After arriving in Fuchsia City, Ash and his friends were dumbfounded. What on earth was this bustling Fuchsia City?
When they found the Fuchsia Gym, they discovered a long queue stretching from the gym entrance, with no end in sight.
Are these people crazy? Fuchsia Gym is one of Kanto's Elite Four gyms. Are they so bored that they're looking for trouble by challenging this gym?
Ash randomly asked someone about the situation at Fuchsia Gym, and the person looked at Ash and his friends as if they were aliens.
"You don't know the gym leader of Fuchsia Gym is a video candidate for the Elite Four?"
"Yes, but doesn't being a candidate for the Elite Four prove that this gym is extremely difficult? Shouldn't people be challenging other gyms instead?"
The person sized Ash up and then said, "You're a newbie trainer, right?"
"Uh... I've been traveling for two months now." Ash wanted to say he wasn't really a newbie trainer, but thinking about the time, it seemed he wasn't much different from a newbie.
"Sure enough, you're a newbie trainer, so you don't understand the significance of Fuchsia Gym." The passing trainer waved their hand in a 'you're still young' manner.
"Think about it, Fuchsia Gym's leader Koga is a candidate for the Elite Four, right? Although there's the word 'candidate,' in reality, there's no difference from a regular Elite; just not officially taking the position yet.
Normally, how hard is it to meet or even battle the Elite Four! But here, as long as you challenge the gym, you can receive guidance from the Elite Four, and they will adjust the difficulty based on your Pokémon. Where else can you find such a good opportunity outside of Fuchsia Gym?"
The Elite Four are like stars; you can basically only see them on TV. Challenging them usually means first becoming the League Conference Champion, or maybe you run into them on the road and they're in a good mood, then they might give you some guidance.
But now, in Fuchsia City, you can receive guidance from an Elite Level Trainer without any barriers!
Isn't this a great opportunity? Any trainer with a bit of insight is vying to challenge this gym. Even if they lose, they can gain experience and make obvious improvements.
Besides Fuchsia Gym, where else can you find Elite Level guidance in another place?
After listening to the passing trainer, Ash and his friends finally understood and felt it made a lot of sense.
For normal people, not to mention battling an Elite, even meeting one is very difficult.
But now, there's a ready Elite at Fuchsia Gym that you can challenge, and regardless of winning or losing, this Elite will give you some guidance. Where else can you find such a good thing in another place!
"Wait a minute, aren't there other gyms in Kanto with this level too? Scarlet, Viridian, Saffron, they all have Elite Level strengths, right? And isn't Viridian the strongest gym in Kanto?" Ash asked with a puzzled look.
If it's about Elite Level, it's not just Fuchsia. Kanto doesn't just have amazing high-level gyms; other regions might not even have one Elite Level gym, but Kanto has four!
Hearing this, the passing trainer was slightly surprised: "I didn't expect a newbie like you to know this, but other places are not the same as Fuchsia Gym."
"The terror of Saffron Gym, you can find out online easily, and Scarlet Gym recently stopped accepting challengers, because like Fuchsia Gym, there's a huge crowd of challengers there, but the Gym Leader got tired of the subpar skill levels, so they closed the gym."
"Lastly, Viridian Gym. To challenge Viridian Gym, you need to make a reservation, and the Gym Leader is often not there. If you're unlucky, you'll end up challenging the deputy leader, so only at Fuchsia Gym can you receive guaranteed guidance from the Elite."
"Moreover, due to Scarlet Gym closing, people are worried Fuchsia Gym might do the same, so it's getting even crazier. We're all thinking of challenging Fuchsia Gym at least once before it closes to get the Elite's guidance!"
The passing trainer spoke eloquently, and after a long discussion, their mouth went dry.
However, they felt quite satisfied themselves. Ash and his friends were just lucky to have picked someone who enjoyed talking and giving information.
If it had been an ordinary person, they would have only briefly mentioned the reason for the queue at Fuchsia Gym.
But now that the reason was explained, they still had to queue up honestly.
Judging by the length of the queue, even if Koga and his Pokémon were made of iron, it would be impossible to face so many challengers in a single day.
So now, queueing up means there's a high chance they won't get to challenge Koga today.
"Hey, I just wanted to ask, if Fuchsia Gym closes, what happens to the people left waiting?"
"What happens? You wait until it opens the next day unless you want to queue again."
The passing trainer's words made Ash and his friends go dark around the eyes.
Wow, so until we get our turn in the queue, we can't even leave! If you leave the line, you'll have to queue again, meaning someone has to stay in line overnight.
Judging by the progress of the queue, if no one leaves, they might need at least three days to challenge the gym.