"Screech--!"
An ear-splitting sound ripped through the arena, so sharp and shrill that Misty, Aya, and the others instinctively covered their ears.
The defensive barrier could block energy, but it couldn't block sound. The piercing shriek drilled straight into their skulls, making their hearts pound and their skin crawl.
Even Koga winced and clutched at his ears. Screech was indiscriminate, apart from the user, everyone who heard it felt that same stinging irritation, that painful buzz deep inside their heads.
And woven into that noise was Supersonic, its disorienting power hidden within the sonic wave.
To withstand that combination, you either had to interrupt it before it was unleashed, or somehow shut off all hearing completely.
Otherwise, confusion was inevitable, and once confused, with lowered defenses, the result was devastating.
Yet Ash didn't seem to care at all.
"Growth," he said calmly.
Growth? In the middle of a sound-based combo attack?
The green Pokémon's body flared with light, swelling slightly as raw power surged through him. The move boosted both his Attack and Special Attack by one stage, and under Sunny Day, that increase doubled instantly.
Bulbasaur grew visibly larger, his body humming with strength.
But then the sharp waves struck him head-on. His face twisted in pain, his eyes swirled, his consciousness slipping. He was clearly in a confused state, staggering in place.
"Excellent!" Koga's eyes lit up. "Crobat—, Brave Bird!"
With both Screech and Supersonic landing, Bulbasaur's defenses were down two stages and his mind clouded.
This was the perfect moment.
Crobat was at its best with physical moves, and if this hit, the impact would far surpass the earlier Air Slash.
But just as Koga's order rang out, Ash shook his head, his expression calm, his tone steady:
"Maximum power, Frenzy Plant."
Koga froze.
Frenzy Plant?
That was a move only fully evolved Grass-type starters could use!
Even if this Bulbasaur somehow knew the move, it shouldn't have been able to use it, certainly not in its current state, confused and dizzy.
And even if it did, the charge-up would be far too slow.
That's what Koga thought.
Until the entire arena began to shake.
At first it was a faint tremor, then a violent quake, as if something massive and ancient was waking beneath the earth.
Then;
CRACK!
The ground split open.
From the fissures, countless colossal roots erupted, thick as tree trunks, surging skyward like enraged serpents bursting free of the soil.
In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was swallowed by a forest of living vines.
The defensive barrier that had just been re-established shattered like glass beneath the onslaught.
Ash frowned slightly. Lifting his arm, his hand glowed with a pale blue light, Aura pulsing outward.
A new azure barrier instantly formed, enclosing the field and shielding the spectators from the cataclysm.
Crobat, streaking downward like a meteor, had no time to react.
By the time it saw the writhing mass of roots below, it was already too late.
BOOM!
The vines converged from every direction, wrapping around the bat Pokémon in a blur of motion.
The impact thundered through the gym, muffled only by the thick blanket of vegetation.
The enormous roots twisted and constricted, the living wood groaning as Crobat's muffled cry echoed from within, and then faded.
Silence.
The vines stopped moving.
Not just them, everyone stopped.
Misty, Brock, and Aya stared wordlessly. The audience before their televisions froze mid-motion.
People eating dropped their bowls and chopsticks; pedestrians walked straight into lamp posts without noticing; even those lounging on couches slumped over, eyes blank.
The earlier matches had been shocking.
But this....this defied all reason.
Koga stood rooted in place, dazed, his eyes vacant.
If not for sheer pride as a Champion-class Trainer holding him upright, he might've collapsed outright.
Even so, his limbs felt numb, cold.
'What… what kind of battle is this?'
In the first two fights, at least he had some control.
His opponents had been quick, too quick to land a clean hit, but at least he'd been able to claim tactical superiority.
If even one of those earlier attacks had connected, he could've won. That was what he'd told himself.
But this time?
This was his ace Pokémon, his fastest, strongest partner.
Under multiple boosts, his Crobat's speed was unmatched, even most Champion-level Pokémon couldn't keep up.
