The match officially started with the cheers of the crowd and the worries of Ash's friends.
Watching a big tournament from the seats is a very different feeling than standing on the field. Under the bright lights, thousands of eyes watched two people and two Pokémon. People's emotions changed quickly with the match. They cheered for good moves and felt bad for mistakes. Natsui felt the loud noise from the people around him, and his heart began to beat fast with excitement.
This was the feeling of the Ever Grande Conference!
This was the most popular event in this world!
With this kind of energy, every move a trainer made seemed much bigger. It was like there was a special feeling over the Pokémon's actions. Even a common move made the crowd cheer, and great moves were even better.
Even an ordinary person would grow during a tournament like this. If they were lucky and became successful, they could even become a famous trainer!
At that moment, the two Pokémon had already started fighting.
Natsui ate some popcorn, leaned back, and watched the match.
This Katie was different from Liza from the Mossdeep Gym. If you did not think about Pokémon strength and only compared their looks, the Katie on the field looked more impressive than the young gym leader. She was better in every way.
Of course, she was strong because she had eight badges and made it this far.
Right at the start, Katie's Venomoth used Stun Spore. Ash's Torkoal used Withdraw quickly. It pulled its body into its shell to stay away from the powder. Katie expected this. She had Venomoth use Disable. This successfully stopped Torkoal from using Withdraw!
It was a very good move.
What is the most important thing for a turtle Pokémon? Their shell!
Those strong shells are used for both defense and attacking. They are good for everything. Disable makes a Pokémon unable to use its last move. It stopped the turtle Pokémon's greatest strength!
However, Ash did not seem to care. He told Torkoal to attack back with Flamethrower.
Venomoth dodged the fire. Katie did not wait. She used a Poké Ball to switch her Pokémon!
This move made the audience very confused.
The fight had just started. Why did she switch Venomoth so soon?
Only trainers like Natsui could see Katie's real plan.
She was a calm person who liked to plan. She needed to check her opponent first. In the first part of the fight, Katie sent out a flying Pokémon just to see Ash's team.
Now she saw that Ash used Torkoal. It was obvious she would switch to a Pokémon with a type advantage.
Just as Natsui expected, a blue light flashed. A Golduck appeared in front of Torkoal.
Ash was a bit surprised by the switch. But he did not wait long. As soon as Golduck appeared, he told Torkoal to attack.
But Golduck was very fast. Before Torkoal could get close, Golduck hit it with Water Gun. The stream of water pushed Torkoal into the air. Before it hit the ground, Golduck ran to where it would land. When Torkoal fell, Golduck used Fury Swipes on it!
Claws scratched it many times.
In just a few seconds, Torkoal was hit dozens of times. After the final scratch, Torkoal was pushed back. It fell down at Ash's feet. Its eyes were swirling. it could not fight anymore.
The referee raised a flag and announced the result of the first round.
Max and Morrison were shocked because Ash lost so fast.
"Is Ash going to lose?" Max asked.
He had a reason to worry. Anyone who could beat Ash so easily was a strong person.
"A temporary loss doesn't mean everything," Natsui said calmly. "From that performance, I can see that Katie's battle style does put a lot of pressure on Ash. But I believe Ash will adjust. Though the process might be a bit difficult, if nothing unexpected happens, the final winner should still be Ash."
His voice was very calm. It made the others feel safe and stopped them from worrying.
Natsui did not give proof for why Ash would win, but Max and the others trusted him. They were very willing to trust the eyes of this Dual Champion!
On the field, Ash looked more nervous on the big screen after losing the first round. Sweat started to run down his face.
He sent out his Pikachu for the second round. He probably wanted to win a round and have a type advantage.
Everyone could see that Ash wanted to use an Electric-type against Katie's Water-type.
However, Katie did not let him do that.
She used a Poké Ball and switched Golduck back. Then, she sent out a Dugtrio!
She really knew how to use type advantages perfectly.
Misty turned to Natsui and smiled softly. "Why does it feel like this Katie's battle style is a lot like yours back during the Indigo Plateau tournament?"
"It is a bit similar," Natsui said.
Natsui remembered when he was in the Indigo League. Back then, his Pokémon were not very strong yet. He had to use type advantages to win. But as he traveled more, he stopped using that method. By the time he reached the Silver Conference, he could ignore type advantages.
That was how he grew during his journey.
Now, Katie was just like his past self.
However, type advantage is not everything, especially against someone like Ash.
Dugtrio does double damage to Electric-types and is not hurt by electric moves. From any side, those three dark heads had a huge advantage over Pikachu.
