"I thought about it carefully," Ash continued over the phone.
"Viridian City isn't far from Pallet Town. There are League personnel guarding Pallet Town, and Viridian City itself is Gym Leader Giovanni's territory."
"On top of that, I have your Charizard with , Professor."
"So I figured that as long as I stayed cautious, there wouldn't be any major issues. And even if I did encounter danger, I could always ride Charizard and retreat—whether back to Pallet Town or straight to Viridian Gym, it'd only take minutes at Charizard's speed."
"In reality, nothing dangerous happened at all today."
"Also, there's sothing else I need to tell you."
"The Pokémon I helped Gym Leader Giovanni treat today is extrely important to him. After I finished the treatnt, he wanted to thank —and he proposed taking as his disciple."
"And… I agreed."
After giving a brief explanation, Ash also inford Professor Oak about becoming Giovanni's disciple.
More precisely—
He was using Professor Oak as a channel to inform the Pokémon League.
He didn't hide the matter of apprenticing under Giovanni. Instead, he made sure the League learned about it imdiately.
That way, when Giovanni's true identity was exposed in the future, Ash wouldn't be dragged into suspicion of secretly siding with Team Rocket.
Right now, informing the League worked perfectly in his favor.
Even if the League investigated, they wouldn't uncover anything—Team Rocket's concealnt capabilities were simply too strong. Otherwise, Giovanni wouldn't still be openly serving as the Gym Leader of Viridian Gym.
And since the League knew from the start that Ash had beco Giovanni's disciple—and had found no issues at the ti—then once Giovanni's identity was revealed later, Ash naturally wouldn't be implicated.
After all—
If even the League had been deceived by Giovanni, how could they bla a six-year-old child?
Moreover, Viridian Gym was the strongest Gym in Kanto, and Giovanni's strength was already approaching Elite-level.
Ash apprenticing under him was, on the surface, completely reasonable.
So after reminding Ash to pay attention to safety and not linger in Viridian City—urging him to return to Pallet Town quickly—Professor Oak ended the call.
…
"Pika… (⊙_⊙)
Ash, didn't you say that Giovanni was the evil Team Rocket boss and that we should stay far away from him? Then why did you make him your teacher?"
"It's a bit complicated," Ash replied with a smile.
"Even if I explained it, Pikachu, you probably wouldn't understand—and you'd just get a headache."
"So don't overthink it."
"I definitely have my reasons for doing this. We still need to keep a respectful distance from Team Rocket."
"But as for Gym Leader Giovanni…"
"You can think of him as my teacher."
"Pika—(@_@)
You haven't even finished explaining and my head already hurts."
"Haha, then just don't think about it."
"It's been a long ti since we last ca to Viridian City. I'll take you guys out to eat sothing good."
Today's visit to Viridian Gym had gone extrely smoothly.
The threat from Team Rocket had, for all practical purposes, been neutralized.
Not only that—Ash had gained a full set of ga Evolution equipnt (Key Stone Pidgeot ga Stone) and had even taken a Champion-level Trainer as his teacher.
From here on, his path as a Trainer was bound to be much smoother.
Naturally, Ash was in an excellent mood.
"Pika~ (=^v^=)
I want sugar-glazed cherry tomatoes and caralized apples!"
"Gero~ (n_n)
I want grilled food!"
"Pidgeo—"
"…?"
"Alright, alright. We're heading to Viridian City's food street right now."
With that, Ash pedaled his bicycle toward the food district.
…..
Since opening his Skill Shop, less than a month had passed.
Although his physical age was only six, Ash had already achieved financial freedom.
At the beginning, after completing each batch of orders, he would personally calculate how much he had earned.
But as ti went on and the money piled up—especially after signing large contracts with the major Kanto families for Magikarp learning Tackle, with average order prices exceeding 250,000 Poké Dollars—
Ash no longer bothered doing the math himself.
He simply let Rotom calculate it.
Because at this point, money—
At least for everyday expenses—was no longer sothing he lacked.
That was, of course, limited to normal consumption: food, clothing, daily necessities for himself and his Pokémon.
If he wanted to purchase extrely rare Pokémon items with prices but no market, or buy a house in a top-tier tropolis like Viridian City—
Then even his current funds wouldn't be enough.
Money, after all, was never as durable as it seed.
-----
After strolling through Viridian City's food street, Ash, Pikachu, Frogadier, and Charizard were all holding piles of snacks.
Although Pidgeotto initially claid it didn't like this kind of food, Ash insisted on buying so anyway.
Needless to say—after tasting them, Pidgeotto imdiately admitted:
It was delicious.
"Alright," Ash said as they left the food street, munching on a cup of oden.
"Since we've co all this way to Viridian City, I want you guys to accompany to one more place."
"It's sowhere I've been wanting to visit for a long ti."
"Pika—! (^◇^)/
Where are we going?" Pikachu asked curiously.
"Gero~?"
"Pidgeo~?"
Frogadier and Pidgeotto, who were sharing fried locusts, also looked over with interest.
"I guarantee you'll love it too."
"That place is the City Battle Arena!"
"Gero— (=一`)?
What's a City Battle Arena?" Frogadier asked.
"The City Battle Arena—just like the na suggests—is a place for Pokémon battles and competitive matches."
"It's an official venue built by the League to promote Pokémon competition."
"Trainers can participate in matches there to earn prize money, while ordinary citizens can buy tickets to watch the battles."
"Basically, every city now has its own City Battle Arena."
"And not just in Kanto—Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar all have very mature City Battle Arena competition systems."
"Before, your levels were relatively low, so fighting wild Pokémon was enough to level up."
"But as your strength increases, the experience required to level up also keeps rising."
"From here on, only battles against carefully trained Pokémon owned by other Trainers will give enough experience."
"And the City Battle Arena is the perfect place for that."
Ash gave his Pokémon a simple explanation of what the City Battle Arena was.
"Pika—! (/^v^)/
Battles? Oh yeah!!"
"Gero~!"
"Pidgeo—!"
Training alone could be dull—especially long-term training.
Even though training with Ash was always enjoyable, after their strength increased, the Pokémon still craved the sense of achievent that only real battles could bring.
Just like eating at without garlic—half the flavor was gone.
Training without battle was the sa.
Before, they had Drowzee as a convenient experience source for daily sparring. But three days ago, after Ash returned Drowzee, they had focused entirely on training due to their rapid growth—without any real combat at all.
Now, hearing that Ash was taking them to the City Battle Arena, all three Pokémon grew excited at once.
Especially Pidgeotto, whose battle-loving nature made its eyes practically glow green.
The next stage—
Was about to begin.
--------------
T/N:
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