“I've been waiting!”
Ash flipped over and jumped down from the stands, a move that startled both of them.
Did you think you were Brock and Yu Feng? One is a seasoned Gym Leader, and the other is a rare Psychic. The stands are at least three or four meters above the ground, and you just jumped down without any hesitation?
Yu Feng, startled, quickly used Psychic to support Ash. Although Ash has many reckless actions in the anime, jumping down unprepared like that could really lead to trouble.
“Thanks, Xiao Feng! Now it’s my turn to challenge the Gym!”
Ash thanked Yu Feng, then challenged Brock. Watching the two giant Pokémon battle from above had him boiling with excitement.
He wished he could go up and engage in a passionate brawl with Brock; he was completely fired up now!
“So, even after seeing my battle with Yu Feng, you still haven’t changed your mind about challenging me right now?”
As he spoke, Brock walked back to his position, then looked at Ash seriously, as if to confirm whether he would change his mind.
“Then, let the battle begin.”
“Alright! Pikachu, quickly show him what you’ve got!”
Ash excitedly sent out Pikachu. This was his first Gym battle, and he wanted to make it a spectacular one.
“Pikachu~!”
Pikachu met Ash’s gaze and walked into the arena with adorable steps.
Looking at Pikachu and Ash full of confidence, Yu Feng couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ash—oh, no, for Pikachu. It would have been better to send out Pidgeotto; if Pikachu gets caught, it’s over.
“Go, Onix!”
Brock also forcefully threw his Poké Ball.
The Poké Ball spun and slammed in front of Pikachu, making Pikachu flinch.
Then, the Poké Ball glowed white, and an Onix, slightly smaller than the previous Onix, appeared in the arena.
The Onix looked at the tiny Pikachu in front of it with aggressive eyes. “This is today’s opponent? The Trainer seems to underestimate me a bit.”
“Pika…”
Pikachu let out a weak cry, turned around, and ran back to Ash on all fours, wanting to press Pidgeotto’s Poké Ball to switch, but Ash hugged him tightly, losing the chance to tag out.
“Don’t take matters into your own hands and switch with Pidgeotto! Go quickly.”
“Pika, Pika?”
Ash carried Pikachu back to the arena, then pushed him, urging him to get into battle.
Pikachu looked at Ash pitifully, hoping Ash would change his mind and switch to Pidgeotto, but unfortunately, Pikachu only received Ash’s spirited encouragement. Pikachu had no choice but to walk towards Onix again with cute, waddling steps.
He hoped Brock would be merciful because of his cuteness, but unfortunately, the current Brock, like Ash, was very serious about battles.
Without hesitation, he commanded Onix to use Tackle. Onix twisted its massive body and charged towards Pikachu’s position.
Seeing such a large Onix charging at him, Pikachu was so scared that he ran away directly. Onix, unable to react in time, crashed into the arena, but quickly stood up as if nothing had happened, leaving only a large crater on the ground.
After carefully searching for Pikachu’s location, it directly wrapped Pikachu with its tail.
“That’s it, use Bind attack!”
Brock looked at Pikachu, who was controlled by Onix’s tail, and promptly had Onix use Bind.
Onix, hearing the command, tightly coiled Pikachu, who was not even as big as its tail, in the middle of its tail. Pikachu now experienced the feeling Shiny Gardevoir had when it was bound by Onix earlier. The difference was that Shiny Gardevoir had the ability to resist, while Pikachu could only passively accept Onix’s Bind.
“Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!”
Ash watched Pikachu struggling in Onix’s tail, gritted his teeth, and called out one of Pikachu’s few current moves.
And Pikachu, despite being restricted by Onix, still obeyed Ash and used Thunder Shock. Golden-yellow electricity spread over Onix’s body, even making Onix shimmer with golden light, but unfortunately, it didn’t have much effect.
Finally, Onix tilted its head and looked at Pikachu in the center of its tail, with an expression like, “What’s wrong, little buddy? Put some effort into it, didn’t you eat?”
