chsdbacks Chapter 283 Venusaur vs. Torterra, Earthquake Nullification?!
Chapter 283 Venusaur vs. Torterra, Earthquake Nullification?!
Chapter 283 Venusaur vs. Torterra, Earthquake Nullification?!
As Magmortar lost its ability to battle, Shinji recalled it. However, unlike Ash, he didn't say a word of encouragement, but instead took out the next Poké Ball.
"Shouldn't we give Flammon some encouragement? He's already done his best in this battle."
"A loss is a loss. The winner takes all. That guy wasn't strong enough, that's all."
"I thought you'd changed a bit, but you're still just as annoying as ever," Ash said, frowning slightly with a hint of dissatisfaction.
I initially thought that Shinji's consideration for Infernape might indicate a change in him, but judging from his current attitude towards Pokémon, no change has occurred. He remains the same cold-hearted Shinji towards Pokémon, without the slightest alteration.
Shinji remained noncommittal in response to Ash's words: "Aggron, prepare for battle!"
With a flash of light, a colossal creature appeared on the field.
Ash had previously battled Aggron, which was one of the Pokémon in Kopp's Trick Room team and was quite powerful. However, Shinji's Aggron was even stronger, not only being much larger but also possessing the strength of a mid-level Gym Leader. It also surpassed Kopp's Aggron in various attributes.
Faced with this monstrous creature, Ash's team pulled out—
"I choose you, Venusaur!"
"Bana!!" Ash's second Pokémon, Venusaur, was also Ash's first time using Venusaur in a battle at the Indigo League.
"Has that Bulbasaur evolved yet?!" Upon seeing Venusaur, Shinji frowned, a thoughtful expression on his face. He then recalled Aggron and threw out the next Poké Ball.
"Snow Fairy, prepare for battle." A flash of light appeared, and an elf who looked to be wearing a kimono appeared on the field. She was a snow-white elf with a mask on her face that looked like it was made of ice, and her purple skin could be seen under the mask.
Her body resembles a kimono, giving the impression of a snow woman emerging from an iceberg.
Just by looking at its appearance, you can tell that this Pokémon is an Ice-type Pokémon. With Ash's knowledge, he also knows about Froslass, a Pokémon discovered in the Sinnoh region. Its pre-evolution is Snorunt, which requires a female Snorunt to evolve through a Hidden Stone.
Shinji is clearly not the kind of trainer who is headstrong. After seeing Venusaur, he will naturally choose a Pokémon with a type advantage to battle against.
Although there is no type advantage between Aggron and Venusaur, and Venusaur's poison-type moves are even ineffective against Aggron, Froslass is naturally more advantageous than Aggron.
Furthermore, there is a level difference between Aggron and Venusaur, and the former is a heavyweight Pokémon, making it difficult for it to dodge attacks. Therefore, trading damage under such a level difference is obviously an unwise choice.
Therefore, Shinji immediately switched to Snow Maiden.
"Ash's second Pokémon is a Venusaur that has never appeared before, but everyone should be familiar with this Venusaur. It evolved from the Bulbasaur that defeated Elite Four member. In addition, when facing Venusaur, Ash recalled Aggron and replaced it with Froslass, an Ice-type Pokémon that is super effective against Venusaur. How will Ash deal with this?!"
The host's excited voice rang out. Although his professional judgment was wrong in the last game, it really had nothing to do with him. Who knew that Ash's Infernape could break through the norm to such an extent? Even with low health, it could use Fire Pulse three times without losing its ability to battle. Isn't that pure cheating?
So the host's confidence was not affected. He continued to professionally and concisely describe the situation on stage, explaining it to the audience who were unfamiliar with the situation.
"Venusaur, use Razor Leaf!" Shinji switched Pokémon, but Ash had no intention of doing so. So what if they're a type disadvantage? That's what fighting against type disadvantages is all about!
"Bana!" Venusaur roared, and a dozen spinning, sharp leaves shot out from the huge flower on its body. The emerald green leaves seemed to cut through the air as they shot straight toward Froslass.
