Chapter 131

The Kanto Xiaogang and the Johto Asu were selected in exactly this way.

Professor Oak: "The Chairman's eye for talent is still reliable."

To become the Chairman of the League without some real ability is absolutely impossible, and when it comes to judging people, no one can compare to Damaranchi.

【Since Nainai's performance in the first battle was quite outstanding, Asu appropriately raised the difficulty of the examination in the following battles, but even so, Nainai still managed to handle it successfully.】

【After defeating Asu's last Pokémon, Nainai excitedly sang the victory song.】

【Nainai's challenge was over, and now it was Ash's turn. The moment Ash stepped onto the battle platform, Asu's expression changed at once.】

【"Ash is the champion of the Indigo Conference, right? In that case, I'll go all out."】

【"The battle rules are three versus three, and both trainers may freely swap their Pokémon. No problem, right, Ash?" Asu asked seriously.】

【"Huh? When challenging a Gym, isn't it only the challenger who can swap Pokémon?"】

Isn't this the unwritten rule of the world? Nainai was a little confused.

【"That's because Asu is treating Ash as an opponent of the same caliber." Xiaogang explained.】

【In principle, during a challenge, the Gym Trainer is not allowed to swap Pokémon, but when the Gym Leader encounters a sufficiently troublesome opponent, this rule can also be broken.】

【"But whether we swap or not probably doesn't make much difference."】

In Nainai's view, whether one could swap Pokémon during battle was simply not important. In any case, she basically never swapped Pokémon during her own battles — her style was all about charging in head-on.

【"How could that be? Nainai is still too naive." Liza shook her head. "Whether one can swap Pokémon is actually a very important matter. If swapping isn't allowed, even the strongest trainer, once targeted, could still capsize in a ditch."】

Caitlin: "Sigh, if I were the only one swapping Pokémon during battle, I'd have the confidence to beat Leon."

Steven: "Beat Leon? Heh, I don't buy it."

Beating anyone else, Steven would believe, but beating Leon — he could only say it was impossible.

Leon's Charizard is simply too domineering. Even if he weren't allowed to swap Pokémon during battle, who could actually deal with his Charizard?

Cynthia: "Sigh, what a headache. Why on earth does such a terrifying Charizard exist in this world?"

Cynthia wasn't afraid of Leon's other Pokémon at all. Even without using Garchomp, her other Pokémon against Leon's Pokémon other than Charizard would be an even match, at worst a four-six split. But the moment Charizard was added in, the scales immediately tipped. 0

Lance: "Who knows."

It's truly strong enough to make one despair.

Wallace: "Do you think Black Ash's Charizard might one day be even stronger than Leon's Charizard?"

Steven: "If you brought any other Charizard to compare with Leon's Charizard, I'd definitely say you were living in a dream. But Black Ash's Charizard — believe it or not, there's really a chance."

Cynthia: "Black Ash is a miraculous trainer, and besides, his Charizard has only just received the Rainbow Wing and the tempering of Entei. There's a chance — a very big chance."

Alder: "I can hardly wait to see Black Ash's Charizard go up against Leon's Charizard."

Ash: "Then what about my Charizard? Does my Charizard have a chance?"

Ash's words instantly silenced everyone else in the chat room.

Do you really not know yourself whether you have a chance? That Charizard of yours that got beaten black and blue by little Liza — you tell me, does it have a chance?

【"Go, Skarmory."】

【Once his opponent became Ash, Asu's state changed completely at once.】

【The Pokémon he sent out was no longer a low-level one either; he directly brought out his trump-card ace.】

【Sensing Asu's serious attitude, Ash didn't slack off in the slightest. He summoned the Aerodactyl he had transferred from Professor Oak's research lab early that very morning.】

【"Precious Aerodactyl."】

Asu hadn't expected that the very first Pokémon Ash sent out would be so explosive — it was actually the Aerodactyl rumored to have gone extinct.

【"Fortunately my Skarmory is a Steel-type Pokémon."】

【Asu was a specialist in bird Pokémon; every Pokémon in his hand was a bird Pokémon, and as everyone knew, one of the attributes bird Pokémon feared most was the Rock type.】

【If he had sent out Pidgeot or Noctowl instead of Skarmory, this battle would have become extremely difficult.】

【Fortunately his lead Pokémon was Skarmory, so the type advantage had actually shifted to his side.】

【Asu struck first, directly having Skarmory use Steel Wing on Aerodactyl.】

【Actually, when the opponent used Steel Wing, the best choice for Aerodactyl would have been to temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack, but the ferocious Aerodactyl clearly had no intention of dodging in battle, so Ash could only go along with its wishes.】

【"Aerodactyl, Double-Edge!"】

【"Double-Edge? Why use Double-Edge?" Nainai didn't understand. Although the power of Double-Edge was great, the recoil was also extremely exaggerated — a move that hurt the enemy a thousand and cost oneself eight hundred. Going all-out right from the start?】

【"Because Ash's Aerodactyl's Ability is Rock Head."】

【Seeing Nainai still looking completely puzzled, Xiaogang had to continue explaining: "A Pokémon with the Rock Head Ability will not take damage from recoil when using moves that would normally cause recoil damage."】

With Xiaogang's explanation, Nainai understood at once.

