111. Soul Partner

The final battle ended with an absolute victory for Ash, crushed by him and his trusted Feraligatr.

Fireworks were blasting in the sky and everyone was cheering for the great battle they just witnessed. Ash had just taken back his newly evolved Feraligatr and was just about to leave the venue. Waiting for the final award ceremony, a Hot Air Balloon suddenly appeared in the sky above the water venue they were just battling in.

The Rocket Trio spotted the opportunity for to steal the thing while Ash was leaving victoriously, and suddenly launched an attack, "Hurry, while the little twerp is away, let's get that Sea Soul quickly, and just maybe we can steal his Pikachu with this!"

This was just one of their wishful thinking, just like anytime before!

"We arrived at the target spot, meow!" Seeing the battle platform below, Maya and Officer Jenny relaxed their vigilance for the end of the final battle, and turning their attention to Ash who was leaving. The Trion took out one of their trusted item, a Fishing Rod!

That's right, a Fishing Rod!

"We will use this Fishing Rod to catch the treasure we are looking for! A special event like the Whirl Cup competition, a luxury item will definitely be here!" Jessie got carried away and successfully hooked the Sea Soul staff in Maya's hand.

However, a small spark suddenly hit the string and broke the fishing line!

This attack is all too familiar to the group!

"Ash? Pikachu? Why?"

Turning around, it was Misty who rushed to the summit with Pikachu, "Team Rocket, what kind of things do you want to do this time? I thought you had changed your minds after the last time!"

"Thankfully Ash noticed that you were selling snacks and drinks on site and asked me to take care of you if you guys were up to something stupid like this. Why are you even doing all this?"

The Rockets have indeed been following Ash and group to wherever they go. After the tournament started, they saw the business opportunities present here and made some money to fund their projects.

"Are you the guys that planned to come here to steal the Sea Soul?" Officer Jenny realized at this moment that she was about to fvck her job of it wasn't for Misty.

Just because of these people, a dozen or so of them have been standing here for several days now while getting no extra pay!

She finally got the chance to take action!

Seeing this, Maya remained very calm, but looked behind Misty, "Ash, you're here just in time, the awards ceremony will begin soon!"

Behind Misty, Ash came out and said with a smile, "Okay, Maya, the farce here will be over soon and we can continue on with our work!"

"Ash!" Seeing Ash came over, Misty suddenly had grew a new backbone and stood beside him, and Pikachu also returned to Ash's shoulders, where he belongs.

"Team Rocket, why don't you just do your business quietly? You guys are so much better at it than stealing people's Pokémon's."

The people in the world who are most familiar with Ash, probably besides his own mother, are the Rocket Trio. But now, they couldn't help but tremble when they faced this "little twerp" they called him.

His momentum is getting stronger and stronger as he continues on his journey!

The moment blue light was released from Ash's eyes, the Seat Soul in Maya's hand also emitted light and shrouded Ash's body with that same energy!

For a moment, Ash's whole body shone with bright blue light, releasing beautiful ripples across the area!

Maya could no longer remain calm. She looked at Ash in shock and surprise, 'This is the blessing of the Sea God! So he is my Soul Partner!'

To put it easier to understand, this blessing is like a halo of good luck!

Ash himself has almost an ungodly amount of luck because of the combined the fate of being the protagonist of this world world and also being a transmitter at the same time, and now his luck has further improved to a new level. Ash will become more and more successful in his journey towards become the Pokémon Master.

Ash now felt there was a connection between his and something else, and it was close.

Everything went smoothly after the light enveloped him.

In short, it was something very mysterious and so should just be left like that, a mystery!

The blue light subsided from Ash, and Ash felt that his mental condition and power was better than ever before. He raised his head and looked at Team Rocket, "Looks like we have to say goodbye for now. Have a great day!"

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu controlled his current, just with enough to cause an explosion and blow them away from the arena area. With a cry of "Team Rocket is blasting off again!", the Trio turned into a star in the distance and found themselves in the middle of nowhere!

