Venusaur and Meowth moved to their spots on each side of the field.
At this time, only Natsui, Tyson, and people like Ash and Morrison knew the truth. No one else knew that this Meowth was Tyson's strongest Pokémon and his final hope!
Other people just looked at this Meowth wearing a hat. They were attracted by his human-like clothes. They did not see the danger hidden under his appearance at all.
To be honest, this was the first time Natsui had looked at Meowth so seriously.
He had dealt with the Team Rocket Meowth many times before. Because that Meowth was not strong, Natsui had a certain idea about them. He had always ignored this kind of Pokémon.
Standing in front of him now, Natsui looked at Meowth very carefully. He suddenly felt that Meowth was actually unfamiliar.
Looking at him, Meowth's design is like the Maneki-neko. He looks like a cat. Most Meowth walk on four legs. But there are still a few Meowth that have learned to walk like humans because they have strong willpower.
Most of Meowth's fur is light yellow. Only the end of his tail and his back paws are brown. His round face has two big eyes and a large mouth, but he has no nose. His special feature is the shiny gold coin on his forehead.
People found that Meowth can sleep for a whole day. He only comes out to move when the sun goes down. At night, he has even more energy. He can walk very quietly. He washes his face often to keep the gold coin clean. He likes shiny things very much, especially gold coins. If he finds one, he hides it. In a junkyard, you can see him fighting hard with Murkrow to get glowing objects.
In this battle, there is no type advantage between Meowth and Venusaur. This was the most fair match among several rounds between Natsui and Tyson.
Meowth did not look worried because Tyson lost earlier. Instead, he had a confident smile on his face. He even raised a sharp claw toward Venusaur. He felt very sure of himself.
Both Pokémon were ready. The referee raised the flags and signaled the start of the match.
At the exact moment the flags dropped, Meowth ran toward Venusaur. He did not wait for Tyson's command. At the same time, a bright light appeared on his claws!
Looking at him, one could tell he wanted to fight Venusaur from very close.
Natsui was not afraid of a close fight. But he did not want to lose his advantage. He did not want Meowth to get close to Venusaur so easily.
"Venusaur, use Razor Leaf."
Natsui spoke calmly. Venusaur used Razor Leaf. Instantly, more than ten sharp leaves flew toward Meowth in a spinning motion.
At this time, Meowth showed his great strength.
He moved his body and easily dodged the Razor Leaf attack. He used his sharp claws to cut the leaves he could not dodge into pieces.
At the same time, Meowth used the chance to get closer. He had already reached the middle of the field.
"Use Vine Whip."
Natsui gave the command again. Two long vines came out from the flower on Venusaur's body. They hit toward Meowth like whips.
The vines were different from Razor Leaf. Because the vines were part of his body, Venusaur could move them freely even though the distance was shorter. This made the attacks harder to dodge.
The two Vine Whips made a loud whistling sound as they hit toward Meowth.
Meowth looked at these two fast shadows. He just jumped up and dodged them easily. But before he landed, the Vine Whips hit the ground and bounced back. They moved toward Meowth again!
The cat's eyes narrowed.
Meowth saw the Vine Whips getting closer. He changed his position in the air. He dodged the attack again by twisting his body. But the Vine Whips changed direction once more and attacked Meowth again!
This time, Meowth could not dodge.
However, he had another way to deal with it. He was not in a hurry. He swung his claws hard. With a few fast slashes, he pushed all the Vine Whips away!
But because of this attack, Meowth stopped moving forward. He could not move toward Venusaur anymore. He had to land on the ground.
All of this happened very fast. The audience became interested immediately.
Neither side had an advantage yet, but people saw that this Meowth was very good. This meant the battle would be very exciting!
People sat up straight. They wanted to see what the two Pokémon would do next.
On the other side, Tyson saw that Meowth was stopped. He felt that Venusaur was very hard to beat. He shouted again: "Meowth, try again!"
Even though they were even, getting closer to Venusaur was a good start.
Meowth raised his claws and ran forward again.
Natsui did not just wait. At the same time, he gave a command to Venusaur.
"Venusaur, use Sleep Powder!"
A big cloud of green powder came out from the bud on Venusaur's back. It quickly covered the area around Venusaur. The green color looked scary in the sunlight.
This plant powder would make a Pokémon fall into a deep sleep. Meowth did not dare to be careless.
His speed suddenly increased. Before the powder could fall, he ran close to Venusaur. He raised his claws toward him!
Everyone opened their eyes wide and watched the field closely.
After several battles, this was one of the few chances Tyson had found. Could it be...?
Actually, even Natsui did not expect Meowth to be so brave. He was willing to risk being put to sleep just to get in front of Venusaur.
He is a true ace Pokémon. Because of this courage, Tyson's other Pokémon could not compare to him.
