Pokémon: Simultaneous time travel, this Ash is too versatile!

Chapter 277 Gary: Using the same skills you use against Mewtwo against me?! Are you even human?!

Even with the Iron Wall, it's not a defensive barrier; it can't block all damage, it only increases one's defense.

Given that Lucario has used Aura Sphere and Sonic Punch so many times before, and considering Mega Lucario's extremely powerful dual attack capabilities, it's quite remarkable that Blastoise has managed to hold on this long.

However, Blastoise is now nearing its limit. It only has a little bit of stamina left, and it will probably have difficulty even using a move. This battle is over.

Ash quietly looked at Blastoise lying next to Gary, his eyes filled with a myriad of thoughts, and it was unclear what he was thinking. Finally, he raised his hand, preparing to order Lucario to deliver the final blow to Blastoise.

At that moment, Gary suddenly shouted, "Blastoise, use Rest!"

Sleep can remove all abnormal statuses from a Pokémon and restore all of its stamina, making it the strongest recovery skill among Pokémon. However, this skill is not omnipotent; if a Pokémon suffers severe damage, even sleeping will not restore it.

But for Blastoise now, sleeping to recover all its energy is basically no problem. As soon as Xiao Shi gave the command, Blastoise, which was lying on the ground, closed its eyes and instantly fell asleep.

The wounds inflicted on him by Lucario's Aura Sphere during close combat were completely healed after he fell asleep, leaving no trace.

"It can even sleep? But this means your Blastoise will be used as a target by my Lucario!" Ash, who was about to deliver the final blow to Gary, was stunned. He didn't expect that Gary could still find a way to survive in such a desperate situation.

When a Pokémon is asleep, it becomes a sitting duck. If it were a Pokémon with insufficient attack power, it would be fine, but Mega Lucario's attack power is among the best in all Pokémon species!
"That's not necessarily true, Blastoise, use Sleep Talk!!" Gary uttered his classic line—Solvadorana!
His Blastoise can use Sleep and Sleep Talk, but because Blastoise has a wide variety of moves, the moves that come out of Sleep Talk are very unpredictable.

If it weren't a last resort, Shigeru would really be reluctant to use this move. After all, while using Sleep and Sleep Talk allows you to attack enemies while they're asleep, it's also like leaving everything to fate.

If you're even a little unlucky and use some useless special moves, like ramming attacks, you're basically done for.

But then again, if he didn't need to sleep, he wouldn't even have the chance to gamble. If he slept, he could gamble in his sleep, but if he didn't sleep, he would be taken down by the other party. So Xiao Mao decided to take the gamble.

Blastoise, who was sleeping, stood up as if sleepwalking. A moment later, he raised his hands, and water began to accumulate in the two cannons—Water Pulse!
While asleep, Blastoise drew the most suitable move. To draw this move out of so many options is truly lucky; you should buy a lottery ticket.

However, Blastoise's Water Pulse, even when asleep, is only so-so in terms of accuracy and speed. Three streams of water shot towards Lucario, but Lucario didn't need to use any moves; it simply dodged them with a jump.

"One more time talking in your sleep!" After using the skill, you have to continue talking in your sleep to use the skill again. The next use of the skill is still random.

However, Blastoise randomly encountered Water Pulse again, and this time it was aimed at Lucario, who was unable to dodge in the air!
"Nice! What luck! It seems the scales of victory are on my side, Ash!" Gary clenched his fist and a joyful expression appeared on his face.

Regardless of whether Water Pulse hits or not, Blastoise will recover in about ten seconds. At that time, a fully charged Blastoise will still have the advantage over Lucario, who will only have about half its strength!

If this continues, we might be able to defeat Ash's Lucario!

"Lucario, Super Aura Sphere!" Just as Gary was having a pipe dream, Ash's voice suddenly rang out. Lucario in the sky stretched out its hands, and a deep blue energy ball condensed in its hands, soon growing to the size of a basketball.

Normally, this would have already met the standard for launching the Aura Missile, but now Lucario is still channeling the Aura into it. The power of the Aura surges wildly into the Aura Missile, and in the blink of an eye, the Aura Missile has grown from the size of a basketball into the size of a small meteorite!

Xiaomao:......

Damn! Why does this thing look so familiar? Isn't this the move Lucario used at the end of the battle against Mewtwo? Mewtwo's ultimate move was completely shattered by this thing. If Arceus's contract hadn't stopped the explosion, the entire Viridian City would probably have been reduced to ashes!

What right has my Blastoise had to let you use this move? Want to try it or not?

As Water Pulse approached Lucario, Lucario, still in mid-air, suddenly pressed down the Aura Spheres in both hands, causing the massive energy ball, as large as a meteorite, to collide with Water Pulse!
"scoff"

A crisp sound rang out in the sky, and the azure water wave burst instantly like a soap bubble being punctured. Tiny water droplets splashed in the sky and evaporated instantly under the terrifying energy of the wave missile!
"My God! That Aura Sphere... it's bigger than my Snorlax!" Someone in the front row of the audience suddenly stood up, slamming their hand on the railing. Their voice was full of disbelief. An Aura Sphere bigger than Snorlax?! Is that even called an Aura Sphere?!
The trainers in the back row craned their necks, wanting to get a closer look at the details of the Aura Sphere: "The Aura Spheres I've seen Lucario use before were at most the size of a fist, this is practically ten times larger!"

"They're still going to hold a market? They should just jump!"

"Can a wave missile really grow this big? Could this be a special ability of Mega Lucario?"

"..."

The audience was buzzing with discussion and arguments about the massive wave missile, while on the field, the super-sized wave missile had completely overwhelmed Blastoise's Water Pulse. Its violent power even evaporated the approaching rain, while the rain in the distance was blasted away and scattered onto the audience.

