Chapter 80: Ash and Tobias

The next morning, the exhilarating semifinals began. The first match was a showdown between Ash and Darkrai, the strongest among the final four contenders. Although Cheng Cheng already knew Darkrai would emerge victorious, he still wanted to watch the battle. While the match wasn't particularly spectacular, Cheng Cheng gleaned much from it.

Ash and Darkrai stood on the battlefield. Cheng Cheng suddenly thought to use the system to check Ash's combat power. Just as he was about to browse Ash's battle data, the system abruptly sent a message.

"Ding, the system will undergo a minor update. Please wait a moment."

An update? Just as I was about to use it, now you tell me about an update? How long is a moment? By the time you finish, everyone will be gone.

But the system was right—it was only a moment. Less than a minute later, the update was complete.

What could possibly be updated in one minute?

Cheng Cheng accessed Ash's data through the system. He found that what used to be a single combat power entry now contained many categories, with detailed information about Ash.

Character: Ash
Gender: Male
Age: 13
Combat Power: 1704 (2820)
Intelligence: 158
Special Ability: Aura Power
Evaluation: S

Cheng Cheng was surprised at how much the system had expanded: age, combat power, intelligence, special abilities, and even an evaluation. Ash’s intelligence was about average, and Cheng Cheng was already aware of Ash’s Aura Power. But Ash’s combat power was unexpectedly high, comparable to that of Little Zhi.

It occurred to Cheng Cheng that if Ash and Little Zhi had similar combat power, Little Zhi must have a special ability too. The system hadn’t shown it last time, but perhaps he’d try again when the opportunity arose.

Thinking about Ash’s combat power, Cheng Cheng mused, “No wonder he’s called a human-shaped Pokémon!” That reminded him of Jessie. Jessie also bore the title of “human-shaped Pokémon”—he wondered how her combat power measured up.

Cheng Cheng looked around but saw no sign of Team Rocket. Since they weren’t around, he decided to check Darkrai’s stats.

Character: Darkrai
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Combat Power: 1450 (?)
Intelligence: 176
Special Ability: ?
Evaluation: S

Darkrai’s combat power was fairly normal, though still much higher than Cheng Cheng’s. Moreover, Darkrai’s intelligence surpassed Ash’s by a good margin.

Cheng Cheng noticed Darkrai had a special ability, likely the reason he’d found Cheng Cheng previously. But the system couldn’t detect what it was—perhaps it was an unknown power. Cheng Cheng couldn’t figure it out, and when he asked the system, it replied that the current version was too low to identify it, brushing him off.

He suddenly observed that both Ash and Darkrai’s combat power included parentheses with other numbers, seemingly a different kind of data.

“System, what do the numbers in parentheses mean?”

“A character’s combat power has two states: the number before the parentheses is their ordinary power, while those with special abilities can unleash greater combat power when using their abilities—the number in parentheses.”

Now it was clear. Cheng Cheng fully understood the system’s explanation. If that was the case, perhaps his own stats had changed as well. He checked his own profile and found, aside from his previous template, a new character template had appeared.

Character: Hatake Cheng Cheng
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Combat Power: 555 (1610)
Intelligence: 175
Special Ability: Psychic Power
Evaluation: S

Wonderful! He was finally no longer a combat weakling. And his evaluation was S, meaning he was on the same level as Darkrai and Ash. Although Cheng Cheng’s ordinary power was weak, with psychic abilities, he became much stronger—though still not comparable to Ash.

The battle soon began, set on a grass field.

"Everyone, now prepare for battle. Both sides, please send out your Pokémon."

"Go, Darkrai!"

Darkrai sent out his most frequently used Pokémon, Darkrai. Ash was surprised to see it.

Cheng Cheng seized the chance to check Darkrai’s data. In the months since he’d last seen it, Darkrai had grown considerably. Clearly, Darkrai had been diligently cultivating his Pokémon. Cheng Cheng felt he needed to work harder, lest he fall further behind.

"Darkrai, huh? Then it's your turn, Heracross!"

A Bug-type Heracross—Ash had certainly grown.

"Look, Darkrai has appeared, meow!"

Cheng Cheng heard Meowth’s voice and turned to see the two Team Rocket members. He quickly checked the data for both and Meowth.

