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

Chapter 269 The Final Four: Ash vs. Gary! Primeape Makes its Debut!
"On Daikan Island in the Orange Islands, there's a professor named Nymus. I'd like you to get a Poké Ball from her. There's no rush; you can come back after your vacation," Professor Oak said, making his request.

Hearing that the requirements were so simple, Xiao Zhi, who had already prepared himself for countless difficulties, was stunned.

In the time it takes to get a Poké Ball, it wouldn't even take your Dragonite an hour to fly there, right? Besides, can't Poké Balls be transported over using a Poké Ball Transfer Device? Why would someone have to make a special trip to get one?

Faced with Ash's question, Professor Oak said somewhat helplessly, "That Poké Ball is a bit different. It can't be teleported using a teleportation device, so you have to go get it yourself. I was going to send Dragonite, but you're free, so you can go instead."

Xiao Zhi: ...

Even if Professor Oak sends Dragonite over now, two hours is enough for a round trip. But if he waits for him, it will take at least a month. After all, the Indigo League hasn't ended yet. If he goes over after the Indigo League ends, gets the Poké Ball, and takes time to find the Sea God and go on vacation, it will take at least a month.

So Professor Oak is deliberately trying to give him something to do!
On the one hand, he wanted to send him on vacation, and on the other hand, he wanted to find something for him to do. Ash really couldn't understand what Professor Oak was thinking.

However, he readily agreed. Getting a Poké Ball wouldn't take much effort, so he could just pick it up on the way.

After discussing the details for a while, Professor Oak said goodbye to Ash and went back to Gary's place.

Ash and Gary both have matches these days, so Professor Oak and Hanako won't go back to Pallet Town. They'll just wait until their matches are over before heading back.

As for the elves in the research institute, he has already found professors from other places to come and help take care of them.

Professor Oak was troubled by the fact that his Pokémon were left unattended once they left the lab. He was thinking about whether he should hire an assistant, otherwise it would be too much trouble for one person.

Given his reputation, if he were to announce that he needed to hire an assistant, I reckon that almost every educated person in the entire region would flock to him. Even if they came from the countryside, it wouldn't matter. Picking one out from so many people would be quite a hassle.

Let's wait until after the Quartz Conference to talk about it.

……

The following day, the quarterfinals of the Indigo League began. Ash's match was the second one, while Shinji's match was the first.

Shinji once again used Torterra to decisively defeat his opponent. So far, Shinji has not used any Pokémon other than Torterra, and then he has already advanced to the top four!
If it weren't for Ash, Shinji's performance would have practically secured him the championship.

Unfortunately, this year's Indigo League has a freak like Ash, so even someone as strong as Shinji can't guarantee winning the championship. However, he has basically secured a spot on Dragon Island.

Even if Shinji were to lose to Ash in the semifinals, he would absolutely not lose in the third-place match. All three of them would make it to Dragon Island, the only difference being the amount of information they receive.

In the second match, Ash continued his training strategy, letting Kingler, Tauros, Muk, and Infernape try out their abilities. If they couldn't win, he would switch in Butterfree and Pidgeot.

With Pidgeot at its peak performance and Ash's Aura, it's virtually impossible for it to lose to any opponent other than Gary's Mega Blastoise and Paul.

Even Gary's Mega Blastoise only has less than a 10% chance of winning, since with the power of Aura, Pidgeot's strength can directly reach the peak of the gym!

That's why Xiaozhi felt comfortable not including any of his top-tier players in the competition team.

Although the final result wasn't as decisive as the silk match, it was still a quick victory, much easier than the match against Kaoping.

The strength of Pokémon such as Kingler has also been improved to a certain extent. Among them, Pidgeot even successfully broke through to the Gym level when battling against the opponent's ace, a professional-level Flareon.

This speed is even faster than Lucario and Blastoise!
Both elves are currently stuck at their peak, but they'll be close...

In addition, Infernape's strength has improved again, reaching the intermediate level of elite. If it continues like this, it might be able to complete another evolution and reach the peak of elite, or even the professional level!

This speed of progress was somewhat terrifying to Ash. Although his Pokémon had improved quickly before, they had never improved this rapidly.

Who would have thought that just ten days ago this Fire Monkey was only at the beginner level? To advance a major stage and an extra level in ten days—it sounds terrifying!

This accumulation of knowledge and experience was so profound that Ash's first reaction to seeing Infernape's rapid improvement was not joy but rather a pang of heartache, in addition to amazement.

The faster Infernape improves, the more arduous its previous training was, and the more experience it accumulated over time. However, its physical condition prevents it from converting that experience into its own strength, which is why it has been stuck at the beginner level.

Ash originally thought that by evolving to the peak of advanced level and reaching the elite level in a short period of time, Infernape had already used up all the training experience it had accumulated. He didn't expect that the experience was not exhausted yet.

Apart from Infernape's improvement, all the other participating Pokémon have improved to varying degrees. That's why it's said that the fastest way to improve a Pokémon is through battle.
However, the prerequisite for rapid improvement in battle is that the Pokémon must have a good foundation. If it weren't for Ash's usual training of his Pokémon, his Pokémon wouldn't have been able to improve so quickly after battle.

Even so, this speed is still somewhat frightening.

Ash's third match was Gary's. Compared to the previous two matches, this match was extremely intense, with both sides fighting until only one Pokémon remained. At this moment, Gary's opponent revealed his hidden trump card: a beginner Alakazam at the Gym Leader level!

Gary's trump card is naturally his Blastoise. After Mega Evolution, Blastoise has power comparable to a Gym Leader.

However, when faced with the very troublesome Psychic-type Alakazam, Gary was at a disadvantage. The data of Mega Blastoise had been completely analyzed by the opponent, while Gary had no information about the opponent's Alakazam. In this situation, even if Blastoise Mega Evolved, its level was still one level lower, making it very difficult to deal with.

