In a Black World —
Pikachu, trapped in the ice, faced a huge crisis!
Drill Peck was a Flying-type move.
Clearly, Pryce had specifically taught Delibird this move to target Electric-types.
Combined with the Tailwind speed boost, Delibird's descent was even faster!
Even with the ice in the way, it would only take a moment to reach Pikachu!
**Crack—**
**Crackle!!!**
The ice in front of Pikachu developed several fissures.
However, what Pryce didn't see was that those cracks had actually formed before Delibird got close!
This caused him to fail to predict the next scene!
Brilliant golden lightning suddenly erupted from Pikachu!
A crackling roar resounded through the Gym! The terrifying thunder shattered all the ice!
Simultaneously, the nearest Delibird was also caught in the golden electricity.
The massive discharge enveloped Delibird in the blink of an eye!
If it weren't for the Flying-type energy covering it from Drill Peck, Delibird would have been electrocuted into a roasted bird by now!
Even so, Delibird's current condition wasn't optimistic.
"How could it be so fast? With Delibird's ice moves, it shouldn't have frozen Pikachu for such a short time," Prima said in disbelief.
Although she was the referee… she was clearly one who favored Pryce in her heart. Her judgments were fair, but she couldn't help but think about Pryce during the duel.
That was the case now.
Prima truly didn't understand. She knew the strength of Pryce's Delibird.
If it weren't for her old friend's age, his declining stamina, and his strength dipping slightly,
the title of the world's strongest Ice-type Champion might still belong to Pryce!
Even though Delibird's strength had declined now, it wasn't something to be taken lightly.
Of course, Prima didn't think Pikachu was weak. The thunder Pikachu released at the start had already proven its strength. But… even a Champion-level Pikachu shouldn't be able to react in less than a second after being frozen!
The strangest thing was that Ash hadn't uttered a single command from beginning to end.
It was as if he was communicating telepathically.
Pryce wasn't surprised by Ash's silent operation.
After all, he was already under the preconception that Ash was a psychic. It was normal for psychics to use skills like telepathy, so he didn't consider that Ash's ability might be Aura power.
However, Pryce was still quite shocked.
The opponent's speed in breaking the ice had clearly exceeded his expectations.
According to his calculations, the combination of Blizzard and the pool's freezing should have trapped Pikachu for at least one second.
That second would have been enough for the Tailwind-boosted Delibird to reach Pikachu with Drill Peck!
But the reality was… forget one second, it wasn't even 0.5 seconds!
Could it be that…
While Pryce's mind raced, Pikachu and Delibird had already collided.
Holding on against Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Delibird continued to press forward with its Drill Peck attack!
Maintain Thunderbolt, then follow up with Iron Tail!
Ash quietly instructed within Pikachu's mind. Using two unrelated moves simultaneously was different from using a combined move like Quick Attack + Slam.
Using Iron Tail while maintaining Thunderbolt was like drawing a circle with the left hand and a square with the right. However, now, Pikachu had more than one mind—it had two!
Ash and Pikachu were now in a state of shared senses (Aura Fusion).
Ash helped Pikachu maintain Thunderbolt, while Pikachu could split its focus to unleash Iron Tail with full force!
In the flash between lightning and flint, the lightning-bolt-shaped tail behind Pikachu was sheathed in a metallic luster. Then Pikachu slapped the air with its paw, a faint thread of lightning flashing past, helping Pikachu successfully complete a flip.
The Iron Tail behind it swept from top to bottom, fiercely colliding with the Delibird that was descending at a speed enhanced by Thunderbolt!
**BOOM!!!**
For a moment, the terrifying shockwave generated by the collision between the two spread outward. The ice field disintegrated under this terrifying force!
All the ice was completely shattered and sent flying!
Sabrina on the side directly caught the flying ice with her psychic power, blocking it for Prima.
Prima subconsciously raised her hands to shield herself from the ice, but the expected pain didn't come. Instead, there was a muffled thud in front of her. Opening her eyes—which she had instinctively closed—she discovered a blue barrier had appeared before her at some point.
This barrier was… psychic power?
As soon as Prima glanced over, she saw Sabrina, who had raised her hand to release her psychic power.
That girl turned out to be a psychic… Huh? Is there something behind her?
Because Sabrina's psychic power was no longer covering her body, the distorted light curtain originally concealed behind her became more noticeable, though it still didn't reveal what was inside. One could only see that Sabrina was hiding something behind her with her psychic power.
After looking twice, Prima stopped paying attention to Sabrina.
Psychics were indeed rare, but the duel on the field was not to be missed!
The terrifying aftermath slowly subsided.
