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The collection bag beneath the hot air balloon was sliced open completely, and all the previously captured Ivysaur escaped safely, falling from the air. They all used Vine Whip to cushion their landing and touched down on the ground without injury.
At the same time, the ground-level Razor Leaf attack flew toward the original Venusaur. The blade flashed with cutting energy, and the Leech Seed vines wrapped around Venusaur were also severed simultaneously.
Venusaur was finally freed from the Leech Seed's condition that had been continuously draining its physical strength, and it immediately released all the companions it had been holding with its Vine Whips.
"How could this happen?!" Seeing their plan completely ruined, the Team Rocket members couldn't believe their eyes.
"Pidgeotto, use Steel Wing!" Ash seized the opportunity and threw his Poke Ball. Pidgeotto flew into the air at high speed with both wings spread wide.
Steel Wing gleamed with metallic energy, and the hardened wings flew past at incredible speed, directly striking the connection between the hot air balloon and the hanging basket below.
In an instant, the hot air balloon and basket were separated completely. The balloon drifted away into the sky while Team Rocket remained in the basket, which fell and crashed heavily into the ground.
In just a few moments, the crisis had been completely resolved. On the other side, Misty and Brock both looked toward Ivysaur's previous position with amazement as the evolutionary light finally faded away.
Ivysaur no longer existed, and standing before them now was a fully evolved Venusaur.
It had chosen to evolve in this crucial moment. Now two Venusaur stood together in the clearing, and the scene was quite impressive to witness.
The Venusaur from the Mysterious Garden looked at Ash's newly evolved Venusaur with clear gratitude in its eyes. Ash's Venusaur simply responded with a low, respectful call, and the two sides no longer seemed to be opponents as they had been at the beginning.
Since Ash's Ivysaur had also evolved, but chose to do so independently rather than relying on external force, the situation had changed completely.
As for the garden's Venusaur, although their battle hadn't produced a clear winner, it acknowledged its defeat in the deeper contest of philosophies.
Ivysaur's spirit of choosing to evolve specifically to save others had deeply moved the ancient Pokemon, and it now agreed with Ash's approach to Pokemon training and evolution.
Although not evolving might mean relatively weaker power, when combined with a dedicated trainer, that power could increase tremendously. After understanding this fundamental truth, the garden Venusaur no longer felt conflicted about different paths to strength.
After receiving Ash's Venusaur's respectful response, the garden Venusaur slowly closed its eyes. The massive flower on its back emitted a gentle white light, and tiny white particles in the air gradually entered Venusaur's body.
A thin layer of healing energy gradually enveloped Venusaur, and the injuries on its body seemed to be slowly recovering and mending.
"That's Synthesis!" Brock recognized the move immediately.
"Synthesis?" Misty asked with curiosity.
"Yes! Synthesis is a special move unique to Grass-type Pokemon. It's a recovery technique that can absorb sunlight and restore physical strength," Brock nodded and explained.
"Sunlight?"
Misty spoke with confusion, then realized that after everything that had happened, the sky was already growing bright. Although it was still somewhat dim, the sun had quietly begun to rise from behind the mountains.
In reality, Synthesis could restore physical strength even without direct sunlight, but it recovered much less energy that way. However, now that the sun was rising, it was constantly replenishing Venusaur's depleted stamina.
As its physical strength gradually recovered, Venusaur's resistance to the paralysis condition also increased significantly. Although the status wasn't completely cured, it no longer had much impact on the powerful Pokemon's abilities.
"Blast it! We failed again! I won't forgive you for this!"
At that moment, Team Rocket and their companions, who had crashed nearby, climbed out of their damaged basket in embarrassment after the smoke cleared, gnashing their teeth and shouting angrily.
"Venusaur!"
However, the moment they opened their mouths to complain, they realized they were completely surrounded. All the Ivysaur in the clearing had moved forward and were staring at them with clearly hostile intent.
Team Rocket immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong, and then they heard two sets of heavy, thunderous footsteps approaching.
THOOM! THOOM!
The Team Rocket members suddenly felt their entire bodies trembling as two massive Pokemon stared at them with distinctly unfriendly expressions.
"This doesn't feel like it's going to end well!"
Surrounded by so many angry Ivysaur, they didn't dare to make any sudden movements. The look in the eyes of the two Venusaur in front of them made them tremble even more.
"Venusaur!"
The garden Venusaur roared powerfully and released a dark green aura from its body, the energy covering its massive form.
"Venusaur!"
Ash's Venusaur also let out a mighty roar. As the sun continued to rise, bright green points of light gradually condensed in the air and merged into the flower on Venusaur's back.
The process was somewhat similar to Synthesis, but the energy being absorbed wasn't only the power of sunlight—it also carried the intense heat and warmth of solar radiation.
Gradually, the energy condensed within the flower, and even the petals behind Venusaur began to radiate with warm temperature.
"Is that... Solar Beam?" Looking at this impressive display, Ash spoke with recognition.
Solar Beam was one of the most powerful signature moves available to Grass-type Pokemon. It was an incredibly strong attack that relied on absorbing solar energy before launching. The move was quite devastating when it connected. The only drawback was that it required time to gather and condense the sun's energy before it could be used.
Ash remembered that in his journey, he had seen Bulbasaur learn Solar Beam in this very location.
At that time, his Bulbasaur hadn't evolved at all, and although it was never explicitly stated in his experiences, many trainers generally believed that Bulbasaur had somehow converted the energy it would have used for evolution into the power needed to learn Solar Beam instead.
It was similar to how some Pokemon used their evolutionary energy for other purposes, like learning to communicate or developing special abilities, but then couldn't access certain other moves or transformations afterward.
While there wasn't a clear explanation for the phenomenon, it was an accepted theory among trainers for why some Pokemon chose alternative paths to power.
Looking at the garden Venusaur, it was radiating an absolutely astonishing aura of power. Its movements were much faster than the normal time required to charge Solar Beam energy.
The garden Venusaur slowly raised its two front legs while its entire body remained shrouded in brilliant green light. Only its two powerful hind legs supported its massive weight.
"Venusaur!"
CRASH!
Then, carrying all the gathered energy within its body, Venusaur brought both front feet down heavily toward the ground. With a tremendous noise, the earth shook violently as all the stored energy poured directly into the soil.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
For an instant, the surrounding ground cracked and split apart, and then thick, green-spiked thorns as large as trees emerged from the fissures. The massive plant spikes spread rapidly toward Team Rocket's position, creating an inescapable natural trap.