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As Magmortar lost its ability to battle, Paul recalled it. However, unlike Ash, he didn't offer a single word of encouragement; instead, he silently took out his next Poké Ball.
"Aren't you going to encourage Magmortar? He did his best in that fight."
"A loss is a loss. To the victor go the spoils; that guy's strength simply wasn't enough, that's all."
"I thought you had changed a bit, but you're still as unpleasant as ever," Ash said, frowning slightly with dissatisfaction.
He had originally thought that because Paul was concerned for Infernape, he might have changed. But looking at his current attitude toward his Pokémon, any change was non-existent. He was still the same cold Paul when it came to his Pokémon, without the slightest bit of change.
Regarding Ash's words, Paul remained noncommittal. "Aggron, prepare for battle!"
With a flash of light, a massive creature appeared on the field.
Ash had faced an Aggron before—one of the Pokémon in Conway's trick room team—and it was quite powerful. However, Paul's Aggron was even stronger. Not only was its body more massive, but its strength was also at the Middle-stage Gym Leader Level, and its various attributes surpassed Conway's Aggron by a margin.
Facing such a monster-like existence, Ash sent out—
"I choose you, Venusaur!"
"Bana!!" Ash's second Pokémon was Venusaur. This was also the first time Ash had used Venusaur in battle during the Indigo Plateau Conference.
"Has that Bulbasaur evolved—" Seeing Venusaur, Paul's brow furrowed, a look of contemplation appearing on his face. He immediately recalled Aggron and threw out his next Poké Ball.
"Froslass, prepare for battle." With a flash of light, a Pokémon that appeared to be wearing a kimono appeared on the field. It was a pure white Pokémon with a face covered by a mask that looked as if it were made of ice; beneath the mask, her purple skin was visible.
Her body strongly resembled a kimono-clad figure, giving off the impression of a Yuki-onna appearing from an iceberg.
Just from her appearance, one could tell she was an Ice-type Pokémon. With Ash's knowledge, he was familiar with Froslass. It was a Pokémon discovered in the Sinnoh region; its pre-evolution is Snorunt, and it requires a female Snorunt to use a Dawn Stone to evolve.
Paul was clearly not the kind of stubborn Trainer who would force a bad matchup. Upon seeing Venusaur, he naturally chose a Pokémon with a type advantage to fight.
While Aggron didn't have a direct disadvantage against Venusaur—and in fact, Venusaur's Poison-type moves would be ineffective against Aggron—Froslass was naturally more advantageous compared to Aggron.
Furthermore, there was a level gap between Aggron and Venusaur. Additionally, the former was a heavyweight Pokémon that found it difficult to dodge attacks. Trading damage while at a level disadvantage was clearly an unwise choice.
Therefore, Paul directly swapped in Froslass.
"Ash's second Pokémon is a Venusaur we haven't seen before, but I'm sure everyone is familiar with it. This evolved from the Bulbasaur that defeated Elite Koga! Meanwhile, Paul has recalled Aggron in the face of Venusaur, replacing it with the Ice-type Froslass which has a type advantage. How will Ash respond?!"
The announcer's passionate voice rang out. Although his professional judgment had been proven wrong in the previous match, it really wasn't his fault. Who could have known Ash's Infernape could break common sense to that extent? Using Flare Blitz three times while at critical health without losing its ability to battle—wasn't that just pure cheating?
So, the announcer's confidence remained unshaken. He continued to professionally summarize the situation on the field, explaining things for the viewers who weren't familiar with the context.
"Venusaur, use Razor Leaf!" Paul had swapped Pokémon, but Ash had no intention of doing so. So what if there was a type disadvantage? He lived for fighting through type disadvantages!
"Bana!" Venusaur let out a roar, and over a dozen spinning, sharp leaves shot out from the massive flower on its body. The emerald-green leaves seemed to slice through the air as they shot straight toward Froslass.
Paul's pupils constricted, and his voice rang out coldly: "Froslass, use Snowscape."
