Giovanni spread his arms wide, offering a grand and formal welcome to Ash’s arrival.
What he did not expect, however, was that the boy standing at the entrance would simply watch him finish his entire performance in silence, then quietly turn his head and whisper to Misty beside him, “I feel like this old guy has a bit of chuunibyou.”
“Hey! Is now really the time to be saying that?” Misty shot back in a hushed but annoyed tone.
Although Ash’s voice was not loud, the gym was vast and eerily quiet, so his comment still carried clearly all the way up to Giovanni’s ears on the elevated platform.
The corner of Giovanni’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
Being called an old man by a brat was one thing, given that his age was indeed there for all to see, but being accused of having chuunibyou on top of that was something else entirely.
Giovanni shook his head helplessly.
If he had known, he would not have gone to such lengths to welcome this kid so ceremoniously.
Naturally, Ash had no idea what Giovanni was thinking.
At this moment, he was already impatient, raising his voice toward the platform and shouting, “None of that matters! Anyway, please accept my Gym Challenge!”
Seeing how eager and restless Ash looked, Giovanni decided to drop the mysterious act.
He picked up a small remote control from the table on the platform and pressed a button on it.
Click.
With a soft sound, rows upon rows of lights hanging from the ceiling of the Viridian Gym lit up all at once.
The bright illumination swept away every trace of darkness, revealing the entire structure of the gym in crystal clarity.
Only at this moment, standing on opposite ends of light and shadow, did Ash and Giovanni truly get a clear look at each other’s faces.
Before Giovanni could even speak, Ash had already rushed to one end of the battlefield and taken his position, looking completely ready to start the fight at any second.
Watching Ash’s impatient demeanor, Giovanni thought for a moment, then kindly reminded him, “The battle rules at the Viridian Gym are four-on-four Pokémon battles. A challenger must have at least four Pokémon in order to issue a challenge. Do you currently have four Pokémon with you?”
At this question, Ash, who had been brimming with confidence just moments ago, froze on the spot.
He instinctively glanced at Pikachu, and his earlier momentum visibly weakened.
Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, he replied, “I… I think… I only have one Pokémon right now.”
Hearing this, Misty, who was standing at the edge of the field, could not help but press a hand to her forehead.
After Ash’s series of antics earlier, she had already completely forgotten about Giovanni’s identity as the leader of Team Rocket.
Right now, her mind was filled with nothing but speechless exasperation toward Ash.
Letting out a long sigh, Misty complained, “Then why did you insist on coming to challenge the Viridian Gym right now? Don’t you know that this gym is among the strongest in the entire Kanto region?”
“But…” Ash looked unwillingly toward Giovanni on the platform.
After finally arriving at his very first gym, he simply could not accept giving up just like this.
He did not want to leave in defeat without even trying.
Giovanni took in Ash’s reluctant expression completely.
Toward this boy who would one day stand at the very top of the World Championships, Giovanni felt a deep sense of interest.
Although he had already witnessed Ash’s strength in the Unova region in the future, he still wanted to see what this future champion looked like at the very beginning of his journey.
After all, in his memory, it seemed that Ash had never come to challenge the Viridian Gym during his travels through Kanto.
Was it because Giovanni himself had been absent at the time, or was there some other reason?
He could not remember.
But now that Ash had come knocking on his door of his own accord, Giovanni did not mind personally testing the boy’s strength.
Thus, Giovanni folded his arms across his chest and looked down at Ash from above as he slowly spoke, “Since you are the first challenger to visit the gym today, I will make an exception for you.”
“We can have a one-on-one Pokémon battle. As long as you can defeat me, I will still award you the badge.”
“Really?!” Ash’s eyes lit up instantly, and he eagerly accepted without hesitation.
“I accept!”
“Hey! Ash!” Misty tried to persuade him further, but seeing that Ash was already completely deaf to reason, she could only sigh helplessly and step back, leaving the battlefield entirely to Ash and Giovanni while she became the sole spectator of this match.
During this time, a portion of Giovanni’s attention had actually remained on Misty.
He carefully observed her every move and found that aside from the obvious wariness she had shown when first entering the gym, her subsequent behavior did not appear particularly unusual.
Was he overthinking things?
The doubt in Giovanni’s mind was temporarily set aside.
Perhaps she had only found his earlier deliberately mysterious demeanor suspicious, nothing more.
At this moment, Ash had fully entered battle mode.
He waved a hand toward Pikachu on his shoulder and gave a spirited command, “Pikachu, I choose you! Go!”
Pikachu let out an energetic cry as well, jumping down from Ash’s shoulder and landing on one side of the battlefield.
It stood there full of vigor, looking up toward Giovanni on the platform as it waited for its opponent to appear.
After getting ready, Ash looked up at Giovanni, who still stood on the platform, and called out with some confusion, “Hey, mister, aren’t you coming down? How are we supposed to battle if you’re standing so high up?”
Giovanni chuckled softly, his voice carrying down from above.
“Talk about someone who really likes to stay high and mighty,” Ash muttered under his breath with a hint of dissatisfaction, crossing his arms.
“But he’s a good guy!”
After all, Giovanni had agreed to his challenge, so in Ash’s mind, that alone earned him the label of a good person.
Giovanni did not catch Ash’s muttering.
After briefly considering, he reached to his waist, took out a Poké Ball, and casually tossed it forward.
“Come out.”
A flash of white light appeared, and a massive Pokémon covered in hard blue scales materialized on the battlefield.
“ROOOAR!!!”
The moment it appeared, it let out a deafening roar, and the entire gym seemed to tremble slightly from the force of it.
“Is that… Nidoqueen…” Ash murmured as he looked at the imposing Pokémon before him.
Giovanni noticed that when facing the Nidoqueen he had sent out, Ash not only showed no sign of retreat, but instead seemed to grow even more excited and thrilled.
This struck Giovanni as somewhat unusual.
He could not help but ask, “Are you really planning to use your Pikachu to face my Nidoqueen?”
“Of course!” Ash answered loudly without a second thought, his voice brimming with absolute confidence.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Nidoqueen or anyone else! My Pikachu will definitely win!”
Ash had complete faith in Pikachu.
But what about Pikachu itself?
Standing in the center of the battlefield, Pikachu stared blankly at the enormous and intimidating opponent before it.
Its ears had already drooped completely.
It then pitifully turned its head back to look at Ash, trying to use that expression to awaken even a shred of his trainer’s conscience.
However, Ash seemed completely oblivious to Pikachu’s thoughts.
Instead, he gave it an encouraging and trusting smile, even pumping his fist with enthusiasm.
“Come on, Pikachu!”
“Pika…”
Looking at Ash like that, Pikachu finally gathered its courage.
It shook its head, casting aside its fear, and with its small body swaying slightly from side to side, it stepped forward one step at a time, timidly moving up until it stood right in front of Nidoqueen.
(End of Chapter)