The forest clearing was filled with the fresh scent of plants and damp earth.
Misty sat cross-legged on a patch of nearly-dry moss, cheeks puffed out as she dabbed healing spray onto a Goldeen.
Not far away, Ash's voice cut through the crackle of Pikachu's electricity and the roaring wind from Pidgey's wings.
"Pikachu, chain Quick Attack into a feint! Don't let that Spearow pull away!"
"Pidgey, use Hurricane to disrupt its vision!"
"Magikarp, Splash! Aim for that puddle and jump with everything you've got!"
Daily training was where Trainers built rapport and habits with their Pokémon.
Without that groundwork, commanding them in real battles was nearly impossible.
Pokémon might not always fully grasp what their trainers were saying—
but opposing trainers would understand your calls perfectly.
And in official matches, battles moved fast.
High-level Pokémon could move at speeds that surpassed sound.
Without a deep bond, there was no way to keep up with words alone.
If your mouth couldn't match your opponent's movement speed, your orders were useless.
Sometimes the shockwaves from colliding powerful moves would literally drown out your voice.
Golden light flared—Pikachu became a streak and slammed into a Spearow, skidding through the mud on all fours and carving shallow grooves into the ground.
Pidgey's swirling gusts carried dead leaves that blinded another Spearow.
And that golden MagikarpMisty had mentally complained about eight hundred times already?
It was bouncing wildly in a muddy puddle, splashing thick, dirty water all over the last Spearow and actually knocking it off-balance.
Magikarp was trying its hardest.
Magikarp used Splash, but… as usual, "nothing happened."
Well, except for soaking Spearow's feathers in mud.
Misty's eye twitched.
Aside from being pretty, rare, good-looking… and able to jump high… what was that thing even good for?
Was it really worth all this effort?
Since she didn't know what conditions were needed for Magikarp to evolve into Gyarados, Misty genuinely felt Ash was just messing around.
Most Water-type specialists simply caught a Gyarados directly.
Raising one all the way from Magikarp was way too much of a gamble.
Magikarp were everywhere, in practically every body of water on the planet.
But evolutions into Gyarados… even one in ten thousand would be optimistic.
Catching a random Magikarp and betting it would evolve into Gyarados… you were probably better off buying a lottery ticket.
At least from Misty's point of view.
She had no idea Ash had a system cheat, and Ash had no intention of telling her.
"Hey!"
She finally snapped, chucking the empty medicine bottle aside.
"Ash! Are you done yet? Training Pikachu and Pidgey is one thing, but that Magikarp—what, are you planning to use Splash to knock a Gym Leader unconscious?"
Magikarp weighed around forty kilos or so. If one did actually land on someone, maybe it could nearly crush them.
"And isn't training supposed to be about teaching them strong moves and building bonds?"Misty jabbed a finger at the golden fish still flopping in the puddle. "Magikarp can't learn anything!"
Ash had just picked up exhausted Pikachu and was toweling off its wet fur when he heard her. He raised his head.
Sunlight streamed down through the branches, lighting up his face. His eyes shone almost painfully bright.
In his heart, he thought: Since you're asking so earnestly…
Let me enlighten you.
He had to show off here.
"Of course bonds are important, Misty."
"But do you think 'feelings' alone will let your Goldeen stand up to a Champion's ace using Draco Meteor and not go down?"
This wasn't a game.
Even Protect had its limits.
Misty choked. "W-what?"
"I'm saying—look at the world, Misty." Ash stood, slinging the towel over his shoulder and walking to the puddle.
He faced the sun, back to Misty, arms spread wide.
For a moment, it felt like he was embracing the whole world.
The golden Magikarp seemed to feel his gaze and jumped even harder, droplets scattering light like tiny splinters of gold.
"If you don't understand, you just don't."
"Not all Magikarp are created equal."
Ash suddenly turned, eyes sharp as they locked onto Misty.
"You know individual differences exist between Pokémon."
"And for a rookie, those little differences can decide whether your Thunderbolt lands first… or whether the opponent's Hyper Beam turns you into dust."
"And that's just at the ordinary trainer level."
"Do you have any idea how insane the power creep gets once you reach the top?"
His words came faster, each one like a little hammer knocking on the limits of her worldview.
…The Cerulean Gym had really fallen behind.
Things that were basically common sense at Professor Oak's lab, Misty barely knew.
Because this world wasn't a game.
The Pokémon setting here had filled itself out in a much more realistic way.
"The elites of the elite in each region."
"They walk the road of victory, winning again and again."
"They climb to the very summit of training."
"Those are the Champions."
"In Sinnoh, the Champion is Cynthia—26 years old. Her Garchomp can split a mountain in half with a single Dragon Rush."
"In Galar, the undefeated Champion Leon—20 years old. His Charizard'sG-Max Wildfire can boil a lake dry."
"You think they got that strong just by shouting slogans, feeding Pokéblocks, and patting their partners on the head saying 'you can do it'?"
Misty shrank back a little under the sudden weight of his presence, her orange ponytail forgotten.
"C-Cynthia? I know her," she said weakly.
"Galar? Leon? Who… who is that?"
Well… Cynthia was Sinnoh's Champion.
She appeared often in the public eye in her official role and got involved in major incidents. She'd likely been Champion for at least ten years.
Sinnoh wasn't that far from Kanto, so Misty had at least heard of her, even if she didn't know the details.
Galar, though… that was a different story.
She knew the name of the region, but not the name of its Champion.
You could find information on Leon easily online, but if you didn't go looking, you'd barely run into it.
The Kanto League certainly wasn't going to hype up Galar's League for them. Regional Leagues were relatively independent of each other.
Leon had first challenged Gyms at age ten, swept straight to the top, and then never lost again. He'd stayed Champion ever since.
Ridiculous, honestly…
"Diantha, the Kalos Champion, 20 years old—also a world-famous movie star."
Strictly speaking, her main job was acting. Champion was more like a side gig.
But she was only "weak" compared to other Champions.
She was still the one standing at the peak of Victory Road, one of the strongest trainers in the world.
"Steven Stone, current Champion of Hoenn, 25. A trainer obsessed with rare stones."
"I hear he's planning to retire soon and hand the title over to his friend, Wallace."
"Wallace, the so-called 'Artist of Water.'"
"He'll take over as the Hoenn Champion at 34… and he's the biggest obstacle you'll face on the path to becoming a Water-type Master."
Wallace was already well into his thirties… yeah.
Ash now wasn't the sloppy ten-year-old of the anime.
The night before he left, he'd done a lot of homework online.
"They stand at the peak of their regions."
"They've broken past their own limits."
"They sit above the Elite Four."
"They are the ones who've reached the summit."
"They are the strongest trainers in history—"
They are the Champions.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.