"Hello, I'm Ash from Pallet Town, here to challenge the Celadon Gym."
Erika, who had shown an awkward yet polite smile due to Brock's presumptuousness, immediately turned serious upon hearing Ash's name.
"You're Ash?"
"Uh... you've heard of me?"
"Hehe, your fame should have already spread to the ears of all gym leaders by now. A trainer who has been on the scene for less than two months managed to defeat Sabrina, the leader of the Saffron Gym, and is rumored to have Elite Level strength. When I first heard this news, I thought the League was telling some kind of cold joke."
Erika said with a light chuckle, but there wasn't the slightest hint of laughter in her eyes, because this news was no joke, it was real.
A boy who had been out in the field for less than two months managed to tackle the Saffron Gym, which is known as a nightmare of hell difficulty in Kanto.
Such a thing is simply unimaginable; even for a genius trainer, you wouldn't expect them to be this kind of genius, right?
Among the four gyms of Kanto, the Saffron Gym is definitely not the most powerful, but it is the hardest to beat, because the new gym leader, Sabrina, doesn't know how to hold back even a little.
Her reputation has already spread among gym trainers, and only someone like Misty, who hasn't been on the job for long, wouldn't know about it.
Since the new leader took over, the Saffron Gym hasn't given out a single badge, not one!
The Quartz Conference is designed for trainers who have traveled for less than two years. Even trainers who have traveled nearly two years, pushing the limit, have no chance of winning at Saffron Gym.
Meanwhile, the abilities of Vermillion, Vermilion, and Pewter are also strong, but they will hold back a bit according to the challenger's level, so those three gyms occasionally hand out a badge or two.
But the Saffron Gym... haha.
So when Erika heard that someone had defeated the Saffron Gym, she didn't believe it at first.
To defeat Saffron Gym, you need Pokemon at least above Gym Level, and for a trainer who has been traveling for less than two years to do that, it's not impossible, but it's extremely rare.
However, someone actually did it, and the rumors say that person also has Elite Level strength.
After confirming the news was true, Erika was shocked beyond measure and was extremely curious to know exactly who this person was, who managed to possess Elite Level Pokemon in just two months of travel and even defeat Psychic Sabrina.
Could this not have been achieved without starting training at age five? Or had he inherited Pokemon from his family and gained their recognition? Erika couldn't think of any other possibilities.
She didn't expect that the person from the rumors would appear in front of her so soon, so Erika couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked Ash, "How did you do it? Do you really have Elite Level strength? You've been traveling for less than two months, right?"
"Uh... it was just a chance encounter on the road, and I managed to catch an Elite Advanced Level Gastly, which could just take on Sabrina's Alakazam."
If it's not Ghost Type or Dark Type, other Pokemon would naturally have a disadvantage against Psychic Type, even Bug Type.
Don't be deceived by Bug Type's advantage over Psychic Type; in reality, the strength of Psychic Type lies in its unpredictability. Even with an attribute advantage, Bug Type finds it very hard to deal with Psychic Type.
Only the equally unpredictable Ghost Type and the Psychic-defying Dark Type could handle Psychic Types well.
So Ash was really just lucky to encounter an Elite Level Ghost Type; otherwise, it wouldn't have been easy to say.
Upon hearing this, Erika wore a polite yet slightly embarrassed smile.
Are you listening to what you're saying? What do you mean by 'a chance encounter caught an Elite Advanced Level Gastly'? What kind of chance allows you to catch such a high-level Pokemon? And it's a very rare Ghost Type!
Moreover, encountering is one thing; capturing is another. If you didn't have an Elite Level Pokemon yourself, how did you catch Gastly? Did you catch it yourself?
"Ahem, let's set aside that matter for now. Since you have an Elite Level Pokemon, will you choose to use it in this battle? If you do, I'll give you the highest-standard treatment during our battle."
Erika decided not to delve further into Ash's issue with the Elite Level Gastly and brought the topic back to the battle.
How Ash captured an Elite Level Gastly was his secret. What Erika needed to know now was what level of Pokemon Ash would use in battle.
Normally, gym leaders determine the difficulty based on the challenger's travel time, but Ash clearly couldn't be judged by conventional methods.
Which kid starts out less than two months only to knock out an Elite Level Gym!?
Difficulty shouldn't be assessed by travel time but by the level of Pokemon Ash would use.
Though if Ash did use the Elite Level Gastly, she wouldn't have any countermeasure anyway...
"As for Gastly, I probably won't use it in future gyms, as it's not a Pokemon I've trained personally. Strictly speaking, my trainer level isn't enough; Gastly only acknowledge me for some special reasons, so I won't use it in subsequent gym battles."
Ash shook his head to deny using Gastly in battle and explained why.
He then continued, "As for other Pokemon... my strongest is a Peak Elite Level Pikachu, which is my starter Pokemon. Other Pokemon range from Advanced Level, from Peak to Intermediate, so... it seems suitable to battle Elite Level Pokemon."
A Peak Elite Level Pikachu... starter Pokemon... less than two months...
These few sentences nearly overloaded Erika's CPU.
"Are you saying that you trained a Peak Elite Level Pokemon in less than two months, and it's a Pikachu?" Erika forced herself to remain calm and speak with composure, her face smiling.
"Yes, when I first started with Pikachu, he was already a normal Intermediate Level, with a higher starting point than other starter Pokemon. Pikachu is also very diligent, which is why he grew so fast."
"Pika pika~~" Pikachu scratched his head shyly, feeling praised. Ash's words practically gave all credit to him, though in reality, Ash himself was the key factor.
"Whew... Alright, Elite Level it is, I understand. Then let's battle first to let me understand what kind of person you are through a battle." Erika took a deep breath to stabilize her unsettled emotions, then turned to lead Ash to the battlefield.
Judging from the surface and the way he talked, Ash seemed like an honest person, seemingly incapable of deceiving her.
But whether he's truly as honest as he appears can only be confirmed through battle.
Battles don't lie!
With Erika's lead, everyone arrived at the battlefield, which was still surrounded by many beautiful flowers and plants.
Ash looked around at the environment, a bit concerned and said, "Is it okay to battle here, Gym Leader Erika? If the battle gets a little intense, these flowers and plants..."
"Don't worry about that." Erika said as she snapped her fingers.
At the four corners of the gym field, four machines appeared, which emitted a wave that formed a gigantic barrier, tightly enclosing the field!
"What is this...?"
"This is a field protection barrier issued by the League, developed through Aegislash's King's Shield. It prevents internal attacks from affecting the outside, though the outside can still easily penetrate inward. Essentially, anything below Gym Level won't be able to break this barrier from inside."
"There's such a thing as this!" Ash exclaimed in admiration, casting a glance at Misty and Brock as if saying — why doesn't your gym have this thing?