Chapter 24: A Little Bit Stronger, A Whole Lot Stronger!
Watching Satoshi's excitement reach a point where he was about to step on his own foot,
Kasumi quickly poured a bucket of cold water on him to help him regain his sanity.
"Satoshi, you won't reach that level if you don't work hard!"
Satoshi immediately perked up.
Hmm?
What?
Can't reach that level?
No way!
This one, absolutely cannot be!
The ones most happy and least surprised by this outcome
were the Rocket trio.
Watching Regice be taken down by Pikachu's Thunder attack,
the two humans and one cat excitedly embraced each other.
"Waaah! This is the feeling!"
"Yes, yes! This is how it feels every time we get blasted!"
"Pikachu won, meow! We've made a fortune, meow!"
Meowth, with tears in his eyes, didn't forget about the bet.
Reminded by Meowth,
Musashi and Kojiro remembered.
Oh, right!
There was this thing called a bet!
The two's eyes immediately lit up.
Musashi and Kojiro immediately pulled Meowth down.
"What was the payout ratio for the bet?"
"1 to 500!"
Two people, quick question, quick answer.
1 to... 500?!
The two and the cat's eyes shined so brightly they were about to rival a lightbulb!
Unlike those who didn't believe in Pikachu,
their trust in Pikachu was unparalleled!
The two and the cat all bet 200 points!
Two hundred points!
Multiply that by five hundred!
That's... a whole 100,000 wager points!
Musashi, Kojiro, and Meowth were all excited to the point of being breathless.
Ten... 100,000 wager points!
Oxygen!
They need oxygen now!
The overwhelmed trio happily lay on the ground, already seeing angels from heaven coming to greet them.
Wonderful!
It's simply beautiful!
They can finally live the life of buying a ton of equipment and throwing them away one by one!
...
【Oda: Cough, cough, alright alright, let's stop making fun of Shindai. But is there any expert who can explain why Pikachu is so strong?】
【Cynthia: Indeed, Pikachu is ridiculously strong. Electric-type Gym Leaders, come out and tell me, do any of your Electric-type Pokémon have this kind of power?】
【Shota: I do have a Pikachu, and not only a Pikachu, but also a Raichu, but I have to say, no! I've never seen a Pikachu this strong that gets stronger with every battle!】
【Tetsuya: It's hilarious. If my Electric-type Pokémon were really this strong, I'd go straight for challenging the Elite Four and the Champion!】
【Denji: Makes sense. If I had this strength, I'd also challenge the Elite Four and the Champion. My Raichu wasn't this strong before it evolved!】
【Sakuragi: Let's just drop it, let's just drop it. The more we talk about it, the more confused I get! Plus, since Pikachu can one-shot Regice, what was it doing with all those attacks before? Throwing the fight? Or was it trying to save face for Mr. Shindai?】
【Clemont: I think I really need to catch a Pikachu and study it thoroughly! Wait for me, I'll definitely come out with #$%&T%^$】
【Conquest: What's going on in the chatroom?!?】
【Lysandre: Cough, cough, no big deal, no need to worry too much! Let's get back to the topic. Any Pokémon Professor who can explain this phenomenon?】
Professor Oak hesitated for a moment.
Hmm...
He's great at professional explanations.
He's also great at making things up.
But this whole Pikachu getting stronger with every battle, Professor Oak couldn't think of a theory that was even close.
While Professor Oak was hesitant,
another Pokémon Professor stepped forward.
【Professor Burnet: Explanation... actually, I have an idea, but I don't know if it's correct.】
【Shiba: Tell us, tell us! Let's hear it! Any direction is better than none! I'm really curious how Pikachu did it, and if other Pokémon can do it! If they can, then... my training has direction!】
【Lysandre: It's Professor Burnet! Just say it, it's okay! We're all clueless right now, any direction is better than none!】
【Professor Burnet: My current research focus is the bond between humans and Pokémon. This bond, when it reaches a certain level, can trigger special powers within the Pokémon from the trainer.】
【Professor Burnet: So I suspect that Satoshi and Pikachu may have this bond and reached a level that can trigger this bond.】
【Professor Oak: This research direction and topic are very interesting! The bond between humans and Pokémon? So you're saying the bond between Satoshi and Pikachu is incredibly strong, so strong that it can make Pikachu's battle power double, a little bit, in a short amount of time?】