Pokémon: Simultaneous time travel, this Ash is too versatile

Chapter 448 The Flame Emperor Inside the Crystal Tower! Mewtwo's Perception.

Outside Professor Oak's lab, Professor Oak and his companions stood guard at the entrance, their expressions solemn.

The crystallization outside is spreading faster and faster, and it probably won't be long before it reaches Oak's lab.

He couldn't say he was completely helpless in the face of those crystals, but it was simply unrealistic to expect him to protect the entire Pallet Town.

The crystals are so hard that only attacks of the Heavenly King level can shatter them, and the force of their spread can only be resisted by defensive moves of the Heavenly King level.

Now, he has Venusaur and Gengar work together to create a protective barrier around the entire Oak Laboratory.

Using the power of hardened plants and Venusaur's immense vitality, a shield was formed to protect the entire Oak Laboratory. Gengar, on the other hand, used its powerful mental strength to check for any gaps and directly shatter any crystals that might spread in.

The spot where Professor Oak is standing is where the most crystals are forming. If nothing unexpected happens, this spot will be the first to be filled with crystals in less than ten minutes.

The amount of crystals in this location is the largest, and the quality is even stronger. Even ordinary Heavenly Kings cannot solve it, so he is responsible for guarding the most important pass.

Just as Professor Oak was on high alert, he suddenly noticed that a transparent light seemed to flash across the sky.

Because the time was so short, he initially thought it was his imagination.

Professor Oak realized that he wasn't hallucinating when he saw a figure running towards him, wearing a red and white hat and accompanied by Pikachu. It was the savior of Pallet Town who had returned.

"Professor Oak? Professor Oak!!!" Ash was stunned when he saw Professor Oak. He had only detected that Professor Oak was here, but he did not know that Professor Oak was actually at the entrance of Professor Oak's laboratory.

Although he already knew that Professor Oak was safe and sound, he was still very excited to see him.

"Ash! How come you're back so soon!" Professor Oak was more surprised than happy to see Ash. They had just finished talking on the phone not long ago, and Ash should still be in Eden City.

Even taking the direct bus back from there takes at least a day.

If you were to ride a fast Flying-type Pokémon like Pidgeot, the speed would be considerably faster, but it would still be impossible to return to Pallet Town in just thirty minutes.

"I asked Mewtwo to use Teleport to bring me back."

After hearing the reason, Professor Oak felt relieved. If it were Mewtwo, it was indeed possible that it would return within thirty minutes.

If Professor Oak knew that Ash only spent a minute, he would probably still be very surprised.

After all, that's a distance of thousands of kilometers, and that's calculated as a straight line. That's thousands of kilometers per minute, which translates to nearly two thousand meters per second – it's simply outrageous.

"Professor Oak, where's my mom? And these hardened plants—it must be Venusaur's doing, right? What on earth happened in Pallet Town?"

Upon meeting Professor Oak, Ash bombarded him with a barrage of questions. Professor Oak waved his hand, signaling Ash not to rush.

"Now that you're back, how are those crystals outside?"

"They're kept out by Mewtwo. As long as Mewtwo is here, those crystals can't get in."

"Well then—then the crisis is temporarily over. Come inside the lab with me." Professor Oak breathed a sigh of relief and then recalled his old friends back into their Poké Balls.

He then waved for Ash and the others to come into Professor Oak's lab first, since these things couldn't be explained in a short time.

Professor Oak's lab was packed with people. Neighbors sat in twos and threes in the lobby and backyard corridors, some holding their Pokémon, others sipping instant coffee that Professor Oak had hastily prepared. Although their expressions were tense, at least no one was injured.

When they saw Xiao Zhi push the door open and come in, several familiar neighbors were taken aback at first, and then they all stood up.

"Ash? You're back!"

"Didn't we say we were going to the capital? We've only been gone a short while!"

"Why are you back at this time? Pallet Town is in a rather unsafe place right now!"

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Xiao Zhi nodded in agreement, glancing around at the crowd.

Hanako stood in the innermost corner of the hall, bending over to feed an energy cube to a frightened Rattata.

She straightened up when she heard the noise, and then saw Ash. She patted the crumbs off her hands, and before she could even open the app, Ash had already walked up to her in three quick steps.

"Mom." Xiaozhi wanted to reach out, but then pulled back. If anything happened to his mother, he would definitely hug her immediately. But now that Hanako seemed to be perfectly fine, the impulse and fear in his heart cooled down.

Hugging his mother in public, how embarrassing! He's a seasoned trainer now!

So in the end, Ash didn't hug Hanako or even take her hand.

But Hanako easily saw how nervous Satoshi had been.

She patted her son's head, a gentle smile on her face: "Why did you suddenly come back? Don't you need to continue your trip to the capital?"

"He called me." Professor Oak walked up from behind, his expression much more relaxed than before. "I told him something happened in Pallet Town, and he rushed back from Erimoire City."

Hanako didn't press Ash about how he could get from Enchantress City to Pallet Town in such a short time, because she knew that Ash was no longer the naive young man he was six months ago.

"Now that you're back, Mom has something to tell you." Hanako's voice was calm. "If you have a way, first take Professor Oak, the neighbors in the lab, and the Pokémon in the backyard out of Pallet Town."

"You've seen what's happening outside; those crystals are constantly spreading inwards. I don't know how much longer Pallet Town can hold out—"

Hanako said so much, but she didn't mention herself at all. Satoshi finally couldn't hold back anymore. He grabbed Hanako's shoulders and looked into her eyes: "Mom, I won't let anything happen to Pallet Town. I'm back, and nothing will happen to Pallet Town."

Hanako was stunned. She looked at her son, who was much taller than before, standing in front of her, her mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Yes—his child has grown up and become a top-tier trainer who can stand tall and support the world. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up, and now, his son is that tall one.

