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"Great job, Pikachu, we won!!" Ash excitedly shouted at Pikachu after seeing Raichu lie motionless for nearly ten seconds.
Pikachu was also very tired at this moment. For him, using so many moves, especially attacks beyond his own level, meant a severe drain on his stamina.
But being able to defeat the person who looked down on him and his Pokémon, it was all worth it!
Pikachu dashed towards Ash, then leaped into Ash's arms, and they laughed happily together.
Ralts, held by Misty, wiggled slightly, broke free from her embrace, then floated to Ash's side, celebrating this moment happily with Ash.
Lt Surge looked at Ash and the fallen Raichu with a sense of helplessness, his eyes filled with mixed emotions.
He genuinely hadn't expected to lose this battle today, and to lose so thoroughly.
Throughout the entire match, he hadn't touched Pikachu once, and was completely suppressed by Pikachu.
In terms of eyesight and immediate judgment, he was also less decisive than Ash. Compared to his understanding of Raichu, Ash understood Pikachu much more deeply. They were in perfect sync, their cooperation flawless, without a single mistake.
If he hadn't been sure that Ash was just a Trainer who had started his journey a month ago, Lt Surge would have even thought Ash and Pikachu had been old partners for over a decade.
With the Pokémon's level, form, and the Trainer's experience all suppressing the opponent, yet still being decisively defeated, where exactly did the problem lie?
He remembered, it lay in that abnormally fast speed from the very beginning, in the sudden appearance of the Surf move, and in bad luck—his Raichu was inexplicably paralyzed, not only halving its speed but also triggering paralysis flinching, leading to one step behind, and then falling further and further behind.
Thinking about it carefully, this luck was just too absurd... Could it be that he had bullied the weak too much and was now facing retribution?
However, overall, these problems could all be summarized into one aspect: a lack of strength.
Simply put, his raw strength wasn't as good as the opponent's. Otherwise, no matter what methods were used, they would be insignificant in the face of powerful strength.
Today's defeat also taught Lt Surge a lot, first and foremost being... don't judge a book by its cover!
"...You won. I take back my disrespectful words to you just now. I apologize."
After a moment of mental collapse, Lt Surge slowly composed himself. He then recalled Raichu and walked up to Ash, bowing sincerely.
This sudden act of respect caught Ash off guard. Although this Gym Leader's words were indeed a bit harsh at first, he seemed to know how to admit his mistakes and correct them.
This made Ash, who had originally intended to gloat in front of Lt Surge, silently retract his idea. Since the other party had apologized, and he had completely won this battle, then it was fine.
Moreover, this battle was a huge gain for him. Pikachu had successfully advanced to the Elite Level. Now, even without entering Partner Form, Pikachu was a genuine Elite Level Pokémon!
The harder the opponent to defeat, the greater the reward after victory. The seniors in the group did not deceive him.
Don't look at this battle as if he was suppressing the opponent the whole time, but in reality... it was indeed relatively easy, ahem.
The main reason was that Lt Surge's Raichu was poorly trained.
"Uncle Lt Surge, when you were training Raichu, you must have been solely focused on breaking through levels, and thus neglected Raichu's own ability value growth, right?" Ash suddenly spoke.
Lt Surge was stunned, then subconsciously nodded: "That's right. In Pokémon battles, level is supreme, followed by the Trainer's command and on-the-spot adaptability. As long as these two factors can suppress the opponent, the scales of victory will tip in your favor... That's what I used to think."
That's what he used to think, but after battling Ash today, this battle directly refreshed Lt Surge's worldview.
It turned out that a Rookie Trainer, even with insufficient experience, could still directly suppress a seasoned Trainer.
It turned out that even with lower Pokémon levels and forms, one could still win head-on... Lt Surge's long-held preconceived notions were shattered today.
"What you said isn't wrong, but... your Raichu's ability values are simply too weak for its level. The reason Pikachu could suppress Raichu head-on is because even though his level is lower, his ability values are not low."
"Building a solid foundation at each level, maximizing a Pokémon's ability values, and then advancing to the next level will greatly enhance the Pokémon's strength. If you simply raise the level and ignore everything else, even a Champion Level Pokémon might not be able to defeat an Elite Four level Pokémon head-on."
Ash stroked Pikachu's head, repeating to Lt Surge what Champion Ash from the group had once told him.
In reality, many people are very keen on raising their Pokémon's levels, but training Pokémon is not that simple. If one thinks that simply raising levels can make them the strongest, then that idea is simply too naive.
However, in reality, many people have this idea, including Lt Surge, the Gym Leader currently in front of Ash.
