The answer would be yes. In his next 2 gym badges, gym leaders would fight with elemental-ranked Pokemons. He already has 5 elemental-rank Pokemons and a pseudo-king rank Pokemon.
So, going there and getting those badges would be a waste of time for him. His Pokemons were already experienced in battle due to the tide. It would take him more than a month to get those badges as the places were far away. He didn't want to waste any time and as of right now, he had to spend time with his family.
Now, which 2 gyms would he choose?
After much thinking, he chose Saffron city gym and Cinnabar Island gym.
He had promised Kent to choose him as his last gym battle. He also wanted to battle Koga as he was the one who introduced him to Oak. So, Fuchsia City gym was out of the question. Finally, he had also promised Morgan that he would visit his gym next. He was a man of his word.
He sent the request to those 2 gym leaders. One of the requirements was to get the approval of gym leaders too. If they don't feel that the trainer was up to the mark, they would not approve it.
But to his surprise, the gym leaders accepted the request in a heartbeat. It only took 5 minutes to get it approved.
Now, Axel had conquered:
1. Pewter city gym
2. Celadon city gym
3. Saffron city gym
4. Cinnabar Island gym
5. Viridian city gym
For the next 3 gyms, gym leaders would fight as a mater rank trainer with at least 1 pseudo-king rank Pokemon.
So, Axel must have at least 3 pseudo-king rank Pokemon with him. That would take some time to accomplish.
He then looked at his Pokemon rooster.
1. Shedinja (elemental rank)
2. Nidorino (elemental rank)
3. Beedrill (elemental rank)
4. Gyarados (Uncommon rank)
5. Gogoat (Elemental rank)
6. Ivysaur (Common rank)
7. Alakazam (Pseudo-king rank)
8. Charizard (Uncommon rank)
9. Absol (Uncommon rank)
10. Tauros (Uncommon rank)
11. Piloswine (Elemental rank)
12. Pidgey (Common rank)
Axel had decided that he would not catch another Pokemon in the Kanto region. Having 12 Pokemons and training them took a lot out of him and frankly, 12 Pokemons were enough for a Pokemon tide.
He would choose
1. Shedinja
2. Nidorino
3. Beedrill
4. Alakazam
5. Piloswine
6. Gogoat
for the league battles. Indigo league opened up every 2 years and now he had around 11 months left before the league starts. One of his main quests was to be a Champion in 2 years and he was confident that he could not be one in the next 11 months. Charles had 6 champion-ranked Pokemons and it would take a couple of years for him to have 1 even with the help of the system and his luck.
However, he didn't want to give up even if he was sure to lose. So, he made a goal to challenge Elite 4 and win them.
Elite 4 would use king-ranked Pokemons or higher. Some of them had pseudo-champion rank Pokemon like Agatha but they may not use them in the fight. It depends on their mood.
Axel was confident that these 6 Pokemon could reach king rank in 11 months. He didn't have hope for others as some of them had just joined the team and they were not even rare rank.
Tauros, Absol, and Pidgey had just joined the team. Gyarados would take some time to reach rare rank. Axel had purposely delayed the evolution of Ivysaur as he wanted it to have the strongest foundation. Charizard was growing too fast, so it may reach King rank in these 11 months.
If he was able to defeat Elite 4, then he would be given some time to challenge the champion. So, he could use that time to rank up his Pokemons to champion rank.
###
A week had passed and Shedinja was able to learn its new move. Axel called it 'Shadow control'. With this Shedinja could bind the enemies with its shadow.
Axel looked at its stats
---
Pokemon's name: Shedinja (Age- 3 years)
Pokemon Nickname: Marcus
Ability: Wonder guard (100%)
Hidden ability: None
Potential: Red
Health: 30/30 Attack: A+
Agility: S Defense: C
Sp. Atk: A++ Sp. Def: C
Moves: Hypnosis(G) (Lvl 39), Gust (U) (Lvl 19), Harden (U) (Lvl 10 max), Shadow sneak (G) (Lvl 32), Endure (C) (Lvl 21), Dream eater (G) (Lvl 36), Tackle (U) (Lvl 10 max), Agility (G) (Lvl 38), Gravity (G) (Lvl 31), Bug buzz (G) (Lvl 31), Shadow ball (G) (Lvl 39), Shadow Jump (G) (Lvl 35), Ally switch (G) (Lvl 34), Substitute (G) (Lvl 38), Hyper Beam (G) (Lvl 31), Dig (C) (Lvl 22), Night Slash (G) (Lvl 34), Switch (U) (Lvl 27), Shadow Control (Lvl 4)
Cores: Ghost (Mastered)
Hidden Power: Psychic (20%)
---
It was close to reaching pseudo-king rank. Now, Axel had to prioritize on the stats. It was extremely hard for Shedinja to increase its defense and sp. Defense. So, it would take a lot of time. Shedinja didn't need to focus on defense. Axel had concentrated on all of its stats in the beginning for a good foundation.
Now he thought to focus on the stats that really mattered. So, he thought to focus on attack, agility, and sp. Attack. He wanted all of them to be S rank. Now, regarding move mastery, most of its moves were in the late 30s and Axel had learned how to improve the level to 40.
He first looked at 'Shadow ball' and thought to give it some pointers. 'Shadow ball' enables the user to throw a shadowy blob of shadow toward the foe. There were many problems with 'Shadow ball'.
First, unlike in the anime or games, 'Shadow ball' was not exactly round in shape. It was just an irregular blob of shadow. After leveling it to level 39, the shape of the shadow had started to become round shape but it still was not perfect.
Next, the move was slow. A fast Pokemon could easily dodge it. The move became faster after continuous level up but it was still not up to the mark.
"Marcus, if you want any improvement in 'Shadow ball', you would have to improve its quality or quantity."
"Shed…."