In the end, Gary's Blastoise made a breakthrough on the spot, reaching the beginner level of the gym, and the crucial Water Pulse hit Alakazam after it teleported, defeating it in one fell swoop!
Blastoise even exhausted itself and regressed from its Mega Evolution state, but it did not lose its ability to battle.

Therefore, Shigeru won this battle!

After the fourth match ended, it was already 3 PM. The draw for the semifinals took place immediately after the match, and Ash's opponent in the semifinals was... Gary!
The two players from Pallet Town finally faced off in the semifinals. When Gary saw that his opponent was Ash, his face didn't show much emotion.

There are only three opponents: Ash, Shinji, and with extremely good luck, the fourth one, Tianxiang. But with a two-thirds chance, escaping isn't easy. In terms of outcome, facing Ash is at least better than facing Shinji.

Even if he loses, Gary would rather lose to Ash than to Paul. If he loses, he can just prepare for the third-place match.

Unless Shinji has a brain fart and decides to target him by intentionally losing to that guy named Tenshou in the third-place match, Gary is still confident that he can defeat that trainer named Tenshou.

As for battling Ash... well, that's up to fate. Even someone as confident as Gary doesn't think he has much of a chance against Ash, despite his boasting that he's not afraid of Ash and has wanted to fight him for a long time.

But in reality, he was well aware of his own strength and Ash's strength. He was already lucky to achieve any results in gym-level competitions, while Ash was already able to compete with the champion.

Ash has no chance of winning unless he uses his second team of Pokémon.

Even so, Xiao Mao had no intention of giving up!

"You've come at the perfect time, Ash. Let me see how much you've changed since you were a kid." Gary proudly raised his chin and challenged Ash.

"Hey, it's been a long time since we've had a match. A six-on-six format with the top four teams would be a great stage. Don't lose too badly!"

"So confident you can win? The game hasn't even started yet, it's not certain who will win or lose!"

"Then let's see who's the real deal tomorrow. I'll show you my brand new power."

A brand new power? A new Mega Evolution? Ash's words made Gary fall into deep thought, while Ash had already left the arena.

Tomorrow he will be facing Shigeru. To be honest, meeting Shigeru in the semifinals was not surprising to him, but facing Shigeru again made him feel uneasy.

No matter how much their strength differs, they have been rivals since childhood. If it weren't for the chat group, he might not even be as good as Xiao Mao now.

After all, he had lost more often than he had won in the competition before. The reason why he was able to outdo Xiao Mao in every way after the trip was because of the guidance of the big shots in the group and the skills he had drawn in the group.

The guidance of the expert from the group transformed him from a complete novice into a super trainer who can now recite almost all Pokémon names and understand all Pokémon types.

Furthermore, the knowledge about breeders extracted from the group has an excellent effect on raising Pokémon.

The power of Tokiwa and the power of Aura are also crucial; without those two powers, he wouldn't have made it this far.

The help the chat group provided him was beyond description. Without the chat group, he might have been eliminated in the top 32 or even the top 64.

Ash is confident in his talent. Even before he got the chat group, he was already certain that he would become a Pokémon Master in the future, but he needs time.

The most important thing about the chat group is that it made up for his lack of time, allowing him to accomplish in just six months what would normally take a year or even two or three years.

He successfully weathered the most difficult time with the help of the chat group, and now even without the chat group's help, he is a mature trainer.

In contrast, Gary, without any help, also trained a Gym Leader-level Pokémon in just six months, which shows his remarkable talent.

Unfortunately, the opponent had cheats!
……

The next day, the opening match, Ash vs. Gary, took place, and the Indigo Stadium was packed to capacity!
The hype surrounding this match even surpassed that of the previous Round of 16 match between Ash and Kaopai.

These are currently the only two contestants capable of Mega Evolution, and they are also from the same hometown. If it weren't for the possibility of Shinji versus Ash in the finals, this competition might have been even more popular than the finals.

However, if Ash were to face Paul in the finals, the hype might be even greater than this match, not only because Paul is stronger, but also because Paul comes from the Sinnoh region.

If someone from the Sinnoh region were to win the Kanto region's Indigo League championship, it would certainly be a loss of face for Kanto.

The tournament was held locally, but someone from another region won the championship. Doesn't that mean there's no one left to compete?
In fact, if Ash hadn't emerged as an anomaly at this year's Indigo League, Kanto really wouldn't have had anything that could be considered a top contender...

"Both players in this match are from TrueNew Town!"

"They are Professor Oak's grandson, Gary! and Ash, the Kanto Supernova, who is traveling together with his friend from Pallet Town!"

"These two are childhood friends who have grown up together, and now they've both made it to the semifinals of the competition. They'll meet in the Indigo League, and both of them possess the recently popular Mega Evolution. Who will emerge victorious in this match? Let's wait and see!"

As the host warmed up the crowd, Ash and Gary slowly walked into the arena from the contestants' seats.

Ash looked excited and eager to try, while Gary's expression was slightly serious.

This match wasn't the most important, but it was the one he most wanted to win, and also the one with the slimmest chance of victory.

As the two stood on the competition platform, the referee waved his flag to announce the start of the match, and Ash and Gary pulled out their Poké Balls at the same time.

"Go, my baby!!" The Poké Ball flashed, and a large golden fox appeared on the field—a Psychic-type Pokémon, Alakazam!
"I choose you, Primeape!!" Ash's chosen Pokémon is—Primarin!

When Magmaa appeared on the field, Gary was stunned. He knew all of Ash's teams, so he also knew that Magmaa could only rank third in Ash's second team.

But they used him in the semifinals? Were they just using him as practice?!
(End of this chapter)