The Pewter Gym, passed down from father to son, faced its darkest hour today.
His ace Pokémon, Golem—honed through years of rigorous training and tempered by thousands of battles—had been utterly dismantled by a rookie Trainer's unevolved starter. It hadn't even been able to fight back.
Brock was sweating bullets, already vividly imagining his bleak future.
First, the Kanto League would deem him insufficiently skilled to fulfill the duties of a Gym Leader.
Next, that strict Joy Inspector from Saffron City would arrive for an evaluation and ruthlessly teach him a lesson with her Latias.
Finally, the Pewter Gym would be forced to close its doors, and without an income, he and his many younger siblings would be out on the streets.
The Pewter Gym was going to be ruined in his hands after all.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for the despondent Brock to regain his confidence—thanks to Ash.
—Watching Ash pull out a Poké Ball from his belt and desperately try to recall his Pikachu, which was completely immobilized by Onix's [Bind], Brock's mouth twitched imperceptibly.
[Bind: A long body or tentacles are used to bind and squeeze the target for four to five turns. The target takes damage and cannot flee or switch out.]
Look at that. This is exactly how a rookie Trainer fresh out of the gate is supposed to react.
Facing a move that prevented switching, he didn't immediately command a counterattack; instead, he panicked and tried to switch out anyway.
And using an Electric-type Pikachu to fight a Ground-type Onix? The sheer, unadulterated "noob" energy was off the charts.
Brock first snuck a glance at Hakuya, who was waiting on the sidelines, and then shifted his gaze back to Ash. Seeing the boy sweating profusely and completely at a loss for what to do, Brock nodded in deep, profound satisfaction.
It wasn't that I was too weak. It's just that the previous challenger was an absolute freak of nature.
The Pewter Gym hasn't fallen on my watch!
"Pikachu, hurry up and use Thunderbolt!"
At this moment, seeing Pikachu on the verge of fainting, Ash finally gritted his teeth and shouted.
"Pi... Pika..."
Pikachu struggled to raise its body against the crushing grip of its opponent's tail, yellow electricity violently crackling from its cheeks.
But as the golden electric coating faded, Onix simply shook its rocky head, indicating that it hadn't lost a single drop of blood.
"It seems your training is still lacking~"
Brock crossed his arms, his expression as hard as iron, finally reclaiming his aura as a Gym Leader.
"An electric shock of that level won't have any effect on my Onix."
"Onix, it's time to end this. Slam it into the ground."
Hearing its Trainer's command, the massive rock serpent, towering over thirty feet tall, let out a thunderous roar toward the sky.
As its rocky tail slammed down, the jagged, stone-covered battlefield trembled violently, signaling the swift and brutal end to Ash's maiden Gym battle.
"I lost..."
Walking all the way back to the rest area of the Pokémon Center, Ash sank into the same state of depression Brock had been in earlier.
He had marched in bursting with confidence to challenge the Gym, only to get absolutely steamrolled right out of the gate.
"Ash, your Pikachu is fully healed now~"
A soft, pleasant chime rang out as Nurse Joy pushed a medical cart out from the back room.
Watching the boy in the red-and-white cap take Pikachu in silence, she nodded thoughtfully.
As a Pokémon Center nurse, Joy naturally knew exactly why the boy and his Pokémon looked like this at a single glance.
In the Pokémon world, every year, rookie Trainers like Ash received their starters from a Professor and set off on their journeys. And every year, those same confident rookies hit a massive brick wall when they challenged their first Gym.
It was unavoidable. Or rather, it was a necessary hurdle every Trainer had to overcome to grow stronger.
"Don't be discouraged. No one wins every single battle. Don't let a small setback like this get you down."
Nurse Joy's voice was gentle and comforting.
Meanwhile, Hakuya had just finished examining a large group photo of the Kanto region's Joy family. After concluding that it was genuinely impossible to tell them apart, he walked over and seamlessly joined the conversation.
"Yeah, Nurse Joy is right."
"But... I can't do it, Hakuya-bro."
The boy, having just started his journey, was a far cry from the seasoned veteran he would eventually become. The sting of his first major defeat was undeniably sharp.
Ash lowered his head and muttered softly, "If I can't even get past the Pewter City Gym Leader... then there's no way I can compete in the League Tournament..."
His current team consisted of an Electric-type Pikachu, a Bug-type Caterpie, and a Normal/Flying-type Pidgeotto.
