Yesterday's hardness competition ended with Kingler's victory.
After all, Kingler's pincers possessed ten thousand horsepower, and the pain they inflicted on Pikachu's Iron Tail was incomparable to Corphish's.
Of course, for Pikachu, who had already broken through to the Elite, the pincers of the Corphish and Kingler combination left no marks on his Iron Tail.
The pain left behind was at most like someone pinching their own hand.
However, today, Corphish's performance was quite outstanding.
"Corphish, use Crabhammer to block it!"
By the official roadside, Ash was having a Pokémon battle with a Trainer he met, and his opponent was a Normal-type Zangoose.
"Hehehe~"
Two large red fists glowed white, blocking Zangoose's Metal Claw with one punch.
And the experienced Corphish quickly jumped up and swung another punch, fiercely smashing into Zangoose's body, knocking the opponent flying and securing this victory.
"Amazing, you won!"
The wild Trainer by the roadside took out one hundred League coins as a prize and complimented him, then hurried away with his Zangoose.
"So cool, 50 consecutive wins already!" The girl came up to Ash with a flushed face, her big blue eyes filled with excitement, "It makes me want to have a match too!"
Brock looked at the two without avoiding them, as Ash's performance was indeed good, achieving impressive results with Corphish and Kingler, who had only recently returned.
This was also because there weren't many Trainers on the wild roads.
If there were twice as many wild Trainers, Ash might have achieved a hundred consecutive wins.
Ash didn't say anything, just looked at the girl's charmingly naive expression, and instinctively placed his hand on her forehead, gently stroking it.
Dawn's face became even redder, but she didn't refuse, merely turning her head to the side, not daring to look directly at Ash.
Pikachu!!
Pikachu glanced at the rapidly warming pair, silently lying on Ash's shoulder, trying to hide his presence and become an inconspicuous background character.
Although Pikachu thought about leaving, he was afraid his actions would break the atmosphere between the two, so he didn't act rashly.
As for why Ash's hand could reach the girl's forehead, it was, of course, because he was slowly growing taller under the influence of Aura.
In recent days, Ash's height was already almost half a head taller than the girl's.
Although he was still a bit shorter than Brock, it was a good start.
At least in a future Battle Tournament, he would no longer be called a 10-year-old Trainer.
After all, if he had traveled through numerous regions and was still a 10-year-old rookie Trainer from Pallet Town, that would be the most terrifying thing for him.
Looking at the charmingly naive and lovely life before him, he expressed that he didn't want to be forever 10 years old.
Even if, in some sense, it was eternal youth.
"Alright, you two, it's almost time to continue our journey!"
Brock glanced at the handsome couple with a hint of envy, then shook the Pokémon Watch in his hand, signaling that it was time to move on.
"Coming!" X2
Looking at the now shy girl, the two replied in unison and walked towards Brock.
Pikachu also jumped down from Ash's shoulder in time, yawning and following behind the two, who were holding hands.
After leaving the territory of Eterna City, the forest gradually thinned, becoming an open plain with wide views.
The trio had arrived at a small town, preparing to rent three bicycles here to travel to Hearthome City via the town's most famous bicycle path.
Perhaps because the area between Eterna City and Hearthome City was a plain, a direct road was built between the two large cities.
Both cities had dedicated bicycle rental and sales points for passing pedestrians.
"According to the latest map display, it seems there's also a small town called Baiyang Town halfway, which is about to hold Contests!"
Brock rode his bicycle while telling the two the latest news he had learned.
From the map's indications, Baiyang Town, located elsewhere on the bicycle path, would host Contests a few days later.
However, in that case, they would have to change their route halfway and wouldn't be able to go directly to Hearthome City.
"It's fine!" Ash responded decisively while riding his bicycle, "Let's go to Baiyang Town first; anyway, Hearthome City's Contests and Gym battles aren't going anywhere, no need to rush to Hearthome City!"
"Thank you, Ash!" The girl spoke with excitement upon hearing this.
Ash smiled undeniably, but in his mind, he couldn't help but think about going to Baiyang Town.
In his impression, this was the battlefield of Dialga, the God of Time, and Palkia, the God of Space, where the entire town was almost reduced to nothing by their aftermath.
This was also the beginning of the Sinnoh Three Gods' incident, and it had to be handled seriously.
"It seems it's time to call back the main force!"
To go to this place, he had to bring the main force of his team to safely resolve this crisis.
Therefore, it was inevitable to recall the guys who were still training in Charizard Valley.
There were many high-level Charizard there, so their recent progress must have been significant.
"Oh, the Pokémon Egg is glowing!"
Just as Ash was riding his bicycle and thinking, Dawn suddenly looked at the Pokémon Egg in the basket and said.
And this sentence was like a chain reaction; the Pokémon Egg Ash placed in his basket also began to emit dazzling light through the glass of the incubator.
Even the Pokémon Egg Brock obtained from the Role Play Battle Tournament did the same.
The performance of the three Pokémon Eggs was identical.
"They're about to hatch!" As a Breeder, Brock immediately knew what it meant and shouted excitedly to the two, "There's a Pokémon Center ahead, let's go there to hatch the eggs!"
Excited, Brock took the lead, riding ahead, with Ash and Dawn following closely behind.
"They're finally hatching, I didn't expect it to drag on until today!" Ash excitedly looked at the constantly flashing Pokémon Eggs.
His little darling, Chansey, was finally about to appear, which not only meant that the team's healer was about to arrive but also that a potential main force was about to debut.
When the time was right, he would let the little guy evolve into Chansey, and with an Eviolite, it would have impressive combat power.
Coupled with tactics full of quality like Substitute Toxic or Minimize teams, it would surely surprise everyone.
Thinking of this, Ash also quickly sped up his cycling, rushing towards the Pokémon Center.