Shinji's pupils constricted, and his voice rang out coldly: "Snow Fairy, use Snowscape."
"Ooh~" The Snow Fairy raised her hands as if praying to the heavens for something. Just then, the flying leaf dagger struck the Snow Fairy, the sharp blades cutting several slits in her kimono and mask.
Grass-type attacks are not weak against Ice-type attacks. This attack caused considerable damage to Froslass. However, Froslass also successfully used Snowscape. Fine snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and a strong wind blew across the field. Froslass's figure disappeared into the snowy landscape.
Snow Concealment is a special ability that allows Snow Fairy to hide her body in snowy weather, thus avoiding enemy attacks. This is Snow Fairy's hidden ability, and it's also the reason why Shinji used Snow Fairy even after she was hit by the Leaf Blade.
Another reason is that the speed of the Leaf Blade is too fast. The Snow Fairy has no way to dodge it. So, she might as well just take the damage from that attack and use Snow Heaven. This is the most correct way to deal with it.
"Snow scene activated successfully! Frost and snow have begun to fall on the field, and Froslass's body is hidden in the snow. How will Venusaur cope now?!"
"Venusaur, use Harden Plant!" Forget hiding, Ash doesn't tolerate that. Likes to hide? Then he'll just use a field-wide attack for a carpet bombing!
Let's see where you can hide.
Venusaur roared and stomped its feet on the ground. Immediately afterward, countless thick thorny green plants rose up in the field, and in the blink of an eye, the entire field became a small forest.
The snow fairy hidden in the ice and snow was also directly hit by the hardened plant that broke through the soil!
Snow Concealment only allows Snow Fairy to hide her figure in the snow and ice, not to actually disappear. As long as you use a full-scale attack, you can directly pull Snow Fairy out of the snow!
The snow fairy, struck repeatedly by the hardened plants, was blasted into the sky, revealing her true form and making it impossible for her to hide in the snow.
"Finish her off!" Ash's voice rang out again. The thorny green plants that had knocked Froslass away seemed to come alive. They thrashed wildly, like tentacles, tightly locking Froslass's hands and body in place.
The thorns on the green plants pierced deep into the Snow Fairy's skin, and a massive surge of grass-based energy rushed into her body, causing her enormous damage!
With a painful wail, the thorns released the Snow Fairy a few seconds later, and she fell helplessly to the ground with a thud, raising a cloud of dust that signaled the end of her battle.
Sold out instantly!
Apart from the initial Razor Leaf attack, Venusaur only used Harden Plant once before Froslass was defeated.
The previous battle was quite a back-and-forth affair, with no clear winner until the very last moment. The battle was also quite long, with Infernape getting up every time it looked like it was about to fall. It's estimated that the battle lasted for more than ten minutes.
The entire battle lasted less than a minute. Froslass unleashed snow, Venusaur hardened the plants, and the battle ended.
Ash struggled so much in the last battle that it seemed he was slightly inferior to Paul. Although he won, it was only by chance. Overall, Paul was still stronger.
But in this match, Ash showed everyone that he simply hadn't used his full strength in the previous match. Now that he was going all out and showing his true power, the outcome of the match became obvious.
The referee was stunned for a long time before announcing the result. Shinji immediately put Froslass away. The speed at which this match was decided far exceeded his expectations. It wasn't that Froslass was too weak, but that the opponent's Venusaur was too strong.
He had also watched the video of Bulbasaur battling Ajuga. That Bulbasaur was so powerful that it was almost unbelievable for a normal Pokémon; even a legendary Pokémon would probably be no more powerful than that.
Shinji didn't believe that was the true strength of that Bulbasaur. Putting aside how Ash, a novice trainer, could train such a powerful Bulbasaur, the Bulbasaur species alone shouldn't be able to reach that level.
Therefore, Shinji was certain that his opponent must have used some special method to increase his strength to that level, and that method was definitely not something that could be used casually. Otherwise, Ash would not be participating in the Indigo League but in the Elite Four competition.
