Chapter 41

The scene appears.

【The third day after leaving Goldenrod City.】

【At night, Ash, Misty, and Brock are chatting around a campfire.】

【"Strange, Ash's Squirtle evolved into Wartortle, and the Charmander evolved into Charmeleon a couple days ago, so why hasn't Bulbasaur evolved yet?" Misty asked curiously.】

【The three Pokémon all received the same training, and Bulbasaur even joined the team before Squirtle and Charmander, so in theory Bulbasaur should have evolved first. Yet now the other two Pokémon have already evolved, while Bulbasaur alone has been slow to evolve.】

【"Tonight I'll have a good talk with Bulbasaur." In fact, Ash had also noticed this point.】

【Bulbasaur's level had already reached the point where it could evolve; the reason it hadn't evolved yet was because Bulbasaur was actively suppressing its evolution.】

【The night had grown deep; Pikachu, Misty, Brock, and the other Pokémon had all fallen asleep.】

【In front of the campfire, only Ash and Bulbasaur remained, along with Mew, who was acting as translator.】

【Ash didn't question Bulbasaur in an interrogating tone, but chatted with it just like a friend.】

【During the conversation, Bulbasaur opened its heart and told Ash the reason it didn't want to evolve was that evolving would make it ugly.】

【It didn't want to change from the cute Bulbasaur into the bloated Venusaur, because then it wouldn't be able to find a girlfriend.】

【After learning Bulbasaur's true thoughts, Ash couldn't help but sigh—his Bulbasaur really was still a child, completely unaware of how the real world worked.】

【To help Bulbasaur understand the real world, Ash told Bulbasaur a story about Bite Fish Dragon.】

【Once there was a Bite Fish Dragon, and it was extremely ugly. Everyone who saw it would complain about how there could be such an ugly Pokémon in the world.】

【Because everyone called it ugly, Bite Fish Dragon had always been insecure.】

【But everything changed after Bite Fish Dragon became the world champion. Every trainer who saw Bite Fish Dragon changed their evaluation to—how could there be such a handsome Pokémon as Bite Fish Dragon in the world?!】

【"Get it, Bulbasaur? What's the use of being cute? Strength is what matters most. Once you become the world champion, you'll be the most handsome Grass-type Pokémon in the whole world."】

【After a long night of talking, Bulbasaur had an epiphany, and under the moonlight's nourishment, it successfully evolved into Ivysaur.】

Erika: "Pfft, sorry, I didn't want to laugh, but, hahaha, Black Ash really knows how to counsel Pokémon!"

Misty: "Who would have thought Ash's Bulbasaur didn't want to evolve simply because it wouldn't be cute after evolving. Do Pokémon nowadays care this much about looks?"

Ash: "Bulbasaur, is it really like that?"

Bulbasaur: "Dana!"

Of course not, and even if it were, it wouldn't admit it.

Lorelei: "What I actually want to know most is what the Bite Fish Dragon in Black Ash's story actually looks like."

A girl's request must be satisfied, so Lance immediately sent the picture of Bite Fish Dragon from his computer into the chat room.

Lance: "It doesn't look like a dragon, it doesn't look like a fish—how could there be such an ugly Pokémon in this world."

It's even more bizarre than his Galarian Zapdos.

Lance: "Bite Fish Dragon has the Strong Jaw ability, and it also has the signature move Jaw Lock (Bite Fish Sea Beast has it too). Bite Fish Dragon's destructive power is also quite astonishing."

After Lance listed Bite Fish Dragon's advantages one by one, Lance immediately changed his tune.

Lance: "Hearing this, this Pokémon called Bite Fish Dragon really does look very handsome. Lance, do you know where one can catch a Bite Fish Dragon?"

(It will be on the shelves at twelve noon tomorrow. I hope the big-shot readers can come and contribute a first subscription then. The author is a full-time author, relying on writing to support a family, so the first subscription is really important to the author. I'm begging all of you. I won't sleep tonight, staying up to stockpile manuscripts!!!).

Main Text

65: Black Ash's EQ is too high—gifts for Serena and Misty!

【After successfully resolving Bulbasaur's knot in its heart, Ash could finally breathe a sigh of relief.】

【The next day, he didn't rush to travel but instead started special training with Ivysaur, Wartortle, and Charmeleon.】

【For this special training, he assigned different training tasks to the three Pokémon. Ivysaur's task was to learn the Substitute move, which would be the core move for Ivysaur's future battles.】

【The move Wartortle practiced was relatively conventional; the move Ash chose for it was Hydro Pump.】

【As for Charmeleon, what it needed to practice was Dragon Claw.】

A small town in Kanto.

"Black Ash's Charmeleon is too obedient, it's really enviable."

Ash still remembers today the situation after his Charmander evolved into Charmeleon.

From originally being well-behaved and sensible, ~it became irritable and quick-tempered.

If he could choose, Ash would rather his Charmeleon never evolve.

