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After Pikachu defeated Arbok, Lorelei made another call, and only then did Cynthia learn Ash's detailed information from Lorelei.
The opponent was even younger than she had guessed, having only debuted two months ago!
Moreover, he had not trained any Pokémon before embarking on his journey.
Don't let her being the youngest Champion in history fool you; she had actually been training Pokémon for more than three years.
Before setting out on her journey, she already had a Garchomp at Gym Leader level. Over the next three years, she gradually raised Garchomp to Champion level, and some of her other Pokémon also slowly reached Elite Four Class.
The year she became Champion at eighteen, she didn't solely possess Champion-level Pokémon. It was simply that Garchomp was too strong, allowing her to narrowly defeat the Sinnoh Champion that year.
Now, after several years of refinement, she has truly become a Champion worthy of the title.
The Sinnoh League, under her presence, has become one of the top leagues.
If there were a ranking among leagues, the Galar League, home to the strongest Champion, would be ranked first, with the Sinnoh League coming in second.
As for the league at the bottom, there is no doubt: it is the Kanto League.
After all, two of the Kanto League's four Elite are from other regions, which clearly illustrates how much the Kanto League is struggling with a lack of new talent.
Furthermore, the Kanto League doesn't even have a Champion. If they aren't at the bottom, who is?
If the Kanto League continues on this path, they might transform from once being the strongest league into one that is forced to merge with the Johto League.
But now, things seem to be taking a turn for the better.
The young man named Ash on TV, if given a little more time to grow, would undoubtedly become an Elite Four Class Trainer, or even a Champion. It's not impossible.
No, it should be said that he can definitely become a Champion. If he maintains this momentum, he might even become a Champion Trainer younger than her.
"What will you use for your third Pokémon? I'm truly looking forward to it," Cynthia murmured, her beautiful eyes filled with interest... Fuchsia Gym —
Ash picked up Pikachu and handed him to Misty, who was standing nearby.
"Pikachu is in your care."
"Mm... but Ash, what will you use for your third Pokémon? It won't be Gardevoir, will it?" Misty asked with some concern after taking Pikachu.
If Ash used Gardevoir, to put it bluntly, this third match would almost certainly be a loss.
Gardevoir's strength is on par with Charizard's. Even if Gardevoir had a trump card similar to Charizard's special flames, she couldn't defeat an Elite Four Class Pokémon.
Koga now only has one more Pokémon left, and he can't possibly be expected to go easy and use an Elite Four Class Pokémon, can he? That's not very realistic.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. This third battle... is a guaranteed win!" Ash grinned, his face full of confidence.
After speaking, Ash took his hat from Pikachu's head, placed it back on his own, and then turned to walk towards the battle arena.
Misty and Brock exchanged glances, wondering where Ash's confidence came from.
Did he still have something hidden that they didn't know about?
After returning to the battle arena, the field was once again enveloped by a transparent barrier.
In fact, every time the barrier shattered, the surrounding machinery would reallocate stored energy to repair it.
However, the battle between Pikachu and Arbok earlier had completely exceeded the barrier's defensive threshold, causing it to be utterly destroyed before it could even be repaired.
Although the barrier began to repair itself afterward, it was immediately shattered by the residual shockwaves after only a small amount of repair.
Therefore, the barrier was not fully repaired until after the battle concluded.
This type of barrier, designed for Gym Leader level battles, was somewhat inadequate for Elite Four Class battles.
If Ash hadn't released his Aura as a protective shield around the area beforehand, the entire Fuchsia Gym would probably have been blown away by now.
Even Ash couldn't afford to be distracted to protect the surroundings while focused on such an intense battle.
If he and Pikachu hadn't been in perfect sync and focused on the same goal at that time, the power of Sparking Thunder would have been reduced, and it wouldn't have been Arbok that lost.
Therefore, Koga's initial guess was correct: the person who protected the Gym was Ash.
As Ash returned to the battle arena, Koga also took out his last Poké Ball. His gaze towards Ash was filled with many emotions.