Character: Jessie
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Combat Power: 1630 (2880)
Intelligence: 155
Special Ability: Berserk
Evaluation: A

Jessie truly deserved her title as a human-shaped Pokémon—her combat power was formidable. The Berserk ability likely referred to her surge in power when her hair was damaged. Her combat power was even higher than Ash’s, but her evaluation was only A—perhaps due to her lack of protagonist aura? As villainous leads, Team Rocket might have some kind of protagonist aura as well.

Cheng Cheng checked James’s data.

Character: James
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Combat Power: 1239 (1520)
Intelligence: 162
Special Ability: Camouflage, Skill Mastery
Evaluation: A

Unsurprisingly, James’s combat power was noticeably lower than Jessie’s, but he possessed two special abilities, which Cheng Cheng admired.

Finally, Cheng Cheng looked at Meowth. He intended to check Meowth’s Pokémon data, but found only character data.

Character: Meowth
Combat Power: 853 (3200)
Intelligence: 184
Special Ability: Verbal Communication, Black Technology
Evaluation: S

Cheng Cheng hadn’t expected Meowth to be classified as a character rather than a Pokémon. Meowth’s data astonished him: its base combat power was weak, but with special abilities, it surpassed everyone, reaching the highest level. That must be the power of “black technology.” If Meowth were provided sufficient funds and technology, its combat power would grow even greater. Cheng Cheng began to formulate a plan.

After reviewing Team Rocket’s data, Darkrai had already defeated Heracross.

Although Darkrai was a Dark-type and Heracross was a Bug-type, giving Heracross an advantage in attributes, the level gap was simply too wide—Heracross stood no chance against Darkrai.

Ash then sent out Torkoal and Gible, both of whom Darkrai defeated with ease. Ash had already lost three Pokémon, leaving only three.

"Go, Sceptile!"

Ash sent out Sceptile, his Pokémon from the Hoenn region, and likely the highest-level among his team. But even Sceptile was no match for Darkrai.

Darkrai and Sceptile battled, but Sceptile was clearly at a disadvantage.

Darkrai used Dark Hole, which hit Sceptile, causing it to collapse unconscious.

Darkrai used Dream Eater, and the move struck Sceptile, plunging it into a dream state.

Dark Hole and Dream Eater made a potent combination—most Pokémon couldn’t withstand it.

"Sceptile, wake up!"

Ash’s shout lived up to his reputation. Sceptile broke free of the dream and quickly recovered. Even Darkrai was surprised.

Sceptile lunged in for a close-quarters attack, and ultimately Darkrai lost its fighting ability.

Although Darkrai’s health and defense were relatively weak, it shouldn’t have been defeated so quickly. Evidently, Darkrai had gone easy.

"You truly deserve to be a semifinalist! You're the first to make me use a second Pokémon. Since that's so, let me show you!"

"Come out, Latios!"

Latios’s appearance caused a stir in the arena. Darkrai had already shocked everyone, but now Latios appeared as well.

"Keep going, Sceptile!"

Ash continued to use Sceptile against Latios, but already injured, Sceptile stood no chance. It soon lost its fighting ability, leaving Ash with only two Pokémon.

"Next, it's up to you, Swellow."

Although Swellow, a Flying-type Pokémon, had a speed advantage, it was still far slower than Latios. Swellow was quickly defeated, leaving Ash with only his final Pokémon.

Ash brought out his trump card, Pikachu.

Cheng Cheng could sense that Pikachu had fully recovered and was at its peak.

Despite its species stats and small size disadvantage, Pikachu’s performance surprised Cheng Cheng.

The mighty Pikachu lived up to its name, with explosive power and resilience that allowed it to battle Latios to a draw.

Cheng Cheng was delighted with the outcome.

It was no surprise Pikachu could defeat a legendary Pokémon—this was Pikachu’s true strength!

With this battle concluded, the morning matches were all over, and the last match would take place in the afternoon. Although the final match had nothing to do with Ash, he still watched until the end.

In the afternoon, Darkrai won the last match with just Darkrai. In truth, Ash should have been the runner-up in this battle. If not for Darkrai, Ash would have been the champion.

Darkrai claimed victory at the League Tournament, but he neither challenged the champion nor fought any of the Elite Four. Cheng Cheng was even more puzzled as to why Darkrai participated at all.

Champion Cynthia presented Darkrai with the winner’s trophy, and thus the Lily of the Valley Conference of the Sinnoh League came to an end.