The Three Starter, Pikachu, Gardevoir, these five Pokémon are Ash's current first team. However, there is one more, the last Pokémon to become a main force is—Lucario!
Originally, this spot should have been Pidgeot's, but Lucario, during the last 'Top-tier booster', forcibly raised its strength to Professional Level, directly reaching the same level as Pidgeot!
And within the past two months, it has increased its power to Professional Peak. Although Pidgeot is also at Professional Peak, if the two were to battle, Pidgeot would actually lose to Lucario. After all, there is no attribute restriction between them, and Lucario overwhelmingly crushes Pidgeot in terms of Ability Value.
Pidgeot's only advantage is its ability to fly, but Lucario has Aura Locking. If these two were to battle, the latter would completely dominate!
No matter how fast Pidgeot flies, once it is locked by Aura Power, it's instantly done for. Only Pokémon with Superpower can briefly avoid Lucario's locking, but if Lucario is prepared, even a Pokémon with Superpower cannot escape Lucario's aim.
Just like when Mewtwo battled against Lucario back then.
Currently, in terms of combat abilities, Lucario is undoubtedly the main Pokémon, and Pidgeot can only move to the secondary team, acting as the leader there.
Besides those not frequently used, Gengar and Aerodactyl, Ash still has Muk, Tauros, Butterfree, and Kingler, together with Primeape, which is on the verge of evolution.
This is Ash's second tier.
Aerodactyl and Gengar belong to an exceptional team, because in terms of level, they are the highest in the entire team. When Aerodactyl was first captured, it was Gym Level, but now it has reached Elite Level... that's right, Aerodactyl is at Elite Level!
Even though it's just Elite Junior Level, it's still Elite Level!
And Gengar has even reached Elite Peak. According to Gengar, if it had an evenly matched opponent to spar with, it might advance to Champion Level. To reach Champion, it only lacks a bit of pressure.
These two Pokémon might not have the highest combat power in the team, but their levels are undoubtedly the highest.
Besides them, Ash doesn't have a third Elite Level Pokémon.
These two Elite Level Pokémon are also planned to be sent out during the Quartz Conference by Ash. After all, this is an annual conference, and after a lot of hard work to make it to the competition stage, Ash intends to let all his Pokémon take the spotlight.
There's no reason not to send them out just because of their high level, is there? That would be too unfair for them. Is having a high level their fault?
Moreover, truth be told, against the participants of the Quartz Conference, it doesn't really matter if Aerodactyl is used or not. Even if Charizard is sent out, it would still be a crushing win.
Gym Level existence is already beyond what they can handle, let alone cross-level battles, so sending out Elite Level Pokémon is no problem. It's a crushing victory after all, isn't it?
And in the second team, naturally, Pidgeot acts as the leading Pokémon, with Butterfree as a veteran member of Ash's team. Even though Ash has tried his best to find ways to enhance it, the talent and limit of Bug Type Pokémon are just there.
Ash's Butterfree stands out among all Butterfrees in terms of talent, otherwise it might not have even reached Professional Level now.
Butterfree is at Professional Middle Level, which is quite a gap compared to Pidgeot. The two small levels difference in the Professional Level is a gap that might take Butterfree about a month to catch up. Hence, their progress rate differs significantly.
Originally, Butterfree's level was higher than Pidgeot's, but now it has been surpassed. This is the downside of Bug Type Pokémon with fast early progression but slow late progression.
However, to be fair, if Professional Middle Level Butterfree was known to those Bug-Catching Boys, they'd probably kneel down begging Ash to know how he trained it.
Charizard, Blastoise—these rare Pokémon getting so strong has nothing to do with those Bug-Catching Boys, but they are really interested in Butterfree!
Besides Butterfree, they have many other Bug Type Pokémon. If they could learn the secret to improving Bug Type Pokémon, it would be the time for Bug-Catching Boys to rise!
Unfortunately, those Bug-Catching Boys do not know that in Pallet Town, there is an insect-raising master.
When Muk was first captured, it was only at Advanced Junior Level, but its talent is very high. This talent is not focused on the Six-dimensional Ability but rather on its stench.
The stronger the smell emitted from Muk, the greater its inherent quality!
This is something that cannot be shown by the Six-dimensional Ability.
Ash's Muk is said to be the smelliest in history! Professor Oak stated that he has encountered countless Grimer and Muk in his life, but none were as smelly as Ash's Muk!
This is enough to show how high the talent of Ash's Muk is. After capturing it, Ash has trained it almost only upon returning to Pallet Town. During regular times, Ash only sends it over to check on its status, formulate a training plan, and then sends it back.