This is also why there are so many Gym Leaders, but so few who can reach the Gym Level in terms of strength, and the Elite Four and Champions are even rarer, truly few and far between.
Ash's words also made Lt Surge fall into deep thought. Compared to simply raising levels, improving ability values is much more difficult.
Without increasing levels, who knows how much training it would take to raise all six ability values. The difficulty of training Pokémon in this way is undoubtedly greatly increased, but the greater the difficulty, the greater the reward.
The young man in front of him was a very good example.
With a level one major tier lower, he single-handedly defeated his Raichu... Was this the improvement brought by ability values?
"I understand. I will pay attention to this from now on. Usually, it's us Gym Leaders who give advice to challengers. I never thought it would be the other way around today. Who exactly are you?"
"Just a Trainer from Pallet Town." Ash grinned, revealing his white teeth.
"Haha, you've really got me..."
"One more thing, Uncle Lt Surge, regarding those Rookie Trainers you defeated... I don't know why you were so harsh on them, but doing such things to Pokémon is wrong." Ash's smile disappeared, replaced by a serious expression.
"You are a Gym Leader; you should be a role model and guide for challengers. But your actions, how are they different from crushing and ending their Trainer careers? They are the Gym Leaders of Cerulean Gym and Pewter Gym. I learned many things from them. In my opinion, they are the true Gym Leaders."
Ash stepped aside, pointing to Misty and Brock who were standing nearby.
Leaving Brock aside, just Misty—her strength is actually far inferior to Lt Surge's. Her strongest Pokémon is only at the Elite Level peak, but this doesn't prevent her from being a qualified and excellent Gym Leader.
Ash was very fortunate that when he first started out, he met these two Gym Leaders.
He was even more fortunate to have met Misty on that small road in Pallet Town and embarked on their journey together... Ash's words once again plunged Lt Surge into contemplation. If Ash was teaching him how to train Pokémon just now, then now Ash was teaching him how to be a person.
He came from a military background. After retiring, he passed the exam and became the Gym Leader of Vermilion City Gym. At first, he wasn't so harsh on newcomers, just more serious and strict.
After all, he used to be a soldier.
But the more he battled later on, the more irritable he became. The people who came to challenge him were all insignificant—either challenging with a Pidgey or a Rattata.
These challenges were not only extremely boring but also made Lt Surge feel that the challengers were looking down on him.
In fact, that was just Lt Surge's self-perception, but once that idea arose, it became deeply ingrained.
Ultimately, Lt Surge became like this, harshly dealing with weak challengers, and only engaging in serious battles with challengers who had some strength.
His idea was that as long as he scared off those weak challengers and made a name for himself, then no such challengers would come to challenge him in the future. He also wouldn't have to endure the boredom and insult of battling Pokémon like Raticate and Pidgey.
However, this approach ended up severely damaging both the opponent's Pokémon and their spirit. For a Rookie Trainer, this might have been their first Gym battle since their debut.
And then they were mercilessly crushed, told to go back and train for two more years, which was a severe blow to a Rookie Trainer's confidence.
If Lt Surge wasn't a Gym Leader, then at most he would only be criticized morally, but he was a Gym Leader!
This was already a matter of professional ethics.
Now, Ash's words also made Lt Surge suddenly realize that this was no longer a battlefield, and the Trainers who came to challenge him were not mortal enemies from a battlefield.
His duty as a Gym Leader was not to utterly defeat the opponent, potentially making them give up being a Trainer forever, but to teach and correct the Trainers' mistakes. This was what a qualified Gym Leader should do.
Thinking of this, Lt Surge once again bowed sincerely to Ash.
"Thank you, Ash. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have known how long I would have continued to be wrong."
From 'little boy' to 'young man' to 'Ash,' the change in address in less than half an hour proved Ash's constantly shifting status in Lt Surge's heart.
"This is proof of defeating me, the Orange Badge. Please accept it." After bowing, Lt Surge took out the Vermilion City Gym badge and handed it to Ash, who unceremoniously accepted it.
"I got the Orange Badge!"
"Pikachu!"
"Ralts Ralts~~"
Ash made his signature pose for getting a badge. After excitedly looking at the Orange Badge for a while, he pinned it to his jacket. He now had three badges, and only a little over a month had passed.
Getting five more badges in the remaining five months shouldn't be a big problem.
Watching Ash put away the badge, Lt Surge couldn't help but ask Ash, "Ash, how exactly did you train this Pikachu? Even if my Raichu's ability values aren't very well trained, it shouldn't be at a disadvantage in a clash with an Elite Level Pokémon, right?"
"And I'm quite confident in my eyesight. Before the battle, Pikachu's level should have been Advanced, right? How did its level become Elite Level after entering battle?"
