In this vast sea of people, there are no shortage of Froakie around, so how was he supposed to know which Froakie he ran into was the one that belonged to him? Yet once he truly met Froakie, all the strange sensations that appeared in his body clearly told him what "destined" really meant!
This feeling was completely different from when he met any other Pokemon!
"Professor Oak, can you give me that Froakie?" After a few seconds of silence, Ash made his request to Professor Oak.
Professor Oak froze for a moment, then turned the camera back: "Are you sure, Ash? If you can't subdue him, he might run away again. You're very far from Oak's Research Institute right now—if he runs this time, you might never see him again."
This Froakie was indeed very smart—after escaping from its Trainer, it still knew how to find its way back to Oak's Research Institute.
But where Ash was now, it was obviously impossible for Froakie to escape and then make its way back.
And this Froakie was stubborn to the core; if Ash still wasn't a Trainer that met his standards, he would still choose to run.
By that time, it wouldn't be as simple as just returning to Oak's Research Institute—it would disappear without a trace!
Strictly speaking, Froakie had hands and feet, and surviving in the wild wouldn't be a problem, but if Froakie ran and Ash could never find him again, it would probably deal quite a heavy blow to Ash.
It was obvious that Ash was very taken with this Froakie; otherwise he wouldn't have taken the initiative to ask for him.
If he couldn't gain this Froakie's acknowledgment and then let Froakie run away…
"It's okay. I feel like he really clicks with me, I'll make Froakie acknowledge me! If I don't even have that much confidence, how could I ever become the strongest Trainer in the world?!" Ash waved his hand, speaking brimming with confidence.
"Since you put it that way, I'll send him over to you then." Seeing Ash so confident, Professor Oak didn't refuse. He recalled Froakie into a Pokeball, then placed it on the Pokemon Transmission Device.
Ash thought for a moment, then decided to send Heracross back.
That made his current lineup—Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Pikachu, Gardevoir, Lucario, Togepi, Mewtwo, plus the newly transmitted Froakie.
A whole eight Pokemon!
Togepi was basically being taken care of by Misty, and Mewtwo didn't need him to worry about, so in practice it was still six Pokemon.
Carrying six Pokemon on you wasn't because you could only carry six; it was because the League believed human capability was limited, and that on a journey, properly taking care of six Pokemon was already the limit. Any more and it would be counterproductive.
And the largest scale of official battles was also six-on-six, so six carry slots for Pokemon had become the tradition.
Ash's eight slots were specially applied for. Mewtwo didn't count under the normal rules, and Togepi couldn't really form combat power, but this little guy refused to evolve and was like a little child, so there was no way Ash could rest easy sending him back to Oak's Research Institute.
So his Pokemon slots ended up becoming eight.
Even eight slots weren't really enough for Ash. As he captured more Pokemon, he had more and more to train. Even if he swapped a batch back every week, it was still hard to properly look after every single one of them.
After all, Pikachu, Charizard, and Gardevoir were all previously never rotated out. Now that Charizard was at Charicific Valley, Lucario had taken over as the fixed slot in the team.
On one hand, Lucario's other MEGA form hadn't been fully developed yet; on the other, Lucario's growth staying by his side was much faster than being in the backyard.
Although the other Pokemon also grew far faster by Ash's side than in the backyard, none of them improved as dramatically as Lucario.
Because Lucario and Ash both used Aura, and Ash was even Divine Domain Level. With a Divine Domain Level "senior" leading the way, of course the growth speed spoke for itself.
So Lucario had become one of the fixed slots as well, leaving only three slots to rotate.
Slots not being enough was one thing, but as long as there was no special situation, Ash wasn't planning to trouble Professor Oak to increase his carry limit any further.
Adding two slots already didn't quite conform to the rules; if he kept adding more, never mind whether Professor Oak would feel awkward, Ash himself would feel embarrassed.
But then again, if Ash were an Elite Trainer right now, there would be no carry limit at all—that was also one of the League's rules.
The six-Pokemon limit was because an ordinary Trainer's limit was about six, but the capability of Elite Trainers wasn't restricted to just six, so the League removed the carry limit for Trainers at Elite Level and above.
"I've received it, Professor Oak." Ash raised the Red and White Ball in his hand to show Professor Oak.
"OK, I've received Heracross on my side as well… Then I wish you good luck, Ash. I hope you can gain Froakie's acknowledgment."
"Don't worry, I have a feeling this Froakie and I are destined partners!" Ash smiled, his words full of confidence.
Setting aside things like Trainer Level—in terms of affinity alone, he had the Power of Viridian that came with inherent Pokemon affinity, Aura Power that allowed him to communicate with Pokemon, and that mysterious connection he shared with Froakie.
With all those factors stacked together, if even he couldn't gain this Froakie's acknowledgment, then no one else in the world should be able to.
After sending Froakie over, Professor Oak also hung up the call.
He glanced at Suicune's Pokeball, then released it.
Once out, Suicune shook its head as it took in its surroundings. While inside the Pokeball, it already knew it was being transmitted to the backyard of the Rainbow Hero. At first glance, this environment was actually quite nice.
But when Suicune focused its gaze on Professor Oak, a hint of surprise appeared on its face.
"Suu…" You are…
"Long time no see, Suicune… Heh, though this 'long time' is only for me. For you, perhaps only a little while has passed." Seeing Suicune like this, Professor Oak knew the other had recognized him.
If Ash hadn't had a preconceived notion, he might have recognized him too.
Anyway, his self from forty years ago had already gone back to the past. Even if he exposed his identity now, it wouldn't affect anything that had already happened, but as for who he was, he'd leave that for Ash to discover on his own.
"Suu~" Suicune gently nodded to Professor Oak. It had indeed recognized this somewhat aged human.
From the aura it sensed, he was almost identical to that young man from back then. Even though his appearance and age had changed drastically, Suicune would never mistake that aura.
"Heh, it really is a bit nostalgic. It's already been forty years. If not for Ash, I probably wouldn't have become a professor." Professor Oak said, face full of reminiscence.
He turned his back and walked to the wall of the institute, looking at the picture he'd hung up there after Ash set off for Johto.
It was a painting of a Pikachu facing off against Suicune, vividly lifelike, capturing both Suicune's presence and Pikachu's style.
Looking at this painting alone, no one would ever imagine that in the next second this Pikachu would rush in and heavily wound Suicune, and with the following move almost completely knock Suicune out of commission.
This was—Ash's Pikachu!
It was also because of that journey of traveling through time and space, and that unreasonable battle where Ash's Pikachu steamrolled Suicune, that the seed of becoming a researcher was planted in his heart.
After becoming Kanto Champion, he resolutely gave up the title of Champion and threw himself into the path of research.
And precisely because of that, Ash was able to obtain his Pikachu—this was the marvelous time loop!