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Upon arriving in Fuchsia City, Ash and his two companions were dumbfounded. What was with this bustling Fuchsia City?
When they found the Fuchsia Gym, they saw a long queue stretching from its entrance, seemingly endless.
Are these people crazy? The Fuchsia Gym is one of the four major Gyms in Kanto. Are they just bored and looking for trouble by challenging this Gym?
Ash casually asked someone about the situation at the Fuchsia Gym. That person looked at Ash and his companions as if they were aliens.
"Don't you know that the Fuchsia Gym Leader is an Elite Four candidate?"
"We know, but doesn't being an Elite Four candidate just prove how difficult this Gym is? Shouldn't people go challenge other Gyms instead?"
The person sized up Ash and then said, "You're a Rookie Trainer, aren't you?"
"Uh... I've been traveling for two months." Ash wanted to say he wasn't a Rookie Trainer anymore, but after calculating the time, it seemed there wasn't much difference from a rookie.
"As expected, a Rookie Trainer. That's why you don't understand the significance of the Fuchsia Gym." The passerby Trainer waved his hand, looking as if to say, 'You're still too young.'
"Think about it, Koga, the Fuchsia Gym Leader, is an Elite Four candidate, right? Although there's a 'candidate' in the title, there's actually no difference from a regular Elite Four. Anyone who can be an Elite Four candidate already possesses true Elite Four strength; they just haven't officially taken office yet."
"Normally, how difficult is it to even meet or battle an Elite Four? But here, as long as you challenge the Gym, you can receive guidance from an Elite Four. Furthermore, the Elite Four will adjust the challenge difficulty based on your Pokémon. Besides challenging the Fuchsia Gym, which other Gym can offer such a good opportunity?"
The Elite Four are like celebrities; you can basically only see them on TV. To challenge them, you usually have to win the Indigo Plateau Conference, or perhaps you might run into one by chance, and they might give you some pointers if they're in a good mood.
But now, in Fuchsia City, you can receive guidance from an Elite Four Trainer without any prerequisites!
Isn't this an amazing opportunity? Any Trainer with some insight is scrambling to challenge this Gym. Even if they lose, they can gain experience and significantly improve themselves.
Besides the Fuchsia Gym, is there any other place that offers Elite Four guidance?
After hearing the passerby Trainer's words, Ash and his companions finally understood, and they felt it made a lot of sense.
For a normal person, let alone battling an Elite Four, even meeting one is extremely difficult.
But now, at the Fuchsia Gym, there's a ready-made Elite Four to challenge, and regardless of winning or losing, this Elite Four will give you pointers. Where else would you find such a good opportunity?
"Wait a minute, aren't there a few other Gyms in Kanto with this level? Crimson, Viridian, and Saffron all have Elite Four combat power, and isn't Viridian the strongest Gym in Kanto?" Ash asked back, looking puzzled.
If we're talking about Elite Four, it's not just Fuchsia that has it. Kanto, for all its faults, has top-tier Gyms. Other regions might not even have one Elite Four Gym, but Kanto has four!
Hearing this, the passerby Trainer looked slightly surprised: "I didn't expect a rookie like you to know that, but other places are not like the Fuchsia Gym."
"How terrifying the Saffron Gym is, you can find out by simply searching online. As for the Crimson Gym, it has recently stopped accepting challengers because, like the Fuchsia Gym, it had a large number of challengers, but the Gym Leader found their skill level too low, so it closed."
"Finally, there's the Viridian Gym. To challenge the Viridian Gym, you need an appointment, and the Viridian Gym Leader is often not in the Gym. If you're unlucky, you might only get to battle the provisional Gym Leader when challenging the Viridian Gym. So, only at the Fuchsia Gym can you be 100% sure of getting guidance from an Elite Four."
"Moreover, due to the Crimson Gym's closure, everyone is worried that the Fuchsia Gym might do the same, so they've become even more frantic. We all want to challenge the Fuchsia Gym at least once and get guidance from an Elite Four before it closes!"
