After dawn, Professor Alden embedded four more gems into the stone pillars in the stone chamber.
They saw that the stone pillar also emitted a white light under the sunlight. This white light actually flowed from the stone pillar to the mural. Then the stone pillar moved forward, revealing a staircase that led them even further down.
"What is this?"
Seeing this scene, the three people's eyes suddenly lit up. Professor Alden's eyes flashed with heavy excitement, "Let's go down and take a look at it!"
Going further down the stairs, they entered a large underground cave with an underground river flowing through it. "There is a whole underground tiver in this place. I wonder where it flows to!" May comments.
The environment here is a bit like the underground cave inhabited by the Omanyte Clan that Ash had seen previously in Ruins of Alph, but this one is also slightly more different than that. The water here seems to be connected to some place where it is filled with the heavy smell of salt.
"It smells like salty sea water!" Ash smelled the salt and concluded that is must be connected to the ocean.
Suddenly, a big, not so good looking fish jumped out of the water. This was a Relicanth, known as a Pokémon that are able to live a long time by the Pokémon research community!
"The Oldale Ruins is indeed a door connecting ancient times to the modern times!" Professor Alden's eyes flashed with happiness. He had been studying the Oldale Ruins for a very long time now and now he was finally able to solve the mystery surrounding this place.
Ash quickly took out his Pokémon Pokédex and took a photo of the Relicanth while it was still up. He can send this photo to Professor Oak, and maybe he can get something from Professor because of this.
As night came and passed, Ash and everyone else recovered to their best state.
Ash took May and set off again. The next destination was the city where May came from, Petalburg City.
There is also a Pokémon Gym there, the Petalburg City Gym is a Normal-type Gym, and also Ash's first goal to beat in the Hoenn Region!
"Are you really going to challenge the Petalburg City Gym?"
After arriving in Petalburg City, May has arrived at her home, and Ash has also completed his task of accompanying May home safely, so now the two are about to say their goodbye.
"Of course, for me to participate in the Hoenn Regions Ever Grande Conference, I need to collect at least eight official Gym Badges. So now if I win the Petalburg City Gym, I can get the Badge of the Petalburg City Gym without having to come back here, right?" This is the main mission of Ash during his current journey.
"I guess you're right!" Ash's firm eyes seemed to have infected May in some shape or form.
Ash looked at May, "Have you not decided on your goal yet?"
Before May could answer, Ash chuckled and said, "There is no need to force yourself to decide your future goals so quickly! May, the meaning of travel lies in the experience you get from it. You will slowly understand what you want during your journey. At that time, you can decide which direction you would like to go towards!"
"Before that, all you have to do is take good care of and train your Pokémon, and create a stronger bond with your Pokémon!" This is the most important advice Ash gave to May as her senior.
Hearing this, May seemed less embarrassed about her situation and gradually relaxed in front of him, "Ash, thank you, I will remember your words!"
With that said, she took Ash to the Petalburg City Gym, "I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave now. See you later!"
"Yeah. Bye for now, May!" Ash also gave her a brief hug knowing that they will meet again in less than a hour.
The entrance to the Petalburg City Gum is cert low-key. If it weren't for the Hoenn Region Gym sign hanging at the door, Ash would have thought it was just a large but overall ordinary family house.
Fortunately, with May leading the way, Ash did not have to spend some time searching and wasting his time.
But after entering the door, he can feel the grandeur inside, "Hello, I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I am here to challenge your Gym!"
After calling out for a few seconds, no one answered his voice. Ash subconsciously noticed a little boy looking over at him with a very annoyed expression on his face.
"It's so noisy. I was just finishing watching up the Silver Conference video for the 7th time, and now someone came to interrupt my good time!" This kid is about the same age as Molly, maybe a few moths older at max. He wore glasses and looks very 'intelligent'!
Ash has trained Molly to be a perfect girl who wouldn't look at boys, at least for now. In the future it can change but definitely not anytime soon.
But when the little boy saw Ash standing over here, he was immediately surprised. He pointed at Ash and his Pikachu and yelled out, "It's you, you are the champion of the Johto Region Silver Conference! Ash Ketchum!"
"Is this the super powerful Pikachu of you? It defeated two of Harrison's Pokémon at once without breaking a sweat. And you got off to an amazing start because of this!" The kid actually picked up Pikachu without permission and rubbed his cheek with it.
"My name is Max, nice to meet you !"
His movements were neither light nor fun, and Pikachu didn't like this very much so he began to get annoyed. Ash reached over and used a little force to free Pikachu from Max's clutches.
Max didn't care about this, and looked at Ash with pure admiration, "I have watched the live broadcast of your battles in the Silver Conference, and even recorded it so I can watch it several times! Ash, you are really amazing. None of those Trainers were your Rivals!"
"Also, in the final match of the tournament, you actually took out you Legendary Eon Pokémon Latios. That was really amazing. This is the first time I have ever seen a Legendary Pokémon!"
