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Ash chose the Vermilion City Gym as his third Gym for two reasons: its proximity and its difficulty.
Kanto's most famous Gyms are four: Saffron, Viridian, Cinnabar, and Fuchsia. According to Brock, these four Gyms are exceptionally challenging.
Even their lowest difficulty is not something Ash can take on right now.
Aside from these four Gyms, the most suitable ones to challenge are Vermilion City and Celadon City.
Celadon City is actually a bit far from their current location. Going directly to Celadon City versus detouring through Vermilion City to Celadon City only adds less than a week to their travel time.
The difficulty of these two Gyms is similar. The Celadon Gym specializes in Grass-type Pokémon, while the Vermilion City Gym specializes in Electric-type Pokémon. In terms of type, the Celadon Gym might be easier to challenge.
After all, Ash has two Pokémon, a Flying-type and a Bug-type, that are strong against Grass-types.
However, the more badges one has, the greater the challenge. Putting the journey aside, if Ash were to challenge the Celadon Gym first and successfully pass, then the difficulty of challenging the Vermilion City Gym later would increase.
Originally, between the two Gyms, Vermilion City was already more difficult than Celadon City. If the former's difficulty increased even further, wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
Therefore, even without considering the travel distance, it is more advantageous to challenge the Vermilion City Gym first, as its difficulty is lower.
To reach Vermilion City, they would have to pass through many small towns. In terms of distance, this might be the longest journey Ash and his companions have ever taken... Time flew by, and a week passed. In these seven days, Ash and his two companions only passed through one small town.
After resupplying some daily necessities, they immediately set off.
During this period, Ash also encountered many roadside Trainers, but he didn't lose a single match. If he hadn't been checking for deficiencies and having his numerous shortcomings pointed out by the veterans in the group chat every night, he would probably be looking down on people by now.
The continuous victories brought not only the thrill of winning but also inner pride. For a fifteen-year-old boy who hadn't lost a single match since his debut, it's remarkable that he hadn't developed any arrogance. The veterans in the group chat can be said to have played an indispensable role.
Having witnessed a higher-level world, how could Ash be proud of his current achievements?
Not to mention, the people in the group are all successful versions of himself from different worlds and fields. Compared to them, his level of victory is merely an insignificant part of their growth journey.
This is also why Ash hasn't gotten conceited yet. Misty and Brock, who had originally intended to give Ash a reality check on the road, were also very surprised.
A rookie Trainer, almost unimpeded along the way, winning battle after battle, obtaining two Gym Badges, and not losing a single wild Pokémon battle—under these circumstances, he surprisingly showed no signs of conceit.
Whether it's his temperament or his Pokémon battle tactics, this is not something a new Trainer should be able to achieve!
Both of them, by coincidence, attributed Ash's current performance to Professor Oak. As the Kanto Champion back in the day, Professor Oak having such training ability... isn't entirely unbelievable, is it?
On the road, Misty also asked about Electric Terrain and what that Pikachu with a hat was all about. Although it was just wearing a hat, her instincts as a Gym Leader told Ash that Pikachu's power definitely increased in that state!
To enable an Advanced Level Pokémon to fight against a Superior Level Pokémon, it's not something that can be achieved simply by relying on type advantages and moves.
Without amplification or enhancement, attempting such a feat would be a pipe dream.
Ash concealed Pikachu's Partner form, only saying that he and Pikachu could fuse their Aura, allowing Pikachu to gain some of his own power. This was the reason for Pikachu's power boost.
As for Electric Terrain, it was a move Pikachu used in a flash of inspiration after putting on his hat. However, that move could only be used while wearing his hat, which is why the hat needed to be placed on Pikachu's head.
To this, Misty curiously took Ash's hat and tried it on, but nothing happened.
And Brock finally had one of his doubts cleared: why Pikachu could use a never-before-seen move like Aura Sphere. It turns out it wasn't Pikachu who could use Aura Sphere, but Ash!
Even as a Gym Leader, he had never heard of a Trainer being able to share some of their abilities with a Pokémon during battle... Most people, even if they had such a sharing power, it would be useless, because Trainers are just humans, and how can humans be compared to Pokémon?
But Ash is not human... To be precise, his physical qualities and special powers have made him a non-human entity. In a real-life fight, even a Superior Level Pokémon might not win against Ash in a head-on confrontation.
This was Brock and Misty's understanding of Ash's power during this time, but it only goes to show that their understanding was still too shallow... In this one week, Ash's various Pokémon also had different degrees of improvement. After all, battling roadside Trainers during their journey and occasionally training with Brock and Misty during breaks, it would be strange if there were no improvements.
Pikachu's level reached Advanced Level, and he learned several moves.
Butterfree and Pidgeotto both reached Advanced Level, and similarly learned some moves. However, the former still hasn't learned that important amplification move—Tailwind.
Nevertheless, their current move sets are enough for Ash to freely annoy his opponents.
Finally, there's the little one, Ralts. Her level reached an astonishing Intermediate Level.
Although it's true that improvement is faster at lower levels, going from Novice Level to Intermediate Level in seven days, without any evolution as an amplification, this rate of improvement is already very exaggerated!
Caterpie was able to jump from Novice Level to Superior Level in seven days because of the boost from the power of evolution, and Bug-type Pokémon are Pokémon that grow quickly in the early stages and slowly in the later stages.
For example, Pidgeotto has already gone from Advanced Level to Elite Level, but Butterfree reached Advanced Level around the same time as Pidgeotto. It can be seen that in terms of level progression, Butterfree has gradually slowed down.
But Ralts is different. Not only is she currently in her basic form, but she's also not a Pokémon like Caterpie that can rapidly improve in the early stages. Reaching Intermediate Level in just seven days is already a very exaggerated feat.
Even Brock couldn't help but exclaim that Ralts was the fastest-growing Pokémon he had ever seen.
Having reached Intermediate Level, Ralts now possesses initial combat ability. Against some less powerful opponents, Ash can also send Ralts into battle.