Ash, with his invincible physical body, wants to become a Pokémon Master...

This was a strike that had been delivered with all its might.

Even the Razor Leafs that didn't hit Heracross created craters in the ground, making it look like it had been bombarded by artillery shells.

"What a powerful flying leaf blade."

As expected of Junichi's ace, he was able to use the Leaf Blade to achieve the effect of a destructive death ray.

At this moment, under the blows of the swift blades, Heracross let out screams from time to time.

Being poisoned, its strength was rapidly depleted.

"Come back, Heracross." Ash decisively chose to switch it out.

"Well done, Junichi. Professor Elm said you are an excellent trainer, and it seems he was right."

"Hehe, of course!" Junichi waved with a grin when he saw the camera shining on him again.

"Nana, Kenta, are you guys watching?"

"That idiot, he hasn't even defeated his opponent's Pokémon yet, and he's already getting cocky!"

At a Pokémon Center in the Johto region, Junichi's two childhood friends were indeed watching his match.

Seeing the kid's performance, the two of them couldn't help but slap their foreheads.

On the field, Ash sent out his next Pokémon.

"Oh dear, Ash sent out a Noctowl with a unique color, and Junichi's Megami Tengu is at a type disadvantage."

"Hmph, it's alright. My bond with the big chrysanthemum won't be broken by the slightest difficulty!"

After being heavily suppressed by Ash earlier, Junichi is finally getting into form thanks to Heracross.

"Nighthawk. Use hypnosis!"

"Big Chrysanthemum, use the vine whip!"

Making a long-awaited appearance, even the usually calm Night Hawk couldn't hide his excitement.

I usually practice hypnosis with those two lewd guys, the Dream-Inducing Baku and the Hypnotic Baku, and now it can finally be put to good use.

"Cuckoo!"

As soon as it landed, it immediately crossed its wings in front of its chest, and a red light slowly flashed in its eyes.

But at that moment, the chrysanthemum's vine whip lashed out from the ground and instantly bound the owl's body.

"Hahaha, how could such a slow skill as hypnosis possibly compare to the vine whip of my big chrysanthemum?"

Chunyi saw that the attack was effective immediately and jumped up excitedly on the spot.

"Big Chrysanthemum, use Mount Tai Press Down immediately!"

"With the Night Hawk's weak physical defense, I'm sure I'll win this round."

"Hehe, so be it!" (Ash Yu-Gi-Oh! face: That's not necessarily true!)

Unexpectedly, just as the giant chrysanthemum's body collided with its opponent, the night owl's body suddenly turned into a stone.

"What?!" Chun was shocked.

The stone shattered instantly, and the giant chrysanthemum looked up in alarm. The night owl wasn't even on the ground; it was leisurely circling above its head.

It even made a cooing sound to mock it.

"If this is an illusion, when... how could... even the trainer be hypnotized?"

Junichi was utterly shocked.

In his eyes, the Night Hawk's hypnosis hadn't even finished, so how could he and the Big Chrysanthemum have already been hypnotized?

"You didn't expect that, did you?"

This is what makes Ash's Noctowl so powerful. As the smartest member of its kind, it has an innate talent for psychic abilities.

And thanks to Xiaozhi's training, it can now easily hypnotize dozens of people with just a flap of its wings!

A truly skilled hypnotist will never use ordinary hypnotic techniques.

"Now's the time, Night Hawk, use Air Blade."

"Big chrysanthemum, get out of the way!"

With a swift flick of its vine whip already outside, the giant chrysanthemum tumbled awkwardly, dodging several descending air blades thanks to the recoil.

"You dodged pretty quickly, Night Hawk, take flight and then use Air Blade!"

"Goo!"

Ash's shiny Noctowl is smaller and more agile than a regular Noctowl.

It flew and darted through the air quickly, successfully disrupting the chrysanthemum's vision in no time.

During the process, sharp blades formed from condensed air are released naturally from time to time, making them impossible to defend against.

"There's no way to dodge it, Big Chrysanthemum uses Light Wall!" Pure One's Big Chrysanthemum only has two advantages: it's exceptionally tanky and highly agile.