This kid started chatter around with an unusual look on his face.
To be honest, if this was a girl instead, Ash is willing to be patient for them, but this guy is very taxing on him.
Ash quickly waved his hand and interrupted him, "Max, I am traveling in the Hoenn Region now and want to challenge the Petalburg City Gym. You should be from here. Do you know where the Gym Leader is right now? "
Unexpectedly, the child suddenly turned around and said with a proud look, "That's me! I am the Gym Leader of the Petalburg City Gym!"
Ash's mouth twitched, "Kid, do you know how badly I beat up the last person who pretended to be a Gym Leader in front of me?"
"Uh..." Max's movements stopped for a moment and then a smile suddenly appeared on his face.
Ash was talking of course about the little girl from Olivine City Gym. Of course Ash would criticize her not only because she pretended to be a Gym Leader, but also because she cheated by applying waterproof wax on her Onix's body.
"Hey, Max, what are you making all this fuss about?" At this time, May stuck her head out of the window.
"May?"
Then May and Max's mom and dad, the real Gym Leader Norman, and his wife Caroline appeared next to May, "Welcome, Ash!"
Apparently May has already told Norman and Caroline about Ash and their time together.
Ash knew that May was the child of the Petalburg City Gym Leader so he wasn't all that surprised but still acted like he was because he wasn't supposed to know this at all.
May never thought of hiding it from Ash. The five of them sat down and she introduced everyone to him, "These are my parents, and this is my little brother, Max!"
"Our dad is the Gym Leader of the Petalburg City Gym!" It was obvious that Max heavily admired his father, and then he turned to look at his sister, "May, you are so awesome, you even got the Silver Conference Champion to give to come visit our home!"
"Silver Conference Champion?" May seemed to remember where she had met Ash, "I remembered, Max and I watched the live broadcast of the Silver Conference. Ash, you were the champion of Silver Conference, no wonder you are so awesome! I hadn't even noticed that you were him, haheha." She continued on with an awkward laugh.
"May, you are too slow!"
Caroline smiled and said, "Ash, thank you very much for escorting May back here safely! And you also don't have to worry about the bicycle!"
Norman also said, "Professor Birch has contacted me. The damage is not serious. He will repair it soon and send it over to us!"
It seems that May explained to them what happened in Littleroot Town beforehand.
She also told her parents about the advices Ash gave her, and got their approval. This is why the two them were so polite to Ash without even knowing him personally.
Hearing this, Ash breathed a sigh of relief, "That's great, I have to thank him the next time!"
————————————————————
If you guys like this story, don't forget to leave a good review.
5 stars please 🙏.
"May, what Pokémon did you get from Professor Birch?" Norman asked with concern. Receiving their Starter Pokémon is of great significance to a Trainers development no matter what position they are in.
"Yeah, May, what Pokémon did you chose?" Max was also very curious and envied that his sister was finally old enough to get a Pokémon and become a real Trainer.
After coming all the way here, the Bond Value between May and Torchic has gradually increased. She took out her Poké Ball and said, "Come out, Torchic!"
"Ah... you got is Torchic. I think Treecko is much cooler than Torchic!" Max just lay down in front of Torchic, saying something bad about it.
These words almost made Ash want to cover his face, he really deserves a good lesson, he is really so shameless!
Sure enough, after hearing this, Torchic couldn't bear it inside of him. He immediately pecked him until Max began to beg for mercy, and he even jumped on him and stepped on his face hard.
Even May's parents ignored him and instead invited Ash, "Ash, do you want to have lunch with us?"
Food is a must for him, Ash quickly agreed to them, "Okay, thank you, Auntie!"
The food prepared by Caroline was very delicious, it felt like he was still at his home. "Ash, are you traveling out all the time?"
"Yes, I have already been to many places, and now I just began my journey into the vast Hoenn Region!" Ash replied while holding a sandwich in has hand.
"It must be amazing to travel to so many place at such a young age!" Caroline could see that Ash was very reliable form the aura he was radiating off of him, and in such a short journey, May had already learned a lot from of the basics from him. She really hoped that Ash and May could travel together and build up a bond.
If this is the case, she and her husband can be rest assured knowing that they put their daughter with someone trust worthy.
Ash smiled and said, "I have always traveled with my friends before, and I also have Pikachu and my other Pokémon's that accompany me all the time!"
"That must be fun. I'm so envious that you can travel with yours friends while I can't even go out!" Max always murmured something to himself when Ash was talking, and now he was even trying to get closer to Ash's Poké Balls.
Ash glanced at him and said, "How can I help you?"
No one in the family paid attention to Max's shenanigans. May looked at her dad and said, "Dad, Ash is here to challenge the Gym, but he has only just arrived in the Hoenn Region."
Hearing this, Norman asked Ash, "Ash, the rules of the Petalburg City Gym are three versus three. Since you are the Champion of the Silver Conference, how about teleporting the previous Pokémon?"
