On the field, Whitney had already recalled Miltank. Miltank was not a Legendary Pokémon, and if she were left outside after taking that kind of attack, her injuries would only continue to worsen. Her life might even be in danger.
Ash and Infernape excitedly high-fived each other. Although Infernape's condition wasn't great either, it was far from losing his ability to battle and he could even continue fighting. The stamina consumption was one thing, but as for injuries, there was only the damage from that Rollout hit, so the impact wasn't very large. Ash wasn't in a hurry to recall him back into a Poké Ball, instead letting him enjoy the feeling of victory outside for a while.
Whitney recalled Miltank, lowered her head in silence for a moment, and then looked up, showing Ash a relieved smile.
"That was truly an exquisite battle, Ash. That Solar flame, what is it called?"
Ash paused, thought for a moment, and then smiled. "Let's call it Solar Flame."
This name matched the color of Infernape's flames very well, and it also sounded pretty cool. The first element of naming was naturally coolness, and the second element was thinking about whether it matched the move's symbolism.
"Solar Flame. I've never seen a golden flame before."
"It belongs exclusively to my Infernape, and this power only just awakened today."
Hearing this, the corner of Whitney's mouth twitched. "Then I don't know whether I should consider myself lucky or unlucky that it awakened a new power right when battling me."
Whitney walked over to Ash's side and extended her hand toward him. Ash similarly reached out and shook her hand, proof of friendship after a battle.
Whitney calmly said, "I lost this match. Your Infernape is indeed stronger than my Miltank. But next time we meet, I won't lose so easily."
"Then I'll be waiting." Ash smiled.
Whitney took a golden rhombic Badge out of her pocket and handed it to Ash. "This is the Plain Badge of the Goldenrod Gym. Take good care of it."
"I got the Plain Badge!"
"Pika Pikachu!"
"Hoo-jah! Hoo-jah!"
Ash and Pikachu struck their signature poses and shouted in unison. Beside them, Infernape also swung his arms with an excited grin on his face.
"Where are you planning to go next?" After handing over the Badge, there was nothing left for Whitney to do, so she curiously asked about Ash's next destination.
"The next place should be Ecruteak City." Ecruteak City was the closest major city to Goldenrod City, but compared to the urban hustle and bustle of Goldenrod City, Ecruteak City was completely the opposite. It was said that there were very ancient artifacts over there.
If Goldenrod City represented the prosperity of a modern metropolis, then Ecruteak City was the representative of an ancient city. Inside Ecruteak City, there were all sorts of historical relics, and there were also traces of the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh appearing.
"Ecruteak City. The Gym Leader of that place, Morty, is no ordinary person either. He specializes in Ghost-type Pokémon, and it's said his strength is already comparable to an average Elite Four-level Trainer." Whitney pondered for a bit and then offered Ash a piece of intelligence.
The Gym Leader of Ecruteak City actually reached Elite Four level. Battling an Elite Four was no longer anything rare for Ash, but a Gym Leader being at the Elite Four level was quite rare among Gyms across the world.
"Not only that, the external Gym stationed in Ecruteak City is also said to be quite powerful. That person is hailed as the strongest Gym Leader in the Sinnoh region, using Electric-type Pokémon. His name seems to be, Volkner."
"Volkner." Ash murmured the name while recalling information about him.
Professor Oak had shown him the data of the external Gym Leaders, and he had remembered most of the information, except that he hadn't recorded which specific cities each external Gym Leader was stationed in.
Sinnoh's strongest Gym Leader, Volkner, possessed extremely powerful Electric-type Pokémon, and it was said that in Sinnoh's Sunyshore City, he bore the title of being undefeated against all challengers.
Precisely because of this, Volkner had gradually lost interest in Pokémon battles, instead shifting his hobbies and interests to the mechanical traps and gadgets in his Gym. Coming to the Johto region this time was also because of the Silver Conference, probably wondering if there would appear a challenger capable of defeating him.
In addition, Volkner had another nickname: Yellow Flash. This title referred to how his Pokémon were as swift as a flash of light.
Thinking that two such powerful Trainers would appear in Ecruteak City, Ash's entire body boiled with excitement.
