Come to think of it, the League's higher-ups were pretty surprised by the Fighting Dojo's sudden rise.
After all, the previous two Gym Leaders had both been absolutely steamrolled by Sabrina.
The first one got stopped in the Top 16 during the Gym Leader selection battles. The second one even set a humiliating "fastest loss" record—one minute and forty-eight seconds.
And he still got knocked out in the very first round.
But Grey—this guy who'd switched over from underground fighting halfway through—
In half a month, he'd caught two legendary birds and led people in raiding multiple Team Rocket bases.
Those outrageous feats on paper looked like some lunatic's made-up urban legend.
And yet… they were all real.
Reaching Elite Four level in just two and a half months—honestly, that pace was on par with the two battle legends.
Thinking of that, the people who knew the inside story all turned to look at Red and Blue.
A ridiculous thought suddenly popped into their minds.
Could it be… Grey was actually a Trainer from Pallet Town?
Ran out of money mid-journey, went to fight underground for cash, got taken in by the Fighting Dojo… and just became its Gym Leader while he was at it.
…Huh.
The more you thought about it, the more it weirdly made sense.
After all, Red really had once obtained a Pokémon from Koichi.
He hadn't used it much, but apparently it helped a little in Red's battle against Giovanni.
"The Fighting Dojo, right," Lance said, breaking the silence.
"Yes. The Fighting Dojo's Gym Leader Grey is powerful—and his growth rate is beyond words," Karen nodded, continuing. "When I battled him, only his Annihilape was barely touching Elite Four level. The rest of his Pokémon were average—at best, only his Blaziken was worth watching."
"But his tactical planning during battle, his team construction, and even his lead choices… there's nothing to criticize. It's already close to perfect."
"As for the other Gyms… yeah. That's about it."
Karen didn't really want to talk about the other Gyms.
Mentioning them felt like wasting breath.
"Oh, right. Cerulean Gym is pretty decent too. Not as bad as the internet makes it sound."
Karen thought for a moment and added Cerulean to the list.
"Good. You've both worked hard," Lance said, clapping as he spoke.
Clap. Clap.
The screen lit up, and Grey's personal file appeared.
Name. Age. Gender. Merits. Strength.
Five data points total.
The first three didn't need explanation—everyone already knew them.
The important part was the last two.
League merit ranking, and personal strength.
Grey's accumulated merits had already placed him in the Top 10. Above him, from higher to lower, were:
Lance, Agatha, Lorelei, Giovanni, Bruno, Red, Blue.
Grey sat at eighth.
That ranking came from repeatedly capturing Team Rocket's four admins, plus a ton of other Team Rocket members.
It looked a bit low at first glance.
But Grey had only been catching Pokémon for less than three months!
Raising Pokémon for two and a half months and still climbing to eighth on the merits leaderboard—
If you told outsiders, they'd have a hard time not assuming the League was giving him a backdoor boost and padding his record.
It was just too absurd.
"Next is strength. Grey's latest data update was yesterday," Lance said, tapping the screen. Grey's top six Pokémon appeared.
Annihilape, Blaziken, Breloom, Gallade, Lucario, Articuno.
Exactly six Elite Four–level Pokémon.
In any other region, that's a guaranteed Elite Four seat.
But just like Team Rocket's situation—this was Kanto.
The birthplace of the Pokémon League.
It wasn't like Elite Four–level Trainers were everywhere… but there truly were a lot of strong monsters here.
There were even two battle legends.
So ask yourself—who in other regions could reach this level?
At most, you could say Steven Stone, Cynthia, and Leon's aces could brush up against it—and even then, just "brush up against it," not necessarily truly reach it.
And that was exactly why Kanto having two battle legends was so terrifying.
Even the Elite Four below them all had Champion-tier strength.
Now, since Kanto and Johto were being restructured, they needed to refine the Elite Four positions. They had candidates, but not enough.
Once Bruno got reassigned elsewhere, Kanto would have an empty seat.
"I remember Grey doesn't really want to be an Elite Four member, right?" Lorelei asked. She'd talked to Grey privately, though she didn't know Lance had also spoken with him.
"Right. He doesn't want the position," Lance nodded, confirming it. "His reply to me was that he needs to manage his Gym properly."
"Oh? If he already answered like that, then why did you bring Grey up today?" Blue leaned forward, interested now. He wanted to hear what Lance was really aiming at.
"If it's Grey… and he becomes Elite Four, he probably won't have enough time every day," Red said quietly, finally speaking.
"Looks like the two of you are interested in Grey as well," Lance said. Seeing the two battle legends actually pay attention for once, he continued, "That's why I want to make Grey an Honorary Elite Four member. Same待遇 as the Kanto Elite Four—but he won't need to handle any official duties at all."
"Oh?"
"Hm?"
"Lance… you're serious?"
The room fell into thought.
Bruno stopped chewing his watermelon. Lorelei's glasses slid down toward the tip of her nose.
Even Agatha nearly dropped her teacup.
That proposal was outrageous.
It was more shocking than hearing that Mew was pole-dancing at the Celadon City Game Corner.
"What—" Karen narrowed her eyes, tapping the table lightly with one finger. "Is another region trying to poach our people?"
As a double agent who operated around both the League and Team Rocket, she understood Grey's value better than anyone.
A Trainer who could solo Team Rocket bases and command legendary Pokémon—any region would treat him like a prize.
And on top of that…
Right now, he was "just" a Gym Leader.
Not even one of the official eight major Gym Leaders.
So he wouldn't even need to pay a contract-breaking fee if he jumped ship…
Thinking of that Hoenn Champion who'd been aggressively poaching talent lately made Karen's head hurt.
The offers that person was putting on the table were tempting enough to make even her feel her heart move.
As for how Karen knew…
That was a story that started with a certain Johto Trainer who'd already been poached over to become a Gym Leader elsewhere.
Rumor had it that Trainer had reached Elite Four level. If they'd stayed in Johto, Lance would've been ecstatic.
If that person were still around, this vacant seat could've been filled immediately—and Lance himself could've gone on to become Champion.
Then, after some time passed, maybe Grey could've been slotted into the other Champion position too.
If that happened, the Kanto League would become the strongest League in the world.
But unfortunately…
That person was taken.
"Exactly," Lance nodded.
Just talking about it gave him a headache.
He'd thought this was going to be good news.
He hadn't expected the Unova League to show up… specifically to steal people away.
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