"Holy—That's insane!"
"No way! That was really Pikachu? That final attack straight-up changed the weather!"
"Coincidence, coincidence! It has to be a coincidence!"
"Yeah, yeah! Just a coincidence!"
A group of Trainers reacted in shock while desperately trying to come up with excuses.
At that moment—
Messages popping up in the chatroom shattered their illusions.
[Lance: Hahaha! That scene was incredibly inspiring! A rookie Trainer should have that kind of spirit! Especially when he said, "I'm Ash from Pallet Town! The future world's greatest Pokémon Master!"—that was absolutely electrifying! Even I got fired up!]
[Bruno: Exactly! Young people should have dreams and courage like that! If you're too timid to even say your dreams out loud, you'll never achieve them!]
[Diantha: That's enough, you two. Not every rookie Trainer is like Ash. Courage and determination are important, yes—but Ash clearly lacks basic Pokémon knowledge and battle fundamentals.]
[Diantha: Ash, you need to work hard. We're all looking forward to the day, within twenty years, when you can stand before us and challenge us properly.]
[Alder: Heh! I wouldn't be so sure. That boy looks like the passionate, instinctive type. It might not even take him that long.]
Just as the Champions and Elite Four from different regions were about to start arguing over how long it would take Ash to reach their level—
The ordinary Trainers in the chat fell completely silent.
What could they even say?
Claim that within twenty years, they could reach the level of these Champions and Elite Four members?
Stand before them and challenge them head-on?
No, no, no!
They couldn't!
They had a very clear understanding of their own abilities.
Reaching that level?
Impossible.
They were just ordinary Trainers!
Shivering intensifies.
At the same time—
Trainers all over the world finally realized something.
Ash was a Trainer with immense potential!
Even Champions and Elite Four members held high expectations for him!
Jealousy…
Alright.
There was definitely some jealousy.
After all, the strength Ash had shown so far wasn't enough to silence everyone.
Some people couldn't help but wonder—
Was Ash really that amazing?
Why did these Champions think so highly of him?
They just couldn't understand it!
One such person was a certain boy.
With a resentful expression, he muttered,
"If I were old enough to go out on a journey, I'd definitely be stronger than him!"
"It's just a Pikachu!"
"My goal is to catch every Pokémon in the world!"
"And finally—Mew!"
"Once I get Mew, I'll become the strongest Pokémon Master in the world!"
"Ash, Champions—none of them will be my match!"
He boldly declared his ambitions.
…
The scene shifted.
The camera moved away from Ash and Pikachu smiling at each other—
And rose into the sky.
Faintly—
Everyone could see a figure flying closer, wings beating steadily.
But before they could make it out clearly—
The image abruptly cut off.
Everyone: ???
What was that supposed to mean?
Could it be…
After dealing with the Spearow, another Pokémon was about to attack Ash?
For example…
A Fearow?
Many people had the same thought.
After all—
That many Spearow clearly formed a flock.
And to lead such a flock—
Wouldn't it make sense for there to be a Fearow?
Looking at the injured Ash and Pikachu—
The excitement everyone had just felt was instantly doused, like cold water poured over their heads.
If a Fearow really showed up now…
Could Ash and Pikachu even survive this "beginner stage"?
And more importantly—
What kind of hellish difficulty was this beginner stage?!
The difficulty level was absurdly high!
Even Misty, who used to think Ash's Gym Badges were mostly handed to him—
Now felt that this "beginner stage" was completely outrageous.
It even made her start to wonder—
Could it be… that Ash's later Gym challenges seemed so smooth, and he kept receiving badges so easily…
Because he had used up all his luck surviving this insane beginning?
As she thought about it, the way Misty looked at Ash became more and more complicated.
Ash, completely confused: ???
"Misty, is something wrong with your eyes?"
"Why are they twitching like that?"
Ash asked bluntly.
Misty turned her head away.
Worrying about Ash had clearly been unnecessary.
Seeing how perfectly fine he was now—
There was absolutely no need to worry about him at all!