The spectators watching up close were all soaked to the bone, but no one cared. They all stared wide-eyed, eager to see the final result of the match.

Without the obstruction of the water wave, the super-large wave missile crashed into the arena ground with a buzzing energy trail.

A loud "boom" shook the entire audience area slightly, and the ground was covered by thick smoke, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

Shigeru clenched his fists, a look of tension on his face. Even if Mega Blastoise had fully recovered its stamina, it might not be able to withstand this attack. Compared to this wave missile, the previous attacks were utterly insignificant, there was simply no comparison. This attack had the potential to kill in one hit.

However, Lucario will also expend a lot of energy to unleash such an attack. If this attack fails to defeat Blastoise, then it will be Blastoise's turn to launch a counterattack.

As the smoke gradually dissipated, the scene inside came into everyone's view. Blastoise had returned to its original form, lying silently in a huge crater in the ground.

The crater was almost ten meters in diameter. Blastoise lay inside, motionless, like a baby asleep. Its shell had many cracks, indicating that its injuries were more than just loss of fighting ability; they could even threaten its life.

When a Blastoise's shell is cracked, it means that the damage it has suffered far exceeds its tolerance.

"Blastoise is unable to battle, Lucario wins, and the winner of this match is... Ash!!"

The referee checked Blastoise's condition, then waved his flag, declaring Ash the winner!

This match ended with Ash winning 2 out of 6!
Throughout the entire series, Gary only defeated one of Ash's Pokémon, and that defeat was only because Ash refused to recall it. Meanwhile, Ash's two Pokémon each defeated three of Gary's Pokémon, which sounds rather embarrassing.

But those who watched the match wouldn't think so. Gary had already tried his best. In terms of battle intelligence, Gary was far superior to his peers. He even had many tactics that surprised Ash.

Unfortunately, Gary was facing a cheat code. Gary's tactics could only surprise Ash at best, while Ash's Pokémon could shock and amaze Gary, and even everyone in the audience, including the Elite Four and the Champions!
In this battle, Shigeru had already done his best. Even if a champion were to take his place, the only difference might be that the process would be more exciting than Shigeru's, but the result would be the same.

So Xiao Mao's defeat didn't elicit any boos, but rather a round of applause. It's truly a shame he's managed to stay standing this long.

After the match, Gary and Ash shook hands. Gary looked at Ash with some resentment, but mostly with blessings, and said, "Good luck in the finals, Ash. Don't lose to someone else after beating me. The only one who can defeat you is me!"

"Don't worry, I won't lose!" Ash nodded firmly and promised Gary.

Since he started his journey, his short-term goal has been to win the Indigo League championship. Now he is finally approaching the end of his short-term goal. His opponent in the final should be Shinji, who is also the strongest trainer in this Indigo League besides him.

Without considering other boosting abilities, Shinji's Pokémon are almost on par with his own. His strongest Torterra is at the peak of the Gym level, comparable to Pikachu. The levels of the other Pokémon are unknown, but they are definitely not weak. Therefore, the opponent in the finals is not someone who can be easily defeated.

But he won't lose!
"Hehe, to use a phrase from the internet, wouldn't you call this setting a flag?"

"Don't even think about it. The championship is definitely mine. You should be thinking about how to get third place."

"You don't need to worry about that. If I can't beat you, can't I beat someone else?" Xiao Mao loosened his grip on her hand and shrugged nonchalantly.

After experiencing the pressure of battling Ash, he felt that unless he was battling one of the Elite Four, no one else could put him under such immense pressure.

He also knows the information about the opponent Shinji will face by heart. As I said before, as long as Shinji doesn't intentionally lose and snipe him, there is at least an 80% chance that he can get the third place.

After the handshake ended and both sides stepped down from the stage, the league staff rushed onto the field and took out Ground-type Pokémon to begin repairing the field.

The next game was scheduled to start in about two hours. The league had anticipated that the semifinals might cause some damage to the venue, so they extended the interval between the two games. However, they did not expect the venue to be damaged to this extent.

Lucario's final massive wave missile nearly destroyed most of the field, and the crater it created was extremely deep. Fortunately, the League had enough manpower to repair it within an hour.

After the match, Ash and his friends went to have a meal and then returned to the Indigo League to watch the next match.

Shinji's Torterra isn't a speed-type Pokémon; it mainly relies on taking damage and counterattacking in battle. If Torterra takes too much damage in this match, it could affect its performance in tomorrow's game.

Therefore, Shinji shouldn't rely solely on Torterra in this semifinal match, since his opponent is no pushover either.

The semi-final battle has begun. Shinji's starting lineup is still Torterra, while his opponent is Charizard. It seems that the trainer named Aqin has done some research on Shinji, as starting with Charizard clearly indicates that he anticipated Shinji would use Torterra in the battle.

Unfortunately, although Aqin's Charizard had a type advantage, its level was too far behind Torterra's. After using Flamethrower to damage Torterra once, it was immediately defeated by Torterra's Rock Slide.

Afterwards, Aqin took out two more Fire-type Pokémon, namely Magmar and Flareon. It was clear that Aqin was determined to force Shinji to use a second Pokémon. Faced with so many Fire-type Pokémon, even Shinji couldn't help but frown.

After hesitating for a moment, Shinji chose to recall Torterra in response to Aqin's third Flareon and replaced it with a very powerful Pokémon—Electivire!
This is a recently discovered evolution of Electabuzz, a form that can only be evolved through linking and trading using an Amplifier, and it was first discovered in the Sinnoh region.

Ash glanced at the information on Paul's Electivire and discovered that its level was also as high as Gym Leader!

This guy is really tough to deal with!

(End of this chapter)