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Taking half of the original life force – that was Ash's purpose in coming here this time.
If it were Team Rockets or even an ordinary person with sufficient strength, they would undoubtedly take all the special power from this tree.
In that case, the Mysterious Garden would cease to exist, and there would be no more instances of Bulbasaur inexplicably evolving after coming here.
This was what Venusaur had always worried about; the source of life within the great tree was something he had discovered first, but it didn't belong to him.
He couldn't take it away, nor could he store it; he could only let its power emanate freely.
The only thing Venusaur could do was use the power of the life source, combined with its own toxicity, to put people or Pokémon who came near the Mysterious Garden into a state of illusion, trying to prevent others from discovering it if possible.
But unfortunately, the Mysterious Garden was eventually discovered by humans, and as he expected, this human came for the source of life.
However, there was a piece of news, not entirely bad, which was that this human stated he would only take half of the life source; the remaining half would recover in just five years.
Five years was not too long for their Venusaur Family, it could even be said to be a very short period.
Yet, who could guarantee that the source of life would recover after five years? Could human words truly be trusted?
But from Ash, Venusaur felt a strong threat; although it sounded unscientific, if they were to fight, he might not be a match for this human.
That's right, not a match for the human, not to say not a match for his Pokémon.
This situation was very strange; humans should be very fragile creatures, they only had the ability to train Pokémon, and did not possess any supernatural powers themselves.
However, the threat Venusaur felt from Ash was real, which was why he didn't refuse Ash immediately.
In the wild, everything was decided by strength; the other party possessed such power, yet did not directly seize the item, which was already considered very reasonable.
After a moment of silence, Venusaur finally spoke.
"Bana! Let your Bulbasaur fight me. If he wins, the Seed of Life is yours to command."
Hearing this, both Ash and Bulbasaur were stunned. They didn't expect Venusaur to propose such a condition, to battle Bulbasaur... wasn't this pure bullying?
Although Bulbasaur's strength was Superior Advanced, he hadn't evolved yet, and the opponent he faced was Professional Peak!
The opponent was an entire major level above Bulbasaur; on the surface, this was a very unfair battle request.
Venusaur was actually using this as a way to indirectly refuse Ash.
He didn't want to give up the Seed of Life in the first place, but directly refusing... Ash's unknown strength was also a big problem.
So Venusaur proposed this condition, which was both reasonable and a bit absurd.
If he wanted the Seed of Life, then a member of his own Family had to fight him! It could only be a member of his own Family!
It was indeed reasonable for a member of the same Family to contend for the Seed of Life, but looking at Bulbasaur's level, it would feel a bit absurd. This was Venusaur's openly played strategy.
This 'strategy' would naturally be useless against insidious villains; such people wouldn't negotiate anything, they would just snatch it.
But Venusaur saw Ash's character, so this overt strategy was extremely effective on Ash.
As long as Ash's Bulbasaur was defeated, he could legitimately keep the Seed of Life here.
But he misjudged one thing, and that was Bulbasaur's strength...
"Okay, let's do as you say. Shall we fight here?" Ash snapped his fingers, agreeing to Venusaur's suggestion.
This decisive manner, however, threw Venusaur off. He reconfirmed Bulbasaur's strength... Hmm, his strength was definitely among the top, even the very best, among Bulbasaur.
None of the Ivysaur present was even stronger than this Bulbasaur, but Bulbasaur's strength was still significantly lower than his, not to mention he hadn't evolved yet.
Even if they weren't at the same level, Bulbasaur's chances of winning were less than thirty percent, let alone with such a large level difference now.
Since this human wanted to grasp that elusive hope, then he would grant this human his wish.
"Bana!" With a Roar from Venusaur, the surrounding Ivysaur slowly moved away, and soon a huge open space was cleared in the middle, even larger than the arena in a Gym.
Ash handed his backpack to Misty, asking her to keep it safe.
There was a Togepi Pokémon egg in the backpack, and it would be troublesome if it were accidentally shaken during battle.
"Bulbasaur, are you ready?"
"Danee Dana!" Bulbasaur leaped in front of Ash, a determined expression on his face. This battle might be his last as a Bulbasaur; he not only had to win, but he had to win beautifully!
"Pika Pika!!" Pikachu cheered for Bulbasaur from Misty's feet. Bulbasaur extended a Vine Whip, giving a thumbs-up – he wouldn't lose!
"Bana!" Let's begin!
"Go, Bulbasaur!" Ash said, closing his eyes, drawing Aura from within his body.
Aura resides in my heart!
Powerful Aura was injected into Bulbasaur's body, and in an instant, Bulbasaur's overall strength directly soared to Professional Peak!
After obtaining that life force, although Bulbasaur did not evolve, his overall physical quality improved, and his level also reached Superior Peak.
If it had been before, the Aura could at most only raise Bulbasaur to Professional Intermediate.
The increase in Aura's strength is related to the Pokémon's own level and endurance.
Bulbasaur had not evolved, and even if its ability values were high, its endurance was very limited. However, after the life transformation just now, his endurance improved to another level, and he could now be boosted by one major stage.
Venusaur had originally thought that, as the higher-level party, he would let Bulbasaur have a few moves first, but upon feeling the power erupting from Bulbasaur, he was instantly dumbfounded.
No, what the heck? He was clearly several times weaker than him just now, so how did he almost reach the same level in the blink of an eye? This is not scientific!
Even with that mysterious Seed of Life, it took him several years to raise his strength to this level!
What's going on with that Bulbasaur? Why did he seem like a completely different Pokémon in an instant?!