The passerby Trainer spoke voluminously, his mouth dry from all the talking.
However, he himself was quite satisfied. One could only say that Ash and his companions were lucky to have picked someone who enjoyed explaining things.
If it were an ordinary person, they would have at most just told Ash and the others the reason for the queue at the Fuchsia Gym.
But now that the reason was explained, the queue still had to be patiently waited in.
Given the length of this queue, even if Koga himself and his Pokémon were made of iron, it would be impossible to welcome so many challengers in one day.
So, if they were to queue now, it was highly unlikely they would be able to challenge Koga today.
"Oh, I wanted to ask, if the Fuchsia Gym closes, what will happen to the remaining challengers?"
"What to do? Well, of course, they'll have to wait until it opens tomorrow, unless you want to queue again."
The passerby Trainer's words made Ash and his companions' eyes go black.
Good heavens, so it means you can't even leave the queue until you've reached the front!?
Once you leave the queue, you have to rejoin it, which means at least one person must stay in the queue overnight.
Judging by the current speed of the queue, if no one leaves, it would take them at least three days to challenge the Gym.
"...Are these people crazy?" Ash couldn't help but blurt out.
Queuing for three days just to challenge a Gym? Are these people out of their minds? Is it necessary to be this frantic just to get guidance from an Elite Trainer?
If others who knew Ash's situation heard this thought of his, they would definitely say he was speaking without understanding the difficulty.
The guidance from an Elite Trainer, which was extremely rare for others, Ash enjoyed every day, and it wasn't even from an Elite, but a Champion!
The beings who guided Ash in the group, which one wasn't a peak existence in a parallel world?
Not only Champion Trainers, but also Breeders, Body Refinement Masters, Type Specialization Masters, and so on.
For Ash, guidance from any high-level Trainer was absolutely the cheapest thing, but for those passerby Trainers, it was an extremely rare opportunity, so even if they had to queue for three days, they would do it!
Ash had originally thought of coming here to spar with an Elite Trainer. He hadn't really thought about guidance. If he really wanted to review, wouldn't it be better to record the entire battle and send it back to the group for review?
But now it seemed that challenging Koga was probably hopeless. He should have gone to the Gym in other cities with Gary earlier.
It would be quite a blunder if the Indigo Plateau Conference started and he hadn't collected all his Gym Badges yet.
"You're leaving?" The passer-by Trainer asked, looking a little agitated, seeing Ash and his companions preparing to depart.
"Hmm? Yes, with such a long queue, if we don't leave, do you really expect us to wait three days in the back?"
"But this is the Gym of Koga, an Elite Four candidate! As long as you can queue up and challenge Mr. Koga, with his guidance, your Trainer journey will definitely be smooth sailing, leading you to a bright future!"
Ash: ...Heh heh, what smooth sailing? I receive guidance from Champion Trainers every day, and I haven't seen any smooth sailing.
To expect to pave your Trainer path with just one battle is complete delusion.
Only by constantly challenging and constantly hitting walls can one truly grow into a top Trainer.
He had been reprimanded to no end by 'himself' in the group countless times to achieve his current results.
What could one session of guidance really do?
"When you actually battle an Elite Trainer, you'll find that perhaps that one battle didn't help you as much as you thought." Ash patted the passerby Trainer on the shoulder, speaking earnestly.
The passerby Trainer listened, stunned, as if thinking Ash was some top Trainer. How dare a Trainer who debuted two months ago say such a thing!
What the heck, an Elite Trainer's help isn't that significant? Are you implying you have a Champion's guidance?
"Young man, you're not old, but your words are quite bold." A voice suddenly spoke behind Ash. The three turned around and saw a person completely wrapped up.
..."Who are you?" Ash instinctively scanned with his Aura Power, found that the other party was not the Team Rocket Trio in disguise, and then asked.