"Alright, let's head toward Ecruteak City next, Pikachu!"
"Pika Pika!"
After bidding farewell to Whitney, Ash and the others first came to the Pokémon Center to treat all their Pokémon, and then after swapping two Pokémon, they set off directly for Ecruteak City.
Misty and the others hadn't used much stamina today to begin with, and as for Ash, under normal circumstances, calling him a perpetual motion machine wouldn't be an exaggeration. So even though it was already noon, they chose to set off toward Ecruteak City.
According to normal walking pace, it would take them about a week to reach Ecruteak City. If they ran into anything on the way, they might even have to extend it by a few days.
A week later, Ash and the others had not reached Ecruteak City, but had only walked halfway. The reason lay in Team Rocket obstructing them along the way, and Ash stopping again to catch a few new Pokémon.
One Pokémon was the final Water-type among the Johto starters: Totodile. This Totodile was very special. It would bite anything it saw. The Team Rocket Trio once targeted this Totodile, but as a result, Totodile bit off a chunk of Jessie's hair in one bite, directly causing Jessie's anger to erupt massively.
That terrifying momentum caused even the normally brave Ash to involuntarily retreat three steps. When a woman's hair was damaged, she could truly erupt with power comparable to a Legendary Pokémon. Even gods had to yield at this moment.
In the end, Ash caught Totodile, and then used Aura to stimulate the growth of Jessie's hair, making it grow back. After her beloved hair returned, Jessie still didn't forget her original intention and wanted to capture Pikachu. As for Totodile, she didn't even want to look at it for a second.
The final result was also self-evident. That trio was blasted flying into the sky once again.
Afterward, Ash also caught a Shiny Noctowl in a forest.
This Noctowl's color was red, and its intelligence was countless times sharper than an ordinary Noctowl's. Through Aura Sight, Ash discovered that this Shiny Noctowl actually possessed the Psychic-type, with the original Normal-type having been replaced.
In other words, this Noctowl was Flying and Psychic-type. Not only had its color mutated, even its typing had mutated. The rarity of such a Pokémon was practically no less than that of an ordinary Legendary.
Besides Ash catching new Pokémon, Serena's team finally expanded as well. Along the way, she caught a Sneasel and a Mareep. After Ash checked these two Pokémon, their talents were not weak either. Moreover, their evolved forms also had decent combat power, and coupled with the difference in types, it expanded the possibilities of battles for Serena's team.
Furthermore, if Serena participated in Pokémon Contests in the future, the effects presented by combination moves used by Pokémon of different types would also be even better.
As for Misty, she caught a Poliwag, adding another member to her Water-type roster.
Because of the above matters, Ash and his party had only walked half the distance by now. In addition, Pikachu and other Pokémon still needed training, especially Froakie, who had already been in Ash's team for nearly half a month.
During this period, Ash never transferred it back to Professor Oak's lab, but always kept it by his side for training. From the initial slight unfamiliarity to gradually building some real understanding now, its level also climbed from Low to High, and it even completed evolution.
Now it shouldn't be called Froakie anymore, but Frogadier.
Frogadier's evolution time was a bit late. It didn't evolve upon reaching Mid level, but only evolved into Frogadier after reaching Mid High, and relying on the power of evolution, pushed its level up by another tier.
Judging by Frogadier's evolution speed, wanting to evolve into its final form, Greninja, would probably require reaching Elite Four High and beyond.
Ordinary Pokémon would complete their first-stage evolution at early Low- High level, and would complete their second-stage evolution at initial Mid level. Only pseudo-Legendary Pokémon would complete their final evolution after Mid High, after all, the difficulty of evolution for pseudo-Legendaries was much greater than that of ordinary Pokémon.
And for an ordinary Pokémon to evolve this late, either there was something wrong with their body, or they had compressed and accumulated all their power. Frogadier was obviously the latter. When Frogadier evolved into Greninja, a qualitative change would occur. By then, Ash would also be able to find out what the Ability called Bond Transformation actually was.
Time flew by in a flash, and another week passed. After a full half a month in total, Ash and the others finally reached the destination of this trip. Ecruteak City.
"So this is Ecruteak City." Serena stood in the center of the street, looking around, her beautiful eyes filled with curiosity.
