Pokemon Paldea [384-385] (Patreon)

Chapter 384: A Special Unown Form and Ash’s Challenge!

Under Calyrex’s suppression, the space-time rift could no longer expand, and the world’s own power of self-repair continued to work.

All Lucas had time to do was pull out his camera and snap a single photo of that pitch-black space-time rift—of the countless densely packed single eyes opening within it—before the crack closed at a speed visible to the naked eye and vanished.

With several soft clacks, twenty-six wooden slates, neatly arranged under Calyrex’s telekinetic control, fell in front of Entei.

Watching the rapidly dissipating crystallization phenomenon around them, Entei’s gaze once again fell upon the twenty-six wooden slates.

For it was a being born from the influence of Unown’s power—birthed from Little Molly’s dreams.

Because of that, Entei could clearly sense the twenty-six Unown within the slates, as well as those slender, thread-like channels connecting the Unown to itself—pathways that were invisible to others.

Deep in its heart, Entei faintly understood: perhaps it was precisely because of these twenty-six thread-like channels that it had not vanished together with the retreating crystallization.

Entei turned its gaze toward the majestic figure mounted on a black steed—an existence as dignified as a king. It had not yet voiced its doubts when the other, as though already knowing what it wanted to ask, spoke first.

“They were awakened by the wish of the girl you wanted to protect—Little Molly. Before they fell asleep, I made an agreement with them.”

“So long as these twenty-six wooden slates are not separated, and you are never cast to the opposite ends of the world from them, you will be able to maintain your existence and remain by that girl’s side.”

Calyrex smiled at Entei. Through communicating with the Unown, it had learned that the Unown wished to help that human girl named Little Molly.

When they accepted its proposal—“You don’t want Little Molly to not only lose her father, but to also lose the ‘replacement’ father and feel even more heartbroken, do you?”—the Unown indeed used their mysterious power before they went to sleep, creating twenty-six channels that would sustain Entei’s existence.

With those channels in place, Entei could maintain its current strength and stay by Little Molly’s side.

The price was merely that it could not stray too far from the twenty-six wooden slates.

Entei’s eyes widened as it stared at Calyrex in shock. It had not expected that even this sort of thing was within its power.

After pondering for a moment, Entei solemnly expressed its thanks to Calyrex, and to Lucas—who had given it the resolve to act and had even summoned the strongest outside aid, Calyrex itself.

“Thank you very much for your help. I will never forget this favor for as long as I live!”

Lucas had just raised his hand to wave off the gratitude when Victini flew in front of Entei, crying out in dissatisfaction.

“Vii-ni! Tini!”

It was clearly them—Victini and Arcanine—who had helped too, so why was Entei only thanking Lucas and Calyrex!?

Faced with Victini’s displeasure, Entei instead furrowed its brow in confusion. After a brief silence, it hesitantly asked, “What is it… saying?”

Not only did Victini freeze on the spot, even Lucas and Calyrex wore looks of disbelief.

Entei actually couldn’t understand what Victini was saying?

…

Morning.

Gentle sunlight, as if bringing new life, shone down upon the somewhat damaged Hale Mansion.

Ash’s group stared in wonder at Entei, who was lying beside Little Molly with its eyes closed, resting.

Then, they turned to Lucas—who was sitting politely as he accepted the hospitality of Professor Hale’s assistant and sipped the black tea brewed by Delia, who had enthusiastically volunteered—gazing at him with looks of pure admiration.

Not only the incident on Shamouti Island, but this incident as well had been resolved in a god-descending, overwhelming manner by the man before them in a single stroke. He had even, by some unknown means, managed to keep Entei here.

He was the very picture of “absolute safety.”

After finishing the tea, Lucas called Little Molly over. Following a brief exchange, he personally handed her a box that was a little heavy for her, speaking with a very solemn expression:

“You must keep this safe.”

Little Molly held the box with difficulty, her small hands gripping it tightly. She earnestly answered Lucas’s reminder:

“I will, big brother.”

“Very good.”

Lucas smiled as he ruffled Little Molly’s hair. Only after watching her ride happily into her room on Entei’s back did he stand up and look out through the window at the garden outside, lush with greenery.

It was hard to imagine: Entei clearly could speak human language, and yet was unable to understand the meaning of Pokémon cries.

In Lucas’s view, this was probably related to the power of the Unown and to the fact that Entei had been born from Little Molly’s dream.