Emotion, surprise, admiration... Everything Ash had displayed today had far exceeded his imagination, and even now, Ash hadn't used the Pokémon he used against Sabrina.
Sabrina's strength was no secret among the top Gym Leaders. Her Alakazam possessed power comparable to a high-level Elite Four, and even Lorelei couldn't defeat it in a one-on-one battle.
Ash's ability to defeat Sabrina certainly couldn't have been due to Charizard, who barely defeated an entry-level Elite Four, or Pikachu, who only defeated a mid-level Elite Four after using every trick in the book.
This meant Ash still had a trump card.
At this point, he couldn't hide anything anymore. For this third Pokémon, he had to use his ace!
Otherwise, if he really lost this battle, it would be a huge problem!
Did he still want the Johto Elite Four position?
"Ash, I've actually been looking forward to battling you for a long time, but I never expected it to be like this. I never even thought I'd be in a three-on-three Elite Four battle with you, and to be pushed to such a desperate situation. This Pokémon is my strongest ace. If I lose even this match, then I suppose I'll be 'famous for all eternity,'" Koga said with a sigh, using a joking tone to express his true feelings.
If he were truly defeated by a Trainer who debuted two months ago, losing three Elite Four Class Pokémon consecutively, including his ace, then it wouldn't be 'famous for all eternity,' but more likely 'infamous for ten thousand years.' This kind of record would absolutely be nailed to the pillar of historical shame. So, for the sake of taking over as the Johto Elite Four soon, and to avoid being 'infamous for ten thousand years,' he couldn't lose this battle!
"Mr. Koga... good luck!" Ash called out Koga's name, and a moment later, he actually cheered Koga on, causing Koga, who was about to throw his Poké Ball, to stumble and almost fall flat on his face.
What did this mean? Ash, his opponent, was cheering him on? Did he not want to win?
If it were anyone else, Koga would definitely think the other person was mocking him. To be honest, Ash did have the record to mock him.
But given Ash's personality, he probably wouldn't do something like that. From the moment they met until now, Ash had left a good impression on him. Even after repeatedly defeating his Pokémon in battles beyond his level, he never showed an arrogant, sarcastic, or proud expression.
Instead, after each battle, he would immediately go to his Pokémon's side, encourage them, praise them, and then return them to their Poké Balls or lead them away from the battle arena.
Koga hadn't seen a young man with such a personality in a long time.
Because of this, Koga was puzzled by what Ash meant by 'good luck.'
Meanwhile, Ash, after encouraging Koga, closed his eyes, appearing to be resting, but in reality, he had entered the chat group... [Newbie Ash: Big shots, I've won two matches! For the last match, Mr. Koga will probably use his ace. Who's going to fight?]
[Champion Ash: I'll do it. It's been a while since I've fought an Elite Four. I'll just relive the feeling a bit.]
[Tactician Ash: Tsk, since you spoke first, I'll let you have it. But next time, you have to let me play. No one on my side is willing to fight me anymore.]
[Champion Ash: Heh heh, how many people in the group do you think are willing to fight you?]
[Aura Hero Ash: That's not true, didn't I just fight him last time?]
[Champion Ash: And then weren't you so disgusted by him that you couldn't eat for a day?]
[Aura Hero Ash: Hey, the feeling's mutual. He wasn't doing so great either.]
[Newbie Ash: Ahem, well, since we're all 'Ash,' let's not hurt each other, okay? Champion big shot, how do I operate this?]
[Champion Ash: Look at the right side of the group chat. There should be an icon lit up.]
Upon hearing this, Ash's virtual body looked at the left side of the chat box. There were many icons on the left, but previously, no matter how he clicked them or imagined using them with his mind, nothing happened.
But now, one of the icons on it was lit up. It was a hat-like icon. Ash lightly tapped it with his finger, and instantly, countless options appeared before Ash.
These were the names of each Ash in the group, and now Ash wanted to choose someone to descend upon him.
