But at least for this match, Ash won, and as long as you give him a little more time to grow, the next time he faces Koga, he'll win even more easily!
Of course, that's assuming Ash relies on his own abilities—when will he be able to beat Elite Level Pokemon without depending on his special abilities... that's a whole other discussion.
Probably not until after the Quartz Conference.
Two months for his strongest Pokemon to reach Professional Level—he's already way ahead of Professor Oak's predictions for progress, but reaching higher Levels after Professional is not so easy. There's nearly four months left before the Quartz Conference kicks off.
If Ash can raise a Gym Level Pokemon in four months, that's a success, honestly.
"But I'm a bit curious... Ash didn't bring me along. Charizard and Pikachu haven't completely gone down yet, but they basically can't battle anymore. So who's Ash going to send out for the last round?" Gengar, after 'crying,' suddenly became serious and raised a genuine question.
The question being: what Pokemon will Ash use for his final round?
He wasn't always hanging out with Ash, but he knew most of Ash's Pokemon pretty well.
Besides Charizard and Pikachu, only Gardevoir could really keep up with them.
That Gardevoir's strong, but at best it's about on par with Charizard—can't really compare to Pikachu.
Charizard only won because it faced the opponent's weakest Pokemon and triggered that mysterious flame. Otherwise, even ten lives wouldn't be enough.
Now Koga's already lost two Pokemon; for his last one, to guarantee victory, he might go straight for his ace!
No way it's just a Junior Elite Level Pokemon.
So for Ash to beat Koga, his final Pokemon needs to be even stronger than Charizard and Pikachu!
Does Ash even have a Pokemon like that?
Hearing this, Professor Oak fell into deep thought. If there's a secret weapon, besides Gengar, he couldn't think of anything else that could handle it.
But Gengar's at Oak's Research Institute right now—it's not like Ash can pause mid-battle and say, "Hold up, let me go grab a Pokemon from the Pokemon Center and come back to fight."
Is that even possible?!
So what hidden cards does Ash have to deal with Elite Level Pokemon?
...
On the streets of Lanyan City——
Cheers and gasps echoed everywhere—Ash actually beat another Elite Level Pokemon, and he did it with a Pikachu!
It's Pikachu, after all!
Everyone in Kanto knows Pikachu's basically a dime-a-dozen, stray-level Pokemon. Sure, as a pet it's super popular, but for battling… it's only a bit more desirable than Raticate.
Raticate and Pikachu are about the same in looks and species, but at least Pikachu can evolve into Raichu—though that evolution costs a lot, you need a Thunder Stone.
If Pikachu could just evolve normally, it would probably be super popular among both battlers and fans.
But now, a Newbie Trainer used an unevolved Pikachu to defeat a snake-type Pokemon—the mouse's natural enemy!—and not only that, it was Elite Level, commanded by Koga, an Elite Level trainer.
With all those debuffs stacked up, forget Pikachu—even Raichu wouldn't know how to win!
But somehow he pulled it off!
Honestly, no words of astonishment can describe how amazed people are at this match!
Unbelievable!
Ash's battle at Fuchsia Gym today is probably going to be immortalized in League history!
Elite Charizard battling Elite Toxicroak, Professional Pikachu battling Elite Arbok—both wins!
This kind of freakish win record deserves to be in the history books!
Gary stared at the TV, watching Ash walk in carrying Pikachu, his eyes full of complicated emotions.
Right now, he felt as bitter as if he'd swallowed a box full of bitter herbs.
It's just too much... the gap's way too big!
He has to go all out just to barely beat Erika's Elite Level Pokemon, and Ash's already fighting Elites!
What the hell, did they really start this journey together? How did the gap get so huge!
Back in their previous battle, his Wartortle could at least give Pikachu a bit of trouble—not that it mattered, since it quickly lost, but the gap wasn't nearly this big!
If they fought again now, even if Wartortle had evolved into Blastoise, it probably couldn't withstand a single Pikachu move.
"Sigh... man, can't you take it slow? Now I've got to push myself like crazy too!"
...
Somewhere in the Sinnoh Region—a villa——
"Mm-hm, got it, I'm watching right now."
"Hmm, I started watching when Pikachu was battling Arbok. That Pikachu sure isn't ordinary."
"Oh? He even beat a Superpower User with an Elite Advanced Level Pokemon? Then this last fight should be really interesting."
"Fifteen years old, huh... That's way better than I was at his age. Before I started traveling, I already raised a Garchomp."
"Alright, I'll hang up now—let's talk after the match."
The woman, dressed in comfy loungewear, gently closed her flip phone and placed it on the sofa beside her.
She had long blonde hair, strands naturally flowing, with black ribbon accents weaving through, adding a touch of playful charm.
Her features were exquisite, pale gray eyes carrying a hint of fatigue and calm, long lashes, soft lines on her face, fair skin looking exceptionally delicate in the shifting light.
Her long legs rested naturally on the table in front of the sofa, smooth as jade, glowing softly under the lights like warm white mutton-fat jade—fine and gently luminous.
This was the youngest Champion in history, known as the Sinnoh Valkyrie—Cynthia!
Cynthia was lounging at home, enjoying a relaxing vacation, when Lorelei suddenly called and told her to turn on the TV to Kanto's official channel for the live broadcast.
Baffled, Cynthia turned on the TV and immediately saw Ash sending out Pikachu against Arbok.
With her sharp eyes, even through the screen, she could instantly see that Pikachu was only at Professional Junior Level, while Arbok was already Mid-Elite Level.
Such a huge level gap isn't something tactics can make up for.
Plus, Ash looked super young, probably a trainer who's been traveling less than a year; compared to Koga, candidate for Elite, their training levels might not even be in the same league.
Technically, Ash should absolutely lose this match.
When she first started watching, Cynthia didn't even understand why such a one-sided battle would be on Kanto League's official stream, and why Koga looked so tense facing Ash, who seemed like a newbie. And why did Lorelei tell her to watch?
But as soon as the battle started, all Cynthia's questions were instantly answered.
Holy crap, Professional Level going head-to-head with Elite Level... No, not evenly matched—completely dominating Koga's Elite Arbok!
Pikachu's moves were all unheard of, like Zippy Zap and Floaty Fall—never even heard those names before.
And the wildest part: a Professional Level Pikachu with insane ATK and insane speed. Add those bizarre moves, and Koga and Arbok ended up totally lost.
Cynthia's seen and fought in plenty of high-level battles, but among them all, she's never seen a match as fascinating as the one playing on TV right now.
Ash's name has been etched deeply into her mind.