Ash never imagined that a tiny feather could have such terrifying effects.
Extending lifespan, helping Pokemon break through their potential limits, restoring Pokemon's physical strength during battles, enhancing the power of two attribute moves for Pokemon, and also serving as the key to the Rainbow Hero's trial.
With all these effects combined, how is it any different from a cheat device?
[Newbie Ash: Isn't this just a feather? Can a single feather really have such a big effect?]
[Champion Ash: It can, because it's the feather of a Legendary Beast. People pursue Legendary Beasts partly because of their rarity and partly because of their power.]
[Champion Ash: Legendary Beasts are born with immense power and very high potential. Even without deliberate training, they can easily reach the Elite Level, and their potential is generally above A. Combined with their superior racial abilities compared to ordinary Pokemon, they dominate in battles of the same level.]
[Champion Ash: Moreover, the whole body of a Legendary Beast is like a treasure. Their dropped items are rare augmentation tools for ordinary Pokemon and even have significant enhancement effects on themselves, especially for those who have reached the Divine Domain Level, where their entire body undergoes qualitative changes.]
[Newbie Ash: Divine Domain Level... what on earth is that level? Is it much stronger than a Champion?]
[Tactical Master Ash: I can only say that Champion and Divine Domain are not even in the same league. My tactics are highly effective against a Champion, and even if I have six Elite-level Pokemon fighting against six Champions, I have a 30% chance of winning, but if you give me six Champion-level Pokemon to fight against one Divine Domain-level Pokemon, my chance of winning is less than 20%.]
Tactical Master Ash's battle strategy, even Champion Ash admires. With six Elites against six Champions, he can have a 30% chance of winning.
But with six Champions against one Divine Domain, he has less than a 20% chance of winning, illustrating the exaggerated gap between Champion and Divine Domain.
[Champion Ash: Generally, a Divine Domain-level Pokemon has another name: First-order God! A Pokemon reaching the Divine Domain Level may not necessarily be a First-order God, but a First-order God can definitely reach the Divine Domain Level. Ho-Oh is a standout among First-order Gods, hence its feather has such powerful effects.]
First-order God... Ash silently remembered this title and then inquired in the group chat about some stories regarding Ho-Oh before exiting the chat.
Returning to the real world, Ash first enhanced Pikachu's speed limit. After the lottery, he was too distracted by the Eye of Insight and forgot about the other reward.
It wasn't until someone in the group mentioned it that Ash suddenly remembered.
As the name implies, the speed limit is the upper limit of a Pokemon's speed ability value. If Ash drew an S, Pikachu's speed ability could instantly reach S-level.
Even if it's an A level, Pikachu's limit could potentially increase by one level, but if it's C level, the effect would be present but not significant.
According to the group experts' estimation, if a Pokemon's potential is A level, then feeding it a C-level ability limit would take probably hundreds to complete the A to S breakthrough.
However, Ash now only has Pikachu, so he gave it anyway; accumulating bit by bit, one day Pikachu's ability limit could all reach S-level.
After feeding the speed limit to Pikachu, Pikachu didn't feel any change, but Ash saw Pikachu's speed ability value changed from D—B+ to C—B+.
Ash didn't expect it also increased the fluctuation lower limit of Pikachu's ability.
Earlier in the group chat, Ash asked about Pikachu's peculiar ability fluctuation, and all the experts said it's a normal phenomenon.
Up to the Champion level, Pikachu's ability value will keep fluctuating, which seems to be a unique trait all Pikachu in every world possess.
As for how to control the ability fluctuation, it might be related to Pikachu's mood, battles encountered, surroundings, and so on, making it very difficult to control.
These up-and-down fluctuations in ability cause Pikachu's battle performance to vary, posing a big challenge for Trainers' commands and Pikachu itself.
After all, which family's Pokemon can display Gym-level strength in one battle and suddenly drop to Elite level in the next?
This makes damage calculation, damage-taking, and battle evaluation from all perspectives extremely difficult, especially for Tactical Master Ash, who is famous in the group, initially caused a lot of headache due to Pikachu.
Sometimes Pikachu can become the trump card for victory, while other times it drastically underperforms, and not until reaching the Champion level does its ability value fluctuation become stable.
But now the ability limit drawn from the chat group seems to help stabilize Pikachu's fluctuating ability value, which is a pleasant surprise.
"Click" The door opened, and Misty, wiping her hair and dressed in pajamas, came out casually saying, "I'm done with the shower, you go wash up."
If others saw this scene, they might mistake them for a married couple.
"Me? I don't need a shower; I'll do it tomorrow~"
"No way! You're filthy! Look at all the dust on you from battling Spearow, the mud from the rain, and the dirt from leaning on the rock walls... Hurry up and shower!"
Ash rolled his eyes, feeling helpless, "Alright, alright, you're like my mom..."
"What did you say?!"
"Nothing, nothing, you misheard." Ash finished talking, carrying Pikachu, dashed into the bathroom, but ran out after a few seconds, rummaged through his Space Backpack for a change of clothes, and darted back in.
This series of actions left Misty holding back for a while, but she couldn't help it and burst into laughter.
"Feels like the upcoming journey will be quite interesting~" Misty softly mused, and pulled out a hairdryer to blow through her cascading smooth hair.
...
After Ash finished his shower, the two of them lay down and fell asleep. Today's experiences were more exciting and exhausting than all of the previous fifteen years of Ash's life.
Even with his super rookie endurance, he felt a bit worn out. This sleep was utterly restful for both, lasting until dawn.
In the morning, after washing up, they went to the Pokemon Center's counter, where Misty began explaining to Ash about the Pokemon Conference of the Kanto League, known as the Quartz Conference.