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At this moment, Monferno no longer dared to underestimate Bellsprout in the slightest.
All his power, when striking Bellsprout, was easily neutralized by her. He had been continuously using the super-effective move Flame Wheel, yet she could even grab the flames and directly throw him aside.
From the way she released him at the moment his Flame Wheel ignited, it seemed she was still afraid of Fire-type moves. The reason she could previously face his Fire-type moves head-on was related to her peculiar movements.
Ash also showed a serious expression for the first time. He told Monferno not to be careless, but in reality, he himself had been a bit careless. Bellsprout's appearance was quite deceptive.
He knew she was extraordinary, otherwise she wouldn't be Jeanette's ace Pokémon and possess a Professional Level ranking. Yet, he still thought that, in a battle between Pokémon of the same level, his Fire-type Monferno would have an absolute advantage.
The result was obvious: Monferno was thoroughly beaten. The power the opponent used was not some special ability, but pure skill.
Under Ash's Aura observation, if Bellsprout had any special status effects, he would have noticed them immediately. Currently, Bellsprout was as normal as could be, so this was Bellsprout's inherent skill.
'The big shots in the group chat said that besides battle experience, strength, and their own moves, Pokémon also have some self-created skill powers. This Bellsprout should possess such skills, allowing her to strike first despite moving later, capitalize on strengths and minimize weaknesses, and defeat stronger opponents in close combat. However, if using long-range moves, she should be unable to cope.'
In less than ten seconds, Ash had already analyzed Bellsprout's strengths and weaknesses. Her strength was obviously her unparalleled close-combat ability; it was unlikely any Pokémon of the same level could contend with her.
Those peculiar movements and the technique of 'four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds' were indeed beyond Monferno's current ability to contend with. However, her weakness was equally clear: she was vulnerable to long-range moves. If she were constantly attacked by long-range moves, no matter how powerful her skills, she wouldn't be able to completely avoid energy damage.
It could be seen from Bellsprout's two leaf-like hands that there were some scorched marks on the tips of her leaves. Those marks were caused by flames. Although Bellsprout had tried her best to minimize contact with the flames, as long as she touched Monferno in his Flame Wheel state, she would be burned by the flames.
Therefore, the correct answer was to use long-range moves to punish Bellsprout. Her skills were indeed strong, but her inherent speed was an unfixable flaw. Overwhelming flames could completely restrict her movements.
However... "Monferno, your thoughts should be the same as mine, right?"
"Hoo!"
"Very good, then let's go, use Mach Punch!!" Ash shouted at Monferno, waving his fist.
"Hoo!!" Monferno pushed off the ground with both feet, his body shooting out like an arrow from a bowstring. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Bellsprout, his fists glowing with a pure white light, striking out like bullets.
"Swish, swish, swish!!" The Mach Punch, a blur of afterimages, continuously attacked Bellsprout. The speed of his punches was so fast that afterimages appeared, as if countless fists were assaulting Bellsprout.
But Bellsprout displayed unparalleled body flexibility and terrifying evasive ability. No matter where the punches aimed, she could dodge them. Even if an occasional punch managed to hit her, she would directly bat it away with her leaves, causing the punch to miss.
Ash's eyes constantly moved, staring intently at Bellsprout's every move.
"Bellsprout, use Back Kick!" Jeanette cried out, telling Bellsprout to stop dodging and switch to offense.
At this point, Monferno had already thrown countless punches. His attack rate had noticeably decreased, making this indeed the best time to counterattack.
Bellsprout leaned back, dodging two of Monferno's punches. At the same time, one of her feet was firmly planted on the ground, while the other was raised high. Before Monferno could react, she brought her foot down, her heel, like a tree root, slamming hard onto Monferno's head!
"Bang!!" A visible shockwave spread out, and the already mostly broken turf around them was blown up, revealing many grass roots. Monferno's pupils also lost focus at that instant.
