"Come back, Butterfree. You've done great."
Ash recalled Butterfree and immediately took out his second Poké Ball.
"I choose you, Muk!"
Muk splashed onto the field, this being its first appearance on the competition stage.
In terms of level, Muk had already reached Peak. If it won this battle, it could very well advance directly. Every one of its stats had been trained to the limit of its current tier; all it lacked now was sufficient battle experience to break through.
More importantly, Muk's Poison-type held a natural advantage over Scyther. Scyther was Bug/Flying, and both of those types were weak against Poison. While Scyther possessed superior mobility, their overall levels were comparable.
Ash was usually known for fast, aggressive battles. A slow, heavy matchup like this was relatively rare for him.
"Muk… that's a rather uncommon Pokémon," Ayame said, frowning slightly. "How can you stand the smell?"
"As long as you treat Muk well, it won't release an unbearable stench toward you," Ash replied casually. "As for the rest, you get used to it."
When Ash first met Muk, the odor had indeed been overwhelming. But over time, he discovered that Muk instinctively suppressed its smell around those it trusted. That was why Professor Oak could tolerate it so easily. After training together and spending more time with Muk, even Ash barely noticed the scent anymore.
"I don't quite understand it, but I respect it," Ayame said, straightening her posture. "Still, I won't hold back. Scyther, Quick Attack!"
"Scy!"
Scyther's feet tapped the ground and its body blurred into motion, streaking across the grass like a green bolt of lightning. After being enhanced by Quick Attack, its speed was extraordinary, far beyond what Muk could chase directly.
"Ignore it. Use Acid Armor," Ash ordered calmly.
Against a speed-based opponent, a slow Pokémon shouldn't rush to attack. No matter how fast the enemy was, they would eventually have to close in. That was when the counterattack would happen.
Muk's body flattened and softened as Acid Armor activated, its defensive power rising sharply.
"Dual Chop!" Ayame shouted, unable to wait any longer.
After circling the field several times, Scyther suddenly appeared behind Muk and slashed downward with both scythes.
The blades sank straight into Muk's body.
At first glance, it looked devastating.
But Ayame's expression changed instantly.
"Scyther, pull back! Now!"
"Too late," Ash said sharply. "Muk, Gunk Shot!"
Muk's upper body twisted around unnaturally, rotating one hundred eighty degrees with ease. Being a mass of sludge, flexibility was its greatest strength.
Scyther tried to yank its blades free, only to find them firmly stuck, as if glued inside Muk's body.
From the very beginning, Ash had planned for Muk to tank Scyther's first attack and restrain it. If Scyther were allowed to keep maneuvering freely, the battle would become troublesome.
That Ayame fell for it so cleanly was honestly unexpected.
Muk expelled a dense mass of toxic sludge at point-blank range. The dark purple blast struck Scyther directly, laced with lethal poison.
Scyther shrieked in pain, struggling harder, but Muk continued the assault without pause.
After nearly ten seconds of sustained Gunk Shot damage, Scyther finally tore itself free, only to be blasted backward. It tumbled across the lawn repeatedly before barely managing to stop.
"Scyther!" Ayame cried out.
Scyther hadn't fainted yet, but the damage was severe. A same-type Poison move at zero distance was catastrophic. Even surviving meant it was now hanging by a thread.
"Finish it. Sludge Wave," Ash ordered without hesitation.
Muk twisted again, its body churning as countless globs of toxic sludge erupted outward, flooding the battlefield.
The grass withered and blackened on contact. Scyther attempted to dodge under Ayame's command, but its movements were sluggish after the heavy damage it had taken.
The range was simply too large.
The scattered sludge struck home.
A heavy impact echoed across the field, and Scyther collapsed, completely unable to battle.
"Scyther is unable to battle. Muk wins!"
Ash claimed victory in the second match as well. The process had taken slightly longer than the first, but the outcome was no different.
In the opening battle, Butterfree had achieved a clean one-hit knockout. In the second, Muk had maneuvered with the opponent for a short while before resolving it decisively.
Speed-type Pokémon were Muk's natural weakness. If Scyther had been commanded more carefully, Muk might have ended up on the losing side. Unfortunately, Ayame's command ability was merely average, and the speed-type Scyther was instead dragged into Muk's tempo.
Once a speed-type Pokémon is caught, its fragile defenses become its greatest flaw.
