102. The Sea Hero

"I see, so you already got 5 Badges!" After meeting with Professor Elm again, the group chatted about Ash's journey so far.

Corsola then jumped on Professor's lap and drank his hot tea.

"Wow, it's so cute! I want to capture one too!" Misty is attracted to Corsola, and Molly seems to also like this pink coral Pokémon.

"This is when I went to the Whirl Islands for some investigation, and then I met her and I later caught it then and there!"

After being led by Professor Elm, the group soon arrived at Blue Points Isle, the gateway island of Whirl Islands. The name comes from the Blue Rock at the entranc.

As soon as they landed on the island, they came to the largest harbor city here, Inland City. They discovered that the red lights were waving, colorful flags were fluttering, gongs and drums were beating loudly, and there was a bustling scene with huge crowds of people everywhere.

"Whirl Cul! This is a Water-type Pokémon contest held every three years!" Misty's eyes suddenly lit up after hearing Professor Elm's introduction!

'Isn't this exactly my stage?' Misty thought.

Coincidentally or not, Ash had already won the Grass-type and Fire-type Pokémon tournaments he joined along the way, and now he still has the two high-quality Fire Stones and Leaf Stones lying in his backpack somewhere.

Now comes the Water-type Tournament, which is held every three years. Obviously, the scale of this competition is much grander than those two combined!

"The competition will be held a month later, but it is already so very lively!"

Professor Elm took the group to the Pokémon Center in Inland City. After all, it is a harbor city, and the Pokémon Center is much more spacious and more grander than most of the other Pokémon Centers.

As soon as they walked in, Corsola ran to the door on the side and seemed to go somewhere.

"Where is Corsola going?" Misty has been paying attention to Corsola ever since she first saw it.

Professor Elm smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, let her go! She likes the swimming pool here because there is a connection to the sea water outside, so it can go in and out of the sea freely, and there are many friends waiting for her!"

Indeed, there are a lot of Water-type Pokémon in the pool here. They are all Pokémon who came here in order to participate in the Whirl Cup Tournament. Because they need some time to adapt to the ocean here, they rest and go to the water based stadium when they have the time.

"Big Brother, please let Lapras out too. I wants to play with him!" Molly pulled the corner of Ash's pants and lightly said to him.

"Okay, go ahead by yourself, but pay attention!" Ash handed Lapras' Poké Ball to Molly and let her have fun on her own. Nothing will happen at the Pokémon Center because of all the security cameras and the people present.

"Welcome to Inland City! Do you want me to sign you guys up for the Whirl Cup?" Obviously Nurse Joy here is also responsible for the registration for the Whirl Cup like many of her other family members are for different things.

Ash and Misty are both ready to sign up to compete and win that prize!

After receiving the guide book for the Whirl Cup from Nurse Joys assistant, Chansey, the registration was quickly completed and they were ready to go.

Ash just thought that he would teleport all his Water-type Pokémon later and let them adapt to the sea water here and give them some training.

After thinking a few things, Ash realized how many Water-type Pokémon he has in his arsenal.

In addition to Suicune and Lapras who are already with him, there are also Blastoise and Croconaw from the Water-type Royal Families, and Slowking who has completed his Bond Evolutions a long time ago.

Finally, there is also his Kingler that was previously captured in the early stage of the Kanto Region.

This Kingler is the seventh Pokémon captured by the predecessor Ash in Kanto, so it was teleported back after being captured by him.

When it was still Krabby, it was very small and was subdued by his predecessor with a wooden stick. Gary even laughed at its size.

But later in the Indigo Plateau Conference, Kingler completed his evolution and achieved a very good record. He even soloed a annoying trainer, 3 vs 1.

So it has never been looked down upon by the current Ash, and Slowking seems to have discovered his potential and has been giving it various special trainings and making him follow Ash's training advice.

In this way, Ash seems to have formed a complete Water-type team.

One of them is the Legendary Pokémon, Suicune!

Because he was traveling between islands, Ash teleported Meganium back, and then exchanged all three except Slowking.

"Molly, come meet some of my Pokémon!" Ash walked to the swimming pool and called out to Molly. She seemed to talk to Lapras about something. She was obviously having a great time here.

"Big Brother!"

Hearing Ash's voice calling out to her, she quickly came closer and saw the three Poké Balls in Ash's hand. "Are these all your Pokémon?"

"That's right! Come out, Blastoise, Croconaw, Kingler!"

Blastoise: 240/255

Croconaw: 190/220

Kingler: 180/225

Kingler has completed his final evolution a long time ago, but it seems that the compatibility is not very high, it must have been something to do with him not getting to travel along with Ash much. Also the limited amount of battles they had together, Ash could use one single finger to now the amount of trainers they fought together was.

If he travels with the group for a while, he should be able to achieve a lot of new improvements in that time period. Of course, Ash doesn't expect all of his Pokémon to complete their Bond Evolutions with him. That's nonsense of him to think that!

"Wow, what a big crab. Hello, I'm Molly, nice to meet you!" This is the first time Molly got to see Kingler, she has alredy met Blastoise and Croconaw a long time ago.

Kingler stretched out his big pliers, and Molly lay her hand directly on top of it, and then she let Kingler lift her up and down, as if he was having a good time with her.

By the swimming pool, Professor Elm and Misty were paying attention to Ash and Molly, "Ash actually has so many water Pokémon?"

Misty smiled and said, "Yeah, Ash is really different now in every way!"

He also has a Suicune, which voluntarily followed Ash, but they keep a low profile about him and don't tell people anything about him!

"Misty, I heard that some of the Trainers who want to specialize in Water-type Pokémon are setting their sights on this Whirl Cup. Trainers from lots of different places are coming here and battling to see which of them is the best!" Professor Elm knows that Misty is also a Trainer who specializes in Water-type Pokémon!

However, Misty is in her full of fighting spirit form, "That's what makes it so much fun!"

"I want the world to see a world-class beautiful girl, the beautiful mermaid Misty, and my fighting skills using my beloved Water-type Pokémon!"

When Ash came back, he happened to see Misty, who seemed to be full of passion and ready for anything, "Very good, Misty, we haven't had a good battle in a long time!"

"That's right, Ash, let's have a good fight!"

Professor Elm encouraged them both from the side, "You have to work hard! The Trainer who wins the championship can get the title of the Sea Hero and become a Brave Warrior of the Sea!"

"The brave Sea Hero! So cool!" Obviously Misty loved this title from the get go.

"I heard that people nearby used to call people who used Water-type Pokémon this way! They said that the people who live in the ocean understands the heart of the Water-type Pokémon living under there!"

Hearing this, Ash smiled confidently, yes, since he is a Pokémon Trainer, he should understand the hearts of Pokémon, all different types of them!

After all, he is the man who wants to become the Pokémon Master!

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Can I have some Power Stones, please?