"Pikachu, Quick Attack!"
Faced with Ash's classic head-on rush, Young Master Mao remained unfazed. "Milotic, Twister!"
Boom! The hurricane swept up the water, forming a fierce waterspout that surged toward Pikachu.
"Pika!" With no room left to dodge, Pikachu was knocked flying. Pikachu rolled twice across the ground before finally regaining footing.
"Pikachu, hang in there! Use Thunderbolt!" With one Revival Shout from Ash, Pikachu instantly sprang back to full health!
"Pika-chu!" Golden electricity danced wildly, and a bucket-thick bolt of lightning blasted straight at Milotic.
"Dragon Tail!" Young Master Mao defended cautiously.
"Milo!" Milotic's three-fanned tail blazed with blue-green draconic power and lashed out.
Crack! Dragon Tail shattered the lightning, and Ash ordered Pikachu to retreat again.
"This way of dealing with lightning... I remember it," Steven said, finding it familiar.
"That's right. My teacher, Master Juan, excels at countering lightning. Those moves from Young Master Mao had quite a touch of my teacher's style."
As everyone knew, the strongest Gym in the Hoenn Region was the Water-type Sootopolis Gym.
Juan excelled at pulling off thrilling maneuvers with elegant Water-type Pokémon. Using Water types to fight Electric types was the very essence of his tactics!
The most important part of that was the process of nullifying Electric-type moves.
"Come on. I can play along like this all day." Young Master Mao looked at Ash with ease.
Pikachu's stamina wasn't bottomless. If this dragged on much longer, Pikachu's speed and reflexes would gradually grow sluggish.
Ash knew that too, so he went all in. "Pikachu, Thunder, then Quick Attack!"
"Pika!" Pikachu shot forward, golden lightning trailing behind before gradually covering Pikachu's entire body, finally becoming a golden meteor that charged fearlessly at Milotic in the water!
"Tsk, tsk. You can already see the beginnings of Volt Tackle. Pikachu isn't far