"BOOM!!"
"ROAR!!"
Pikachu swung its tail as it descended from the sky.
Its Iron Tail smashed viciously into the top of Tyranitar's head.
The devastating blow struck with tremendous force, and Tyranitar, which had taken the full impact, immediately let out a piercing cry of agony.
Under the rainy conditions, Tyranitar's HP had already been continuously draining.
Its body had been soaked by the rain, leaving it in a highly conductive state, and it had subsequently endured two consecutive Thunder attacks.
After that, it had been trapped inside the Surf + Discharge "Water-Electric Prison," where it suffered continuous damage and was gradually worn down.
And now, it had taken a direct hit from Pikachu's Iron Tail.
One had to remember that every one of the attacks Tyranitar had endured above had exploited its type weaknesses, dealing super-effective damage.
On top of that, Pikachu's move proficiency was extremely high. Its Grandmaster proficiency provided a substantial increase to the power of its moves.
Pikachu also possessed an almost ten-level advantage over Tyranitar.
With all these factors combined, Tyranitar had been subjected to one devastating attack after another.
And now, after taking a super-effective Iron Tail directly to the head...
Tyranitar let out a miserable howl.
Its eyes rolled upward.
The next second, its enormous body went completely limp and crashed straight to the ground.
"BOOM!!"
"Tyranitar!!"
Seeing Tyranitar lying motionless on the battlefield, Ashtwo's face turned dark and ashen.
His entire expression was filled with defeat.
After receiving this brutal "lesson from society," all the arrogance and confidence he had displayed when challenging Ash had completely disappeared.
At this moment, Ashtwo found himself unable to accept not only the result of the battle, but also everything that had happened during it.
Ash and Pikachu had launched wave after wave of attacks, one immediately following another, leaving him and Tyranitar struggling desperately to withstand them.
Looking back on the entire battle, Ashtwo's heart was filled with frustration and defeat.
Clearly, his own strength level was "almost the same" as Ash's.
For more than half a year, he had treated Ash as his goal and desperately pursued him, constantly trying to close the gap.
Yet no matter what, he had never imagined that the final result would be like this.
The gap between himself and Ash...
Was actually this enormous.
Ding!! Congratulations, Host! You have defeated Lv. 50 Tyranitar [Experience +34B1].
"Tyranitar is unable to battle. The winner of this match is Ash."
Regardless of what Ashtwo was feeling at this moment, the battle had come to an end.
The system notification sounded in Ash's ears at precisely the right moment, followed immediately by Giovanni's announcement as the temporary referee.
"Junior Brother Steyn, as a professional Pokémon Trainer, victories and defeats are both normal things. After all, the moment you step onto the battlefield, it is already destined that only one person can win, while the other person is destined to lose."
"One battle cannot prove everything. So, Senior Brother hopes you won't become discouraged. Your talent is extremely high. If you continue studying under our teacher in the future, I'm confident that you'll soon surpass me."
"One day, you'll certainly become a Pokémon Trainer as powerful as our teacher, Giovanni."
"I don't like scenes where people have to say goodbye, so I'll only say this much before we part ways. Senior Brother will be looking forward to the next time we meet, Junior Brother. When that day comes, we'll have another battle."
Ash recalled Pikachu from the battlefield.
Unlike during his usual official matches, he did not use Healing to treat Ashtwo's defeated Tyranitar.
He merely exchanged a few polite words with his cheap junior disciple before turning around and looking toward his cheap teacher, Giovanni.
"Teacher, I still have to go to the Pokémon Center later to conduct my livestream consultations, so I won't stay at the Gym much longer. I'll head out first."
"Alright~"
Giovanni nodded with a smile.
He gave Ash a long, deep look.
No one knew exactly what was going through his mind.
Ash, however, didn't particularly care.
He and Giovanni had always been using each other.
Although Ash didn't know exactly what Giovanni was trying to obtain from him, Ash still maintained the proper respect a disciple should show toward his teacher and made sure he remained courteous on the surface.
As long as the formalities were handled properly, there was no reason to investigate things too deeply.
After bidding Giovanni farewell, Ash picked up Pikachu, brought Greninja along, and left Viridian Gym.
As for his cheap junior disciple Ashtwo, who had just suffered a brutal "lesson from society" at his hands and was currently standing there in a daze, his confidence shattered and his mood completely gloomy...
Ash had already dismissed him from his mind.
After being "classmates" for more than half a year, Ash still didn't even know what this cheap junior disciple actually looked like.
Now that they were parting ways, there was a good chance that even if they met again in the future, Ash wouldn't recognize him.
If that was the case, why bother caring?
...
...
After leaving Viridian Gym, Ash arrived at the roadside.
He took his bicycle out of the system storage and quickly rode toward the Pokémon Center in Viridian City.
Meanwhile, back inside Viridian Gym, after Ash had left, Giovanni took the initiative to speak with Ashtwo and began comforting him.
The battle between Ashtwo and Ash had originally been arranged by Giovanni.
His purpose in arranging the match was simply to see how much the gap between Ashtwo and Ash had changed after Ashtwo had spent more than half a year desperately pursuing him.
As for the result of the battle, Giovanni had always believed that Ash had the greater chance of winning.
And truthfully, Giovanni actually hoped that Ashtwo would lose.
Because only after losing would Ashtwo be easier for Giovanni to manipulate.
Once Ashtwo's confidence had been shaken, Giovanni would have an easier time influencing him and turning him into a useful tool.
In the future, when Ash began putting pressure on Team Rocket, Ashtwo could potentially assist him—or even help him lead Team Rocket and develop it into an even more powerful organization.
As long as Ashtwo had not exposed the fact that he was unable to awaken the Viridian Force, and as long as his natural talent had not revealed any obvious shortcomings compared with Ash, the true original, Giovanni had no reason to give up on him.
At present, Ashtwo's body had already been completely healed by Ash.
Giovanni believed that it wouldn't be long before Ashtwo activated and awakened the Viridian Force.
Once the Viridian Force awakened, the speed at which Ashtwo's strength improved would increase dramatically.
...
However, what Giovanni didn't know was that what happened afterward would not develop according to his expectations.
Of course, none of this was something Ash knew.
As for his cheap junior disciple Ashtwo, Ash had always felt as though he were looking at him through a layer of fog.
He had never truly seen through the truth behind him.
And because Ash had intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—maintained a certain distance from Ashtwo, the amount of information he actually knew was even more limited.
But perhaps time would eventually tell everyone caught within this situation everything they wanted to know.
Even if the truth and the eventual ending were things they would rather never have seen.
...
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, another half a year went by.
After his cheap junior disciple Ashtwo had left Viridian Gym six months earlier and stopped studying there alongside Ash as a fellow "classmate," Ash's studies at Viridian Gym once again became regular and orderly.
Every afternoon, at a fixed time from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, Ash would go to Viridian Gym and study under his cheap teacher, Giovanni, for one hour.
Once the lesson ended, Ash would immediately head to the Pokémon Center.
From 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM, he would spend three hours conducting livestream consultations through his online shop.
After finishing that day's livestream consultations at 6:00 PM, Ash would have dinner.
Then, as usual, he would head to the City Arena to participate in battles.