"So this is the work of a Gym Leader?"
"Honestly, wanting to become a strong Trainer is simple; wanting to become an excellent Gym Leader is what's truly difficult."
After watching several more Gym battles, that thought appeared in Ethan's mind.
It was like being a teacher: possessing vast knowledge was not enough; one also had to have a great ability to teach.
Very soon, another Gym battle began on the field.
This time, against the Goldeen sent out by Rachel, the opponent sent Jolteon into battle. However, it was evident that this Jolteon was not good at fighting on water.
At that moment, standing on the floating platform of the water field, it looked with some fear at the pool water surrounding it.
"It hasn't even adapted to water battles yet, and it already came to challenge the Gym?"
Seeing that, Ethan shook his head slightly.
In reality, the challenger on the field was not weak; on the contrary, he had already obtained one Gym Badge.
But it was evident that he had not carried out any specialized training for water battles.
After realizing that, Rachel also did not allow her Goldeen to hold back, and ended the battle cleanly and quickly.
After the battle ended, the challenger was still somewhat dazed; he had not imagined that his Jolteon would lose in such a disastrous way.
Seeing the challenger's confused expression, Ethan once again shook his head slightly.
If that challenger could not understand the true rules of Gym challenges and, based on that, change his way of acting, it would be practically impossible for him to pass the evaluation.
If Gym battles really only evaluated strength, then among the challengers there probably would not be many who dared to say that they had the ability to pass.
Once the battle ended, Ethan stood up and prepared to go directly to find Rachel.
Although he had already clarified the rules of Gym battles, how to properly control that degree was still a difficult problem.
After becoming a Gym Leader, the League would also impose an annual evaluation.
And the content of that evaluation was, to a large extent, related to the handing out of Badges: handing out too many or too few was a sign of poor performance.
In addition, the ranking obtained by the participants in the Daleron Pokémon League was also an extremely important criterion for evaluating a Gym.
"Ethan, how come you have time to come see me?"
Seeing Ethan, Rachel seemed somewhat surprised.
During this time, she had been constantly following the news about him.
While marveling at the speed at which Ethan had grown, she also felt that the distance between them seemed to be becoming greater and greater.
"I came to see you, and you don't welcome me?"
Ethan smiled slightly; in an unusual manner, he even joked with Rachel.
Before, the way the two of them got along had always carried an air of senior and junior, of veteran and rookie.
Now, with the change in Ethan's status, everything had become much more natural.
"Of course you're welcome, our world champion."
Rachel teased him slightly, and then began chatting with Ethan.
"You want to become a Gym Leader?"
Hearing the reason for his visit, Rachel asked in surprise.
"Yes. Lately, I plan to stay in Stonefield Town to carry out research. And during that process, I also intend to properly develop Stonefield Town."
Ethan smiled and explained to her his ideas regarding the construction of the Pokémon Gym and Solaria Town.
Rachel nodded repeatedly as she listened; without a doubt, it was a very good development plan.
She also looked very favorably upon Stonefield Town's development potential.
When one reached the level of strength they had, the amount of resources consumed each time one raised a Pokémon was enormous.
Starting now to plan the path of future development was indeed something very important.
In addition, if Ethan managed to become a Gym Leader, he would also become part of the Daleron League system, and the benefits he could obtain would be many.
"Don't worry, before your evaluation to obtain Gym qualification begins, stay here."
"Speaking seriously, the reason my club was able to obtain Gym qualification had a lot to do with that club tournament."
"Now it's my turn to return the favor!"
Rachel's tone was very solemn, and then she began to briefly explain to him some precautions and important points for becoming a Gym Leader.
"Leader Blake, another challenger has arrived outside."
While the two were talking, an employee came in to report.
"Another challenger?"
"Right now I have a guest here. Have another club champion go out to battle."
Rachel spoke to the employee.
Since the club had been the predecessor of the Gym, in addition to the Gym Leader herself, the club champions could also battle in place of the Leader and, likewise, had the right to hand out Badges.
Of course, those champions had also passed the League's evaluation and possessed the necessary qualifications to become Gym Leaders.
On that point, Ethan had understood it long ago.
And that was also one of the reasons why he had chosen to try to obtain the position of Gym Leader.
When the time came, he would only have to obtain a Gym slot; afterward, he could let other champions with Gym Leader qualification help him receive challengers.
Otherwise, if at the same time he had to train his Pokémon and carry out his research on life energy, he would not have time to stay in the Gym all the time receiving challengers.
And just like that, three days passed.
On the former training field of the Pokémon Nightstar Club, Ethan and Rachel were engaged in a battle.
On Ethan's side, the Pokémon sent out was Vibrava; on Rachel's side, Swampert. The field was a water field.
Although Swampert had an absolute advantage both in attributes and in terrain, Vibrava was not suffering in the slightest.
Boom, boom, boom!
On the field, the two Pokémon collided violently.
Without the desert terrain as a condition to deploy its sand dragon, Vibrava could only battle by relying on its other abilities.
However, with a Dragon Pearl as support, Vibrava's Dragon-type talent had been fully developed.
At the same time, its other capabilities had also been strengthened. Under those circumstances, with all of its abilities added together, Vibrava's strength was already extremely powerful even within the professional level.
"What a strong Vibrava!"
"Even now, using all its strength and having an advantage in attributes and field, Swampert has not been able to completely suppress that Vibrava!"
Seeing that, an expression of astonishment appeared on Rachel's face.
Through her family's information, she also knew part of the data regarding Ethan's participation in the World Championship.
Among them, she knew that the main ability of that Vibrava was a technique to control sand and turn it into a sand dragon to attack.
Now, even without using that ability, Vibrava was still displaying such great strength that it truly surprised her.
(End of chapter)