Xiao Xia, watching from behind Ash, looked at the sleeping Geodude wrapped in white silk, her red lips slightly parted in surprise.
She seemed to somewhat understand why Ash wanted to catch Caterpie. Leaving aside its raw power, this tactic of inflicting abnormal status conditions was indeed the perfect strategy for Caterpie's final evolution, Butterfree.
Although Butterfree is a final evolution, it's like other Bug-type Pokémon, with relatively low base stats, especially in stamina and defense, which are arguably its weakest points.
Its speed is actually average, but relatively speaking, it's already quite good. What Butterfree excels at most is its Special Attack. However, as a mid-speed, fragile Pokémon, even high Special Attack is not very useful, let alone when facing a Gym Leader shortly after being caught and evolved.
Therefore, Xiao Xia had always been skeptical about Butterfree's usefulness in Gym battles.
However, Ash delivered a blow right at the start. His opening strategy seemed to be telling her—look closely, this is how Butterfree is used!
On the field, after Butterfree had maximized its utility, Ash chose to recall Butterfree.
"Great job, Butterfree, come back!" After recalling Butterfree, Ash looked at the Pikachu at his feet. Pikachu nodded and charged forward in a flash.
"I choose you, Pikachu!"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu was full of fighting spirit.
"First Butterfree, then Pikachu? Bug-type, Flying-type, Electric-type… Ash, are you doing this on purpose, or do you really not understand the principle of type advantage?" Brock's face couldn't help but twitch when he saw Pikachu appear.
What kind of Pokémon are these? Pikachu, Butterfree, aren't they all weak to Rock and Ground types?
Even if Ash hadn't investigated what type of Gym the Ni Bi Gym was beforehand, he should have known Geodude's type when he saw it, right?
Geodude is as common in Kanto as Pidgey and Spearow. Generally speaking, even a Rookie Trainer would know Geodude's type, let alone a Trainer like Ash who can use such clever tactics.
However, knowing Geodude's type, he still sent out two Pokémon with type disadvantages. This isn't just a normal type disadvantage; one is four times weak, and the other can't even damage Ground-type Pokémon, completely countered.
If a Gym Leader faced such a type disadvantage, unless they had a level advantage, the Gym Leader would be in terrible trouble.
In contrast, Ash...
"Of course, I know Pikachu's Electric-type moves can't hurt Ground-type Geodude, but Pikachu doesn't just have Electric-type moves. Go, Pikachu, let Brock see the secret technique we've been training all this time!"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu stood up on its two legs, full of fighting spirit, placed its hands on its waist, and slowly closed its eyes.
At this moment, Ash's eyes were also closed. The actions of the person and the Pokémon were surprisingly consistent, both with their hands on their waists.
Brock and Xiao Xia were both a bit confused, especially the latter. She had been with Ash for so many days, and she was well aware of all the training Ash did with his Pokémon.
Even she didn't know what secret technique Ash and Pikachu had. During this time, besides battling, they had only been practicing Electric-type moves and Pikachu's speed.
Besides that, every time after eating, Ash would close his eyes and sit cross-legged, just like meditating. Pikachu would also close its eyes on Ash's shoulder, as if it were asleep, which was somewhat similar to its current appearance.
But could that really be called a secret technique?
Time passed minute by minute. The opening created by Butterfree's Hypnosis was being wasted by Ash and Pikachu, but Brock didn't interrupt Ash.
He also didn't know if Ash was bluffing or truly had some amazing trump card, but if the time dragged on, it would definitely be to his advantage, as Geodude was currently asleep and could only be used as a target.
As a beginner Pikachu, besides Electric-type moves, it should only have Normal-type moves available. Although those wouldn't cause much damage to Geodude, if accumulated, they couldn't be underestimated.
It would be best to drag it out until Geodude woke up.
The next second, Geodude, wrapped in white silk threads, suddenly moved. Brock was overjoyed and quickly shouted, "Geodude, wake up quickly, use Rollout!"
"Geo..." The awakened Geodude began to struggle. With a sudden burst of strength, the silk threads on its body were directly broken free!
Although some white silk threads were still clinging to it, slightly reducing Geodude's speed, it was harmless to Geodude, which was already extremely slow.
Geodude curled into a ball again and began to roll in place.
"Now! Pikachu, Wave Bomb!!" At that instant, Ash suddenly opened his eyes and shouted.
"Pika Pika!!" Pikachu also opened its eyes. Its dark pupils had now turned a brilliant blue. Between Pikachu's hands, a brilliant blue Energy Ball rapidly formed, and in the blink of an eye, it grew to a size comparable to Pikachu's height.
Before Geodude rolled over, Pikachu pushed its hands forward, and the Wave Bomb in its hands shot out, streaking towards Geodude like a meteor.
Geodude was still in its Rollout state. Sensing danger, Geodude quickly rolled away, trying to use the speed of Rollout to dodge the Wave Bomb fired by Pikachu.
However, when Geodude rolled away from its original position, the Wave Bomb actually curved in mid-air, directly catching up to Geodude, who was fleeing.
"Boom!!"
The Wave Bomb hit precisely!!
An explosion sound rang out, and a large cloud of smoke rose from where the Wave Bomb hit. Pikachu slowly lowered its hands in a calm posture, exhaled a mouthful of stale air, and then slowly turned around.
The explosion's storm blew behind Pikachu. At this moment, Pikachu looked like a 'true man never looks back at an explosion.'
Xiao Xia and Brock both stood with their mouths agape, looking at the rising smoke on the field in disbelief, speechless for a long time.
What the hell was that just now? Wave Bomb? A move I've never heard of! Is that a move Pikachu can learn? Brock expressed his incomprehension and was greatly shocked.
Xiao Xia's heart was also very complicated at this moment. Of course, she knew what Wave Bomb was; wasn't that the attack move Ash created using Bo-do Power? Why could Pikachu use it too?
No, no, that's not right. Just now, Ash and Pikachu made the same pose, and both closed their eyes. Could it be... No, that's impossible. Becoming one with a Pokémon and sharing moves, how could that happen in reality?!