Seeing that things were going badly, Ash decisively took out a Poké Ball and recalled his Pokémon before Noctowl fell.
Perhaps Ash had never expected the first round of exchanges to turn out like this before the match, but fortunately, he was now experienced enough that a temporary setback did not cause any major emotional upheaval.
After recalling Noctowl, he sent out Donphan, intending to defeat Shuckle head-on.
Clearly, though, even switching in Donphan failed to inflict any effective damage on Shuckle.
In fact, everyone could see why he had sent Donphan out.
He wanted to pit Donphan's Rollout against Shuckle's Gyro Ball.
But with the swap from Power Trick, Shuckle's Attack was extremely high, which naturally affected the power of Gyro Ball directly. After the two Pokémon collided, it was instead Ash's Donphan that lost its footing and toppled to the ground.
Seeing that his attack was ineffective, Ash once again decisively recalled Donphan.
The situation was looking very bad now.
Although neither of his first two Pokémon had fallen, both had sustained varying degrees of injury without causing Shuckle any trouble, leaving Ash in a very difficult position.
Watching this, Dawn, May, and Brock, who were also in the Rest Room, could not help worrying about Ash.
Was this guy... going to be eliminated right in the Round of 16?
Dawn frowned slightly and looked at Xia You. "Xia You, do you think Ash might..."
"Don't worry." Xia You shook his head. "A temporary predicament doesn't mean anything. Don't forget, Ash is the type who performs even better when his back is against the wall!"
His words put them somewhat at ease, and they turned their attention back to the Battle Arena.
After recalling Donphan, Ash sent out his Gible.
Compared with the two veterans he had caught