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"Pika pika!" Pikachu called out with determination.
Initially, Pikachu hadn't paid much attention to the Electabuzz, but after witnessing Eevee's victory over Scyther, his teammate shot him a playfully competitive look. Pikachu immediately understood the challenge and approached the Electric-type opponent with renewed focus.
"Damn it! Don't underestimate me!" Kaz Gym Leader shouted furiously upon seeing Pikachu's confident "I'm going to defeat you" expression.
To put it bluntly, this entire group represented exactly what you'd expect from people who established gyms purely for profit, then fought each other for official recognition. Setting aside their questionable character, their intelligence left much to be desired. Despite being over forty years old, they remained merely Elite-level trainers—a clear indication that their potential had peaked long ago.
You couldn't expect wisdom from such individuals; they lacked even basic self-awareness.
"Electabuzz! Use Thunderbolt!" commanded the already enraged Kaz Gym Leader.
In his fury-clouded judgment, he actually ordered his Electric-type Pokemon to use an Electric-type move against Pikachu. Even without knowing Pikachu's specific ability, he should have understood that Electric-type attacks are not very effective against Electric-type Pokemon.
Unfortunately, this trainer appeared to be operating in a state of complete mental shutdown.
"Pika? Pika pika!" Pikachu seemed to say with obvious amusement, rolling its eyes in a remarkably human-like gesture as it faced the incoming Thunderbolt attack.
Rather than dodging, Pikachu stood perfectly still and allowed the electrical assault to strike directly. Under Kaz Gym Leader's stunned expression, Pikachu displayed a look of pure comfort and satisfaction.
Lightning Rod: This ability makes the Pokemon immune to Electric-type moves. When hit by Electric-type attacks, Special Attack increases by one stage.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu cried out joyfully, then somehow produced a surfboard from thin air and rode a massive electrified wave that appeared from nowhere, completely engulfing Electabuzz in the process.
Splishy Splash: A partner move that infuses electrical energy into a huge wave before crashing into the opponent, with a chance of inflicting paralysis.
This represented one of those inexplicably magical Pokemon techniques—it was pointless to question where the surfboard and waves materialized from.
"What the hell! Pikachu can use a Water-type move?!" even the typically oblivious Kaz Gym Leader recognized that this Pikachu was extraordinary.
Under this devastating attack, while Electabuzz didn't immediately faint, it lost approximately half its remaining HP. The Electric-type had essentially powered up Pikachu's attack with its own Thunderbolt. Combined with Pikachu's Light Ball held item—which doubled both Attack and Special Attack—plus the Lightning Rod ability boost, this move's power reached devastating levels.
"Pikachu!" the Electric-type called out again.
Knowing that one move wouldn't be sufficient to defeat Electabuzz, Pikachu immediately leaped into a spinning aerial attack, striking its opponent with an energy-charged tail.
This wasn't the Steel-type move Iron Tail, but rather the Normal-type technique Slam. Both moves utilized tail-based attacks, but they differed in power and typing.
Although Iron Tail possessed higher base power than Slam, Steel-type moves dealt reduced damage to Electric-type Pokemon. Therefore, the Normal-type Slam proved more effective in this matchup.
Of course, Pikachu didn't understand these strategic nuances, having only recently joined Eddie's team with limited battle experience. This tactical decision came from Eddie using his Power of Viridian to communicate with and guide his Pokemon's move selection.
Eddie wasn't merely observing the battle passively. In such a large-scale confrontation, he actively monitored all his Pokemon's situations, providing commands wherever problems arose to ensure optimal coordination during the chaotic melee.
This actually illustrated why trainers traditionally limited themselves to six Pokemon at once. In battles like this, managing six Pokemon already stretched a trainer's attention to its limits. No matter how many additional Pokemon a trainer possessed, effectively commanding more than six simultaneously became nearly impossible.
While the Exp. Share solved Eddie's leveling concerns, it couldn't address the fundamental challenge of battle coordination. Under normal circumstances, Eddie never deployed more than six Pokemon unless absolutely necessary, even in large-scale conflicts.
In previous encounters, Eddie had only released his entire team when facing significantly weaker opponents who posed no real threat. When confronting powerful enemies like Sabrina or Koga, Eddie would never exceed the six-Pokemon limit.
Deploying more than six would prevent proper command coordination, allowing skilled opponents to exploit the resulting tactical gaps and defeat his Pokemon individually.
Among all players, only Eddie understood these strategic principles, gained through extensive real-world experience. When facing Team Rocket in Celadon City, Eddie had only released his full roster because he could overwhelm them completely—the same strategy he'd used in Pikachu Forest.
This time, Eddie considered his opponents so pathetically weak that he'd only deployed six Pokemon, with two serving primarily as escape route blockers.
Returning to the battle, Pikachu's Slam struck Electabuzz with devastating force. The already injured Electric-type was sent flying and crashed to the ground, completely unconscious. Like Scyther before it, Electabuzz had fallen in just two rounds.
"Stop fighting! We surrender! I surrender!" suddenly shouted a trainer who had been knocked down by Pikachu earlier and was now lying on the ground clutching his stomach.
Fear had completely overwhelmed him. The attack had left him feeling like his ribs might be broken, and continuing this fight seemed likely to result in far worse than hospitalization.
As he voiced his surrender, many other defeated trainers joined in with their own capitulations. They genuinely didn't dare continue fighting—prolonging this conflict would lead to consequences far more serious than medical treatment.
Even trainers who hadn't yet been defeated looked at their companions' miserable conditions, shuddered visibly, then recalled their Pokemon and squatted with hands behind their heads in clear surrender.
Nearly everyone had given up. Those who had been beaten were the most pitiful, forced to lie on the ground while shouting their surrender, but those who hadn't been attacked weren't much better off. After all, squatting with hands behind their heads appeared even more humiliating than being defeated in honest combat.
The fallen had lost through battle, while those squatting had been too frightened to even try fighting. The comparison between these two groups only emphasized the latter's cowardice.
However, their choice was entirely understandable. Eddie's attacks had been quite severe, and the intimidating presence of his Pokemon made victory seem impossible. Looking at their partners' battered conditions, any reasonable person would choose surrender.
"Well, surrendering so quickly? How boring," Eddie observed with mild disappointment as he surveyed the capitulated forces.
With everyone having surrendered, he wouldn't continue attacking openly, especially with hundreds of townspeople watching. Besides, Eddie would never strike opponents who had already given up—unless they held personal grudges against him or possessed enough power to threaten him later.
Since they had surrendered, Eddie could only gesture for the townspeople to begin binding the prisoners.
As for the Kaz and Yas Gym Leaders themselves, neither had explicitly declared surrender, but both now knelt on the ground with vacant, hollow expressions. Clearly, today's complete annihilation had shattered their worldview beyond recovery.
However, nobody felt any sympathy for them. Both Eddie and the townspeople had only two words to describe these individuals' fate: "Well deserved."