Because Pikachu lost, the score was now 3-2. This allowed Morrison to close the gap with Ash. But because he had thrown away the first two rounds for no reason, he was still in a dangerous position.
At this point, Ash still had four Pokémon that had not battled yet. That meant Morrison had to be extremely careful in the coming rounds. He could not afford to lose any more Pokémon so easily.
Ash recalled Pikachu and returned to his trainer's box. Then the battle continued.
For this round, Ash sent out Torkoal.
In terms of type matchup, Torkoal had the advantage against Steelix. However, Morrison did not switch Pokémon. He continued using Steelix to battle.
Morrison no longer cared about the type disadvantage. Instead, he was full of energy. He seemed like a completely different person compared to the first two rounds.
As soon as the battle began, he told Steelix to attack Torkoal head-on.
Dragon Breath and Flamethrower collided. In the end, Flamethrower was stronger. It broke through Dragon Breath and continued forward, striking Steelix.
The flames dealt heavy damage to Steelix, and it cried out in pain. Seeing the opening, Ash immediately told Torkoal to attack again. But when Torkoal used fire again, Steelix reacted in time. It used Dragon Breath once more, and the two moves crashed into each other.
This time, Flamethrower did not come out on top. The two moves exploded in midair, creating a large cloud of fire and smoke.
Steelix used the opening to Dig underground. To deal with an attack from below, Torkoal quickly used Withdraw. However, Steelix burst out from directly beneath it and slammed into Torkoal, sending it flying into the air.
Torkoal fell from the sky, and its shell accidentally flipped over. Steelix seized the chance and used Dragon Breath again. The attack hit Torkoal directly, and Torkoal was no longer able to battle.
The referee raised his flag.
"Torkoal is unable to battle! Steelix wins!"
That was two straight wins for Morrison.
No one had expected Steelix to defeat Torkoal and win twice in a row despite being weak to Fire-type attacks.
But at the same time, Torkoal's performance in this tournament had been consistently underwhelming in its own way.
Brock watched Torkoal go down and spoke.
"Morrison's condition is getting better and better..."
The others around him nodded.
Anyone could see that Morrison was no longer troubled. He no longer hesitated or paused when making decisions. He had completely recovered his rhythm.
Natsui agreed with Brock.
"Exactly. Compared to earlier, Morrison's condition can be described as 'on fire.' Right now, the one who's probably starting to feel the pressure is Ash."
No one had expected Morrison to win two rounds in a row and tie the score after fixing his mindset. Morrison had given away the first two rounds for free. If he had not done that, Ash might have been trailing badly by now.
This showed that Morrison was truly strong. He was on the same level as Ash. If Ash could not bring out the full strength of his Pokémon, he might really lose here.
Both sides now had only three Pokémon left. Ash thought for a moment before sending out Grovyle.
At first glance, this did not seem like a good type matchup. Grass-type Pokémon were not especially effective against Steel-types.
But this was Ash's Grovyle. It was powerful and had an incredibly cool presence. It did not look intimidated at all.
Morrison did not switch Pokémon. Perhaps he had forgotten the rule, or perhaps he was acting the same way Ash had earlier. He allowed his exhausted Steelix to face Grovyle even after it had already battled twice.
As expected, Grovyle won this battle.
Steelix used Dig, but Grovyle relied on its speed to dodge with ease. In the end, it pulled off something incredible while facing Dragon Breath head-on.
Grovyle leaped high into the air, crossed its arms in front of its head, and used Leaf Blade to split through Dragon Breath. Then it rushed all the way to Steelix's huge head and struck it hard.
Boom!
Steelix's massive body crashed to the ground, making the entire Grass Field tremble.
When everyone looked at the big screen, they saw that Steelix had fainted.
Grovyle was one of Ash's strongest Pokémon, and that exchange had looked incredibly cool. The crowd loved it.
The referee raised his flag.
"Steelix is unable to battle! Grovyle wins!"
The score was tied once again. Both trainers had returned to the same starting point. Now that the battle had fully settled into its proper rhythm, every round was exciting. At last, the audience was seeing the level of battle expected from a Top 16 match.
Unfortunately, one of them still had to lose here.
In the stands, Natsui watched the field while reaching for the snacks beside him. But his hand touched nothing.
He did not think much of it at first and reached toward the other bags. To his surprise, those were empty too.
"Huh?"
He looked down in confusion. All of his snacks were gone. Only a few empty wrappers remained.
"Did I eat them that fast?"
Suddenly, he thought of something and turned to look at May. Her cheeks were puffed out as she chewed like a little squirrel.
She must have stolen all of his snacks.
But when had she done it?
She was unbelievably fast.
Natsui had bought a huge pile of food, yet May had not left a single bite behind. It was almost ridiculous.
By the time he looked back at the field, Ash and Morrison had already started battling again.
This time, Morrison sent out Gligar. It was a Pokémon that looked like a winged scorpion.
Its body was purple, and the insides of its wings were blue. It had two sharp fangs in its mouth. Its forelimbs ended in large pincers, and its tail had a dangerous stinger.
