When the plane landed smoothly on the Sinnoh Continent, when Ash strode out of the cabin with Aipom and Pikachu, officially setting foot on this familiar continent.
"Hmm~~"
Ash took a greedy deep breath of the air here, then opened his arms and shouted: "Sinnoh region! Here I come!!"
"Pika~!"
"O~ki!"
The people near the airport looked at Ash with the feeling of "This is youth," while Aipom and Pikachu excitedly responded to Ash's high emotions at the moment.
I mean, entering a brand new and unknown land, it is only natural to feel excited.
Being able to express one's thoughts generously in this situation is also something to be envied.
"Let's go! Let's become the strongest together!"
"Pika~!"
"O~ki!"
Pikachu and Aipom didn't overthink what Ash meant by those words.
In their eyes, Ash seemed to be simply announcing his dream.
But how far he is from his dream depends on what he harvests in this continent.
But, Pikachu, standing on Ash's shoulder, noticed that his expression seemed different from when they went to Chengdu and Hoenn.
His entire demeanor seemed to have changed... or more precisely, has he become more mature and steady?
Although Ash's words initially gave off a feeling of confidence, Ash has always been this confident.
He is unwavering in his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, so Pikachu didn't think too much about it.
"But before that..."
Ash turned to look at Aipom, and under its fearful gaze, Ash picked it up, then snatched back the hat on Aipom's head and put it on his own.
"I still need to deal with your issue first.
By the way, when exactly did you sneak into my backpack? Also, you managed to go unnoticed by me and Pikachu... Wait?! Does this mean the things in my backpack..."
Ash suddenly realized that things seemed different from what he thought, so he immediately put Aipom
and Pikachu on the ground and opened his backpack.
Sure enough, because Aipom wanted to get in, the clothes and some food in the backpack had been taken out by it.
He just didn't know when it had done these things.
It should have been before getting on the plane, right? But why wasn't this guy detected by security in the backpack? Or did the security personnel simply think that putting a Pokémon in a backpack wasn't a rare thing?
"Thanks to you, now I have to buy these necessities again... Honestly, if you wanted to come with me so much, you could have just said so! Why did you have to sneak around like this?"
Ash complained, but Aipom's expression didn't seem to think it was wrong.
In short, it looked like "I'm sorry, I was wrong, I dare to do it again next time.
" Ash didn't know what to say about this kind of give-up attitude, so he could only let it go for the time being.
"o~kiki~!"
Seeing that Ash didn't seem to blame it, Aipom immediately became active again.
After Ash packed up his things and stood up, it jumped back onto Ash's head and once again snatched Ash's signature hat and put it on its own head.
Seriously, why does Aipom like this hat so much?
Ash was a little helpless with Aipom's actions, but of course, it had really been "a long time", and Ash wouldn't bother arguing with Aipom.
As long as it was happy... just like the choice it made back then...
Thinking of this, Ash still felt a little regretful, not just about Aipom, but also about Pidgeotto, Primeape, Butterfree, Larvitar, and Lapras... In fact, if possible, Ash would of course want them to always be by his side, following him all the way towards the strongest direction.
But there are always so many helpless situations in the world.
Butterfree found its true love, Lapras returned to its own group, and Larvitar returned to its mother's side... Ash was still relatively gratified that they could find their own place and return to their original group, but Ash was still somewhat unwilling about situations like Aipom and Primeape...
Pidgeotto's situation is rather special.
I hope the Popo and Pidgeotto it leads have found a new leader by the time I go back next time.
"By the way, is there a Pokémon Center nearby...? I need to get your Poké Ball first.
I can't have both of you just standing on my shoulders all the time."
"oki!"
Aipom still doesn't feel any remorse.
It seems it really thinks it can stay outside forever.
I'll teach it about the dangers of society after I get its Poké Ball back.
Ash sighed softly and didn't linger in the same spot.
Instead, he walked towards the airport area with a map.
After this period of adjustment, Ash's mentality had changed.
Although he doesn't know why he traveled back in time, or whether he'll suddenly travel back again in the future, now that he's back in the past, what he needs to do is very simple, and it's still just one thing—
That is to become a Pokémon Master!
Compared to future regrets, Ash is more concerned about past regrets... This time, he doesn't plan to lose to Paul and the others again, nor does he plan to end his Sinnoh journey by falling in the top four.
Now that he has obtained this rare and precious opportunity to start over, he must do his best... For him, the most valuable things about starting over are his many years of memories and experience.
Compared to the training plan from his fully mature period, the current Ash still has many shortcomings in Pokémon training.
As long as he can identify and rectify these areas, he believes he can force out and defeat all of his opponent's Pokémon in the competition, instead of just being able to see Darkrai and Latios.
Speaking of which, are all the remaining Pokémon of that person legendary Pokémon? Could it be that only the first two are legendary Pokémon? That would be too disappointing...
With all kinds of expectations for the future, Ash finally embarked on his brand new journey.
But, immersed in his fantasies, he didn't notice that in the distant sky, an Meowth-shaped Air Balloon was slowly flying behind him.