After becoming an honorary Trainer of the Orange Archipelago, Ash completed the last thing he had to do on the Orange Archipelago.
Before leaving, he agreed with Yuji that they would battle again in the future if given the chance. Yuji even decided to step down from his position as the chief Trainer of the Orange Archipelago and go out for some training.
Since becoming the chief Trainer of the Orange Archipelago, its reputation and overall strength have indeed increased significantly, but it still doesn't compare to the Trainers outside.
The high-end battle power of the Orange Archipelago is simply not comparable to the legitimate Elite Level strength of the official League, such as the Elite Four.
The strongest they have here is the four Gym Leaders of the Southern Cross Star, together with him as the chief Trainer, and the gap between the chief Trainer and the Gym Leaders of the Southern Cross Star can be considered a chasm.
Nonetheless, he can't even defeat a Champion of the League Conference, and it's the kind of crushing defeat.
Low EQ: Skills don't match up, no better than a child.
High EQ: There's still significant room for improvement.
In summary, continuing to serve as the chief Trainer on the Orange Archipelago might still allow one to experience the feeling of being invincible across the world and standing tall, but that's not what Yuji wants.
What he wants is for his strength to improve genuinely, to become truly invincible, not this kind of false honor.
Therefore, Yuji decided to decisively step down from the title of chief Trainer, prepared to venture out, and when he returns, he will undoubtedly come back in a stronger form. By then, maybe Dragonite will have become a Champion.
At that time, he will also have more strength to lead the Trainers of the Orange Archipelago to become stronger, taking the entire Orange Archipelago to become a true Orange League!
…
After saying goodbye to Yuji, Ash, Misty, and Serena began their return journey aboard Lapras.
Actually, returning to Pallet Town from the sea doesn't take much time; if they take the cruise ship of the Orange Archipelago, or take a plane, the time it takes to go back would definitely be greatly reduced.
However, when they came, they rushed due to time constraints and missed much of the scenic views along the way. Now, with nothing urgent, they leisurely head back, perfect for travel on the return trip.
In these relaxing days, seven days passed by in a blink.
The trio headed to the edge island of the Orange Archipelago, a small effort passed this island would bring them back to the Kanto Region, and it won't take much time to return to Pallet Town.
This week, the trio happily enjoyed sightseeing, considered to have made up for what they missed before.
The Orange Archipelago is a vacation paradise; even if you play here for a month, you might not run out of things to do.
While sightseeing, Ash also fulfilled his duties as a 'mentor' very well, which is to guide Serena toward becoming a mature Trainer.
Compared to when Ash first set out, Serena's knowledge is much more advanced. At least she knows about attribute advantages and the names of some famous Pokemon.
Currently, Serena only has one recently-evolved Braixen, which is quite simple for a beginner Trainer to handle a single Pokemon.
After primarily training Braixen, she is about to start contemplating what her second Pokemon should be.
Serena doesn't have a belief similar to Misty's, only capturing Water Type Pokemon.
As for what Pokemon she wants to capture… For now, she wants those that are cute, with battle strength as secondary, which aligns with the thoughts of many girls who have just become Trainers.
Although many girls eventually change their minds, as cute Pokemon often lack battle strength and can be challenging to raise.
Take Pikachu, for instance, except for Ash, no one can manage to train it successfully; Ah Hong can only be regarded as half-trained successfully.
While not every cute Pokemon is like Pikachu, there are Pokemon like Mew, Azelf, Latias, and others… aren't they cute too? But the problem is, how many encounter such Pokemon, how many manage to capture them?
So it's better to honestly capture some Pokemon that may not be pretty but have quite good battle strength, like Gyarados and Fearow.
Such Pokemon are relatively easy to capture and not hard to raise; the difficulty of raising Gyarados is relatively high, but Magikarp is even more common than Pikachu. Upon evolution, it leaps over the dragon gate, becoming a popular battle Pokemon, inevitably requiring some cost.
If you want easy cultivation, early battle strength, and late growth—Three Starter, please.
For beginners, the Three Starter of each region is the best Starter Pokemon. If without the Three Starter, initially one might consider using Bug-type Pokemon as a transition; if you have the Three Starter, then focus on nurturing them.
Presently, with Serena's situation, as long as she trains Fennekin to the final stage, it will be much easier for battling or capturing some strong Pokemon.
Generally, as your Pokemon level improves, the strength of the Pokemon captured in the wild will also improve; for example, if your strongest Pokemon is only Advanced Level, then you simply can't handle Elite Level Pokemon even if you encounter them in the wild.