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In the open space near the Cerulean Gym, Ash began practicing with his Pokémon team.
During their time in Celadon City, Charizard had accidentally been forced to evolve and had learned to use Dragon Claw as a result.
The recent training session was coming to an end for now. Venusaur had successfully consolidated its power after evolving and had also learned the ultimate move Solar Beam during that time.
However, the Solar Beam move was still more challenging than other attacks. Venusaur hadn't yet reached the level of strength where it could quickly absorb sunlight for the attack.
As its power increased, the speed at which Venusaur could absorb sunlight would naturally improve, thus making Solar Beam faster to execute.
But the current Venusaur still needed practice. Even when it reached that level of ability, conditions like cloudy skies, rain, snow, or nighttime would still affect Solar Beam's effectiveness.
Actually, Solar Beam could be used even at night. The sun at night was simply blocked by the Earth's rotation - it didn't mean the sun had disappeared completely.
It was just that under those conditions, Solar Beam absorbed sunlight much more slowly. So the next move Ash wanted Venusaur to learn wasn't a powerful attack move.
Instead, it was a support move called Sunny Day, which was a technique that could control the weather.
Venusaur could make the weather sunny and hot within the range of its abilities. Interestingly, this was actually classified as a Fire-type move.
But even though it was a Fire-type technique, Venusaur could definitely learn it. Not only Grass-types, but some Ice-type and Water-type Pokémon could also master this move.
Sunny Day was a standard weather team move in competitive battling. Its effect was to boost the power of Fire-type moves while reducing the power of Water-type attacks.
However, it had a particularly useful effect on Solar Beam. If the weather was already sunny and Venusaur used Sunny Day, the sunlight would become even more intense.
Then the speed of charging Solar Beam would become much faster. If it was cloudy or rainy, the weather could return to normal sunny conditions.
This was crucial because Solar Beam's charging speed would slow down significantly in harsh weather conditions.
Not only Solar Beam, but also the Synthesis move's effectiveness could be greatly improved under sunny conditions, so practicing Sunny Day was now essential.
As for the other Pokémon, Pikachu's current moveset was sufficient, and Charizard was in a similar situation. Simply improving their strength through training was enough for now.
The Roost move that Ash had wanted Pidgeotto to practice last time still hadn't been mastered yet, so it would continue with that training.
After Scizor had evolved, it learned Bullet Punch and Metal Claw, both of which were Steel-type moves that expanded the techniques available in its new form.
Neither of these moves were particularly powerful in terms of base power, but in reality, the strength of physical attacks actually depended on how well the Pokémon had trained its body.
The stronger a Pokémon was physically, the more powerful its physical attacks would naturally become. It was like comparing a child's punch to an adult's - the adult would always hit with greater force. It was impossible for both to punch with the same power.
Scizor's current physical strength was impressive, and its ability was Technician, which could increase the power of moves like Bullet Punch and Metal Claw that had lower base power than moves like Cross Chop.
Moreover, Bullet Punch was a priority move, just like Quick Attack. When launching Bullet Punch, even though Scizor's overall speed wasn't the fastest, its punching speed was definitely on par with Quick Attack.
This largely compensated for Scizor's weakness in short-distance movement speed, while Metal Claw was a move that had a chance to boost the user's attack power each time it was used.
Venusaur and Pidgeotto quietly went off to practice their new moves. Pidgeotto could conveniently practice Roost while perched on Venusaur's back, and Venusaur wasn't bothered by the extra weight.
However, there was some tension developing on the other side between Scizor and Charizard.
After Charizard emerged from its Poké Ball, it was just trying to relax when it felt hostile eyes watching it.
When it looked around to see what was happening, it spotted Scizor staring at it with eyes full of challenge. The newly evolved Pokémon was brimming with energy and confidence.
This was especially true when facing a rival. Both Pokémon remembered that they had battled before either had evolved. Back then, Scyther had lost that battle and was subsequently caught by Ash.
Now that both had evolved, both had grown significantly stronger. The instinctive recognition between powerful beings made them aware of each other's formidable presence, and this naturally sparked their fighting spirit.
"Sciz!"
Scizor pointed at Charizard with one of its large pincers. The challenge in its movements and eyes was unmistakable - it was clearly calling Charizard out for a battle.
"Char!"
Charizard looked at Scizor and narrowed its eyes, exhaling a burst of hot air from its nostrils in response.
Charizard always got excited when it encountered powerful opponents. Even in the original adventures when it wouldn't always obey Ash's commands, it would immediately become motivated whenever it saw a rival worth fighting.
"ROAAAR!"
Charizard growled deeply and slowly turned to face Scizor directly. The two immediately began their standoff, with sparks of rivalry literally appearing in their eyes.
"Oh... I really can't do anything with you two! If you want to fight, then fight! But don't get too carried away. This is someone else's property."
Ash felt helpless when he saw this scene developing. It seemed like these two were determined to battle, and he didn't know how to stop them. If he tried to prevent the fight, they might become frustrated and resentful.
However, Ash still wanted to give them some guidelines and didn't want them to fight recklessly. After all, this was the Cerulean Gym. Even if Misty and the others wouldn't mind, he would feel guilty about any damage.
"ROAAR!"
"SCIZ!"
After hearing Ash's words, both Pokémon responded enthusiastically. With Ash's permission, both became visibly excited. Venusaur and Pidgeotto couldn't help but stop their training to watch the upcoming battle.
It was obvious that whether you were human or Pokémon, watching an exciting battle was irresistible.
"Alright then, let's begin! Stop when I tell you to stop!" Ash said, looking at both of them.
But he didn't intend to interfere with commands. After all, they were both his Pokémon, so he'd let them battle as they wanted.
It wouldn't be fair if he joined in to give tactical advice to one side. After listening to Ash's words, both Pokémon nodded in understanding.
"SCIZ!"
As soon as the words were spoken, Scizor took the initiative and launched the first attack, rushing forward directly with its body gleaming with silver light.
But as its body shot forward, the red coloring on its exoskeleton seemed to glow with an even brighter crimson against the metallic silver sheen.