Chapter 98: 98. The Laps
It only took one morning to take a boat from Olivine City to Cianwood City.
Because the boat was relatively fast, Ash did not let Lapras out to swim with the group.
The first thing to do when they reached Cianwood City is, of course, go to Cianwood Pharmacy to get Ampharos' Secret Medicine.
"Here you go, this is the medicine you ordered!" The pharmacy owner handed the Secret Medicine to Janina personally.
Janina had to hurry up and catch the next boat back to Olivine City. If she is able to catch it on time, she could return back to Olivine City before evening, so that Ampharos could recover as soon as possible.
"Then we'll say goodbye here for now!" Misty said a little sadly. After a little while, she started to like this little girl.
Traveling is the process of constant encounters, constant separations, and constant reunions.
"After we get the Storm Badge at Cianwood Gym, we will go back to challenge Jasmine!" Ash said to her.
"It was fun to battle against you and your Onix. Can we battle against each other once again in the future, Janina?" Molly held Janina's hand and smiled. She and Janina had become good friends after their battles and now they are sad to see each other go the other way.
"Okay, it will be one-on-one", Molly, I won't lose to you next time!" She felt a little embarrassed to lose to someone her age despite being trained by a Gym Leader, then she looked at Ash, "Then I'll leave for now, good luck Ash!"
After bidding farewell to Janina, Ash and his group were about to go to Cianwood Gym when they heard some sounds coming from the beach area.
Curiously, they turned around and saw a burly middle aged man fighting with a Machoke, hand to hand!
Ash can also fight with Pokémon but the one's weaker than his own Pokémon's, the stronger ones requires the Pokémon to bring and item like Macho Brace, which restricts movement and restricts the use of certain skills.
Ash wondered how strong must this guy be to fight against Fighting-type Pokémon with bare hands?
The uncle flew up his leg with a strong and quick kick, but Machoke was easily able to dodge it. The two separated and he said, "Your fighting skills have improved a lot, Machoke!"
Hearing this, Ash nodded a little.
Yes, the training for Fighting-type Pokémon like Machoke is different from other Pokémon.
This is also the reason why Ash is willing to keep Scizor in that Jujutsu/Ninjitsu Academy. On the one hand, Scizor wants to learn it himself, but more importantly, he can exercise his power in a way that Ash couldn't teach.
It has all the qualities such as speed, but he cannot give it more professional skills that require experience.
And a Ninja's fighting type skills are perfect for Scizor!
The same is true for Fighting-type Pokémon like Machoke. It can exercise its body on its own, making its whole body is full of muscles, but the fighting skills cannot be understood by oneself.
If a physically strong Machoke who has never learned these things is to fight a physically weaker Machoke, it will most likely be the weaker Machoke that wins because of the technique and experience it has over the other one.
This is the importance of a Trainer, to be able to teach them the fighting techniques that suits them the best, the person in front of Ash should be a very experienced martial artist! In the same way, this should be the reason why the predecessor Ash left his newly caught Primeape to that con artist, Anthony.
Going through the memories of the old Ash led him to find how his mentalaliyy worked: He thought that this Anthony who had just retired recently and became a coach in the P1 competition, so that he could spend more time with his wife and children and also be able to train his Primeape. The old Ash still never called Primeape back even though it has been years. This is a thing that Luke didn't like.
It's a pity that Ash couldn't contact him for a while, so he has to ask Professor Oak. He believe there should be news about Primeape then.
While Ash was thinking so wildly when he suddenly saw that the uncle suddenly ordered Machoke to use the move "Submission" on him!
This is a one of the stronger attacks of the Fighting series, an extremely deadly watch when used correctly.
They saw Machoke standing on his head without mercy, using his legs to grip the uncle's neck, and then hugged his feet with his strong hands, and they rolled into a form and then jumped high!
Finally, the uncle was extremely exhausted and hurt after going that high, then he was suddenly thrown out by that Machoke!
"He will be hurt if he falls!" Brock exclaimed, he would be seriously injured even if he landed on the beach like this!
