♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝕪 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕪 (𝔸𝕞𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘) ♛

Chapter 26: PRELIMINARIES (2)

"Don't let up, shower it with [Pin Missile]!"

"Pi?!"

The copies of the yellow primed their stingers onto Pikachu and shot out a bombardment of needles. Like the firing of automatic rifles.

The bullets reached Pikachu, but not before the electric mouse swatted them away with his tail.

"Pikachu! Concentrate [Quick Attack] on [Iron Tail] to deflect them!"

"Pika Pika!"

An [Iron Tail] parried off the bullets with graceful speed, but there were too many to deflect even with [Quick Attack]. Some stray needles grazed the mouse, damaging the poor Pokémon.

'Think!' Ash thought to himself.

And Ash noticed his way out.

'Wait… Shadows!'

[Double Team] worked as a cloning technique, being able to force the battle into a battle of numbers. This was a move suitable to overwhelm its opponents.

However, its fatal flaw was its lack of shadow. Only the main body has a shadow.

Therefore, once one knew the trick, it becomes incredibly easy to counter for anyone with a clear head. A move that is overwhelmingly advantageous ONLY the first time it is used.

And Ash caught on.

"Pikachu! Third one on the top right!"

Ash had given Pikachu the command, but his mind raced through which move to use.

Time seemed to stop.

'[Thunderbolt] is useless since Beedrill's still firing [Pin Missiles], so that's out,' he reasoned, recalling how the needles acted as lightning rods.

'I've got one last move. Pikachu's already used [Thunderbolt], [Quick Attack], and [Iron Tail].'

The Preliminaries had the same rules as Gym Battles. 4 moves only.

However, if you used a fifth one, it is grounds for immediate disqualification unlike Gym Battles where the challenger would get 3 strikes instead.

That was the difference between Gym Battles and the Preliminaries.

This would become a battle of wits with each opponent forcing the other to show their cards.

If one was against the wrong opponent and had shown all their moves, a defeat was nearly guaranteed.

That was the situation Ash was in. He had been forced to reveal all of Pikachu's moveset to Akira, who had only revealed [Double Team], [Pin Missiles], and [X-Scissors].

With that, Ash began his process.

'Ranged, not Electric, useful for the entire match.'

Those were the criteria he had set.

'Find it,' he thought as he recalled every move Pikachu had learned.

'[Thunder]? Out.'

'[Shock Wave]? Definitely not.'

'[Discharge]? Stop thinking of Electric, idiot.'

'[Surf]? He needs a board to use that.'

'…I got it!'

All of that happened within a fraction of a second. And Ash called out Pikachu's fourth move.

"[Swift]!" he ordered, pointing at the real Beedrill.

Pikachu barely dodged X-Scissor.

"That was so close!" Shauna exclaimed in worry at the little mouse.

The hall was now filled with excited murmurs and cheers for the electric mouse's debut. Then gasps of shock echoed when a rain of needles fell onto Pikachu.