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When Gary returned to the crowd, his face immediately fell. Don't let his nonchalant demeanor fool you; losing the match made him incredibly upset, but he absolutely couldn't show it in front of Ash, or it would be even more embarrassing.
Even if Gary lost, he had to lose with style and grace!
Gary's cheerleading squad and girlfriends also came over to comfort and encourage Gary. With the comfort of the young ladies, Gary's mood finally improved a little.
"Gary." A voice came, and Gary looked over to see his grandfather and Ash's mother, Delia.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry to have shown you such an embarrassing side of me." Gary pursed his lips, finally offering a powerless apology.
"What's there to apologize for? For a Trainer who's only been traveling for a month, achieving this level is already quite good. To be honest, your grandpa was only slightly stronger than you back then." Oak made a small gesture with his fingers.
Hearing this, Gary rolled his eyes. Is that how you comfort someone? Shouldn't you be comforting me by saying I'm better than you were back then?
"Furthermore, losing to Ash isn't necessarily a bad thing. Failure can make your personality more stable and less flamboyant, and it can also allow you to calm down and observe your own shortcomings." Oak said meaningfully, with his hands clasped behind his back.
Then he turned his gaze to Ash, who had already resumed his battle, and said, "Actually, I'm more worried about Ash's personality. His love for Pokémon is even stronger than yours, but his personality is a bit worse than yours."
"He's the kind of person who gets conceited after achieving a little success. I even wondered how many setbacks Ash would need to correct his personality, but his progress this past month has truly surprised me."
Gary and Ash were both children Oak had watched grow up, and he knew their personality strengths and weaknesses better than anyone.
Gary's progress was mostly within Oak's expectations. Although his strength had improved, his mindset was still lacking due to his smooth journey.
But Ash's progress was far beyond his expectations.
Based on the information from Ash's phone calls and his performance in the battle against Gary, Oak was certain that Ash's mindset was completely different from a month ago.
That restless child, who used to get carried away by a little success, had quietly matured over the past month, and not just a little bit.
Was it because he was accompanied by two Gym Leaders? Or did the various experiences from his journey have too great an impact on Ash?
Regardless of the reason, Oak was genuinely happy for Ash's progress.
And Ash and Gary were rivals; Ash's progress would also drive Gary's progress. This was a positive development.
It seems that this year's Indigo League will finally have two successful participants from Pallet Town.
After listening to Oak, Gary also turned his gaze to Ash. There was a hint of unwillingness in his eyes, but more than that, there was a burning fighting spirit.
If Ash could do it, why couldn't Gary?
...An hour later, as Pikachu's Thunder Shock landed, Ash finally achieved ten consecutive victories.
This small official competition also determined its winners.
Aside from Gary, everyone else who came to battle was just a bunch of weaklings.
Powerful Trainers aren't that easy to come by. There are countless Trainers in the world, and in a small resort like this, at most, a Trainer with an Elite Level Pokémon would be considered top-tier.
Most of them were still Trainers with ordinary or advanced level Pokémon.
For Pikachu, even fighting ten was no problem!
These ten consecutive victories were easily achieved.
After the awards ceremony by the organizers, this small competition came to an end.
When the officials gave Ash the Light Ball, they said they didn't know what the item was, only that it contained Electric-type power, but it had no effect when held by an Electric-type Pokémon.
Ash would have to figure out its specific effects himself.
To put it simply, they themselves didn't know what the item was for, so they just used it as a prize. Since it was an unusable item anyway, wouldn't it be better to use it to increase the resort's popularity?
The results were naturally gratifying. They gave up a useless orb, and in return, their business turnover in the surrounding area doubled, and this was just the beginning.
After the event, wouldn't the audience still go shopping? At that time, the turnover would super double again!
Compared to such a gain, what was that tiny orb?
Ash didn't say much, merely putting the Light Ball away.
This item was useless to them, but to him, it was a super treasure!
If this item were to be classified using the group chat's ranking system, then for Ash, this item would be an S-level item!
This was something that could permanently double Pikachu's offensive stats, meaning that as Pikachu's training improved, its offensive stats would also increase exponentially!
When Pikachu reached Champion, even a god would get shocked a few times!
Ash, feeling satisfied, met up with Misty and the others, and next to them, he saw Oak and Delia, as well as a now calm Gary.
Everyone casually found a restaurant with air conditioning, sat down, had afternoon tea, and chatted.
Gary finally had time to ask his questions: "What was that Electric Terrain of yours? Why did it increase speed so quickly? And did your Pikachu take drugs? We've both been traveling for a month, so how is your Pikachu already Elite Level?"
"That's because my Pikachu is exceptionally gifted, and coupled with my powerful training methods, reaching Elite Level is a matter of minutes, isn't it?" Ash never knew humility in front of Gary, boasting as much as he could.
"Heh heh, speak human."
"I defeated a Professional Level Pokémon that was above my level, so I leveled up."
Gary: ???
Damn it, I told you to speak human, not to brag!
You defeated a Professional Level Pokémon and leveled up? Does that mean your Pikachu, at the Advanced Level, fought and won against a Professional Level Pokémon?
What are you bragging about?! If you can defeat a Professional Level Pokémon across two major levels, I'll eat this table, alright!
"Ash just battled Lt Surge, the Vermilion City Gym Leader, two days ago and applied for the highest challenge difficulty, defeating his Professional Level Raichu, and then Pikachu leveled up." Brock explained from the side.
With his honest face, it was hard to imagine him lying, and Gary had also battled Brock, knowing that Brock was the Pewter Gym Leader, so he had no reason to lie about this.
