"Leech Seed!"
"Graaooh!"
Grotle, already prepped and ready, launched its Leech Seed straight at Quagsire!
Swish swish swish!
The vines of the Leech Seed instantly coiled tightly around Quagsire, draining its energy like mad.
A quadruple type disadvantage—Quagsire took a lot of damage!
"Quagsire, use Sludge Bomb!"
Gym Leader Crasher Wake knew full well—this challenger was nothing like the ones before.
Boom!
The Sludge Bomb exploded right next to Grotle.
"Grotle, Mirror Coat! Bounce it back!"
Ash wasn't about to let Quagsire dive back into the water after attacking.
"Ice Beam, now!"
Crack-crack-crack!
"Leaf Blade!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The battle between Quagsire and Grotle was fierce—intense enough to reignite Wake's fighting spirit.
But the Leech Seed had already landed.
As time went on, the effect compounded.
Eventually, Quagsire collapsed!
"Quagsire is unable to battle! Grotle wins!"
Tenfold Experience Boost Card!
Ding! [Congratulations, Host! Tenfold Experience Boost Card activated successfully! Grotle gains 96,500 battle experience!]
Level up!
Level 48!
Level 49!
Two levels up, but still just shy of that Elite-tier Level 50.
One more battle and it'd probably make it.
Ash didn't even activate the battle experience sharing function from the system this time.
He wanted his Pokémon to build a solid foundation.
After all, Ash had their futures in mind.
If all he wanted was fast progress, he could just burn through his 300 million Poké Coins in the system shop, or grind battle after battle with his current team. Simple.
But they weren't tools.
They were partners.
Progress should be steady and meaningful. And with these experience boost cards, their level-up speed was already outrageous enough to leave others slack-jawed.
"Haha! It's been a long time since I've had a battle like this! Ash, you've got me all fired up again!" Wake laughed heartily, the excitement surging in his veins. "Now, it's time for my third Pokémon—my ace! If you can beat it, the Fen Badge is yours!"
Wake's favorite phrase was "this great man," always referring to himself.
A rough and straightforward guy.
Ash knew that, so he never minded his quirky speech.
Wake sent out his third Pokémon—Floatzel!
"Return, Grotle."
Ash recalled Grotle. Wake raised an eyebrow. With the type advantage, why switch?
"Perfect time to let this guy try something new—see how it feels to battle his evolved form. Let's go, Buizel!"
Ash sent out Buizel.
"Bui! Bui!"
Buizel vs. Floatzel.
Ash's Buizel was a scrappy one—never backed down from a challenge.
"Hahaha! Ash, you really are something! Using Buizel against my Floatzel? Let's see how this goes! Floatzel, show him what you've got!"
Wake was curious—could this kid really beat his fully-evolved Floatzel with an unevolved Buizel?
"Buizel, Whirlpool!"
"Ice Fang!"
Buizel unleashed a swirling Whirlpool, while in the spectator area, Dawn and her Piplup watched with laser focus.
Whirlpool was one of Piplup's key moves too.
But Buizel's Whirlpool—clearly more powerful!
"Bui! Bui!"
The massive spinning vortex barreled toward Floatzel.
Wake's eyes gleamed. Floatzel opened its jaws wide, twin icicle-sharp fangs glowing with icy power.
Ice Fang!
But Wake's Floatzel had a unique twist—its Ice Fang wasn't limited to close combat!
It could fire the energy as projectiles! Razor-sharp, fast, and hard to dodge.
Most Ice-types couldn't pull that off.
Two massive fangs of ice launched forward, freezing the entire Whirlpool into a vortex of spinning ice!
"Hahaha! Floatzel, now smash those ice blocks into shards and fire them at Buizel!"
Wake was loving Floatzel's performance. But he didn't notice—because the Whirlpool froze solid, Buizel had disappeared from sight!
CRACK!
Floatzel confidently smashed the icy Whirlpool into glittering shards, blasting them toward where Buizel had been.
But Buizel was gone!
"Oh no! Floatzel, move—now!"
"Too late!"
With a snap of Ash's fingers, Buizel erupted from below the frozen vortex with Aqua Jet, smashing Floatzel right in the gut!
"Use your neck float to bounce back!"
"You wish! Water Pulse!"
BOOM!
Floatzel got launched into the air by Aqua Jet. Its neck float puffed up for a mid-air recovery—
But Buizel's Water Pulse struck its belly at point-blank range!
Sending it even higher!
"What the—?!"
Wake was stunned. His confidence—crushed in the opening moves!
"Use Ice Fang from above!"
If Buizel was frozen mid-attack, it'd be done for...
Exactly what Ash wanted.
"Everything's going according to plan. We'll take that Ice Fang—Aqua Tail!"
"Bui! Bui!"
Aqua Tail—Buizel's newest move!
Twice as powerful as Aqua Jet!
Water energy surged and condensed around Buizel's tail—forming a scythe-like blade of flowing water!
Aqua Tail!
Like a slicing water sickle, it slashed upward at the airborne Floatzel.
Crack-crack!
Floatzel's Ice Fang managed to freeze the Aqua Tail!
But the attack's momentum didn't stop.
Now it wasn't Aqua Tail—it was Frozen Aqua Tail!
BOOM!
It was supposed to be a water battlefield.
Yet Ash and Buizel turned it into an aerial showdown!
Look at that!
Floatzel got slammed into the ceiling by that frozen tail slash—
It didn't faint immediately, but crashed back down hard.
Not into the water, but onto a floating lily pad—taking even more damage!
"Floatzel is unable to battle… Buizel wins! The challenger is victorious in this Gym Battle!"
Even the Gym referee hadn't expected that ending.
But he still gave the verdict swiftly.
Tenfold Experience Boost Card!
Ding! [Congratulations, Host! Tenfold Experience Boost Card activated successfully! Buizel gains 105,000 battle experience!]
Level 45!
Level 46!
Level 47!
…
"Ash, the way you and your Pokémon work together—it's seamless. You really gave this great man a lesson! This Fen Badge is yours. Youth sure is burning hot, hahaha!"
Ash took the Fen Badge from Wake's hand.
"Nice! Got the Fen Badge!"
"Pikachu!"
"Graaooh!"
"Heya-no!"
"Bui-bui!"
Ash's Pokémon all cheered with him.
And maybe it was the thrill of beating its evolved form, but suddenly—
Buizel began to glow!
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T/N:
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