In the Black World —
Ash and his party returned to Rustboro Town and met Professor Oak and Ash's mother, Delia, there. It turned out that upon learning Ash had collected eight badges and was returning to register, Delia couldn't help wanting to see her son, so she accompanied Professor Oak, who also wanted to see Ash, to Rustboro.
The mother-son reunion after a long separation wasn't tearful—after all, they usually talked on the phone. Ash also introduced Larvitar to Delia, Professor Oak, and Professor Elm. The latter two came to the same conclusion as Ash: this Larvitar was likely the offspring of the rare Tyranitar targeted by poachers on Mt. Silver but was accidentally abandoned.
"Ash, your next destination is Silver Town on Mt. Silver, right?"
"Right. We plan to train in Silver Town until the Silver Conference begins."
Facing Professor Elm's question, Ash nodded.
"In that case, I'd like you to take Larvitar to Mt. Silver."
Professor Elm rubbed his chin and continued,
"This Larvitar was taken from Mt. Silver, so it should return there. It might even meet its mother or something similar."
"However, if Larvitar's mother or father is willing to let you travel with it, then the League won't stand in your way."
Rules were dead; people were alive. Although Mt. Silver had regulations against capturing Pokémon, the League wouldn't be too strict in special circumstances like Larvitar's. Of course, the premise was that Larvitar ended up with a Trainer like Ash. If it were a poacher… still think of capturing it? Dream on! They'd send you straight to prison!
Hearing this, Ash nodded in understanding. The Larvitar in his arms showed innocent eyes, looked at Ash, then at Professor Elm, and shrank directly into Ash's embrace.
"Haha, it seems this little Larvitar is very attached to you, Ash!"
"Well, that probably has to do with its early experiences… But honestly, I don't want it to be like this."
Ash shook his head and sighed.
"It's not that I dislike Larvitar clinging to me, but I think… if its childhood shadow isn't eliminated, it definitely won't be good for its future."
"So, rather than having it cling to me, I want to heal its inner trauma. But I haven't found a way yet… because I have no idea what Larvitar has been through."
...
[Lance:] This is a bit different from White Ash. White Ash paid attention to Larvitar from the moment it was born, so he glimpsed some of its memories in advance.
[Lance:] So White Ash understood from the start why Larvitar was in so much pain.
[Cynthia:] There's no helping it. Black Ash solved the problem before it hatched. As an Egg, how could Larvitar consciously synchronize its early memories with Ash?
[Cynthia:] Besides, something like memory synchronization is theoretically impossible… White Ash triggered that phenomenon by coincidence!
Larvitar wasn't a Psychic-type Pokémon, so how could it have the ability to synchronize memories? At the beginning, White Ash obtained the memories from Larvitar's Egg stage probably because his sincere intentions toward Larvitar triggered a miraculous response. In short… Black Ash didn't know about Larvitar's experiences in the Egg, so he had no way to heal its trauma. He only guessed that Larvitar had sensed the poachers' malice while in the Egg, but didn't realize Larvitar had recorded the scene of its mother being attacked and itself being snatched away as an Egg.
[Ash:] The other me will definitely find a way!
[Serena:] After all, that's Ash Ketchum too! And that Ash also has the heart-to-heart connection ability through Aura, so… he'll surely figure something out!
[Lillie:] I want to say… won't Ash encounter Unown later? Then everything will surely be revealed, right?
Everyone: …
Oh—
That really seemed to be the case! So why were they worrying here? Anyway, in the end, Larvitar would surely return to being a normal Pokémon thanks to the Unown and Ash's efforts.
[Professor Oak:] Speaking of Unown… If I remember correctly, Black Ash should be about to encounter Entei, right?
[Blaine:] Yes, Entei is on the way to Mt. Silver. Given how Black Ash operates… he should start challenging Entei.
