'See? I told you to wait until you fully mastered Iron Tail before challenging the Pewter Gym, but you didn't believe me, did you?' Li Qingfeng said with some helplessness.
Xiao Zhi was on the verge of tears: 'Li Dage, I truly believe you now! Please, let Pikachu learn Iron Tail!'
Li Qingfeng let out a long breath and said, 'There's no way I can teach that. It depends entirely on your Pikachu's own comprehension.'
This all started after Xiao Zhi arrived in Pewter City. At the Pokémon Center, he learned about the Pokémon League and that collecting eight badges allowed participation in the conference. After registering, he prepared to challenge the Pewter Gym.
As everyone knows, Xiao Zhi's three Pokémon at the moment were completely unable to inflict effective damage on Onix.
Li Qingfeng wanted Pikachu to learn Iron Tail before going to the Gym. Perhaps Xiao Zhi had been having too much smooth sailing these past few days and got a little carried away, challenging the Pewter Gym without fully mastering Iron Tail.
In the end, after an intense battle, he was defeated.
"Darn it, just a little bit more... If I had mastered it then, maybe I could have won," Xiao Zhi recalled the final showdown.
Pikachu failed to use Iron Tail and was swatted away by Onix's tail.
Seeing Xiao Zhi like this, Li Qingfeng comforted him, 'It's alright. Failure is the mother of success. Just lose a bit less in the future. It's great that you didn't use electric attacks on Onix in the battle, and isn't Old Man Takeshi going to help your Pikachu train its electric power?'
Li Qingfeng's words reminded Xiao Zhi of the old man who sold stones from a stall. Originally, Xiao Zhi thought Takeshi was just a street vendor, but he never expected him to be Brock's father.
----After a night of hard work----
"I'm here to challenge you again, Mr. Brock, please accept my battle request!" Xiao Zhi came to Brock, asking him to battle again.
Brock crossed his arms in front of him, his eight-pack abs exposed. He said indifferently, "You can use two Pokémon, is that acceptable?"
Xiao Zhi quickly nodded, "Good!"
Brock threw out a poké ball, and a Rock-type Pokémon with two arms appeared: "Then, my first one is this fellow."
He narrowed his eyes, wanting to see how much Xiao Zhi had improved.
'Low Special Defense, you know who to use, right?'
"If it's Geodude, then Butterfree, I choose you!" Xiao Zhi's words directly shocked Brock and Xiao Xia.
Butterfree is four times weak to Rock-type attacks, so why would Xiao Zhi send it out?
Li Qingfeng, on the other hand, kept nodding. It's true that Butterfree is four times weak to Rock-type, but it's a Pokémon that can learn Psychic-type moves.
Not to mention Psybeam, it has already fully mastered Confusion.
Plus, a whole host of status moves like Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, it can even chip away at Onix's HP a bit.
The battle began, and Xiao Zhi made the first move: "Butterfree, use Confusion."
A small space in front of Butterfree's eyes began to distort. Geodude found itself unable to move, as if it were being controlled.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, Brock shouted, "Geodude, use Rollout to break free."
Geodude also wanted to escape, but Butterfree's Confusion was simply too strong for it, and it couldn't break free from the restraint.
Under Butterfree's super strong Confusion, Geodude flew around like a puppet being manipulated. From top to bottom, from left to right, its body constantly made contact with the ground, eventually losing its ability to battle.
Brock couldn't help but look at Xiao Zhi with new respect. He never expected Xiao Zhi to defeat his vanguard so quickly, which made him have to get serious.
"Onix, go!"
A colossal Onix looked down at Butterfree. Xiao Zhi still felt a little apprehensive after seeing it. Pikachu had lost to it before, so this time, Butterfree had to chip away at its HP as much as possible. If it could win, that would be ideal.
Xiao Zhi immediately seized the initiative and shouted, "Butterfree, use Confusion!"
Xiao Zhi's idea was very good, but no matter how hard Butterfree tried, it couldn't budge Onix in the slightest.
The reason here is simple: Onix's weight made it impossible for Butterfree to lift it.
Brock commanded, "Onix, Knock Off!"
Onix skillfully used its tail to throw several small rocks. Butterfree continuously dodged them. Xiao Zhi told it to use Stun Spore to paralyze Onix.
Using Sleep Powder here would be useless. Even if the opponent fell asleep, what then? It still couldn't scratch it. It was better to rely on luck with paralysis.
Golden-yellow powder scattered from Butterfree's wings. Onix immediately used Dig to avoid Butterfree's Stun Spore.
Xiao Zhi reminded, "Butterfree, be careful of Onix. It will suddenly appear from underground."
Butterfree understood Xiao Zhi's meaning. It continued to scatter powder from its wings, and soon the ground on the field began to loosen.
It turned out that Onix had found the right moment to launch a surprise attack. Onix emerged from the ground and leaped high. Butterfree, with its small body, dodged the first attack.
"Use String Shot!"
Butterfree attached silk threads to Onix's body, reducing its speed.
What Xiao Zhi never expected was that Onix suddenly hit Butterfree with a large tail. Its tail glowed with a deep yellow light. Butterfree couldn't dodge in time and was directly knocked to the ground by Onix.
Knock Off, a Rock-type move.
For Butterfree, a Bug/Flying-type, this nearly cost it its life.
After being hit like that, Butterfree immediately fell to the ground, its eyes spinning.
"Thank you for your hard work, Butterfree." Xiao Zhi thanked Butterfree, then pointed at Onix and shouted, "Pikachu, it's your turn!"
Pikachu looked at the Onix in front of him with bright, shining eyes, waiting for Xiao Zhi's command.
Almost simultaneously, both of them spoke:
"Quickly use Iron Tail!"
"Onix, use Knock Off."
Clearly, Pikachu was faster. It ran across the field with light steps.
Onix continuously threw rocks to try and stop Pikachu's advance, but Pikachu dodged all of them one by one. Pikachu ran up Onix's straight body to its head.
Pikachu's tail began to turn silvery white from the tip until the entire tail had changed color. Only then did it use Iron Tail.
Pikachu continuously struck Onix's head with Iron Tail, but it was to no avail. Onix's physical defense was simply too high; it had taken Pikachu a long time to inflict effective damage on it before.
Onix let out a roar, and Pikachu became a little unstable. It maintained its Iron Tail stance, ready to strike Onix again, but Onix twisted its body to dodge the attack.
Next, Onix mimicked the move it used on Butterfree, hitting Pikachu in the same way, only this time it sent Pikachu flying into the ceiling.
Pikachu's Iron Tail didn't disappear; instead, it made intimate contact with the ceiling. The contact between Iron Tail and the metal bars created sparks, and flames burned along the bars, detected by the sprinkler system.