The Bulbasaur that everyone fears is not a major concern for him.
However, in this match, Venusaur showed him that even if it couldn't unleash its former power, it could still dominate in the Gym level. Froslass, as a mid-level Gym Leader, was instantly defeated by the opponent's Razor Leaf and Harden Plant, indicating that the opponent's attack power was at least at the Elite Four level.
However, Venusaur's level appears to be only at the Gym Leader level.
"Another Pokémon capable of battling above its level—Torterra, prepare for battle." Shinji finally brought out his ace Pokémon, Torterra!
This is Shinji's initial spirit, and also his most powerful spirit, without exception.
Ash opened his Eye of Insight and was surprised to find that one of the opponent's data points had changed. Yesterday it showed the gym's level, but now it had become—a Champion!
The King-level Tortoise—this is probably Shinji's trump card for this match.
To be able to train a Pokémon to the Elite Four level in just a year and a half is truly the mark of a genius among geniuses; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he has the potential to become a future champion.
However, compared to Ash, who trained his Pokémon to the Gym Leader level in just six months, there's still a gap. Furthermore, Ash's Gym Leader level wasn't just any ordinary Gym Leader level.
"Venusaur, can it still fight?"
"Bana!" Venusaur stomped its foot, causing the entire arena to tremble, demonstrating its desire to battle.
Ash originally planned to switch to a different Pokémon. It wasn't that he thought Venusaur was no match for the opponent, but Ash wanted to have as many of his Pokémon battle as possible. However, in this battle, Paul used Torterra, which gave Venusaur a reason to fight.
Torterra and Venusaur are both Grass-type Pokémon, and both are enormous, the kind that are as immovable as mountains but move like thunder. This is a battle between Grass-type Pokémon, and Venusaur certainly doesn't want to participate.
Ash understood what Venusaur was thinking, so he abandoned his plan to recall Venusaur.
"Use Leaf Blade." Shinji launched the first attack. Leaf Blade has four times the resistance to Venusaur, and this attack was just a test by Shinji.
Torterra took a step forward, and dozens of green leaves appeared around its body. Then, like bullets, the spinning blades cut through the air, just like the moves Venusaur had used before.
"Ignore it, use Sunny Day!" Ash's choice was to change the weather. Although Froslass was out of the field, it was still a hailstorm. This kind of weather was not advantageous for Venusaur, and it was also the same for Torterra.
However, Ash still chose to battle in his own comfortable area, which can be seen as paving the way for the next Pokémon.
"Bana!" Venusaur raised its head, and the huge flower on its back bloomed with a dazzling light. The shining light flew from Venusaur's back into the sky, sweeping away the hail that was blowing around it!
The misty snowy day vanished instantly, replaced by a sun hanging high in the sky. Under the sun's rays, the ice and snow on the ground quietly melted.
At this moment, Razor Leaf also hit Venusaur, but Grass-type moves are completely ineffective against Venusaur, let alone a low-level Grass-type move like Razor Leaf.
"Use Earthquake." The sunny weather is also advantageous for Torterra, so Shinji ignores Torterra's attempt to change the weather and chooses to use Earthquake to attack again.
Grass-type moves are generally not very effective against Venusaur, but Ground-type moves can deal normal damage. In addition, Torterra is a Ground-type, so this is a STAB attack. As long as it hits, it can cause serious damage to Venusaur!
"Absorb the force of the earthquake, then use hardened plants!"
Shinji: ? ? ?
What does it mean to absorb the power of an earthquake? Does it mean you can ignore the damage caused by an earthquake?
How is that possible? Apart from Flying-type Pokémon and those with the Levitate ability, it's impossible for them to ignore Ground-type damage.
The next second, the Earth-Turtle slightly raised its front body, then slammed its foot into the ground. A visible shockwave spread out from the Earth-Turtle's body, and the entire arena shook at that moment.
A terrifying Ground-type energy rapidly approached the Venusaur from the ground, and then suddenly erupted!
Venusaur took a direct hit from an Earthquake—and was completely unharmed!
He can really ignore earthquakes!