Afternoon.
Inside the Battle Pyramid.
After lunch, everyone took a short rest before heading over to the arena. Brandon and Ash were already standing in their respective command areas, ready for the match to begin.
Brandon's apprentice, Samuel, stood by the referee area and announced, "We will now begin the Battle Pyramid Frontier match. The challenger is Ash from Pallet Town."
"Yes!" Ash nodded in response.
"Next is my master... the fiery man, Frontier Brain of the Battle Pyramid, Pyramid King Brandon."
Samuel was certainly a dedicated apprentice, when introducing his master, he made it sound remarkably grand.
After covering the basic information for both combatants, Samuel went on to explain the rules of the match: "This battle is a four-on-four elimination match, but only the challenger is permitted to switch Pokémon mid-battle. Therefore... Frontier Brain, please send out your Pokémon first."
"Go, Dusclops." Brandon threw a standard red-and-white Poké Ball.
A Pokémon wrapped in gray bandages appeared on the field. It had only a single eye with a red pupil—a pure Ghost-type Pokémon originally discovered in the Hoenn region.
[LV65 Dusclops / Elite]
Brandon's Dusclops was at a very high level; even among Elite-tier Pokémon, it was quite strong. It was certain that this Dusclops had been following Brandon for a long time. After all, once a Pokémon with Elite potential enters the Elite tier, its rate of leveling up slows down significantly, requiring much more time and battle experience for every level gained thereafter.
"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash sent Charizard out as his vanguard.
With a loud roar, Charizard appeared on the battlefield.
[LV66 Charizard / Champion]
After not seeing him for a while, Charizard had clearly grown quite well. It seemed he had received excellent training at the Charicific Valley. Even living apart from Ash, his level had not fallen behind in the slightest.
"Let the battle begin!"
With the match officially underway, the two sides immediately engaged in a fierce exchange. Charizard traded blows back and forth with his opponent, each landing solid moves. After three rounds of clashing, Brandon allowed Dusclops to endure Charizard's Steel Wing so it could use Confuse Ray at point-blank range, successfully confusing Charizard and putting him in immediate danger.
Fortunately, Charizard snapped out of his confusion at the critical moment. However, Brandon repeated his strategy, taking another Steel Wing head-on in an attempt to hypnotize Charizard with Confuse Ray once again.
This time, Charizard refused to be hit again. He lunged forward and grabbed Dusclops in a tight bear hug to block the Confuse Ray from firing. But at that exact critical moment, Ash made a fatal command mistake.
"Seismic Toss!" Ash shouted.
Charizard held onto Dusclops and soared high into the sky before diving rapidly toward the ground. Just meters before impact, Dusclops vanished directly out of Charizard's arms.
"Using Fighting-type moves against a Ghost-type like Dusclops is completely ineffective," Brock said in surprise from the sidelines.
"Ah! Oops, I forgot!" Ash gasped in shock. He hadn't battled against a pure Ghost-type Pokémon in so long that he had completely overlooked its immunity.
"Young man, the match has been decided. Shadow Punch." Brandon showed no mercy and ordered an immediate counterattack.
Dusclops, having phased safely into the ground, reappeared and threw a Shadow Punch. The fist of condensed ghostly energy shot forward and struck Charizard directly in the stomach.
With a pained roar, Charizard slammed into the ground and instantly lost the ability to battle.
"Charizard is unable to battle! Dusclops wins!" Samuel announced.
"Thanks for your hard work. That defeat was entirely my fault, so don't blame yourself. Get a good rest." Knowing that Charizard had lost solely due to his command error, Ash quietly apologized to him inside the Poké Ball before drawing his second Pokémon.
"Venusaur, I choose you!" Ash threw the Poké Ball.
A massive Venusaur appeared on the field.
[LV62 Venusaur / Elite]
"Whoa! When did his Venusaur evolve?" Gary asked in surprise.
Back at the Silver Conference during Ash's match against Gary, the intense battle had stimulated Bulbasaur, prompting it to drop the Everstone it was carrying and evolve into Ivysaur. Now, after a year of absence, that Ivysaur had fully evolved into Venusaur.
"Yes," Professor Oak explained. "While Ash was traveling through the Hoenn region, his Ivysaur frequently sparred with your Exeggutor at the lab. It evolved into Venusaur during a battle three months ago."
"Oh, I see," Gary said, nodding.
Although Ash's Pokémon lived right there at Professor Oak's laboratory, Gary hadn't paid close attention to its specific evolution timeline. At the ranch, Venusaur acted as the head peacekeeper among Ash's Pokémon, stepping in to break up any disputes that arose between them. Now that Ivysaur had reached its final stage as Venusaur, this matchup promised to be very interesting.
The battle resumed.
Dusclops struck first with Mean Look to lock Venusaur in place and prevent it from switching out. Venusaur took immediate advantage of the opening to launch Leech Seed, latching parasitic vines onto its opponent.
Although Dusclops had managed to defeat Charizard, it had taken heavy damage in the process. Even holding an Eviolite, it could not endure repeated attacks forever.
Venusaur unleashed Petal Blizzard. The swirling, snow-like storm of falling flower petals easily extinguished Dusclops's Will-O-Wisp before pouring down over the Ghost-type like a flood, burying it completely.
Venusaur claimed a dominant victory over Dusclops.
Brandon recalled Dusclops and sent out his second Pokémon, Ninjask.
[LV63 Ninjask / Elite]
"Venusaur, return!"
Seeing Ninjask take the field, Ash decisively recalled his Grass-type. Although Venusaur had been locked down earlier by Mean Look, in actual combat, the binding effect naturally dissipates the moment the Pokémon that cast it is defeated.
"Next up... I'm counting on you, Squirtle!" Ash sent out his third Pokémon.
[LV62 Squirtle / Elite]
"Squirtle!"
Ash's Squirtle had not evolved, remaining in its base form.
The two sides engaged immediately, trading powerful moves back and forth. In the end, Squirtle knocked out Ninjask with a crushing Skull Bash, successfully helping Ash take down Brandon's second Pokémon.
"Very well. Go, Solrock." Brandon remained completely unruffled as he sent out his third Pokémon.
[LV64 Solrock / Elite]
It was obvious that Brandon was holding back slightly. The Pokémon he used weren't overwhelmingly high in level, hovering mostly between levels 60 and 65, which was slightly lower than Anabel's team. But it made sense; if he deployed the three Legendary Titans right from the start, almost no trainer would ever be able to conquer the Kanto Battle Frontier.
Although Squirtle had a type advantage, Solrock's move choices countered it heavily, taking advantage of Squirtle's relatively limited move pool. In the end, Squirtle was overwhelmed and defeated by a direct Solar Beam.
With Squirtle down, Ash sent Venusaur back out onto the field.