"The Whirl Cup competition was held for six days in a row. We now ask Priestess Maya to award the winning item, the Mystic Water, to the winner of the tournament after a fierce battle in the finals! Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

"A new Hero of the Sea is born today before our eyes!"

Maya handed the Mystic Water to Ash and said with a very beautiful smile and a small but noticeable blush, "Ash, thank you for saving me back there, you are a real Brave Warrior of the Sea!"

Suddenly, she took his hand and came to the stage, facing everyone in the venue and the contestants standing on top of the boat, holding high the Sea Soul Staff over everyone under the sunset on the sea.

"O great sea, brave warriors who have a connection with the Pokémon of the sea in all times, please continue to protect the Pokémon and people alike in the future!"

There was a lot of splashing sound coming from around the Water Stadium.

Amidst the chanting of blessings, all the Water-type Pokémon rushed out of the sea and roared as they celebrated with the people!

The tournament ended and they said goodbye to Maya. Not before Maya gave a sudden kiss to Ash's lips while no one was looking.

Well everyone but Misty and Brock who gave them a very jealous look for reasons unknown.

She also gave him a piece of paper with a number written on top of it with the words, "Thank you for everything you did."

Ash just said he will be back, smiled, and then walked away with his group.

He too felt something from her. Something that was resonating his heart and her heart.

The conference venue gradually sank into the sea and returned to its former tranquility!

Ash and his party looked at the place where they battled and each gained a new something to help them on their goals.

"Big Brother, congratulations on winning the whole thing!!" Molly's mouth was the sweetest, "Sister Misty is also a very strong!"

"I feel so lucky to be able to attend this conference and meet all kinds of new Water-type Pokémon!" This is the biggest gain for Misty. Although she didn't win, Misty felt very satisfied, "Looking at all this, my goal to become a Water-type Pokémon Master is even more greater than ever!"

So her dream never changed and stayed the same.

After the conference, Ash exchanged Meganium and Lapras back from the Professor.

This was the first time she left Ash's side, Meganium was quite noisy and almost prepared to dismantle the Professor Oaks Laboratory. Fortunately, Venusaur restrained her and trained with her for a few days and keeping her busy from doing anything else.

Blastoise, Feraligatr, and Kingler will train with each other under Slowking's management and continue to improve on their strength.

Slowking's management of his Pokémon is very reasonable, and now each Pokémon has found a suitable training opponent.

Houndoom and Typhlosion fight each other every day in full swing to get stronger and get a better understanding of their flames and how to make it stronger.

All the Tauros in the lab ran wildly every day under the leadership of Ash's Tauros, and also his physical fitness continues to improve while he was not with his trainer. (In this one Ash did not have 30 Tauros.)

Primeape, who has just returned from Ash's side, is teaching Heracross the fighting skills he has learned so from Anthony.

There was also a talk between him, Ash, and Professor Oak about him feeling that he feels something ominous about himself and he doesn't know what to do with it other than just put the rage into his fists.

Professor Oak is also looking into this as he also doesn't know what could be causing all this.

Tyranitar found Rhydon, who could use Whirlpool and Surf. So the two Rock-type Pokémon increased their physical strength through constant battles with each other.

Before they know it, Ash already has a lot of powerful Pokémon under him!

At this time, Ash happened to teleport the lone Noctowl back, as he also needed a Flying-type by his side.

Now that he is Ash's only Flying-type that could be with him, Ash is ready to train with him hard.

This Shiny Noctowl is very smart, even smarter than the rest of his kind. Whether it is about his Psychic skills or Flying skills, it is very powerful. It also has its own thinking in the battle, which is very useful when Ash leaves him to his own devices.

Ash really hopes to complete his Bond Evolution, but the compatibility has not been able to improve for a long time.

And throughout their walk, neither Brock nor Misty ever brought the subject about his kiss with Maya.