Authors Informal: Thanks a lot for the increased interest I am viewing comments of people who support the fic , some things I want to mention about the current arc , yes people can still watch the match like how ash's friends used to watch , this is just a selfish desire of Grey to make most of people of celadon see his progress along with his benifactors but will later realise this challenge thing while time consuming might be good for his growth , also his mental state might seem childish or weird but it will make sense in a few chapters or u can just enjoy the battles and ignore it, also for people thinking he was an adult etc I havent even mentioned he was one in his past life or still kept all his memories or anything thats a surprise for later anyway thanks again and enjoy the upcoming gym arc, Also for the record I will be experimenting with the publish timings so there might be no fixed timing but daily upload will continue.

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  (Grey's POV)

  The ride back to Celadon was a blur of wind and the steady roar of engines. By the time the biker gang dropped me off at the outskirts of the city, the neon signs and towering department stores of my hometown were already glowing against the night sky.

  I didn't head home. It was late, and I didn't want to wake my parents up by kicking the door down at midnight. Instead, I made a beeline for the Celadon Pokémon Center. The sliding doors hissed open, and the familiar chime of the center filled the air.

  Nurse Joy looked up from the terminal, her eyes widening in surprise. "Grey? You're back in the city already? I heard you'd headed south. Did you run into some trouble on the road?"

  I didn't say a word. I just reached into my pocket and pulled out my badge case, clicking it open to show the purple, heart-shaped Soul Badge.

  "I came back for the Rainbow Badge," I said. "I figured I'm already at this level, so I might as well clear Celadon before heading back down to Saffron or Vermilion."

  Joy leaned over the counter, inspecting the badge with a stunned expression. "Koga's badge? Already? Nice." She took my three Poké Balls, her eyebrows rising again when she saw I already had a full trio. "Three Pokémon, all healthy, and a Soul Badge. You haven't been wasting time, have you?"

  She assigned me a room for the night. The bed was softer than the one in Fuchsia, but I still slept with one eye open, the adrenaline from the journey still humping through my veins.

  The next morning, the first thing I did was call my parents. My mom's face lit up the screen, and my dad peered over her shoulder. When I told them I was back and informed them about the badge, my mom actually teared up a bit.

  "The Soul Badge? Oh, Grey, we're so proud!" she beamed. "Are you coming by home?"

  "In the evening," I promised. "I need to visit the Gym first.Besides you both will be working so evening might be best "

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  I walked into the Celadon Gym—a place I'd visited a dozen times before I'd even had a Pokémon. The scent of lilies and high-end perfume was thick enough to choke on. The receptionist looked up, blinking. She recognized me immediately.

  "Grey? Your back in Celadon?" she asked, a bit of surprise in her voice.

  "Yes," I said, sliding my ID across the counter. "I'm here to register for a badge match. And I want to do it in Challenge Mode."

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  The typing at the desk stopped. She looked at me like I'd just asked to fight a Legendary. "Challenge Mode? You realize that requires you to beat three gym trainers back-to-back, right? It's time-consuming, and if you lose once, you forfeit the right to challenge the Leader for a week."

  "I know the rules," I said firmly.

  "Most trainers just take the direct path to the Leader," she argued. "Why go through the trouble? Even with the extra prize money, it's rarely done."

  "Because I want the broadcast," I said.

  Normally, matches under four badges aren't shown to the public and even in that unless the trainer requests it . I usually hated the spotlight and showing your hand to the public is tactical suicide. But this time, I wanted the city—and the people and the gym people who said I wasn't the 'right fit'—to see me dismantle their gym leader.

  "Fine," she sighed, her fingers flying over the keys. "You have your first match scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00 PM against Trainer Jessica. If you win, you'll get the notification for the next one immediately. Remember, the gym provides healing, but rest is on you. You'll need to rotate your team."

  I was walking out of the gym when a familiar voice called my name. "Grey? Is that you?"

  It was Liam, an old classmate from school. He was looking a bit disheveled, but he had a grin on his face. We caught up for a second, and he asked what I was doing at the gym. When I told him about Challenge Mode, he looked completely blank.

