Giselle's first Pokemon was Marowak, a Pokemon with a fearsome skull on its head, far more intimidating than its pre-evolution, Cubone.
Back at the academy, this Pokemon was still a Cubone. After Giselle's meticulous training, it successfully evolved and reached the mid-Elite Level, which is not considered low.
In strict terms, Giselle has only been traveling as a Trainer for less than a year. To train a Cubone from Ordinary Level to Elite Level in just half a year is considered the mark of a genius Trainer.
On Ash's side, he sent out the Chimchar he captured just a few days ago. The moment Chimchar appeared, Paul's pupils shrank in the audience, and his arms couldn't help but tremble.
This Chimchar was the one he had abandoned; that much he was sure of. He couldn't believe Ash had captured it.
"Capturing a Pokemon someone else abandoned? Foolish," Paul sneered at Ash's actions.
Indeed, he hadn't managed to harness Chimchar's Super Blaze power, but could Ash bring it out?
Theoretically, Ash shouldn't have seen Chimchar's Super Blaze, so his reason for capturing Chimchar could only be out of sympathy, a sentiment that would never appear in Paul's decisions.
He would never capture a Pokemon out of sympathy; the only thing he cared about was whether a Pokemon's talent was strong enough.
Even if its current strength isn't impressive, as long as it has enough talent, he can still train it to succeed.
Chimchar's Super Blaze was the point he looked for, but even after months, Chimchar hadn't used Super Blaze once, and its level progress was pitifully slow.
Paul judged that even if he successfully triggered Chimchar's Super Blaze, it wouldn't achieve much in the future; that was why he decisively released Chimchar.
Its level progress was just too slow. Even if Super Blaze could enhance its strength and allow it to fight beyond its level, its fundamental weakness was a significant flaw.
With Chimchar's current state, even if it had Sacred Fire, it wouldn't be useful; without level progression, the viable opponents for higher-level battles are ultimately limited.
Can you battle a Professional Level opponent while at the Advanced Level? Obviously not.
Yet this very Chimchar, which he deemed worthless to train, was picked up by Ash.
This guy's sympathy is truly overflowing. How does someone with such a mindset become so strong in such a short time?
Ash wasn't aware of Paul's doubt, nor was he paying attention to whether Paul was in the audience, but he knew Paul would definitely watch his battle as long as Paul still considered him a rival at the Quartz Conference.
So today, he was going to clear Chimchar's reputation of being useless!
"This Chimchar... is the one used by that contestant named Paul the other day, right?" Giselle paused when she saw Chimchar; she had information about Chimchar in her knowledge bank.
This was one of the Three Starters from the Sinnoh Region, practically unseen in the Kanto Region, yet here she was at the Quartz Conference, seeing two at once.
However, Ash's Chimchar gave her a sense of familiarity, as each Pokemon, despite their similar appearances, gave off a unique feeling, making each one unique.
Giselle had watched Paul's battle, and Ash's Chimchar felt just like Paul's.
Ash nodded and confirmed, "That's right, this was Paul's Chimchar, but that was in the past. Now, it's my Pokemon."
"Though I don't know what happened in between, I must remind you, Ash, levels are very important for Pokemon. Chimchar is only at the Advanced Junior Level, and my Marowak is mid-Elite Level. The gap between them is not insignificant, and Marowak restrains Chimchar, too." Giselle nodded slightly, with a certain arrogance in her expression.
Training a Cubone to become a Marowak in such a short time with strength reaching Elite Level, the academy teachers praised her as a super genius, and she was quite proud of it.
More importantly, Ash's first Pokemon in this battle was only at the Advanced Level, likely the lowest level in Ash's team. Giselle hadn't thought that she could suppress Ash in terms of Pokemon levels.
"Whether we win or not will be decided in battle, come on then." Ash didn't mind Giselle's condescending tone. She might've grown a lot, but her intrinsic arrogance hadn't been erased, though that didn't matter. In this battle, he intended to win.
"Haha, I hope you maintain that confident look when Chimchar falls. Marowak, Bonemerang!" Seeing Ash's defiant expression, Giselle dropped the courtesy and directly ordered Marowak to attack Chimchar.