Meganium let out a pained cry as it was sent flying backward, carving a deep trench across the ground.
Seeing that Meganium still hadn't lost the ability to battle, Heracross immediately followed up with Pin Missile.
Its horn began vibrating at high speed, and dozens of metallic, needle-like spikes rained down in a torrent!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Before Meganium could even recover from the previous blow, it was peppered full of spikes like a pincushion.
Its heavy body crashed to the ground with a boom, kicking up a ring of dust...
Meganium was unable to battle.
"Meganium is unable to battle. Gym Leader Erika, please send out your next Pokémon."
The referee announced the result.
Erika: "..."
She had known that a Guts-activated Heracross would be strong.
But taking down Meganium in just a few moves...
"Sigh..."
Feeling the gap between the two Pokémon, Erika couldn't help but let out a sigh.
The difference was just way too huge!
Meganium had only managed to use Razor Leaf and Weather Ball, and set up Sunny Day. Other than that, it hadn't done anything before Heracross defeated it.
And Heracross?
It had tanked a Fire-type Weather Ball head-on and looked completely fine.
That only made Erika feel that Grey was becoming even more unfathomable.
Heracross wasn't even on his main team, yet it still had this kind of strength...
Could it be that Heracross was about to sweep her whole team next?
No, please don't let that happen!
Just thinking about getting completely swept three-to-zero without even seeing Grey's later Pokémon made Erika feel like her future was pitch-black.
"Gym Leader Erika, are you wondering what my next two Pokémon are?"
Seeing the regretful look on Erika's face, Grey couldn't help asking.
"Hm? Is that really okay?"
Erika blinked.
That was personal battle information. Was Grey really willing to just tell her?
"It's no big deal. The other two I brought are Machamp and Blaziken. Gym Leader Erika, which one would you like to battle?"
Grey didn't seem to care at all and directly revealed the Pokémon he had prepared for this battle.
Erika: "..."
That somehow made it worse!
Grey had completely broken her brain.
Why would you even think about sending out Blaziken against me?
Using an Elite Four-level Pokémon against a top Gym-level Pokémon... only Grey would come up with something like that!
Now her future really did look pitch-black.
"Ahem, I'm just giving it my all. In that battle against Misty earlier, I was even thinking about using Annihilape."
Grey noticed what Erika wanted to say and gave a brief explanation.
Unless he was battling a trainer at Elite Four level or above, Grey usually used a 2+1 lineup: two non-main-team Pokémon and one main-team Pokémon.
One safety net, plus two to train up.
Then he would decide whether to switch depending on the situation.
Against someone like Erika, it was probably necessary to switch Heracross out after defeating the second Pokémon and let Machamp handle the rest.
"Gym Leader Grey is really amazing. He's caught so many Pokémon, but every single one of them is incredibly strong."
Watching Grey battle from outside the field, Ash couldn't help sighing in admiration.
He had heard from Gary about which Pokémon made up Grey's main team.
And he also knew which Pokémon were at the dojo.
Heracross clearly wasn't part of the main team.
And yet even under those circumstances, Heracross could still burst out with this kind of power.
Ash couldn't help marveling at how incredible Grey was at raising Pokémon.
Aside from guys like Red and Blue, there probably weren't many trainers out there who could compare with Grey in that area.
At least among all the trainers Ash knew, those three were like they were cheating. Each one was unbelievably good at raising Pokémon.
Right now, Grey even gave off the feeling of someone who was starting to overtake the others.
He really was that strong.
"Exactly. Gym Leader Grey is already on par with top-tier Pokémon breeders when it comes to raising Pokémon. Even I have to admit I fall short."
Brock, standing beside Ash, sighed in the same way.
He himself was currently working toward becoming a top-tier breeder, and after seeing the Heracross Grey had raised, he felt he still had a lot of room to improve.
There was always someone better.
He had never expected that Grey, whose main job was being a Gym Leader and whose side job was streaming, could still raise such a huge number of Pokémon this well...
Then again, maybe that did make sense.
A Gym Leader had to deal with all kinds of trainers.
So naturally, they had to raise a lot of Pokémon too.
Under those circumstances, most Gym Leaders were actually pretty good at raising Pokémon.
It was just that someone like Grey was extremely rare.
At least among all the Gym Leaders Brock knew, there really wasn't anyone like Grey—someone this young and this good at raising Pokémon.
"Meganium, you did well. Thank you for your hard work."
Erika recalled Meganium.
It had managed to damage Heracross and successfully set up Sunny Day. Meganium had already done very well.
Next...
"Victreebel, I'm counting on you!"
Erika's second Pokémon was Victreebel, a Grass/Poison-type.
Come to think of it, a lot of Kanto's Grass-type Pokémon were Grass/Poison.
Venusaur, Victreebel, and Vileplume all shared that typing.
Looking at the Pokémon that resembled a pitcher plant, Grey glanced at its status panel as well.
[Pokémon: Victreebel]
[Type: Grass/Poison]
[Level: 55]
[Ability: Chlorophyll]
[Moves: Omitted.]
A Victreebel with Chlorophyll.
There was no need to think too hard to figure out what Erika was trying to do.
A sun team.
With the Chlorophyll Ability, Victreebel's Speed doubled in sunny weather.
In other words, Victreebel was now extremely agile!
Grey had no choice but to focus and see what Erika and her Victreebel were planning to pull off.
"Heracross, Aerial Ace!"
This time, Grey wasn't going to give Erika much of a chance.
The instant the second round officially began, he shouted the order.
A sky-blue aura burst around Heracross, and its body gradually blurred until it was hard to make out.
"Just a petty trick. Victreebel, Solar Beam!"
With Sunny Day on the field, Solar Beam could be fired instantly, without needing to charge first.
As for being overpowered?
Erika felt that since Heracross was using Aerial Ace, a move without same-type attack bonus, it wouldn't be like that earlier Megahorn. It might not be able to break through Victreebel's Solar Beam outright.
She admitted there was an element of gambling in this.
But in a situation like this, she had to gamble.
She had to bet on carving out a bright path forward!
In an instant, Victreebel's leaf-like arms folded together like it was praying, then formed a bowl shape above its head.
The blazing sun overhead seemed to answer the call, and a tightly concentrated beam of light pierced through the sky and gathered into a dazzling sphere in its grasp!
Bzzzt!
The hum of fully gathered energy had only just sounded when Heracross's Aerial Ace was already right in front of it.
Victreebel remained calm and pushed both arms forward!
Boom!!!
The ball of light transformed into a Solar Beam two meters wide and came crashing down, golden sunlight instantly swallowing Heracross's figure whole.
Cracks spread across the ground at once.
This Grass-type finishing move, launched after Heracross yet arriving first, perfectly embodied the idea of overcoming motion with stillness.
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