A bluish pink light flashed in Ash's eyes, and he lookef at the old man with his ability.
"Is this Psychic?" The uncle was very insightful and immediately recognized that the blue light that caught him was one of the abilities of a Psychic.
Then Ash slowly put him down and the group rushed over.
Unexpectedly, the uncle actually started crying. Even Machoke had tears in his eyes, "I'm so moved, I'm so moved that I can't help but crying!"
Molly walked over and said, "Uncle, although my brother saved you, you don't have to be so moved!"
Unexpectedly, the uncle suddenly looked at Machoke and said, "It's amazing. That attack of yours was so beautiful, Machoke!"
These two muscular men hugged each other and cried bitterly under the newly appeared sunset, keep in mind that this is not even noon yet. The scene was so irritating that they didn't dare to watch it.
Ash and his group were covered in sweat after seeing this, specially Ash! This reminded him too much of Youth and a certain duo wearing interesting clothings.
The uncle looked at Ash again, "Young man, were you the one who saved me just now? I didn't expect to meet a young man who can use Psychic after such a long time!"
"Thank you very much for saving me. Looks like you are carrying Pokémon. You are a Trainer, right? What is your name?"
He finally remembered to say thank you after all that.
"I am Ash from Pallet Town, this is Misty, Brock, Molly, Pikachu, and Meganium!" Ash introduced everyone to him.
"So, are you going to challenge the Cianwood City Gym?" The uncle's eyes seemed to detect everything, and his eyes were shining.
Ash nodded, "That's right!"
Then the weird uncle suddenly patted Ash's on the shoulder, "Then run 10 laps along this beach! Show me your YOUTH! YOUTH!" Looks like Ash jinxed himself.
Seeing that the uncle and Machoke were obviously alredy training together, Ash was a little confused, "Are you really going to run now?"
"You have to run!" He said with a determined attitude, "If you want to challenge the Cianwood City Gym, you have to run!'
Ash didn't need to hear anything else.
"Pikachu, let's go and do this!" Ash suddenly smiled, "Bring it on!"
"Pika!" Pikachu was a little reluctant, but still brought his Macho Brace along with him for the run.
There are not many opportunities for him to carry this thing because most of the time he is riding on Ash's shoulders, but this is the perfect time for it!
"Brother, come on!" Molly leaned on Misty and watched Ash run out with Pikachu!
This beach are itself is not that big or long, just average, so 10 laps is nothing to Ash. What's interesting is that this uncle also ran along.
On the first lap, the uncle could barely keep up with Machoke and Ash. After all, Ash had to wait for Pikachu, who brought his Macho Brace along with him.
Slowly, Pikachu got used to it and became faster.
"Pay attention to the sand!" Ash caught up with the uncle from behind and whispered beside him!
"Look how fast Ash is compared to him!" Brock, Misty and Molly couldn't help laughing when they heard the uncle yelling. Togepi was the one that looked having the most fun.
When he ran to their side, he said to him, "Uncle, Ash physique is almost that of a Pokémon, Psychic and Fighting! You really shouldn't run with him!!
"Watch out!"
This is Ash's fifth lap, surpassing his uncle by two laps!
"Don't be proud, kid! I just went soft on you this time!" No one even believed what the uncle said, not even his own Machoke.
"We have four more laps left!"
This is Ash's 6th lap, surpassing the uncle by three laps! He has having a great time.
"Why is this kid running so fast? Why is he getting faster and faster instead of slowing?" The uncle regretted this a little.
"Watch out!"
Ash's tenth lap was six laps ahead of this uncle, but he still hadn't stopped yet. He planned to finish as many laps as possible at the same time this guy finished his ten laps!
"You kid! You can stop! Stop! Machoke, keep running. I was injured just now, so I won't run anymore!" The uncle gave up quickly on the pretext of being injured. He must have been scared of Ash's speed.
Stopping, the man lay down on the beach, exhausted, sweating, and out of breath.
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Power Stones please. 🙏
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone