The heavy stone doors slid shut behind them, further compressing the stagnant, lead-heavy air within the Rock Core Arena until it felt suffocatingly oppressive.
At the edge of the deep crater smashed open by Gyarados, water stains mixed with stinging bright blood spread slowly.
Ash stood at the crater's edge, his hand still retaining the cold touch of the Poké Ball and that imperceptible tremor—the lingering resonance of his partner's pain.
To be honest, he wasn't quite used to it yet.
Not used to seeing his companions get hurt.
But fortunately, Gyarados possessed an extremely bellicose nature.
It didn't care about things like injuries.
Ash slowly raised his head, his gaze beneath the brim of his cap piercing through the permeating dust to lock dead onto the other end of the arena.
That gray-brown rock behemoth lay coiled there, looking down at him with cold stone pupils. Its rough, gritty body had a matte finish under the lights, its tail end still bearing the residual, domineering force that had crushed the golden dragon.
The air was filled with mineral dust, the fishy smell of water, and a faint, elusive metallic scent of blood.
Brock's rock-like face showed not a single ripple of emotion, only a scrutiny as silent and deep as an abyss.
The referee's cold voice rang out once more:
"Challenger Ash, please send out your second Pokémon!"
There was no hesitation.
Not even a shred of doubt.
Ash's voice was not loud, yet it pierced the dead silence of the arena:
"Pikachu!"
"Pika—chuuu!!!"
Responding to him was a high-pitched scream charged with thunderous battle intent!
Golden light exploded!
A small figure, like a thunderbolt breaking free from its shackles, landed heavily on the wet rocky field, splashing up fine droplets of water.
It did not look at Ash. Those black, shining eyes burned with unprecedented fury, locked dead onto the massive Onix!
Pikachu had been watching the battle just now.
If this were a battle in the wild, Pikachu would have already jumped in.
But unfortunately, this was a Gym challenge, and it couldn't interfere blindly.
Ash's voice carried a flat calmness:
"Partner!"
"Don't let the opportunity Gyarados created for us go to waste!"
"Go full power!"
"Defeat it!"
The instant the words fell—
"Pika—!!!"
Pikachu's figure vanished!
It wasn't an afterimage!
It was a genuine, complete disappearance!
Only a ring of instantly ionized, distorted air ripples and an ear-piercing sonic boom remained in its place.
In the next split second.
An arm-thick golden spear of light, composed purely of destructive electrical energy, appeared without warning out of thin air at the fragile node connecting Onix's thick neck to its rock body.
There, the covering rock was relatively weak, and the crevices still held the water stains splashed during Gyarados's struggle.
"Zzzzt—BOOM!!!"
The golden thunder of destruction, carrying a will and speed to pierce through everything, drove in ruthlessly.
Time seemed to freeze for a single frame.
In Onix's cold stone pupils, a trace of astonishment had only just flashed past.
Immediately following—
"Ssss... Aaaargh?!!!"
A twisted, distorted wail, short to the extreme!
The massive rock body, as if struck in a vital spot by an invisible giant hammer, stiffly arched upward, then immediately lost all supporting strength and collapsed with a crash.
"Rumble—!!!"
The heavy impact caused the entire Rock Core Arena to tremble violently once again.
Crushed stone and dust mixed with the water shaken into the air, rising like smoke.
The smoke and dust slowly dispersed.
Onix's mountain-like body lay paralyzed on the wet rocks, motionless. On its gray-brown rocky body, centered around a scorched, penetrating hole at the neck that revealed the internal energy pathways deep within, dense golden electric arcs jumped madly like a spiderweb, hissing and popping with mournful sounds.
Silence.
Dead silence.
Even the sound of turbid water droplets falling from the dome onto the rocks could be heard clearly.
The referee's flag froze in mid-air, mouth slightly open, seeming to have forgotten to even make the call.
For the first time, a change appeared on Brock's cold, rock-hard face.
His pupils constricted slightly, that gaze as calm as a deep pool utterly shredded by waves of disbelief.
A dual move combination?
Brock was an outstanding Trainer; this Onix was not actually his main Pokémon.
So with his discernment, he could actually see what Pikachu had just done.
That was something only done when an Ace Trainer took a step further.
After deep cultivation, a Pokémon further understands the essence of its own moves, then splits and combines the necessary moves.
Although Brock didn't see exactly which moves Pikachu had used, he could tell it was two... The combination wasn't perfect, but it had indeed been achieved.
Actually, Pikachu's method was very simple.
Volt Tackle is a very strong attack move, but the move has a windup charge time.
Zippy Zap is one of the strongest priority moves, having almost zero windup.
Pikachu's method was to use Zippy Zap to mobilize the energy in its body, then cancel the move and switch to Volt Tackle.
Although the release would be slightly slower and the power slightly reduced, it possessed both power and speed.
It could be said to maximize its own combat power.
The downside was that the load on its body was also immense.
After unleashing one move, it would be in a long period of post-move cooldown, its body drained and unable to move—somewhat similar to the stiff state after using Hyper Beam.
But as long as it could take out the opponent, this was no longer a downside.
Pikachu stood there with its arms crossed over its chest, using its tail to support its body.
"..." Ash pulled at his cap, shadowing his face.
Now he had to wait for Brock to switch Pokémon.
And this time would also allow Pikachu to catch its breath.
Everyone's eyes were pinned dead on that hideous, scorched hole in Onix's neck, as if to confirm whether it was an hallucination.
A one-shot kill!
A true, suspense-free, one-hit kill!
At the tunnel entrance.
Misty, who had just rushed back, slammed her feet to a halt, her orange ponytail flying up from the sudden stop.
"!!!" One hand still holding the cold stone door, her other hand unconsciously covered her mouth. Her eyes widened into circles, reflecting only that slowly dissipating afterimage of golden electric light and the collapsed rock behemoth.
She had arrived just in time to see the scene of Pikachu one-shotting Onix.
"Pika..." Pikachu's small figure reappeared amidst the permeating smoke and mist.
It panted slightly, the golden electric arcs jumping on its body not yet completely subsided. Its eyes were as sharp as ever, coldly sweeping over the fallen enemy before turning to Brock with undisguised provocation.
Although they hadn't been together for very long, Pikachu already viewed Gyarados as its own little brother.
Even though it beat Gyarados black and blue every time, Gyarados never held a grudge because of it.
Every time Gyarados was beaten out of its berserk state, it would shamelessly fawn over Ash and Pikachu.
Brock took a deep breath, that mouthful of air carrying the cold scent of rock dust seeming to hold weight as it pressed into his lungs.
The astonishment on his face receded like the tide, replaced once again by a deeper, heavier will of rock.
Brock raised his hand, and a Poké Ball accurately shot out a red beam, enveloping the unconscious Onix.
"Forrest." After his low voice sounded.
A young figure with a face somewhat similar to Brock's, but looking more immature, ran quickly out of the shadows.
It was Brock's younger brother, Forrest.
He wore the same shock on his face, but his movements were efficient as he took the Poké Ball. He glanced worriedly at the arena, then cast an awed look at that small Pikachu before turning and running swiftly toward the emergency room holding the ball.
Pikachu also hadn't gone for the kill.
If that move had hit the head, perhaps Onix would have been dead for sure.
If it hit the body... Rock-type Pokémon generally have very tenacious vitality.
Brock's gaze fell once again on Pikachu, those sharp eyes seeming to want to scrape open its golden fur to see the essence of the power hidden within.
_____
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