The sea breeze carried the long, drawn-out whistle of an ocean liner, declaring that a new journey was about to begin.
Ash, Misty, and Brock left the Maiden's Peak port, which still retained a few lingering traces of the festival atmosphere.
Pikachu crouched on Ash's shoulder, full of energy.
The newly joined Misdreavus, meanwhile, floated curiously on the other side.
Mengmeng: Hehehe, I can fly~ (000)
She would sometimes vanish from sight, and other times mischievously reveal herself, constantly teasing the tip of Pikachu's swaying tail.
"Pika..." Pikachu flicked his tail helplessly. He seemed to have no way to deal with this prank-loving new companion, though he wasn't truly angry.
Pikachu: She's clearly older than me, so why does it feel like I'm raising a daughter? (||O_□)
Walking beside them, Brock looked at the map in his hand and looked up to ask, "Ash, which city do you plan to go to next? If you're continuing to challenge Gyms, the choice of direction is very important."
Hearing this, Ash answered almost without thinking, "To Celadon City."
"Celadon City?" Misty blinked. "I remember there's a huge Game Corner there, and the Kanto region's largest Department Store! But... why the Celadon Gym?"
To be honest, there was a question Misty had been holding in her heart for a long time.
Ash's travel route wasn't the fastest path forward.
It was a bit winding; for instance, he had completely skipped over Saffron City.
Ash stopped walking and turned around, a rare expression of conflict on his face.
He had actually used his brain regarding the travel route, okay?
He extended his hand and began to count on his fingers as if analyzing data:
"There's no helping it. The Gyms here in Kanto, based on strength and recognized challenge difficulty, can be roughly divided into two types."
He bent the fingers of his first hand: "Pewter Gym, Cerulean Gym, Vermilion Gym, and the Celadon Gym we are going to next—"
Ash paused.
"These four are usually considered to be friendlier, more suitable for rookie trainers to accumulate experience and earn Badges in the early stages."
Then he bent the fingers of his other hand, his expression becoming a bit more serious:
"As for the other four—Fuchsia Gym, Cinnabar Gym, and especially the final Saffron Gym and Viridian Gym..."
He took a deep breath:
"The difficulty of these four is higher one after another; they are on a completely different level."
"Especially Saffron Gym and Viridian Gym; the Gym Leaders are guys with immeasurable strength."
Ash summarized:
"For Trainers who truly have ambition and want to achieve good results in the Indigo League, they generally leave these two hardest bones to gnaw on for the very end."
"So, following this order, Celadon City is our most suitable target at this stage."
If one wanted to lower the challenge difficulty, they would do it in reverse.
Challenge Saffron Gym as the first Gym.
Basically, you would only encounter the Psychic apprentices in the Gym, the kind who struggle even to bend a spoon.
But if you choose Saffron Gym as your seventh or eighth Gym...
Congratulations, you will encounter the Humanoid Mythical Pokémon-level Psychic, Sabrina.
Hearing this, Misty pufffed up her cheeks.
"Are you trying to say that Cerulean Gym is easy to bully?!"
Although Misty knew that Cerulean Gym ranked last among the eight mainstream Gyms in Kanto...
Hearing it said so directly still felt very unpleasant.
"My friend... hearing you say that makes my heart ache." Ash put on a pained expression.
"Starting from Pallet Town, speaking in terms of order..."
"It should be Viridian City, Pewter City, Cerulean City, Lavender Town, Saffron City, Vermilion City, Celadon City, Fuchsia City, Cinnabar Island... and then back to Pallet Town."
"But in reality, only Celadon City, Vermilion City, and Saffron City are close to each other. We can swap the order freely without it affecting the journey too much."
Ash said this, but he actually had other considerations.
"Don't be so sensitive, Misty... objectively speaking..." Brock spoke up at this moment. "Giovanni, Sabrina, Koga, Blaine... they are indeed stronger than us."
"Blaine counts as an old veteran."
