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After his initial surprise, Ash quickly understood what was happening. He recalled that in the anime, Mandi's final Pokémon had been Golbat.
He had been caught off guard when Graveler appeared instead, but the reasoning behind the choice soon became clear.
"On this battlefield, you took the risk of bringing out Graveler because you wanted to use it against Moltres, right?"
"Unfortunately, you miscalculated. I didn't register Moltres for this tournament at all. And even if I had brought Moltres, you still would have made a critical error."
Ash found the situation rather amusing. After thinking it through carefully, everything made sense. No wonder Mandi's expression had been so unpleasant.
Moltres was a Fire and Flying-type Pokémon. The Fire-type was weak to both Rock and Ground-type attacks.
The Flying-type was also weak to Rock-type moves, which meant that when facing Graveler, Moltres would take quadruple damage from Rock-type attacks.
Meanwhile, Moltres's own attacks—with its Fire and Flying-type moves—wouldn't inflict much damage on Graveler. This was precisely why Mandi had chosen this strategy.
Abandoning the Golbat he'd used in the anime timeline, Mandi had selected Graveler instead because Ash's ambiguous words before the match had misled him.
Mandi had been absolutely certain that Ash would use Moltres, so he'd prepared Graveler as a counter. But he hadn't anticipated that Ash wouldn't bring Moltres at all.
Moreover, in Mandi's original plan, if Ash didn't use Moltres, none of his other Pokémon would pose a real threat.
He'd even entertained a grand fantasy: using Exeggutor's type advantage to defeat Ash's first two Pokémon, since he was confident Ash's opening choices would be Water-types.
In fact, his assumption hadn't been entirely wrong. Ash's first two Pokémon were indeed Water-types, with Pikachu reserved for last.
According to Mandi's strategy, Exeggutor would defeat the first two opponents, eliminating any concern about being overwhelmed by Moltres later. Seadra, as a Water-type Pokémon, would have the advantage against Moltres.
The plan called for wearing down Moltres's stamina as much as possible—ideally injuring it significantly—before finally sending out Graveler to deliver devastating damage to the legendary bird. Every aspect of the strategy had seemed thorough and flawless.
However, what Mandi hadn't anticipated was that he himself would become the punchline. He was the one whose team had been swept twice over.
Ash had effortlessly dismantled his elaborate plan with a single Kingler. With overwhelming strength and straightforward tactics, Kingler had bulldozed through all of Mandi's clever schemes.
Under these circumstances, when Mandi finally brought out Graveler, what should have been a brilliant tactical maneuver transformed into an embarrassing joke.
If he had actually managed to defeat Ash's first two Pokémon and then revealed Graveler, it would have been genuinely impressive. Even if Ash had used Pikachu instead of Moltres, the plan wouldn't have been a complete failure.
Ultimately, it was Mandi's own arrogance that had led to this result. Deep down, he had underestimated Ash, which made him overconfident in his supposed guaranteed victory and blind to the flaws in his strategy.
Moreover, what Ash found particularly amusing was Mandi's fundamental miscalculation.
The legendary Pokémon Moltres might not rank among the absolute strongest legendary beings, but a legendary Pokémon was still a legendary Pokémon.
How could it be easily defeated simply because of type disadvantage?
"Stop talking nonsense! Graveler, use Stone Edge!"
Stung by Ash's words, Mandi's face burned with humiliation. Without further comment, he launched directly into an attack.
Following Ash's explanation, the audience in the stadium also understood what had transpired. Graveler had been specifically prepared to counter Ash's Moltres.
In other words, everyone now realized that Mandi had been confident he could easily defeat Ash's first two Pokémon—otherwise, this entire strategy would have been pointless from the start.
It was precisely this arrogance that had led to his current predicament.
"Use Harden!" Ash issued his command simultaneously.
Upon hearing the order, Kingler's eyes narrowed with focus as its body gleamed with a transparent sheen.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Stone Edge released by Graveler created countless sharp rocks that materialized in the air and hurtled toward Kingler, striking its body repeatedly.
The impacts fell like a relentless rainstorm, the sounds echoing continuously. Kingler maintained its Harden while using its massive left claw—as large as its entire body—as a shield.
The Rock-type move was not very effective against Water-type Pokémon and caused minimal damage to Kingler. However, the smoke from the explosions dispersed and engulfed the Crab Pokémon.
Mandi had committed to an all-or-nothing approach, pressing his advantage. Although some of his tactics had proven foolish, Mandi was now fighting with nothing left to lose, making his battle style increasingly aggressive.
"Use Rollout!"
Following Mandi's order, Graveler leaped into the air and tucked its four arms against its body, transforming its entire form into what resembled a massive boulder.
Rolling forward from its airborne position, it plummeted downward like a meteor, hurtling directly toward Kingler.
"Jump into the water to dodge!" Ash called out immediately upon seeing the attack.
Although Rollout was also a Rock-type move, Graveler's considerable weight and extremely hard body meant that a direct hit would still inflict substantial damage.
Splash!
Following Ash's command, Kingler quickly dove into the water, cleanly avoiding Graveler's attack. Seeing this unfold, Mandi shouted urgently.
"Graveler, stop!" Mandi yelled out. As Graveler descended, it quickly extended its body and landed on the floating platform.
The entire platform shook slightly from the impact. Graveler's weight was manageable—if it had evolved into Golem, the platform would likely have collapsed entirely, unable to support the increased mass.
If the Rollout had connected moments ago, Graveler would have plunged into the water, leaving it completely at Kingler's mercy.
"Don't want to come down? I'll help you with that! Kingler, use Surf!" Seeing Mandi's cautious approach, Ash smiled.
However, that smile appeared demonic to Mandi at this moment, and Ash's next actions felt like something out of a nightmare. Was this even humanly possible?
Kingler submerged into the water, its eyes suddenly glowing with blue energy. In an instant, the previously calm water surface began generating waves once more.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, an enormous wave rose across the entire water surface. The massive surge covered a tremendous area, its shadow instantly looming over Graveler and descending toward it like an enormous net.
"The wave is absolutely massive! Now Competitor Mandi's Graveler has nowhere to escape! What will he do?"
Watching this spectacle, the commentator couldn't conceive of any way for Mandi to handle the situation.
"Graveler, use Rollout!" At that moment, Mandi shouted through gritted teeth.
Upon receiving the command, Graveler curled into its ball form once again and rolled forward, charging directly toward the approaching massive wave.