Victory should've been guaranteed.
And yet, he'd been annihilated.
Air Slash had done nothing.
Then, after finally stacking multiple boosts and executing his perfect combo, he was the one who got one-shot.
How could he explain this?
Was this really a Gym battle, or a nightmare?
Even facing another Champion, he wouldn't have been crushed this badly.
The Bulbasaur standing across from him wasn't just strong, it was abnormal, a contradiction in the form of a Pokémon.
If Koga had to put it into words, there was only one answer left in his mind.
That's not a Bulbasaur. That's a Legendary Pokémon wearing a Bulbasaur's skin.
Mew, maybe, some mythical creature disguised as a starter Pokémon.
How else could this make sense?
Koga's thoughts spiraled out of control, logic slipping away. If he lost his mind after this battle, no one could really blame him. Ninety-nine percent of the fault would lie with that terrifying little creature in front of him.
At last, Ash raised his hand.
"That's enough, Bulbasaur."
The towering vines and roots receded, withdrawing back into the earth until the arena floor was visible once more.
And there lay Crobat, motionless, unconscious, its body unmarked but its spirit utterly broken.
Even without visible wounds, everyone knew the pain it had endured inside that writhing cage of roots.
A murmur swept through the stunned audience:
"But Grass-type moves are four times resisted by Crobat..."
That meant a Grass-type move, which should have dealt only one-fourth damage, had instantly one-shot a Crobat!
One move. Truly, just one move!
Anyone with even the most basic understanding of Trainer combat would instinctively call that impossible.
How enormous must the gap in power be for a Pokémon with quadruple resistance to be defeated in a single strike?
Crobat's level was at the peak of Champion tier.
To obliterate it in one hit… would require at least a high-level Champion, maybe even beyond that.
That Bulbasaur… a high-level Champion?
Impossible. Ridiculous. Unreal.
Oak's Laboratory
Professor Oak and all of Ash's Pokémon were frozen in shock as they watched the live broadcast. Even though the camera angles didn't capture every corner of the arena, what they could see was enough.
That final Frenzy Plant was utterly beyond comprehension.
The League's energy barrier, built to withstand even full-force Gym battles, had been torn apart like paper.
If not for that sudden blue Aura barrier that appeared to contain the blast, every camera and recording device on site would've been vaporized.
It was hard to believe that such overwhelming power came from that small, unassuming Bulbasaur.
Did this… even align with Pokémon biology?
For the first time in his life, Professor Oak began to doubt his own research.
All the years he'd spent studying Pokémon behavior and potential suddenly felt meaningless, because none of his theories could explain Ash's Pokémon.
Charizard. Pikachu. Gengar. And now… Bulbasaur.
Each one completely broke the framework of conventional understanding.
As the vines of Frenzy Plant withdrew, the broadcast once again showed the devastated battlefield.
Professor Oak sighed heavily, eyes still fixed on the screen.
"Ash, you're really stealing the spotlight now.If you're still planning to challenge the Viridian Gym next…"
He leaned back in his chair, muttering to himself,
"I'll have to give that old man a warning."
His gaze was still on the TV, but his thoughts were already elsewhere.
Johto Region- Blackthorn Gym
Inside the gym's grand hall, two figures watched the same broadcast on a wall-mounted television.
One was a tall man with fiery red hair, his long cloak trimmed with gold.
The other was a woman with flowing blue hair, dressed in similar garb.
The man was Lance, Kanto's strongest Elite Four member, and Johto's reigning Champion. Known to all as the Dragon Master, the invincible Lance.
The woman beside him was his cousin, Clair, the Gym Leader of Blackthorn City.
Lance had come today simply to check on Clair's progress, but as fate would have it, the news caught their attention:
A rookie Trainer from Kanto was challenging a prospective Johto Elite, and the battles had reached Champion-level intensity.
Naturally, with Johto's reputation involved, both decided to see who this overconfident upstart was.
