"Not—what is this one?"
Seeing Ash choose to battle Drapion with Gengar.
Dawn is directly stunned.
Drapion is Poison/Dark, while Gengar is Ghost/Poison—that doesn't line up.
Because whether Ghost or Poison, both are weak against Drapion; in short, Ash has picked an inherently disadvantageous battle.
Although Gengar can immunity the field against Toxic Spikes, this kind of battle is still rough.
Besides, Toxic Spikes is nasty, but you can clear it away—
Like with Rapid Spin or clearing fog-type moves. Surely Ash has a Pokémon that can do that, right? It shouldn't be.
Even without removals, there should be better choices, but using Gengar is hardly ideal.
So Dawn is very surprised.
"..."
Hearing Dawn's stunned, puzzled noises, Misty and Brock both look awkward.
How to put it, Ash's choice is indeed surprising, but for them who have accompanied Ash on his journey, it's not unusual.
"Surprised—that side of him, Ash still nails it,"
Damian isn't surprised, smiling as he says this, this is exactly the kind of thing Ash would do.
And Ash's team has changed a lot too.
Damian looks at Gengar, and if they also caught Lucario, this team would be really different.
"Using Gengar, are you losing your mind?"
Paul also comes back to himself, frowning at the opposite Gengar.
There's a saying, a trainer who cannot fight at a type disadvantage isn't a proper trainer.
But that's when you're playing catch-up; who would voluntarily pick such a weak matchup?
"What do you mean? I'll beat you!"
Ash is very unhappy, what do you mean "have you lost your mind?"
This guy—how can he be so annoying, bastard!
"..."
Paul is speechless; he thinks Ash might be losing his mind.
But whatever, consider it special training.
Yet the next battle is quite unexpected: Gengar is a fast special‑attack oriented Pokémon, while Drapion has already taken a lot of hits from Dragonite earlier.
Although Drapion used Iron Defense to boost its Defense, Gengar does not rely on physical attacks, so that Iron Defense boost is basically useless.
Moreover, Ash's Gengar is extremely agile, but under Paul's calm battle tempo, Gengar still gets hit by a Throat Chop from Drapion's pincers.
And this makes Ash even more cautious.
The battle becomes very intense, and finally, as Gengar unleashes a magical flash, Drapion falls heavily to the ground.
"Drapion loses the ability to fight, Gengar wins." Dawn announces the result of the battle.
"Ay! Beat Drapion!"
Ash cheers joyfully, and Gengar, with a cute swagger, basks in the pride.
Seeing Ash turn the tide, Misty and Brock let out relieved sighs.
"Return."
Paul recalls Drapion, brows knit tightly; he doesn't blame Drapion.
He knows Drapion performed well, and it wasn't in top form to begin with against Gengar.
The key is...
"That last ambush—could it have dodged too?"
Paul finds this hard to believe.
Mid-battle, Drapion's Throat Chop hit Gengar, dealing a heavy blow.
Of course Paul won't miss this chance; he orders Drapion to use a seamless Pursuit after the hit.
Logically, a Gengar just hit by Throat Chop would have a hard time dodging Pursuit, especially such a fast one.
But in Ash's loud shout to "evade!" that Gengar somehow rolls aside just in time, narrowly dodging the ambush.
This is not right!
If that hit lands, Paul would have foreseen it and followed with Earthquake; Gengar wouldn't hold out.
After all, Gengar's defenses aren't high; it's a fragile Pokémon.
But arguing about it mid-battle is pointless. Paul steels his mood, pulling out a second Poké Ball.
"Hmph! See? I won't lose to a guy like you."
The balance tilts again, and Ash immediately starts counterattacking.
"Is that so? Wait and see."
Paul's calm words leave Ash with no satisfaction.
Damn this guy!
"Honchkrow! Prepare for battle!"
Paul hurls out his second Poké Ball.
Honchkrow cries out, spreads its wings, appearing above in front of Paul.
"Honchkrow."
Ash eyes the Honchkrow; after thinking, he recalls Gengar.
Dark/Flying Honchkrow isn't a great match for Gengar.
"Pikachu can beat Honchkrow, but..."
Ash ponders; Electric-type Pikachu should have no problem beating Honchkrow.
Ash trusts his Pikachu a lot.
But the key is the Toxic Spikes on the field; if Pikachu enters, it will take Toxic Spikes damage.
They should clear Toxic Spikes first.
Ash understands the safety risk of Toxic Spikes; from this alone, Ash's battle awareness is far stronger than in the anime original.
In the anime, even by Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh, Ash starts by facing Toxic Spikes battles, taking a lot of losses before realizing to deal with Toxic Spikes.
Continuing the battle, Ash sends Squirtle to Rapid Spin to clear Toxic Spikes, but Paul seizes the opportunity to chase him down.
Paul's knack for seizing opportunities is superb.
Honchkrow beats Squirtle and stays in good shape.
Ash immediately sends Pikachu, who pays a small price but defeats Honchkrow.
The situation is tied again.
