Just as Dawn was immersed in the joy of obtaining Piplup and the identity of a rookie Trainer, the originally closed door was suddenly pushed open again, followed by a voice that was not unfamiliar to Ash and the others.
"Professor Rowan, I'm here at the agreed time."
"?!"
Ash and the others turned around and saw Paul, whom they had met once before, standing at the door. Paul was also surprised to see Ash and the others in the lab.
"It's you guys."
There wasn't much emotional fluctuation in Paul's tone, as if he was just stating a fact. However, compared to Paul's indifference, Dawn didn't seem so calm.
"I didn't expect to see you again! Didn't you say you had something urgent to do before? Why are you only slowly getting here now?"
Their ideas were different, and Paul's performance was really not likable. In Dawn's impression, he could be said to be extremely bad, so naturally Dawn's tone of voice towards him wouldn't be good either.
"Boring question." Paul snorted disdainfully. "I am a Pokémon Trainer, so naturally I went to capture Pokémon with potential. Then I also arrived at the lab at the time agreed upon with Professor Rowan, so is there a problem? You weaklings?"
"You..."
Although Dawn took the initiative to provoke him, when it comes to making people angry, Dawn couldn't compare to the current Paul even if she grew ten years older. Ash, who knew this, just stopped Dawn, signaling her to just let it go.
"Piplup~!"
Seeing Dawn looking unhappy, Piplup, as a Pokémon, naturally wouldn't feel good either. If it wasn't that Dawn didn't seem to want to fight right now, Piplup would have walked in front of him and challenged him no matter what.
"Well, thank you."
Professor Rowan seemed to be unaware of the conflict between the few people, or rather, he had no interest in knowing. He just took a document from Paul's hand, and then turned around to sort it out, leaving Ash and the others to continue to be silent and awkward here.
"Speaking of..." After Dawn was defeated, Paul turned his attention to Ash and said, "I have time now, and you don't seem to be bored, do you want to have a match between your Pikachu and my Elekid?"
As Paul spoke, he casually threw out Elekid's Poké Ball. The Elekid that appeared seemed unusually excited after seeing Ash and Pikachu, and began to constantly rotate its arms, and bursts of electric light flashed above its head.
"Of course, there's no problem. Since I'm a Pokémon Trainer, I shouldn't be able to say no when challenged."
Ash and Pikachu looked at each other, and both of their eyes were full of fighting spirit.
For Ash, whether it was to make up for the regret of tying with Paul in the first battle, or just because he was simply angry at Paul's current training concept, Ash would not hesitate to accept his challenge.
"1 on 1, let's go to the outside field."
After Paul finished speaking, he began to lead the way for Ash and the others with ease, as if this was his home field.
Paul's casual behavior made Dawn even more angry. She patted Ash's shoulder and slowly said in an emphatic tone: "You can lose to anyone, but you must not lose to him! If you lose to him, doesn't that mean that our ideas will be easily denied and defeated by him?"
"Don't worry, I won't lose."
Ash waved his hand at Dawn without turning his head, looking very confident, but Dawn always felt a little uneasy.
Although Paul was very annoying, it seemed that people like him were very powerful in the early and middle stages of novels and manga, and there was no possibility of losing at all. Only in the ending would such people be sanctioned by the main characters.
If you look at it according to the general rules, it may not be easy for Ash to win.
When Dawn turned her gaze to Brock, she only read this sentence from Brock's eyes:
Believe in Ash.
...
Following Paul to the battle field behind the lab, Paul was already ready on one side, and it could be seen that he himself also attached great importance to this match.
"Then I'll be the referee." Brock volunteered.
"There's no need." Paul said coldly: "No referee is needed, in a one-on-one Pokémon battle, the side that loses their ability to fight first is the end."
"Alright."
Ash said this and stood opposite Paul. This match between the two sides was an open battle, so there was no strategy. Paul and Ash each gave their Pokémon a look, and Elekid and Pikachu stood excitedly on both sides to prepare for battle.
"Who goes first?"
"I'll let you go first."
Paul, or rather, the skills that Elekid himself was good at had already determined that it wasn't so concerned about who went first. Ash didn't think there was anything wrong with this, he just nodded simply and announced the start of the battle directly.
"Quick Attack!"
Ash planned to seize the initiative in the battle from the beginning.
Pikachu's figure disappeared on the field in an instant with the issuance of Ash's command. The next second, when it reappeared in front of everyone, it had already arrived in front of Elekid.
"Brick Break!"
Paul's brows furrowed slightly, and it seemed that Pikachu's actions were not what he had expected.
"Ele!"
Elekid's reaction was also very quick. The moment Paul's command was issued, it swung its right hand down. Quick Attack and Brick Break collided head-on, and both sides took a few steps back.
"Pikachu has the advantage."
Brock looked at the distance the two sides retreated, and roughly judged that Pikachu's power was above Elekid's. Paul certainly noticed this, and the already somewhat solemn expression became even heavier at this moment.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Thunder Punch!"
In the second round of the battle, Paul wanted to regain the advantage he had let go of in the first round, so he hurriedly began to have Elekid take the initiative to attack.
Facing the menacing Thunderbolt, Ash didn't choose to let Pikachu confront it head-on in this round, but instead issued the command for Thunder Punch.
"Pika~!"
Pikachu's body was instantly wrapped in electric light, carrying a forward momentum and a huge current, and sprinted straight towards Elekid's position.
Elekid's Thunderbolt failed to stop Pikachu's movement when it hit Pikachu, who was in the state of Thunder Punch. Instead, the power of Thunderbolt made Pikachu's Thunder Punch even more powerful.
....