Time passed.
In the Solaria Town Gym, at that moment, all the equipment had already been put into operation.
The battle field of this Gym had been built according to League standards and, since the Solaria Town Gym had sunny weather as its core evaluation theme, the stadium was also outdoors.
On an open battle field like this, sunny weather could display itself to perfection!
At that moment, on the Gym's battlefield, three young people dressed like students were observing the place up and down.
"Temporary Leader... According to the advertisement, as long as we can obtain the Gym Badge here, it will also count as valid, right?" said one of the boys, who was somewhat chubby. After speaking, he even raised his phone to look at the notification he had received.
"That's right. As long as we defeat this temporary Leader, we'll gather our second Badge."
"Speaking of that, the Leader of the Ironvale City Gym was too strong. I don't have any confidence in being able to beat her, so I could only come try my luck at this temporary Gym."
"This type of temporary Gym is still in its evaluation period. Compared with official Leaders, the difficulty of the exam should be lower."
The tall and thin boy nodded, speaking with some hope.
He was a Trainer specialized in Fire-type Pokémon; he really was not good at water battles.
"We'd better be careful. The Solaria Town Gym is different from those other Gyms specialized in a single attribute. This Gym was built with Sunny weather as its core."
"That Gym Leader masters the move Sunny Day; no matter how you look at it, he doesn't seem like someone weak," said the last one, a female student, with some concern, feeling that this Gym located in the countryside was not so simple.
Creak.
Just as the three were discussing, they saw the door of the battle field open.
Under the somewhat puzzled gazes of the three, Ethan entered the arena and arrived at the other side of the battlefield.
"Are you the challengers this time?"
"Welcome to the Solaria Town Gym. I am the temporary Leader, Ethan Black."
Looking at the three challengers, Ethan introduced himself.
"That's the Gym Leader?"
"He looks so young... he doesn't seem older than me at all!"
The three looked at Ethan in astonishment.
It could be said that Ethan was the youngest Gym Leader they had ever seen.
"A young Gym Leader!"
"It seems this battle is already won!"
The tall and thin boy, specialized in Fire-type Pokémon, clenched his fist.
Right after Ethan entered, Damian and the other members of the evaluation group also entered the venue.
Then they were seen heading directly toward the spectator area.
In their hands, they had already set up various recording devices; when the battle began, they would fully record the entire process of the battle.
And that would precisely be the basis for scoring the Gym Leader: everything in accordance with the principles of fairness and impartiality, with evidence to rely on.
"The Gym battle can begin now. Which of you three will go first?"
Seeing the "okay" gesture that examiner Damian made to him, Ethan addressed the three challengers in front of him.
"I'll do the first battle!"
The tall and thin student spoke, walking directly toward the battle field.
He was a Trainer specialized in Fire-type Pokémon; under sunny weather, his advantage was enormous.
"Then, I'll be the referee this time."
"Next will begin the Gym battle between the temporary Leader and the challenger Owen Price."
"The rules of the challenge will be a 1-on-1. Now, please have the Gym Leader send out his Pokémon first."
When he saw that both sides had already taken their positions, Alex stepped up to the referee's stand and spoke following the procedure proper to a Gym battle.
"Then, my first Pokémon will be this!"
Ethan smiled slightly, took out a Poké Ball, and released Litwick.
"It's Litwick, Fire and Ghost type!"
Seeing the Pokémon Ethan had sent out, both Owen and the other two challengers showed joy on their faces.
Litwick was nothing more than a Pokémon in its initial form; now they were fully confident in being able to face it.
"Then my Pokémon will be this. Go, Houndoom!"
Owen also released his Pokémon: Houndoom, a Fire- and Dark-type Pokémon.
"Fire... and Dark."
Seeing that, Ethan became thoughtful.
Knowing that his Gym had sunny weather as its core, sending out a Fire-type Pokémon was undoubtedly a good choice.
According to his Gym's evaluation criteria, choosing a Fire-type Pokémon to battle was already considered a fairly correct choice.
If that Houndoom managed to make good use of sunny weather to fight, then it would be considered to have passed the Gym evaluation.
The move Sunny Day?
Owen directly shook his head.
It was nothing more than a Litwick.
Facing his Houndoom, it probably would not even have the chance to use the move Sunny Day!
"Houndoom, use Dark Pulse!"
Owen gave the order directly, with an excited expression.
As long as he obtained the Solaria Town Gym Badge, he would be one step closer to participating in the Grand Pokémon Tournament.
"Are you thinking of taking advantage of a Dark-type attack to strike Litwick's Ghost attribute?"
"If that is your intention, then I am very sorry."
Ethan moved inwardly. If Owen intended to win by relying on Dark-type moves, then he would no longer be making use of sunny weather in his favor.
Therefore, his evaluation of Owen would become another one: whether or not he could suppress a Litwick reinforced by the move Sunny Day.
While Ethan continued thinking, Litwick had already flown out to dodge Houndoom's move Dark Pulse.
Then, in the air, Litwick used the move Sunny Day, transforming it into a ball of fire that rose into the sky and became a second sun.
Using the move Sunny Day at the beginning of the battle had almost become the fixed opening of Ethan's Gym battles.
After all, his Gym had sunny weather as its core; only by deploying that weather from the first moment could he continue with the rest of the evaluation.
That was also one of his Gym's weak points: if the opponent was of a similar level, they would undoubtedly take advantage of that moment to counter it with all their strength.
If someone really managed to stop him from deploying the move Sunny Day, then Ethan would also directly determine that they had obtained victory.
In reality, directly preventing the opponent from using the weather move was indeed the best way to counter a team based on weather.
It was just that making Ethan's Pokémon unable to even use the move Sunny Day was not something those few challengers in front of him could accomplish.
On the field, Litwick had already completed its use of the move Sunny Day.
A small sun floated in the air, radiating like a scorching sun and making the temperature of the field rise rapidly.
"Now, Houndoom, use Flamethrower!"
At that moment, Owen suddenly spoke.
His control of the timing was truly good; he had taken advantage of the instant in which Litwick used the move Sunny Day to launch his attack.
Immediately, a stream of fire shot directly out of Houndoom's mouth.
"Litwick, stop it!"
Seeing that, Ethan's gaze sharpened.
Litwick was originally going to dodge it, but upon hearing Ethan's words, it suddenly remembered the instructions he had given it before.
Then Litwick was seen receiving Houndoom's Fire-type move head-on; its body retreated slightly, showing the appearance of having barely blocked the move Flamethrower.
(End of chapter)