Compared to a pure Pokémon, Entei was more like something the Unown had sculpted from Little Molly’s dreams—

“A Professor Hale who can speak human language, who has no memory of being Professor Hale, but retains Entei’s appearance, and therefore can’t understand Pokémon speech.”

An existence like that was truly strange.

After finishing its support, Calyrex rode Spectrier back to the ranch. Before leaving, it had even taken advantage of the night to restore the scorched land Arcanine had burned black.

Then, time moved on to dawn.

Thanks to Officer Jenny and Professor Hale’s assistant’s efforts, the reporters who had rushed over after hearing the news were all blocked outside. Aside from Team Rocket’s trio—who had slipped away at some point—Ash’s group, Delia, and Professor Oak all accepted Little Molly’s invitation and returned as guests to the Hale Mansion.

At that moment, in the garden of Hale Mansion, Arcanine looked rather troubled as Professor Oak circled around it from every angle like some kind of crazed stalker, observing it.

Professor Oak even went so far as to stick his rear into the air, pressing half of his face to the ground as he observed the cloud-like fur on Arcanine’s paws from an extremely low angle.

How to put it… he looked like he was one step away from drooling.

As Professor Oak wiggled his hips closer and closer, adding in some questionable, vaguely indecent sounding interjections as he went, even the “husky-in-spirit” Arcanine couldn’t take it anymore.

Arcanine first looked for help toward Raging Bolt, who was struggling off to the side as it tried to groom its fur alone and was having a hard time of it—but Raging Bolt, already traumatized by Professor Oak, simply ignored it.

Next, Arcanine sharply noticed a gaze from inside the house, peering out through a window.

It was Lucas!

Like someone who had finally grabbed hold of his last straw, Arcanine shot Lucas a desperate plea for help.

It thought, I’m the one Lucas’s raised since I was little! He wouldn’t be so heartless as to leave me alone to face this terrifying pervy old man just over biting a few hundred pairs of slippers, would he?

Arcanine had already conveniently forgotten that it was Lucas who’d handed the two of them over to Professor Oak. It swore that if Lucas would just save it this time, once they got back to the ranch it would absolutely never chew up hundreds of pairs of slippers again!

From now on, at most one pair of slippers a day… It would be good. It would be so, so good. Just please let it off this once!

However, Lucas’s gaze only met Arcanine’s for a brief instant before he withdrew it at a speed that left the dog dumbfounded.

He even vanished from behind the window entirely!

Arcanine’s motion of reaching out for help froze in place.

Meanwhile, Professor Oak felt like he had already ascended to heaven.

Raikou’s look-alike—its stance reminiscent of one of the three legendary beasts said to have been revived by Ho-Oh in Johto’s myths; Electric/Dragon typing; named Raging Bolt.

And then there was Arcanine, seemingly a regional variant—a Fire/Rock-type Arcanine. It was his first time seeing such a mysterious form up close!

As a Pokémon professor, Oak felt he was already in paradise.

Staring at Arcanine, Professor Oak panted quietly, almost imperceptibly. His very presence was so suffocating that even the always-unruly Arcanine—who feared no one at the ranch except Lucas, Moltres, and his main team’s Luxray and Serperior—was sweating bullets.

In a voice only he and Arcanine could hear, Professor Oak muttered:

“As expected… just looking isn’t enough. I have to touch it.”

Just as Oak’s “sinful” hands reached for Arcanine’s mane—fur that he couldn’t help but speculate about: what kind of substance could possibly feel like that—

Perhaps it was the lewd heat in Professor Oak’s gaze, or the way his fidgeting fingers made Arcanine’s skin crawl.

Like the proverbial last straw that broke the camel’s back, Arcanine finally couldn’t take any more.

It opened its jaws and fired a point-blank Flamethrower straight at Professor Oak!

Inside Hale Mansion, Lucas—who had left earlier because he had already agreed to let Professor Oak examine Arcanine and Raging Bolt and therefore could do nothing about Arcanine’s desperate looks—heard the commotion outside and stuck half his face out the window.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

It wasn’t because he was shocked to see Professor Oak being roasted by Arcanine’s Flamethrower.

It was because, after completely bathing in the blast of Flamethrower, Professor Oak’s body only had a layer of charcoal-black soot on it. His clothes weren’t even singed.

After spitting out a ring of black dust, Oak moved freely, not a trace of burns on him, and continued to approach Arcanine.

At that moment, only one thought flashed through Lucas’s mind:

Could this… be the legendary Super Rookie?

