"I'm still annoyed," Zapdos said, about half an hour later.
"Well, that's why it's a good challenge, right?" Ash asked. "I know, I'm kind of annoyed too, but it is the gym leader who decides who gets her badge!"
"And I blew up the Goldeen in eight seconds," Zapdos grumped.
"I know!" Ash agreed. "It was great! But it kind of… didn't really look right for being a Contest, I guess?"
"I actually don't think any of us understood the concept properly," Pikachu confessed. "I thought beating your opponent in only a few seconds was impressive, and we were meant to be impressive?"
"You are meant to be impressive, but it's more… uh… a performance, I think is a good word," Ash said. "Or words. The point is to look good at the same time as winning, and that's looking good rather than just being efficient."
He waved his hands. "So, um… obviously, Zapdos, you can use moves like Thundershock and Thunder, but what about if you used them from all your feathers at once? And… maybe if instead of the attack just going straight to the target, it stayed in the air?"
Zapdos looked a bit less offended and a bit more interested.
"I never thought of doing that," she admitted. "And… wait, if they stayed in the air, that'd make obstacles that I wouldn't care about but that would hit other Pokémon. Right?"
"Yeah, exactly!" Ash agreed. "So it's not making yourself worse at battling, even. It's doing it so you're not relying on raw power."
"What about me?" Butterfree asked. "The stuff that Zapdos and Pikachu are learning is going to be Electric-type, and obviously Pikachu can pick up something with Iron Tail too, but… um, wait, hold on… what would work with…"
She wiggled a foot back and forth, then yelped. "Uh-"
Butterfree used Eruption.
It was very focused, blasting her straight up in the air without hitting either Electric-type or their trainer, but when the explosion faded she fluttered back down to head level with smoke curling off her wings. "I need to be more careful with Metronome…"
"Don't you need fingers for Metronome?" Pikachu began. "Those Clefairy we met were doing it, but…"
"Nah, honestly, most of those restrictions on which Pokémon can use which move are a bit more like… guidelines," Butterfree summarized, then giggled. "Oh, I just thought! I should actually use Solarbeam, and combine it with the water!"
"Wait, hold on," Pikachu requested. "You actually do know Solarbeam?"
"Yep!" Butterfree agreed.
"...not sure why I asked," Pikachu admitted.
It was the next day before Ash finally went back to Cerulean Gym.
"There you are, Ash!" Misty said, pleased, then shook her head slightly and switched to stern. "I hope you're ready for a rematch!"
"You're right there!" Ash agreed. "Same rules?"
"I hope they are," Pikachu said. "Otherwise we've been training for something that's not really relevant."
Misty didn't understand Pikachu's words, but she was polite enough to let him finish.
"Of course they are!" she said then. "That way I can see if you bothered to learn the lesson I set!"
She held up a Pokéball. "Ready!"
"Ready!" Ash agreed. "Zapdos, I choose you!"
The Flying-type burst out into the arena in a shower of sparks, and Misty sent out her own Starmie with a flash of white light.
"With style, Starmie!" Misty called.
"By the power of the stars!" Starmie agreed, sending out a Water Gun – but not one aimed at Zapdos.
Instead the water coiled for a moment, held in their psychic power, then formed a symbol – and Starmie fired a glowing gemstone at Zapdos.
"Block!" Ash called, and Zapdos fired a surge of her electricity out at the incoming Power Gem – immediately showing part of the benefit of their training.
Instead of a single overwhelming surge of power, little arcs of electricity zipped off from each of her feathers. They didn't all combine together at once, not quite like Ash wanted, but they were fast enough that most of them had gathered in a single point by the time the Power Gem arrived – making a sizzling locus of electricity which the Power Gem hit with a snap and which made both explode.
"That's a lot better," Lily said. "You can tell the difference immediately."
Zapdos flew backwards, gaining height, and Starmie's trapped coil of water reshaped itself. It twitched for a moment before taking on a new symbol, and this time a surge of pale blue light lanced out towards Zapdos.
The Ice Beam wasn't powerful enough to actually down Zapdos, or really even cause her serious inconvenience, but it was a move that had been delivered with flair and that meant more in this kind of battle.
"Let's keep them too busy!" Ash called. "Thundershocks!"
Zapdos twisted to avoid ramming into the gym roof, then furled her wings for a moment and spread them out again. "Hah!"
This time, the wave of electrical pulses didn't all concentrate together into a single point. Instead they spread out to almost the entire room before focusing back in again on Starmie, and Misty's Pokémon made a new symbol and blocked them with a Light Screen.
"Aha!" Ash said. "That's just what we're after – Drill Peck!"
"Rapid Spin!" Misty ordered, and Starmie began spinning in place. Their shield did as well, layering in Reflect and speeding up quickly as Zapdos banked around to gain momentum, and the Flying-type dropped into a high-speed spin just as Starmie got up to full speed.
The contact point shed showers of sparks, some of them from the Thundershocks which flowed over Zapdos' feathers and some from the friction, and after about three seconds Misty glanced up at Ash.
He was grinning.
"Stop the spin!" he called.
Zapdos slammed her wings out, using them as brakes, and the sudden shift threw both Pokémon away from the other. Zapdos went down, into the water, and Starmie went up into the air – and Ash pointed.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Flip over!" Misty called, but Starmie wasn't able to react in time. The whole surface of the pool lit up with wasted charge, but one of Zapdos' wings was wholly out of the water and she was able to direct the charge from those feathers into hitting the airborne Water-type.
Misty's sisters held up cards with numbers on them.
"I guess Zapdos needs to dry out," Ash added, recalling the Electric-type and then sending her out again. "Is it okay if we have a break while I towel her off?"
"I'll be okay, I've flown in storms before," Zapdos told him, a bit indistinctly. "I'm kind of famous for it."
"I'll still get you an extra dessert," Ash promised. "Okay, Butterfree, your turn!"