"Jie jie jie~ Oh le wa… (I'm also a healer!)"
The day after successfully capturing Darkrai, Ash and his two companions boarded Alice's hot air balloon and returned to the main road planned by the Alliance, continuing their journey.
But today, Ash was suddenly exceptionally happy, constantly letting out strange cackles, at least one 'Soul Palace's worth of gold' per cackle.
"Seriously!" The girl beside him couldn't help but retort, "Isn't it just that you captured a Darkrai yesterday, and then it gave you a crystal that can search for its kind, and you also awakened a new Psychic ability? I… I'm not envious at all!"
By the end, Dawn was gritting her teeth, suppressing the envy in her eyes, as she complained about Ash's smugness.
"Pikaka~"
Dawn's reaction made Pikachu rub his forehead; this future mistress seemed quite stubborn. Her expression didn't look like she wasn't envious at all.
"Jie jie jie~"
Ash clearly noticed the girl's envious and jealous expression, and he laughed even more unrestrainedly, his smugness clearly written on his face.
All of this started from yesterday, when he obtained 10 Suicune's worth of gold coins.
Mainly, he really didn't expect that Darkrai would agree to his request and become his Pokémon.
He once again achieved the feat of capturing a legendary Pokémon, earning 10 Suicune's worth of gold coins.
Not only did he earn back all the 2.5 Suicune's worth of gold coins he lost, but he also gained 10 Suicune's worth of gold coins.
This being the case, how to reasonably use the gold coins became a big problem!
After much deliberation, he immediately decided to exchange for a special ability focused on support—Tokiwa Power!!!
As a Trainer, he knew how many gold coins he spent on his Pokémon for healing and restoring stamina with Super Potions.
Just since the start of his Sinnoh journey, the amount had already exceeded 0.2 Suicune's worth.
Even if a single Super Potion purchase was cheap, the sheer number of times he bought them added up!
So, from a long-term perspective, he resolutely purchased a copy of Tokiwa Power, becoming a violent healer who could both tank and deal damage.
He even secretly revealed it last night, causing Dawn and Brock to be filled with envy.
Although Brock couldn't help but be suspicious—this was a special ability that could only be born near Viridian Forest—Ash naturally bluffed his way through it.
After all, Pallet Town isn't far from Viridian Forest, and his body contained an unawakened Tokiwa Power, just like Aura.
It sounded quite reasonable… or rather, not at all!
Brock, standing by, was still frowning, feeling like something wasn't quite right.
Two special abilities combined—even the well-informed Brock had never seemed to hear of such a unique phenomenon.
However, Ash didn't care about this, as all the blame could be thrown onto some mysterious big shot.
The second thing that made the girl envious was the Revive-like crystal in Ash's hand, a gift from Darkrai before it left.
Through this energy crystal, he could sense if there were other Darkrai nearby.
And using it as a medium, he could initiate an open and fair capture battle.
This made Ash overjoyed for a while.
After all, Darkrai had just given itself to him, and then gave Ash a "radar" that could find other Darkrai, which instantly made Ash incredibly excited.
With such a Pokémon, how could a Trainer not be moved!
It not only allowed him to earn 100,000 gold coins obediently but also gave him the constant opportunity to capture other Darkrai.
One could only say that Darkrai truly lived up to its reputation as the dream Pokémon of many Pokémon fans.
So understanding, it instantly filled him with immense goodwill towards Darkrai!
After all, encountering another Darkrai meant an incoming 10 Suicune's worth of gold coins.
On the road today, amidst Dawn's envious and jealous expression and Brock's puzzled confusion, Ash and his two companions found an open space near a river around noon today.
They planned to have lunch there and also conduct their first day of training after obtaining Tokiwa Power.
"Come on out, everyone!"
He successively threw out five Poké Balls, revealing the figures of Charizard, Sceptile, Aerodactyl, Pidgeot, and Suicune.
Adding Pikachu, who stood at the very front, this lineup was precisely the one they used when facing the battle between the two gods.
After the battle between the two gods, he didn't choose to send these five Pokémon back, but instead planned to train them for a few days, conduct a certain degree of special training, and then spend some gold coins to expand their move pool.
After all, these Pokémon were the strongest he possessed, and it was no exaggeration to call them his main frontline force.
Strengthening their power would allow them to play a more powerful role when encountering strong enemies.
However, that wasn't all. Brock walked over at this moment, throwing out two Poké Balls.
With a flash of red light, the figures of the large, fat Snorlax and the red-armored Scizor reappeared.
These were also among the Pokémon he currently possessed with the most outstanding strength and potential.
Adding the Chansey handed over by Brock, Ash now had as many as nine Pokémon, with Brock's three empty Pokémon slots all occupied by Ash.
Ash's current idea was also very simple: to increase the difficulty of training and improve the Pokémon's strength through special training.
For example, Charizard and Suicune, both Elite-level, would train together, specifically strengthening Charizard's weakness against Water-type moves.
Aerodactyl and Scizor would train with each other, increasing Aerodactyl's weakness training against Steel-type Pokémon.
Pidgeot and Sceptile would battle, with Sceptile only able to resist in place, conducting special training against Flying-type Pokémon.
Pikachu and Snorlax would train, enhancing Snorlax's resistance to attacks.
In short, all eight Pokémon had their own opponents, specifically targeting weaknesses for pressure training.
And this was only the first round; Pokémon of different types could also alternate, conducting corresponding exercises one at a time.
After all, Tokiwa Power couldn't be bought for nothing; he had to increase the training difficulty and thoroughly squeeze out the Pokémon's potential.
With Tokiwa Power, he no longer had to worry about Pokémon getting injured during training; a quick heal with Tokiwa Power would suffice.
Not only was it more efficient than Super Potion, but more importantly, it could subtly stimulate the Pokémon's physical fitness and potential, allowing them to better break through their limits and reach greater heights.
For example: Beedrill, which could defeat Lance's ace Dragonite.
And for example: a certain golden-ponytail l*li who could temporarily boost a Pokémon's strength!