Entering through his own hotel room balcony, Ash returned quietly without alerting anyone.
Gary, Green, and Clarissa had no idea he had gone out earlier that night.
In fact, none of them truly understood the full extent of Ash's psychic abilities.
They only knew that his powers could help Pokémon learn moves, heal injuries, and store items, and that every night he would spend two fixed hours meditating.
But in reality, helping Pokémon learn moves and item storage were functions of the Ascension Trainer System.
Healing injuries was merely one of the four applications of Viridian Power.
And the two hours of nightly meditation Ash performed every evening were actually dedicated to cultivating Aura Power.
Whether it was the system he possessed, or the dual powers of Viridian and Aura—
Both were far more versatile and terrifying than the people around him imagined.
But Ash had no intention of explaining everything in detail.
After all, everyone had secrets they preferred not to share.
No matter how close people were, there still needed to be personal privacy.
Especially a secret like the system—
Something absolutely nobody else could ever know.
Ash intended to keep it buried deep inside forever.
By the time today's Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest ended, it was already nine at night.
Then after returning to the hotel, Ash had ridden Pidgeot through the skies for another two hours to conduct his Aura meditation training.
By the time he finally completed today's cultivation session, it was already past eleven.
Returning to the hotel room, Ash went into the bathroom and took a quick shower.
He didn't even bother brushing his teeth properly—
He simply tilted his head back beneath the showerhead, took a mouthful of water, rinsed casually, and called it done.
After bathing, he climbed into bed while hugging Pikachu.
Greninja sat silently leaning against the bedside.
Meanwhile, Pidgeot and Fearow squeezed together onto the sofa, while Valor and Lumina each returned to their own glass fish tanks to rest.
Outside the window—
The dark blue-black night sky merged seamlessly with the ocean horizon.
Moonlight and night intertwined together, rich like strong tea and intoxicating like fine wine, creating a scene even more mesmerizing than a sky filled with stars.
…
The night passed quietly.
The next morning arrived.
As usual, Ash woke early and headed out with all of his Pokémon for morning training by the seaside.
Because they had competitions during the daytime, this single hour in the morning was the only available training time today.
Of course, Ash could have simply brought Magikarp and Feebas to the contest while letting Pikachu, Greninja, Pidgeot, and Fearow train on their own.
But after thinking about it, he decided not to push them too hard.
This trip to Cerulean City could simply count as a vacation for Pikachu and the others.
After all, every one of them was still very young—
Still at the playful stage of life.
Besides, with the support of the Ascension Trainer System, their strength had already been increasing at astonishing speed.
And for now, Team Rocket didn't pose much danger.
As long as, four years later, when he officially began traveling at age ten and completely severed ties with Team Rocket, his four first-string ace Pokémon could all reach Champion-Class strength—
Then, combined with Professor Oak's Champion-level Charizard left behind as his personal bodyguard, along with Ash's Viridian Power ability, Will Empowerment, unless Giovanni personally took action himself, Team Rocket would essentially have no way of dealing with him.
After all, in just two or three short months, Pikachu, Greninja, and the others had already broken into the Red Potential strength tier.
Reaching Elite Four-Class in four years?
Ash was extremely confident about that.
Not only because he believed in the talents of his Pokémon—
But also because he had confidence in his own abilities and talent.
After breakfast, Misty and her three sisters arrived punctually at the hotel entrance in their convertible sports car and drove everyone to the venue for the Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest—
The city swimming stadium.
Outside the entrance passageway, the number of spectators waiting to enter today was just as massive as yesterday.
The crowd stretched endlessly in every direction, noisy and bustling with excitement.
Compared to that, after over 80% of contestants had been eliminated yesterday, the contestant entrance side felt far emptier today.
Even the contestant waiting hall—where everyone had spent the entire previous day—now seemed much more spacious and quiet.
Of course, as all the spectators gradually entered and the 120 advancing contestants took their places, the atmosphere inside the waiting hall quickly became heated once again.
Unlike yesterday's competition—
Where contestants simply performed and the audience voted, advancing if they passed the required vote threshold—
Today's advancement round would be completely different.
The remaining 120 contestants would be randomly divided into groups of three, forming forty separate groups.
Then, contestants within each group would directly compete against one another.
Only the contestant with the best overall result in each group could advance into the semifinals.
Because of the new format, a faint sense of competitive hostility had now appeared between contestants inside the waiting hall.
The earlier atmosphere of emptiness and calm instantly disappeared.
"A beautiful new day has begun once again! Dear 5,000 audience judges and our 120 contestants who successfully advanced into Round Two—are you all ready to welcome a brand-new stage of competition?!"
As the new day's matches were about to begin, Daisy, Violet, and Lily appeared once again as hosts.
Dressed in charming and sexy bikini outfits, the three sisters stood atop the diving platforms above the Water Cube arena under the focused gaze of all 5,000 spectators and 120 contestants.
"WAAAHHHH—!!"
The moment the three sisters appeared, thunderous cheers instantly erupted throughout the arena.
"Thank you, thank you everyone! It seems everyone is really looking forward to today's competition!"
"In that case, without further delay, let the matches begin immediately!"
"Next is the drawing for the second-round advancement matches."
"The 120 contestants who advanced will be randomly divided by computer into groups of three and compete within their respective groups."
"Only the contestant ranked first in their group will qualify for the semifinals!"
"Now then—the drawing begins!"
Following Daisy, Violet, and Lily's announcement, a giant holographic display screen appeared inside the stadium.
The profile cards of all 120 advancing contestants immediately began rapidly shuffling across the screen.
Very quickly, the grouping draw concluded.
Gary: "I'm contestant number 25, Group 09."
Misty: "I'm number 46, Group 16."
Ash: "I'm number 04, Group 02."
Clarissa: "I'm number 37, Group 14."
Looking at the electronic display showing the results, Ash and the others quickly found their own contestant cards and announced their numbers and groups.
Fortunately—
None of the four had been assigned into the same group.
The internal clash they had worried about earlier hadn't happened.
As a result, all four of them quietly let out relieved sighs.