Hammerlocke Stadium.
As Pikachu and Zeraora clashed in midair, showing no sign of stopping,
Announcer Miller brought up their history again.
"As everyone knows, Mr. Li Wei and Ash faced each other roughly two years ago."
"And now Mr. Li Wei is also Ash's teacher..."
"What a wonderful matchup!"
Pikachu was unusually fired up today,
truly in full-power mode.
A slacking Pikachu would never have kept up with Zeraora.
Li Wei could more or less guess why.
After all, losing to Li Wei back then had been pretty frustrating.
The gap in their strength had simply been too great.
"They're too fast!"
Announcer Miller exclaimed,
"It's almost impossible to follow their movements with the naked eye!"
"Is Ash about to pull off another miracle?"
Winona watched the high-speed replay intently.
"Zeraora has a slight edge in speed, but Pikachu changes direction more nimbly."
After several probing exchanges, the two pulled apart.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"
Pikachu spun in midair, a cold gleam flashing across that steel tail as it swept toward Zeraora.
Li Wei remained unhurried.
"Plasma Fists. Block it."
Blue-white electricity instantly coiled around Zeraora's right fist. Without dodging, Zeraora slammed a punch into the incoming Iron Tail!
Zeraora clearly had the advantage in strength.
The punch knocked Pikachu back, but Pikachu deftly adjusted in midair and landed lightly.
Because of Zeraora's Ability, Pikachu really only had two usable moves: Quick Attack and Iron Tail.
Electroweb wasn't entirely unusable.
But at most, it could restrict Zeraora's movements,
not deal any damage.
"Now!"
Ash pressed his Z-Ring, and the Steelium Z crystal set into it erupted with dazzling silver-gray light.
"Teacher Li Wei, take our full-power strike!"
His body moved to the rhythm of the Z-Move, perfectly in sync with Pikachu, as silver light surged around him.
"Corkscrew Crash!!"
Steel-type