Looking at type matchups alone, Ash didn't have a single Pokémon that could take on Brock's mono Rock/Ground team head-on. But this wasn't a rigid video game; victory in reality depended on countless factors.
Maintaining a strong mindset against a tough opponent was sometimes more important than having a type advantage.
If you give up this easily, the Pokémon who believed in you are going to cry—
Hearing the slight tremor in Ash's voice, Hakuya couldn't help but frown.
"Although it's true that Pikachu and the others are at a disadvantage against Geodude and Onix in terms of team composition..."
"But Ash, what's with that expression?! And what's with those tears?!"
Struck by the sudden, booming reprimand, the despondent boy in the cap jolted violently.
He looked up, trembling slightly, only to meet Hakuya's incredibly sharp, piercing gaze.
That look instantly reminded Ash of their first meeting, when Hakuya stood alone against a vicious flock of Fearow.
—Powerful, invincible, like a man who had walked out of hell itself and looked down on any obstacle in his path.
"Back in my home region of Hoenn, the path to becoming a Pokémon Master is far more brutal than you can imagine, Ash."
Hakuya looked at the boy, who was clearly intimidated by his aura, and spoke.
"Right after getting our starter Pokémon, the very first thing we face is a wild Kyogre. Its Origin Pulse can practically obliterate the entire patch of grass into dust..."
"And then, if you keep walking north along the beginner route, you'll run into a female Trainer with an Arceus. Its Judgment doesn't care if you're a rookie; it just blindly rains down destruction, nearly wiping the entire route off the map..."
If Sprigatito were telling this story, she would have undoubtedly fast-forwarded to Reshiram flapping its wings, describing how they survived by the skin of their teeth in a blazing inferno. But Hakuya didn't exaggerate; he simply stated the objective facts of his experience in Randomized Emerald.
"Um..."
Ash weakly raised his hand.
"Hakuya-bro, what's a Kyogre? And what's an Arceus...?"
His passionate speech interrupted, Hakuya's mouth twitched, and he helplessly explained.
"Kyogre is one of the Legendary Pokémon of the Hoenn region. It controls the oceans and possesses the terrifying power to summon world-ending tsunamis."
"And Arceus is an even bigger deal. It's the mythical creator of the universe."
"But none of that matters right now. All you need to know is that Pokémon of that caliber..."
Hakuya paused for a moment before finishing, "...could crush all six of Brock's Pokémon with a flick of a finger."
"Huh?! The Hoenn region is that terrifying?!"
Ash's eyes widened instinctively, and his voice unconsciously grew louder.
He had thought Brock's Onix was strong enough.
After all, no matter how hard Pikachu tried to shock it, that giant, steel-hard snake didn't even blink.
But now he was hearing that a Pokémon of that level was nothing more than "roadside trash" in Hakuya's hometown.
A massive sense of disparity washed over the boy in the cap, and he began to reflect on why he had let himself get so depressed in the first place.
Giving up on the Pewter Gym without even trying a second time...
It was just too pathetic!!!
"I understand now, Hakuya-bro!"
Ash suddenly stood up, all traces of his previous despair wiped clean.
"I'm going to challenge Brock again! And I'm going to win the Gym Badge using Pikachu!"
"Pika, pika!" The re-energized Pikachu also pumped its tiny fists in agreement.
"Good. For the next few days, Milcery and I will put you through hellish training."
Hakuya looked at Ash's battle-ready expression, then down at the equally fired-up Pikachu, and smiled.
It was the classic, fan-favorite Pokémon anime trope: if you can't beat 'em, hit the training arc.
If it were anyone else's Pokémon, such rapid improvement would be impossible, but Ash's yellow rodent was different.
In a way, "Ash's Pikachu" was just as much of a broken, overpowered glitch as Sprigatito and the others.
Later in its career, it could use [Quick Attack] with the force of [Extreme Speed] and [Iron Tail] with the power of [Behemoth Blade]. Now, with Hakuya's hellish training boosting it early on, beating a holding-back Brock would be an absolute breeze.
"..."
Misty, who had listened to the entire conversation, was completely stunned.
A look of utter breakdown rapidly spread across her fair, pretty face.
Yamero—
Hakuya, what the hell are you doing?!
Just having you, an overpowered freak of nature, in the Kanto region is enough to make all the Gym Leaders lose sleep and their appetites.
And now you're planning to breed another monster using your insane training methods? Stop it!
Do not bring that toxic, hyper-competitive Hoenn culture over here!