Moreover, Ash is not just simply studying and memorizing knowledge; he is genuinely becoming more interested in the theoretical knowledge of Pokemon. He sincerely wants to understand this knowledge.
When learning turns into an interest, it won't be dull anymore, and it becomes much easier to learn.
The main thing is learning some utterly dirty tactics from Tactical Ash. Just hearing about them is interesting, and no matter which strategy it is, a lot of knowledge is needed to back it up. Therefore, to become the second person to make others smile with a duel, how can we refuse!
...
Early the next morning, Ash got up early, taking the still-sleepy Pikachu out the door, placing the half-asleep Togepi next to Misty's bed.
Besides him, Togepi is closest with Misty. With Misty around, Togepi can sleep a bit longer; otherwise, shortly after Ash leaves, Togepi will wake up and start wandering around looking for him.
If it accidentally used Metronome and blew up this hotel, that would be big trouble...
Outside, the sky was not fully bright yet. Pikachu rubbed his eyes, asking Ash why he brought him out so early in the morning. Wasn't these days supposed to be relaxing? Why are we up training so early again?
Ash looked around, made sure there was no one, squatted down, and said seriously to Pikachu, "Pikachu, you must have felt it recently, right? No matter how much you train, your strength can't improve."
"Pika? Pikapi! Pikachu Pika!" Pikachu, who was still a bit sleepy, immediately woke up when Ash mentioned this topic. He animatedly communicated to Ash the feelings during his training recently: despite putting in more effort than before, for some reason, his strength just can't seem to improve.
Currently, he's been stuck at Professional Peak for more than half a month, and even after defeating an Elite Advanced Level Pokemon, he still doesn't feel any improvement, which is clearly abnormal!
He initially wanted to talk to Ash about it after the battle ended, but he ended up forgetting because the hot spring felt so good. Now that Ash brought it up, Pikachu quickly relayed all his body's conditions to Ash.
"I know, I know. You're stuck at a bottleneck, right? Bringing you out this morning is to solve this issue. If you feel uncomfortable, just zap me and vent it out, don't hold it in."
"Pika???" What do you intend to do???
Hearing Ash say this, Pikachu immediately had a bad premonition. Exactly how painful is it that he would need to zap Ash so dramatically!
Pain during battles is not unusual, but he had never experienced a situation where he needed to zap Ash to vent the discomfort inside his body.
"Cough, cough, it's just a possibility, just a possibility. I don't know what will happen either, but one thing is for sure: your bottleneck problem will definitely be solved. However, you will pay the cost of level reduction, so be mentally prepared."
"Pika..." Level reduction...
Pikachu, after less than a second of silence, looked up with a resolute gaze. So be it, level reduction. Compared to that, if he stays stuck at this level forever, that's the one thing he can't tolerate!
Ever since he came to Ash's side, he's been one of the big brothers in the team for the most part, and there are not many Pokemon with a higher level than him. At most, Gengar is considered one, and as for Aerodactyl, honestly, if they really fought, it's uncertain who'd win.
So basically, only Gengar could slightly outdo him in the team.
However, now, his level is slowly being caught up by the newly arrived Pokemon; both Gardevoir and Charizard are improving rapidly, and it won't be long before they surpass him.
Now there's finally a way to solve his level problem; how could Pikachu miss this opportunity? Even if his level drops to zero, he still has to go for it!
With Pikachu's consent, Ash injected the ability value in his mind into Pikachu's body. Pikachu just saw a white light enter his body, and then... nothing happened.
Just when Pikachu was about to ask Ash what was happening, he suddenly felt a burning sensation arise in his body. Then, a heart-wrenching pain spread from his limbs and bones.
"Pika!!!" Pikachu screamed aloud, the electricity on his body exploding instantly, then pouring all over Ash. Ash didn't use Aura Power and just endured Pikachu's electric force.
The pain Pikachu endured, Ash bore with him as well. This was why Ash instructed Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on him if he felt uncomfortable.
Pikachu's screams lasted about dozens of seconds before slowly ceasing. During that time, Ash was electrified for dozens of seconds, causing his clothes to be charred and incapable of being worn anymore.
For Ash, with his monstrous physique, he could endure this level of electric shock. Though painful, it wouldn't cause any substantial harm.
As soon as Pikachu stopped his electrical discharge, Ash hurried to check on Pikachu. At this moment, Pikachu's aura was immensely weak, and his whole body lay on the ground, feeble and limp.
Ash channeled the Power of Viridian into Pikachu, also taking the opportunity to check on Pikachu's condition.
Internal injuries—very serious internal injuries!
This injury, caused from the inside out, is the reason why Pikachu was suffering so much and ended up in this state.
This injury should relate to Pikachu's level reduction; an ordinary Pokemon might experience a level drop when sustaining injuries on the level of harm to their essence.
However, Pikachu went the other way around. Instead of a level drop, a serious injury was inflicted internally after the level reduction.
However, with the Power of Viridian and Pikachu having not injured his core, he will recover quickly.
Ash activated the Eye of Insight, inspecting Pikachu's status.
[Species: Pikachu (First Evolution)]
[Gender: Male]
[Attribute: Electric Type]
[Level: Professional Middle Level]
[Ability: Static]
[Skills: Thunderbolt, Volt Tackle, Thunder, Electric Terrain…]
[Six-dimensional Ability: Physical Attack B—A (S) Special Attack S (S) Defense B—A (A) Special Defense B—A (A) Physical Strength B—A (A) Speed A—S (S)]
This is Pikachu's brand-new ability value and status bar.
Six A-level abilities directly promoted to three S and three A-levels, and Special Attack settled at S-level, the rest of the ability values became B—A, where Speed is A—S; the changes are quite significant.
Moreover, when Pikachu enters partner form, besides leveling up a minor level, his ability value also increases.
Previously, Pikachu's ability value was at most A-level; leveling up can increase it to S-level, but now, Pikachu's ability value generally settles at B and A, and even two abilities can reach S-level.
This means, now Pikachu in partner form might even have the potential to surpass S-level in one ability!
Surpassing S-level… Such ability values even the Legendary Beasts in legends cannot reach!
Back when he encountered Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh's full attribute reached the luxurious six S-levels, yet it still didn't surpass S-level.
If Pikachu achieves a surpassing S-level ability, how many levels can Pikachu transcend in that ability during a battle?
This will have to wait for actual combat to know.
Additionally, aside from the change in ability value, Pikachu's level also decreased by two levels, dropping from Professional Peak to Professional Middle Level, leveling in reverse.
Beside Pikachu's name, there were two small words [First Evolution].
What do these two words mean?