Just like that, three days passed.
On that day, Ethan left the town.
The day before, the League had finally sent him the notification for the interview.
According to the contents of the previous interview for Gym Leaders, this stage mainly evaluated the professional competence of a Gym Leader.
According to the definition that the League gave to Gym Leaders, their main task was to help the League select and cultivate excellent Trainers.
Because of that, the two essential points were precisely selection and cultivation, and not merely demonstrating strength in front of challengers.
From this requirement, it could be clearly seen that a powerful Trainer did not necessarily have the potential to become a Gym Leader.
Although Ethan had already understood this before, as the real exam approached, he still felt somewhat uncertain.
Because of that, before the evaluation officially began, he decided to first go to other Gyms to learn from them.
And for him, the most convenient thing was to go directly to the Ironvale City Gym and observe how its Leader selected and cultivated the challengers.
At that moment, the Ironvale City Gym was none other than the former Pokémon Nightstar Club.
After Ethan helped the Pokémon Nightstar Club obtain third place in the League's grand club competition, and thanks also to the maneuvers of the Blake family, which was behind the club, it had managed to smoothly obtain Gym qualification among numerous competitors.
With the relationship Ethan had with Rachel, it was not difficult to imagine that, if she knew he wanted to learn how to be a Gym Leader, she would receive him with a warm welcome.
"Ironvale City Pokémon Gym!"
"This name sounds much more imposing than 'Pokémon Nightstar Club.'"
Ethan smiled slightly when he saw it and, without notifying Rachel, directly entered the Gym.
After arriving at the lobby, he discovered that the general layout had not changed too much.
It was only that the former king-of-the-hill battle area, which had previously been on the second floor, had now been transformed into the Gym battle area.
Compared with king-of-the-hill battles, it was clear that Gym battles attracted the audience much more.
"Sir, have you come to train, to watch a Gym battle, or to challenge the Gym?"
Seeing that Ethan was carefully observing the place, an adorable-looking employee immediately came over to ask him.
"I have come to watch a Gym battle."
Ethan smiled and explained his purpose.
"Very well, then this way, please, to buy your ticket."
The employee replied with a kind smile.
After paying, Ethan went up to the second floor.
The Gym battle area was still basically the same as the former king-of-the-hill area.
It was only that the stage, which before had been a normal field, had now been transformed into a water field.
When Ethan took his seat, a new round of Gym challenge had just begun.
On one side of the field, Rachel stepped onto the arena, immediately provoking an explosion of cheers among the spectators.
Rachel, as an extremely beautiful woman, already possessed enormous popularity and an uncountable number of fans.
In reality, both Gyms and Pokémon Leagues had existed overseas for many years already.
Now that the Daleron League had also established its own Gyms and its own Pokémon League, they had immediately awakened the excitement of countless Trainers, and many more had joined in the Gym challenges.
This caused Gym battles and the Pokémon League to become the most popular events in the entire Daleron League, with an immense number of passionate followers.
And now Rachel, as a powerful Gym Leader, had a level of popularity that far surpassed that of a great many celebrities.
In addition, because her most outstanding Pokémon were Water type, that also naturally enhanced her temperament a great deal.
After Rachel's entrance, the challenger of that occasion also stepped onto the arena.
Next, both Rachel and the challenger released their Pokémon at the same time.
Rachel sent out Cloyster, while the challenger brought out Raichu.
It was evident that the challenger intended to take advantage of the type advantage to prevail, a completely correct strategy.
"A water battle?"
"Just like my Gym would evaluate weather battle, here they evaluate water battle."
While Ethan was reflecting on this, the battle on the field had already begun.
According to the rules, the challenger attacked first.
Thus, Raichu, under the orders of its Trainer, launched the move Thunderbolt.
Seeing this, Cloyster directly closed its shells and resisted the attack head-on. Immediately afterward, it opened its shells and launched the move Ice Beam, which swept across the field.
Faced with this attack, Raichu jumped to dodge it and immediately fired the move Thunderbolt once again.
For quite a while, Cloyster and Raichu fought an intense battle, so evenly matched that it was difficult to distinguish a clear dominant side.
"After fighting, on top of that you still have to act a little to accompany the opponent... how difficult this is."
Seeing this scene, Ethan slightly shook his head.
If it really wanted to win, in reality Cloyster could already have done so long ago. But the purpose of Gym battles was to select and cultivate challengers, so during the battle one could not limit oneself simply to seeking victory at all costs.
What was truly evaluated in a Gym Leader was not their strength, but their ability to measure the exact right degree of pressure, select a challenger who truly deserved the qualification, and, with a bit of guidance, help the opponent finally obtain victory.
After a whole series of tests, it seemed that this Raichu had passed Rachel's examination as a Gym Leader.
Because of that, Raichu's Thunderbolt finally struck Cloyster fully head-on, causing it to lose the ability to battle.
Of course, with Ethan's level of observation, it was evident that this Cloyster was simply pretending.
(End of chapter)