I caught a Pokémon

On the other side, a somewhat overweight man wearing glasses came to the referee's table and read out the rules of the game.

The rules remain the same: only three Pokémon can be used, and the gym leader cannot change Pokémon at will, just like other gyms.

The referee's attire was unlike that of someone from a water-type gym. He was dressed in a stuffy, chubby outfit and looked rather like a typical nerdy guy from anime.

Conversely, Yoshinobu somehow found a cape, and as the referee introduced him, he fluttered the cape and made a cool Kamen Rider entrance!

To be honest, although it's a bit cringey, it's undeniably cool.

At least Xiao Zhi's eyes lit up, clearly attracted by Yoshinobu's cool move. His eyes sparkled, as if he was thinking that if he had the chance in the future, he would like to do the same.

The two faced each other from a distance, and Yoshinobu was the first to release his Pokémon.

Although he had only known Ash for a short time and was unaware of the boy's strength, Yoshino took the match seriously and summoned a Gyarados with a wave of his hand!

Using Gyarados as the first Pokémon in the Gym battle shows that Yoshinobu was definitely not holding back.

That's pretty brutal.

I wonder what those new trainers who made this gym their first challenge will think after seeing Gyarados.

While not every Gyarados is strong, none are particularly weak either.

It's likely that aside from a small percentage of people who manage to pass, most new trainers will be left with some psychological trauma.

Fortunately, after traveling for so long, Ash was already quite familiar with Gyarados.

Faced with this imposing Pokémon, he smiled slightly and sent out Pikachu.

As a renowned master of type advantages, Ash's decision to send out a Pokémon with a type advantage in his first battle, especially a "50/50" opponent like Pikachu, is clearly not a good sign.

In terms of attributes, Gyarados, being a Water/Flying type, is undoubtedly four times weak to Electric. However, as soon as the battle began, Gyarados showed Ash how it could withstand a Thunderbolt attack without any serious damage.

Not only were Ash and Pikachu surprised, but May and Dawn in the stands also stared wide-eyed.

Surprised as I was, this also shows how extraordinary this Gyarados is.

Just as Ash was surprised, Gyarados dived into the water and quickly approached Pikachu, then suddenly surfaced and spewed out scorching energy.

But Pikachu is no pushover either. Facing Gyarados's Dragon Rage attack, it immediately performed a Spin Jump to meet it head-on, using Iron Tail to shatter the latter's energy flames.

As soon as the battle began, the two Pokémon fought evenly, but it was clear to everyone that the battle was quite intense.

Under the command of the two trainers, one was in the water and the other on the floating platform, splashing water everywhere and shaking the platform. But in the end, it was defeated by Pikachu's Volt attack during a Gyarados's 'Crush' attack.

This surprised Xiao Guang and his friends, but also brought them some relief.

Ash finally won another type-advantage battle...

Moreover, Pikachu's performance this time was indeed very consistent.

Despite their confidence in Pikachu before the battle, when the battle actually began, facing such a powerful Gyarados, given Pikachu's 'historical record', they couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Fortunately, we finally got off to a good start.

It seems that although this Gyarados is resistant to Electric, it cannot completely ignore type advantages.

After the battle, Yoshino acknowledged Ash's strength. He smiled indifferently at the defeat and sent out a second Pokémon.

This time, he sent out a Swamp King.

Ash was no stranger to Quagsire, a Pokémon that was commonly seen in Johto. After a moment's thought, he recalled Pikachu and sent out a new Pokémon instead—his Turtwig.

Once everything was ready, the two clashed again.

From the very beginning, Ash planned to take advantage of Torterra's speed.

A grass turtle running at full speed can even run on the walls of a swimming pool without falling into the water!

This greatly surprised Ji Xian.

However, Yoshinobu's Quagsire was also very powerful and intelligent. When forced underwater, it could use its excellent hearing to judge the speed and landing point of Turtwig, and it could also use its special moves to effectively resist Grass-type Pokémon. As a result, Turtwig found it increasingly difficult to cope with the battle.

It can be said that all of the grass turtle's actions were predicted by the swamp king's hearing!

In that instant, Swamp King first severely injured Turtwig with its Ice Beam, and then, the moment Turtwig was frozen, it leaped out of the water and used Sludge Bomb.