Seeing Arcanine’s terrified expression, Lucas suddenly felt a twinge of sympathy.

After a brief thought, he turned around, choosing to turn a blind eye.

The moment Lucas turned, the battle-honed intuition he had developed as a Trainer pricked at him: something behind him was watching.

He tapped his toe lightly on the wooden floor—a tiny signal that only he and Mimikyu understood. At once, he heard two faint plops from behind him.

As Lucas slowly turned around, Mimikyu’s shadowy form shot out of his own shadow.

When he had turned fully, he found that behind him there was nothing.

Nothing but three solid walls with no secret doors anywhere.

“Kyuu?”

Mimikyu, as though having discovered something, tugged at Lucas’s pant leg with one shadowy claw while pointing at the wooden floor of Hale Mansion with the other.

Lying there were two wooden slates, just slightly different from the others, resting quietly on the floor.

On a closer look, the patterns carved into them were different from the twenty-six patterns on Little Molly’s slates.

They were:

“!” and “?”

Exclamation mark and question mark.

…

Afternoon.

“We’ll be taking our leave then.” Delia gave a slight bow to Professor Hale’s assistant. “Thank you for taking such good care of us today.”

The assistant waved his hands in flustered panic.

“Not at all. If it hadn’t been for all of you stepping in, who knows—Little Molly might still…”

Halfway through his sentence, the assistant suddenly covered his mouth, forcibly cutting himself off.

He glanced guiltily at the upstairs window. He almost forgot: the Entei doting on Little Molly now would no longer do what it had done last night.

Still, would Entei alone really be able to take care of Little Molly properly? It seemed he’d have to find a way to contact that “madam” who had unilaterally cut ties with them.

They might be divorced, but with Professor Hale missing, surely she wouldn’t leave Little Molly alone, would she?

As a veteran who’d long become a sly old fox, Professor Oak picked up on this immediately and smoothly changed the subject.

“As for Professor Hale, I’ll also be organizing a research team to investigate the place where he disappeared. In the meantime, I’ll be counting on you to look after Little Molly.”

“It’s no trouble—I’ll be careful!”

The assistant looked at Professor Oak gratefully, nodding again and again.

Listening to their conversation, Lucas said nothing.

He remembered that at the end of the movie—in other words, not long after the Crystal Tower incident concluded—Professor Hale, who had been taken by the Unown into the rift, was simply “spat out” by the Unown dwelling in the space-time crack.

Now, the Unown living within the rift had, just like in the movie, returned to their home. The Unown within the wooden slates had also gone back to their own slates. There shouldn’t be any issues.

The slates…

At that thought, Lucas unconsciously touched his jacket pocket.

It held a symbol independent from the twenty-six Unown letters—completely unrelated to the twenty-six letter-slates that Professor Hale’s assistant had brought back.

In that case, what about the two slates that had inexplicably dropped behind him—engraved with symbols for “?” and “!”?

What did they mean?

Everyone left Hale Mansion, walking across the beautiful green plain.

After a while, Professor Oak drove away with Delia toward Pallet Town, leaving Lucas alone with Ash and his friends.

Noticing that all three were watching him, Lucas smiled. As the adult here, he took the initiative to start the conversation.

“I’m heading to the Indigo Plateau. Where are you three planning to travel next?”

The three exchanged a glance. Reliable and level-headed—except when facing pretty older girls—Brock answered on their behalf.

“Our short-term goal… is Ecruteak City. There’s the Ecruteak Gym there, where Ash can earn his fourth badge.”

The moment Gym battles were mentioned, Ash became visibly excited, nearly ready to sprint to Ecruteak right away.

But before that, he stepped up to Lucas, looked at the Delibird cocking its head at him by Lucas’s side, and bowed slightly in request:

“Mr. Lucas, please have a Pokémon battle with me!”

“Pika-pi, pika!”

Balancing perfectly on Ash’s shoulder, Pikachu mimicked its Trainer, solemnly issuing a challenge to Delibird.

In the Indigo League, after he had defeated Ritchie, Ash had been eliminated in the quarterfinals. He knew clearly that he was still nowhere near strong enough.

Now that chances to challenge the truly strong in Johto were rare, he naturally wanted to gain more experience through a battle with Lucas.

Misty and Brock, who once would have instantly jumped in to stop Ash from troubling Lucas, both stood frozen instead.