"Don't mind who I am. Did you just say that battling an Elite has no significant help?"
"I didn't say that, okay? I just said that one battle's help isn't that significant!" Ash rolled his eyes, a little speechless.
What kind of person is this? Does he only listen to half of what's said? He completely ignored the other half of what Ash said.
"That's pretty much the same meaning. So I ask you, if given the chance to challenge an Elite, would you take it?"
"Of course, I'd fight." Ash said without hesitation. An Elite might not be able to give him guidance, but they could definitely put pressure on his Pokémon. Under immense pressure, Pokémon can achieve sufficient improvement.
For him, that was the most direct benefit of battling an Elite, rather than some vague guidance.
"Hmph, just now you said it was useless, but now you agree so quickly. To put it plainly, you still want to challenge bro... Mr. Koga. But if you think you can use this derogatory method to get in first, then you are greatly mistaken."
Ash: ...Who exactly is this person? He seems to be very protective of Koga. I didn't even say much, but he somehow extracted all the slightly negative parts about Koga from my words, and then the entire meaning of the sentence changed.
How can he not tolerate any bad word about Koga? Is he Koga's die-hard fan?
"You just said you're a Trainer who debuted two months ago, right? If you have four or more Gym Badges, I could take you directly into the Fuchsia Gym. The question is, do you have them? Heh heh, if not, then stop talking big... Huh??? "
Before the person in black could finish speaking, Ash directly opened his jacket, revealing five badges neatly pinned on it.
These badges instantly made the person in black's unfinished words get stuck.
No, I haven't even finished talking yet, and you're already slapping me in the face? Five badges in two months since your debut? Are you messing with me!?
Just as the person in black was about to scoff again, she noticed the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, which she hadn't paid much attention to before, and suddenly a person came to mind.
"You're Ash from Pallet Town?"
"Uh... you know me?"
"You defeated Sabrina of the Saffron Gym?" The person in black didn't answer Ash's question but continued to ask.
"Is there a problem? You've said so much, but you still haven't said who you are! You just said you could take me into the Fuchsia Gym, why?"
Facing Ash's retort, the person in black looked left and right, noticing that the people queuing had already shifted their attention. So she grabbed Ash's hand and said, "Come with me first."
Ash was a bit confused but still followed the other party. If this person had a way for him to challenge the Fuchsia Gym, that would naturally be best. Even if she was just bluffing, it made no difference, as they weren't queuing anyway and were planning to leave Fuchsia City.
And although the people in the queue were also very curious about the situation, since they were already in a relatively front position, leaving would mean queuing for another day or two. Weighing the pros and cons, in the end, no one followed out.
Led by the person in black, Ash and his companions arrived at the left side of the Fuchsia Gym. There was no one here, and the person in black also pulled open her cloak, revealing her true face.
Beneath the black cloak was a head of long green hair and a charming, fair, pretty face.
"A... a girl?" Misty's eyes widened, saying with some disbelief.
Just now, the person in black's voice was incredibly hoarse, sounding nothing like a girl's voice, yet beneath the cloak was such a beautiful girl.
Brock's cheeks instantly turned Crimson; his DNA was about to get excited again!
"Ah, beautiful lady, the moment I saw you, I felt that we were already connected by the Destiny Knot. You are the one destined for me! I have already envisioned how we will spend the rest of our lives!"
"Stop raving! We're discussing important matters!" Misty, unable to bear it any longer, slapped Brock on the head and then threw the smoking Brock behind Ash.
The woman who revealed her true face was also a bit bewildered by Brock's actions, but she quickly recovered, her beautiful eyes looking at Ash as she introduced herself: "My name is Aya. I am Koga's sister, the Fuchsia Gym Leader. Now you know why I can take you into the Fuchsia Gym, right?"
Aya? Koga's sister? No wonder she could guarantee taking him into the Fuchsia Gym. But how did she know him? Had his reputation already reached Koga's ears? The doubts in Ash's mind remained unresolved.