Seeing this, Ash had no choice but to take out a Poké Ball and recall Turtwig before it was hit by the attack.

Although it hasn't been defeated yet, it's clear to everyone that the grass turtle will probably need to rest for a while.

The situation seems to have... come full circle once again.

Chapter 1058 Feeling Young

Ash's third and final Pokémon was his Swim-boosting Weasel.

Speaking of his Swim Ring Itachi, it's the one that Ash traded with Dawn for Aipom not long ago. Although Xia You hasn't had much contact with it, he knows that this Swim Ring Itachi is fairly strong, but its performance so far hasn't been that outstanding.

Ash probably sent it out at this time not only to train it, but also to gain an advantage in the terrain, just like Yoshinobu.

With that thought in mind, the battle had officially begun.

However, Dawn and her friends originally thought this would be an evenly matched battle, since both sides were Water-type Pokémon, and it wouldn't be easy to determine a winner.

But unexpectedly, after the initial probing, the battle situation suddenly tilted directly in Ash's favor!

In one of the brief moments of clash, Swamp King used the Ice Beam again.

To be honest, using Ice-type moves against Water-type Pokémon is not a good idea, but for some reason, Yoshinobu did it anyway.

The consequences of doing so would undoubtedly be quite fatal.

Faced with the oncoming icy beam, Ash neither dodged nor avoided it. Instead, he had Swim-boost Weasel face the cold energy and use Water Jet.

The next second, a large amount of water sprayed out from under Swim Ring Weasel's feet, and his entire body was enveloped in water, shooting towards Swamp King like a giant cannonball!

In mid-air, at the instant the freezing beam collided with the water jet, the water around Swim Ring Itachi was frozen into solid ice, but the Swim Ring Itachi's momentum did not diminish. Its entire body was encased in thick ice, and it flew straight toward Swamp King!

Yoshinobu had clearly never encountered such a reckless trainer before.

He was taken aback. In the blink of an eye, he had no time to react and could only watch helplessly as the 'big ice block' crashed into the Swamp King and knocked him to the ground.

By the time he came to his senses, the referee had already raised his right hand.

"Swamp King has lost the ability to fight!"

That's way too fast...

It's likely that Yoshinobu never anticipated such a one-sided situation before the war began.

In fact, not only him, but even Dawn and May were greatly surprised to see Ash and Swim-boosting Itachi almost instantly defeat the opponent.

really……

Ash always manages to bring them such surprises!

Even Xia You's eyes flickered slightly when she saw this scene, and she couldn't help but marvel at how Xiao Zhi always managed to deliver such an unexpected performance at such moments.

His talent is truly remarkable!

In the arena, with Quagsire falling, Yoshinobu was left with only one Pokémon.

However, just as he said before the match, he is a very straightforward person and was not unhappy about the defeat of the first two Pokémon. On the contrary, he expressed his appreciation for Ash.

Ash's three Pokémon are all still alive, and faced with this situation, Yoshinobu sends out his last Pokémon.

With a flash of light, a snorkeling weasel appeared in front of the swimming ring weasel.

Seeing the very similar forms of the Floating Weasel and the Swim Ring Weasel in the stands, Xiaoyao knew that this must be the evolved form of the Swim Ring Weasel.

Like the snorkeling weasel, the snorkeling weasel is mostly orange, with a beige circular spot on its head, a yellow float on its neck that extends to its back, blue fins on the back of its hands, two black stripes next to its mouth, and orange teardrop patterns on its belly.

It looks like a hybrid of a weasel and an otter, and of course, there are elements of life jackets and rubber boats in it as well.

Since it was their first time meeting, out of curiosity, she took out her Pokédex and pointed it at the Floatweaver.

Pokémon Pokédex entry: "Drip, Float Weasel, the Water-type, evolved from the Float Weasel. This Pokémon is widely found in fishing villages. It not only helps drowning people but also helps carry captured prey. It has a long and large float that allows it to float on the surface of the water, so it will not drown even in a storm at sea."

May put away her Pokédex and shook her head.

"A final evolved form versus a non-evolved form, this match doesn't seem like it'll be easy..."

“I don’t think so.” Xia You clearly disagreed. “Since I met Ash, I’ve seen and heard many examples of him winning against his final form using a lower form. Battles like this, which are difficult for others, are still ‘experienced’ in front of Ash.”

