“Big Brother, you’re absolutely amazing!”

Ash’s eyes sparkled with admiration as he looked at Red approaching him. Red’s performance of defeating the examiner with just a single Wartortle was enough to make all the candidates and spectators present pay extreme attention to him.

Because they were brothers, everyone became curious about Ash beside him. Ash also inexplicably felt pressure—pressure from others’ comparisons—but he wasn’t nervous at all, because he was very confident in his own battle abilities.

“Ding—”

The second match began, and the candidate taking the stage was James.

“James, beat him flat!” Jessie shouted from the audience.

“I don’t care either way,” Meowth complained, still looking drowsy. He had thought Jessie would bring him to do something mischievous, but it turned out to be watching James battle the examiner.

“I’ll get revenge for Jessie! Go!” With that, James threw his Poké Ball. As the white light faded, a Pikachu appeared on the field.

Pikachu’s appearance surprised all three Team Rocket members, since this was their old opponent, albeit in a one-sided crushing way.

“Now I’m sure to win! Electric attacks, lightning, Thunderbolt—I’m always getting defeated by these moves. I’m too familiar with Pikachu’s special techniques.”

James excitedly clenched his fists and let out a maniacal laugh, already feeling that he would be the winner of this match.

“He looks pretty pathetic,” Jessie complained.

“Yeah,” Meowth said with exasperation.

The examiner also sent out his Pokémon—a Graveler.

“Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!” James, with zero theoretical knowledge, commanded while happily touching his own cheek.

“Oh, so refreshing!”

Pikachu immediately released its electric current, but Graveler wasn’t hurt at all. Instead, it used Take Down to knock the fragile Pikachu to the ground.

“Why! Why! What did I do wrong!” James asked in confusion.

“Using Electric-type moves against Ground-type Pokémon is ineffective. This is basic knowledge,” the examiner criticized, not forgetting to deduct a point from James as a warning.

The failed James simply threw out his remaining two Poké Balls, smugly looking at the examiner, wanting to see how Graveler would defeat his Charizard and Ivysaur.

Unfortunately, James, who had been smug for only a short while, was directly declared disqualified by the examiner for violating the rules.

Finally, it was Ash’s duel with the examiner. Both sides sent out their unknown Pokémon.

The examiner’s Pokémon was Flareon, while Ash surprisingly sent out Weezing.

As soon as the battle began, the examiner commanded Flareon to use Flamethrower, and Weezing immediately dodged the attack.

“Weezing, use Poison Gas!”

Weezing released its internal poison gas. When the flames came into contact with the poison gas, an explosion immediately occurred. The aftershock of the explosion even injured Flareon, nearly knocking it down.

The examiner commanded Flareon to use Leer, wanting to briefly control Weezing’s movements, but Ash’s Weezing successfully avoided it by using Smokescreen.

“You’re pretty good,” the examiner praised.

‘Worthy of being Prof. Red’s brother!’ he thought.

“Now’s the chance, use Tackle!”

Weezing in the smoke took advantage of Flareon’s inattention and landed a critical hit with Tackle, directly knocking Flareon to the ground.

Next, the examiner sent out his second Pokémon—Jolteon.

“Weezing, use Poison Gas again!”

It was the familiar tactic again. This time the examiner commanded Jolteon to quickly retreat and use Pin Missile to track Weezing’s whereabouts.

“Weezing, use Sludge Attack!”

Weezing spat sludge from its mouth, which happened to hit Jolteon’s eyes. Losing its vision, Jolteon immediately panicked.

Finally, Jolteon was also knocked down by Weezing’s Tackle, but Weezing also took considerable damage from the spikes on Jolteon’s body.

“This guy Ash is pretty good at battling!” Misty praised.

“If Team Rocket fought like this, we’d be in trouble!” Brock complained.

“We’re already taking notes!” Jessie and James said in unison, frantically scribbling in the audience, while Meowth in the middle yawned helplessly.

“This guy Ash has really grown a lot,” Red looked at Ash’s exceptional performance on the field with relief.

In the third round, the examiner sent out Vaporeon, while Ash sent out Arbok.

“They really are all Team Rocket’s Pokémon,” Misty complained.

“Vaporeon, use Ice Beam!”

“Arbok, quickly use Glare!”

Frightened by Arbok’s gaze, Vaporeon was unable to use Ice Beam, and its entire body fell into a paralyzed state.

“Now rush up and use Wrap!” Ash said excitedly.

Arbok rushed in front of Vaporeon and continuously constricted Vaporeon’s body with its own.

“Vaporeon, break free quickly!” the examiner said anxiously.

But the Vaporeon, afraid of Arbok, was unable to struggle and finally lost to Arbok’s close-range Poison Sting attack.

“Vaporeon is unable to battle. So the winner of this match is contestant Ash!”

“Congratulations Ash, you’ve successfully obtained this qualification badge!”

After the post-match handshake with Ash, the examiner handed the qualification badge to Ash.

“Qualification badge, I got it!” Ash made a victory peace sign, celebrating obtaining the qualification badge.

After the match, just as Team Rocket was about to come out and cause trouble, Red, who had anticipated this, used his psychic powers to blast them away, preventing the certification exam from having to be held again.

Afterward, although Ash obtained the qualification badge, he still hoped to go to Cinnabar Gym for a gym challenge.

According to Misty, Ash was a practical-type trainer, and if he didn’t travel around challenging gyms, he would lose a lot of fun.

Ash still remembered something Red had said: participating in league competitions without earning league badges by defeating gym leaders had no meaning at all.

Therefore, after obtaining the qualification badge, Ash continued on his journey to challenge gyms.

Seafoam Islands—these two islands had completely identical shapes, like a pair of twins, which is why they were called Seafoam Islands.

Seafoam Islands was said to be where the legendary Pokémon Articuno lived, in the deepest part of the caves.

But now people gradually referred to Seafoam Islands as the independent Cinnabar Island, because the left half, Cinnabar Island, not only had Cinnabar Gym where a former Fire-type Elite Four member presided, but in recent years had even discovered hot springs, attracting many trainers traveling from various places and becoming a vacation destination.

After obtaining the qualification badge, Red bid farewell to Ash’s trio and once again embarked on his solo journey.

Red was now aboard a ferry heading to Cinnabar Island, enjoying the sea breeze and admiring the beautiful ocean scenery.

“Beep beep beep…”

Red’s Pokédex in his pocket made a sound. Red opened his Pokédex and saw that the map showed he could head directly to Seafoam Islands from his current position.

Under the incredulous gazes of other passengers, Red jumped from the deck and threw his Poké Ball.

“Gyarados, to Seafoam Islands!”

The massive form of the Blood-Red Gyarados appeared in front of the ferry. Under everyone’s terrified gazes, Red rode the Blood-Red Gyarados toward Seafoam Islands, with the oncoming waves easily scattered by Gyarados’s powerful tail.

(TL NOTE: Unfortunately, my LOTR: Playing Minecraft in Middle-earth book was mistakenly flagged as spam on Webnovel and removed. I’ll re-upload it under a different title by tomorrow at the latest. Thank you for your patience!)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep