"Whirlipede?"
It was the first time Ash had seen a Whirlipede, so he immediately took out his Pokédex to check.
Pokédex: "Whirlipede, the Curlipede Pokémon, and the evolved form of Venipede. Protected by a hard shell, it spins like a tire and launches violent tackles at its enemies."
"Sewaddle, keep it up!" Ash said.
"Chee!"
Sewaddle was raring to go—it hadn't had its fill of battling yet.
The battle began.
Whirlipede launched a stinging charge, but Sewaddle dodged it with a String Shot displacement and tangled it up with the sticky threads.
But the webbing did nothing to slow it down. Whirlipede used Rollout, its spinning body slicing the threads clean off, then chased Sewaddle down with Steamroller.
Facing Whirlipede's Steamroller, Sewaddle had no way to counter. It was knocked away twice in a row, and even when it retaliated with Tackle, the attack was blocked by Whirlipede's Iron Defense.
Whirlipede then knocked Sewaddle away with another Steamroller, gathered sunlight, and delivered a finishing Solar Beam.
But Sewaddle successfully endured the Solar Beam, its body shining with evolutionary light as it evolved into Swadloon.
After evolving, Swadloon mastered Energy Ball, and Ash turned the tide with a single move, defeating Whirlipede.
"Just as I thought—their levels are too low to be using ultimate moves," Gary commented.
"What do you mean?"
Iris didn't quite understand what Gary was getting at. Wasn't it a good thing for Pokémon to master more powerful moves?
"Mr. Burgh's Pokémon aren't high-leveled, but their moves are very powerful. Dwebble had Rock Wrecker, and Whirlipede had Solar Beam—both extremely strong moves. But using high-powered moves like those consumes a lot of energy. Pokémon at low levels have very little energy to begin with. Once they use such moves too many times, the power of their attacks grows weaker and weaker afterward," Gary explained.
"I see!"
Iris was no rookie Trainer herself. She had a very strong Excadrill.
But Iris's Excadrill was currently in a withdrawn, sulking state, and it hated being seen by others whenever it was let out.
Cilan looked at Gary quietly, agreeing with his words, and privately noting that Gary was no ordinary Trainer.
On the field.
After Burgh recalled the defeated Whirlipede, he prepared to send out his third Pokémon.
Burgh held up a Poké Ball.
"Come out, the guardian of Castelia Gym—Leavanny!"
Burgh threw the Poké Ball.
Go!!!
[LV42 Leavanny♂ / Elite]
A Leavanny, draped in its leaf-like garment, appeared.
Gary: (O_O)??
Level 42?!
Was that even allowed?
Gary was caught off guard—he hadn't expected Burgh's third Pokémon to be Level 42.
That was a bit of an overwhelming jump.
Without any surprises, Leavanny was the final evolution of Swadloon, and the two were worlds apart in both base stats and level.
Swadloon was ultimately defeated by Leavanny's Hyper Beam.
"With that, Ash only has one Pokémon left," Iris said nervously, unable to help worrying for him.
"Yeah, which Pokémon do you think he'll choose?" Cilan asked curiously.
"It should be Oshawott."
Iris recalled Gary's earlier claim that Ash was a reverse-matchup specialist. Oshawott was a Water-type, so as someone who loved bad matchups, Ash would surely use it.
"Wrong! He'll use Pikachu," Gary corrected.
"Oh? Why? You just—"
Before Iris could finish, they heard a "Go!"
A ball of white light shot out from Ash's Poké Ball and fell to the ground, revealing a half-meter-tall Oshawott.
"Oshawott, Oshawott!"
Oshawott eagerly volunteered for the battle.
"Oshawott, you want to go?" Ash asked, a little uncertain.
"Oshawott!"
Oshawott patted its chest to confirm it was ready—but in its enthusiasm, it nearly knocked off the scalchop hanging on its chest.
"Pika! Pikachu!"
However, Pikachu also stepped forward to volunteer.
"Alright! Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash decided without hesitation.
Oshawott: "Oshawott!! (QAQ)!!"
Iris: "What?! (QAQ)!!"
Both Oshawott and Iris were shocked.
Based on Ash's usual personality, whenever a Pokémon volunteered itself, he would always agree.
And although both Oshawott and Pikachu had volunteered this time, Oshawott had asked first. By the principle of first come, first served, Oshawott should have been the one sent out.
[LV21 Oshawott♂ / Elite]
Gary was also quite interested in Ash's Oshawott, since in the plot, this Oshawott was a comedic character.
Ash's luck was as reliable as ever. Among the Pokémon he'd caught in the Unova Region, Swadloon had quasi-Elite potential, while the other two both had Elite potential.
Gary just wondered what potential Ash's Snivy had.
He only knew that Snivy was quite aloof and would abandon Trainers she found unsatisfactory. By the time Ash encountered her, Snivy's level wasn't low, since she had already mastered Leaf Storm.
If leveled up normally, a Snivy could only awaken Leaf Storm after Level 40. Unless it had been awakened early, Ash's Snivy should be above Level 40.
Unfortunately, there was no chance to see it today. With Pikachu stepping in, there was no suspense left in this match.
Level 66 versus Level 42—how could Ash possibly lose?
The battle between the two sides began.
Ash opened with a Thunderbolt from Pikachu, but Leavanny leaned aside and dodged it. Pikachu then attacked with Iron Tail, only to be blocked by Leavanny's Protect.
Leavanny fired off a Leaf Storm, and Pikachu answered with Thunderbolt—and to Gary's surprise, the two moves clashed to a standstill.
"Hm?"
Seeing the two attacks tie, Gary was taken aback.
Pikachu was Level 66. A single Thunderbolt should have been more than enough to overwhelm Leavanny. How could it not even overpower a Leaf Storm?
Immediately after, Pikachu was accidentally caught by String Shot and struck by Leaf Storm and Hyper Beam, yet it still tanked every attack thanks to its high level. In the end, it defeated Leavanny with Iron Tail and Electro Ball, securing the victory.
After the Gym battle, Burgh handed over his Gym Badge to Ash.
"Cilan, Iris, I got the Insect Badge!" After receiving it, Ash held it up to show both companions.
Then Ash deliberately took out his Badge case, opened it in front of Gary, and boasted, "Gary, I've already got three Badges."
"Is that so? So the same as me. How impressive," Gary said, taking out his own Badge case and opening it—revealing four Badges inside.
"What?! Four Badges!"
Ash nearly toppled over when he saw the number of Badges in Gary's case.