The forest clearing steamed with the fresh scent of grass and trees.
Misty sat cross-legged on the semi-dry moss, puffing her cheeks in annoyance as she applied medicine to a Goldeen.
Not far away, Ash Ketchum's voice pierced through the crackling of Pikachu's electricity and the whistling wind generated by Pidgey's flapping wings:
"Quick Attack into a turn! Don't give that Spearow a chance to widen the gap!"
"Pidgey, use Gust to obscure its vision!"
"Magikarp, Splash! Aim hard for that puddle!"
In daily training, one must cultivate a tacit understanding between Pokémon and Trainer, forming habits based on mutual consensus.
Without such daily training, commanding effectively in a competitive match is impossible.
Your Pokémon might not necessarily understand your commands, but the opposing Trainer in a competitive match certainly will.
And in official matches, the combat speed of Pokémon is extremely fast.
The movement speed of high-level Pokémon can even exceed the speed of sound.
Without sufficient tacit understanding, it is simply impossible to command using language.
If your speaking speed cannot keep up with their movement speed, then what the hell is the use?
Furthermore, when ultimate moves collide, the resulting air shockwaves can directly drown out your voice.
With a golden flash, Pikachu turned into a blur and knocked a Spearow flying, its four paws plowing shallow grooves into the muddy ground upon landing.
The turbulent airflow whipped up by Pidgey carried fallen leaves, blinding another Spearow.
Meanwhile, that golden Magikarp, which Misty had roasted in her mind eight hundred times, was bouncing frantically in the muddy puddle with immense vitality. Turbid splashes of water showered the last Spearow head-on, actually causing it to stagger.
Magikarp used maximum effort!
Magikarp used Splash, but nothing happened.
It just wet the Spearow's feathers with mud.
Misty watched with a twitching eyelid.
Aside from being a bit pretty, a bit rare, a bit nice to look at... and jumping a bit high, what use was that Magikarp?
Was it worth this much trouble?
Since she was unclear on the specific conditions for a Magikarp to evolve into a Gyarados, Misty genuinely felt Ash was just tormenting the Magikarp.
After all, Water-type Trainers usually captured Gyarados directly.
Raising one from a Magikarp was honestly pushing one's luck too far.
The quantity of Magikarp could be said to be found in every corner of the world, but evolving into Gyarados... a one-in-ten-thousand probability was speaking generously.
Catching a random Magikarp and betting on it evolving into a Gyarados... wouldn't it be better to just go buy a lottery ticket?
At least from Misty's perspective, that was the case.
She didn't know that Ash had a System cheat on his side, and Ash wasn't about to talk about that thing.
"Hey!"
Misty finally couldn't hold back, tossing the empty medicine bottle aside.
"Ash! Are you done yet? It's fine to train Pikachu and Pidgey, but that Magikarp... do you expect it to knock a Gym Leader unconscious with Splash?"
A Magikarp weighed about eighty or ninety pounds... if it really hit a person, it might actually smash them half to death.
"Also... shouldn't training Pokémon be about teaching them powerful moves and cultivating feelings?" Misty pointed at the golden figure still flopping in the mud pit. "Magikarp can't learn anything."
Ash had just carried the exhausted Pikachu back and was wiping its wet fur with a towel; hearing this, he raised his head.
Sunlight fell through the gaps in the forest onto his face; his eyes were startlingly bright.
Ash felt... since you asked, I'll be merciful and tell you.
I am definitely going to flex this time!
"Cultivating feelings is of course important, Misty."
"But can feelings allow your Goldeen to tank a Draco Meteor from a Champion's ace and stay standing?"
This world is not a game.
Even [Protect] has a damage absorption cap.
Misty choked up: "...W-what?"
"I said, open your eyes and look at the world, Misty." Ash stood up, casually draping the towel over his shoulder and walking to the edge of the puddle.
He faced the sun, back to Misty, and spread his arms wide.
In this moment, it was as if he were embracing the entire world!
That golden Magikarp seemed to sense his gaze and jumped even more vigorously, water droplets refracting fine golden brilliance in the sunlight.
"I say you don't understand, and you just don't understand."
"Is one Magikarp the same as another?"
Ash suddenly turned around, his gaze piercing sharply toward Misty:
"You should know that there are individual differences between Pokémon."
"And for a rookie Trainer, that tiny difference can determine whether your Thunderbolt strikes the opponent first in battle, or if the opponent's Hyper Beam blasts you into slag first?"
"And that's just the level of ordinary Trainers."
"Do you have any idea how terrifying the power inflation gets when you reach the level of top-tier Trainers?"
His speaking speed increased, every word like a small hammer striking against Misty's cognitive barriers.
...Cerulean Gym had fallen into decline.
Misty barely knew these things, which could be considered common knowledge at Professor Oak's Laboratory.
Because this is reality, not a game world, the Pokémon worldview naturally fills itself in.
"The elite of the regional elites."
"On the Victory Road of victory upon victory."
"Stepping onto the summit of Trainers."
"This is a Champion."
"The Champion of the Sinnoh region, Cynthia, 26 years old. Her Garchomp's Dragon Rush can tear apart mountain peaks!"
"The Undefeated Champion of Galar, Leon, 20 years old. His Charizard's G-Max Wildfire can evaporate lakes!"
"Are they strong just by shouting slogans, feeding Pokéblocks, patting heads, and saying 'do your best'?"
Misty was awed by his sudden imposing manner, forgetting even to flick her orange ponytail: "Cyn... Cynthia? I know her."
"Galar? Leon? Wh... who is that?"
Uh... Cynthia is the Sinnoh region Champion.
She frequently appears and participates in events as the Champion... she has held the title for at least ten years.
Sinnoh could barely be said to be not too far from Kanto, so Misty had actually heard of her, though she wasn't clear on the specifics.
But Galar... that was a bit too far away.
She had heard the region's name, but not the Champion's name.
Or rather, information about Leon was easily found on the internet, but if you didn't actively search for it, you wouldn't really come across it.
The Kanto League wouldn't advertise the Galar League; the Leagues of various regions were relatively independent.
Leon won the Championship when he first challenged the Gyms at age 10, and has maintained an undefeated record since, remaining the Champion.
Quite absurd...
"Diantha, Kalos League Champion, 20 years old, also a world-class film actress."
...Strictly speaking, her main profession is a film actress, and being League Champion is a side job.
But she only appears weak among the Champions.
She is still at the apex of the road to the Champion, one of the world's strongest Trainers.
"Steven Stone, current Champion of the Hoenn region, 25 years old, a Pokémon Trainer obsessed with collecting rare stones."
"However, I heard he is preparing to step down recently and yield to his friend Wallace."
"Wallace, nicknamed the Artist of Water."
"He will succeed Steven Stone to become the Hoenn region Champion, 34 years old... and also your greatest enemy in becoming a Water-type Pokémon Master."
The flashy Wallace was actually not young... hmm.
The current Ash was not the 10-year-old Ash of the past, so careless.
On the night before setting out, he had consulted a large amount of internet data.
"They stand at the apex of their respective regions!"
"They are those who have transcended themselves!"
"They are above the Elite Four!"
"They are the ones who have realized the summit!"
"They are the strongest Trainers in history!"
_____
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