Pidgeotto's secret was eventually exposed.
Brock and Misty regarded it as Ash's personal secret.
While Serena, on the other hand, truly believed what Ash said.
But for Ash, whether they believed it or not,
It didn't matter much to him.
In fact, he made a few mistakes in this battle and was a little too careless.
If Pidgeotto had really lost, leaving only Froakie to fight,
Facing Onix on a Sandstorm field,
It would have been an extremely difficult battle.
The main issue was that Ash hadn't expected Brock to use Sandstorm.
That's a move typically used only by high-level Pokémon.
As expected of a Gym Leader.
Even when using a lower-level Pokémon,
He could train them to master high-level techniques.
This had forced Ash to use Waveguide Fusion.
Using that ability was already like activating a cheat code,
But it couldn't really be counted as one.
After earning the Boulder Badge, Ash said goodbye to Brock and decided to stroll around Pewter City,
Before heading toward his next destination.
Unlike the original timeline,
Brock didn't ask to travel with Ash.
Maybe Ash seemed too mature, or perhaps because he already had Misty and Serena by his side,
Brock chose not to intrude on their trio.
While walking through Pewter City,
Misty asked to continue traveling with Ash.
She felt she could truly learn a lot by following him.
Even just what Ash had shown so far was only the tip of the iceberg,
Yet it was already enough for her to gain a lot of experience!
Whether it was about food, training, or battle strategies,
Everything was worth learning.
Ash and Serena, who had already been traveling with Misty for a while, didn't refuse.
Having more companions made the journey livelier,
And it also meant they could take care of each other.
Someone wanted to join his team, so why would Ash refuse?
Though he still didn't quite know what Misty could bring to the team right now…
In addition, Ash noticed something interesting.
It seemed that whenever he fought people who were part of the main storyline,
The probability of high-level or rare items dropping was much higher!
Whether it was the earlier Team Rocket battles or this one with Brock,
Their Pokémon levels weren't particularly high.
Especially Meowth from Team Rocket—he probably hadn't even reached the advanced stage—
Yet a golden, top-tier entry still dropped from that fight.
That was nothing short of miraculous!
So Ash came to a conclusion:
Battling characters related to the plot seemed to give a much higher chance of dropping powerful and rare entries!
He just didn't know whether these battles could be repeated.
After realizing this, Ash became even more motivated to challenge the next Gym.
It wasn't only about collecting badges to qualify for the Indigo League—
It was also a great opportunity to earn valuable rewards to strengthen his team!
Ash and the others stayed one more day in Pewter City before setting out again.
Their next destination was Cerulean Gym.
To reach Cerulean, they had to pass through Mt. Moon.
There were many Zubat inside Mt. Moon, along with a few Rock-type Pokémon.
For Ash, it was another perfect training ground!
At this point, Ash had removed the "Fighter" entry and replaced it with the "Viridian Force" entry.
He didn't plan to use the "Fighter" entry just for experience points.
He believed that entry's potential was far greater than that.
In his previous world, there had been someone also called the Fighting Man.
That person was none other than Red!
However, the abilities of that red fighter differed greatly from the one he currently had.
Ash guessed that after upgrading it to gold,
He might obtain abilities similar to Red's.
Of course, it was also possible that both fighters were entirely different.
All in all, Ash currently lacked the experience to upgrade the Fighter entry.
So, he simply equipped the one that was more practical for daily use—
The Viridian Force.
Viridian Force (Gold): One of the fundamental powers of the Pokémon world. The holder naturally gains the favor of Pokémon, can communicate with them, and help heal their wounds. This is a divine ability capable of healing and soothing even legendary Pokémon.
The effect of the Viridian Force entry was truly worthy of its golden rank.
And that was just the surface-level description.
In reality, the full power of Viridian Force could only be understood through usage.
Entries above red could not be described with simple explanations.
After equipping the Viridian Force,
Ash found that it helped him tremendously in the wild!
Not only did it save him a lot of money on medicines,
But it also made his Pokémon's training and leveling up far more efficient.
After three days of traveling through Mt. Moon,
Ash's Metapod finally evolved into Butterfree!
[Name: Butterfree]
[Gender: Male]
[Trainer: Ash]
[Type: Bug]
[Level: Normal Advanced]
[Ability: Tinted Lens]
[Moves: Gust, Bug Bite, Psybeam, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Poison Powder…]
[Talent: Elite]
[Special Move: None]
[Entries: Cocoon and Butterfly (Red), King of Insects (Orange), Gigantamax (Purple), Swiftness (Blue), Precision (Blue)]
Break the Cocoon and Become a Butterfly (Red): After reaching Elite level, there is a 50% chance of upgrading directly to Champion level.
Swiftness (Blue): Increases speed by 5%, effective only while airborne.
Precision (Blue): Increases hit rate by 20%, limited to powder-type moves.
These were Butterfree's new entries!
Not only had its strength jumped to the normal advanced stage,
But Ash had also equipped it with five compatible entries.
After evolution, the "Cocoon to Butterfly" entry even changed slightly.
Ash hadn't expected it to have any follow-up effect.
He couldn't help but wonder—
What would happen if "Cocoon to Butterfly" was upgraded to a golden entry?
But truthfully, Ash didn't have any extra entries to spare for such upgrades.
His next upgrade goal was focused on Pikachu's "Best Actor" entry.
(End fo the chapter)