With Arcanine's physical strength, enduring one hit isn't much of a problem.
Indeed, this Arcanine is incredibly tough. Although Pikachu's attack power was weakened by Intimidate, Zippy Zap inevitably lands a critical hit, which ignores both the opponent's increased and its own decreased ability value upon landing a critical hit.
In other words, Arcanine simply withstood Zippy Zap at full power.
Just as Ash was contemplating how to deal with Sunny Day, the light, which had risen halfway, suddenly dimmed. Arcanine let out a distressful cry, its limbs slightly bent, and faint golden currents flickered around its body.
Both sides were stunned at this sight, but Ash was the first to react. It was paralysis!
This reduces the opponent's speed by half and has a chance to immobilize them.
Both Splishy Splash and Pikachu's Static ability have a chance to paralyze the opponent, but Ash hadn't seen any sparks during two consecutive uses of Splishy Splash on the opponent.
Now, the sudden appearance of sparks should be related to Pikachu having directly contacted the opponent earlier with Zippy Zap, triggering Static!
This is miraculous! Ever since acquiring Pikachu, they have engaged in no less than a thousand battles!
Yet, the times Static has been triggered can be counted on one hand, which is vastly different from Ash's understanding of the Static ability!
The triggering probability of Static is thirty percent! Pikachu's trigger rate is uncertain if it even hits three percent.
This might be one of the costs of Pikachu becoming so formidable.
"Pikachu, it's triggered paralysis. Now's the time, use Splishy Splash!" Ash shouted, not wasting the opportunity, directing Pikachu to attack immediately!
Pikachu suddenly leaped up as a surging wave formed beneath it, turning Blaine's face the color of liver.
Triggering paralysis at such a time, what a stroke of bad luck!
"Arcanine, use Fire Blast!" There was no way to dodge. The move called Splishy Splash from Pikachu covered almost the entire field; unless it flew into the sky, how could it dodge?
The best method was to prevent its use; if used, enduring it directly was the only option.
Arcanine opened its massive mouth, accumulating powerful Fire Element energy inside. Luckily, this time it did not trigger paralysis, and Fire Blast was successfully launched from its mouth.
The flame, shaped like the character 大, clashed fiercely with Splishy Splash. The water heavily evaporated at visible speed.
When pitting a move against a negative attribute, Fire Blast had the upper hand, considering the opponent's field and level advantage.
Nonetheless, Ash didn't expect this move to settle the opponent.
Splishy Splash was just a feint; the real attack was…
"Pikachu, use Pika Papow!!"
Pikachu, riding the wave, jumped again, almost thirty meters above the field. The petite silhouette unleashed incomparable black-gold thunder in the air!
As it was late, Blaine didn't notice the sky filling with numerous pitch-black clouds. Lightning flashed within those dark clouds, coinciding with Pikachu's release of thunder. The lightning in the clouds descended, infusing into Pikachu.
In an instant, the world was illuminated by the thunder emanating from Pikachu, making Pikachu akin to a thunder god!
"Take this, Blaine!"
"Pika——CHU!!!"
With shouts from Ash and Pikachu, Blaine's shocked expression marked the descent of heavenly thunder from the sky!
The thunder pillar, thick as a water barrel and enveloped in terrifying black-gold lightning, fell, making the air crackle with burning sounds.
The Electric Type move created a Fire Type effect.
"Boom!!"
Arcanine, having just used Fire Blast and still paralyzed, had no chance to evade this Bolt Strike. The intense Bolt Strike struck the entire field directly, thunder spreading.
The instant the thunder spread, the ground cracked like a cobweb struck by a heavy hammer, with the violent shockwave obliterating everything around!
The entire volcano's crater shortened by a segment, as a blue shield appeared before Ash, Blaine, Gary, and others, protecting them from being blasted away by the shockwave or sustaining severe injuries.
Blaine's previously grim face paused a moment upon seeing the blue shield in front, calming into a curious expression.
This shield… it must be Ash's doing, right? It was Ash's special power manifesting into reality?
It seemed somewhat like a superpower but wasn't quite the same. More akin to a force stemming from the Life Origin rather than superpower.
As the shockwave dissipated, the blue shield before them also faded from view.
Arcanine on the field was charred and unrecognizable, like being cloaked in black charcoal, only barely differentiable as an Arcanine by shape.
"Arcanine!!" Seeing Arcanine, Blaine instantly recalled that his dog had been directly hit by that terrifying force!
Judging purely by the power, that lightning strike was almost no weaker than the ultimate move attack of an Elite Advanced Level, and Arcanine, already a flicker in the wind, was struck directly by it, rendering its combat capabilities unviable. But Blaine's concern wasn't Arcanine's battle power now, rather whether it was alive!
"Don't worry, Blaine, Arcanine has just lost the ability to fight but isn't in mortal danger. Pikachu and I held back." Ash comforted Blaine.
Blaine, hearing this, mentally sighed in relief and cast a peculiar gaze upon Ash.
Was that last attack the result of holding back? If fully unleashed, just how powerful would that be!
"Return, Arcanine." Blaine called back Arcanine, unconsciously sighing, "You fought hard; it's not that you aren't strong enough, the opponent's just too monstrous!"
Who would have thought that an Elite Advanced Level Arcanine would end up like this against a Professional Peak Pikachu?
Struck down by an opponent nearly two level tiers apart, and a Pikachu no less—unbelievable!
The unexpected nature of Splishy Splash and subsequent paralysis overwhelmed Blaine, as any abnormal status—poison, sleep, burn—would halve the combat ability.
Only confusion could be resolved by recalling the Pokemon into the Pokeball.
From the moment Arcanine was paralyzed, victory's tilt began favoring Ash.
"Return, Pikachu." Ash also retrieved Pikachu, as the consecutive attacks had nearly drained Pikachu's physical strength to the limit.
Pikachu was still panting heavily on the field, appearing extremely exhausted.
Actually, facing a forcibly enhanced Pokemon like Ash's, the best approach is to stall.
If Ash's Pokemon's attacks miss, without attacking Ash's Pokemon, its physical strength would naturally exhaust itself.
After all, the physical cost of over-level attacks was terrifyingly substantial.
If Pika Papow hadn't been enough to handle Arcanine, it might have resulted in Pikachu being defeated.
Each over-level battle appeared as a huge victory for Ash, but really it was just like licking blood from a knife tip.
Pikachu, upon receiving the directive, darted back from the field, leaping to Ash's feet.
"What an impressive creature, such lightning! I've never seen a Pikachu capable of this."
"Heh, my Pikachu is special."
"I can tell. A Pikachu that can surf and fly—it must be special," Blaine said, with a slight twitch of his mouth, a bit exasperated.
Honestly, this Pikachu is frustrating regardless of win or lose!