  "Challenge Mode? What's that?"

  I explained the three-trainer gauntlet and the broadcast. He looked at me like I was crazy. "Why would you do that? That sounds like a lot of work for a badge."

  "It's practice, Liam," I said. "How about you? You been out on the road?"

  "Nah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I thought Erika would be a pushover, so I challenged her the day after I got my starter. I got wrecked, man. I've spent the last few weeks just training here in the city. I finally managed to beat her today."

  I felt a weird prickle in my brain. "Wait, you've been in Celadon this whole time? And you just got your first badge?"

  "Yeah, why? A lot of our classmates are still trying. Erika's Gloom is no joke."

  He asked for a quick battle once his team was healed, and I agreed. I wanted to see what a "standard" trainer looked like compared to me. We met at the open ground outside the Center.

  "Go, Pidgey!" Liam shouted.

  "Shellder, let's see what you can do."

  The match started, and I told Shellder to set up Spikes. Liam panicked. "Pidgey, Wing Attack!"

  The bird dived, its wings glowing. "Water Gun, low volume," I commanded. Shellder fired a weak stream that Pidgey easily dodged, but the bird lost its balance for a split second as it was closing near I told "Now! Icicle Spear!"

  Shellder didn't miss. A barrage of ice shards caught the Pidgey at point-blank range. One hit. KO.

  Liam looked stunned. He withdrew the bird and sent out his starter—an Oddish. The moment it hit the field, the Spikes I'd set up dug into its feet, and it winced.

  "Oddish, use Absorb!"

  "Barrage it with Icicle Spear. Don't stop."

  Thanks to Skill Link, Shellder fired a relentless stream of ice. The Oddish tried to drain life, but it couldn't keep up with the sheer physical impact of the spears. Within seconds, it fainted.

  "Wow, Grey... you're way too strong," Liam said, shaking his head as he pulled out his phone. "You're going to breeze through the Rainbow Badge."

  He asked for my number, and I gave it to him, but as he walked away, I stood there in silence. That was too easy, I thought. Liam had the Rainbow Badge, but his Pidgey hadn't even evolved yet. His mobility was terrible. Either he was lazy, or the bar for being a "trainer" was much lower than I'd realized.

  I realized then that I was significantly ahead of the curve. Not just because of Axew's power, but because of my mentality. I was researching, training, and pushing limits—while they were treating it like a game.

  I spent the rest of the day wandering the city. I visited Officer Jenny to tell her about the broadcast match, and I stopped by my old school. It was a cheap place with a basic syllabus—math, science, and the kind of Pokémon 101 that wouldn't help you survive a Zubat cave. I'd had to teach myself almost everything to pass the trainers exam, but I felt a weird sense of gratitude for the place anyway as it at least gave me a qualification of completing basic schooling to even appear for the exam.

  I headed to the edge of the city to get some final training in.

  Exeggcute: We continued working on Toxic. It wouldn't be much help against Erika's Poison-types, but I needed it in the repertoire for the long haul.

  Shellder: We kept at the Counter-Shield idea. I had it use Water Gun while Rapid Spinning, but the physics were harder than they looked. Instead of a shield, the water just sprayed everywhere—mostly on me.

  Axew: He was polishing Dual Chop. He's already got the move down; now it's just about making the hits hit harder.

  As I scrolled through the Pokénet during a break, I saw an article stating that 60% of trainers quit before their third gym. The difficulty jump is just too high. It made me realize that even if I hadn't scored high on the exam or gotten Axew, I still probably would have survived. My mentality was the thing that has helped me and my pokemon grow faster.

  Evening came, and I finally walked through the front door of my house. My parents were waiting with a home-cooked meal, and they spent the night asking about the biker gang and the Safari Zone. I showed them my Pokémon, and they were amazed by how big Shellder was.

  I fell asleep in my old bed, my three Pokémon crammed into my small room. It was tight, and Axew snored like a freight train but we somehow slept.