Ash's Pokémon Travel Has Big Problems

"Challenger Ash, please send out your second Pokémon!"

Xiaomi gently patted Xiaoxia's shoulder, her gaze fixed on the tightly closed passageway door, as if she could see through the rocks to the boy inside.

"The grinding of the rock has only just begun. Will it reveal its full potential, or will it break..." A hint of anticipation flashed in her eyes.

"Xiaogang will give us the answer. Xiaoxia, go back and keep an eye on it. As for this big guy,"

Xiaomi pointed to the Golden Gyarados on the platform, whose breathing had stabilized, and said, "Leave it to us."

Xiaoxia took a deep breath, glanced one last time at the sleeping golden behemoth on the platform, turned around, her orange ponytail drawing a clean arc, and rushed back to the heavy stone door leading to the battlefield and the answer.

Golden Gyarados is indeed rare, but it's not worth Gym Leaders trying to steal.

Chapter 26 Instant Kill! Pikachu's power needs no further explanation.

The heavy stone door closed behind us, making the already stagnant and austere air in the core area even heavier.

At the edge of the crater created by Gyarados, water stains mixed with glaring blood slowly spread.

Ash stood at the edge of the pit, the cold touch of the Poké Ball still lingering on his hand, along with a barely perceptible tremor—the aftereffects of his partner's pain.

To be honest, he's not quite used to it.

Unable to adapt to their companion getting injured.

Fortunately, Gyarados has an extremely warlike personality.

Gyarados doesn't care about getting injured.

Ash slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the dust beneath his hat, fixed on the other side of the field.

The colossal, gray-brown rock beast coiled around him, its cold, stone eyes looking down at him. Its rough body gleamed matte under the light, and the domineering power that had shattered the golden dragon lingered at the tip of its tail.

The air was filled with mineral dust, a fishy smell, and a faint, almost imperceptible, metallic scent of blood.

Xiao Gang's rock-like face remained expressionless, displaying only a calm and unfathomable scrutiny.

The referee's cold voice rang out again:

"Challenger Ash, please send out your second Pokémon!"

No hesitation.

Without even the slightest hesitation.

Ash's voice wasn't loud, but it pierced through the deathly silence of the arena:

"Pikachu!"

"Pikachu!!!"

His response was a piercing shriek filled with thunderous fighting spirit!

The golden light explodes!

The small figure, like a bolt of lightning breaking free from its restraints, landed heavily on the wet, rocky ground, splashing up tiny droplets of water.

It didn't look at Ash; its bright black eyes burned with unprecedented fury.

The fire was firmly fixed on the massive rock serpent!

Pikachu had been watching the battle the whole time.

If it were a battle in the wild, Pikachu would have already gone in.

Unfortunately, it's a gym challenge, so we can't interfere.

Xiao Zhi's voice carried a calm and composed tone:

"partner!"

"Don't let the opportunity that Gyarados has given us go to waste!"

"Attack with all your strength!"

"Defeat it!"

The moment the words fell—

"Pica-!!!"

Pikachu has vanished!

It's not an afterimage!

It's a true and complete disappearance!

All that remained was a ring of distorted, instantly ionized air ripples and a deafening blast of air.

The next moment.

A golden spear of light, as thick as an arm and composed entirely of destructive electrical energy, appeared out of nowhere at the vulnerable point where the giant onyx's thick neck connected to its rocky body.

There, the covering rocks were relatively thin, and water stains from the struggles of Gyarados remained in the crevices.

"Sizzle—BOOM!!!"

The golden lightning of destruction, carrying the will and speed to pierce through everything, slammed into the target.

Time seemed to freeze for a single frame.

A fleeting look of surprise crossed the Onix's cold, stone-like eyes.

Immediately afterwards——

"Hiss... Huh?!!!!"

A distorted, extremely short wail!

The massive rock formation, as if struck hard by an invisible hammer, arched stiffly upwards before collapsing with a deafening roar, having lost all support.

“Rumble——!!!”

The heavy impact caused the entire core site to tremble violently once again.

Gravel and dust mixed with the splashing water rose up like smoke.

The smoke and dust slowly dissipated.

The giant rock serpent, its body as large as a small mountain, lay motionless on the wet rocks. On its gray-brown stone body, fine golden arcs of electricity, like spider webs, leaped and hissed wildly, emitting crackling sounds, centered on a charred hole at its neck through which the internal energy veins were clearly visible.

silence.

Deathly silence.

Even the sound of murky water droplets dripping from the dome hitting the rocks could be clearly heard.