Was this really the same Ash—the kid who never seemed to grow up, who would shout about battling any Trainer he saw regardless of their identity?

Scrutinizing Ash and Pikachu’s firm expressions, Lucas turned to Delibird.

“What do you think? Want to battle?”

Delibird hopped down to the ground, its gaze burning as it stared down Ash and Pikachu, crying out with iron-clad resolve:

“Deli!”

How could it not want to battle?

Who would have thought that after just a short time, the two brats it had once beaten into submission would dare to challenge it on their own initiative?

They deserved a beating!

Seeing Delibird’s eagerness, and curious to see how far Ash had come—and whether in his future Sinnoh journey he could still grow strong enough to become a rival to Paul, who would later train under him—Lucas decided to accept Ash’s challenge.

After a brief moment of thought, Lucas decided to test Ash using the same kind of challenge Paul had used against Cynthia in the anime.

“The rules will be a one-on-seven singles battle.”

“Whether it’s Charizard, who hasn’t yet returned from Charicific Valley, or the six Pokémon currently in your team—use everything you’ve got and try to defeat me.”

Chapter 385: A One-on-Seven Battle Against Ash!

“One against seven…?”

Misty and Brock’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

Was it boldness or confidence?

Either way, it wasn’t something they’d dare say themselves.

Ash didn’t feel insulted at all. On the contrary, he was completely fired up.

Battling Mr. Lucas = gaining a ton of experience = becoming stronger = easily defeating Gary at the Silver Conference!

A battle like that—if he turned it down, he’d be a coward!

With that in mind, Ash shouted:

“That’s exactly what I wanted!”

Back in Kanto, when he traveled to challenge the Indigo League, Ash had unquestionably been immature as a Trainer.

Many of the badges he collected on that journey were essentially gifted by the Gym Leaders out of kindness.

Although Pikachu had taken on the ace role of the team under Delibird’s constant “training,” filling the gap left by Charizard’s rebellious nature before it fully reconciled with Ash in the Orange Islands—and although Pikachu’s growth meant Ash didn’t lose to Ritchie in the top-16 match—

In the later rounds, even a stronger Pikachu alone could no longer carry the team.

To put it plainly, Ash’s team back then had far too many baby Pokémon.

At this stage, Ash was far from the mature Trainer he would one day become. Deep down he even carried a bit of inferiority, with his only goal being to surpass his rival Gary—not to treat Gary as a necessary hurdle on the road to becoming a Pokémon Master.

These problems would all be gradually corrected on his future journeys. But from Lucas’s perspective, looking at the Ash standing before him now, aside from a sincere love for his Pokémon and passion for battle, there wasn’t much that resembled the future world’s strongest Trainer.

Having Ash use seven Pokémon, including Charizard who had not yet returned from the valley, served two goals: first, to gauge Ash’s current strength; and second, to see whether he could “open his eyes” a little earlier.

Lucas knew that ever since becoming a teacher, his thinking had started gravitating toward “education.” But he didn’t dislike that feeling.

They picked a patch of open ground where they wouldn’t damage the lush grassland, and the improvised one-on-seven battle began with simple arrangements: Lucas on the left, Ash on the right, and Brock acting as referee.

“Okay, let’s win this, Cyndaquil!”

Ash threw his Poké Ball. With a flash of red, a dual-colored Pokémon—ink-blue and creamy yellow—appeared. Jets of flame erupted from its back as it landed in front of Lucas and Delibird.

The Fire Mouse Pokémon, Cyndaquil. Naturally a Fire-type, likely with the Blaze ability, and one of the three Johto starter Pokémon.

Misty and Brock were stunned.

Was this really the same Ash they knew?

He’d actually remembered type matchups and sent out Cyndaquil, which had a type advantage over Delibird.

The moment it hit the ground, the flames on Cyndaquil’s back—reflecting its mood and condition—roared fiercely. Its line-thin, squinting eyes were locked on Delibird as if facing a formidable enemy.

It could clearly sense the gap between its own power and Delibird’s, and thus it was all the more wary.

But reckless-style Ash didn’t think that far. Full of confidence, he yelled:

“Cyndaquil, use Quick Attack on Delibird!”

Cyndaquil followed Ash’s orders obediently. Even knowing that charging Delibird recklessly could be dangerous in ways it couldn’t foresee, it wrapped itself in white light and dashed forward at high speed!

Lucas countered the opening attack with just one short command.

“Fly.”

