Serena couldn't believe what she'd just seen. She knew Snorlax. Everyone knew Snorlax. The species was famous enough to appear on merchandise, toy shelves, and children's bedding. Cute, round, slow. That was the brand.
This Snorlax had just crossed fifteen metres in a burst that would have caught most mid-tier Pokémon off guard. It was like watching a boulder sprint.
If the target had been anything other than Pikachu, that Body Slam would have connected. But Pikachu's reflexes operated in a tier of their own.
Even caught off guard by unexpected speed, even post-Limit Break at reduced power, Pikachu's reaction time was built for moments like this.
Ash had anticipated the speed.
The S-rank stat had told him this Snorlax would be fast for its species. What he hadn't anticipated was how fast.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu straightened mid-leap, body rigid, and golden electricity erupted across its frame. The bolt lanced downward and struck the prone Snorlax dead centre.
"SNOR!"
The cry of pain echoed through the orchard. Thunderbolt hit hard. Snorlax's special defence was strong for its tier, but the level gap between Pikachu and Snorlax was a chasm. When both Pokémon had maxed stats for their level, the tier difference became the deciding factor, and Pikachu's tier was two full stages above.
The damage was massive. But Snorlax didn't go down.
"Iron Tail, follow up!"
Pikachu spun in the air. Once. Twice. Full seven-twenty rotation, building force with each turn. Its tail blazed silver and came down on Snorlax's broad back like a falling hammer.
The impact was three times louder than Snorlax's own Body Slam had been. The cracked ground beneath the Snorlax gave way, collapsing into a crater that swallowed the massive Pokémon whole.
Dirt and stone sprayed outward. The tremor shook loose Berries from trees fifty metres away.
Pikachu rode the recoil back to Ash's feet and landed in a combat-ready stance. Cheeks sparking.
Silence from the hole in the ground.
Ash reached for a Poké Ball.
"Snor..."
His hand froze.
The sound was faint. A groan from the bottom of the crater. Then movement. Two massive blue hands braced against the rim, and the Snorlax hauled itself upright. Battered, smoking from Thunderbolt residue, one eye swollen shut. Standing.
Everyone stared. Misty. Serena. The staff. Even Ash looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Ash!" Serena cupped her hands around her mouth. "The Sitrus Berries! Snorlax ate hundreds of them before we got here. What if the Berry energy is stored as reserve HP? That's why it keeps getting back up!"
Ash's first instinct was to dismiss it. Sitrus Berries restored HP when held and consumed during battle at the half-health threshold.
Eating them at full health had no combat effect. They'd just make you feel energetic, like a heavy meal.
But the more Ash thought about it, the more the standard rules didn't apply.
The staff member beside Serena was shaking his head. "Sitrus Berries can't be stored, young lady. After one dose, a Pokémon develops resistance. The second Berry within a short window has reduced effect.
By the third or fourth, it's almost nothing. And at full HP, eating one does nothing at all."
"If Sitrus Berries could stack indefinitely," another staff member added, "they'd cost a lot more than five hundred. Everyone would have their Pokémon eat ten before every battle."
Serena's face went crimson. She'd blurted out a theory that anyone with basic trainer knowledge would have dismissed. In front of Ash. In front of strangers. The embarrassment burned from her ears to her collar.
Misty rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Every trainer says something wrong early on. Ash made plenty of mistakes when he started. That's how you learn."
The comfort helped. The blush didn't fade.
"Actually," Ash said, "Serena might be right."
Everyone turned.
"This Snorlax isn't normal. Not just the speed. Think about what it was doing when we found it. It ate Berries, bark, trunks, and roots.
A normal Snorlax with Gluttony eats more than average and gets stronger Berry effects. That's documented. But it doesn't eat trees down to the roots, and it doesn't show zero signs of being full after consuming an entire hillside."
"Gluttony alone doesn't explain how Snorlax survived those hits from Pikachu. The level gap was too wide. Thunderbolt and Iron Tail from a Pikachu with a Light Ball should have ended this fight twice over."
He met Serena's eyes. "So the only answer is what you said. This Snorlax can store Berry effects. At full health, the Sitrus Berries it eats are converted into nutrition.
When it takes damage, the stored Berry energy activates and restores HP. It's been eating hundreds of Berries. That's hundreds of recovery charges banked and ready to fire."
Silence.
The implications hit everyone at once. If a Pokémon could truly store Berry effects and deploy them on demand, it wouldn't just be an HP advantage. Some Berries boosted Attack. Others raised resistance to specific types. Others increased speed, or defence, or critical hit rate.
A Pokémon that could eat a buffet of different Berries before a battle and carry all those effects into the fight would start every match with an insurmountable advantage.
This Snorlax was that Pokémon.
"Whether I'm right or not, Professor Oak can study it after I catch it. Pikachu, let's finish this!"
Snorlax was already closing the distance. Its fist was raised, wreathed in ice-blue energy that dropped the surrounding temperature by dozens of degrees. Frost crystals formed in the air around its knuckles.
Ice Punch.
"Iron Tail, meet it head on!"
Pikachu spun. Silver light blazed across its tail. The two attacks met in the space between them.
The collision sent a shockwave rippling outward that stripped leaves from trees and scattered debris across the orchard. Misty and Serena shielded their faces. Staff members stumbled backward.
Through the gale, the battlefield was visible. Snorlax was pushing forward with everything it had, Ice Punch grinding against Iron Tail, the aura on its fist deepening as it poured more power into the strike. Its face was twisted with exertion.
Pikachu held the line with an expression of mild inconvenience.
"Send it flying."
Pikachu surged. Iron Tail's output spiked, and in a single motion, the electric mouse launched the nine-hundred-pound Snorlax into the sky.
The staff members' jaws dropped in unison. Nana made a sound that wasn't a word.
A Pikachu just threw a Snorlax into the sky with brute strength. Nothing about this is reasonable.
"Finish it. Thunderbolt, full power!"
"PIKACHU!"
Golden lightning erupted from Pikachu's body in a column as thick as a tree trunk, punching straight through the clouds. The bolt hit the airborne Snorlax at the apex of its flight, and the sky turned gold.
No amount of stored Berry energy could absorb this.
Snorlax fell. It hit the ground with a sound like a small earthquake, dust erupting in a cloud that swallowed the immediate area.
Ash threw the Poké Ball before the dust settled.
Red light. The ball pulled Snorlax inside. One wobble. Two. Three.
Click.
Ash walked to the ball, picked it up, and raised it high.
"I caught a Snorlax!"
"Pi-Pikachu!"
Relief and celebration spread through the orchard in equal measure. Nana and the staff were smiling, not just for Ash's new capture, but for their own survival.
If Ash hadn't arrived today, this Snorlax would have eaten every Sitrus Berry tree on the island. And it could swim. The other six islands would have been next.
Without intervention, the Fruit Seven Islands might have become the Fruit Zero Islands by the end of the week.