Chapter 7

Not far from here.

For some reason, Misty felt a bit sour in her heart.

It was as if something belonging to her was suddenly about to be stolen.

She had thought she was the first to know Ash.

Who would have thought this guy hooked up with another girl when he was only a few years old!

Unbelievable!

Unforgivable!

"Bang!"

"Ah! Misty, why did you hit me!"

Suddenly struck, Ash was utterly confused; he was clearly about to remember who Serena was!

Just then.

The image in the light curtain in the sky suddenly froze.

Lines of text floated within the light curtain.

[Surge! The Deity Who Commands the Storm! The Beginning of the Legendary Path, the Start of All!]

[Battle! Lugia VS Pikachu!]

???

What the heck is this!

How dare Pikachu do this!

…….

【Long Du: Damn! Lugia! And VS Pikachu? Can Pikachu handle that? That's a god!】

【Cynthia: Lugia possesses destructive power capable of blowing away houses with a mere flap of its wings.

Legend says that due to its overwhelming abilities, it can only quietly pass the time at the bottom of the deep sea.

It holds the astonishing power to quell raging oceans, is a Pokémon revered as the Sea God, and is said to appear whenever storms arise.】

【Archie: Does this even deserve the title of Sea God! Only Master Groudon is the true Sea God! Lugia is just a heretic that doesn't even use Water-type moves!】

【Long Du: Refuse to drag others down. Don't force me to enforce the law across regions!】

【Brock: Haha, here we go again, the League Investigator warning!】

【Roark: Sea God! The screen can't be wrong, that's a god. Using Pikachu to challenge a god, isn't this a joke!】

【Leon: Well, listening to Champion Cynthia's explanation, Lugia is indeed very powerful. The screen probably won't be wrong; perhaps this is just Ash's special trait.】

【Steven: Mr. Leon makes a reasonable point. Let's just keep watching.】

After Steven's reminder, everyone turned their gaze back to the screen.

They also wanted to see how this mismatched battle would unfold.

Could... a human defeat a god?

Moreover, everyone was even more curious about Ash!

So far, the image Ash has shown is just that of an ordinary hot-blooded youth.

Perhaps those championship trophies and badges are glorious enough, but that's all they are.

Compared to a god, these honors are simply insignificant.

That is a god.

Among all the Leagues worldwide, only a handful can battle a god.

The only one not standing at the world's peak.

But can anyone really manage to battle a super-tier Legendary like Lugia with Pikachu?

That's too exaggerated!

This can only be described as magical!

【Question: What is the relationship between Ash and Lugia?】

【A: Rivals】

【B: Best Friends】

【C: Casual Acquaintances】

【D: Strangers】

【Everyone has 30 seconds to think. After 30 seconds, the rapid-fire round begins. The first 4 to answer correctly will gain the right to answer.】

【Each person can choose only one option. If someone chooses the same option as another during the rapid-fire round, the live stream will randomly assign them to a different option.】

【Countdown 29】

【28】

【27】

【...】

A single stone stirs a thousand waves.

Everyone, who had been discussing Pikachu versus Lugia, was momentarily stunned.

The sudden question caught them off guard.

What relationship does Ash and Lugia have?

Isn't that obvious!

Except for the relationship of strangers, could a 10-year-old boy possibly be best friends with the Sea God Lugia?

Isn't this purely an easy question?

30 seconds is enough time for them to think.

【Brock: If you ask me, this question is purely an easy one. Could Lugia possibly know Ash?】

【Misty: That's not necessarily true. Ash once had a brief encounter with Lugia in the Orange Islands.】

【Gary: Hah, this old man is laughing. Ash, your side really has such a useless teammate, exposing the correct answer directly like that!】

【Lorelei: The correct answer is~】

【Brock: It's C! Definitely C!】

【Lorelei: Not bad, not bad. You stone-brain actually managed to answer quickly.】

【Roark: Hey, why C? Shouldn't it be D? Even for casual acquaintances, both parties must know each other. A brief encounter doesn't count as casual acquaintance.】

【Brock: You make a lot of sense. So should we choose C or D?】

At this moment.

Deep in the mountains, Brock, punching against a waterfall, fell into deep thought.

Coach, this question is too hard. I don't know it!

My head is itching; my brain is about to grow!

【2】

【1】

【Rapid-fire start】

The 30 seconds passed in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, the rapid-fire round arrived.

Almost everyone sent their chosen answer into the live comments immediately.

Dense rows of A, B, C, and D covered the entire light screen.

[Congratulations to Ash, Cynthia, Bruno, and Gary for successfully answering first.]

[Ash chose B; Bruno, Cynthia, and Gary all chose C.]

[Due to duplicate choices, the live broadcast room reassigns the options.]

[After reassignment, the results are: Cynthia A, Ash B, Gary C, Bruno D.]

[Bruno: It's settled! I didn't expect my luck to be this good; it seems Heaven itself wants me to choose D.]

[Long Du: No, have you lost your mind? The results haven't even been announced yet. How can you be sure you're definitely right?]

[Bruno: Long Du, you can't talk like that. The result we discussed was either D or C, and my answer was C, yet the broadcast room assigned me D. Don't you understand? I am the chosen one; this is absolutely the correct answer.]

[Steven: Wait, Elite Four Bruno, your words just fried my CPU.]

In the mountains.

Excited, Siebold punched the waterfall, halting its flow.

It seemed even heaven was looking out for him.

He truly looked forward to seeing the expressions on those people's faces when they witnessed him successfully receiving the reward.

The reward itself was unimportant to him.

If only he could see the envious looks in Koga's or Long Du's eyes.

Siebold was completely electrified with excitement!

However!

The very next second!

A notification in the live stream sent Siebold plunging into an ice-cold abyss.

[Congratulations to Ash for answering correctly. Reward: Electirizer.]

[Siebold: No! This is impossible! How could my analysis, after such deep consideration, be wrong!]

[Koga: Hah, classic. A serious analysis getting slapped in the face immediately. Just like you, Siebold!]

[Gary: Damn Ash, did you know the correct answer all along and just pretend not to say it?]

[Ash: How could I? I've only met Lugia once.]

[Gary: Then how do you explain why you alone chose the most correct answer directly?]

[Cynthia: Speaking of which, I'm curious too, Ash. What kind of charm allows you to become close friends with a Pokémon like the Sea God Lugia?]

[Diantha: Yes, tell us. I want to know too.]

[Ash: Actually, I don't know either. It was just my intuition. I felt I would definitely become best friends with Lugia!]

What the hell kind of intuition is that!

Everyone secretly scoffed in their hearts.

There's no such thing as intuition!

Silver Town.

As the quiz ended, a beam of golden light shot straight toward Ash.

Ash instinctively reached out and grabbed it.

The next moment, a tingling sensation spread through his entire body.

It was a familiar feeling!

Years of enduring electric shocks had already trained Ash to possess absolute defense against Electric-type moves.

The electricity inherent in the Electirizer was far from enough to pose a threat to him.

This tiny bit of electricity was less than a single strand of Pikachu's fur.

As the tingling in his arm subsided, Ash slowly opened his tightly closed hand.

Misty and Brock also came over at that moment.

There, resting in Ash's palm, was a golden sphere.

"So beautiful!" Misty gazed at the Electirizer glowing with a golden halo, speaking in a daze.

Girls, after all, always have zero resistance to shiny things.

I will make some modifications to the Journeys plot; it will not be exactly the same as the original.

Please forgive me!

That bastard Goh, I'm going to crush him hard!