This kick landed directly on the brain, causing a huge impact to the head. Coupled with Bellsprout's terrifying power, far exceeding her own body size, this blow was enough to make Monferno dizzy, or even... lose consciousness!
Ash's head swam, and he directly knelt on the ground. Pikachu came to Ash's side worriedly, patting him.
"I'm fine, that kick was really powerful. Monferno, are you okay!" Ash shook his head, stood up, and shouted at Monferno.
Monferno, lying on the ground, twitched his fingers, then laboriously climbed up from the ground. The flames on his back, which had become faint, flared up violently again!
The damage caused by that kick was actually well within Monferno's endurance. However, the powerful force that hit his head still made him almost faint. The physical damage was not great, but the mental damage was immense.
If he hadn't recovered, he would have truly fainted and been considered unable to battle. Even if he woke up later, it would be useless. But now that he had regained consciousness, he only needed a little time to recover.
As for the damage caused... it couldn't be said there was none, but it was still within Monferno's tolerance. However, if the opponent landed two more kicks, it would be hard to say.
"Did you see the opponent's movements clearly, Monferno?"
"Hoo!" Monferno nodded.
"Then Encore, use Mach Punch!" Ash gestured with his fist, indicating for Monferno to use Mach Punch again for an attack.
Monferno's fists glowed white again, then he charged forward, swinging his fists with fierce power.
The sound of rushing air constantly echoed in the arena. Bellsprout, as always, dodged with her peculiar footwork, and for moves she couldn't dodge, she used her strange technique to deflect Monferno's power.
"You still dare to come? Bellsprout, use Back Kick again!" Jeanette was surprised to see her opponent still daring to engage Bellsprout in close combat. She hadn't expected Ash to be such a stubborn person, knowing that Monferno was no match for Bellsprout in close combat, yet still continuously using close-range attacks against her.
Since that was the case, she wouldn't hold back. This battle would be hers!
"Bell!" Bellsprout used her old trick, dodging two of Monferno's punches, then suddenly raised her heel and kicked down!
"Now, Fire Punch!" Ash's eyes flashed as he shouted. This was what he had been waiting for!
Bellsprout's signature move, Back Kick, was indeed very powerful. This self-created move of hers was probably even stronger than her own Grass-type moves, and it was the only move that could seriously damage Monferno. So Ash was certain that the opponent would use it again.
The weakness of this move was that during the attack, the attack was linear; otherwise, it wouldn't be able to generate such terrifying attack power. The principle was the same as Brave Bird.
However, Pidgeot, through training, could maintain the power of Brave Bird even when turning and maneuvering, but this Bellsprout definitely couldn't do that!
It wasn't due to talent, but at this distance, there was simply no room for maneuver. Attempting a roundabout attack was completely impossible.
Bellsprout's heel appeared above Monferno's head. Monferno instantly stopped his Mach Punch, one of his fists ignited with blazing flames, then he suddenly punched upwards!
"Boom—"
The moment Fire Punch collided with the Back Kick, orange-red flames exploded, and a heatwave surged outwards, scorching the ground.
Bellsprout felt a destructive force spread throughout her body along her stem. Her vines instantly curled and became brittle from the flames. The kick, which had been fully charged with power, didn't even have a fraction of its force unleashed before it was completely crushed by the impact of the Fire Punch.
She flew backward like a kite with a broken string, tracing a clumsy arc in the air, and slammed heavily onto the grass ten meters away, raising a cloud of dust.
In a head-on collision, Bellsprout couldn't possibly be Monferno's opponent, let alone the fact that Monferno had a type advantage over Bellsprout. This single punch directly reversed all of Monferno's previous disadvantages.
Bellsprout had relied on her peculiar footwork and powerful skills to hold her own against Monferno until now, even nearly pushing Monferno to the brink.
But now, after one Fire Punch, Bellsprout's weakness also appeared: her lack of stamina.
Bellsprout, after all, was an unevolved Pokémon; her stamina was completely incomparable to evolved forms. Although she compensated for her flaws with skill, her overall abilities were still much lower than evolved forms.
