Chapter 5

"Raise the sand to block the foam!"

Clemont confidently pushed his glasses up,

Ash can block the impact without using a skill; he naturally can as well.

As Diggersby used its strong, large ears as shovels to fling the sand into the air,

Each bubble was instantly blocked by the sand.

The entire battlefield was split into two parts by this collision,

The line of sight was blocked,

This does not mean Ash cannot perceive the battlefield situation,

In Ash's perception, Diggersby's Waveguide had already moved from the surface underground and was quickly rushing toward Greninja,

Trying to fish in troubled waters?

Ash's mouth curled slightly, going along with the plan,

"The tactic of fishing in troubled waters doesn't work on me!"

Clemont looked puzzled, "What?"

"Right now, Greninja jumps up and uses foam beneath itself!"

"Oh no!" Clemont slapped his hands together, "I actually forgot you have Waveguide, sigh!"

Unfortunately, by the time Clemont realized this, it was already too late,

A large amount of foam fell on Diggersby's head, completely submerging it, and it fell back to the ground.

Greninja landed gracefully,

"Feel my Waveguide well, use Waveguide Blast!"

Blue Waveguide Power surged from Ash's body, converging onto Greninja, while also transmitting Ash's experience using Waveguide Blast,

Receiving this powerful Waveguide,

After a brief moment of confusion, Greninja's eyes suddenly turned sharp,

Both hands gathered at the right waist, a azure-blue energy ball began to condense,

Unlike the soccer-ball-sized Waveguide Blast,

The Waveguide Blast that Greninja, having received Ash's Waveguide, rubbed out even reached an astonishing diameter of one meter.

"Quickly use Dig!" Clemont exclaimed anxiously.

Breaking free from its stiff state, Diggersby immediately obeyed, jumping up, flipping in midair, its ears turning into drills, its body spiraling downward,

Having just burrowed underground only one meter,

Boom!

The one-meter-diameter huge Waveguide Blast suddenly fell, causing the entire battlefield to tremble violently, a dazzling column of light shot up, forming a small mushroom.

The shockwave kicked up sand and dust, blowing in all directions around.

Serena and Yurie quickly pressed one hand on their skirts and covered their faces with the other, turning their backs to the sand and wind,

Pikachu:?

I'm free?

Escaping Yurie's embrace, Pikachu was hit in the face by wind and sand, inevitably filled with resentment.

Turning back, he gave Yurie a white-eyed look at this little brat,

It seemed he needed to find a place to wash up; Serena thought to herself.

"So awesome!"

Clemont and Yurie both excitedly ran over to Ash, their excited gazes darting back and forth between Ash and Greninja,

"Strong and powerful, strong and powerful!"

Clemont exclaimed excitedly, his hands trembling,

"Ash, I've never seen such a huge Waveguide Blast before; is this the difference between a Waveguide user and an ordinary person?"

"Croak~"

Greninja also wore a look of shock,

At a loss, he lowered his head to examine his own hands, unable to believe that attack just now was his own.

"In fact, being able to do this isn't just because of me."

Ash explained, "This Greninja has also awakened its Waveguide, which is why it went so smoothly."

"Huh?" Serena looked bewildered, "Isn't Waveguide exclusive to Riolu and Lucario?"

"That's not the case," Clemont pushed up the glasses on his nose,

He said: "I've done some rough research; according to several papers, all living beings possess Waveguide, only differing in strength."

When strong enough, it can be called awakened; this Greninja appears to be a prodigy of extraordinary talent.

"Croak?"

Suddenly being praised like this, Greninja's light-blue cheeks on both sides suddenly flushed red,

At the same time,

【Mission Complete, Trait Enhancement in Progress……Enhancement Complete】

The system's prompt rang in Ash's mind,

At the same time, the data panel for Greninja in front of Ash also underwent some changes,

【Pokémon】: Greninja (♂)

【Ability】: Bond Phenomenon 1 (When the Ninja Frog and Trainer are present, Bond Phenomenon can be activated to enter Bond Form)

【Level】: lv8

【Skill】: Pound, Cry, Bubble, Aura Sphere

It leveled up and also learned Aura Sphere,

Its individual learning aptitude and growth speed are indeed outstanding,

What also pleases Ash is that, after the Ability enhancement, the Bond Evolution is no longer as unstable as before,

At the same time, Ash curiously looked toward the new enhancement mission and the second-stage enhancement preview,

【Can Be Enhanced】

【Ability】: Bond Transform 2 (When Greninja and the Trainer are present, Bond Evolution can occur; defeating an opponent raises Attack, Special Attack, and Speed by one stage, triggering only once per battle)

【Enhancement Mission】: Defeat Zihu or Kasumi or Adam or Jixian or Xizi Yi or Lulina or Haidai; defeating any one of them completes the mission;

This integrates the Bond Transform effect from the Scarlet/Violet revision into the existing Bond Transform,

Interesting,

The third-stage enhancement wouldn't be removing the suffix "trigger only once per battle," would it?

Defeating an opponent triggers both Attack and Speed +1,

Even overconfidence feels inferior,

Moreover, regarding the second-stage enhancement mission, Ash also noticed several clues,

First, the people on this list are basically Water-type Trainers, and most of them are Gym Leaders,

As expected,

The hard requirement for the second-stage enhancement mission is to challenge a Gym Leader of the same type as the Pokémon,

In reality, others lack the system, so naturally they cannot see the Pokémon's exact level,

Roughly, Pokémon are divided into three stages: Gym Leader level, Elite Four level, Champion level,

Needless to say, Elite Four and Champions are the top-tier strength among Trainers,

Whereas Gym Leader level is different,

Depending on the number of badges held, they are further divided into 1 to 8 stars,

Before a battle, Gym Leaders usually ask how many badges the challenger has; in fact, they are inquiring about the challenger's strength to set an appropriate difficulty level for the assessment.

It's just unclear whether the system's second-stage enhancement mission refers to any Gym Leader from 1 to 8 stars, or only defeating an 8-star Gym Leader of level 70+ counts.

"The little brat is acting like a dumb Meowth!"

"Great opportunity!"

"Attack!!"

Seeing Ash reveal a thoughtful expression,

The Trio of Team Rocket seemed to smell blood like a shark,

Meowth pulled out a black hexagon from somewhere, flung it at Pikachu, forming an energy net in midair,

"Pikachu, Flash!"

Ash's voice softly spoke,

The bond formed over time let Pikachu instinctively follow Ash's command and move,

Its body burst with a large amount of white light, lunging forward swiftly and nimbly,

Whoosh!

Like a beam of white light, it left the capture range of the energy net.

Thud!

The energy net, having lost its target, instantly retracted; the neat black hexagon box fell not far from Serena's and Clemont's backpacks,

"Who?"

Suppressing the laughter in his Mind, Ash feigned ignorance and asked,

"Since you asked sincerely,"

"then we will graciously tell you,"

"To prevent the world from being destroyed,"

"To protect world peace,"

"To carry out love and truth's evil,"

While Musashi and Kojiro were still reciting their lines and striking poses,

Ash mischievously took out a Great Ball, threw it straight at Meowth who was ready to receive the line, and said, "Go, Poké Ball."