But sometimes, a battle has nothing to do with types.
Ground-types are not hurt by Electric moves, but Ash's Pikachu had many famous moments of beating Ground-type Pokémon!
Ash was called the "Reverse-Type Master" for a reason!
Katie did not know this. She smiled confidently as if she had already won.
Even if she did know, she probably would not have cared.
Ash did not back down from the bad matchup. When the battle started, he told Pikachu to use Quick Attack to get close to Dugtrio. Katie was calm. She told Dugtrio to use Dig. It disappeared into the ground.
Pikachu lost its target. It had to stop and watch for an attack from below. But Dugtrio stayed underground. It used Sand Tomb from below. It created a large hole of moving sand in the middle of the field!
The pit grew larger and swallowed Pikachu. Because the sand was moving, Pikachu could not use Quick Attack to run away. It could only use Thunderbolt to fight back.
But the Electric moves did not hurt Dugtrio. The audience started to whisper to each other.
Max and the others felt bad. Ash was often like this. Sometimes he was very smart, but other times he made basic mistakes.
Katie laughed at his actions.
At her signal, Dugtrio used Double-Edge from inside the sand. It ran fiercely at Pikachu. Ash made a bad choice because of the sand. He told Pikachu to hit it with Iron Tail.
The result was very bad.
The two Pokémon hit each other and there was an explosion. Through the smoke, Pikachu was pushed high out of the Sand Tomb. it fell toward Ash.
Max and the others felt a bit better. They were happy that Pikachu escaped the sand.
Only Natsui's eyes became thin. He saw that something was wrong with Pikachu and shook his head.
It seemed the "Reverse-Type Master" was not working right now.
Misty saw Natsui's face and asked in surprise, "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Pikachu crashed hard at Ash's feet before Natsui could speak. It lay there and did not move. Its eyes were open, but it could not keep fighting.
"What!?" Max's eyes opened wide. "Pikachu was actually defeated!?"
They thought Pikachu might lose or win, but they did not expect it to lose so easily!
"Ash was too impatient," Natsui said. "If he hadn't rushed to clash with Dugtrio and instead focused on leaving the Sand Tomb first before slowly circling around Dugtrio, he would have had a chance to win."
Max and the others agreed. However, they knew that was not Ash's style.
Different personalities lead to different battle styles.
Katie had a huge lead because she used only one Dugtrio to beat Pikachu!
Ash was losing by two rounds now, so the situation was very bad. But Max and the others still had faith because of Natsui's words. They were worried, but they believed Ash could win.
Ash picked up Pikachu and put it beside him. Then, he used his third Poké Ball.
He threw the ball, and a Glalie appeared on the field.
Natsui had never seen Ash's Glalie fight, and he had never fought it. But he knew from the stories and from Max that this Glalie was very strong. This meant Ash still had a chance to win.
On the other side, Katie did not switch her Pokémon. Maybe she did not have a Pokémon to beat Glalie, or maybe she had another plan. She kept using Dugtrio.
Katie wanted to use the same trick. But as soon as Dugtrio went underground, Glalie used Headbutt. It hit the ground with great force. This forced Dugtrio to come out. While Dugtrio was stunned, Glalie used Ice Beam and hit it perfectly.
Ice vs. Ground. With the Headbutt, it knocked Dugtrio out in one hit!
The audience was shocked. Katie was also surprised that Glalie's damage was so high!
It was unexpected. Glalie was so strong that she did not have a chance to switch Pokémon!
If she had known, she would have switched to a different Pokémon before the fight started!
This showed that Katie was a bit careless. The two easy wins made her relax. She did not stick to her plan of using type advantages.
She paid a price for that.
The audience cheered loudly. In the first two rounds, Katie beat Ash's Pokémon so easily that they thought he was weak. Now, this Glalie won a round immediately. People became very interested.
People also enjoyed this kind of back-and-forth battle.
"He finally won a round."
Max and the others felt much better. They knew they should trust Ash and Natsui's words, but losing two rounds had hurt their confidence. Now that Ash had won, they saw hope again.
On the field, Katie put her Dugtrio back and sent out a new Pokémon, Misdreavus.
This Pokémon did not have a type advantage over Glalie, but that was not strange. A trainer can only have six Pokémon. They cannot be ready for everything.
Both Pokémon were in good condition because they were not hurt yet. When the battle started, Ash told Glalie to use Ice Beam. But Katie told Misdreavus to take the damage and keep moving toward Glalie!
This confused the crowd. Only Natsui saw this and guessed Katie's plan immediately.
I see. She really is a decisive and ruthless trainer...
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