So after this punch, Bellsprout immediately entered a state of being on her last legs. If Monferno could hit her one more time, the battle would be over.
"To have seen through the flaw of Back Kick so quickly... what a terrifying man. But I won't give up just yet, and my Bellsprout won't fall here! Bellsprout, use Razor Leaf!"
Jeanette's clear voice rang out. In this battle, she had Bellsprout use a Grass-type move for the first time. After Bellsprout stood up from the ground, she swung the leaves on her hands, sending out several sharp Leaf Blades spinning.
"Charge forward, use Fire Punch!" Ash chose to face Razor Leaf head-on. This move's power wasn't very great to begin with, and with Monferno's resistance to Grass-type moves, it didn't matter even if he was hit.
However, Ash also had no intention of directly taking the hit. He wanted to try out something Monferno had just learned.
Monferno's fists ignited with flames, then his body charged forward. Facing the spinning sharp leaves, Monferno's figure shifted, his body flickering across the field like a phantom, dodging all the Razor Leaf attacks while charging!
Seeing this, Jeanette subconsciously covered her red lips with her hand, her face showing an expression of disbelief.
This movement... wasn't it Bellsprout's movement? That was a skill Bellsprout had learned after countless nights of hard work and immense effort. Why did the opponent also know it?
She was absolutely certain that Monferno had not known this kind of skilled footwork before. Could it be that he learned it during the battle? That's too ridiculous!
How long had the battle been going on? Not even five minutes, right! In less than five minutes, he learned a skill that Bellsprout had diligently practiced for nearly a year? Is that even plausible?!
During Jeanette's shock, Monferno had already arrived in front of Bellsprout. His fist, burning with scorching flames, suddenly shot out. The air carried sounds of rushing wind, and the flames seemed to burn away all the air.
Seeing this, Bellsprout quickly used her peculiar footwork, attempting to dodge Monferno's attack. But Monferno seemed to have already anticipated her dodging position; his Fire Punch was already waiting for her on her inevitable path of evasion!
Bellsprout quickly swung both hands, trying to use her leaves to bat away Monferno's punch. When her two leaves made contact with Monferno's fist, Monferno was directly deflected behind her.
This technique of 'four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds' was indeed powerful. As long as the force wasn't far beyond Bellsprout's endurance, she could deflect over ninety-five percent of the force. It was like a Detect move that could be used continuously, except that compared to Detect, she still had to endure a small amount of damage.
Just as Bellsprout deflected the force and was about to regain her senses to counterattack, a scorching sensation approached her from behind. Before Bellsprout could turn around, she felt a heavy blow from behind!
"Boom!!" Scalding flames exploded behind Bellsprout. Bellsprout was directly blown dozens of meters away by the storm of flames, her body skidding across the turf, grinding the grass into bare soil.
The cheerleaders, who had been cheering for Jeanette, instantly fell silent. Meanwhile, Ash's cheers echoed throughout the entire venue.
Bellsprout hadn't seen it just now, but Jeanette and the many spectators had: after Monferno was deflected to the rear by the opponent's 'four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds' technique, he didn't pause for even a moment. He immediately changed his fist into a palm, slammed it onto the ground, swiftly reoriented his body, and threw another punch in an inverted stance!
This turning speed was as if he had already anticipated being deflected by the opponent. Monferno had already prepared a countermeasure and successfully executed it.
"Bell... Bellsprout is unable to battle, Monferno wins! Since all three of Jeanette's Pokémon are unable to battle, Ash is the winner of this match!" The referee initially didn't react; the match had suddenly ended. Once he came to his senses, he quickly waved his flag, announcing Monferno's victory and confirming Ash's win.
Ash successfully advanced to the top 32 of the Indigo Plateau Conference!
The surrounding cheers were like a mountain roaring and a sea raging. This time, Jeanette's cheerleaders had no room left to speak; their idol had to leave the stage.