Although Hanako still had some worries about Ash, since Ash had said so, she would choose to believe his actions.

"I understand. Go ahead and do it, Ash. I only have one request—come back safely."

"Don't worry, I'm going to be a Pokémon Master, how could something happen to me in my hometown?" Ash smiled confidently, then turned to Professor Oak. "Professor Oak, tell me everything you know."

Professor Oak nodded and walked to the computer to bring up an image.

A strange pattern appeared on the screen, resembling some kind of ancient script, or perhaps an eye.

The edges of the pattern are blurred, as if it is slowly wriggling.

"This is information that Professor Shuri brought back from the ruins before he disappeared," Professor Oak's voice rang out, explaining the origin of the image. "This pattern corresponds to a Pokémon called Unown."

He continued scrolling down, and more than twenty pictures of various shapes appeared on the screen, some like letters, some like eyes, and some like twisted tentacles.

"Unown is a very special Pokémon. When it is alone, it has almost no power, not even as good as a normal Pokémon, but when there are two or more of them, it will produce some kind of incredible qualitative change."

"It is said that different kinds of unknown totems each have different abilities, and when they gather to a certain scale, these abilities will overlap and trigger an extremely rare phenomenon."

"Dr. Xiuli's research even proposed that unknown totems can sense and fulfill people's inner desires."

The hall was quiet for a moment, then a low murmur arose.

For the residents of Pallet Town, Unown, something comparable to a legendary Pokémon, was completely unheard of, let alone the fact that it had the power to grant human desires—it was simply unbelievable.

"According to Dr. Shuri's last report before his disappearance," Dr. Oak continued, ignoring the clamor, "that crystal tower is very likely a product created by an Unknown Totem in response to someone's wish. And the owner of that wish is most likely—"

"Xiao Mei," Hanako suddenly spoke.

She stood behind Xiaozhi, her expression somewhat complicated: "After Dr. Xiuli's accident, Xiaomei has been living alone in the villa. Dr. Xiuli was my senior, and he used to help me with my homework. He had a good relationship with our family, but after he moved away, we saw each other less often."

"After my senior brother's accident, I often went to see Xiaomei. Every time I brought her food, I would see her staring blankly at the things her father left behind. Now that child is not even ten years old."

"Her father's departure was such a huge blow to her. If there were anything that could grant wishes, she would probably wish for her father to come back."

So that's how it is —

Ash looked out of the window of Professor Oak's lab at the towering tower that seemed to reach into the clouds, and he had already made up his mind.

"Ash, you're planning to go inside the Crystal Tower to wake up Misty, right?" Professor Oak immediately saw through Ash's plan.

Xiao Zhi didn't deny it, but nodded.

He believed that Xiaomei did not intentionally cause this situation. He thought that as long as he went into the crystal tower and talked to Xiaomei properly, she would be able to wake up and remove the crystals.

As for Xiaomei's father—since we haven't found his whereabouts yet, not even his body, we can't conclude that he's gone. Once Xiaomei is awakened, he can put aside what he's doing and go with her to find her father.

However, all of this is predicated on first resolving the troublesome issues caused by this unknown totem.

"Getting close to the Crystal Tower wasn't that easy. I actually tried to get Dragonite to approach from the air when the Crystal Tower first appeared, but it was stopped in mid-air."

Upon hearing this, Ash's pupils contracted... Professor Oak's Dragonite was actually stopped?

That's a champion-level Pokémon. Even if it hasn't participated in any battles, the power hidden in its body is real. How could it be stopped by an ordinary Pokémon?

"These are photos taken by the camera I attached to Dragonite." Professor Oak swiped the mouse, opened a folder, and zoomed in on the photos to show Ash.

It was a giant, orange-red beast, its body resembling a saber-toothed tiger. Two plumes of white smoke billowed from its mouth. Even in a photograph, one could clearly feel the oppressive aura emanating from its body.

"The Three Legendary Beasts—Entei!" Ash revealed the true identity of the Pokémon in the picture, word by word.

Xiaoxia and Serena couldn't help but cover their mouths, never expecting that Entei, one of the Three Holy Beasts, would actually guard the Crystal Tower!

Why is that? Could it be that the Unown is related to Ho-Oh?

"This Entei's power far exceeds my imagination. My Dragonite's attack hit it, and it seemed to cause damage, but it recovered completely in no time." Professor Oak then revealed something astonishing.

This Entei, at such a high level, was able to withstand the attacks of a Dragonite and quickly recover from its injuries.

Putting everything else aside, the fact that he can withstand the power of Dragonite means that his level is at least at the peak of the Champion rank. Otherwise, even if he could recover his body, Dragonite could still kill him instantly before he could recover!

Compared to Raikou and Suigun, the three legendary beasts, Entei is much stronger!

However, if they only have the peak of the champion level, that's not enough to stop them from entering the Crystal Tower.

"By the way, that Entei can also control the surrounding crystals and has a terrain advantage. Although it is called Entei, its various abilities don't seem like those of Entei—" Professor Oak added.

When fighting that Flame Emperor, he always had a very strange feeling. Although the opponent looked like the Flame Emperor and used fire-type skills, he did not feel the sacredness of a legendary Pokémon from the opponent.

Inside that crystal tower, there was a power that I was extremely wary of. If it were just a champion-level Flame Emperor, it wouldn't be able to give me that feeling. Besides that Flame Emperor, there were other things inside.

Mewtwo's voice echoed in Ash's mind; she only said these words to Ash.

On one hand, she felt that telling others wouldn't make a difference, and on the other hand, she didn't want others to worry about Xiaozhi's journey.

She knew that no matter what was inside, Ash would go, and if she told others this information, they would not only worry about Ash, but also prevent him from going in.

After all, there are gods inside!