dmims Chapter 77: Reversing the Heavenly Gang's Teachings, Becoming a Qualified Master, and Opening t
Chapter 77: Reversing the Heavenly Gang's Teachings, Becoming a Qualified Master, and Opening t
Chapter 77: Reversing the Heavenly Gang's Teachings, Becoming a Qualified Master, and Opening the Sakuragi Research Institute.
"Well done, Pikachu! We won!!" Ash shouted excitedly to Pikachu after seeing Raichu lying on the ground for almost ten seconds.
Pikachu was already quite exhausted. Using so many skills, especially attacks that exceeded its own level, had taken a heavy toll on its stamina.
But being able to defeat the person who looked down on him and his elf made it all worthwhile!
Pikachu dashed towards Ash and then jumped into Ash's arms, laughing happily with him.
Ralts, who was being held by Misty, twisted its body slightly, broke free from her embrace, and then floated to Ash's side, happily celebrating the moment with Ash.
Lt. Surge looked helplessly at Ash and Raichu lying on the field, his eyes filled with mixed emotions.
He truly never expected that he would lose this battle today, and lose so decisively.
Throughout the entire process, he didn't touch Pikachu once, and was completely dominated by Pikachu.
In terms of eyesight and timely judgment, he is not as decisive as Ash. Compared to his understanding of Raichu, Ash has a deeper understanding of Pikachu. The two are very close and cooperate perfectly without making a single mistake.
If Lt. Surge hadn't been certain that he was just a trainer who had only been traveling for a month, he would have thought that Ash and Pikachu had been partners for over a decade.
Even with superior Pokémon level, form, and trainer experience, the opponent still managed to crush the opponent. Where exactly did the problem lie?
I remember now. It was the illogical speed from the start, the sudden appearance of the Surf skill, and bad luck. His Raichu was inexplicably paralyzed, not only halving its speed but also triggering paralysis, causing him to fall behind by one step and then by the next.
Thinking about it carefully, this luck is just too ridiculous. Could it be that he's been bullying the weak too much and is now getting his comeuppance?
However, in general, these problems can all be summarized in one aspect: a lack of strength.
To put it bluntly, their raw strength is not as strong as others; otherwise, no matter what methods they use, they would be no threat in the face of overwhelming power.
Today's defeat has taught Maschinen a lot, the most important lesson being not to judge a book by its cover!
"...You win. I take back my disrespectful language. I'm sorry."
After a brief moment of emotional breakdown, Lt. Surge gradually regained his composure. He then recalled Raichu and walked up to Ash, bowing sincerely to him.
This sudden act of respect caught Ash off guard. Although the 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 originally wanted to taunt Lt. Surge, silently retract his idea. Since the other party had apologized and he had completely defeated him in this battle, he might as well let it go. Moreover, this battle was very rewarding for him. Pikachu had successfully advanced to the elite level. Now, even without entering partner form, Pikachu is a genuine elite-level Pokémon!
The tougher the opponent, the greater the reward after defeating them. The experts in the group are not lying to me.
Despite the fact that he seemed to be dominating his opponent throughout the fight, it was actually quite easy for him, cough cough.
The main problem is that Maslow's Raichu was trained to be terrible.
"Uncle Lt. Surge, when you were training Raichu, you were probably only focused on leveling up and didn't pay attention to Raichu's own stat growth, right?" Ash suddenly said.
Lt. Surge paused for a moment, then nodded subconsciously: "That's right. In Pokémon battles, level is paramount, followed by the trainer's command and adaptability. As long as these two factors can overpower the opponent, the scales of victory will tip in your favor - that's what I originally thought."
That was what I originally thought, but after battling Ash today, this battle completely shattered Lt. Surge's worldview.
It turns out that even novice trainers, despite their lack of experience, can still overpower veteran trainers.
The long-held belief that Lt. Surge could still defeat an opponent head-on even when their Pokémon's level and form were inferior has been shattered today.
"What you said is not wrong, but—. Your Raichu's stats are really too weak compared to others of the same level. The reason Pikachu can suppress Raichu head-on is because although its level is low, its stats are not low."
"Build a solid foundation at each level, develop the Pokémon's stats to their maximum, and then advance to the next level."
That would greatly enhance the Pokémon's strength. If you only focus on leveling up and ignore everything else, even if it's Champion-level,
Even then, they might not be able to defeat a Heavenly King-level opponent in a direct confrontation.
Ash stroked Pikachu's head and repeated to Lt. Surge what Ash, the champion of the group, had once told him.
In reality, many people are eager to level up their Pokémon, but raising Pokémon is not a simple matter. If you think that leveling up will make them the strongest, then you are being too naive.