“Your training is misguided. That level of Thunder Shock has no effect on Onix.”
Although Brock had held back as much as possible, challenging a Rock Gym with Pikachu was truly a very unwise choice. Yu Feng’s Charmander, despite having some type disadvantage, had no problem with its training level and flame temperature.
But Pikachu clearly hadn’t been trained much, not to mention that Onix is immune to Electric-type attacks. Although this immunity disappears and turns into minor damage after a significant power gap.
“Pikachu, come back!”
Ash pulled out his Poké Ball, wanting to recall Pikachu. The red light of the Poké Ball, which retrieves Pokémon, was blocked by Onix’s massive body and did not touch Pikachu.
“Darn it, is the distance too far? I can’t get him back this way.”
“It’s not that the distance is too far; it’s being blocked by Onix.”
Ash thought it was because the distance was too far that he couldn’t recall Pikachu, but Yu Feng, watching from the side, hit the nail on the head. It wasn’t that the distance prevented recalling Pikachu, but that all the recall light simply didn’t touch Pikachu.
Instead, it was blocked by Onix’s body, which is why it couldn’t be recalled.
As time passed, Pikachu’s expression became increasingly pained. Ash gritted his teeth but couldn’t do anything. Ash lowered his head and reluctantly shouted the words he least wanted to: “Stop! Please stop!”
“Oh? Do you want to forfeit?”
“Ye… yes.”
Ash’s unwilling voice echoed in the arena. As Ash conceded, Onix gently placed Pikachu on the ground.
Ash picked up Pikachu without a word and walked out of the Gym, looking as if he had lost his soul.
Yu Feng watched Ash, looking somewhat dejected, walk out of the Gym without saying much. After all, the current Ash was not someone he could counsel; he would leave that task to someone else.
“Aren’t you going to check on your companion? He looks quite down.”
Brock had come to his side at some point. He was very curious why Yu Feng, who was clearly with Ash and his friend, didn’t go to comfort him.
“If he were so easily discouraged, he wouldn’t be Ash. He’ll come back to challenge you tomorrow.”
Yu Feng used Psychic to check outside and only relaxed when he saw Ash and Wu Neng leave together.
Regarding Brock’s statement, one could only say he didn’t understand Ash. If someone like Ash could be discouraged, it would truly be unscientific.
No, that’s not right. It seems Ash has been discouraged more than once, and this time seems to be one of them, but he was counselled by Wu Neng and saw things clearly.
“I wonder if you’d be open to discussing Pokémon breeding methods with me.”
This was a relatively important test for Ash; once he got through it, the sky would be the limit.
However, he really wanted to discuss Pokémon breeding methods with Brock now. After all, Brock’s carefully nurtured Onix looked much stronger than ordinary Onix.
“Hmm, yes, we can go to my place then. I also wanted to ask you how you raised Gardevoir to become so large.”
Brock pondered for a moment and then agreed to Yu Feng’s request. He also wanted to know how Yu Feng had raised a Gardevoir, which was originally about 1.6 meters tall, to a terrifying size of nearly six meters.
“Then I’ll trouble you to wait a moment. I’ll go treat Onix and the others first, and also tidy up the Gym.”
“No problem, you go ahead and do your thing.”
After bidding farewell to Yu Feng, Brock went to tidy up the Gym. Yu Feng didn’t mind this, as such a large Gym was currently being maintained solely by Brock.
P.S.
Now it’s my time (actually, the author’s note couldn’t fit). Here, well, I have to say first that I know my novel won’t be liked by everyone.
So I removed Hi… (crossed out)
So I can only guarantee that most people will accept it. After all, no one is perfect, and novels are the same. I will do my best to write it to satisfy those who enjoy reading it. If you have any questions, you can also ask me, and I will reply promptly.
I will correct human language at any time; I don’t have drafts for ghost stories.
Finally, some people asked about a fan group. How many fans can I have? But if you want to, you can still come and check out the group.