Chapter 041: Ash's Determination!!
"Fruit baa"
"I was wrong, next time I won't bring up Claire's hair in front of people."
Although the fashionable boy with the red hairpin, known for his exaggerated expressions and self-confidence, had a perfunctory tone, he quickly apologized. He remembered clearly that this was a secret Claire, his childhood friend, preferred to keep private especially since her frizzy, curly morning hair was her least favorite trait.
"…"
"…"
As the students from various towns across the Kanto region disembarked from the chartered buses, chatter buzzed around the entrance of the summer camp. Standing at the front of the group, Ash Ketchum, already known to the rest of the campers as the confident "prince" of Pallet Town, was surrounded by Gary Oak, Tierno, Trevor, and other notable students. His sharp, perceptive eyes swept across the newcomers.
Ash's gaze landed on a boy with a red hairpin clipped boldly to his bangs his appearance so androgynous that it would be hard to tell his gender without hearing his voice and the neat, braided girl beside him.
Ash narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had recently awakened his Aura, the soul-born waveguide energy. While still in its infancy, his Aura could already passively sense emotions and pick up surface thoughts through spiritual fluctuations much like how he first realized something was odd about Mewtwo during the events of The Electric Tale of Pikachu. But using this power still depended on his mental state and the strength of the opposing person's aura.
He wasn't paying much attention to the students earlier, but when that red-hairpin boy loudly proclaimed that he would win first place in this joint Kanto–Kalos summer camp, it instantly drew his attention. Ash instinctively extended his Aura to focus on the duo's emotions and voice feedback.
"Xiao Hao... and Claire?"
Ash muttered, recognizing them after a few seconds of observation and waveguide perception. His eyes flashed with surprise.
Yes Xiao Hao, the self-proclaimed genius, and Claire, the daughter of Professor Sakuragi from Vermilion City. Both names existed in the manga and the Pokémon Journeys anime.
~
~
Ash's thoughts drifted. In the manga's timeline and even more clearly in the eighth-generation anime, he had once been the undisputed protagonist blessed by fortune a boy who befriended Legendaries, challenged Champions, and even saved the world on several occasions. But for all that, he consistently fell short of winning major League championships.
Only in the Alola League, during the Manalo Conference, did he finally lift a championship trophy.
To many, it seemed the very "will of the world" had grown weary of supporting a "mud that couldn't be helped." And so, the narrative's favor began shifting—transferring the golden light of the protagonist's halo to a new character.
That boy was Xiao Hao.
Although Pokémon Journeys was marketed with two protagonists, any discerning viewer could see that Xiao Hao was increasingly portrayed as the one fated to be the world's next great hope. He caught Mythicals like Eternatus, sought after Mew, and had more interaction with Ultra Beasts and world-ending legendaries than Ash ever did in his early days.
Meanwhile, Ash his former self had slowly been demoted to a side character in his own story.
~
~
This realization gave Ash mixed feelings. It reminded him of his recent encounter with his next-door neighbor, Blue the female protagonist of the FireRed/LeafGreen arc from the Pokémon Adventures manga. Ash had warmly befriended her. She was brilliant, fierce, and a worthy rival.
He was also friendly with the plot-embedded characters like Tierno and Trevor from the Kalos saga, who, although not protagonists, were good companions and formidable battlers.
But Xiao Hao… was different.
This wasn't just a potential friend.
This was a new "chosen one."
A rival who might carry the future.
And Ash, who had trained for years, braved death with Pikachu more times than anyone could count, and endured the heartbreak of near-victories, could not ignore the challenge before him.
The summer camp wasn't just a fun event.
It was a battlefield.
When Ash saw the red hairpin gleaming in the sun ahead of him, his heart stirred with an emotion he couldn't quite name. That boy Xiao Hao looked ordinary enough, but in Ash's mind, a vision from the eighth-generation timeline flashed unbidden. It was the future Alola and Galar era, a timeline where the one named Xiao Hao seemed to rob Ash of the protagonist's luck and the world's favor. The whispers of destiny were cruel. After Ash's hard-earned triumph in the Alola League, where he finally became Champion, fate seemed to shift its spotlight onto a new "chosen one."
Without reason, Ash felt hostility bubble up inside his chest pure instinct. It wasn't like him. Even he questioned himself. Was this just a delusion? Yet amid that strange swirl of emotion, he could have sworn he heard something dark and whispering in his ears: "Don't go easy. This one… you must crush."