However, in reality, many people think this way, including Lt. Surge, the Gym Leader who is currently in front of Ash.
This is why there are so many gym leaders, but so few who are strong enough to reach the gym level. The Elite Four and champions are extremely rare, like phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Ash's words also made Lt. Surge fall into deep thought. Compared to simply leveling up, improving stats is much more difficult.
Without leveling up, it's impossible to know how much training is needed to improve all six stats. This undoubtedly increases the difficulty of raising a Pokémon, but the greater the difficulty, the greater the reward.
The young man before us is a perfect example.
Is it the boost from stats that he managed to defeat Raichu, even though he was a whole level lower?
"I understand, I'll pay attention to that in the future. Usually, it's our dojo master who gives advice to challengers, but I didn't expect it to be the other way around today. Who exactly are you?"
"Just a trainer from Pallet Town." Ash grinned, revealing his white teeth.
"Heh, you really beat me—"
"There's one more thing, Uncle Lt. Surge. I don't know why you were so harsh on those rookie trainers you defeated, but it's wrong to do that to Pokémon." Ash's smile vanished, replaced by a serious expression.
"You're a Gym Leader, you should be a role model and guide for challengers, but what you're doing is no different from destroying their trainer careers! They are the Gym Leaders of Cerulean City and Pewter City, and I've learned a lot from them."
In my opinion, they are the true gym leaders.
Ash stepped aside and pointed to Misty and Brock standing to the side.
Putting aside Brock, let's talk about Misty. Her strength is actually far inferior to Lt. Surge, and her strongest Pokémon is only at the peak of Elite level. But that doesn't stop her from being a qualified and excellent Gym Leader.
Ash was very fortunate that he met these two gym leaders when he first came out.
He was even more grateful that he met Misty on that path in Pallet Town and they traveled together. Ash's words once again made Lt. Surge fall into deep thought. If Ash was teaching him how to raise Pokémon just now, then Ash was now teaching him how to be a person.
He was a soldier who became the gym leader of Vermilion City Gym after retiring from the military. At first, he wasn't actually that harsh on newcomers; he was just rather serious and strict.
After all, he used to be a soldier.
But the more he fought, the more frustrated he became. All the opponents he faced were nobodies, either using Pidgey or Rattata to challenge him.
Not only was this challenge incredibly boring, it also made Mascherano feel that the challenger looked down on him.
That was just Mascherano's own feeling, but once that idea took hold, it became deeply ingrained.
Ultimately, Maslow became what he is today: he ruthlessly attacks weaker challengers, only engaging in serious battles against stronger ones.
His idea was that as long as he scared those weak challengers and made a name for himself, no more challengers would come to challenge him, and he would no longer have to suffer the boredom and humiliation of fighting against Pokémon like Radamanthys.
However, this approach ultimately resulted in extreme damage to the opponent's Pokémon and their spirit. For novice trainers, this might be their first gym battle since their debut.
Then being ruthlessly crushed by the opponent, and being told to go back and train for another two years, is a serious blow to the confidence of a novice trainer.
If Mascherano wasn't a dojo master, he would at most be morally questionable, but he is a dojo master!
This already falls under the category of a problem with professional ethics.
Ash's words suddenly awakened Lt. Surge: this was no longer a battlefield, and the trainers who came to challenge him were no longer the kind of mortal enemies on the battlefield.
His duty as a gym leader is not to directly crush the opponent and make them give up being a trainer, but to teach and correct the mistakes of those trainers. This is what a qualified gym leader should do.
Thinking of this, Lt. Surge bowed sincerely to Ash once again.
"Thank you, Xiaozhi. Without you, I don't know how long I would have made mistakes."
The change in address from little boy to teenager to Ash in less than half an hour demonstrates Ash's ever-changing status in Lt. Surge's heart.
"This is proof of your victory over me, the orange badge. Please accept it." Lt. Surge bowed and handed the Vermilion City Gym badge to Ash, who accepted it without hesitation.
"I got the orange badge!"
"Pipikachu!"
"La la la la~~"
Ash did his signature trick of obtaining badges. After excitedly looking at the orange badge for a while, he also pinned the badge to his jacket. Now he has obtained three badges, and only a little over a month has passed.
With five months left to get five badges, it shouldn't be a big problem.
After watching Ash put away the badge, Lt. Surge couldn't help but ask him, "Ash, how did you train your Pikachu? Even if my Raichu's stats weren't great, it shouldn't be losing to an elite-level opponent, right?"
"Besides, I'm quite confident in my eyesight. Before the battle, Pikachu's level should have been Advanced, right? How come its level became Elite after entering battle?"
