However, even though Lapras paused for a moment, she ultimately reacted faster and was the first to use Thunderbolt to strike the opponent.
"Let's press the advantage, Lapras, use Freeze-Dry!" Freeze-Dry is an Ice Type Move, but it can counter Water Attribute Pokemon, which means that Lapras, usually four times resistant to ice, would take normal damage after being hit by this move!
"Oh!" Lapras took a deep breath, the icy cold air gathering in her mouth, and in the next second, a chilly beam shot out from Lapras' mouth, straight towards Yuji's Ditto.
At this moment, Ditto was still in a limp state; the previous Thunderbolt had indeed caused significant damage, leaving him dazed.
"Boom!" The Freeze-Dry hit Ditto solidly, and the special energy eroded Ditto's body, causing it to let out another painful wail.
"Ditto, pull yourself together, use Thunderbolt!!" Yuji shouted at Ditto, trying to counterattack with an Electric Type Move.
"Once more, Freeze-Dry!" Ash continued to use the ice attribute Freeze-Dry.
This left Serena, standing behind him, somewhat puzzled: "Why is Ash using an ice attribute move and not an electric attribute one? Ice attribute should only deal a quarter of the damage to Lapras, right? Compared to an Electric Type Move, it's an eight-fold difference!"
Although Serena was still a novice, Ash had already taught her the type effectiveness chart, so she had memorized it.
And Lapras, being Ash's Pokemon, Serena naturally knew what attributes Lapras had. That's why she was confused why Ash didn't use the twice super effective Electric Type Move, but rather chose a move that only dealt a quarter of the damage.
Before Misty could explain, the result on the field had already given Serena the answer.
Both Lapras were charging in place, one gathering ice attribute power, the other flickering with golden electric sparks. But in one second, the Freeze-Dry accumulated in Lapras' mouth had already burst forth, while on the other side, Ditto had yet to use Thunderbolt!
This scene caused Yuji's pupils to contract, and he finally understood where the unsettling feeling in his mind came from, but now it was too late!
The Freeze-Dry pierced through the field, hitting Ditto once again with force. Ditto's charged Thunderbolt was interrupted, and he was sent flying backward, crashing into a protruding rock, and finally sliding down powerlessly, his body emitting a burst of strong light, reverting back to its original form.
"Ditto is unable to battle, Lapras wins!" The referee saw Ditto revert to its original form and directly waved the flag to declare the result.
In general battles, Ditto only returns to its original form when it's unable to battle.
So when Ditto reverted to its original form, the referee decisively judged that Ditto was unable to battle, showing the courage a professional referee must have to make a judgment.
Indeed, Ditto was genuinely unable to battle. The spectators and Yuji himself were still somewhat stunned; was this first round really over so quickly?
Wasn't it supposed to be a fierce showdown? How did Yuji's side seem to have no resistance and got knocked out just like that?
"See now?" Misty shrugged, seemingly having foreseen this scenario.
Serena's little face was dazed, and she shook her head woodenly: "I... I can't understand it..."
"It's actually very simple because Lapras is an Ice and Water Attribute Pokemon. When using its own attribute moves, not only is the move's power stronger, but the speed of release is faster, much faster than non-same-type moves."
"So that's it! So Ash didn't let Lapras use Thunderbolt!" With Misty's explanation, Serena immediately understood. Faced with Thunderbolt, Ash chose an ice attribute move because the attack speed of using ice attribute moves is faster.
The opponent was transformed from Ditto, with everything besides physical strength being the same as Lapras, so there was no case where using Thunderbolt would be faster than using an ice attribute move.
"As for the eight-fold difference you mentioned... it's actually not that much. The move Freeze-Dry can deal double damage to Water Attribute Pokemon, so against a Water and Ice attribute Lapras, it would cause normal single damage."
Serena nodded in understanding; this kind of battle was much more comprehensible than those previous god-level combats.
What was with those previous battles? The moves seemed world-destroying, those moves couldn't even be called Pokemon moves, could they? One move was more terrifying than the next, if they landed on an island, they'd probably obliterate the entire island in an instant!
This is the kind of normal Pokemon battle! And with the experienced Gym Leader explaining, it's something she could understand!
"You've really got it, Ash. I was careless, completely forgetting such basic information... No, I shouldn't say careless, it's more like I got thrown off balance by your unexpected attack, which led to such a low-level mistake. You're really impressive, Ash!" Yuji praised Ash while recalling Ditto back into the Pokeball.
Even Misty could see the issue, how could Yuji not? But when you're in the battle, it's easy to miss things the audience can see clearly. By the time Yuji realized the problem, it was already too late.
"Lapras reacted quickly, and it trusts me a lot. Otherwise, it wouldn't have so decisively followed my command knowing it was facing an Electric Type Move." Ash smiled, nodding at Lapras, encouraging it.
"Now for my second Pokemon... go, Kecleon!!" Yuji threw out another Pokeball, and with a flash of light, a multicolored green, lizard-like Pokemon appeared on the field.
Kecleon, the color-changing Pokemon, can change the color of its body based on its surroundings to achieve a camouflage effect similar to invisibility.
Kecleon has two types of abilities, one being Color Change, which doesn't refer to body color but its attribute 'Color Change.'
When attacked by an enemy, Kecleon's attribute will change to the opponent's attribute. However, this trait is rather useless.
Because this attribute change occurs after taking damage, meaning if the opponent attacks you with a Fire Attribute attack, you must first endure it as a Normal attribute, then you transform into the Fire Attribute.
Apart from the uncontrollable nature of attribute change, just the fact that it changes attributes after taking damage greatly decreases the value of this ability.
If the attribute could change before damage calculation, then when Kecleon is attacked with a Fire Attribute move, it would gain resistance to Fire Attribute, even though some skills can counter its own attribute, such as the Dragon Attribute.
But this instantaneous attribute change is certainly better than changing after taking damage.
This leads us to Kecleon's other ability, 'Protean.'
Protean, like Color Change, allows Kecleon to change its attribute, but while the latter requires taking an attack, the former changes based on its own attack.
And Protean changes its attribute at the moment of attack, allowing the skill move to benefit from related attribute boosts.
Compared to Color Change, Protean is simply a divine-level ability!
However, Yuji's Kecleon only has the ordinary Color Change ability.
Seeing this, Ash also recalled Lapras and then sent out his second Pokemon: "It's you, Snorlax!!"