Delibird grabbed its tail, a ring of air rippling out from the ground beneath it, and shot up into the air.

Seeing Cyndaquil miss, Ash shouted again:

“Swift!”

Cyndaquil twisted its body mid-run, unleashing a storm of gleaming golden stars, each trailing a shining tail as they shot straight toward Delibird.

“Aerial Ace.”

Faced with Swift, which had a practical “never miss” effect, Delibird soared higher into the sky. Surrounded by sky-blue, wispy air currents, it suddenly cut its flight short and dove in a steep, high-difficulty drop. At the last possible instant, it slipped past the pursuing stars and, like a falcon stooping on its prey, smashed into Cyndaquil at a speed too fast for it to react!

Boom—!

“Cyndaquil!”

Knocked flying, Cyndaquil tumbled several times across the ground before finally rolling to a stop. Ash shouted in concern, but the flames on its back flickered a few times and then went out completely as it lost consciousness.

Silence fell over the field.

Charizard, as well as Pikachu perched on Ash’s shoulder, were both suddenly tense.

That kind of aerial maneuver…

“Cyndaquil didn’t even get a chance to use its signature Flamethrower…?”

Misty hugged Togepi tighter, murmuring in disbelief.

When Ash hurriedly ran up to pick Cyndaquil up, Brock’s voice rang out, heavier than before:

“Cyndaquil is unable to battle!”

“Deli~”

Delibird landed in front of Lucas, tilting its head up proudly to claim credit.

Lucas smiled and rubbed Delibird’s head, then shifted his gaze to Victini on his shoulder.

“Ti-ni~”

Victini shook its head slightly.

How to put it… If it hadn’t been paying close attention, it might not even have sensed the Victory aura Cyndaquil’s defeat had generated. It was so faint as to be almost negligible.

Understanding what Victini was getting at, Lucas turned his eyes to Ash, who had grown noticeably quieter after recalling Cyndaquil, his face full of unwillingness.

He said nothing, merely waiting for Ash’s second Pokémon.

“Chikorita!”

Ash’s second choice was an adorable little Pokémon: a pale green body, a single dark-green leaf atop its head, and red eyes.

The Leaf Pokémon, Chikorita. A Grass-type, likely with Overgrow, and the second of the three Johto starters.

The moment it came out, Chikorita ran straight to Ash’s feet and nuzzled happily against his leg.

Her big red eyes were full of adoration, which actually startled Lucas.

This Chikorita was very competitive and it was clear she was battling for Ash’s sake.

“Chikori!”

Putting on her fiercest expression, Chikorita let out a cute, soft war-cry at Delibird. Under Ash’s command, she immediately went to her best move.

Razor Leaf!

Countless crescent-shaped, razor-sharp leaves whooshed forth as Chikorita snapped her head, sending them slashing toward Delibird at a considerable speed.

“Air Slash.”

Lucas, for his part, had Delibird use a move that was essentially the same in nature.

Delibird gathered Flying-type energy and beat its wings.

Half-transparent blades of compressed air—fewer in number than Razor Leaf by about half—screamed out to meet the attack. But the instant the two sides collided, Razor Leaf didn’t have the slightest resistance. It was torn apart by Air Slash.

The Air Slash kept on going, its momentum undiminished, and shot straight for Chikorita.

Standing motionless, Chikorita didn’t even have time to dodge before she was struck head-on by the super-effective hit and instantly knocked out.

Ash hurriedly scooped up the fainted Chikorita. After he recalled her to her Poké Ball, Brock once more announced:

“Chikorita is unable to battle.”

By now, both Brock and Misty—who was clutching Togepi tightly—had realized that Ash’s newly-caught Johto Pokémon were far too low-level compared to Delibird.

So low that they were being taken out in a single clean hit.

After losing two teammates in a row, even hot-tempered Charizard felt like stepping in himself.

Those two little guys were under his protection; how could Delibird crush them that easily?

If not for Pikachu blocking him, Charizard would have barged onto the field then and there.

Faced with consecutive defeats, the unwillingness in Ash’s expression deepened as he sent out his third Pokémon.

The Water-type, Totodile—the third of the Johto starters.

This Totodile was extremely lively, bouncing as it danced its distinctive little crocodile dance while yapping excitedly.

Ash had wanted to use Totodile’s natural agility to dodge Delibird’s crushing attacks, but under Lucas’s direction, Delibird simply fired off an Ice Beam and froze Totodile solid on the spot.