"Giovanni, Koga... they are okay to deal with, having serious and stern personalities."
"But Sabrina..." Brock felt a sense of foreboding just thinking about this peer.
The difficulty level on the Kanto League side was a bit ridiculous.
All four Elite Four members had Champion-level strength, but because their compatibility with each other was too poor, they were deadlocked.
And the Gym Leaders blocked by the Elite Four were the same.
Some people were Gym Leaders because their strength was only at the Gym Leader level.
Some people were Gym Leaders because they couldn't move up.
After all, there were only four spots in the Elite Four, and they were already occupied.
"And without Ghost-type or Psychic-type Pokémon, if we had gone directly to Lavender Town back then..." Ash rubbed his chin—worried.
"Either nothing would happen."
"Or we would encounter big trouble."
Ghost-types gathering in groups and such.
The locals were used to it, so it was somewhat okay.
But if outsiders went there... and accidentally violated a taboo, they would really have a hard time.
In the original series, Ash and Pikachu even had their souls pulled out.
And that was under the circumstances where those three comical ghosts didn't have any malicious intent.
If there had been malicious intent...
Mn.
There was one point that needed to be emphasized.
The vast majority of cities in the League, whether strong or weak, had Gyms.
But Lavender Town, like Maiden's Peak, had no Gym...
Lavender Town is a small town in the northeast of the Kanto region, famous for paranormal events and the Pokémon graveyard. The Pokémon Tower in the town is a place where deceased Pokémon are collectively laid to rest.
In short, it's quite inauspicious.
Aside from the locals living there, outsiders rarely went there.
Ash dared to go to Bill's Lighthouse because the Pokémon Professors in this world were all very strong.
Ash didn't go to Lavender Town because he was being careful and cautious.
That was roughly the situation.
Well... when he actually saw the Giant Dragonite, he still felt it was beyond the syllabus.
"Even if you say that, I'm still very dissatisfied." Misty pouted.
Her wounded maiden heart needed comforting.
"...Alright, alright, there's another reason." Ash chose to change his phrasing. "Meowth said when they left that they were going to Saffron City."
"I feel like Team Rocket might have some activity in Saffron City, so it's better if we don't get mixed up in it."
"It's just that after so many days, I haven't heard of anything happening in Saffron City... maybe it's just a simple gathering?"
Ash also couldn't figure out the situation with the current Team Rocket trio.
Unlike the original story.
These three comedians hadn't been following him constantly.
As elite members of Team Rocket, yet able to live as relaxed as comedians.
When the trio got serious, they actually had good vision and brains.
"...Anyway, it's impossible for something to happen exactly when we enter Saffron City, right?" Ash threw out a jinx.
"That's hard to say... thinking carefully about the things that have happened traveling with you, it's completely beyond my expectations..." Brock rubbed his chin and began to ponder.
"Now that you mention it, that's true. I never thought the journey would be this exciting..." Misty also started rubbing her chin in thought. "Could it be that Ash is a jinx?"
"Pika Pi!" Pikachu also started mimicking the three of them, rubbing his chin and beginning to ponder.
"Mai mai~" Misdreavus watched everyone striking this pose and attempted to strike this pose as well.
Then Misdreavus discovered a problem.
Misdreavus didn't have hands.
Comical.
"Mai!" Misdreavus stared at Ash with wide eyes—I'm not happy!
"Okay~ Okay~" Ash scooped Misdreavus into his arms and then began to rub Misdreavus's chin for her.
"Mai mai~" Misdreavus let out a comfortable sound.
As for Lavender Town and such, Misdreavus felt that since no one asked her, she wouldn't mention it.
That place really wasn't anything good.
Brock revealed a reliable smile on his face: "A very clear plan. Then, target Celadon City! Let's go."
_____
New Story: Bleach: Dominating Soul Society in One Sting
✅ Gain early access to 40 chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive content and special announcements.
We have set new community milestones:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for all readers
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 additional chapters for all series!
👻 P - Walnutchan