Chapter 31: Red Lightning-Giant Claw Mantis!

The Shiny Roserade's figure instantly vanished in place,

When it reappeared, it directly came to the back of the Butterfree, which was originally above it, but the Butterfree had run away.

Psychic power condensed into a ball, protecting the Shiny Roserade inside.

Magic flame!

A water‑ripple‑like magic circle floated in midair outside the psychic ball, with a diameter of about two meters,

Just as two fireballs appeared at the edge of the magic circle, they suddenly detonated the dust, causing a continuous explosion!

But at the moment before the explosion,

Ziluolan still figured out the Shiny Roserade's true strength by noticing the scale of the magic flame.

"Such a scale of magic flame is so weak......"

"She had been tricked; this is just a very weak Shiny Roserade, and she should have chosen a strong attack from the start."

"But thinking about this now is obviously too late."

"On the field,"

The Shiny Roserade's psychic magic shield blocked the first wave of impact, buying a short, precious time to activate and maintain the shield,

As the protective barrier appeared outside the Shiny Roserade, all suspense came to an end.

The explosion instantly spread across the entire battlefield!

Boom—boom—boom!

The continuous explosions directly triggered the protective measures set up on the battlefield, and the barrier appeared, intercepting the explosion within,

protecting Ash, Ziluolan, and the spectators outside from harm.

Meanwhile, the Shiny Roserade and Butterfree inside the barrier could only fend for themselves,

The explosion ended!

The protective shield automatically retracted; at this point the Butterfree had completely lost its fighting ability, its body black all over with scorch marks,

while the Shiny Roserade floated safely and unharmed in midair,

Within the duration of maintaining the shield, the Shiny Roserade on its own added a layer of psychic shield inside the barrier, withstanding the explosion's final aftershock.

Thus, the outcome of the first clash was decided.

In the spectator stands, Serena jumped up excitedly, "Great! Ash won!"

Yurie also jumped up and cheered happily, "Ash is awesome! Roserade is awesome!"

Clemont pushed up his glasses, "Truly worthy of being able to win five consecutive championships, Ash!"

Xiao Juer, who was observing secretly, also flashed a smile in her eyes,

"Ash is still that Ash, even with a change of region and Pokémon, still that invincible boy who forges ahead, seeming to grasp everything firmly."

On the field,

"Whoosh~"

Ziluolan's chest rose and fell violently,

Her fists clenched tightly, she bit her lips, her heart deeply shaken,

The exquisite feign of weakness, harmless evasion and defense secretly accumulating strength, using the opponent's traits, striking decisively at the crucial moment to win and end the match!

Ash's concealment and decisiveness deeply shocked Ziluolan,

However,

she also gained something,

After six intensifications of meditation, only this level of magic flame was produced, letting Ziluolan finally confirm the Shiny Roserade's true strength,

a one‑star sixth‑rank, with little margin of error,

At the same time,

Referring to Ash's past experience challenging Gyms, the two Pokémon he will send out next should be of similar rank.

This makes things rather delicate,

After all, the two Pokémon she will put onto the field later are each stronger than the last, exceeding the Shiny Roserade by more than ten ranks!

"As expected of a five‑time champion, she so easily achieved victory by the weak over the strong! I lost the first round due to strategy."

Taking a deep breath,

Ziluolan was not discouraged; instead, her fighting spirit rose sharply,

Only at this moment did she put aside her contempt for Ash and truly become earnest.

Ash gave a slight smile, "You're welcome!"

Ziluolan gave no reply, but the fighting spirit on her face did not diminish in the slightest,

After all, she had already confirmed Ash's true strength.

"Don't get too excited too early; I have counters for similar moves. So... when I send out stronger Pokémon next, what will you do?"

Recall the Butterfree, hand it to the Gym apprentice, and have them help send it for treatment.

Ziluolan then immediately took out a second Poké Ball.

"Go, Scizor!"

