Ash was an Aura user.
That meant he possessed the qualifications necessary to learn Aura Sphere.
There was even a chance he could use the system's skill-copying function to directly acquire the move and, in the process, unlock the Skill Proficiency system for himself.
Of course, all of that remained speculation.
Even Ash himself couldn't say how likely it was to work.
Because of that, he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
What if the system couldn't teach him Aura Sphere?
What if he had to learn it entirely on his own?
More precisely—
How exactly was he supposed to master Aura Sphere as a human?
Finding another Aura user and asking them to teach him?
That was clearly unrealistic.
Not only were Aura users extraordinarily rare, but Ash didn't even know where to find one.
And even if he somehow managed to locate one, why would they teach him?
Perhaps they might agree to help him for free.
Perhaps they would accept payment.
Either way, Ash couldn't accept that approach.
The reason was simple.
He had no intention of revealing that he possessed Aura Power.
At least not at this stage.
Asking another Aura user for guidance would immediately expose his secret.
That option was out.
Which left only one path.
Self-study.
Unfortunately, as a human, Ash knew very little about the underlying principles behind Pokémon moves.
And Aura Sphere was a particularly rare move.
Very few people truly understood how it worked.
"So my next objective is clear."
"First, find a Pokémon that knows Aura Sphere and copy the move."
"Second, gather as much research material as possible regarding the principles behind Aura Sphere."
"Third, find a Pokémon that knows Aura Sphere and have it help me conduct research and teach me its understanding of the move."
Ash quickly organized his thoughts.
"The first and third tasks overlap anyway."
"No matter what, I need to find a Pokémon capable of using Aura Sphere."
Fortunately, while true Aura Pokémon were extremely rare, Pokémon capable of learning Aura Sphere were actually much more common.
Excluding Lucario—
And excluding Legendary Pokémon such as Mewtwo, Mew, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Magearna, which were currently far beyond his reach—
There were still plenty of ordinary Pokémon that could naturally learn Aura Sphere.
For example:
Togekiss.
Mienfoo.
Mienshao.
Clauncher.
Clawitzer.
Most of them could learn Aura Sphere naturally as they grew stronger.
Togekiss was nearly as rare as Lucario, so obtaining one—or even borrowing one—would be difficult.
But the others?
Ash actually had plenty of options.
Mienfoo and Mienshao were Pokémon native to the Unova region.
And through Professor Oak, Ash had already become acquainted with the renowned Unova researcher Professor Juniper.
The last time Pikachu learned Electroweb, Juniper had already helped him tremendously.
If he wanted to borrow a Mienfoo or Mienshao that knew Aura Sphere, it probably wouldn't be difficult.
Then there was Kalos.
Ash had even more connections there.
In fact, most of his close friends currently lived in Kalos.
Tierno.
Trevor.
Shauna.
His girlfriend Serena.
Through Trevor's connections, he had also met Trevor's cousin, Clemont, the Electric-type Gym Leader of Lumiose City.
Not to mention the many students he'd met during Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp.
While some of them weren't particularly close friends, they were still friendly acquaintances.
If Ash needed help with a reasonable request, most of them would gladly lend a hand.
Borrowing—or even remotely capturing—a Clauncher or Clawitzer wasn't likely to be a problem.
And those weren't his only resources.
Ash was already a household name throughout Kanto.
Even in neighboring regions, he had accumulated a considerable amount of fame.
As a rising star and prodigy trainer, he had an enormous fanbase.
If he mobilized those fans, finding a Pokémon that knew Aura Sphere would probably be quite easy.
And then there were the Legendary Pokémon.
Earlier, he had mentally dismissed them as unattainable.
But were they really?
Not necessarily.
Hadn't he already signed a Divine Pact with Mew at the end of Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp?
Mew wasn't just some distant Legendary Pokémon.
It was his partner.
If every other avenue failed, all he had to do was contact Mew.
The Aura Sphere problem would likely be solved in minutes.
When he thought about it that way, Ash couldn't help but laugh.
His life really was absurd.
Only a few months ago, he'd been a poor kid worrying about where to get his first Pokémon.
Now?
Now he had connections that extended all the way to Legendary Pokémon.
If outsiders learned about it, they'd probably be speechless.
All they could say was that Ash was exceptional.
Or perhaps—
That was simply what it meant to be the protagonist.
...
With his options laid out before him, the next steps became obvious.
He needed to activate his network.
Borrow a Pokémon that knew Aura Sphere.
Gather research papers and theoretical studies regarding the move.
And prepare for the possibility that he might have to teach himself everything from scratch.
Perhaps the Pokémon he borrowed would possess an incredibly deep understanding of Aura Sphere.
Perhaps it would easily teach him the secrets behind the move.
Perhaps it would provide shortcuts that dramatically accelerated his progress.
But Ash refused to place all his hopes in someone else.
At the end of the day, this was still self-study.
The effort would have to come from him.
More importantly—
If he couldn't learn Aura Sphere through the system, then there was a good chance the Skill Proficiency feature wouldn't work on the move either.
Even after successfully mastering Aura Sphere, he would likely need to improve it the hard way.
Through research.
Experimentation.
Practice.
And endless repetition.
That made gathering theoretical knowledge even more important.
Whether he could learn Aura Sphere through the system.
Whether the borrowed Pokémon could teach him.
Whether it could share valuable tricks and insights.
All of those uncertainties existed.
But understanding the fundamental principles of Aura Sphere?
That would be useful no matter what happened.
And because of that, researching Aura Sphere had already become one of Ash's highest priorities.
--------------
T/N:
Access Advance Chapters on my
P@treon: [email protected]/PokePals