This was a one-time A-rank ability he had drawn a few days ago, called [Proxy].
This ability allowed Ash to choose a big shot from the group to possess him, to train his Pokémon, or to help him in battle.
What arrived was not only an Ash from another world, but also... one of their Pokémon.
As mentioned before, all draws in the chat group would not produce physical objects; for example, held items could not be drawn from the group chat.
So, having other Ash's Pokémon descend from parallel worlds should also be impossible.
But to be precise, it was impossible for their Pokémon to descend physically, but they could descend in the form of energy bodies.
Ash had drawn Aura Hero Ash's Aura in his first draw, and then the chat group infused that power into his body, giving him the strength to contend with Champion-level Pokémon and above.
This time was the same. Ash could designate one of his Pokémon to receive the power of a đồng nguyên Pokémon from the group's big shots.
Simply put, if Ash chose to let Champion Ash possess him, and he had Charizard as a Pokémon, then Ash could choose his own Charizard and have it imbued with the power of Champion Ash's Charizard.
However, this power was one-time. After the possession period ended, the power attached to the Pokémon would disappear.
At first glance, this thing seems pretty useless, except for pulling it out to help win a battle when in danger or when unable to win. It doesn't provide any substantial improvement to the Pokémon.
But with Ash's Aura, unless two God-Tier Pokémon appeared at once, nothing would really happen.
As for helping out in battles that can't be won... for Ash, a victory obtained through the power of others doesn't count as a true victory, unless it's a battle that absolutely must be won, like if the world would be destroyed if he lost.
Otherwise, even in the Masters Eight Champion match, a victory obtained by relying on others, even parallel versions of himself, would not be recognized by Ash.
So, while this ability might seem like a gimmick, it's actually not.
Besides helping in a single battle, this one-time ability has an additional effect: the possessed Pokémon will retain a portion of the talent and power of the possessing Pokémon.
This is the most valuable aspect of this one-time ability.
Ash hadn't originally planned to use this opportunity to battle Koga. If he were to really use it, using it at the very beginning, even if it were a one-on-six, Koga might not win.
But the big shots in the group suggested using this opportunity to challenge the Fuchsia Gym, just not at the beginning.
Ash's growth has actually reached a certain limit now. His growth rate is indeed very fast, but it can be even faster.
Ash's potential is inherently limitless, and now with the chat group, which is like a cheat, it would be truly unacceptable if he didn't reach Champion in a year.
So, in order to further push Ash's potential, he needed to challenge some challenging battles, such as... battling an Elite Four.
If it were a simple one-on-one, the pressure on Ash wouldn't be great, because his partner Pikachu is simply too overpowered, and with Ash's Aura fusion, as long as he doesn't encounter a Champion, there's hope of winning.
Two-on-two would certainly bring some pressure, but the Fuchsia Gym's rule is three-on-three, which is just right.
This way, it could put pressure on the two Pokémon Ash sends out, letting those two Pokémon with a chance of winning fight the first two matches, and then the third match would be handed over to the big shots in the group.
If Koga had two Elite Four Class Pokémon defeated by Ash, he would definitely send out his ace for the third, which would allow Ash's Pokémon, after gaining power, to experience battling an Elite Four's ace.
As an opponent, he's actually just average, but there are no more suitable opponents in the short term. Plus, there's a problem child in Ash's team, and this battle can be used to resolve that problem child's inner conflict.
That's why Ash finally decided to go ahead with a three-on-three Elite Four battle against Koga.
He had intended from the start that if he won two matches against Koga, he would consider himself victorious. As for the third match, that wouldn't be his battle, and even if he won, it wouldn't count as his.
After defeating two of Koga's Pokémon, his challenge was considered over. The subsequent part would be the show for the big shots in the group. And because of this, Ash would say to Koga before the battle—Good luck!
This wasn't mockery or sarcasm, but genuine encouragement for Koga, because what he was about to face... might be the biggest nightmare of his career!