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"Return, Butterfree, you've worked hard." Ash recalled his Butterfree and took out his second Poké Ball.
"I choose you, Muk!" Ash's second Pokémon was Muk, and this was Muk's first time on the battle stage.
In terms of level, Muk had already reached the Superior peak. If it could win this battle, it might be able to directly advance to Professional Level.
Its various stats had been trained by Ash to the limit of its current level; as long as it had enough experience, it could level up at any time.
Additionally, Muk's Poison typing was quite effective against Scyther. Scyther had Bug and Flying types, both of which were weak to Poison-type attacks. Furthermore, their levels were quite similar, with only mobility being different.
Ash had always defeated opponents with high-speed attacks; he mostly played speed-type Pokémon. Slow-versus-fast matchups were quite rare for him.
"Muk... It's quite rare to see someone with this kind of Pokémon. How do you tolerate the smell of Muk?" When Jeanette saw Muk, her first thought wasn't how strong Muk was, but how Ash could tolerate Muk's pungent odor.
"As long as you treat Muk well, Muk won't emit an unbearable smell. As for the usual smell, you just need to get used to it," Ash said with a shrug, looking indifferent.
Initially, he was indeed a bit unaccustomed to Muk's smell, but after spending a long time with Muk, Ash discovered that when Muk was with people it was close to, its smell would unconsciously recede. This was also why Professor Oak could easily accept Muk's smell.
Although he was Muk's Trainer, he had too little contact with Muk. Later, after he trained and spent time with Muk, Muk's impression of him gradually lessened, and by now, it was almost nonexistent.
"I don't understand, but I support it. However, I won't hold back in this battle. Scyther, use Quick Attack!"
"Chaa!" Scyther's toes touched the ground, and its figure transformed into a green lightning bolt, darting across the entire grassy field.
Dazzling shadows constantly appeared on the field. Scyther's speed, boosted by Quick Attack, was indeed very fast, and it was the kind that Muk couldn't cope with at all.
"Don't mind it, use Minimize." When slow Pokémon deal with speed-type Pokémon, it's best not to attack proactively, but to remain still and wait for the opponent.
You can be as fast as you want; as long as you attack, you'll eventually get close. That's the best time for a counterattack.
And while the opponent is circling, you can't just foolishly wait for them to come. Instead, you should use stat-boosting moves to buff yourself, which will naturally make the opponent anxious.
"Use Double Chop!!" As expected, seeing Muk boosting itself, Jeanette couldn't hold back. She immediately had Scyther attack proactively.
Muk's entire body on the field became flattened. This was it using the Minimize move to boost its defense. After Scyther continuously circled and accelerated on the field, it finally seized an opportunity to appear behind Muk, and its sharp scythes slashed upwards!
"Pfft!" Scyther's scythes directly cut into Muk's body, seemingly causing considerable damage to Muk.
But when Jeanette saw this, her expression instantly changed dramatically!
"Scyther, get out of there quickly!!"
"Too late, Muk, Gunk Shot!" Ash immediately gave the command.
Muk's upper body strangely did a 180-degree rotation. It was originally a blob of sludge, and its body's flexibility was simply too good; even a 360-degree rotation was no big deal.
Scyther desperately pulled its dual scythes, but found that they seemed to be glued, stuck firmly inside Muk's body, completely unable to be pulled out.
From the very beginning, Ash planned for Muk to use its body to withstand Scyther's first attack and then restrain it. Otherwise, if the opponent started moving around, it would be quite troublesome.
Jeanette falling for it so easily was somewhat beyond Ash's expectation. What kind of skill level is this? How did she make it to the fourth preliminary round?
Her Pokémon weren't outstanding, and her command ability was average. Was it just good luck?
While Ash was wondering, Muk had already started spitting out a mass of garbage containing deadly toxic gas.
A dark purple, slightly black beam hit Scyther at almost zero range. Scyther let out a pained wail, struggling even harder with its hands.