Ash was almost full and nodded, "I have the same idea, but Mr. Norman, I hope that after I capture new Pokémon in Hoenn, I can come back here to challenge you again to test my training limits!"
"Okay, I'm always here for a good challenge from you!" Norman agreed without any hesitation.
Ash now has his Pikachu and Dratini by his side, so he went to the Pokémon Center to teleport his Tyrouge and his Phanpy to him.
Originally, when Ash set out for Hoenn, he had thought about taking them with him.
But after all, since they had to take a long boat ride, and there is no chance for them to train on the boat. It is better to leave them in the backyard of the Laboratory and let his Annihilape, Rhyperior and Tyranitar train them for their upcoming evolution, more so Phanpy than Tyrouge because he still hasn't decided to evolve yet.
"Wow, big bro, you have a lot of Pokémon!" When Ash hung up the phone and turned around with his two newly added Poké Balls in his hands, he saw Max's envious eyes.
"Who is your big brother? I'm not your big brother!" Ash didn't even have the patience to pay attention to him anymore.
He returned to the Gym and got ready to challenge Norman immediately.
"Okay then Ash, let's start our battle, this is my first Pokémon!" According to the rules of the Gym Challenge, Norman has to go first, "Come out, Slakoth!"
Slakoth can be said to be one of the more famous Normal-type Pokémon's in the Hoenn Region. Its final evolved form, Slaking, has a Species Strength that surpasses that of many mythical beast, although it is only in game and does not reflect into this real world, it is still a very powerful Pokémon among the regulars. However, due to its atrocious ability, it has to wait a turn every time it hits, making it very hard to use compared to other better options.
And it just happens that Norman's Trump Card is also a Slaking, which is enough to prove his power!
The Slakoth in front of him didn't look like he had the will to fight, and his eyes were very sleepy, but Ash didn't dare to underestimate him.
"Stand by for battle, Phanpy!" Ash didn't plan to let Pikachu battle this much weaker Slakoth, so the first Pokémon he sent out was his young Phanpy!
"Wow, it's so cute!" May and Caroline were immediately fascinated by Phanpy's cute appearance.
"Let's roll, Rollout!" As soon as he entered the battel, Ash became more serious. Phanpy is now receiving some basic training from his Tyranitar and his newly evolved Rhyperior these past few days, and because of this, his Rollout attack is getting more sharper!
Norman frowned when he saw Ash using this trick.
But he didn't give the order and let his Slakoth sway his body to avoid Phanpy's Rollout. The longer the Rollout attack lasts, the more powerful it becomes and he didn't want that to happen.
"Slakoth, use the Shadow Ball!"
So he then launched an attack and hit Phanpy to disrupt its Rollout form increasing its power too much. In order to make up for the lack of speed, both the timing and angle of the attack had to be very precise, which shows Norman's training ability. Training such a lazy Pokémon into this obviously takes a lot of effort from its Trainer.
"Move out of the way!"
Ash gave a slight grin to it. Phanpy's Rollout was trained under Rhyperior's large Rock Throws. It can now avoid boulders falling from the sky when he is in the middle of his Rollout. How can such a slow Shadow Ball hit him?
"Big brother and his Phanpy are so cool, he just avoided that Shadow Ball from dads Slakoth like it was nothing!" Max said in deep admiration when he saw Ash still looking like he was at such ease when facing the person he admired the most.
"Max, why do you call Ash your big brother?" May beside him asked confused as they haven't even known each other for more than a couple hours.
"I decided to call him my big brother because he is strong. From now on, he will be my goal to surpass and then dad!"
After hearing Max's words, Caroline smiled happily.
Rollout was constantly being avoided by the Slakoth using his strange moving ability, but he is always able to maintain it, even if by barley, even though Phanpy was getting faster and faster, and more and more powerful.
"Mr. Norman, this Slakoth of your is very well-trained and uses its own characteristics to full power."
It can work so many times because of its reaction speed, but how many times can it be avoided with the increasing speed?
As Ash said, Norman had to change his tactics, "Slakoth, use Hidden Power!"
Several white energy light balls circled towards Phanpy. It was indeed difficult to avoid, but there was no need to avoid it when you could just take it!
Rollout, which has accumulated a large amount of power, attacked directly towards Norman's Slakoth. After activating such a skill, it was absolutely impossible for Slakoth to make any of his evasive actions. Now his his speed and reaction speed was in its weakest point!
"Go ahead, Phanpy!"
Ash has full confidence in his Phanpy!
Now it's a head-to-head encounter. He wanted to see whether or not his Phanpy's Rollout would be defeated by the Hidden Power first, or whether or not Slakoth is knocked down by Phanpy's Rollout!
Boom!
Hidden Power exploded on Phanpy, but it failed to ultimately stop Rollout. It rushed out of the smoke and hit the Slakoth hard!
Suddenly the Slakoth fell to the ground and lost his ability to fight!
————————————————————
Leave me a good review, thanks.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT