I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 40 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
Minutes later, the leader Krabby was beaten black and blue, half its body buried in the mud, while the Krabby in front of Ash looked at its pincers in disbelief.
Even though he had defeated the leader Krabby, he still felt it was unreal.
He had simply followed the commands of the human behind him, and each attack landed on the leader Krabby's weakest points.
And that person seemed to have the ability to foretell the future; no matter how the opponent attacked, he could predict the attack route and precisely issue commands, allowing him to deliver a strong counterattack.
This monstrous level of command ability was the key to him winning against a stronger opponent.
"Kukakuka..." The leader Krabby took a while to recover, then flipped over from the beach, looking at Ash's Krabby with a complex expression as it spoke.
He no longer had his initial irritable demeanor; his manner of speaking now seemed somewhat calm.
It was clear that he had been impressed by Ash's Krabby's strength. Although the Trainer behind it accounted for most of the credit, Ash's Krabby's ability to trust and follow his commands, as well as its own considerable strength, were also key.
Therefore, the Krabby leader acknowledged Ash's Krabby as a Krabby of their Family.
This should have been a happy occasion. Ash also happily squatted down and said to Ash's Krabby, "That's great, your companion has acknowledged you. Go back to your Clan."
Ash's Krabby looked at the Clan opposite, then at Ash, and finally turned its entire body towards Ash, extending its large pincer: "Kukakuka!"
"You said you want to stay by my side? Ah... but..." Faced with Krabby's sudden request, Ash's face showed a hint of difficulty.
In fact, he already had many Pokémon on hand; even with regular rotations, it was hard to train them all.
After all, he needed to reserve a certain number of main Pokémon for training, while other Pokémon could only be trained as a second team. And for the second team, the training time would definitely be shorter. If he kept catching more, he would have a third team.
He was actually planning to have his current Pokémon train themselves after they reached Gym-level, and then focus on the second team.
That's why Ash had barely caught any Pokémon recently. Now that Krabby expressed a desire to follow him, it put Ash in a dilemma.
Frankly speaking, he quite liked this Krabby, mainly because of their high compatibility.
The fact that it would obey his commands so readily without being caught showed their Tacit Understanding and its closeness to him.
But if he caught it and couldn't train it, that would undoubtedly be irresponsible to Krabby!
"Don't make that face. It's not that I don't want to catch you, it's just that if I do, it might be a long time before I can swap you out for dedicated training. The rest of the time, you'll have to stay at Oak's Laboratory and do daily training with everyone else."
Seeing the sad expression on Krabby's face, Ash knew his actions had caused a misunderstanding, so he quickly explained.
Krabby's expression brightened at the words, and its large pincers waved excitedly.
It's okay — that was the thought Krabby wanted to express.
Ash thought for a moment, then finally took out a Poké Ball and placed it in front of Krabby: "Since you've said so, how can I refuse? Welcome to be my companion. Don't worry, although you might be neglected a bit at first, I will definitely train you to be the strongest Krabby, and even Kingler!"
"Kukakuka!" Krabby's pincer hit Ash's Poké Ball, and its entire body transformed into a beam of light, entering the Poké Ball. After the Poké Ball shook three times and made a click, it meant Ash had successfully caught Krabby.
"I caught Krabby!"
"Pikachu!!" Pikachu, who had watched the entire process from the side, had already prepared his posing action.
Head can be broken, blood can flow, but a pose must be struck!
"Kuka..." The leader Krabby, seeing that the little Krabby had been caught by a human, also showed a slightly lonely expression. In fact, if possible, he also wanted to become that human's Pokémon.
Not only because that human had a comfortable scent, but also because that human's skill in commanding Pokémon was extremely high!
Under that human's leadership, he could definitely become an unparalleled powerhouse in the Krabby Clan!
However, that little guy had gotten a head start... Alas.
Not long after Krabby was caught, the Poké Ball was teleported back to Oak's Laboratory. Ash then turned his gaze to Krabby's Clan, who, the moment Ash looked over, scurried away sideways with the Clan.
Misty and Brock walked up at this point, the former asking with a hint of worry, "Ash, that Krabby you caught looks malnourished. Does it really have some kind of physical defect?"
Judging purely by its appearance, that Krabby was indeed much smaller than a normal Krabby. Although it had defeated the leader Krabby with Ash's help, a Pokémon with a Trainer's command and one without were on two completely different levels.
Not to mention the commander was Ash. When facing wild Pokémon, as long as the difference wasn't a major tier, Ash's command level could generally compensate — limited to below Professional-level.
So, it was actually quite normal for a Trainer to command an ordinary Intermediate Krabby to defeat an ordinary Peak Krabby. This didn't prove that Krabby's skill level or its talent.
Ash, however, waved his hand and said, "No, he's very healthy, he just hasn't developed yet. Once he grows up, he'll be the strongest Krabby, Kingler, in the world!"
Ash spoke with great certainty. Besides having confidence in himself, he also had confidence in Krabby.
[Species: Krabby]
[Gender: Male]
[Level: Ordinary Intermediate]
[Type: Water]
[Ability: Sheer Force]
[Moves: Glare, Water Gun, Bubble Beam, Stomp...]
[Six-dimensional Stats: Physical Attack C (A) Special Attack D (B) Defense E (B) Special Defense D (C) HP B (A) Speed D (C)]
This was the data Ash first saw for Krabby. With two A-grades, it was already one in tens of thousands within the Clan, which indicated that Krabby had absolutely no problems with its aptitude.
Furthermore, although Krabby looked dull on the outside, it was actually very intelligent, otherwise it wouldn't have executed his commands so well.
On one hand, Krabby trusted him quite a bit; on the other hand, Krabby's brain could fully receive his commands.