People said Gligar lived on steep cliff faces. It glided silently through the sky. After gliding, it would hop back to its nest. It usually stayed on cliffs and used the membranes on its arms and legs to ride the wind. When it found prey, it spread its wings and lunged. It swooped toward the target through the air, grabbed the prey's face with the large claws on its limbs, then clung to it and attacked with its poison stinger.
Natsui had seen Gligar on TV before, but this was the first time he had seen one in person. He watched it several times.
Gligar faced Grovyle. Both Pokémon were extremely fast. Grovyle made use of the thick grass on the field, and when Gligar flew low, Grovyle jumped onto its back to attack from behind.
However, Gligar was just as fast. It shot high into the sky and shook Grovyle off. In midair, Grovyle had no way to move or dodge. In the end, Gligar grabbed Grovyle by the neck and slammed it hard into the ground.
Because of that heavy blow, Grovyle was knocked out immediately and could no longer battle.
It was an extremely fast match. It took only a few minutes to decide the winner.
Because of the high-speed battle, both Ash and Morrison were fired up. The moment the referee raised his flag, Ash recalled Grovyle and immediately sent out Swellow.
In this round, the two Pokémon fought in the air. Neither the trainers nor the Pokémon wanted to give in. They chased each other relentlessly. Their bodies were covered in injuries, yet they continued exchanging attacks again and again.
After one final close-range collision, both Pokémon fell from the sky together. They hit the ground at the same time and were both unable to battle.
It was a direct trade.
The audience loved this kind of fierce battle. When they saw both Pokémon go down at the same time, they erupted into loud cheers.
It was thrilling.
By now, everyone had forgotten how badly Morrison had performed at the beginning. All of them were waiting for the next battle.
Because the crowd was so fired up, Ash and Morrison became even more excited.
But now, both of them had only their final Pokémon left. Each of them had only one last chance. Even so, their reason told them they needed to stay calm.
In the stands, Max and the others were also extremely nervous.
They had no idea who would win this battle.
May turned her head and whispered to Natsui.
"Natsui, who do you think will win?"
The others also looked at Natsui as if he knew everything. They seemed to think that whoever he picked would definitely win.
But Natsui could not be certain. Morrison and Ash were almost evenly matched. In fact, Morrison was probably stronger today, considering he had tied the score after giving away two rounds.
Morrison was essentially fighting a four-against-six battle.
But that was how matches worked. Even with the same Pokémon and the same field, the outcome could still change. A single thought or a brief distraction could lead to a completely different result.
Natsui did not know whether his presence had already changed the outcome of this match.
However, he still chose to believe in Ash.
"If Morrison had battled like this from the very beginning, Ash probably would have lost by now. But there are no 'ifs' in this world. Mindset is also part of a trainer's strength. Since the battle has reached this point and the score is tied, then at this critical moment, I still believe Ash will be the one who wins."
May nodded after hearing that.
She thought so too.
In fact, Brock, Max, and Misty also wanted Ash to win.
Ash was their friend and partner. It was only natural that they wanted him to win.
At this moment, Ash and Morrison's final Pokémon appeared.
Ash sent out Glalie, which had performed extremely well in the previous round. Morrison's final Pokémon was Metang.
This was the last battle. The winner would advance to the next round.
The audience quieted down. Everyone watched this final battle closely. They wanted to see what kind of fight these two trainers would deliver.
In terms of type matchup, the Ice-type Glalie was weak against the Steel- and Psychic-type Metang. However, Ash often managed to win despite type disadvantages. Victory still seemed possible.
The Beldum line, including Metang and Metagross, had appeared many times throughout this tournament.
Ash and Morrison both seemed calm for a brief moment. But the instant the battle began, both of them gave attack commands immediately.
They were too fired up to remain calm in this final match.
Metang and Glalie clashed head-on. Because it was larger and physically stronger, Metang won the collision.
Ash was not discouraged. He immediately told Glalie to use Ice Beam from a distance.
But Metang used Confusion to redirect the Ice Beam. The attack flew back and struck Glalie instead.
While Glalie was still reeling from the hit, Metang rushed in close. It used Take Down and slammed into Glalie.
Metang had gained the upper hand at the start of the final battle.
This was exactly what most people expected from this matchup.
However, Ash showed his growth once again.
Ash ordered Glalie to use Ice Beam again. Morrison told Metang to use Confusion to send the attack back again.
But he did not realize that this was exactly what Ash wanted.
When the reflected Ice Beam shot back toward Glalie, Glalie immediately used Icy Wind. A freezing gust mixed with frost burst from Glalie's mouth. It redirected the Ice Beam once again while also making it even faster and stronger. In the next second, both attacks struck Metang at the same time!
----------------
You can also read 2 chapters ahead for free on my Patreon.
Currently on Patreon: 1100 chapters available.
I also want to apologize for the lack of updates this month, haha. My PC completely died, and uploading chapters from my phone was pretty complicated.