All three of Ash’s Johto starters had now lost their ability to battle.

The only other time Ash had been beaten this badly was by Lorelei of the Elite Four.

His heart churned with emotions: unwillingness, refusal to lose, the thought that this battle couldn’t end with him having accomplished nothing. He sent out his fourth Pokémon.

“I’m counting on you, Noctowl!”

With a flash of brilliant animation sparkles, a Noctowl took wing—a bit smaller than a typical Noctowl, but with brighter plumage, and eyes that glinted with sharp intelligence.

Ash’s only other Flying unit at present, and a shiny Noctowl at that!

This Noctowl was highly intelligent—even capable of commanding other Pokémon in battle.

Why a Pokémon like this would choose to follow Ash and accept his orders remained a mystery.

At least, having fully evolved, it lasted longer than the three Johto starters.

At first, Ash still wanted to have Noctowl charge straight in. Noctowl did follow that order, flying to slam into Delibird.

But being clever, it actually used the extra speed from Tackle to close the distance in a blur. Then its eyes gleamed with a psychic light that muddled the mind—it was trying to sneak a Hypnosis in on Delibird while it was supposedly off-guard.

Unfortunately for it, Delibird’s Ability was Vital Spirit—it simply couldn’t be put to sleep.

Lucas didn’t even bother ordering Delibird to dodge, instead instructing it to use Ice Beam again.

Realizing that Hypnosis had no effect at all, Noctowl twisted its body at the last second, trying to dodge the beam of ice.

It wasn’t completely hit, but its wings still froze over with a heavy crust of ice that drastically affected its flight.

In response, Noctowl tried to use Confusion to hold Delibird in place.

But the moment its psychic power wrapped around Delibird, the bird simply broke free—Noctowl didn’t have the raw mental strength to contain it.

The instant Confusion shattered, Delibird landed a direct Ice Punch, knocking Noctowl out of the sky and out of the fight.

Four of Ash’s seven champions were down.

To be honest, Lucas actually felt somewhat disappointed.

Judging by the four Pokémon that had appeared so far, Ash—both in terms of strength and in all other aspects as a Trainer—had shown almost no distinguishing traits.

Their levels, movesets, and raw strength were all far too weak. With the basics themselves not up to par, never mind advanced tactics; even basic strategy didn’t really enter into it. His commands were straightforward to a fault. Only Noctowl’s surprise Hypnosis had been even mildly impressive.

Lucas didn’t quite understand. They were already close to the fourth Gym—under normal circumstances, Totodile, Cyndaquil, and Chikorita, which should be relatively easy to train, showed not the slightest sign of evolving.

Unlike Bulbasaur, they had no reason to resist evolution.

They had traveled through three Gyms by now, and yet these starters didn’t even meet the vague functional threshold for evolution. This world had no visible “levels,” but from a Pokémon’s power, you could roughly gauge their stage.

Totodile, Cyndaquil, and Chikorita were perhaps only slightly stronger than a starter Pokémon just picked up from a professor by an ordinary Trainer.

If all the reasons were distilled down into one simple point, the truth was clear.

At least for now, Ash’s methods of training his Pokémon were a complete mess.

Brock was only just beginning his path toward becoming a Breeder; at this point, he was basically just better at cooking.

Misty, the “leftover tea dregs” among the Sensational Sisters of Cerulean Gym, was also still growing.

The help the two of them could provide to a completely clueless beginner like Ash—who had zero theoretical knowledge—was extremely limited.

So then, was there a way to massively boost this area of his growth in one go?

An idea surfaced in Lucas’s mind, but he didn’t voice it—he simply waited for Ash’s fifth Pokémon.

From here on, things would finally get a bit more interesting.

“I’m counting on you, Bulbasaur!”

Ash pulled the brim of his limited-edition League cap down and tossed his fifth Poké Ball with a gloved right hand.

In the next instant—

The red light faded, revealing a green-skinned Pokémon with dark green patches, a plant bulb on its back that grew together with it, and a body somewhat reminiscent of a toad.

The Seed Pokémon, Bulbasaur!

As an old veteran on Ash’s team, this Bulbasaur was by far the most distinctive: it refused to evolve.

Its strength was no joke, either; even while remaining a Bulbasaur, it had managed to learn one of the big Grass-type finishing moves, SolarBeam.

The moment it appeared, Bulbasaur fixed a steady gaze on Delibird, as if carefully assessing it.

