and stopped when she was less than half a meter away.

After getting closer, Xiao Zhi realized that the other person was almost as tall as him. He was fifteen and a half years old and already 1.75 meters tall. Although he could still grow a little taller, he would never exceed 1.8 meters.

However, Cynthia's height was almost the same as his when she was wearing high heels, which is considered 'giant' among women.

A few seconds later, Ash realized what Cynthia had said and scratched his head a little embarrassedly, saying, "What do you mean by 'longing for you'? I'm just an ordinary trainer right now, and I'm still a long way from being as good as you, Miss Cynthia. It should be me who has longed for you."

With his strength, he would be someone to be looked up to among ordinary trainers, but if he were to encounter Cynthia, then he would be the one looking up to her.

Without considering Mewtwo, his limit would be if he could use all his skills to take away one of Cynthia's Pokémon.

Unless Gengar is combined with Aura, it might be able to go toe-to-toe with Cynthia, but it can only handle one of Cynthia's Pokémon. Moreover, the Champion is no pushover. Trying to fight the Champion by forcibly boosting its peak power is no different from bluffing.

He is still far from winning the championship.

"Let's find a place to sit?" Cynthia gestured towards the outside after looking at the people gradually gathering around her.

Ash noticed the commotion they had caused, so he nodded and said, "Let's go to my place. It's almost lunchtime. My friends are great cooks, so let's have lunch together, Ms. Cynthia."

“Okay~” Cynthia replied with a smile, her eyes narrowing.

So the two, who were meeting for the first time, went straight to Ash's house. Before leaving, Ash recalled all the Pokémon he had released and then led the way.

Before causing a complete commotion, the two left the Quartz Plateau field training grounds.

Among the crowd that surrounded him, a shrewd-looking young man wearing glasses adjusted his glasses, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light beneath the lenses.

"To be able to attract the champion's attention, he's quite the lucky kid. But no matter what efforts he makes, it's useless; the equation for victory has already been written." The bespectacled man, Kaoping, murmured softly as he turned and left the crowd.

……

Fifteen minutes later, Ash brought Cynthia to the place they had rented in Indigo Plateau. On the way, Ash asked Cynthia curiously why she was there.

Cynthia said that since there were no matches to watch these past few days, she has been playing around the Quartz Plateau. Because she appeared everywhere without any attempt to hide herself, it initially caused a huge commotion, but the crowd gradually got used to it.

This is why it didn't cause a big commotion at the beginning of the training session.

The commotion that gradually arose later was also caused by Ash and Cynthia appearing on the same stage. After all, the appearance of two prominent figures, who seemed to have some connection, was bound to arouse people's curiosity.

Fortunately, Cynthia reminded Ash to leave the area before the people gathered around; otherwise, it would have been difficult for them to leave once they arrived.

As for why Cynthia noticed Ash, it was just a coincidence. She had just bought an ice cream and was eating it as she walked. After finishing the ice cream, she walked over to where Ash was and saw him training. She stopped to watch for a while.

"...I've heard quite a few rumors about you, Ash. Being able to train your Pokémon to that level in just six months, I'd like to know what's so special about your training methods!"

"Actually, those are just the most basic training methods. It's mostly about the Pokémon's own talent," Ash said modestly as he opened the door.

"Ash's back, time to eat..." Hearing Ash's voice, Misty happily came to greet him, but when she saw Cynthia following Ash in, the spatula she was holding fell to the ground.

"The...the champion?!?"

(End of this chapter)