Completely different from the modern aura of Goldenrod City's forest of steel, every stone slab and every tile eave of Ecruteak City exuded an ancient and mysterious charm. Traditional wooden buildings were arranged in an orderly manner on both sides of the bluestone road, and a vermilion torii gate stood at the end of the street, as if connecting the boundary between the present world and legend.
Pedestrians on the street walked unhurriedly. Occasionally, young women wearing kimonos could be seen passing by, their wooden geta stepping on the stone slabs and making crisp clicking sounds.
"It is said that Ecruteak City has a history of over a thousand years." Brock flipped open the travel guide in his hand. "The Bell Tower and Burned Tower here are the most famous historical sites in the entire Johto region. Legend has it that Ho-Oh once perched atop the Bell Tower."
"Ho-Oh." Ash looked at the Bell Tower and Burned Tower standing on both sides, a somewhat inexplicable expression flashing in his eyes.
Come to think of it, he had been in contact with both of Ecruteak City's two major legends, Ho-Oh and Lugia. Moreover, in this place, he could also feel the lingering aura of Ho-Oh and Lugia. It seemed that besides Gym challenges here, he could also find some other things.
Misty hugged Togepi and pointed at a uniquely shaped building in the distance. "That must be the external Gym. Volkner from the Sinnoh region, right?"
Everyone looked in the direction of her finger. The exterior of that building was completely different from other ancient-style buildings, filled with a sense of modern technology. Its silvery-gray metal exterior walls reflected a chilling light under the sunlight.
If this Gym appeared in Goldenrod City, it wouldn't seem out of place, but appearing here, it looked somewhat strange. After all, the entire Ecruteak City was steeped in an ancient atmosphere.
"Where should we go first?" Brock asked Ash.
Now they had two choices. One was to go to the Gym where Volkner was stationed first, and the other was to go to Ecruteak Gym, which had always existed in Ecruteak City.
"Let's go to Ecruteak Gym first." Ash looked in the direction where Ecruteak Gym was located. "I feel like something over there seems to be calling out to me."
"Calling out to you?" Several people scratched their heads, feeling a bit confused. However, Ash himself possessed special powers, so it was completely normal for him to sense things that they couldn't. Since Ash said to go to Ecruteak Gym first, then they would go to Ecruteak Gym first.
In a short while, the group arrived in front of Ecruteak Gym's door. The Gym's architectural style blended with the entire city. Vermilion wooden pillars supported dark gray tiled roofs, and the lintel was carved with some ancient patterns, looking like the totem of some Legendary Pokémon.
Two paper lanterns in front of the door swayed gently in the breeze, casting mottled light and shadow.
"I always feel like this is a bit creepy." Misty hugged Togepi and subconsciously leaned closer to Ash's side.
Ash calmly said, "It's a Ghost-type Gym, after all. This kind of atmosphere is very normal."
Afterward, he pushed open the Gym's doors.
Compared to the ancient appearance outside, the interior of the Gym was somewhat more modern. Rather than calling it a Gym, it looked more like a martial arts dojo. Inside, several children were sitting on the ground, listening to instructions from a young man in his twenties wearing a purple bandana.
Hearing the sound of the doors being pushed open, the young man turned his head to look. "Are you a challenger? You're here early today."
Turning back around, Morty saw Ash and his group, and then he locked his gaze onto Ash.
"Hello, I am Ash from Pallet Town. I've come this time to challenge Ecruteak Gym. Are you the Gym Leader?"
Facing the polite Ash, Morty also nodded. "I am Ecruteak Gym's Gym Leader, Morty. So you're Ash. Lately, I've heard your name so much my ears are practically growing calluses, and now I finally get to see you in person."
"Huh? Haha, am I already that famous?" Ash scratched the back of his head, a bright smile blooming on his face.
"Fifty-fifty." Morty said noncommittally.
"What do you mean by fifty-fifty?"
"You'll know once you battle me. Let me see what is so special about the person chosen by Ho-Oh."
Morty's single sentence directly made Ash and the companions behind him change their expressions.
Why would Morty know that Ash was the person chosen by Ho-Oh?