"The dispute for a spot in the World Championship and the opportunity to train overseas..."
Ethan thought about those two matters while massaging the space between his brows.
That was an excellent opportunity to leave the country; if he had the chance, he definitely wanted to go take a look around as well.
In that way, he could get to know many, many Pokémon that did not exist within the country.
While Ethan continued reflecting, Sanada Ichiro also admitted it with complete frankness.
"My training to conquer all the Water-type Trainers of the Daleron League will begin with you!"
The corner of Sanada Ichiro's lips curved into a smile, and with a Poké Ball in his hand, he declared that with an imposing presence.
"Conquer?"
"Who does that foreigner think he is?"
"How does he even dare to use the word 'conquer'?!"
After hearing Sanada Ichiro's words, the audience immediately erupted into an uproar.
To them, that was no different from a direct provocation.
"Come on, try to defeat me!"
After hearing the clamor of the spectators, Sanada Ichiro openly provoked them again.
For him, if some stronger Water-type Trainer could not endure the provocation and came out to face him, that would be even better.
His objective in coming to the Daleron League was to obtain one hundred consecutive victories against the powerful Water-type Trainers of the Daleron League!
For someone determined to reach the peak as a Fire-type master, battling against strong opponents was the shortcut toward the summit.
"Damn it, that guy is too arrogant!"
"Leader Rachel, hurry and send out your Pokémon and defeat him!"
The spectators could not endure the provocation and began shouting at Rachel.
They already could not wait to see that challenger receive a good lesson!
"A Trainer in training for the World Championship..."
Rachel also took a deep breath at that moment.
As the descendant of a great family, she naturally knew how powerful those Trainers in training were.
To obtain the qualification to dispute a spot in the World Championship, besides making important contributions to the League, the most important thing was still strength.
Although there were still two years left to continue accumulating experience, the current strength of those challengers was already very considerable.
The Quasi-Elite level was, in essence, the minimum standard!
Now, that Trainer in training for the World Championship from the Red Sun League very likely also had Quasi-Elite-level strength.
"Quasi-Elite level!"
"It seems I'll have to use her!"
Rachel inhaled deeply and put away the Poké Ball of the Pokémon she used for Gym evaluations.
Then, she took out from her chest a pendant with a Poké Ball and, with great solemnity, unhooked it.
When she gently pressed the button of the Poké Ball, a white light burst out from it and took form.
The white light dispersed, and what appeared was a Pokémon with an appearance similar to that of a sea serpent.
Its charming cream-colored body gave it an appearance of incomparable nobility...
The red hair-like fins on both sides of its head, as well as its red eyebrows that extended from above its eyes toward the outside of its fur, made that Pokémon, in addition to being noble, also give off a refined elegance.
In addition, its tail was covered with blue and pink scales with black stripes; in the center of the four large overlapping blue scales at the end of its tail were red spots which, together, looked like a perfectly harmonious fan.
"What a beautiful Pokémon!"
After seeing the Pokémon appear on the field, all the spectators involuntarily showed an expression of fascination.
"Milotic!"
"Is it a Milotic?!"
"And, from the looks of it, that Milotic evolved a very long time ago!"
Looking at the Pokémon on the field, Ethan showed a thoughtful expression.
Not long ago, Alex had officially risen to Advanced-level Pokémon Researcher thanks to the success obtained with Milotic's evolution method.
From how things were, it seemed that Milotic's evolution method had been revealed for the first time.
However, Ethan knew that Milotic actually had two evolution conditions.
Besides evolving through the item Prism Scale, Feebas could also complete its evolution if it reached a certain degree of beauty.
Judging from what he was observing, Ethan felt that this Milotic had probably evolved thanks to the increase of its own beauty.
That evolution condition was clearly much more difficult than evolving through a Prism Scale, but it also demonstrated how extraordinary that Milotic's innate talent was.
In addition, the fact that Rachel used it as her main card demonstrated that its true strength had already reached the Quasi-Elite level.
"A Quasi-Elite-level Pokémon!"
On the other side of the water field, Sanada Ichiro's eyes shone.
He had chosen the leader of Ironvale City's Water-type Gym as his first challenge, and it seemed he had not been wrong.
Only an opponent of the same level had value for polishing his own capabilities; judging from that, his first battle was going to be a truly interesting one.
"Then, my Pokémon will be this!"
With his gaze somewhat serious, Sanada Ichiro released his own Pokémon.
"It's Torkoal, the Disaster-type Pokémon capable of causing drought!"
Seeing the Pokémon sent out by Sanada Ichiro, the spectators were very surprised.
Torkoal was a land turtle that burned with coal inside it. Its body was mainly brownish orange, and on its limbs and long neck it had grayish-black ring-shaped stripes. Each of its feet had three claws, and behind it, it had a small short tail.
Its shell was mainly dark gray, with five fire-red cavities around it, and on the upper part it had a small hole through which it could expel smoke.
"It seems that this Sanada Ichiro is a Trainer specialized in Fire type."
"Defeating all Water-type Trainers? In reality, it is a fairly good challenge. And a Sunny Day strategy is precisely an excellent tactic to counter Water-type Pokémon."
Ethan was also observing Sanada Ichiro at that moment, understanding a little better why he was so obsessed with defeating all Water-type Trainers.
At the same time, he also had not expected that right after deciding to found a Gym based on sunny weather, that very same day he would encounter another Trainer whose battle core also revolved around the move Sunny Day. This really was a coincidence!
Thinking of that, Ethan began to watch the battle with full attention, prepared to see how other Trainers used a sunny-weather team.
"Come on, you attack first!"
After releasing his Torkoal, Sanada Ichiro looked at Rachel with a provocative air.
Rachel could not help frowning; according to the Gym rules, the one who should attack first was the challenger, so Sanada Ichiro's provocation was more than evident.
"As the challenger, I go first?"
"Fine then, Torkoal, use Sunny Day!"
Seeing that Rachel did not respond for quite a while, Sanada Ichiro seemed to understand something and, after a moment, gave the order.
Immediately afterward, Torkoal activated its Ability Drought and, combining it with the move Sunny Day, began to establish sunny weather on the field.
From the way it executed the technique, it could be seen that Torkoal's mastery over Sunny Day weather was very high. Not much time passed before a scorching sun appeared above the stadium, pouring down intense heat that generated a thermal wave on the field, while Fire-type energy began to activate powerfully.
(End of chapter)