Finally, after being continuously hit by Gunk Shot for nearly ten seconds, it finally broke free, then flew backward along with the force of the Gunk Shot, rolling and skidding across the grass for more than ten circles before finally stopping.
"Scyther!!" Jeanette's worried voice rang out on the field. This time, Scyther didn't faint like the Beedrill before, but it had taken considerable damage.
After all, it was a zero-range Gunk Shot, which is a Poison-type STAB move. With such a close-range hit, even if a frail Pokémon like Scyther didn't faint, it would only have a sliver of health left.
"Press the advantage, use Sludge Wave!" Strike while the iron is hot. In battle, Ash didn't know what the words "cherish and pity" meant. He just wanted to win as quickly as possible!
"Muk~~~" Muk's upper body turned back, then suddenly rotated again, and countless sludge flew out from its body, spreading and dripping across the entire field!
The small blades of grass on the ground were instantly corroded and died upon contact with the sludge. Scyther, which had just gotten up, quickly began to dodge under Jeanette's command.
However, the range of Sludge Wave was simply too wide, and Scyther had just suffered a heavy blow and hadn't fully recovered. Its hasty dodging was very limited, and in the end, Scyther still couldn't escape the coverage of Sludge Wave, getting hit by the scattered sludge on its body.
A roar exploded on the field, and as expected, Scyther fainted.
"Scyther is unable to battle, Muk wins!" The victory of the second battle still belonged to Ash. The process was slightly longer than the first battle, but the result was no different.
Butterfree in the first battle instantly knocked out its opponent, and Muk in the second battle engaged in a bit of a struggle with its opponent, but it still defeated the opponent almost effortlessly.
Speed-type Pokémon were clearly Muk's bane. If Scyther had performed well, Muk would have been the one in trouble. However, the Trainer's command was truly mediocre, so the speed-type Scyther was instead countered by Muk.
Once a speed-type Pokémon is caught, their weak defense becomes their biggest weakness.
Coupled with Muk's considerable attack power, two moves to finish the job was quite normal.
At this point, Jeanette could be said to be truly cornered. She had only one Pokémon left, and if this Pokémon failed, she would have to say goodbye to this Indigo Plateau Conference.
"Return, Scyther... You've worked hard." Jeanette comforted Scyther in the Poké Ball with a gentle expression, then recalled it and took out her last Poké Ball.
"This is the last one. Go, my ace! Bellsprout!!"
With a flash of light, a delicate and small Pokémon appeared on the field.
Bellsprout, the initial form of a Grass-type Pokémon. From its appearance, it looked incredibly weak, and being a first-stage evolution, its strength shouldn't be that high.
But under Ash's Eye of Insight, he discovered that this Bellsprout's level was actually as high as Professional Level early stage!
How difficult is it to reach Professional Level without evolving? Even Bulbasaur evolved at the Superior level, but this Bellsprout stubbornly remained unevolved even at Professional Level. Did it have an Everstone?
What's the point of that!
Professional Level Pokémon were not uncommon in the Indigo Plateau Conference, but a Professional Level Pokémon that was still in its initial form was something Ash had never seen before in the Indigo Plateau Conference!
Even Bulbasaur wasn't that patient back then!
When Bulbasaur wanted to stay in its initial form, Ash analyzed the pros and cons for it. In the end, for power and to help Ash, Bulbasaur still chose to evolve, and it was the most perfect evolution.
It's not that Pokémon can only get stronger by evolving, but most Pokémon need to evolve to get stronger. Stats, potential, speed of improvement... all come from the huge boost gained after evolution.
If you don't evolve and rely solely on the initial form, not to mention stats, your level increase will also be very slow.
What was so special about this Bellsprout that it could remain unevolved at Professional Level?
"Return, Muk." Ash first recalled Muk, then took out his third Poké Ball: "I choose you, Monferno!"