After all, it had fought Delibird multiple times during their Orange Islands journey.

Noting that Ash had finally sent out a worthy opponent, Delibird flapped its wings and landed right in front of Bulbasaur. Locking eyes with Bulbasaur’s red pupils, it showed a hint of interest on its face.

Both were curious to see just how much the other had grown since the Shamouti Island incident.

Once Brock announced the battle’s continuation, Ash didn’t hesitate.

“Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip to grab Delibird! Don’t let it take off!”

Compared to how awkward he was when battling with his Johto-caught team, Ash clearly knew exactly how to handle Delibird when commanding this “veteran” Bulbasaur.

“Daa-na-hu!”

Bulbasaur’s twin vines shot out like lightning, reaching Delibird in the blink of an eye. Like two flexible green snakes, they snapped forward, aiming to coil around Delibird.

During its time with Mewtwo, Delibird had learned many moves, covering a wide range of types.

Even Steel-type moves were no exception.

“Steel Wing.”

Delibird’s eyes sharpened. A silvery glow sheathed its red wings, their edges turning razor-sharp.

With cross-cutting slashes, Delibird chopped down at the vines. Bulbasaur cried out in pain as its vines were neatly sliced into segments. The moment it lost its restraining grip, Delibird soared up high, taking aerial control in the blink of an eye.

“Still as tricky as ever…”

Ash clenched his fists and punched the air.

“Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf!”

“Daa-na!”

Bulbasaur dipped its head in acknowledgment, then began zipping unpredictably across the ground, all while whipping up storm after storm of Razor Leaf at the Delibird above.

This was its combat experience at work—so long as it stayed on the move instead of standing still like a sitting duck, the odds of being instantly knocked out were much lower, even if its Razor Leaf got shredded by Air Slash.

“He really does know how to be crafty,” Lucas said with a faint smile. Having spotted the same thing, he shouted up to the sky, “Use Hail Scene, then tank it!”

“Deli!”

Ignoring the Razor Leaf shrieking up from below, Delibird called out to the sky.

In an instant, heavy gray clouds rolled over the heavens, and countless fine, intricate snowflakes drifted down. Under a magnifying glass, each snowflake would have looked exquisite, but gathered together, they quickly turned into a dense flurry that blanketed one corner of the warm green plain in thick, swirling snow.

Delibird could clearly feel it: in this “snowy weather,” distinct from the usual “Hail,” the snowflakes at its side formed a thin yet reliable barrier, bolstering its defenses.

A second after Hail Scene was complete, Razor Leaf struck home as scheduled. The razor-sharp leaves sliced at Delibird, but the snowflakes weakened their edges, significantly dampening their power.

Seeing Razor Leaf fail to produce the expected result, both Ash and Bulbasaur were momentarily at a loss.

Brock cried out in surprise:

“A weather move!”

Beside him, Misty felt a twinge of unease.

At least in her memory, during their Orange Islands scuffles, Delibird had never once used a weather move when battling Ash.

Her misgivings were realized a second later.

Lucas suddenly spoke:

“Let me see Bulbasaur’s SolarBeam. If you don’t, there won’t be another chance after this next move.”

Ash froze for a heartbeat. He wanted to argue, but in the end he still took Lucas’s advice to heart. With a tight-throated shout, he gave the command:

“Bulbasaur, charge up for SolarBeam!”

“Daa-na!”

Bulbasaur stared up at Delibird like it was facing down a final boss, and began charging power.

Under sunny, bright conditions, SolarBeam would require hardly a few seconds to be ready to fire.

But now, with heavy snow clouds blotting out almost all sunlight, Bulbasaur had to charge for a very long time.

It was only after about thirty seconds that it finally felt like it had enough energy to release the attack.

Aiming the bulb at Delibird in the air, Bulbasaur, without the slightest hesitation, unleashed its ultimate move.

“Daa-na-hu!”

With Bulbasaur’s full-force cry, a blazing emerald light—brilliant as the sun itself—compressed into a beam and blasted skyward!

After waiting patiently, Lucas gave his final command.

“Blizzard.”

With a single beat of its wings, Delibird summoned Ice-type energy that gathered like a miracle in this snowy weather. In a heartbeat, a massive storm of howling wind and snow exploded forth, like an avalanche crashing down from a collapsing mountain.

Bulbasaur felt only a single wave of killing cold sweep across its body before its consciousness went dark. Together with its SolarBeam, it was frozen into a solid block of ice.