So... Ash really did defeat a Professional Level Pokémon with that Pikachu? And it was an evolved Raichu!
Then his loss wasn't so unjust after all... "How did you do it? The power levels of Professional Level and Advanced Level are not on the same tier. No matter how much you use tactics, they should be useless in the face of an absolute level difference, right?" Gary asked Ash, somewhat curious.
"Because my Pikachu is well-trained, and Uncle Lt Surge's Raichu was somewhat poorly trained, so that's how I won."
Gary: ...You said nothing at all. Can you provide some useful information? Why has this guy become so tight-lipped now? No matter what I ask, I can't get anything out of him. He's completely different from the naive Ash before!
"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore. Actually, when Pikachu wears my hat, its entire state will sublimate, its strength will increase by one level, and it can also use some skills that other Pikachu cannot, such as Electric Terrain. This is also one of the reasons why I defeated Uncle Lt Surge; he underestimated my Pikachu too much."
After teasing Gary, Ash no longer concealed his Pikachu's secret. Calling it a secret, in reality, others would know once he used it more often later.
Pikachu with a hat and without a hat were completely two different kinds of Pokémon.
Even if he hadn't told Misty and Brock, both of them had already guessed it, let alone Gary.
He would know sooner or later after battling Gary a few more times, so he might as well just tell him directly.
It wasn't some earth-shattering secret anyway.
Moreover, once Pikachu wore the hat, the hat seemed to be glued on. Unless Pikachu willingly took it off, no matter what happened, the hat would remain firmly on Pikachu's head.
Therefore, trying to weaken Pikachu's strength by knocking off its hat was simply unrealistic.
Although Gary had already guessed some of the reasons, after hearing Ash's explanation, he still had a ghostly expression.
Good heavens, is your Pikachu even legal? Who gave you that Pikachu? Get me one too!
Gary silently looked at his grandfather, Oak, and found that Oak also had wide eyes and an extremely shocked expression.
No, why are you shocked?! Didn't you give him this Pikachu? Don't you know this Pikachu has such abilities?
"Is this Pikachu really that special?"
"...Oak, where did you find him?" Ash's mouth twitched when he saw Oak's expression. You, the person who gave me my starter Pokémon, don't know Pikachu is this special?
So where did Oak get Pikachu?
"Uh... I acquired him by chance a year ago. Although there are as many Pikachu in Kanto as stray dogs on the street, I don't know why, but when I saw this Pikachu, I immediately felt he was different from other Pikachu, so I caught him."
"This guy also doesn't like staying in his Poké Ball, but he always causes trouble when he's outside. There's nothing I can do, so I can only force him to stay in his Poké Ball."
Oak looked at Pikachu, who was eating snacks, with a hint of helplessness on his face.
Pikachu stopped eating when he heard this, looked up, and gave Oak a slightly embarrassed smile. He was indeed a bit mischievous back then.
But how can you be a Pikachu if you're not mischievous, right?
However, it was precisely because he was so mischievous that no Trainer ever chose him, and he eventually became Ash's partner.
Although he and Ash had some disagreements at first, this Trainer showed Pikachu a quality that other Trainers didn't have—he could fight!
Initially, it was just that he could fight, but later, he showed more and more miraculous aspects, including giving him the power that was different from his species, the partner form.
Without Ash, he might really just be a 'stray dog' Pikachu now.
Ash rubbed Pikachu's little head, feeling very fortunate. If he hadn't been late, he might have missed Pikachu, but who knows... Many of the Ash's in the group chat had Pikachu as their starter Pokémon, so maybe even if he hadn't overslept, he would have gotten Pikachu?
They were a pair of partners destined to be together.
"You should know what that item is, right?" Oak suddenly asked.
"I know, the Light Ball, specifically for Pikachu."
"You kid, I didn't expect you to know such an obscure item. Times have really changed!" Oak shook his head and sighed.
He remembered when Ash was still a poor student under his tutelage, and in such a short time, he had already started to become a top student. Could it be that his teaching methods were problematic?
"Hehe, that's Pikachu's exclusive item, of course I have to pay attention! Pikachu, I'll let you carry that thing later."
"Pika Pika!"
...After chatting, it was already late. The group went to the beach to play for a while again, then disbanded.
Oak and Delia were going back to Pallet Town, while Gary, Professor Cerise, and Chloe were going to Vermilion City.
Gary's reason for going to Vermilion City was, of course, to challenge the fourth Gym. While the original Vermilion City Gym might have been a bit difficult for Gary, Lt Surge, having been taught a lesson by Ash, had corrected his attitude as a Gym Leader.
He would no longer be so ruthless towards challengers.
So if Gary went, he would only be facing normal difficulty, which wouldn't be hard for him to pass.
Ash and his two companions stayed at Lampuruge Resort. Tomorrow morning, they would go to the pier to take a boat to Girl Gorge. After reaching Girl Gorge, they would not be far from Celadon City.
So they wouldn't go to Vermilion City and take a detour.
Before parting, Chloe said that if he had time, he could come to Vermilion City more often to play with her, and Ash readily agreed.
Just like that, the once lively group had now returned to the Ash trio.
After a day of playing, Misty and Brock were also a bit tired, so after returning to the Pokémon Center and showering, they went straight to bed.
Ash, on the other hand, entered the group chat to continue learning knowledge from the many experts.
Ash now understood the meaning of the phrase Oak often told him in class: knowledge is power.
Only by understanding more knowledge can one make better tactical choices in battle and have more efficient ways of raising Pokémon in daily life.
So now, Ash would not miss any opportunity to learn. He wanted to make up for all the knowledge he hadn't learned in the past few years!