【Steel Wing versus Double-Edge — instead, it was Aerodactyl that suffered the big loss.】

【Skarmory looked completely fine, while Aerodactyl was grimacing in obvious pain.】

【But this was also within Ash's expectations. After all, Normal-type moves were among Skarmory's resistances, and combined with the fact that Skarmory was already a very bulky Pokémon, it was perfectly normal that Aerodactyl couldn't overpower it.】

【Having suffered a major loss in the collision, Aerodactyl finally behaved itself. It no longer dared to continue close-quarters combat with Skarmory, and instead hid in the distance, secretly trying to use Rock Slide to bury its opponent.】

【But how could Asu and Skarmory possibly let it have its way? Skarmory began constantly closing in on Aerodactyl, forcing Aerodactyl into melee combat.】

【"Come back, Aerodactyl." If the battle continued, Aerodactyl's odds of winning were really not good. Without hesitation, Ash directly recalled Aerodactyl.】

【The second Pokémon Ash sent out was Blastoise.】

【Seeing Ash switch Pokémon, Asu hurriedly swapped his Pokémon as well.】

【Skarmory was his trump card against Aerodactyl. If Skarmory fell, he would have no Pokémon left to keep Aerodactyl in check, so he had to protect Skarmory.】

【Facing Blastoise, Asu hesitated for a while, then chose Noctowl to meet the challenge.】

【Asu's original tactic was to have Noctowl keep its distance from Blastoise, then exploit Blastoise's clumsiness, using the combo of Hypnosis and Dream Eater to slowly wear Blastoise down. But his calculations were off — he had never imagined that Ash's Blastoise could also "fly" in reverse.】

【Using the Water Gun from its cannons, Blastoise achieved brief gliding. Within the limited battle arena, Noctowl had no way to shake off Blastoise, and was directly bitten by Blastoise.】

Steven: "Damn, even Blastoise can fly — just who the hell can't fly at this point??????"

Red Flame Pine: "..."

Red Flame Pine was furious. He really wanted to take out Steven, that guy who mocked Groudon, but he didn't have the strength to do it.

He could only silently endure this humiliation.

Just wait, once Groudon returns, let's see how he deals with Steven, that mouthy guy.

124: The battle between Liza and Misty, dominating the Charizard Valley!

【One major weakness of bird-type Pokémon is that they aren't tough enough, especially since Noctowl isn't even a large bird.】

【The Noctowl, its neck clamped tightly in Blastoise's jaws, was nearly fainting and no longer had the strength to flap its wings.】

【After crashing to the ground, Noctowl was completely no match for Blastoise, and was taken down by Blastoise with ease in no time at all.】

Lance: "Hassel miscalculated; he didn't guard at all against Blastoise being able to fly."

Wallace: "No normal person would guard against it. Who could have imagined that the seemingly clumsy Blastoise could achieve brief flight through water jet propulsion? It's simply brilliant."

Caitlin: "That little Ash really has a lot of ideas and unorthodox methods. Every time I watch his battles, I always see brilliant moments we never expected."

Cynthia: "Perhaps this is the gap between a genius trainer and ordinary people."

【After losing Noctowl, Hassel's expression also grew solemn.】

【"Go, Fearow."】

【Hassel's ace Fearow finally entered the field.】

【Having suffered a major loss, Hassel no longer dared to let Fearow stay motionless in the air. He began fighting a war of movement against Blastoise.】

【He first had Fearow use Twister to try to wear down Blastoise's stamina, but the effect wasn't very good. Left with no choice, Hassel could only change his battle strategy.】

【"Aerial Ace."】

【Facing Fearow diving straight down, Blastoise showed no fear at all. It chose to meet Fearow's Aerial Ace head-on, looking for an opportunity to counterattack.】

【Aerial Ace didn't hit Blastoise's most vulnerable head, so the damage was quite limited. During the process of being sent flying by Fearow, Blastoise began to move.】

【Its palms slowly drew together, water-type energy gathering into a sphere between its hands. Then it made the energy cause the water sphere to vibrate.】

【The moment the Water Pulse condensed successfully, Blastoise slammed it heavily toward Fearow.】

【A direct hit on the head.】

【The Fearow hit by Water Pulse not only took damage, but its entire body of feathers was soaked. For Hassel, this was absolutely not good news. Feathers are the lifeblood of bird-type Pokémon; once the feathers are soaked, they can barely fly anymore.】

【A phoenix fallen in the water is no better than a chicken, let alone a Fearow.】

【Giving the opponent no chance at all, Ash immediately had Blastoise use Ice Beam.】

【The already drenched Fearow, the moment it was hit by the freezing beam, began to freeze. In the blink of an eye, it was frozen into a Fearow popsicle.】

【"Fearow, break free quickly!" Hassel shouted anxiously.】