Lance already knew of Koga's dual role, the Fuchsia Gym Leader and the Johto Elite-in-training. For a newcomer to challenge that man's main team? It sounded laughable.
But by the end of the third battle, the normally composed Lance had exclaimed aloud several times.
Clair's reactions were even more dramatic, a constant string of gasps and disbelief.
None of the three matches could be described as normal.
Especially the last one, it was a battle that seemed to defy the very laws of the Pokémon world.
"Cousin… what's the level of that Bulbasaur?" Clair finally asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Lance narrowed his eyes at the screen, his tone calm but heavy.
"Champion Peak, and not just ordinary Champion Peak. Among the very top of that tier.
It could go toe-to-toe with Leon's Charizard."
In one sentence, Lance revealed the truth that only a handful of Trainers in the entire world could perceive.
Even without being physically present, a top-ranked Champion like Lance could feel it, the pressure, the energy, the raw instinctive dominance radiating from that little Bulbasaur.
Even Koga, standing there on the battlefield, couldn't see it clearly.All he knew was that the opponent before him had annihilated his Crobat with a single strike.
To him, that was terrifying enough.
But Lance could directly determine its level.
Champion peak…? Can a Bulbasaur even be trained to Champion peak? Isn't that Trainer, Ash, supposed to be a rookie?" Clair's voice rose in astonishment, her words thick with disbelief.
It was already extraordinary enough for a rookie Trainer to own a Champion-tier Pokémon.
But for that Pokémon to be an unevolved Bulbasaur? That was beyond impossible.
Could there really be someone in this world who could raise an unevolved Pokémon to such terrifying heights?
People often said that bonds between Trainer and Pokémon could create miracles, that true understanding could break through talent limits and level caps.
But in reality, miracles are called miracles because they're rare.Training a Pokémon without evolution to increase in strength is exponentially harder. Evolution isn't just a visual change, it's a transformation of physiology and energy flow itself.
Those who refuse evolution and still climb high must pour in hundreds of times the effort, faith, and training that an ordinary Trainer would.
But to reach Champion peak in base form… that was nearly unthinkable.
Lance slowly shook his head.
"That Bulbasaur isn't truly Champion peak," he said evenly."Didn't you see its actual level? Or rather, you did see it, you just don't want to admit it."
Clair blinked, realization dawning.
"That's right… its level was Advance. Meaning that Bulbasaur is still technically Advanced rank, but it's forcibly raised its power to Champion level strength."
She stared at the screen, eyes wide.
"That kind of strength amplification… it's even more terrifying than if the Bulbasaur were naturally Champion level. I don't know how that Trainer did it, but if someone with bad intentions figures it out, he'll be in danger."
Lance nodded slightly, his expression calm but his tone carrying a trace of genuine admiration.
"Even if that power-up came through special means… being able to raise strength to that extent without breaking the Pokémon's body, that's far more impressive than natural growth."
He folded his arms, eyes narrowing thoughtfully at the screen.
"The foundation of a Pokémon's strength is its six core stats.Leveling up is merely a means to raise those six attributes, Attack, Defense, Speed, and so on.
Imagine this: an Elite-level Pokémon with a combined stat total of five hundred.
If a Superior-level Pokémon somehow achieves that same stat total, then by all practical standards, it is Elite level."
"And if it pushes those stats to six hundred or seven hundred… it becomes untouchable at its level."
That, Lance explained, was why the world's top Trainers no longer obsessed over simple level progression.
After a certain point, battles became contests of how efficiently one could train those six attributes beyond normal limits.
Ash's method, whatever it was, allowed his Pokémon to skyrocket their stats without leveling up.
Such a technique, if discovered, would spark chaos across the Trainer world.
"That's why," Lance added, his tone darkening, "this isn't entirely good news for him. Something like this… would draw too many eyes."
However, on the other hand, not every Trainer's eyesight can reach his level. So, ordinary people probably wouldn't notice, and this live broadcast isn't watched by everyone, so Ash's method of enhancing Pokémon should not be widely known.