This was clearly a fact that couldn't be accepted—transforming into a completely pitch-black figure. Yet, there was no choice; at that time, the Dark Attribute power had almost completely pushed the Psychic Type attribute out of existence and filled Little Lugia's body entirely.
Due to the Dark Attribute energy, her feathers turned pitch-black. From then on, unless a Psychic Type power exceeding the Dark Attribute within her body was infused, she wouldn't be able to revert to her original attribute and skin color.
Mewtwo could attempt to help, but with Little Lugia's body, enduring two Divine Domain Level forces clashing inside her was nearly impossible. Even if she could bear it, the cost would be enormous.
Friends of the Divine Beast in the group had actually mentioned this issue, which dispelled Ash's thoughts of restoring Little Lugia's body and attributes. It seemed like the Friends of the Divine Beast were quite experienced, but Ash didn't get a chance to ask if they had similar experiences.
In short, it was almost impossible for Little Lugia to return to her original form.
You might say to change her after Little Lugia becomes strong? Don't be ridiculous. The power being enhanced in Little Lugia now is the Dark Attribute power. As Little Lugia grows stronger, so will the Dark Attribute within her. As time passes, the Dark Attribute power will completely become part of Little Lugia's own strength and attributes.
If you want to change Little Lugia's attributes and body color later... maybe Arceus might have a chance.
Ultimately, in Ash's explanation, Little Lugia reluctantly and sadly accepted this fact. It seemed that in the future, he could only go back to his tribe with this appearance. He didn't know if his parents would accept it...
But for Little Lugia, there was still some good news—her strength skyrocketed!
This power, under normal circumstances, would take her several years to achieve. Although a Legendary Beast's starting level is powerful and invincible within the same level, the growth rate is also very slow.
Without external interference, a Legendary Beast would take at least several decades, or even a hundred years to grow!
This growth is natural, hardly ever requiring training. With training, it might speed up a bit, but it would still take over ten years to reach the Champion Level.
This is why some Legendary Beasts choose to ally with Trainers—under a Trainer's guidance, they can enhance their power faster than they could in the wild, by unknown multiples!
The premise is finding a reliable and strong Trainer...
Little Lugia's progress was already incredibly fast for her, who hadn't been in contact with a Trainer yet, saving her several years' time, which was a small consolation for her.
After Lugia finally accepted the change in her body's color, Ash explained the specifics of Pokeballs and Trainers. Lugia quickly and completely grasped Ash's explanation.
He then obediently entered the Pokeball. The Steel Master designed her exclusive Pokeball so that the Pokemon inside could completely see the outside.
Ordinary Pokeballs can do this too, but only if the Pokemon is strong enough to ignore Pokeball rules. The spatial rules of standard Pokeballs are the weakest, allowing Gym Level Pokemon to see the outside from within.
For higher levels, the Pokemon's strength must elevate to Elite or even Champion to achieve this.
Little Lugia's custom Pokeball allows her to observe the outside world anytime, regardless of her strength.
For Little Lugia, being inside the Pokeball doesn't impose much limitation.
However, for Ash, it's somewhat troublesome. Including Little Lugia, he currently has eight Pokemon...
If he sends one Pokemon back, how will he handle six-on-six battles later? He can't just force five-on-six, can he?
If Little Lugia fights, it would be somewhat showy, even though Ash wants to do it...
But it's like telling Team Galactic and any villainous group worldwide that Little Lugia is with him, tempting them to snatch her.
Thus, Ash decided to think carefully about the Pokemon positions. Five-on-six isn't unthinkable. If things feel unstable, he can count Mewtwo as the sixth Pokemon.
Thinking this, Ash stopped worrying. If someone in the competition can defeat his five Pokemon, they'll face the biggest challenge—Mewtwo!
This is all a test, young man~
...
Two more days passed, marking the eighth day after the preliminaries, and the official competition of the Quartz Conference was about to start!
The Round of 32 would take two days as the official matches differed from the preliminaries, which had four fields.
There's only the Quartz Arena for sixteen battles, so one day wasn't enough.
Matches, entry, intermissions, and lunch breaks...starting the battles at nine in the morning, managing one per hour was optimistic. With a one-hour lunch break, by six in the evening, they'd have around eight hours.
Enough time to finish half the matches.
In these two days, Ash and Little Lugia acquainted themselves with the Quartz Conference nearby amusement venues. As for their appearance, Ash asked Mewtwo to distort it with superpower.
Under superpower influence, Ash looked like a regular passerby, and Little Lugia resembled a Murkrow to outsiders.
Who would have thought that the Murkrow and the bystander teenager playing around in the amusement park were Ash and the legendary Lugia?
The Quartz Conference's amusement halls also offered activities specifically for Pokemon—after all, Pokemon are this world's main theme. For businesses, catering to Pokemon profits far exceed that of humans!
Activities like haunted houses, forest exploration, and berry picking are expensive to play with Pokemon, but Ash didn't mind spending on solvable problems.
He didn't even know how much he had in his card.
Meanwhile, Little Lugia's bond with Ash grew rapidly. She originally had a fondness for Ash, as he saved her life, but these days of companionship made her even more attached to him.
Whether in the fun experiences, care for her emotions, or even meals, she had never tasted such delicacies in her tribe.
The dishes crafted by Ash and Brock were world-class in both nutrition and taste—especially Ash, who still had room for improvement. His Breeder level was still stuck at intermediate.
Overall...life by Ash's side was immensely better for Little Lugia than returning home!
She had already grown quite fond of this new life. Even if the path home stood before her, she might not take it now. Isn't the human world more appealing?!
During these days, Ash surprisingly refrained from Pokemon training. To him, calming Lugia's unease was the top priority. Judging from the results, these days spent with Lugia were a huge success!
Now, she was no longer estranged or somewhat fearful as she initially was, only filled with desire for the pleasures of the human world.jpg.