By now, the field had been completely destroyed.
Even burning it with flames wouldn't recreate the water-filled arena from earlier.
Moreover, because the ice water in the arena had been completely hollowed out, the entire arena now resembled a huge pit. In the pit, Delibird and Pikachu stood facing each other.
The collision just now had dealt significant damage to both sides, but overall, Delibird had taken more.
After all, Delibird had first withstood Pikachu's Thunderbolt and then been struck by Iron Tail.
Even if Drill Peck had blocked some damage, it couldn't change the fact that it had been hit by two super-effective moves.
Pikachu with a Light Ball was frighteningly powerful in both attacks. Combined with carrying weights all day… this Iron Tail's damage to Delibird was probably higher than the Thunderbolt!
"Just before Pikachu was frozen, you used your psychic telepathy to have it use an electric move in defense, right?"
"So Pikachu wasn't truly frozen inside, but pretended to be, waiting for Delibird to use a melee attack."
"As long as Delibird got close, it could attack with the already-charged Thunderbolt. That way, even if Delibird used Tailwind to accelerate, it couldn't dodge the Thunderbolt at such close range, correct?"
Pryce's analysis made Ash look surprised.
Aside from wrongly analyzing the ability as psychic power, everything else matched Ash's thoughts.
The reason for the wrong analysis was that Ash had displayed psychic power at the Lake of Rage yesterday. Otherwise, Pryce might have started considering Aura by now.
"As expected of a veteran Champion Trainer. I can't hide this little trick from you."
"This little trick of yours made me suffer quite a bit…"
Pryce sneered, his expression turning solemn.
"Delibird, Ice Shard!"
Endure it and use Thunderbolt!
Ice Shard was a priority move, meaning its attack speed was much faster than ordinary moves.
Plus, Delibird had Tailwind active.
Ash didn't think Pikachu could dodge this move with its speed, so it was better to endure it and trade damage!
**Whoosh!**
Delibird opened its small mouth. Completely contrary to its petite, cute appearance, the ice shards it spat were particularly terrifying!
In an instant, those small ice shards—though not huge—emitted a breathtaking chill!
A faint golden electric light flickered on Pikachu's body.
Just as Ice Shard was about to hit Pikachu, Pikachu's Thunderbolt would be fully charged and then released as a galloping thunderbolt!
However, even after using Ice Shard, Delibird still had enough energy to dodge the Thunderbolt released by Pikachu! The golden lightning missed.
Delibird flew high into the sky, preparing to repeat the trick and use Ice Shard again, but Pikachu suddenly jumped up!
A deeper layer of golden electric light appeared on its body!
The golden light clung to Pikachu, making it look like a war god!
Teacher Pikachu, the war god, soared upward, aiming straight for Delibird!
"Dodge, then use Ice Beam."
When Pryce saw Pikachu charging up with unparalleled power and dazzling golden armor, not only was he not panicked at all, he even felt like laughing.
After all, he's still too young—getting impatient!
If Pikachu were on the ground, it might still have some ability to parry—like luring Delibird into a close-range attack or finding a weakness to counter.
His Delibird had the Hustle Ability, meaning its Physical Attack power was greater.
But correspondingly, its accuracy dropped quite a bit, which was why he wanted Delibird to use Drill Peck.
At point-blank range, it wouldn't miss.
So, in the future, Pikachu could still find opportunities to counterattack—provided it was on the ground.
If it came into the air, how could Pikachu compare to Delibird, which could move freely and flexibly in the air?
This move should be… Thunderbolt, right?
It was indeed very fast, but because it jumped from the ground, it could only move in a straight line in the air, making it impossible to hit Delibird!
Just as Pryce thought, Delibird flapped its wings, twisted around, and dodged Pikachu's Thunderbolt!
A bright golden electric streak swept through the air. The numbing electricity left a trace behind. Although Delibird dodged the Thunderbolt, the aura escaping from it still caused slight paralysis to Delibird less than ten centimeters away—but that wasn't important anymore!
Delibird opened its sharp beak. Extremely cold ice energy gathered in its mouth, and then the next second…
"Pika-chu!!"
Pikachu, which had already shot past, stepped on thin air. A clearly visible golden arc appeared in the void.
Then Pikachu instantly turned and aimed straight for Delibird again!
"What?!"
The sudden turn caught Pryce completely off guard. At the same time, Delibird, which was gathering power, was also caught unprepared.
It seemed like a long time had passed, but in reality, the entire sequence of actions by both Pikachu and Delibird had taken only about two seconds.
The moment Pryce shouted, Delibird was struck by the Thunderbolt!
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