"Rumble, rumble, rumble...!!"
The lightning shot straight into the rain clouds above.
It was as if some hidden switch had suddenly been flipped and activated.
In an instant, deep rumbling thunder began echoing from within the dark clouds.
Seeing this, Ashtwo's expression changed dramatically.
"Tyranitar, use Dig to evade!"
Amid his anxiety, there was even a trace of panic in Ashtwo's voice as he shouted the command toward Tyranitar on the battlefield.
"Roar~!"
Tyranitar had just taken the full force of Thunder.
Now, hearing another series of ominous rumbles rolling through the rain clouds above, its eyelids twitched violently.
At the same time, its Trainer Ashtwo's command came from the edge of the battlefield.
Tyranitar didn't dare hesitate for even a moment.
It immediately lowered its body, dug its claws into the ground, and used the Ground-type delayed-attack move Dig to escape underground.
"BOOM!"
"Pikachu, aim Thunder at the entrance of the tunnel."
Seeing the desert tyrant Tyranitar burrow underground like a giant mole, Ash didn't panic.
Instead, he immediately made the correct decision.
"Pika!"
Pikachu responded from the battlefield.
Although Thunder was not an easy move to control precisely, Pikachu's proficiency with the technique had already reached the Grandmaster level.
A little manipulation like this was naturally no problem for it.
...
...
...
...
...
The heavenly lightning came crashing down once again.
It struck directly into the tunnel entrance Tyranitar had dug.
Under the violent bombardment of the thunderbolt, the entire entrance was blasted and ravaged by the lightning, causing the opening to expand considerably.
Ash, however, didn't pay attention to such a minor detail.
His perception and attention remained firmly focused on Tyranitar beneath the ground.
"Roar"
The lightning traveled along the underground tunnel.
Although the earth and the tunnel walls naturally filtered out and weakened a considerable portion of the electrical force, when the thunderbolt finally reached Tyranitar at the far end of the tunnel, where it was still desperately digging forward, the Pokémon's drenched body was struck once again.
"RRAAAAGH!!"
Tyranitar couldn't help letting out another pained cry.
The roar wasn't as loud as the one before.
But despite being deep underground, Ash, who was standing on the battlefield above, could still clearly hear the muffled cry of pain.
"Tyranitar..."
"Come out quickly and use Dig to attack!"
Sensing that Tyranitar had once again been injured by Pikachu's Thunder, Ashtwo anxiously shouted the command.
"~"
Ashtwo's order was issued.
The ground across the entire battlefield began trembling violently.
Clearly, Tyranitar was digging upward and was about to break through the surface.
Dig was a Ground-type delayed-attack move with a base power of 80.
And because Ground-type moves were super effective against Electric-types, if Tyranitar managed to land this attack, Pikachu would likely suffer considerable damage.
There was another troublesome aspect to Dig.
Because the attack was launched from underground, the opponent couldn't see its attack path or trajectory.
That made the move feel almost impossible to guard against.
Indeed, from another Trainer's perspective, Dig could be an extremely troublesome move.
But in Ash's eyes, it posed no real threat whatsoever.
Because even if he didn't cheat by using his Aura to observe what was happening underground, there was only one logical place Tyranitar could emerge from.
Pikachu's feet.
Where else could Tyranitar possibly break through the ground and attack?
Once Ash knew the location where Tyranitar's attack would emerge, it no longer mattered how unpredictable Dig seemed or how difficult its timing was to calculate.
For Ash, none of that was a problem anymore.
"Pikachu, stay right where you are and use Surf."
Feeling the vibrations beneath his feet growing increasingly violent, Ash judged that the timing was almost right.
With an expression of complete confidence, he calmly issued his counterattack command.
"Pika~!"
Hearing Ash's words, Pikachu, which had been turning its head left and right while trying to locate Tyranitar, immediately became confident.
Its tiny body suddenly leaped into the air.
As Pikachu's body began descending, a small wave suddenly burst from the ground beneath it like a fountain.
The wave rose at exactly the right moment and steadily caught Pikachu.
"Whoosh, whoosh..."
"Rumble..."
