Faced with Lt. Surge's mockery, Ash spoke with a touch of anger: "First, I'm already fifteen years old, and second, what gives you the right to look down on my Pikachu!"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu, who was also being looked down upon, was furious and started to rant. The battle hadn't even begun, yet the opponent was already belittling them. It couldn't tolerate even a little of it!
"Ha ha, a Pokemon that hasn't even evolved, what else could it be if not a child? Oh, besides Pikachu, you have a Baby Pokemon as well. Gym battles are no child's play. I've beaten so many like you to a pulp. If you don't want to get hurt, then leave quickly. Did you hear me?" The big man's words also revealed his identity.
He is the Gym Leader of the Vermilion Gym, Lt. Surge!
To be fair, although Lt. Surge is ruthless, he always clarifies things with challengers before the battle.
If challengers insist on challenging, then they can't blame him for not holding back.
Even so, such behavior was still unacceptable to Ash.
In the Gyms he challenged, whether it was Misty or Brock, their conduct gave him the impression of what a real Gym Leader would do. But as for the person in front of him, his actions were not those of a Gym Leader but more like those of a frustrated Fighting Master.
All he wanted was a battle that could satisfy him.
"The evolution of Pokemon is not a standard to judge strength... I am Ash from Pallet Town, and I am here to challenge the Vermilion Gym's Trainer, Lt. Surge!" Ash took a step forward, shouting with overwhelming determination.
Never mind whether he could win or not; before the battle, his aura couldn't be weak. The opponent kept calling him a child, a kid, and Ash's most effective counterattack was to stand in the position of a challenger and declare war on Lt. Surge!
After hearing Ash shout these words, Lt. Surge's gaze changed slightly, and he clenched his large fists, revealing a smile at the corner of his mouth: "Interesting, you seem a bit different from those guys before. Come on in."
Lt. Surge said as he walked deeper into the Gym.
Misty huddled behind Ash as they both walked in together. Lt. Surge's earlier actions had caused significant damage to her young mind. Just thinking about being held by that brute made her skin crawl with goosebumps, thankfully Ash stood in front of her.
As they entered inside the Gym, the dimly lit arena was suddenly illuminated by lights, making the entire Gym exceptionally bright.
The Gym was an ordinary venue, but various scorched marks could be seen on the field, likely battle traces caused recently, which wouldn't disappear in a short time.
Standing on the Gym field, Lt. Surge looked down at Ash and said, "Little boy, how long have you been traveling, and how many badges have you earned?"
"One month, two badges."
"Only two badges in a month? Ha, you must have earned those from some third-rate Gyms. I have no idea what kind of Gyms would allow someone not even in their first month to challenge successfully. Gyms nowadays just want to meet the badge issuance quota, shameful." Lt. Surge said sarcastically.
Since Ash has been traveling for just a month, it means he earned those two badges in less than a month. In such a situation, if he could obtain two badges, didn't that mean those Gyms were third-rate?
"Ash, take him down!" Brock, already dark-skinned, now looked even darker. Having one's Gym talked about like that wouldn't make anyone happy, especially in front of the Gym Leader himself!
Misty, following behind Ash, almost burst out cursing, but Ash anticipated her reaction and quickly pulled her back: "Don't be rash, Misty. Let him speak a little more, soon enough he'll know which are the real third-rate Gyms!"
After Ash said this, he stepped onto the field and coldly said, "Enough with the nonsense, what difficulty level challenge will you give me?"
"First, let me see your proof of being on the road for a month and your two badges."
Upon hearing this, Ash took out his Pokedex, opened his personal information, and placed it in front of Lt. Surge. The Pokedex has the Trainer's travel debut date. If they don't have a Pokedex, a travel proof is given along with the Starter Pokemon to the Trainer when they start their journey.
This mechanism helps Gym Leaders better determine what difficulty level to set for the trial. The world is not short of people who try to cheat by understating their travel time to challenge Gyms of lower difficulty levels.
If they're caught doing this, they'd be blacklisted by all Gyms, and higher difficulties would be assigned for any challenges.
Therefore, once there's proof, very few people would falsify their debut time.
After Lt. Surge confirmed Ash's debut time was genuine and looked at Ash's two Gym Badges, a look of hesitation appeared on his face. After a moment, he said, "Though you've only started for a month, you do have two badges, so I'll give you a medium difficulty challenge."
"If you can't even pass this difficulty, then you shouldn't even have those badges..."
"The highest difficulty."
"What?"
"I said I want to challenge the highest difficulty! Isn't your strongest Pokemon Raichu? Do you dare let your Raichu have a one-on-one with my Pikachu!!" Ash voiced the provocation he'd prepared from the beginning.
Gym battles are generally two-on-two or more, using the rotation and diversity of Pokemon to better test the Trainer's command skills and the application of Pokemon.