"Hmph—" Ash tore his eyes away from the boy named Xiao Hao, who stood there without the slightest trace of malice. He looked excited, naive even, his gaze scanning the surroundings as if eager for what the summer camp had in store.
Xiao Hao hadn't done anything wrong. Not yet. He hadn't attacked anyone, hadn't slandered Ash, hadn't stolen anything. By all accounts, he was just another student at this summer camp. And Ash wasn't some petty villain to strike out at someone just because he felt uneasy. He was the righteous protagonist of Pallet Town, raised by Delia Ketchum and mentored under Professor Oak and Erika. He knew better.
And yet… there was something about this boy.
A potential future. A sense of fate in motion. Ash couldn't shake the feeling that this Xiao Hao would one day take the place meant for him.
Because even in this world whether it was the world of Pokémon, or any other the laws of nature held: where there is light, there must be shadow; and where there is power, there is always rivalry.
Ash was no longer just the plucky boy who ran late to Professor Oak's lab and ended up with a feisty Pikachu. After everything he had been through—Mewtwo's rebellion, Lugia's prophecy, the Mask of Ice, even nearly dying while saving Ho-Oh he had awakened. The Aura within him had begun to stir again, guiding him to truths few could grasp.
He wasn't going to give up the protagonist's halo to anyone.
Because what was the "protagonist's luck" if not divine favor? Loved by the world, blessed by serendipity. With it, even disasters turned into miracles. Walk through a forest? You'd find a wild Larvitar looking for a friend. Dive into a lake? Suicune might bless your courage. Walk into a storm? Zapdos might lend you its thunder.
And now, in this rewritten fate, Xiao Hao was that new "blessed child." In the Pokémon Journeys anime, he didn't even battle most of the time. He would just toss a Poké Ball and catch legendary after legendary, ultra beast after ultra beast, often without resistance. It had become such a meme that the fan community mockingly called him "One Ball Superman."
In contrast, Ash's past self had to fight for everything. His Charizard had to be trained for years. His Infernape endured abuse from Paul. Even his Greninja had to merge souls with him to keep up with Elite Four-tier threats. His Pokémon were his comrades, not collectibles.
In the original series, Ash had trained, bled, lost, grown stronger. But then came the eighth generation. Xiao Hao swooped in, not as a battler, but as a collector. He wanted to catch all Pokémon so he could understand the DNA-shifting Mythical Pokémon—Mew. And so he caught hundreds, thousands, and stored them all in Professor Sakuragi's Lab, barely training any of them.
Not that he was cruel. No. Just indifferent.
He was on a different path. But it was a path blessed by narrative power.
In Ash's opinion, that was worse.
Because Xiao Hao's neglect wasn't malicious it was structural. It was a system that favored quantity over bonds, flash over heart. Even Ash's critics in his past life would admit that at least he raised his Pokémon like family. Xiao Hao's style, on the other hand, turned Pokémon into data entries, filling up a Pokédex without ever letting them shine.
And so, Ash couldn't help but dislike this boy.
Not out of hatred. Not out of envy.
But because in every sense both narrative and real Xiao Hao was poised to take his place. As the lead. As the icon. As the one remembered.
And that, Ash could not allow.
"…I won't kill you. But you won't be first in this summer camp," Ash muttered inwardly, averting his eyes from Xiao Hao with a quiet huff.
"If you want your own starter Pokémon, just wait another four years."
Turning his attention to those beside him Gary, the grandson of Professor Oak and his eternal rival; Tierno, the Kalos dancer whose movement-based tactics belied unexpected power; and Trevor, the book-smart Kalos prodigy Ash smiled confidently.
"Gary, Tierno, Trevor. This year, we're taking the top three spots in the summer camp evaluation."
The reward was nothing trivial. The top three would be granted their own Earl Dervish-class Pokémon a reward sanctioned early by the Pokémon League itself, a rare allowance for students not yet of age.
Such an opportunity could not be wasted.
"Relax. I, Master Gary Oak, will be number one," Gary said with his trademark smugness, brushing his fingers through his spiky brown hair.
"Hmph, I'll show off my dance battle style and shake up the rankings," Tierno added, pumping his fists.
Trevor nodded, adjusting his glasses. "I'll give it everything I've got."
And Ash? He just grinned.
The war for the future had already begun.
---
40+ advanced chapter on patreon....Visit patreon now to read my exclusive content... posting 5 chapters per day, Our collection is now available on PATREON
visit patreon.com/Mgoldtranslation to view 40+ advanced chapters
Please subscribe guys