Brock: "There's no helping it. Black Ash's Charmander was raised by him step by step into Charmeleon, and Black Ash has the ability to subdue Charmeleon, so Charmeleon doesn't dare to act up again."

Ash's situation here is different.

Charmander wasn't originally a Pokémon Ash caught, and both evolutions were very abrupt. On top of that, Charizard is the strongest Pokémon in Ash's hands, which led to Charizard's personality becoming unruly and disobedient to commands.

Misty: "I said it long ago, that Charmander's personality is terrible."

Back then, to save Charmander, they braved such heavy rain. If they had hesitated for even one second on the road, the only thing waiting for Charmander would have been death.

They—especially Ash—had given so much, and now they got such a result in return. Misty really felt for Ash.

"It's okay. I believe that one day Charizard will obey my commands." Ash didn't feel wronged; he was as optimistic as ever. "Charizard likes me too. When I'm in danger, it will step in to protect me. The reason it doesn't obey my commands, I think, is that my own strength isn't enough yet."

Misty smiled. This was the Ash she liked.

"Hang in there, Ash. I believe you can definitely succeed!"

"Ah! I just thought of something very important." Brock suddenly spoke up. "Previously Charizard was the strongest Pokémon in Ash's hands, no doubt about it, but is Charizard still the strongest now?"

"Huh? Right."

A word that startles the dreamer.

Two new Pokémon had joined his team.

Meltan can be set aside for now—being still a child, it has no combat power—but Latias is different. It's an Infinite Pokémon; taking down a Charizard is a piece of cake for it.

"Pika pika."

At this moment Pikachu also puffed out its chest, telling Ash not to forget about it.

Now it was a far cry from what it once was; after learning Interlocking Lightning, it was confident it could take down Charizard.

"Alright, once this movie-watching quiz is over, I'll show Charizard what a real Trainer really is!!!"

The emancipated serfs sing their songs!

【On the road to Celadon City, Black Ash did not run into that hot-tempered, mischief-loving Mankey. The reason was simple—just like with Caterpie, Mankey hadn't been born yet at this point in time.】

【Ash and his companions arrived at Celadon City without a hitch.】

【They had only just reached Celadon City when Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and even Mew were deeply drawn in by the perfume wafting from a fragrance shop on the street.】

【"Ash. Can we go take a look inside the perfume shop?" Misty asked coquettishly.】

【Sure enough, no woman had any resistance to perfume—and of course, that included nine-year-old girls.】

【"You guys really leave me no choice. Then let's go browse the perfume shop."】

【After getting Ash's agreement, Misty and Brock grabbed Pikachu and Mew and dashed into the perfume shop in a flash.】

【The shop was filled with a dazzling array of perfumes, and the sales staff promoting them were all young and pretty. Misty and Brock were immediately dazzled.】

【While Misty and Brock were being pulled aside by the sales staff for promotions, Ash wandered around the shop.】

【He honestly didn't have much interest in perfume himself, but he couldn't deny that girls liked it.】

【It had been a long time since he'd sent Serena a gift. Since he'd happened to walk into a perfume shop, he'd pick out a bottle of perfume to give her.】

【Ash's emotional intelligence was still very much online. Since he'd gotten one for Serena, he naturally couldn't leave out Misty's either. While he was at it, he'd pick out a bottle for Mom and Sabrina as well. Right—he'd heard that Celadon City's perfume also had the effect of relaxing Pokémon and restoring their spirits, so since that was the case, he'd buy some for the Pokémon too.】

Misty: "Ash, you better learn from this!!!"

Hanako: "That's right, that's right. If you had even half of Black Ash's emotional intelligence, Mom wouldn't have to worry about you never finding a girlfriend."

Ash: "But I really don't think perfume is useful for anything."

Erika: "Hey, Ash, if you keep talking like that, I'm going to get mad again."

Ash: "Ah, sorry, Erika."

【"Thank you, Ash, I really love the perfume you picked out!" Misty said, blushing.】

【Although she had also bought perfume for herself in the shop, how could perfume one bought oneself compare to one given by the person you like? Clutching the gift Ash had given her tightly, Misty felt as if she had fallen head over heels in love.】

Peony: "It's over, it's over. Misty has really fallen."

Violet: "So she's fallen, so what? Black Ash is that great. If I weren't a few years older, I'd chase him too."

Sakura: "It's not time to be happy yet. Have you all forgotten about Serena? She came first, and Ash bought perfume for Serena too."

Peony: "Sabrina, and Sabrina too. The Misty in that world faces a lot of competitive pressure."

Violet: "Sigh, it can't be helped. Outstanding people always have a lot of suitors."】

【When challenging the Celadon Gym, Erika, upon discovering that the challenger was a big-spending customer who had just bought a large amount of perfume at the perfume shop, was as polite as could be.】

【She not only brought out her treasured tea leaves to treat Ash and the others, but also gave them specially made perfume as an extra.】