"Woo-oh~" Froslass raised her hands as if praying to the heavens. At that moment, Razor Leaf struck her. The sharp leaves cut several gashes into her kimono-like body and the mask on her face.
Grass-type moves aren't resisted by Ice-types, so this hit caused significant damage to Froslass. At the same time, however, Froslass successfully used Snowscape. Small snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and a howling wind blew across the field. Froslass's figure vanished into the snowy weather.
The Snow Cloak ability allows a Pokémon to hide its body in snowy weather to evade enemy attacks. This was Froslass's Hidden Ability, and it was the reason Paul had her use Snowscape even at the cost of being hit by Razor Leaf.
Another reason was that Razor Leaf was simply too fast for Froslass to dodge at her speed. It was better to just take the damage from that move to set up the snow; that was the most correct response.
"Snowscape was successful! A heavy frost and snow have begun to fall on the field, and Froslass has hidden herself in the ice and snow. How will Venusaur handle this?!"
"Venusaur, use Frenzy Plant!" Hidden or not, Ash wasn't going to play along. You like to hide? Then he'd just use an attack that covered the entire field for a carpet-bombing strike!
Let's see where you can hide then.
Venusaur roared and slammed its feet into the ground. Immediately, countless thick, thorny green plants surged up across the field. In the blink of an eye, the entire arena became a small forest.
Froslass, hidden in the snow, was directly struck by the Frenzy Plant bursting from the ground!
The Snow Cloak ability only allowed Froslass to hide her form in the snow; it didn't make her truly disappear. As long as an all-encompassing area-of-effect attack was used, Froslass could be dragged right out of the snow!
Froslass, struck repeatedly by Frenzy Plant, was blasted into the air. Simultaneously, her figure was completely revealed, unable to hide in the snow any longer.
"Finish her!" Ash's voice rang out again. The thorny green plants that had knocked Froslass into the air seemed to come alive; they flailed wildly, locking onto Froslass's arms and body like tentacles.
The thorns on the plants dug deep into Froslass's skin, and a massive surge of Grass-type energy poured frantically into her body, dealing an enormous amount of damage!
Following Froslass's cry of pain, the thorns released her a few seconds later. Froslass fell powerlessly, eventually crashing onto the ground with a dull thud. A cloud of dust rose on the field, signaling the end of Froslass's battle.
An instant kill!
Aside from the initial Razor Leaf, Venusaur had only used Frenzy Plant once, and Froslass was instantly defeated.
The previous battle could be described as a back-and-forth struggle where no one knew who would fall until the very last moment, and the fight lasted quite a long time. Every time Infernape looked like it was about to go down, it would stand back up; the total battle time was estimated to be over ten minutes.
Yet this battle hadn't even lasted a minute in total. Froslass set the snow, Venusaur used Frenzy Plant, and the battle was over.
In the previous fight, Ash had struggled so hard that it made people feel like he might be slightly inferior to Paul. Although he won, it seemed like a lucky victory; in terms of overall strength, Paul appeared stronger.
But in this match, Ash showed everyone that in the previous one, he simply hadn't used his full power. Now that he was going all out and displaying his true strength, the outcome of the match became obvious.
The referee froze for a long moment before announcing the result. Paul immediately recalled Froslass. The speed at which this round was decided far exceeded even his expectations. It wasn't that Froslass was too weak, but that the opponent's Venusaur was too strong.
He had also seen the recording of Bulbasaur's battle against Koga. That Bulbasaur was so powerful it didn't even seem like a normal Pokémon; even a Legendary Pokémon might only be at that level.
However, Paul didn't believe that was Bulbasaur's true strength. Setting aside how a rookie Trainer like Ash could train such a powerful Bulbasaur, the Bulbasaur species itself shouldn't be able to reach that realm.
Therefore, Paul was certain that the opponent must have used some special method to boost its strength to that level, and such a method definitely couldn't be used at will. Otherwise, Ash wouldn't be participating in the Indigo Plateau Conference right now, but rather in the Elite Four Challenge.
The Bulbasaur that everyone else feared was actually not his primary focus.