Four semi-transparent barriers made of special energy quickly appeared around it. Even after the air blades were weakened by the light walls, the giant chrysanthemum still did not fall.

But then the Night Hawk's attack came in an instant, and the Big Chrysanthemum could only passively use its Leaf Blade to counterattack.

"Damn it, that was way too fast!"

Junichi's eyes kept following the figure of the night owl, turning back and forth until he was almost dizzy.

"There's no other way, use Falling Petals on the big chrysanthemum!"

This move will consume a lot of the big chrysanthemum's stamina, but Junichi has already been cornered.

The entire field was immediately engulfed in a fierce flurry of falling petals, and the power of the 90-point physical attack from the flurry of petals was equally formidable.

"With such a wide-range attack, even the Night Hawk can't dodge it anymore!"

"Nighthawk, use telekinesis."

But Ash still handled it with ease.

The petals, concealing deadly intent, were twisted in direction by powerful psychic force before they could fall onto the night owl, causing the night owl to hover in mid-air, flapping its wings.

Amidst a rain of petals falling like bullet comments, a symmetrical cone-shaped compartment is formed, surrounded by beautiful flowers fluttering in the air.

The giant chrysanthemum's powerful attack failed to harm the night owl in the slightest.

"Such beautiful offense and defense, it's like watching a grand slam."

The audience applauded enthusiastically; this scene is sure to become a memorable moment of the competition.

But Junichi, being one of the parties involved, had no interest in appreciating it.

"Damn it... but now the owl can't move anymore!"

"Large chrysanthemums, blazing sunshine!"

Chunyi was lucky; the weather was exceptionally sunny today, and the chrysanthemum gathered sunlight and flames much faster than usual.

Soon, a beam of incredibly powerful light was fired at the night owl that was still hovering in mid-air.

"Owl, don't hide, just charge straight at it!"

"Oh my god, Ash actually ordered Noctowl to stop dodging and instead face Megami Tentacruel's Solar Beams head-on!"

"Even if it's a resistance, it can still cause considerable damage!"

The commentators exclaimed in surprise, and even the opponent, Junichi, was momentarily confused.

"What exactly is Ash trying to do?"

Just as the blazing sunlight was about to strike the night owl, it passed straight through its shadow.

"What's going on? Is it another illusion?" Jun's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Ash.

Ash smiled slightly.

"Junichi, when did you get the idea that the Night Hawk didn't use hypnosis?"

"what?"

At that moment, the Night Hawk appeared beside the Big Chrysanthemum, its red light shining even brighter.

Under this close-up hypnotic treatment, the large chrysanthemum succumbed to sleep.

"Oh no, wake up, big chrysanthemum!!!"

Chunyi shouted in a panic, but it was too late.

"Nighthawk, dream eater!"

Black bubbles rose from the large chrysanthemum and burst instantly.

The Night Hawk regained some of its strength, while Big Chrysanthemum was completely unconscious.

"The Great Chrysanthemum is incapacitated; the Night Hawk wins!"

[Ding! Night Hawk: Affection +2; Intimacy +2]

After the defeat of the Great Chrysanthemum, Junichi completely lost hope of winning.

Despite his refusal to give up, he sent out his last Pokémon, Magneton.

This Magneton is actually a Shiny Pokémon, but unfortunately, being Shiny doesn't give it any special bonuses.

Moreover, his moveset is also hard to describe; his best moves are actually Shadow Clone and Triangle Attack.

Even the electric-type moves that counter Night Hawk are limited to a single control-oriented electromagnetic wave.

Ultimately, Magneton was quickly defeated by Noctowl's hypnosis and dream-eating technique.

"Magnemite is unable to battle. Ash is the winner of this battle!" The referee's flag was waved, and Junichi's portrait turned completely gray.

"Wow, that was a great match. Thank you, Ash."

After the match, Junichi let out a long sigh and finally came over to shake hands with Ash, feeling relieved.

"Your big chrysanthemum is very strong. I look forward to our next battle."

Amidst thunderous applause from the audience, Ash successfully advanced to the final tournament.

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the new main quest "Silver Tournament Preliminary League": Second Victory!]