"Battle begin!" The referee's voice had barely faded when Ash issued the first command: "Pidgeotto, use the tactic we discussed!"
"Biii!" Pidgeotto flapped its wings violently.
Brilliant and sharp star-shaped light bullets poured down like a sudden storm, covering the area where Victreebel was located.
This was its most proficient long-range attack; both its power and precision had been tempered through a thousand hammers and a hundred refinements.
Pidgeotto's cultivation direction was that of a wide-area bomber.
Seeing this, a trace of appreciation flashed in Erika's eyes. "A very smart tactic, fully utilizing the air superiority of the Flying-type. Victreebel, Razor Leaf, intercept!"
Aside from this move, the Grass-type didn't have many good anti-air techniques.
Bullet Seed's attack range wasn't as large as Razor Leaf.
Magical Leaf could track the target, but it flew too slowly.
Leaf Storm consumed too much energy and caused too much strain.
Solar Beam had a fast attack speed and high power, but it required charging time.
Victreebel let out a roar, and the leaves around its body shook violently.
A large number of sharp leaves grew out and were then launched.
They spiraled upward like green throwing knives, attempting to shoot down the Swift attack in mid-air.
For a moment, starlight and green leaves collided and annihilated each other in the air, creating an endless series of crackling sounds.
Boom.
Boom—
However, just as Ash had expected, although Victreebel's Razor Leaf was dense, its interception efficiency was not high when facing the Swift attack that descended from the sky with variable trajectories.
Fighting from the ground toward the sky meant enduring gravity.
Whereas fighting from the sky toward the ground was much easier.
Moreover, the biggest difference was that Pidgeotto was flying around in the sky; Razor Leaf simply couldn't hit it.
Victreebel was on the ground with a movement speed that was too slow; it couldn't dodge Swift at all.
This was the power of air superiority.
Quite a few stars that broke through the Razor Leaf blockade accurately hit Victreebel's massive body, causing it to let out muffled groans of pain.
The damage from a single hit wasn't large, but there were too many of them.
And it couldn't use Protect; the cost-performance ratio of doing so would be too low.
"Grass-type Pokémon do indeed rely mostly on moves like Razor Leaf for anti-air combat," Erika commented with a slight nod.
Her tone carried the guidance of a senior.
"However, Ash, if your Pidgeotto relies solely on speed to evade, it won't be able to easily force my Victreebel out of its advantageous position."
Erika knew very well that a Pokémon like Victreebel was naturally a quiet predator.
It excelled at making the vines on its head move like small creatures to lure prey, and when the prey got close, it would open its huge mouth and swallow them whole.
Then, it would kill the prey using the dissolving fluids inside its body.
Exposing its own existence to fight a head-on battle was naturally a disadvantage for it.
Ecosystem, Food Chain—this was an important factor independent of Pokémon elemental attributes and species stats.
Some types of Pokémon were simply not good at the League competition style of battling.
To some extent—Celadon Gym was actually the easiest of all Gyms to pass... at least for Flying-type and Fire-type Pokémon.
"Then continue attacking, Pidgeotto!" Ash pursued the victory, "Increase the power of Swift! Don't give it a chance to breathe!"
Pidgeotto's figure performed irregular high-speed maneuvers over the field. At the same time, its wings beat ceaselessly, sending wave after wave of Swift attacks striking toward Victreebel from different angles.
Victreebel waved its vine whips and leaves in vain, but due to the massive gap in speed and range, it couldn't launch an effective counterattack at all. It could only passively endure the attacks as its injuries gradually increased.
"It seems a remote exchange of fire is unfavorable for us," Erika didn't panic; instead, a meaningful smile curled the corners of her mouth. "Victreebel, Ingrain! Then fight a war of attrition with him."
Ingrain was the true characteristic of Grass-type Pokémon.
Endurance was the specialty of the Grass-type.
Hearing this, countless thick roots instantly extended from Victreebel's feet, deeply piercing into the soil to connect with the earth and begin slowly recovering stamina.
It happened to be a sunny day right now.
The sunlight of the sunny day combined with the moist soil was most suitable for Grass-type Pokémon to fight a war of attrition.
However, Erika knew clearly that if they just stalled... Victreebel definitely couldn't withstand the Swift attacks for a long time.
So, her true purpose was merely to let Victreebel begin charging up power while recovering stamina.
Victreebel let out a dull low roar, its massive body trembling slightly under the continuous impact of the Swift stars.
Its small eyes stared dead at the golden figure shuttling nimbly through the air, filled with unwillingness and anger.
But it kept its Trainer's command in mind, enduring the severe pain while sinking more roots deeply into the fertile soil beneath its feet, greedily absorbing the energy of the earth and the sunlight.
At the same time, an obscure yet powerful Grass-type energy began to accumulate frantically within its body.
In daily training, Ingrain corresponded to the start of charging power.
Theoretically, it was suitable for a war of attrition, but they weren't actually going to fight a war of attrition.
Misleading voice commands were also part of the tactics.
Smile.
What, you actually believed my words?
So silly~
You've been tricked~~
"Right now, Victreebel!" Erika saw the timing and shouted clearly.
"Gaaa—!!!"
Victreebel erupted with an unprecedented roar.
It vented all the pain it had endured and the power it had accumulated.
Its massive body vibrated violently, and countless leaves flashing with blinding green light erupted frantically from its body, like detonating a green storm.
In an instant.
The entire sky above the battlefield was shrouded by violently rotating leaves, forming a massive, destructive vortex.
It was—Leaf Storm!
The range of this move was extremely astonishing, almost sealing off all of Pidgeotto's possible evasion space.
For a highly mobile enemy:
Either use a high-speed attack to hit accurately.
Or use a wide-area attack so they have nowhere to run.
The fierce leaves were like countless flying knives, sweeping upward with a sharp whistle that tore through the air.
"Pidgeotto!" Ash's heart jumped to his throat.
The spectacle of this Leaf Storm indeed looked magnificent.
But fortunately, Pidgeotto knew Protect.
Pidgeotto in the air was instantly swallowed by this green storm of death.
Its body shook violently like a small boat in a tempest, as if it would be torn to shreds in the next second.
A burst of exclamations rang out from the spectator seats.
However, Pidgeotto withstood it in the end.
The defensive effect of Protect shielded its body.
It struggled to stabilize its form within the storm, wings beating desperately, forcefully enduring this attack that had a massive range but had its power dispersed precisely because of that large range.
[Protect]... truly a must-learn move.
The Leaf Storm slowly subsided.
Pidgeotto hovered in the air, panting heavily.
There were quite a few small scratches on its body, and its feathers were messy, but its gaze remained sharp, its will to fight undiminished.
Pidgeotto's [Protect] level was only LV1.
But this skill didn't need to be very high level anyway.
After all, Pidgeotto mainly relied on speed to evade, not physical constitution to tank hits.
Meanwhile, in the center of the field, Victreebel, having released such a massive ultimate move, seemed to have been drained of all its strength.
The roots from Ingrain retracted limply, and its massive body swayed. The light in its eyes dimmed, and with a boom, it fell heavily onto the grassy field that had been ravaged into a mess by its own skill.
The referee immediately waved his flag: "Victreebel is unable to battle, Pidgeotto wins!"
The first round.
Relying on counter-tactics and Pidgeotto's outstanding performance, Ash took the first win!
____
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