Paul's third Pokémon is Ultra Beast Buzzwole; Ash lets Pikachu test the waters briefly.
Pikachu charges a Thunderbolt.
But Paul has Buzzwole respond with Earthquake; not wanting to risk more, Ash makes Pikachu dodge by jumping, but Buzzwole's Bug‑type Lunge nearly buries Pikachu underground.
Ash recalls Pikachu and sends out Gengar.
Yet Gengar isn't Buzzwole's opponent; instead it grants Buzzwole a Beast Boost.
Then Ash sends Charizard, and Paul, seeing this, decisively swaps Buzzwole out.
Buzzwole is two times weak to Fire and four times weak to Flying; why fight Charizard?
Paul doesn't think fighting at a type disadvantage is reasonable; he sends out his fourth Pokémon, Electivire.
Ash doesn't swap Charizard.
Ash's Charizard is strong, especially with Ash's encouragement; its will is incredibly tenacious.
Yet after the fierce battle, it still loses to Electivire's power.
Then Ash's last Pokémon is Snorlax; Paul swaps back to Buzzwole, and Buzzwole defeats Snorlax, triggering its Beast Boost.
Ash is down to his last Pokémon: Pikachu.
"this guy..."
Misty is sweating buckets watching.
To her, Ash's Trainer talent is truly amazing, but she didn't expect a Sinnoh region trainer to press Ash from start to finish.
"Tactics and strategy are too clear; he's basically a robot," Brock praises Paul from the heart.
In Brock's view, Paul has made almost no missteps in this battle so far.
And the tactics design and battle thinking are near perfect, dodging disadvantageous battles, with Pokémon matchups largely in his favor.
Ash's battle was pure suppression.
"Ash is going to lose."
Sighing, Brock gives a helpless sigh.
Ash has only Pikachu left, while Paul has only lost Drapion and Honchkrow; Electivire was seriously damaged by Charizard.
But Electivire is out.
Can Pikachu pull off a four‑hit combo?
Misty remains silent.
As Ash's trusted ace, Pikachu reenters the battle against Buzzwole.
This time Ash is even more cautious, using Pikachu's agility to battle Buzzwole.
Finally, with Pikachu's Thunder burst striking Buzzwole, Buzzwole's Hammer Arm smashes into Pikachu's head.
"Buzzwole and Pikachu both lose the ability to fight; Ash loses all six Pokémon, Paul wins the battle."
Dawn steps in, observes, and raises an arm to announce the result.
Hearing the announcement, Ash freezes, fists clenched, staring at Pikachu who lost the ability to fight.
He actually lost...
"Still a bit naive—is that because growth came too easily?"
Damian rests his chin, thinking. In his view, Ash's strength isn't the issue.
But clearly Ash's battle experience lags behind Paul's, which directly led to Ash getting blown up.
In terms of strength, Ash's team isn't weaker than Paul's; perhaps even stronger.
Yet the battle result is so far off.
Obviously, because Ash's talent is so outstanding, he's faced difficult Gym battles, but his battle experience hasn't grown much.
Although there are many "clever ideas" in battles, and Pokémon are trying their best to support Ash, it's not enough.
By contrast, Paul is a special training ace, and after joining Team Rocket he's worked even harder, with Dawn, Gladion, and others often training together.
Paul's strength and battle experience have exploded.
But this problem isn't big; it can be trained out.
"..."
Paul glances at Ash, recalls Buzzwole, and watches the Buzzwole Poké Ball fall into thought.
The battle was won; it's not surprising. From the moment Drapion beat Dragonite, Paul had already determined he wouldn't lose this full‑team battle.
Because if it were him in that position, a Dragonite with that kind of strength wouldn't be beaten by Drapion, which would indicate the opponent had misread.
But the key is that many of the battle's "specials" left Paul puzzled.
For instance, what looked like a guaranteed attack by him was dodged by the opponent; the opponent's Pokémon's status should have fallen, yet they stayed standing.
A prime example is Pikachu; with Pikachu's defensive stamina, it should have fallen to Buzzwole's attack.
Yet something felt off.
Paul recalls that Pikachu during a prior battle with Honchkrow had taken a Dark Pulse; the first time facing Buzzwole it took a Lunge.
Second time Buzzwole took two Brick Breaks, one Lunge grazing, and a Rock Slide grazing, and finally with a Hammer Arm it fell.
That's not scientifically logical!
Normally, the second Brick Break should have beaten Pikachu, but this Pikachu kept battling, and finally swapped Buzzwole out.
Especially the Thunder power would have knocked Paul off his guard.
How did this Pikachu train like this?
Is this Pikachu legit?
As a master of special training, Paul frowns, suspecting that Ash might have forced Pikachu to endure punishment as part of abusive-style training.
Otherwise, there's no explanation for how Pikachu can take such hits.
Surely not because of Ash's silly shouts in battles like "Hang in there, Pikachu" or "Stand up, Pikachu."
Something's off about this person, and something's off about the Pokémon too.
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