"The opponent is also a Grass-type Pokémon, so we cannot use moves like Sunny Day and Grassy Terrain; otherwise, it would just be buffing the opponent. Plus, Grass-type moves only deal a quarter of their damage to Venusaur, so the best way to battle is... with poison!"
Ash did not attack rashly, but calmly analyzed the situation.
The teachings of the big shots in the group were not in vain; if he were to just rush in and attack, he would be letting down their guidance too much.
The opponent was an evolved form with the exact same type as Bulbasaur and Superior ability values in all aspects, but now there wasn't much difference in their levels.
In this situation, if Sunny Day or Grassy Terrain, which amplify Grass-type Pokémon, were used, the amplification for Venusaur would be higher instead.
Therefore, in this battle, not only could he not set up a terrain, but he also couldn't let the opponent set up a terrain.
"Bulbasaur, Sludge Bomb!" Ash commanded Bulbasaur to attack first, using a Poison-type move with normal damage.
"Danee Huxia!"
Bulbasaur leaped into the air, his back seed aimed at Venusaur below, and then he spewed out a large mouthful of dark purple venom!
Venusaur stomped his foot, and countless green plants shot up from the ground!
The green plants had countless thorny barbs, and touching them would likely result in being severely pricked and bleeding!
The ultimate Grass-type move, Frenzy Plant!
This Frenzy Plant was a little different from the one Bulbasaur had used before; Bulbasaur's Frenzy Plant didn't have those barbs.
His Frenzy Plant seemed to be used for control and restraint, with damage being secondary, while this Venusaur's Frenzy Plant was purely a damage-dealing move.
Countless green plants rose up, directly blocking the venom falling from the sky.
However, Grass-type moves have quite low resistance to Poison-type moves; in the blink of an eye, the countless green plants that emerged from the ground were directly corroded and rotted by the venom.
But more than half of the thorny green plants still flew towards Bulbasaur!
"Dodge with Vine Whip," Ash commanded calmly, his expression unchanged.
Bulbasaur in the air indeed couldn't change direction out of thin air, but wasn't there a ready-made springboard?
As the Frenzy Plant surrounded Bulbasaur, Bulbasaur also extended two Vine Whips, directly striking the Frenzy Plant, and used the reactive force to bounce away.
The Frenzy Plant pursued relentlessly, but Bulbasaur, wielding his Vine Whips, was like dancing in the air; none of the attacking Frenzy Plant could touch him.
Venusaur was directly dumbfounded. Such a large-scale move couldn't even touch that little thing? What a joke?!
How did the opponent seem to completely predict all of his attack directions, always able to jump to a position outside the attack range in advance?
The green plants waved for a full minute, yet none touched Bulbasaur, and at this point, the duration of Frenzy Plant also ended.
The thorny vines on the field slowly disappeared, and Venusaur was also panting heavily.
Even for a Professional Level Venusaur, a big move like Frenzy Plant consumes a lot of energy.
For Venusaur, it was truly damaging that such a wide-range move couldn't even touch Bulbasaur once.
At this moment, Bulbasaur also returned to the ground along the disappearing vines, and the seed on his body had already begun to accumulate energy.
"Sludge Bomb!" Ash continued to implement the strategy of using Poison-type moves; other moves simply wouldn't deal enough damage to Venusaur.
Bulbasaur leaped again, and the already accumulated venom spewed out from the seed on his back. This time, Venusaur could neither use moves to block nor even move himself.
Frenzy Plant was indeed powerful, but powerful moves always come with considerable side effects; after using Frenzy Plant, there would be a period of immobility.
Even if some Pokémon can shorten the stiffness through training, wild Pokémon generally do not plan to shorten the stiffness.
Including the rash use of Frenzy Plant like this, it would not be used so casually if there were a Trainer.
This is the difference between having a Trainer and not having a Trainer.
The venom spewing from Bulbasaur's back completely splattered onto Venusaur, and the bubbling purple Toxic made Venusaur let out a painful Growl.
But he could only be constantly eroded by the Sludge Bomb now, with no way to counter it.
"Continue to use Sludge Bomb!"
After Bulbasaur descended from the sky, Ash commanded again.
The dark purple liquid spewed out once more. Due to the very short interval between the two moves, Venusaur had not yet broken free from the stiff state, so he was hit by Sludge Bomb again.
However, after this move, Venusaur also regained his freedom. He immediately extended six Vine Whips from the petals on his body and swung them towards Bulbasaur.
He had seen all of Bulbasaur's movements just now. Since Bulbasaur was so good at dodging, he would restrain him. Now, where would the opponent hide?!
However, the six Vine Whips, like a chaotic dance of demons, swung in front of Bulbasaur, yet still did not touch him once.
"My Bulbasaur dodged the wide-ranging Frenzy Plant just now, so why would you think Vine Whip could hit him?" Ash retorted directly, causing Venusaur's mind to crash.
Yes, the wide-ranging Frenzy Plant was dodged, so how could Vine Whip not be dodged?
Under the observation of Aura, when such slow movements encountered Bulbasaur, it was completely like being beaten as a punching bag without being able to fight back.
Not to mention Bulbasaur is now Professional Advanced, even if he were Professional Novice, he would still beat Venusaur without any ability to retaliate.
"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip to flip Venusaur over!" After Bulbasaur dodged the opponent's attack, Ash also commanded loudly, telling Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip on the opponent in return.
If Vine Whip struck Venusaur, it wouldn't cause much damage, but this Vine Whip was only meant to restrict Venusaur's movement.
As soon as the words fell, four Vine Whips extended from Bulbasaur's body, directly binding Venusaur's feet. The next second, Bulbasaur exerted force fiercely, and Venusaur's entire body was lifted by Bulbasaur's Vine Whips, then inverted, and slammed down hard!
"Boom!"