In the blink of an eye, the small wave supporting Pikachu rapidly transformed.
It surged upward into a towering hundred-foot wave.
A monstrous wall of water rose from the battlefield, turning into a raging tidal wave.
"This is bad!"
"Tyranitar, don't come out!!"
Seeing Ash and Pikachu use Surf right where they were standing, turning the situation into an unusual version of waiting for the rabbit to come out of its burrow, Ashtwo's expression changed instantly.
He finally realized what Ash was planning.
Ground-type moves were super effective against Electric-types.
Dig had a base power of 80.
If it struck Pikachu, the damage would be doubled:
80 × 2 = 160.
But Water-type moves were also super effective against Tyranitar's Rock typing.
And Surf had a base power of 90, which was actually ten points higher than the Dig Tyranitar was currently preparing to use.
With the super-effective multiplier:
90 × 2 = 180.
If Surf landed directly on Tyranitar...
Tyranitar had already been drenched by the rain, making its body highly conductive.
It had already endured two devastating Thunder attacks.
If it were struck by Surf on top of all that, there was a very real possibility that it would be knocked out instantly.
Tyranitar continued digging upward at tremendous speed.
But as it moved closer and closer to the surface, it began to notice something strange.
The soil ahead was becoming increasingly wet.
And not just slightly wet.
It was abnormally soaked.
By the time Tyranitar finally realized that something was wrong, it was already too late.
"BOOM!"
"Roar?!"
Tyranitar suddenly burst through the ground.
But what awaited it on the surface was something completely unexpected.
To its horror, it plunged headfirst into water.
The moment Tyranitar broke through the ground, it found itself submerged in an entire underwater world.
"BOOM!!"
The trap had been sprung.
Pikachu didn't need any additional instructions from Ash.
It immediately sealed off Tyranitar's escape route.
Then it controlled the enormous waves, sending them crashing violently against Tyranitar again and again, just like waves smashing into a cliffside.
"Ugh—ROAR~!"
"Tyranitar...!!"
Seeing Tyranitar trapped inside the watery prison and continuously battered by the waves, Ashtwo became increasingly frantic.
Yet despite his panic, he couldn't think of any way to break out of the trap.
All he could do was anxiously shout Tyranitar's name.
"Pikachu, maintain Surf, and use Discharge into the water beneath your feet!"
Ash had no intention of showing mercy simply because his junior disciple Ashtwo was desperately shouting.
Quite the opposite.
He had already made up his mind to give his cheap junior disciple a proper lesson in the harsh realities of battle.
And now his offensive pressure became even more ferocious.
"Pika~!"
Upon receiving the command, Pikachu immediately split its attention between two tasks.
On one side, it continued controlling Surf, maintaining the enormous water prison and repeatedly slamming Tyranitar around inside it like clothes being tossed around inside a washing machine.
At the same time, Pikachu released electricity directly into the water.
"BZZZZT!!"
The electrical current spread throughout the entire water prison.
Water-type attacks were super effective against Tyranitar's Rock typing.
And Tyranitar was already struggling desperately within the raging waves.
Now, with powerful electrical currents surging through the water around it, its situation became even more miserable.
If Ash and Ashtwo had been able to see Pokémon-style HP bars above their opponents, they would have clearly seen Tyranitar's HP dropping at an astonishing rate.
Lower...
And lower...
And lower...
Very quickly, its remaining HP reached a warning threshold.
And then a dangerously low level.
"Alright."
The moment Ash's voice fell, Pikachu decisively canceled the Water-Electric Prison.
"Whoosh..."
The massive waves disappeared.
Tyranitar, covered in wounds and thoroughly battered, was once again exposed to the air and returned to everyone's view.
At the same time, the wave beneath Pikachu vanished.
Its tiny body suddenly began falling through the air.
But Pikachu reacted instantly.
It performed a somersault in midair.
Its spring-like, zigzag-shaped tail suddenly transformed.
In an instant, it became the rock-solid Iron Tail.
Then, like a great hammer swinging downward, Pikachu twisted its body and violently whipped its Iron Tail toward Tyranitar's head.
"BOOM!!"