After Blaine retracted Ninetales, he didn't take advantage of releasing it to battle, but instead released his second Pokemon, Arcanine.
In the wild, Arcanine is incredibly rare, and within the League, Growlithe and Arcanine are typically assigned to security personnel. These are even rarer than the Three Starters.
Moreover, the cost of raising an Arcanine is extremely high, as Growlithe requires a Fire Stone to evolve. The quality of the Fire Stone determines the power boost after evolution, and whether it can potentially increase the ability cap.
Raising a top-tier Arcanine costs much more than an ordinary Pokemon.
However, as the saying goes, high investment brings high returns. Although Arcanine consumes a lot, it also yields great returns. With just a Fire Stone, it can evolve directly, without the rigorous training evolution that other Pokemon require.
Post-evolution, the ability value can increase significantly, also depending on the Fire Stone. Most importantly, its single-stage evolution is equivalent to the double-stage evolution of the Three Starters, making it a sought-after Pokemon.
It's no surprise that a Trainer of Blaine's caliber possesses an Arcanine. However, Blaine's Arcanine is at the Elite Advanced Level!
This level surpasses what Gardevoir can handle.
Don't be fooled by Gardevoir's ability to suppress Ninetales, as Blaine mistakenly had Ninetales use Extrasensory to resist Gardevoir's Psychic. If Ninetales had used its own Fire Type moves, with Flash Fire and the field's aid, Psychic would likely have been burned away.
Forces without form can be blocked by forces with form, otherwise, wouldn't the Psychic Type be invincible?
However, Blaine believed that Ninetales' Elite Level power was enough to break Gardevoir's attack using non-Fire Type moves, which is why he used Extrasensory instead.
If he had used Fire Type moves, Gardevoir would have struggled, like dealing with Inferno initially, unable to break the opponent's moves using Superpower.
Now with the Elite Advanced Level Arcanine, it's even harder to beat...
"Gardevoir, come back first!" Ash decided to withdraw Gardevoir.
Facing an unbeatable opponent and continuing to clash head-on is pure folly.
There's no need to let Gardevoir get drained by Arcanine here. MEGA Evolution and Aura Fusion share a similarity in that they increase strength in all aspects, except for physical strength.
Therefore, Gardevoir is also afraid of prolonged battles. Without an increase in physical strength, increased power means each move consumes a lot, a significant burden for a Gardevoir with unchanged physical strength.
After retrieving Gardevoir, Ash crouched down, placing his hat over Pikachu at his feet: "It's up to you now, Pikachu."
"Pika pika!" Pikachu nodded, then leaped from Ash's feet onto the field, but as soon as he landed, he started hopping around, shouting frantically.
The field was simply too hot!
Much hotter than where he just stood, as it was directly above the volcano's crater, standing here felt like entering a steamer.
After a long while, Pikachu finally adjusted to the temperature, standing steadily.
...
"Ash switched to Pikachu already, using his ace so soon?" Gary was puzzled seeing Pikachu on the field. Now that Pikachu was out, what would Ash use later? Could he have a Pokemon stronger than Pikachu in his hand?
"Didn't you hear what Ash said? This three-on-three includes himself, so the final act must be Ash himself," Misty said matter-of-factly.
But this made Gary show an astonished expression.
"Is he serious? This isn't a joke, is it? I know he has some special abilities, but to go head-to-head with an Elite Level Pokemon? You've got to be kidding!"
When Ash mentioned joining the battle, Gary was there, but he didn't take Ash's words seriously. After all, battling an Elite Pokemon with a human body seemed utterly unreasonable!
No matter how strong a human is, it's absurd enough to compete against ordinary Pokemon, let alone Elites!
Brock shook his head, looking at Gary with sympathetic eyes beneath his squint: "Gary, you haven't seen much of the world, you're too naive. Only when you've witnessed the vastness of the world can you truly grow into an independent Trainer!"
"Togepi~" Misty's Togepi in her arms also echoed for some attention.
Gary: ...
Do you even hear what nonsense you're spouting?
My thoughts are naïve? What's normal is thinking humans can fight Elite-level Pokemon, those minds must have a problem!
But with Misty and Brock saying such things, Gary couldn't help but feel a twinge of anticipation.
Could it be... Is Ash really that strong? Is he truly, as he claims, the strongest in the team?
...
In the battle arena, Blaine's expression grew slightly solemn upon seeing Pikachu take the field.
Ash's Pikachu was the focus of his video analysis, but no matter how many times he reviewed Pikachu's battle with Arbok, he couldn't discern what move Pikachu was actually using.
One thing's for certain, all the moves Pikachu used are currently undiscovered moves.