"And what are those Surf and that weird high-speed Electric-type moves? Are those moves that Pikachu can learn?"
These questions had been accumulating in Lt. Surge's mind since the start of the battle, and he was only able to ask Ash about them now.
Generally speaking, this should be a trainer's secret. How to train a Pokémon and how to train it to be special are the trainer's own unique secrets. How can they tell others?
But Lt. Surge was really confused. He also played with Pikachu, and even the evolved form of Pikachu. How could he not know what moves Pikachu could learn and what its stats were?
Even if Raichu's stats were ruined by his training, Pikachu is inherently weaker than Raichu in terms of racial abilities. Even if its stats are trained better, it will still lag behind in level!
Theoretically speaking, Raichu should still have the advantage.
Besides, there were those two incomprehensible moves Pikachu used, the diversity of Pikachu's moves, and the sudden level increase it made at the start of the battle—all of this seemed too strange. Was this really Pikachu? Was it some kind of fake Pikachu disguised as a legendary Pokémon?
Ash paused, then shook his head: "I'm 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 Speed Boost or Surf, these are moves that only he can use. Other Pikachu can't learn them."
"As for leveling up, you must be mistaken. Look at my Pikachu's level now!"
Upon hearing this, Lt. Surge looked at Pikachu at Ash's feet. His expression faltered, and he rubbed his eyes before taking a closer look.
What's going on? I was just promoted to the advanced level, how did I become an elite?
At this moment, Pikachu's hat has been put back on Ash's head, and Elite is now Pikachu's true level.
From its initial intermediate level to its current elite level, only a little over a month has passed. Such a rapid improvement in Pikachu can only be described as unbelievable.
After confirming several times that Pikachu was indeed an elite-level Pokémon, Lt. Surge could only mutter that he had misread it.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Ash waved goodbye to Lt. Surge.
Before leaving, Lt. Surge asked one last question: why did Satoshi call him Uncle Lt. Surge?
While it's true that Ash calling him "uncle" is appropriate given his age, generally speaking, one should address someone by their name or call them "Gym Leader" when meeting them for the first time and without any particular liking for them.
Xiao Zhi explained that he just thought it sounded right, so he called it that.
Actually, it was the tactical strategist Xiao Zhi in the group who called him that, which is why Xiao Zhi blurted out the name "Uncle Ma Zhishi".
After leaving the Vermilion City Gym, Misty asked curiously on the way to the Pokémon Center, "Ash, what's with Pikachu's move called Surf? Is that really surfing? Did you name it that yourself?"
Upon hearing this, Ash glanced at Pikachu in his arms with amusement and said, "That's not just simple surfing. It's surfing infused with electrical energy, which has a chance to paralyze the opponent after hitting it, so it was renamed."
"I originally wanted to call it Electric Surfing, which is quite descriptive, isn't it? But Pikachu said it didn't want a duplicate name, so I changed it to Raging Surfing. As for how Pikachu learned Raging Surfing, that was something Pikachu suddenly figured out on its own. It seems there's a reason why Team Rocket has been chasing my Pikachu."
In the end, Ash shrugged helplessly. Although he disliked Team Rocket, those three certainly had good taste.
So, Pikachu came up with this name after all. No wonder it has such good taste. Xiaoxia 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 obviously because he considered her one of his own. Thinking back to Ash's instinctive act of standing in front of her earlier, Misty's steps became lighter.
After arriving at the Pokémon Center, Ash first called his mother, Bianca, to share the good news, and then called Professor Oak.
"Congratulations, Ash! You've got your third Gym Badge. You're on par with Gary in terms of progress."
"Shigeru? What badge has that guy gotten now?" It had been a while since he'd heard Shigeru's name, and he'd almost forgotten about him. After all, he hadn't stopped for a moment on his journey, constantly improving himself.
The fleas and such in the countryside have long been forgotten in Java.
"He also got three badges, but he went to Rainbow City first. His next target seems to be Vermilion City, and he should arrive in the next day or two."
After briefly explaining Shigeru's current whereabouts, Professor Oak suddenly changed the subject and said, "By the way, Professor Sakuragi's lab seems to be opening today. If you have time, you can go and support him."
Professor Sakuragi? Ash paused for a moment, then found this familiar yet unfamiliar name in his mind.
Professor Sakuragi is Professor Oak's student and is considered a promising young researcher in the field. He used to frequently come to Pallet Town to conduct Pokémon research with Professor Oak.
Xiao Zhi had met the other party quite a few times. Each time the other party came, he would bring his daughter along. Over time, Xiao Zhi became familiar with the daughter.