"This isn't a crystal, it's a gem. Only the chosen can control it, so it already belongs to me."
Seeing that Sylva still refused to believe him, Ash Ketchum withdrew the floating Soul Gem and the other gem back into his body.
"Even if what you say is true, the mysterious crystal isn't in your hands right now. That means you don't have the right to take it away," Sylva replied, clearly shaken but still unwilling to step aside.
"What's wrong with you? He already proved those gems belong to him. Have you ever seen anyone else control something like that?" Sabrina said impatiently, her tone growing colder.
Ash frowned slightly. "This is troublesome… Infinity Gems can only be used by me, but that doesn't mean others can't pick them up first. Even if they can't use them, no one would just hand over something like that."
"And according to what I know, even if the gem isn't fully activated, it still releases part of its energy. That alone is enough to make people treat it like a treasure."
In other words, even without control, the gem itself was valuable enough that no one would willingly give it up.
"System, is there a way to deal with this?" Ash asked inwardly. He could take it by force, but this place wasn't ordinary. This was Fantasy Island, a place where humans and Pokémon coexisted peacefully. If word got out that he resorted to robbery, it would only damage his reputation and disrupt the balance here.
[DING~!]
[The system coexists with the Infinity Gems and can influence certain functions. However, before a gem is integrated into the host's body, the host must spend attribute points to activate this function.]
Ash's eyes lit up. That was a workable solution.
"How many attribute points to control one gem?" he asked immediately.
[DING~!]
[100,000 attribute points per use.]
"…You've got to be kidding me," Ash muttered under his breath. "That's robbery. I only have 1.5 million total, and you want a hundred thousand per use…"
Even so, he had no real alternative.
"I'll use it… control the Life Gem once."
The system instantly deducted 100,000 attribute points. At that moment, Ash clearly felt a connection form with the Life Gem not far away. However, there was a limitation, it had to remain within a 500-meter range.
"Fine," Ash said with a faint smile as he looked at Sylva. "Since you don't want to return it, then you'll have to take responsibility for what happens next."
"What are you planning? Trying to take it by force?" Sylva immediately retreated a few steps, raising her anesthesia gun and aiming at both Ash and Sabrina.
Ash ignored her reaction completely.
"As the owner of the Infinity Gem, I command… Life Gem, cease releasing life energy and reclaim everything you've given."
Both Sabrina and Sylva were momentarily stunned, unable to understand what he meant.
Then it happened.
About three hundred meters away, a pillar of green light suddenly shot into the sky. Moments later, the color shifted from green to an ominous purple. A violent wind swept across the mountain, carrying with it a suffocating, unsettling aura.
Every Pokémon in the area reacted instantly, as if sensing something deeply wrong.
What Ash had done was simple. Instead of allowing the Life Gem to release vitality, he reversed its function, forcing it to absorb life energy from its surroundings.
If Sylva refused to hand it over, then he would make the consequences impossible to ignore.
As the purple wind swept across the area, the change was immediate and terrifying. Wherever it passed, life withered away. The once lush green grass turned yellow in an instant, tree leaves shriveled and fell, and even the ground began to dry, crack, and split apart.
If Ash Ketchum had not deliberately restrained it, the Life Gem could have gone even further and directly drained the vitality of living beings.
Unlike Ash's own vitality, which was limited and required time to recover after being used, the Life Gem was fundamentally different. It could continuously absorb life energy from the surrounding environment, and at a speed far exceeding Ash's own abilities. It could even draw vitality from living creatures, humans and Pokémon alike.
Ash's Mokuton could only heal and restore, it could not extract life force from others. This alone showed how powerful the Life Gem truly was. If it were combined with something like a Healing Gem or an Immortality Gem, it could potentially grant endless existence.
"What… what is happening? What did you do?" Sylva's voice trembled as she looked at the desolate landscape forming before her. In her eyes, Ash now seemed no different from a monster.
"That gem belongs to me, so naturally I can control it," Ash said calmly. "Since you refuse to return it, why should I let it keep helping you? Before I came here, that gem had already benefited you more than enough. Don't push your luck."
The Infinity Gems were, by all logic, Ash's possessions. Even if he had not personally gathered every single one yet, the existence of the system alone confirmed his connection to them.
"I know this may seem unfair to you," Ash continued, his tone steady, "but something that isn't yours… was never yours to keep."
For the sake of the Life Gem, he would not back down. This was something he had to obtain.