After taking a taxi to the City Arena, Ash and Clarissa arrived at the registration hall.
Gary, who had spent the entire afternoon helping at the flower shop, was already waiting there.
When he saw Ash and Clarissa arriving together, he walked over immediately and greeted them with a somewhat exaggerated sigh.
"Ash, you jerk! You ran off to the Pokémon Center for training this afternoon and left me alone at the flower shop. I was worked to death!"
Ash laughed.
"Haha, capable people naturally take on more work. Besides, I wasn't exactly relaxing either. The emergency room at the Pokémon Center is extremely busy."
"Alright, let's go register."
"Same plan as usual. Gary, you'll warm up with your own 1v2 match, and Clarissa will team up with me for the first 2v1 double battle. Starting from the second match, we'll reorganize and continue as a double-battle team."
"OK~" Gary nodded.
Among the three of them, Ash was clearly the strongest pillar of the group.
In the beginning, Gary still had the mindset of competing with Ash.
But now his attitude had completely changed—he had happily embraced the role of holding onto Ash's coattails.
Surprisingly, after adopting this new mindset, Gary felt much more relaxed.
And the growth rate of his Pokémon had also increased.
This made him even more convinced that sticking close to Ash was the right decision.
The three of them chatted and laughed as they finished registering at the front desk.
Gary signed up alone for the 1v2 double-battle format, while Ash and Clarissa registered together for the 2v1 double-battle format.
As their strength steadily improved, Ash also made a small adjustment.
Previously, they had been competing in the No. 9 and No. 10 sub-arenas.
But staying there too long without any change might make people suspect that Ash was deliberately controlling his score or fixing matches.
So after a week, they moved up slightly and began competing in the No. 8 Sub-Arena.
The improvement wasn't huge—but at least it showed progress.
And that was what mattered.
…
After waiting for a while in the No. 8 Sub-Arena contestant lounge, a staff member finally called their names.
Knock, knock.
"Next match!"
"Ash, Clarissa, and contestants ×× and ××. Please prepare to enter the arena."
The female staff member wearing a work badge knocked on the door and called out.
"Clarissa, it's our turn. Let's go."
Ash stood up from his seat and recalled the Pikachu resting on his shoulder back into its Poké Ball.
"Okay!"
Gary, who was sitting nearby stroking his Eevee, waved his fist enthusiastically.
"Ash! Clarissa! Do your best!"
"Relax. I'm not going to lose."
Ash waved casually with confident ease.
This wasn't arrogance.
Over the past few weeks of relentless training, the strength of his Pokémon had been steadily increasing.
Currently:
Pikachu had already broken through LV.40, reaching the Elite Tier.
And the other members of his main lineup had also reached impressive levels.
Frogadier – LV.37
Pidgeotto – LV.36
Fearow – LV.35
Originally, Pidgeotto had maintained a slight lead over Frogadier.
But as time passed and both Pokémon trained with the same level of effort, Frogadier's strength gradually surpassed Pidgeotto's.
This perfectly demonstrated the difference in Pokémon Potential Classification.
Frogadier possessed Purple Potential, while Pidgeotto only had Blue Potential.
At the early stages, the difference between potentials wasn't obvious.
But the further training progressed, the more high-potential Pokémon began to show their advantage.
The fact that Frogadier eventually overtook Pidgeotto was proof of this.
Although Ash possessed Source Cleansing, which could improve the potential of his Pokémon, those with higher initial potential would still eventually hold an advantage in overall strength.
As for the idea that effort alone could allow a weaker Pokémon to overtake stronger ones—
That was unrealistic.
Every Pokémon on Ash's team trained extremely hard.
Influenced by Ash himself—and by the healthy competitive atmosphere within the team—each Pokémon pushed itself relentlessly during training.
So in the end, the deciding factor of strength was still initial potential.
Aside from the overall growth of his team, another interesting change had occurred recently.
After seeing Spearow evolve into Fearow, both Frogadier and Pidgeotto had begun showing signs of approaching evolution.
Their evolutions were likely not far away now.
-----
Meanwhile, the stadium announcer's excited voice echoed throughout the arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
"After a long wait, the highlight match of the No. 8 Sub-Arena is finally about to begin!"
"Some of our long-time spectators may have already guessed who is coming next."
"That's right!"
"Please welcome the pride of Kanto—Ash!"
"And accompanying him today is his sweet and adorable partner—Miss Clarissa Joy!"
"Let's give them a huge round of applause!"
"And today's opponents are also extremely popular in the No. 8 Sub-Arena."
"The famous twin duo—The Thunderstorm Brothers!"
"Let's welcome all four contestants onto the battlefield and prepare for an intense and thrilling match!"
The moment the announcer finished speaking, the audience erupted into deafening cheers.
"Ash!!"
"Ash!!"
"Ash!!!"
Ash remained calm and composed as he walked out from the entrance tunnel onto the battlefield.
Beside him, however, Clarissa's cheeks were bright red.
She occasionally glanced up at Ash shyly.
The reason was obvious.
The announcer had just introduced her as Ash's sweet and adorable girlfriend.
Combined with the fact that Ash had given her yellow roses earlier that afternoon, her imagination was running completely wild.
Ash, however, didn't notice—or perhaps he simply didn't care.
His attention was entirely focused on their opponents.
Having fought in the No. 8 Sub-Arena for several days, Ash had already researched the stronger trainers who competed here.
Most trainers who had been active for years were limited by their own abilities and the potential of their Pokémon.
Once they reached a certain level, their growth slowed dramatically.
Very few people improved at the astonishing speed that Ash did.
The professional trainer world had clear tiers of strength.
And the different numbered arenas of the City Arena reflected these tiers quite clearly.
The majority of competitors in the No. 8 Sub-Arena were mid-to-late stage Intermediate Trainers.
Among them, the most famous duo was undoubtedly the Thunderstorm Brothers.
They weren't just strong individually.
More importantly—
They were twin brothers who always fought as a team.
Both specialized in Electric-type Pokémon, and because of their twin connection, their coordination was almost flawless.
In fact, when it came to double battles in the No. 8 Sub-Arena, the Thunderstorm Brothers had practically dominated the field.
Many trainers who registered for double battles secretly prayed that they wouldn't be matched against them.
Yet today—
Ash had drawn them as opponents.
"Heh…"
Ash chuckled quietly to himself.
"Should I call this bad luck…"
"…or the perfect opening match?"
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