At Ash's sharp rebuke, the blond man lowered his gun and made a deliberately disgusted face.

  “Tch. I really hate brats.”

  Seeing Ash and Mina, who had just taken down four of his elites, striding around as if they owned the place and making demands was slightly irritating, but he put on a fake smile.

  “Bwahahaha! My apologies. That was just a little prank, a bit too rough, huh? Hahahaha!”

  He raised his hand and ordered the other soldiers.

  “At ease, boys! We’ve got guests. Lower your weapons!”

  As soon as the blond man’s order fell, the dozens of red laser points aiming at Ash and Mina began to disappear one by one.

  Once all aim was lowered, the blond man gave an exaggerated salute toward his superior Ash Ketchum.

  “How do you do? Pokémon World Champion Ash Ketchum boy? And... Rubbish Girl? Allow me to introduce myself!”

  “Ten-hut!!”

  With a thunderous command, all the soldiers inside the Vermilion City Gym stomped their feet in unison and offered a sharp, disciplined salute.

  The roar was deafening enough to shake one’s entire body, and their precision was flawless.

  Ash and Mina instinctively realized these weren't just regular troops; they were special forces.

  The blond man slowly lowered his salute and continued his introduction.

  “The name’s Lt. Surge. I’m the Commander of the Kanto Reserve Forces based in Unova.”

  As Lt. Surge finished his salute, the soldiers lowered their hands in perfect unison and raised their guns back up,resuming a guard stance.

  Even surrounded by a hundred menacing soldiers, Ash spoke in a low but firm tone.

  “Gym Leader Surge, you haven’t forgotten your promise with me, right?”

  A soldier handed Lt. Surge a file folder.Surge scanned the documents rapidly, his eyes twinkling with interest as he looked back at Ash.

  “Oh~ Of course, of course, baby

  Champion? When you shove such interesting stuff in my face, of course I’d

  bite!”

  “.....”

  Surge flipped the folder open and began rattling off the summary at the end of the document.

  “The baby Champion promised not to blab to the media anymore about what my unit did on Rubbish Island!”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “And you even gave me a document stamped by the Kanto/Johto League, turning a blind eye to my unit's operations through a plea bargain~”

  Acting as if moved by Ash’s great sacrifice, Surge pretended to wipe away a tear, recalling his own hardships.

  “I’m so grateful~ I almost cry~ Hahaha!”

  However, Surge seemed to think that Ash’s foolish conditions were directed by someone else. After a moment of thought, he leaned his face close to Ash’s youthful one.

  “I don't know who ordered you to do this… but one thing's for sure.”

  Surge found Ash’s fearful expression amusing and laughed loudly, spittle flying, right in his face.

  “The stupid baby Champion who only knows Pokémon battles has finally gotten his hands dirty with ‘bad blood’,huh~?”

  Ash couldn't refute Surge’s mockery; it hit the nail on the head. He closed his eyes involuntarily.

  Certainly, he couldn't deny that he had faced an overwhelming ‘Light’ after Karen’s story ended.

  That entity had made the only ‘proposal’ to save Mina, and Ash had abandoned his

  beliefs to accept it... leading him to stand here now.

  At that moment, Mina, overcome with shock,shouted at Ash.

  “...Hey, Ash Ketchum... Is that true?”

  “....”

  When Ash, consumed by guilt, couldn't say anything to Mina, she couldn't take it anymore and shook his shoulders violently, screaming.

  “Ash Ketchum!!”

  As Mina’s sharp cry pierced his heart, Ash

  unwittingly vomited out the emotions he had been suppressing.

  “...Yes, it’s for you!”

  Mina couldn't understand Ash’s actions at all. She was an assassin sent to kill him.

  The moment she achieved her ambition, she planned to kill him brutally, and that plan was never supposed to change.

  So why? Why was this damn idiot covering

  himself in dirty blood to protect the ‘muzzle’ aimed at him?

  While Mina stared blankly at Ash, her

  thought process completely halted, Lt. Surge, watching their drama-like lovers'

  quarrel, picked his nose as if bored and sneered.

  “Hoo~?”

  Realizing the irony of this ridiculous situation, Surge slapped his knee and started giggling.

  “So, the baby World Champion turns a blind eye to the sorrow of the reporter and his family who were sacrificed, all for that dirty Rubbish Girl?”

  Surge couldn't hold back the laughter bubbling up inside him and eventually burst out, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

  “Ahahahaha!!”

  Surge laughed until he was almost out of breath, then clutched his chest, gasping for air.

  “As a World Champion, you’re totally disqualified! This is better than stand-up comedy! And a Gym Battle with that Rubbish Girl for a badge...”

  Finding the absurd conditions of the deal hilarious, Surge started cackling again, gasping for air.

  “Bwahahaha~ Do you think my Pokémon are weak enough to lose to a piece of Shit from Rubbish Island?”

  Seeing Surge’s manic laughter showing no sign of stopping, Ash’s expression turned cold.

  He looked at Surge with a gaze chilling enough to send shivers down one's spine and speak.

  “Are you done laughing? Vermilion City Gym Leader, Lt. Surge?”

  At Ash’s chilling and serious words, Surge felt a familiar yet immense pressure.

  It wasn't just stubbornness or spirit; he felt the aura of absolute power, the ‘Brilliant Light’, in Ash’s words.

  “...!”

  Surge stopped laughing at the pressure radiating from Ash and began to sweat.

  His mockery cut off abruptly, and he started to tense up, sensing the power of ‘That Entity’ from the kid Champion.

  ‘So that is the will of ‘That Light’...’

  When Surge stood frozen like a mute, Ash asked once more.

  “Do you have anything to say?”

  Surge quickly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  He cleared his throat with exaggerated bravado to hide his fear.

  “Ahem, well, fine. The deal is on.”

  Unlike his manic mockery earlier, Surge presented his battle conditions with a subtly stiff voice.

  “Apart from the deal, you two brats know that a battle for a badge must be fought under the ‘rules set by the Gym Leader’, right?”

  Surge’s gaze shifted from Ash to Mina, his opponent.

  Mina glared at Surge with eyes like a viper and answered even more boldly than he expected, without hesitation.

  “Everyone knows that rule, you damn jarhead!”

  Offended by Mina’s vulgar mercenary nature daring to defy a regular army officer, Surge made a displeased face and crooked his finger to signal.

  “Rubbish Girl... I’ll tolerate you insulting me, but if you take one more step toward me...”

  Click-clack.

  At Surge’s gesture, the soldiers disciplinedly turned on their rifle laser pointers.

  Instantly, a hundred red dots painted Mina’s head. It looked as if her entire body was stained with blood.

  “My fine soldiers will blow a head off. Oh, not yours, of course.”

  Surge’s finger moved past Mina’s head and pointed at Ash’s. The red dots aiming at Mina instantly shifted, and a hundred red points targeted Ash’s forehead and head.

  “Your ‘friend’s’ right next to you! haha!”

  Thank you for reading until the end.

  'consequences' of Ash growing into an adult.

  'responsibility' beyond just chasing a dream.

  darkness that accompanies it. Without accepting that burden, I felt he couldn't be considered a true adult.

  That for us, as we grow into adults, there is no such thing as 'power' without 'responsibility.'