A red warrior as hard as steel appeared on the field.

"What is this again?"

Serena raised her Pokédex again.

【Scizor, Bug+Steel, Scissor Pokémon, the evolved form of Scyther, with extremely fast movement speed, it attacks using swift and huge pincers】

"Its movement speed is very fast, so is it a speed‑type opponent?"

Hearing this, Ash fell into thought,

Speaking of which, he had always had a doubt, remembering that in the game the Scyther's base Speed stat was low,

but the Scyther he encountered in reality had a completely different speed,

each one as fast as lightning, even earning the nickname "Red Lightning".

Now with the system panel,

perhaps he could finally intuitively resolve this doubt.

【Pokémon】: Scizor (♂)

【Type】: Bug+Steel

【Ability】: Light Metal (because the body is lighter, attack decreases ×0.7, speed increases ×1.7)

【Level】: lv25

【Moves】: Bullet Punch, Flash, High Speed Move, Wing Attack, Consecutive Slash, Metal Claw, Sword Dance, Shadow Clone, Double Hit, Cleave,

【Held Item】: Weakness Policy (when the Pokémon holding this item is hit by a super-effective attack, its Attack and Special Attack rise by two stages)

【Base Stats】: Total 500 (507), HP 70, Attack 130 (91), Defense 100, Special Attack 55, Special Defense 80, Speed 65 (111),

……

【Can be Strengthened】

【Ability】: Light Metal I (because the body is lighter, attack decreases ×0.8, speed increases ×1.8)

Light Metal reduces attack, increases speed?

No wonder……

It's because the Light Metal in reality differs from that in the game, causing this result.

Ash looked enlightened,

Now this thing he had always kept in mind but always forgot to ask Professor Da Mu about, finally got an answer.

However,

Although Scizor, as a rare high-base-stat Bug-type, reached the 500+ tier and also had the best defensive typing Steel,

but it also gave Scizor a huge flaw,

Bug/Steel quadruple weakness to Fire!

How coincidental!

"Go, Rocket Sparrow!"

The 0.7-meter-tall Rocket Sparrow spread its wings and flew into the field, its pressure not inferior to Scizor's.

"Rocket Sparrow? Planning to use fire moves?"

This is great! Zi Luo Lan's mouth curled with an imperceptible smile.

In contrast, noticing Zi Luo Lan's smile, Ash not only felt no panic, but likewise wore a confident smile of victory in hand.

"Sunny Day!"

Zi Luo Lan frowned slightly; this choice was unfavorable to her.

Her plan was to use Rocket Sparrow's Fire-type advantage over Bug/Steel,

guide Ash to use Fire-type attacks to withstand this quadruple damage thanks to Scizor's level lead,

trigger the held item Weakness Policy, raising Attack and Special Attack by two stages,

then, leveraging Flash's high-speed priority, secure the win in one fell swoop.

But Ash completely ignored the script,

actually teaching Rocket Sparrow Sunny Day,

Sunny Day can boost Fire-type move power by 1.5×, and since Rocket Sparrow already is Fire-type, using Fire-type moves gains another 1.5×,

the minimum is 2× damage,

plus the 4× weakness to Scizor,

2× damage can become 8× damage! Even Zi Luo Lan couldn't help worrying about Scizor's subsequent fate……

Use Sword Dance to manually boost Attack?

Seems safest, but actually carries a risk of overturning,

Rocket Sparrow surely masters Flame Charge, which raises the user's Speed after attacking,

Once Rocket Sparrow opens a speed gap, it will only become more passive.

Better to gamble on Scizor's level advantage, endure one 8× attack, trigger Weakness Policy!

"All in, High Speed Move!"

In a brief moment, realizing the situation was fraught with danger, one misstep would mean defeat in a single move.

While Zi Luo Lan felt terrified by Ash's layout, she also grew more excited,

Who wins or loses will be decided by this clash……