However, in this match, Venusaur used its strength to tell him that even if it couldn't unleash that level of power from before, it could still run rampant within the Gym Leader Level. Froslass, as a Middle-stage Gym Leader Level, was one-shotted by a Razor Leaf and a Frenzy Plant, which meant the opponent's attack power was at least at the Elite Four Class.
Yet, on the surface, Venusaur's level was only at the Gym Peak.
"Is it another Pokémon capable of fighting above its level— Torterra, prepare for battle." For his third Pokémon, Paul finally brought out his ace, Torterra!
This was Paul's starter Pokémon and his strongest Pokémon, without exception.
Ash activated his Eye of Insight and was surprised to find that one of the data points had changed. What had shown as Gym Level yesterday had now become—Elite Four Class!
An Elite Four Class Torterra—this was likely the trump card Paul had prepared for this match.
To be able to train a Pokémon to the Elite Four Class in a year and a half made him a genius among geniuses. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was a future Champion candidate.
However, compared to Ash, who had trained his Pokémon to the Gym Peak in just half a year, there was still a gap. Moreover, Ash's Gym Peak was no ordinary Gym Peak—
"Venusaur, can you still fight?"
"Bana!" Venusaur stomped its feet, making the entire field shake. It used physical action to show its desire to fight.
Ash had originally intended to swap Pokémon—not because he thought Venusaur couldn't win, but because he wanted to let his other Pokémon participate as much as possible. But since Paul was using Torterra for this round, Venusaur had a reason it had to fight.
Torterra and Venusaur were both Grass-type Pokémon, and both were massive beings. They were the types that were as immovable as mountains but as destructive as thunder when they moved. This was a duel between Grass-type Pokémon; of course Venusaur didn't want to step down.
Ash understood the thoughts in Venusaur's heart, so he abandoned the idea of recalling it.
"Use Razor Leaf." Paul initiated the attack first. Razor Leaf was quadruple-resisted by Venusaur; this attack was just a probe by Paul.
Torterra took a step forward, and dozens of light-green leaves appeared around its body. Then, they shot out like bullets. The spinning blades, just like the skill Venusaur had released earlier, seemed to slice through the air.
"Don't worry about it, use Sunny Day!" Ash's choice was to change the weather. Although Froslass had left the field, the hail was still active. This kind of weather wasn't favorable for Venusaur, even if the same applied to Torterra.
But Ash chose to fight in a field comfortable for him; this was also to pave the way for his next Pokémon.
"Bana!" Venusaur tilted its head back, and the massive flower on its back erupted with a brilliant light. The shining light flew from Venusaur's back toward the sky, sweeping away the blowing hail!
The misty, snowy sky vanished instantly, replaced by a sun hanging high in the heavens. Under the sun's rays, the ice and snow on the field quietly melted away.
At this time, Razor Leaf also struck Venusaur's body. However, Grass-type moves were barely a nuisance to Venusaur, let alone a low-level Grass-type move like Razor Leaf.
"Use Earthquake." Sunny Day was also beneficial for Torterra. Paul ignored the opponent's weather modification and chose to attack again with Earthquake.
Grass-type moves indeed had very little effect on Venusaur, but Ground-type moves could deal normal damage. Plus, Torterra was a Ground-type, so this was a Same-Type Attack Bonus (STAB) move. If it hit, it could deal a heavy blow!
"Absorb the power of the Earthquake, then use Frenzy Plant!"
Paul: ???
What does 'absorb the power of the Earthquake' mean? Are you saying you can ignore the damage from Earthquake?
How is that possible? Aside from Flying-types and Pokémon with the Levitate ability, no one should be able to ignore Ground-type damage.
In the next second, Torterra raised its front body slightly, then slammed it down hard into the ground. A visible shockwave diffused from Torterra's body, and the entire field shook at that moment.
A terrifying surge of Ground-type energy quickly approached beneath Venusaur, then suddenly erupted!
Venusaur, having taken an Earthquake head-on—was completely fine!
He really could ignore Earthquake!