"Oh? A Butterfree, and you managed to raise it to its final evolution form in just nine days? You truly are a remarkable Trainer." Brock looked at the Butterfree fluttering in the sky and praised Ash.
Although it's a Bug Type Pokemon, evolving it into a final evolution form in nine days is indeed a remarkable achievement for a beginner trainer.
And judging by Brock's keen eye, this Butterfree is not just evolved to its final form but is in excellent condition overall.
Whether it's the spirit, the surface fur, the wings, or the eyes, everything is of top-notch quality among Pokemon, indicating that Ash didn't just rush Caterpie to evolve into Butterfree, but nurtured it naturally with care.
In the eyes of Brock, who aspires to become a Breeder, this Butterfree has been raised very well.
"Didn't I tell you? Newbie Trainers from Pallet Town are different from other trainers. Owning a Butterfree is quite normal for me." Ash said with a hint of pride on his face.
Being complimented by a Gym Trainer before even starting the battle made him almost float with joy.
But Ash quickly suppressed the smirk on his face and turned serious.
Pride and arrogance in battle can be fatal; you should wait until you've won to be self-satisfied.
"Raising a Butterfree is certainly impressive, but it seems you haven't memorized the Pokemon type advantages. Butterfree is both Flying and Bug Type, which is four times weaker against Rock Type. If my Geodude lands a hit on you, it's over." Brock suddenly changed his tone.
The Geodude he sent out is at the Advanced Junior Level, a level that is almost impossible for ordinary beginners to defeat. After all, it took Ash nearly ten days just to raise an Ordinary Level Pikachu to Advanced Level.
For an ordinary person, even tripling that time wouldn't guarantee achieving what Ash did.
So just in terms of level, the beginner's challenge is already at a disadvantage, even if this challenge difficulty is the lowest at the Gym.
And Ash's Butterfree is only at the Ordinary Peak in terms of strength and is fully countered by Rock Type, making victory seem improbable, but to Ash, that's not the case.
"Level, attributes, these are indeed key factors in battles. But more crucial is the Trainer commanding the Pokemon. Let me show you the tactics between me and Butterfree. Butterfree, use Sleep Powder!"
"Bilibili~~" Butterfree flapped its wings, scattering countless particles towards Geodude.
"Sleep Powder, huh? Geodude, use Rollout!"
"Fist~" Geodude curled its body into a ball and began spinning rapidly, charging forward!
By the time the Sleep Powder descended, Geodude had already left its original spot.
"Such slow Sleep Powder can't hit my Geodude; just use Rollout on Butterfree!" Brock waved his hand, directly attacking Butterfree.
Rollout increases in power as the rolling time increases. With its level surpassing Butterfree, the power increase of Rollout, coupled with the fourfold weakness, might just render Butterfree unable to battle!
However, under Brock's shout, Geodude did not bounce toward Butterfree but continued rolling in a straight charge, albeit with decreasing speed.
"What's wrong with Geodude?!" Geodude's strange behavior puzzled Brock. What happened? Why wasn't Geodude following his command?
The next moment, Geodude provided Brock with the answer.
Geodude in its rolling state crashed into a rock pillar on the field, finally ceasing to roll and then lay there motionless.
"Is it... asleep?! How is that possible? Geodude clearly dodged the Sleep Powder just now!" Brock shouted, incredulous.
The range of Sleep Powder is limited and its speed is slow, making it hard to hit without a Feint attack.
Hence, Brock did not take Butterfree's Sleep Powder seriously, thinking even the slow Geodude could dodge with a Rollout attack.
What's going on then? How was Geodude hit by Sleep Powder?
"Hehe, because my Butterfree has the Compound Eyes ability." Ash said with a smug smile, wiping his nose.
A few days ago in the forest, Ash finally understood through the group what it means to use Butterfree effectively and grasped the concept of support operations.
The Compound Eyes ability of Butterfree increases accuracy by 30%. This improvement isn't just numerical; why does Compound Eyes increase accuracy by 30%? Because, under this ability, Butterfree observes other Pokemon as if they were in slow motion.
This allows it to accurately hit enemies that appear to be in slow motion to its eyes.
This is the tactical maneuver Ash was taught: the core tactic of using Butterfree—Compound Eyes Sleep Powder!
Under Compound Eyes, the hard-to-hit Sleep Powder gains considerably in accuracy, unless there is a huge gap in strength. Without knowing Butterfree uses Compound Eyes, the first Sleep Powder is likely to land.
And it turned out to be the case; Brock was confident that Geodude could avoid Sleep Powder. But in reality, when Geodude used Rollout, Butterfree had already plotted its course and sprinkled Sleep Powder on its inevitable path.
That's why Geodude fell asleep.
"Compound Eyes ability... You even know and master Pokemon abilities fluently; are you really a Newbie Trainer?"
"Of course, I'm truly a newbie, just a very capable one! Butterfree, use String Shot!"
"Bilibili~" Butterfree opened its mouth slightly and released white string at the sleeping Geodude.
The white string wrapped tightly around Geodude.
Second move after Sleep, reduce the opponent's Speed!
Ideally, I would use Tailwind at this point, but Butterfree hasn't learned Tailwind yet, so I can only use String Shot to slow the opponent down.
According to relativity, when the opponent's speed decreases, it equates to an increase in our own speed!
In the absence of sufficient level, this relatively low-tier version of the tactic is necessary.
"Sleep Powder... String Shot... put to sleep first, then reduce speed? An impressive strategy indeed." Brock too admired Ash's tactics. A newcomer Trainer already employing tactics of this caliber?
Just who is this guy?