With Muk's considerable attack power added to the mix, ending the battle in two moves was only natural.
At this point, Ayame was truly cornered. She had only one Pokémon left. If this one fell, her journey at the Indigo Plateau Conference would end here.
"Come back, Scyther… you've worked hard."
Ayame recalled Scyther gently, her expression soft, before taking out her final Poké Ball.
"This is my last one. Go, my ace. Bellsprout!"
A flash of light erupted, and a small, slender Pokémon appeared on the field.
Bellsprout.
At first glance, it looked utterly harmless. As a first-stage Grass-type Pokémon, its appearance alone suggested weakness.
But under Ash's Eye of Insight, the truth was immediately revealed.
This Bellsprout was at Mid Level.
Ash's eyes narrowed slightly.
Reaching the this Level without evolving was extraordinarily difficult. Even Bulbasaur had evolved at the Low-High stage. Yet this Bellsprout had stubbornly remained in its initial form all the way to this level.
Did it have an Everstone?
Why would anyone do that?
Mid Level Pokémon weren't rare at the Indigo Plateau Conference, but Ash was seeing a first-stage Pokémon at Mid Level for the very first time.
Even Bulbasaur back then hadn't been this stubborn.
Bulbasaur had wanted to remain unevolved, but after Ash carefully analyzed the advantages and drawbacks, it had chosen to evolve for the sake of greater power. That evolution had been flawless.
It wasn't that Pokémon couldn't grow stronger without evolving. It was that most Pokémon needed evolution to improve efficiently. Stats, growth rate, and potential all received massive boosts through evolution.
Refusing to evolve meant painfully slow progress.
So what was special about this Bellsprout?
"Come back, Muk."
Ash recalled Muk without hesitation and took out his third Poké Ball.
"I choose you, Monferno!"
A flash of light burst forth, and Monferno appeared on the field, full of vigor. He threw a few excited punches, then turned to look at his opponent.
When he saw Bellsprout's thin, scrawny body, a trace of disappointment crossed his face.
This thing looks weak. Can it even take one Flamethrower?
"Don't be careless, Monferno," Ash warned calmly as the Aura Power within him began to rise. "Your opponent is stronger than it looks."
Despite its fragile appearance, Bellsprout out-leveled Monferno. Without Aura Power, Monferno might be defeated before even triggering Blaze.
That was why Ash infused him with Aura from the very start.
Whatever strange tricks this Bellsprout possessed, the first step was to equalize the battlefield.
"It's that Monferno again," Ayame said quietly. "Ash, he's been in all of your matches."
"Monferno's new," Ash replied. "He needs both experience and trust. Battle is the fastest way to build both. I'll take the first move."
"Monferno, Flame Wheel!"
"Huo!"
Monferno curled into a blazing sphere and charged forward, rolling across the field in a torrent of fire.
"Deflect it," Ayame ordered calmly.
Deflect?
Ash's brow furrowed.
Before he could react, Bellsprout's leaf-like arms caught the incoming Flame Wheel, carefully minimizing contact with the flames, and redirected the force, using Monferno's own momentum against him.
Monferno was shoved aside and rolled several times before regaining his footing.
He stared at Bellsprout in confusion.
What just happened?
"Again. Flame Wheel!" Ash ordered, still trying to understand what he had just seen.
Bellsprout's short legs shouldn't have allowed it to dodge at that speed. Yet it hadn't dodged at all.
It had redirected the attack.
Monferno rolled forward once more in a wheel of fire.
Again, Bellsprout tilted its body, caught the attack with its leaf-arms, and slammed the Flame Wheel into the ground at an awkward angle.
Boom!
The impact knocked Monferno out of his rolling state, his head spinning.
"Consecutive Slams!" Ayame commanded sharply.
At that moment, her command presence changed completely. Compared to her earlier battles, she looked like a completely different Trainer.
As if Bellsprout was her true partner all along.
Under her direction, Bellsprout seized Monferno and began swinging him violently from side to side.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Monferno's body was slammed repeatedly into the ground. Through the Aura link, Ash felt his own body being pulled back and forth, nausea surging.
"Monferno!" Ash shouted through the discomfort.
Raging flames erupted from Monferno's body, forcing Bellsprout to release him.
Monferno landed and retreated quickly, putting distance between them.
Only now did he realize, this opponent was anything but weak.