After all, they had only traveled to one region with Ash. Although Xia You said that, and Xiao Yao and Xiao Guang agreed, they didn't think much of it.

Only Xiao Gang, standing to the side, nodded in strong agreement.

As Ash's longest-lasting companion, Xia You was well aware of what he was saying.

Judging solely from the perspective of 'overthrowing superiors', Ash really has a lot to say!

At this point, the highly anticipated battle had already begun.

Facing its evolved form, Ash's Swim-boosted Weasel was full of fighting spirit and took the initiative to meet the enemy the moment the battle started.

Although I believe Ash will win this battle, I was still a little worried for him when I saw the Swim Ring Weasel just charging straight ahead without any strategy.

And as it turns out, without Ash's 'flash of inspiration' kind of command, his Pokémon, on their own, still couldn't deal with their evolved forms.

This caused the swim ring weasel to be defeated and even fall into a state of confusion not long after they started fighting!

Fortunately, it didn't completely collapse.

Seeing this, Ash didn't stubbornly switch out the Swim-boosting Weasel and sent out Pikachu instead. After Pikachu had exhausted the Swim-boosting Weasel's stamina, he sent the Swim-boosting Weasel back in.

This time, with the combined efforts of Ash and Swim-boosting Itachi, they finally defeated Yoshinobu's Floating Itachi.

The whole match was a close call, but the result was still very good.

Xiaoyao and the others clapped in celebration. Xia You also got up and left the stands, gave Ash a high-five as he walked towards her, and then stood in the Trainer Command Area.

After watching for so long, it's finally his turn.

Ash lacks battling skills, but he is extremely passionate. He was itching to get his hands on the equipment after watching the battle and couldn't wait to join in.

Looking at it this way, hanging out with Ash all the time isn't without its advantages.

At least for him, it was a long time since he had felt like a young man again.

However, before the battle began, he kindly asked, "Do you need to heal your Pokémon first?"

"Don't worry." Ji Xian patted his fanny pack. "I'm not just limited to these. I have other Pokémon that can battle you!"

"That's good." Xia You nodded upon hearing this. "I was originally thinking that it would waste more time, but now it seems that I was worrying too much."

Since the rules of the competition had already been explained, the referee did not repeat them even after the challenger changed. Now that both sides were ready, he signaled the start of the competition.

Chapter 1059 The Inevitable Arrangement of Fate

Just like before, Yoshinobu was the first to send out his Pokémon.

As he threw the Poké Ball, after a flash of blue light, before Xia You could even see what it was, there was a 'plop' sound, as if something heavy had fallen into the pool.

Once the water calmed down, a huge dorsal fin, unique to sharks, appeared in the pool.

Looking down further, it was indeed a Pokémon that looked like a shark!

"So it was a Megalodon."

Xia You heard Xiao Zhi mutter something in the stands.

As a Pokémon that had been encountered during the Hoenn era, everyone present except Dawn was familiar with it.

After all, this kind of Pokémon has never appeared in the waters surrounding Sinnoh.

As a ferocious Pokémon of the Water/Dark type, Sharpedo resembles a shark in appearance.

Its body is bright blue and white, with two notches on the upper fin and one on the lower fin. It has red eyes and black gills on the sides of its body, and its most distinctive feature is the yellow four-pointed star pattern on its head and tail.

Just by looking at it, you can tell that its design concept is based on the real-world great white shark!

Of course, some submarine and torpedo elements have also been added to make it look cooler and more menacing.

In terms of habits, the Megalodon is known as the bully of the sea and is feared by all. It is a ferocious, cunning and intelligent king of the sea.

It has teeth that can crush even iron plates, and its teeth can regenerate quickly after being broken. It can single-handedly tear large oil tankers to shreds. Ships that enter its habitat will be attacked without exception. Moreover, it is extremely sensitive to the smell of blood. After smelling its prey, it will spray the seawater it has drunk from a hole in its buttocks to swim at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Although it has special skin that can reduce water resistance, its weakness is that it cannot swim for very long distances.

From Xia You's perspective, he actually really likes Pokémon.

Moreover, it can also use water jets for short-duration flight!

This also makes its offense more diverse!