After stocking up on supplies, Ash and Misty left Viridian City behind.
Before long they were properly in Viridian Forest.
Misty kicked a pinecone out of the way, orange ponytail flicking in irritation as she finally exploded.
"Hey, Ash!" She stopped dead and jabbed a thumb back toward the now-distant city.
"Viridian Gym is right there in town!"
"You didn't even look in that direction!"
"That's the closest Gym to Pallet Town!"
"Sure, Giovanni's hard to find, but his sub-Gym trainers are more than enough to assess a rookie!"
"Would it kill you to go grab a badge?"
She genuinely couldn't figure out what he was thinking.
Ash was pushing aside a curtain of hanging vines. At her outburst, he didn't even look back. His tone was lazy.
"What's the rush? Professor Oak said Viridian Gym's tests are very combat heavy. Not exactly friendly to newbies."
"Pika! Pika!"Pikachu nodded seriously.
"He suggested we go to Pewter City first, find Brock, crack some 'Rock-types,' get experience… and save the Viridian badge for later."
Since Professor Oak had said so, Ash felt he might as well follow that plan.
Viridian was only a day's walk from Pallet. At walking speed.
Who knew what kind of "understandings" Oak and Giovanni had between them?
Ash certainly wasn't going to assume Oak was just a simple, harmless old man.
Team Rocket's expansion—did the League really not know?
Or just… couldn't handle it?
"Professor this, Professor that!"Misty stamped her foot. "What is he, your babysitter? He even tells you which Gym to challenge first?!"
"Ah?!" Ash finally turned.
Professor Oak, at his level, being called a babysitter?
If you got that kind of treatment and complained, that was the real brain damage.
Even Shigeru didn't get this much personal coaching.
Ash grinned, teeth flashing white in the sunlight. "If you won't listen to your elders, you'll pay for it sooner or later."
Misty choked on her own retort, then snorted and looked away. "Sounds great in theory… Fine! Let's see what you're actually planning."
Still, the doubt and frustration in her chest wouldn't quite disperse.
This guy's Pikachu was absurdly strong. Yet he was still sneaking around, listening to the Professor and skipping Viridian entirely…
Something felt off.
Sadly, Cerulean Gym had already fallen on hard times. There were things she simply didn't know.
So they kept bickering their way down the path—and honestly, it was kind of fun.
The sound of running water guided their steps.
Soon, a clear, fast-moving stream appeared between the trees.
Mist rose from the surface, cool against their skin.
Pikachu hopped lightly onto a boulder and peered down at the current, whiskers twitching.
"Here we go!" Ash's eyes lit up, and he strode out onto a flat rock by the water.
He shrugged off his backpack and grabbed a Poké Ball.
"Come on out, partner!"
Red light flashed.
Splash!
The golden Magikarp dropped into a deeper eddy of the stream, sending up a small splash.
It seemed to like the flowing water, tail swaying as its golden scales caught the sunlight filtering through the leaves, scattering light like shards of gold across the surface.
As for Pidgeotto?
It was already circling high overhead.
"Magikarp," Ash crouched by the stream, gaze blazing as he watched the golden shape in the water, "time for today's training. Give it everything you've got. Splash—jump to your absolute limit!"
Right now Magikarp only knew Splash and Tackle.
In water, though, those two could be chained together.
In short: jump, then ram.
"Pika! Pikachu!"Pikachu cheered on from the bank, tiny sparks crackling from its cheeks.
"Karrrp…" For a moment, the dull eyes actually seemed to focus. It felt the unprecedented seriousness in its trainer's voice.
It whipped its tail hard, and this time, instead of flailing aimlessly, it lined itself up with a dark, protruding rock midstream.
Splaaash—!
Water exploded.
Its golden body surged forward with startling force, like an arrow loosed from a bow, slamming straight toward that unyielding stone.
DOOOM!!!
The impact echoed up and down the stream.
The rock didn't budge.
Magikarp, on the other hand, was bounced back hard, flipping through the air and crashing into the water, throwing up an even bigger spray.
"Yes! Exactly like that! Keep going!" Ash's voice didn't waver. If anything, he sounded more excited.
"Feel the impact! Feel the power in your body! Break it!"
"Kaarp!!!"Magikarp seemed to ignite under the order.
Its tail thrashed wildly, stirring up whirling currents.
Over and over, it launched itself at the rock with everything it had.
Each hit landed with a heavy thud. With the constant friction and shock, the golden scales seemed to shimmer faintly.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The repeated blows sounded like war drums. The stream was churned into a foaming mess.
Misty stood a little further back, arms folded, watching this borderline self-destructive training, brows drawn tight.
Could that stupid fish… really do it?
She watched Magikarp get knocked away again and again, its scales seeming to dull, and something twinged in her chest.
That had to hurt.
No one knew how many times it crashed into that rock.
Then—
Buzz…
Without warning, a layer of soft but unyielding white light burst from Magikarp's body.
The radiance wrapped completely around it, lifting it out of the muddy water.
The light grew stronger and stronger, like a small sun dropped into the stream, flooding the clearing and riverbank with brilliance like noon-day.
A massive surge of life energy rolled outward in waves, startling Pidgeotto into a high, piercing cry overhead. Pikachu's fur stood completely on end.
"It's happening!" Ash's heart hammered wildly. Joy blazed in his eyes.
This was what he'd been waiting for.
Without hesitation, his consciousness dove into the system interface.
[Confirm use of One-Time Color Coating on Pokémon: Gyarados]
[Color lock: Gold]
[Confirm?]
The instant he confirmed, the blazing white cocoon above the stream snapped inward, stretching and ballooning at once.
A massive, ferocious, power-drenched shape took form inside the light.
The white shell shattered like glass.
"ROOOOAR!!!"
A deafening dragon roar, heavy with brutal might and overwhelming authority, exploded over Viridian Forest.
The sound alone whipped up a gale, trees thrashing wildly as the stream heaved and rolled backward on itself.
As the last of the light vanished—
A giant loomed above the water.
Nearly seven meters of terrifying length, its body covered in heavy, overlapping scales like layered golden armor.
Each plate shone like pure molten sunlight, bright and blinding.
Its dragon head reared high, crimson eyes like molten lava, seething with destructive power.
A thick, muscular body. A golden dorsal fin.
It looked for all the world like a golden dragon king that had stepped straight out of myth.
Misty turned completely to stone.
Her mouth hung open. Her orange hair was whipped into chaos by the gale. Her eyes were so wide they looked like they might split.
G-g-g… golden… Gyarados?!
How… how was this possible?!
Magikarp could evolve into gold?!
Ash spread his arms wide, facing that raging aura head-on, voice thundering:
"Do you see it, Misty?!"
"Do you see it, world?!"
"This is my partner!"
"The golden—"
"Dragon King!!!"
His shout rolled out through the forest, echoed by the Gyarados's thunderous roar.
The sound shook Viridian Forest to its core.
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