After saying goodbye to Gary, Ash and his friends continued their journey to Cinnabar Island, and on the way, Ash took stock of his spoils this time.
A Key Stone, a MEGA Evolution Stone, a Poke Egg, and an Aerodactyl.
Among them, the Poke Egg and Aerodactyl both had Double S potential. If some opportunity allowed them to reach Triple S, they would have the threshold to qualify for the Divine Domain Level.
At the same time, Ash also discovered something: between Double S and Triple S, there indeed seemed to be an invisible barrier.
Whether it's Bulbasaur, Aerodactyl, or that Togepi Poke Egg, they were all just one step away from Triple S-level. Ash didn't believe this was just a coincidence.
However, Ash didn't have any substantial evidence for this sort of thing. Even if there was a barrier, wouldn't crossing it be the end of it?
As for how to cross it, he hadn't found a way yet, so for now, he'd just maintain the status quo.
Anyway, the Divine Domain level was still very far away for him. Let alone the Divine Domain, right now he didn't even have a Gym Level Pokemon.
The closest to Gym Level was Pikachu.
Additionally, through help from experts in the group, it was concluded that the MEGA Evolution Stone belonged to Aerodactyl.
This was not unexpected. If Aerodactyl was among those that could MEGA Evolve, it was only natural that the Evolution Stone belonged to Aerodactyl.
Yet Ash felt a little disappointed about this because there was no real bond between him and Aerodactyl yet. It was a newly captured Pokemon; where would a bond come from?
While in the cave, Ash had sent Pidgeot back, leaving Aerodactyl behind.
But Ash didn't plan to keep Aerodactyl in his team for the long term, primarily because its level was too high.
Its Gym Peak level far exceeded all of Ash's current Pokemon levels, second only to Gengar at Oak's Research Institute.
Ash did not have the experience to train Pokemon of this level. His Pokemon were all trained slowly from scratch, and at each level's beginning, Ash would craft a training plan suitable for that level.
Only by nurturing Pokemon little by little like this could Ash fully grasp their stats and have enough rapport with them.
A high-level Pokemon like Aerodactyl not only lacked Ash's training experience but was also a headache since its level dramatically exceeded the team's. Finding training partners or sparring targets would be really troublesome.
Currently, his other Pokemon could improve through internal battles if no external opponent was available, but Aerodactyl couldn't. If it stayed in the team, it could only act as a sparring partner at most.
In that case, it might be better to send it back to Oak's Research Institute, so Gengar could train it a bit.
As for issues like teamwork and closeness, those could be figured out later.
He wouldn't always leave Aerodactyl at Oak's Research Institute. Occasionally, he would rotate it back to nurture their bond. As for training... there really wasn't much to train.
Training with him wasn't as good as training with Gengar back at Oak's.
Actually, it wasn't just Gengar; as Charizard and the others' levels gradually increased, Ash would also send them back to Oak's Research Institute.
As their strength increased, finding matched opponents became increasingly difficult, so it was better for him to make a tailored training plan and then send them back to Oak's for Gengar to train.
By then, there would be not only Gengar acting as a sparring partner at Oak's Research Institute but also Aerodactyl.
Yep, two sparring partners should be enough.
Far away at Oak's Research Institute, Gengar suddenly sneezed several times. While he was still training Muk and other Pokemon, an ominous feeling rose in his heart, as if someone had their eye on him...
By the time evening arrived, Ash and the others finally found a roadside Pokemon Center. Ash took Aerodactyl over for some recovery.
Miss Joy was a little taken aback when she saw Aerodactyl. Up till now, only Lance was publicly known to own an Aerodactyl, making Ash the second person in the world to have one.
At this time, Ash didn't hide his appearance, and Miss Joy immediately recognized the famous figure who was quite well-known throughout the Kantou region.
However, Miss Joy naturally couldn't act like those rabid fans asking for autographs or photos. Talking about fame, the Joy family was even more famous.
But she still chatted with Ash for a while. She was quite curious about Ash, often described in the outside world as almost mythical.
Misty watched their lively conversation from the side, as did Brock.
One of them was clenching their fists, while the other tearfully bit into a mysteriously acquired handkerchief, making for a rather comical scene.
It wasn't until fairly late that Joy let Ash go back to rest, as Aerodactyl would need until the next morning to recover. According to the Pokemon Center's check-up, it seemed Aerodactyl's head had taken some heavy hits and would need a longer recovery time.
To this, Ash awkwardly laughed.
After all, he had aimed his fists at Aerodactyl's head twice. But theoretically, Aerodactyl's Rock Head ability should make its head hard, so these couple of little punches shouldn't have left any lasting effects.