Once you start challenging the Legendary Beasts, you start challenging Ho-Oh. When he met Suicune before, Suicune refused Black Ash's battle, stating it wouldn't fight him until Ash was determined to challenge the Phoenix King. Back then, when Black Ash first arrived in Johto, his strongest Pokémon was Pikachu after Aura Fusion, barely reaching Champion-level. But now Ash had Dark Lugia, Pikachu, Charizard, Infernape, and even Pidgeot—Pokémon with the power to fight Champions! Of course, the most important was Mewtwo… The Mega-Evolved Mewtwo was Ash's true confidence in fighting the Phoenix King! No one said you could only fight Ho-Oh one-on-one. After all… against a Legendary Beast, especially a Legendary-tier one with providence, six against one… wasn't unfair, was it? Unless you meant six Legendary-tier Pokémon ganging up on one Legendary-tier—that would be a bit unfair.
[Ash:] He's starting to challenge the Phoenix King? I'm really envious and looking forward to it...
Watching his other self grow from nothing to this point, Ash felt quite emotional. He had also learned a lot from his other self but hadn't put it into practice yet… Once again, only after the live stream lifted the real world's blockade could he start applying what he'd learned, whether training methods or battle strategies.
...
In the Black World — After a short rest, Ash and his team took Larvitar on the journey to Mt. Silver. Along the way, Brock's Pineco finally evolved into Forretress. The perfect evolution directly brought Forretress to low Gym-level, approaching mid-Gym-level. The Omanyte also evolved into Omastar. These two Pokémon of Brock's had been ready to evolve for a while, but Brock had them slow their evolution. Because of this, after evolving, both could leap past the basic Gym-tier and reach near mid-Gym-level. Misty's Pokémon also improved to varying degrees, while Ash's Pokémon had just undergone a round of improvements and hadn't grown much in this short time. As for Sabrina… her Pokémon were mostly at bottlenecks. Many could reach peak Gym-level with one more step, and her Alakazam could reach Elite Four–level with one more step!
After several days, the group of four came upon a hot spring. They planned to rest here and soak in the hot springs—after all, such natural hot springs were relatively rare. At that moment, a Trainer named Sho appeared in their sight. After a few conversations, they got acquainted. Everyone also learned Sho's purpose for being here—to capture Entei! According to rumors, Entei seemed to be around here, and Sho aimed to conquer it!
Conquering Legendary Pokémon—many people had such dreams. But for Ash, "Legendary" wasn't so legendary anymore… he was somewhat numb. Over the past year, he'd probably seen close to ten Legendary Pokémon: the three Legendary Birds of the Orange Islands, the three Lugias (counting Dark Lugia), the two he'd befriended, and Suicune. If Mewtwo, Mew, and Latias were included, that was already over ten. So, the "legend" in "Legendary Pokémon"… no longer seemed so legendary to Ash.
But… Entei!
Let's start with it!
The first battle in the challenge against the Phoenix King!
Ash thought to himself, saying nothing more. Since Sho had discovered Entei and wanted to conquer it, let him take the first step. If he had the ability to conquer Entei, Ash would acknowledge it and would then seek out other Entei… there wasn't just one of the Legendary Beasts.
Afterward, everyone searched for traces of Entei near the hot spring, but after half a day, found nothing. Just as everyone was about to give up, Ash frowned slightly, then suddenly looked toward a hillside. A majestic figure had appeared there at some point. When Ash looked at it, it also looked at Ash.
It resembled a lion, with four shackle-like iron rings on its legs, white smoke drifting from its back, and a steel-like mask on its face. The figure standing on the hillside was none other than Entei, one of the Legendary Beasts!
Seeing the look in Entei's eyes, Ash instantly understood—Entei… had come to find him! It must have sensed the aura of the Rainbow Hero within him and appeared before him proactively.
"What's wrong, Ash… Entei!!!"
Sho, seeing Ash suddenly freeze, asked with a puzzled face while following Ash's gaze. Then, Entei appeared in his sight. Instantly, Sho became excited!
"Entei! I will conquer you!"
"Go, Gengar!"
The excited Sho threw a Poké Ball without another word, releasing the Pokémon he specially prepared to counter Entei—Gengar! His idea was simple: as long as he trapped Entei with Mean Look to prevent it from escaping, he could capture it directly!
However, upon seeing Sho send out Gengar, a strange look crossed Ash's face.
Low Gym-level… and you dare?!
Mean Look could indeed trap a Pokémon and prevent escape, but if Entei just defeated your Gengar, wouldn't it be over? Good grief, you only thought about trapping it, not whether you could actually fight it, right?!
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