So Ash believed that Krabby was simply a late bloomer, not physically flawed.
If there were flaws, they would be clearly reflected in the six-dimensional aptitudes.
And Krabby's HP was A-grade; no matter what part had a flaw, in terms of HP or physique, it absolutely should not have a flaw.
Seeing Ash so confident about Krabby, Misty stopped asking more questions. After all, Ash had special abilities, and every Pokémon he caught had incredibly high aptitudes and grew very quickly. So, when it came to catching Pokémon, Ash should have some tricks to discern a Pokémon's general condition.
Not only Misty realized this, Brock also realized it, but because this kind of thing happened to Ash, they had already gotten used to it.
After catching Krabby, Ash and the others arrived at Bill's Lighthouse and met the relatively young Dr. Zheng Hui.
Compared to Dr. Oak, Dr. Zheng Hui was indeed very young, even younger than Dr. Cerise.
He had vibrant green hair, following the current season's trend, and was not wearing a lab coat but a brown suit.
Overall, he looked like a young man in his twenties. To become a Doctor at such a young age could only be described as young and promising.
Upon seeing Ash and the others, Zheng Hui greeted them and then went straight to the point.
Sometimes, a slightly sorrowful cry would come from the sea. Zheng Hui observed with a telescope that it was a very large Pokémon, but there was heavy fog, so he couldn't clearly see its figure.
He analyzed that sound and created a similar sonar device to resonate with that mysterious Pokémon!
Some time ago, he finally created that device and used it to call that Pokémon.
However, as that Pokémon drew closer and closer, Zheng Hui felt an extremely terrifying sense of oppression.
His intuition told him that if that Pokémon arrived and didn't find its own kind, perhaps he, the original creator of the fake, would be the first to be punished by it.
Therefore, Zheng Hui sought help from Dr. Oak, hoping to have some protection by his side.
Dr. Oak, however, sent Ash. Zheng Hui had heard rumors about Ash, that he could contend with Elite-level Pokémon through special means. Although the internet was currently full of claims that Ash's past feats were fake, Zheng Hui believed that a student brought up by Dr. Oak would not do such a thing.
So, after hearing that Dr. Oak was sending Ash, Zheng Hui thought about it and agreed.
No matter what, a Trainer who could battle an Elite should be able to protect him, right?
"...That's the situation. Tell me when you're ready, and I'll use the device I made to call that Pokémon over. We must uncover the true identity of that Pokémon today!" Dr. Zheng Hui clenched his fists, his expression determined.
Ash and the others exchanged glances. Ash then said to Zheng Hui, "We're ready now, but Dr. Zheng Hui, you might need to step back a bit then. If that Pokémon gets agitated, we might not be able to stop it, especially since we don't know its true strength yet."
Zheng Hui nodded, indicating he understood. As for whether he would step back then, that would depend on Zheng Hui's trustworthiness... Afterwards, Zheng Hui first took everyone to dinner, then went directly to the cliff area of the Lighthouse and activated the device he had prepared.
As the device activated, cries also came from the misty sea.
Ash and the others' expressions all became serious, ready to confront the approaching powerful enemy at any moment.
As the figure drew closer, the sense of oppression emanating from it grew stronger.
Ash had already activated his Aura, sensing the opponent's Aura. The Pokémon's Aura was incredibly powerful, at least Elite-level, and not just any ordinary Elite.
Only when the Pokémon got closer did Ash's Eye of Insight take effect.
[Name: Dragonite (Ancient)]
[Gender: Female]
[Type: Dragon, Flying]
[Level: Elite Peak]
[Ability: Multiscale]
[Moves: Hyper Beam, Outrage, Dragon Rush, Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, Air Slash, Dragon Dance...]
[Six-dimensional Stats: Physical Attack A (A) Special Attack A (A) Defense S (S) Special Defense S (S) HP S (S) Speed A (A)]
Ancient... Dragonite?!
After clearly seeing the opponent's name, Ash's pupils suddenly constricted. That blurry silhouette could not be associated with the honest and simple Dragonite. Just by body size, this Dragonite was almost equivalent to a Gigantamaxed Pokémon from the Galar region.
However, the Gigantamax system could only be used in the Galar region; other regions couldn't Gigantamax.
So the reason for this Pokémon's large size should have nothing to do with so-called Gigantamax.
As the opponent drew closer, Ash also understood what it was calling out; it was calling for its companions.
Ancient Pokémon are almost extinct now. Since they are called ancient, for a Dragonite like this to still exist is already a stroke of luck for the Dragonite, let alone other Ancient Pokémon.
But this Dragonite was still longing to meet her companions. After hearing the special sound produced by Dr. Zheng Hui, she thought she could finally meet her companions, but as the distance grew shorter, the Ancient Dragonite saw nothing and sensed no trace of her companions.
Instead, she saw a few small figures standing on the edge of the cliff, with a machine beside them, emitting a sound similar to her companion's cry.
Seeing this situation, the Ancient Dragonite finally could no longer suppress the loneliness and sorrow in her heart, as well as the sadness of being deceived, and directly let her emotions erupt!
"Woooooo!!!" A deafening sound echoed across the entire coastline, and Bill's Lighthouse swayed precariously in the immense roar.
At this moment, Misty and the others finally clearly saw the giant Pokémon's figure.
"Dragon... Dragonite! This Pokémon is actually a Dragonite!" Brock shouted in disbelief. Misty and Zheng Hui also showed shocked expressions. Such a giant Dragonite was something they had never seen before.
With Dragonite's roar, the fog also dispersed, revealing Dragonite's full form. In terms of appearance, it was basically an enlarged version of Dragonite, but this Dragonite had some eerie black patterns on its body, giving people a chilling feeling.
Before everyone could react, the Ancient Dragonite punched down...