The referee's flag froze in mid-air, his mouth slightly open, as if he had even forgotten to pronounce the verdict.

For the first time, a change appeared on Xiao Gang's rock-hard face.

His pupils contracted slightly, and his calm, deep gaze was shattered by an unbelievable upheaval.

Dual skill set?

Brock is an excellent trainer, and this Onix is ​​not actually his main Pokémon.

So, from his perspective, he could actually see what Pikachu had just done.

That's something advanced trainers do when they've progressed a step further.

After undergoing intensive training, Pokémon gained a deeper understanding of the essence of their own skills, and then broke down and combined the necessary skills.

Although Xiaogang couldn't figure out exactly which skills Pikachu had used, he could tell that it was a combination of two... imperfect, but it had definitely succeeded.

Actually, Pikachu's method is very simple.

Volt Attack is a very strong attack move, but the skill has a pre-attack charging animation.

Electric acceleration is one of the strongest preemptive skills, with almost zero pre-cast animation.

Pikachu's method is to use Electric to accelerate the mobilization of its internal energy, then cancel the move and switch to Volt Attack.

Although the attack will be slightly slower and the power slightly reduced, it combines strength and speed.

It can be said that this maximizes one's own combat power.

The downside is that it also puts a lot of strain on the user.

After a skill is used, there will be a long skill recovery period, during which the body will be exhausted and unable to move—somewhat similar to the stunned state after using a devastating beam.

However, as long as you can defeat your opponent, this is not a weakness.

Pikachu stood there with its arms crossed over its chest, supporting its body with its tail.

"..." Xiao Zhi pulled his baseball cap down, the shadow covering his face.

Now we should wait for Brock to get a new Pokémon.

This time also allows Pikachu to catch its breath.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the grotesque, charred hole in the Great Rock Serpent's neck, as if trying to confirm whether it was an illusion.

Instant kill!

A truly decisive, one-hit kill!

Passageway entrance.

Xia, who had just rushed back, suddenly stopped in her tracks, her orange ponytail billowing as she came to a halt.

"!!!" She was still holding onto the cold stone door with one hand, and unconsciously covered her mouth with the other. Her eyes were wide open, and all that could be seen in them was the slowly dissipating golden lightning afterimage and the collapsed rock behemoth.

She happened to witness Pikachu instantly defeating Onix.

"Pikachu..." Pikachu's tiny figure reappeared amidst the billowing smoke and mist.

It was slightly out of breath, the golden arcs of electricity crackling around its body had not yet completely subsided, and its eyes were as sharp as ever. It coldly swept over the fallen enemy, then turned to Xiao Gang with undisguised provocation.

Although they haven't spent much time together, Pikachu has already come to regard Gyarados as its little brother.

Even though it always beats Gyarados to a pulp, Gyarados has never held a grudge.

Every time Gyarados is woken up from its berserk state, it will fawn over Ash and Pikachu.

Xiao Gang took a deep breath, and the air, carrying the cold scent of rock dust, seemed to weigh heavily on his lungs.

The astonishment on his face receded quickly like a tide, replaced by a deeper, more solemn, rock-like will.

Xiao Gang raised his hand, and a Poké Ball shot out a red light that enveloped the unconscious Onix.

“Jiro.” His deep voice rang out.

A boy with a face somewhat similar to Xiao Gang's, but looking more youthful, quickly ran out of the shadows.

It was Xiaogang's younger brother, Jiro.

His face also showed shock, but he quickly took the Poké Ball, glanced at the field with concern, then looked at the little Pikachu with awe, before turning around and running quickly toward the emergency room with the ball in his arms.

Pikachu didn't go for the kill either.

If that attack had hit its head, Onix would probably be dead.

If the attack targets the body... most Rock-type Pokémon are quite resilient.

Xiao Gang's gaze returned to Pikachu, his sharp eyes seeming to scrape open its golden fur and see the true nature of its power.

Chapter 27: Pushing the team? Another one wiped out!

“Amazing speed…amazing penetrating power…” Xiao Gang’s voice was somewhat low.

This is the true strength of the person Professor Oak entrusted to him... not bad.

"That Pikachu..."

This is definitely not an ordinary Pokémon!

This Pikachu's talent is simply beyond imagination.

Because the combination of moves is something that novice trainers could never access or train.

Judging from the timing... then it could only be that this Pikachu did it on its own.

Xiao Gang slowly raised his hand, and a second Poké Ball appeared in his palm.

"You are strong!"

"You're definitely going to win this dojo battle."