The clearing in the forest.
Sunlight steamed up the mixed scent of soil and green grass.
Akemi stood at the other end of the clearing, her short orange hair neat and sharp, her eyes holding the keen, practical edge characteristic of a Viridian City Trainer.
Boss Giovanni was famous, after all.
One could even say he was the idol of all Viridian City Trainers.
The only problem was that as a Gym Leader, Giovanni wasn't very dedicated; he was often away from home.
But it was fine.
Giving badges to Trainers was allowed as long as the Gym Leader permitted it.
The subordinate Gym Trainers under Giovanni also had the qualification to award badges to challengers.
Though these Gym Trainers could only test challengers prior to their seventh or eighth badges.
The seventh and eighth badges, which determined eligibility for the Indigo League, could only be issued by the Gym Leader himself.
"The rules are two-on-two!" Akemi crisply threw two Poké Balls. "Go, Raticate, Nidoran!"
Light flashed, and a sturdy, sleek-furred female Raticate crouched low on the ground, its incisors glinting with a cold light.
Beside it was a petite purple Nidoran, ears pricked up in alertness, front paws uneasily pawing the ground.
Ash's gaze swept over the opposing lineup, and the corner of his mouth curved imperceptibly.
The Raticate was the main force; the Nidoran was obviously a novice and posed little threat.
"Pikachu!" he cried out softly. The partner on his shoulder turned into a streak of golden lightning and settled in front. "And you—Magikarp!"
Red light flashed, and that glittering golden Magikarp flopped onto the muddy ground beside Pikachu with a wet splat, its tail flapping weakly twice, splashing up a few specks of mud.
Akemi and Misty: "..."
Akemi's mouth twitched. "Hey! Rookie, are you serious? Battling with a Magikarp?"
She felt insulted.
Using a Magikarp for battle... are you out of your mind?
In reality, Ash had brought out his highest combat power.
His Pikachu was the Pika-God.
Strong to the point of being unreasonable.
"..." Misty covered her face, unable to bear watching.
"Of course!" Ash's voice was loud, carrying unquestionable confidence. "Magikarp, Splash! Pikachu, cover it!"
Let Magikarp try fighting; maybe if it leeched enough battle growth, it could evolve into a Gyarados!
"Pika!" Pikachu understood immediately, its cheek electric sacs sizzling with thin arcs of electricity, ready to attack at any moment.
"Kar..." Magikarp struggled and bounced in the mud pit!
A golden light flashed; the height of its leap far exceeded that of an ordinary Magikarp, carrying a powerful force.
With a whoosh, it slammed toward... the empty space in front of it!
Then, with a thud, it flopped back into the muddy water.
Magikarp had tried very hard to smash its body into the opponent, but unfortunately, it missed.
How should one put it?
After all, there were some differences from the game.
In the game, Magikarp had no combat power in the early stages; training it to level 15 to learn Tackle was incredibly slow.
A common trick was to use up all the Splash PP so it could start to Struggle.
But in reality, Magikarp did have means of attack.
For instance, using Splash to jump up and smash down.
Honestly, the damage wasn't low either.
You have to realize, a Magikarp close to a meter long weighs about 45 kilograms... and its body structure is mainly bone and scales... having this thing bounce two or three meters up and smash down.
Theoretically speaking, this was no different from a rock.
One could only say that the content in the Pokédex couldn't be fully trusted.
Magikarp is a hardy Pokémon that is unbothered by even the most polluted water, living near water bodies all over the world. Seas, rivers, ponds, and puddles... they swim around in all sorts of places. Furthermore, their reproductive ability is astonishing, so numerous one gets sick of seeing them.
Perhaps their individual combat power is lacking, but their ecological occupancy capability is top-tier.
It had reached the point of being a plague that was almost impossible to completely exterminate.
From the logic of species survival, it was simply perfect.
Especially since once the numbers went up, the population of its evolution, Gyarados, wouldn't be too small either.
Facing Magikarp.
Raticate and Nidoran were both stunned for a moment.
"Raticate! Ignore that fish! Take out that Pikachu! Quick Attack!" Akemi reacted extremely fast, immediately seizing the opportunity of her opponent "sabotaging himself."
"Squeak!" Raticate turned into a grey shadow, lunging straight at Pikachu!
"Pikachu, use Thunder Shock to interfere!" Ash spoke rapidly.
As for dodging?
Pikachu would do that without even being told.
In fact, Ash felt that even if he didn't command anything, Pikachu would battle autonomously.
Of course, the current pace of battle hadn't reached that level yet.
Giving a few commands gave him a sense of participation.
Pikachu pushed off with all four paws, jumping to the side, narrowly avoiding Raticate's charge path, while simultaneously whipping a thin golden electric snake toward Raticate's landing spot.
But Raticate was experienced in actual combat; the moment it landed, it executed a nimble roll, dodging the Thunder Shock unscathed.
It seemed Akemi had the same idea as Ash.
Veterans carrying rookies.
A main Pokémon carrying a weakling to improve battle efficiency.
"Nidoran, Poison Sting! Target Magikarp!" Akemi's second command followed immediately.
Pick the soft target.
"Nido!" Nidoran plucked up its courage, and a burst of fine purple poison stings shot like rain toward the golden Magikarp still floundering in the mud pit!
"Magikarp, don't let them hit your eyes!" Ash commanded at the same time Akemi spoke.
In a duel of commands between Trainers, situations like this—where the opponent understood—would occur.
Ash was certain these poison stings couldn't penetrate Magikarp's scales, but the eyes were a different story.
Magikarp seemed to sense the danger; its tail churned frantically in the muddy water, golden scales reflecting blinding spots of light under the sun.
"Splaaash—!"
The golden Magikarp moved in response; it, too, seemed to feel the threat posed by that burst of purple needles, and an unprecedented will to survive erupted in its small fish eyes.
It used all its strength, its mud-caked tail whipping violently in the murky puddle.
Whoosh!
A large sheet of muddy water was churned up, splashing like a murky curtain wall, meeting the incoming rain of poison stings!
"Pfft-pfft-pfft..."
Most of the fine poison stings were intercepted and engulfed by the mud curtain, losing their aim and force, falling limply into the mud.
Only a scattered few penetrated the mud barrier, striking Magikarp's hard scales with faint tink-tink crisp sounds, leaving not even a white mark.
It must be known that Magikarp's scales are very thick, and the main parts of its body are all bone.
Mere Poison Sting... with the physical destructive power produced at Nidoran's level, it was already insufficient to damage Magikarp's scales, let alone after being impeded by the muddy water.
The mass of the poison stings was too light.
This was also the problem most Poison-type Pokémon needed to solve.
Poison was very useful, but one needed to breach the opponent's defenses to inflict the poisoning first.
"What?!" Akemi and Misty exclaimed in unison.
That reaction... that defense?!
"Nido?" Nidoran was also stunned, staring at its completely ineffective poison stings, its little mind blank.
In this split second.
"Now! Magikarp, smash it!" Ash ordered in the nick of time.
It was time to end the battle.
There wasn't much Magikarp could do in a battle.
Only by truly participating in combat could it obtain some kind of abstract growth.
It wasn't like the game where it could just show its face, then be switched out to gain experience points.
_____
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