"Whoa! That's the most fired-up Buizel I've ever seen! Ash, looks like you've really trained this one well!"
Maylene's eyes lit up in surprise.
This Buizel, without a doubt, had the strongest fighting spirit she'd ever witnessed.
Lucario stood silently, observing the opponent.
"Lucario, open with Aura Sphere as a greeting!"
"Luuuu—caa!"
Maylene and Lucario moved in perfect sync.
A brilliant blue Aura Sphere burst forth like a comet.
"Aqua Jet! Then spin into Water Gun midair!"
Ash wasn't pulling any punches.
Neither was Maylene—her Lucario was fast, blindingly fast.
"Lucario, follow the Aura Sphere in and strike with Force Palm!"
Both sides—Buizel and Lucario—unleashed two moves each in the very first exchange!
Only Pokémon with exceptional reflexes could pull something like this off.
Everyone present—Paul, Reggie, Dawn, Anabel, even the Gym's assistants—held their breath, eyes glued to the battlefield.
And of course, Maylene and Ash themselves didn't look away for even a second.
BOOM!!!
The collision of attacks created a massive explosion, a shockwave blasting both Pokémon backward.
Steam clouded the entire field.
"Lucario, use this smokescreen—Sword Dance! And then, sense Buizel's aura—Fire twenty-two Aura Spheres!"
While executing Sword Dance, Lucario darted straight into the steam cloud, unleashing a barrage of Aura Spheres in rapid-fire succession.
But Buizel had already reacted—its tail slammed into the ground with a solid THUMP, launching itself high into the air just as the first sphere came screaming in!
Lucario looked up, shocked—Buizel was already airborne above him!
"So he's using aura to issue commands again… but I expected that. Lucario, Metal Sound!"
Maylene was confident—Buizel was in midair with nowhere to dodge!
Lucario let out a roar, and a piercing screech echoed from its mouth.
If Metal Sound hit, Buizel's special defense would plummet dramatically!
But Ash wouldn't walk into that trap so easily.
Maylene thought she'd anticipated Ash's strategy.
But she was walking right into his plan.
Buizel suddenly launched a Water Gun—not at Lucario, but at the arena wall!
Using the recoil, it twisted in midair, narrowly dodging the Metal Sound with stunning aerial agility!
The burst of water pushed Buizel's body into a dive—right in front of Lucario!
"Quick Attack!"
BAM!
The sound of impact echoed—Buizel slammed its Quick Attack right into Lucario's chest!
"Luuu—caa!!"
"Don't let up—Aqua Jet!"
"Lucario, Extreme Speed! Evade it!"
Ash grinned. "You're not getting away… Aqua Jet—Cyclone Mode!"
Aqua Jet: Cyclone Mode!
A self-created technique Ash had been developing recently—meant specifically to counter dodging moves like Extreme Speed or Agility.
The term "Cyclone Mode" might sound cool, but in practice, it was brutal.
It involved launching Aqua Jet while constantly repositioning, sealing off all potential escape routes for the enemy.
Sound simple? It wasn't.
To maintain Aqua Jet's full power while in constant motion required tremendous control.
Most Pokémon could barely aim while running, let alone while moving at that speed!
And only high-power moves like Aqua Jet or Thunderbolt could pull it off—lower-tier moves like Water Gun wouldn't do enough damage if spread out.
(Think of it like a reverse Counter Shield—where Counter Shield is about defense from above, Cyclone Mode is an offensive full-body spiral that surrounds and tracks the enemy. Once it makes contact, the move locks in—like radar-guided chaos.)
"It's here! Aqua Jet—Cyclone Mode! The move Ash's been working on lately!"
Dawn and Anabel knew exactly what they were seeing.
Paul's eyes gleamed—now this was worth studying.
What a move. An attack and defense rolled into one.
And Ash was just casually demonstrating it in front of him?
Paul thought this was something that could've been held back as a trump card.
If Ash had known what Paul was thinking, he'd have scoffed.
In the original timeline, he'd invented Counter Shield—and Paul had copied it.
But Cyclone Mode? It was a huge upgrade from Counter Shield—ten times harder to learn.
If Paul thought he could copy it, well… good luck getting his Pokémon to pull it off.
"Luu… LUCARIO!!"
Lucario tried to dodge with Extreme Speed, but it wasn't enough!
Their levels were too close—Lucario couldn't outrun Cyclone Mode.
Buizel locked onto its aura, Aqua Jet whipping through the air like a spiraling comet, relentlessly tracking and hammering Lucario!
"Lucario, use Foresight! Break the lock-on!"
Maylene's voice cracked. She was sweating.
She'd never seen anything like this.
Ash wasn't just strong—he was innovative.
Lucario's eyes flared blue with Foresight.
But it was too late.
The final Aqua Jet slammed straight into Lucario's head—its glowing eyes snapped shut from the blast!
"It's over! Finish it—Quick Attack!"
Quick Attack—Buizel's newest move.
Ash had made sure each of his Pokémon learned off-type skills to broaden their offensive options.
After all, this wasn't a game—there were no four-move limits in real battles.
One, two hits—Quick Attack, followed by Aqua Jet—Lucario couldn't hold on any longer.
It collapsed.
"Lucario is unable to battle! Buizel wins! Therefore, the victor of this Gym Battle is—Ash Ketchum!"
The Gym assistant referee made the call, but his eyes darted to Maylene immediately—clearly worried she'd take this loss to heart and consider quitting her position again.
But he needn't have worried.
Maylene may have lost—but only because her opponent was Ash.
Ash heard the System's familiar notification chime in his mind.
He used an 8x EXP Boost Card on Buizel.
Buizel had been at level 40—now it shot up to level 44.
It had less accumulated EXP compared to Grotle or Gligar, so its gains were smaller—but still impressive.
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