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Even with leniency, normal Gym battles always involve an equal number of Pokémon fighting an equal number of Pokémon. After all, the number of Pokémon used significantly impacts the battle.
Multiple Pokémon working together defensively can increase their strength exponentially.
When Ash challenged the Pewter Gym before, if he only had one Butterfree or one Pikachu, he definitely wouldn't have won so easily.
So when Misty said she wanted to fight him three-on-one, Ash was stunned.
"You're looking down on me, Misty! Gym battles should be fair, with an equal number of Pokémon! What's this three-on-one nonsense?!" Ash said, a little displeased.
"I know that, but the lower-level Pokémon in the Gym are still at the Pokemon Center. Based on your Gym Badge and the time you've been traveling, I should be arranging the lowest-tier challenge for you, but I can't do that right now. I can only use my main Pokémon."
"Didn't you want to battle me before, and I refused? I'm not afraid to tell you, my strongest Pokémon is Superior Peak. While it can't compare to the Professional Level main Pokémon of most Gym Leaders, it's also not something your Pokémon can match," Misty said bluntly.
To put it plainly, Ash's Pokémon were too low-leveled, and she couldn't use the Gym's lower-leveled Pokémon to compete with Ash, so she could only choose special rules.
The use of tactics can indeed compensate for level differences to some extent, but the gap between Ash's Pokémon and hers was too great. Misty could be said to know Ash inside and out from their travels during this time. How could she not know his capabilities?
His strongest Pikachu was only Advanced Level, probably around Advanced Intermediate, and his other Pokémon weren't even Advanced Level. This was a no-brainer.
And the Pokémon she was using was Superior Peak, facing Ash's strongest Pikachu, which was roughly more than one major level and two minor levels apart.
What kind of tactics could make up for such a level difference? Moreover, she also had a terrain advantage. If Ash didn't only have three battle-ready Pokémon, Misty wouldn't have suggested three-on-one, but rather asked Ash to bring out more Pokémon.
However, Misty actually wasn't without weaker Pokémon. She also had a main Goldeen whose strength had reached Superior Beginner and was almost ready to evolve.
If she used that Pokémon to battle Ash, Ash would still have a very high chance of winning. However, Misty just wanted to fight Ash with her strongest force!
Not being able to have a formal three-on-three battle with Ash was already a regret for Misty. She at least wanted to fight Ash with her strongest Pokémon, and... preferably win!
Misty's intuition told her that if she couldn't beat Ash in this battle, then if she were to battle him again later, the chances of defeating him would probably be described as negligible.
This guy's speed of improving his strength and self-improvement was simply too fast. In a year or so, who knew what kind of monster he would become.
"...Alright, then it's three-on-one. Don't say I won unfairly if I lose!" Ash pondered for a moment and finally agreed to Misty's request.
Her Starmie was stronger than all his Pokémon combined. Three-on-one didn't seem unfair to Misty, but rather unfair to him. With such a huge level difference, even three-on-one put him at a disadvantage.
But this was perfect. If he didn't face some challenges, how could he quickly advance towards becoming Champion?
"Then, according to Gym challenge rules, I'll send out my Pokémon first... Go, my darling!" Misty threw out a Poké Ball, and with a flash of light, a Starmie, light purple all over with a blood-red gem in the center, appeared on the field.
"It really is Starmie, huh? Ralts, stand aside for now. You won't be participating in this battle today. Let me show you how the seniors fight... I choose you, Butterfree!" Ash placed the Ralts on his foot, gave her some instructions, and then threw out Butterfree's Poké Ball.
"Is your first one Butterfree, as expected? But after seeing your battle with Brock, your previous tactics won't work on me anymore," Misty said with a slight smile, speaking casually.
The Sleep Powder, String Shot, Supersonic tactic was indeed annoying, but on her home turf, Misty had countless ways to counter it, not to mention her Starmie was so much stronger than Butterfree.
The stronger the Pokémon, the weaker the applied status condition. For a status condition like sleep, even if Starmie genuinely fell asleep, it would probably wake up in less than ten seconds.
This was the difference brought by a huge level gap.
"Butterfree, use Sleep Powder!" Ash heard this, ignored Misty's verbal offensive, and still used Sleep Powder first.
"Didn't I say it was useless? Starmie, jump into the water." Faced with Sleep Powder, Misty directly had Starmie jump into the water.
The Cerulean Gym's water field was a huge swimming pool, also where the Cerulean Three Sisters usually performed water ballet. There were several floating platforms on the field for Pokémon that couldn't swim to stand on, but they were very small in area and few in number.
So, on this field, Misty had an absolute advantage. Starmie turned on a floating platform and immediately entered the water. The Sleep Powder sprinkled down, unable to touch Starmie at all.
And even if it did, Starmie could simply wash it off in the water before the Sleep Powder took effect. That's why Misty said Ash's tactics were useless against her.
Seeing Starmie jump into the water, a glint flashed in Ash's eyes: "Come back, Butterfree, I choose you, Pidgeotto!" Ash recalled Butterfree and swapped in Pidgeotto.
"Pidgeotto!" Pidgeotto, making its first formal appearance in a Gym, let out a clear cry.
"Recognize reality now? Butterfree can't affect Starmie."
"Hmph! Everything Butterfree did wasn't in vain. It successfully forced Starmie into the water! Pidgeotto, use Twister!" Ash snorted coldly and commanded Pidgeotto to use the move Twister!
This Pidgeotto knew more moves than Ash had imagined. Before coming to challenge the Gym, he had already envisioned the scenario of challenging the Cerulean Gym based on the guidance of the experts in the group.
Although the opponent was Misty, it still didn't change what he had to do and his tactics.
Twister swirled on the field, and the howling winds whipped up the water in the pool, even stirring up the bottom of the water violently!
Starmie, in the water, was uncontrollably swept into the rolling water, spinning wildly within it.
"Using the water field against me? You're really something, Ash. Starmie, quickly get out of the water!" Misty was also startled by Ash's move. Her opponent actually turned the terrain advantage against her, using the water current combined with the suction of Twister to firmly hold Starmie within the Twister.
This would indeed cause some damage to Starmie, so Misty quickly made Starmie get out of the water.
However, the suction and influence of Twister combined with the churning water were simply too great. Starmie couldn't break free from the water for a while, and the water in the pool was rapidly decreasing as it was being sucked up and swirled by the Twister...