Vine Whips came out from Venusaur's bud again. They hit down at Meowth.
However, Vine Whip is hard to use when the enemy is too far or too close. The long vines must have space to move. So, they are not as good in close combat as they were before.
Tyson understood this logic too. This was why he wanted Meowth to get close to Venusaur.
Meowth moved quickly and dodged the Vine Whip attacks. His claws hit Venusaur's body hard.
Swish! Swish!
The two claws hit Venusaur's body. This meant the attack worked!
The audience cheered. Even the announcer was excited: "Great! Meowth hit Venusaur! This hit on Venusaur... oh... we can see that because the types don't resist each other, this strike didn't actually cause much damage to Venusaur. Also, the Sleep Powder is falling at this time. Meowth has no way to dodge. How will it handle this?"
Most people were on Tyson's side. They wanted to see a fair match, or they wanted the local trainer to win because Natsui was too strong. They hoped Tyson would do something exciting.
So, when Meowth's attack succeeded, these people were very happy!
The audience nearby cheered. Even Ash and Morrison clenched their fists excitedly. This made Misty annoyed.
She crossed her legs and her arms. She leaned back in her chair. She said: "It was just two scratches from claws. The match has just begun. Why are all these people so excited?"
Ash and the others heard her. They realized they had annoyed Misty. They quickly sat up straight and acted like nothing happened.
On the field, Meowth's attack worked, but now he was in danger.
Meowth was fast, but he could not escape the Sleep Powder as it fell!
Luckily, Meowth was small and he was wearing a hat. The Sleep Powder did not touch his skin immediately.
But the green powder was falling. It would take effect in just a moment!
In an instant, everyone in the stadium looked at Meowth. They all wanted to see how he would solve this!
In the next second, a bright light of electricity suddenly came from Meowth's body and exploded!
"It's Thunderbolt!" the announcer shouted. "This Meowth can actually use Thunderbolt!"
The electricity from the Thunderbolt burned all the Sleep Powder away. The danger was gone. The electricity also started to spread around!
But the electricity did not hit anything. People saw that the target, Venusaur, had disappeared!
What!?
When the bright light was gone, they looked closely. They found that Venusaur had moved back a long distance very quickly by using his vines!
This let him escape the Thunderbolt. It also made the distance between the two Pokémon large again!
Everyone was very shocked.
When did this happen?
And why did he dodge early?
Did he know Meowth would use Thunderbolt?
It felt like he knew the future. Everyone was very confused. Tyson was the most surprised person there!
Thunderbolt was Meowth's secret move. He had only used it once before. Natsui had not seen that match. So why was he prepared?
Did Ash or the others tell him?
Natsui could see what Tyson was thinking by looking at his face.
Of course, no one told him.
He had watched the anime before, but a long time had passed. He did not remember all of Meowth's abilities.
In his memory, this was just a strong Meowth.
He made this decision by watching Meowth's movements!
The reason was simple. Meowth ran into the Sleep Powder, so he must have a plan. Natsui decided to keep a safe distance immediately.
So, while everyone was looking at Meowth, he gave the order. Venusaur moved away from Meowth. He dodged the unexpected Thunderbolt.
Every cause has an effect. But Tyson thought Natsui had information beforehand!
He thought Natsui watched his videos or heard about the move!
While he was thinking, Natsui launched an attack.
This Meowth was very strong. But to Natsui, he was like any other Pokémon.
He was strong, but Venusaur was not weak either!
This was a core Pokémon. He had been with Natsui since he was a Bulbasaur. He helped Natsui win a championship. He worked as hard as any other Pokémon!
It did not matter if Meowth wore a hat. Even if he evolved into a Persian in a hat, it did not matter!
A giant seed flew out from the bud. it flew toward Meowth.
Meowth tried to dodge. But as soon as he dodged the giant seed, it exploded. Fire from the explosion covered Meowth!
"This is bad..." The announcer's voice was heard. He sounded sad. "This is the Grass-type move Seed Bomb. It's a giant seed covered in a hard shell. Although Meowth dodged the impact of the seed, it still couldn't escape the following explosion..."
Just then, Meowth rushed out from the smoke. He had burn marks on his body. He jumped to a safe spot and breathed hard.
The seed was easy to dodge, but the explosion was very large. Even though he tried to run, he was still caught in it.
Luckily, he was not in the center of the explosion. He did not have any fatal wounds.
But the burns still hurt. They also made him slower.
But he wanted to help Tyson win. This pain was nothing to him!
On the other side, Tyson was happy that Meowth escaped. He also blamed himself for being distracted!
If he had watched Venusaur, he could have helped Meowth avoid being hurt.
He felt very sorry, but he knew he had to focus. He focused on the battle in front of him.
Meowth was fighting hard. He would not let his hard work go to waste!
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