"Also, what are that Surf and that strange high-speed Electric-type move? Are those moves that the Pikachu Family can learn?"
These questions had been accumulating in Lt Surge's mind since the battle began, and only now could he ask Ash.
Generally speaking, this sort of thing should be a Trainer's secret. How to train Pokémon, how to make them special, is a Trainer's unique secret recipe; how could they tell others?
But Lt Surge was truly too puzzled. He also played with Pikachu, and even its evolved form. How could he not know what moves Pikachu could learn or what its ability values were?
Even if his Raichu's ability values were poorly trained, Pikachu is inherently weaker than Raichu in terms of species ability. Even if its ability values were better trained, its level was still far behind!
Theoretically, Raichu should still have the advantage.
Besides that, there were the two incomprehensible moves Pikachu used, the diversity of Pikachu's moves, and its sudden level increase at the start of the battle... Everything about it seemed too strange. Is this really a Pikachu? Is it really not some Pokémon pretending to be a Pikachu, wearing a Legendary Pokémon's skin?
Ash paused, then shook his head: "Sorry, Uncle Lt Surge, this is a secret between me and Pikachu. I can only tell you that my Pikachu is special. Whether it's Electric Terrain or soaring surf, these are moves only he can use. Other Pikachus can't learn them."
"As for the level increase... you must have seen it wrong. What level is my Pikachu now?"
Lt Surge heard this, looked at the Pikachu at Ash's feet, his expression froze, then he rubbed his eyes and looked again carefully.
Wh... what's going on? Wasn't it Advanced just now, how did it become Elite now?
At this moment, Pikachu's hat was back on Ash's head. Elite Level was Pikachu's true level now.
From Ordinary Intermediate when they started to Elite Level now, only a little over a month had passed. Such a rapid increase in Pikachu's level could only be described as incredible.
After Lt Surge confirmed three times that Pikachu was indeed Elite Level, he could only grumble about having seen it wrong.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Ash waved goodbye to Lt Surge.
Before leaving, Lt Surge asked one last question: why Ash called him Uncle Lt Surge.
Although there was nothing wrong with Ash calling him 'uncle' given his age, generally, for someone met for the first time and with whom there was no particular fondness, one would usually call them by their name or 'Gym Leader.'
To this, Ash said it just felt natural, so he called him that.
In reality, Tactician Ash in the group chat called him that, which is why Ash blurted out the name Uncle Lt Surge.
After leaving the Vermilion City Gym, Misty curiously asked on the way to the Pokémon Center, "Ash, what's with Pikachu's move called soaring surf? Is that Surf? Did you change its name yourself?"
Ash heard this, looked at the Pikachu in his arms with a slight smile, and said, "That's not just a simple Surf. It's Surf infused with electric power. It has a chance to paralyze the opponent after hitting them, which is why I changed the name."
"Originally, I wanted to call it 'Electric Surf,' isn't that quite descriptive? But Pikachu said not to use a repetitive name, so it was changed to soaring surf. As for how soaring surf was learned... Pikachu suddenly comprehended it himself. It seems Team Rockets constantly chasing my Pikachu isn't without reason."
At the end, Ash shrugged helplessly. Although he disliked the Team Rocket Trio, those three did have good judgment.jpg
So Pikachu named it... No wonder it has such good taste. Misty thought to herself, feeling a little satisfied.
Ash wouldn't reveal a single word to Lt Surge, but he was completely open with her. This was, of course, because he considered her one of his own. Thinking back to Ash's subconscious action of blocking her earlier, Misty's steps became a little lighter.
Upon reaching the Pokémon Center, Ash first called his mother, Delia, to share the good news, and then called Professor Oak.
"Congratulations, Ash, on getting your third Gym badge! Your progress is no less than Gary's."
"Gary? How many badges has that guy gotten now?" It had been a while since he heard Gary's name, and he had almost forgotten about him. After all, on his journey, he hadn't rested for a moment, constantly improving himself.
Country bumpkins and such had long been forgotten in Timbuktu.
"He's also gotten three badges, but he went to Celadon City first. His next target also seems to be Vermilion City, and he should arrive within the next two days."
After Professor Oak briefly described Gary's current whereabouts, he suddenly changed the subject: "Oh, by the way, Professor Cerise's laboratory seems to have opened today. If you have time, you can go support him."
Professor Cerise? Ash paused, then found this familiar yet unfamiliar name in his mind.
Professor Cerise was Professor Oak's student, considered a young and promising researcher in the research world. He used to frequently come to Pallet Town to conduct Pokémon research with Professor Oak.
Ash had seen him many times. Every time he came, he would bring his daughter, and after a few visits, Ash became good friends with his daughter.