With a flash of light, the energetic Monferno appeared on the field. It first excitedly punched the air, then looked at its opponent this time, only to find that the opponent was just a scrawny, smaller-than-kindling Bellsprout, and a look of disappointment couldn't help but appear on its face.
This looks so weak. Can it even withstand one Flamethrower?
"Don't be careless, Monferno, your opponent is stronger than you think!" Ash said, and the Aura within his body slowly rose.
Monferno had made further progress compared to two days ago, already reaching Superior early stage. Such a fierce level increase without falling behind in stats was also largely thanks to Paul's foundation, and of course, Monferno's own talent also played an indispensable role.
But even Monferno, already at the Superior level, was still a large step behind Bellsprout in terms of level. Don't let Bellsprout's small size and harmless appearance fool you; if they really fought, Monferno might not even be able to activate its Blaze Ability before being defeated.
After all, without the boost of Aura, Monferno was only at the Superior early stage. Even with a type advantage, it would be difficult to overcome such a huge level difference, which is why Ash unhesitatingly added Aura to it at the start of the battle.
Regardless of what's unusual about the opponent, first bring the levels to par.
"It's that Monferno again. Ash, you have him in every one of your battles." After Ash caught Chimchar, he sent him out for three consecutive battles. Jeanette understood the first two battles, but she didn't expect to face him herself.
"Because Monferno is a new addition, both its synchronicity and experience are lacking, so it needs to grow more in battle. I won't be polite, I'll attack first. Monferno, Flame Wheel!"
It was still Flame Wheel to start. This was Monferno's most proficient Fire-type move. It could move at high speed while using fire, making it a very convenient move.
"Hoo!" Monferno curled its body into a ball, transforming into a rolling fiery wheel, and charged towards Bellsprout.
"Push it away." Jeanette's command was a bit strange. It wasn't to dodge, nor to counter with a move, but to push it away.
What does "push away" mean?
Before Ash could react, the charging Monferno was directly stuck by Bellsprout's front leaves, and with minimal contact with Monferno's flames, it directly pushed Monferno backward—using minimal force to deflect a thousand pounds!
The charging Monferno rolled a few times on the ground before returning to normal, then somewhat bewilderedly turned to look at Bellsprout, seemingly not understanding what had just happened. How was it suddenly pushed backward?
"What's going on? Monferno, Encore, Flame Wheel!" Even Ash didn't understand what happened just now. It looked as if Bellsprout had dodged Monferno's Flame Wheel, but in reality, Bellsprout's speed shouldn't allow it to dodge.
After all, with Bellsprout's two short legs, it would be difficult to run even if it wanted to, unless it used auxiliary means. But Monferno's Flame Wheel just didn't hit Bellsprout... What exactly happened just now?
Monferno's body curled into a ball again, transforming into a wheel of fire, and rolled towards Bellsprout. This time, Bellsprout still slightly shifted its body, then its leaf-like hands stuck to the Flame Wheel and pushed it aside onto the ground!
"Boom!!" The Flame Wheel hit the ground at a very strange angle, and Monferno also broke out of its Flame Wheel state, its head feeling a bit dizzy and disoriented from the impact.
"Use continuous Slam!" Jeanette's voice rang out again. After commanding Bellsprout, Jeanette's performance was completely different from when she commanded her previous Pokémon, as if Bellsprout was her true Pokémon.
And Bellsprout, under Jeanette's command, picked up Monferno, then attacked with both hands: "Bang bang bang!!"
Monferno was slammed left and slammed right, making it dizzy and disoriented. Ash also felt his body being pulled back and forth.
"Monferno, Flame Wheel!!" Ash shouted, enduring the discomfort in his body. Monferno on the field also burst into roaring flames!
The burning flames forced Bellsprout to release Monferno, and Monferno used this opportunity to quickly put distance between them.
The previous clash made him realize that this guy was far from as weak as she looked. Her ability was simply too strange!