Seeing Ash and Terrance run off to battle, Brock, Misty, and Fujiki remained unmoved, but Albus looked on eagerly with anticipation as well.
However, before Albus could pass the Champion League, Terrance had no intention of battling him. After making some excuse, things developed exactly as Terrance expected, turning into a battle between Ash and Albus instead.
But Ash and Albus’s battle would have to wait until after Terrance and Ash finished their battle.
“Ash, how about we have a Double Battle this time?”
“A Double Battle? What’s that?” Ash froze for a moment.
“It’s a battle format where both of us send out two Pokémon at the same time and command them together. Interested?”
As soon as Terrance finished speaking, Ash’s eyes lit up. As long as he found it interesting, he naturally had no objections.
“Before the battle starts, let me explain the rules. The battle ends when both Pokémon on one side lose the ability to fight. During the battle, any methods can be used, including Aura power.” Terrance smiled faintly.
“No problem.” Ash nodded.
“In that case, I’ll be the referee…” Seeing that no one else volunteered, Brock, who had long served as the referee for Ash’s roadside battles, immediately spoke up.
After tidying up a bit and finding a public battle field, Terrance and Ash directly took their positions opposite each other. Without hesitation, Terrance was the first to throw a Poké Ball.
Togepi and Froakie immediately appeared on the battlefield in flashes of light.
Seeing Togepi and Froakie enter the field, Ash quickly pulled out his Pokédex to search for information.
“It’s Togepi!” Upon seeing Togepi, the Togepi Misty was holding immediately revealed a delighted expression, waving its little hands and cheering happily.
“But aside from Togepi, what’s that other Pokémon?”
Ash faced the same confusion. He naturally recognized Togepi, but he knew absolutely nothing about Froakie.
“Even though I don’t recognize it, judging from its appearance, it should be a Water Type Pokémon. In that case…”
“Go! Snorlax, Pikachu!!”
Facing Togepi and Froakie, Ash threw out a Poké Ball. A well-developed Snorlax immediately stood on the battlefield, and right afterward, Pikachu jumped down from Ash’s shoulder and arrived beside Snorlax.
“Double Battles place even greater demands on a Trainer’s command ability. They require extremely strict reactions and judgment. Facing an experienced Trainer like Terrance, Ash may end up in danger… Though ever since Ash obtained Aura power, and with Pikachu always able to turn the tide, he really has become too overconfident lately. Suffering a setback would be a good thing for him as well,” Brock observed with narrowed eyes, thinking to himself.
Facing Snorlax and Pikachu, Togepi and Froakie remained extremely calm. Half a year of cooperation had already made them the closest of comrades. However, because of their personalities, Togepi was vaguely the dominant side while Froakie was the submissive side. Whenever the two Pokémon acted together, Froakie always listened to Togepi’s commands.
After half a year of adjustment, they no longer rejected Terrance either. But unlike Altaria and the others, these two Pokémon had rather special experiences. Gaining their deeper trust and establishing an even stronger bond with them was not something that could be accomplished through simple nurturing and feeding alone.
As the battle began, Terrance looked toward Ash and revealed a smile. Without even waiting for an order, Togepi waved its finger on its own and quickly used Skill Swap, while Froakie struck a strange pose, forming a bridge between itself and Togepi. In the instant the two Pokémon exchanged glances, through the tactical combination of Skill Swap and Role Play, both of them became capable of using the ultra-rare Ability Protean.
The combination of Togepi’s Metronome and Super Luck Ability was extremely crucial. After half a year of practice, it had already memorized the brain stimulation point for “Skill Swap,” allowing it to quickly use a move it normally could not learn.
Aside from “Skill Swap,” over the past half year Togepi had also used this technique to master the two major moves Fire Pledge and Teleport. However, forcibly memorizing the natural frequency of three moves was already the limit of Togepi’s brain. Terrance and Rotom Pokédex had conducted tests—if Togepi forcibly memorized the natural frequency of more than three moves, its brain would become overloaded, causing irreversible harmful effects to its body.
The mechanism behind Metronome was to stimulate the brain into forcibly using moves. At its core, it was also a special method of energy conversion. Ordinary Pokémon simply could not endure the violent reactions caused when Metronome stimulated the brain, which was why Pokémon would randomly use moves they themselves did not even know, leaving everything to fate. But this Evil Togepi possessed astonishing talent, and after tempering itself within Mismagius’s illusions, its willpower had advanced by leaps and bounds. Through deliberate training, it had actually become capable of controlling the operation of Metronome!
Mastering Skill Swap, Teleport, and Fire Pledge had consumed most of Togepi’s energy over the past half year. It might seem not worth it, but Terrance was also planning for the future. With the assistance of the Super Luck Ability, as long as one possessed strong willpower and psychic power, forcibly memorizing the fixed frequencies of certain moves was not difficult. Therefore, the chances of Togepi truly mastering these moves were actually very high.
This also meant that Togepi had hope of mastering moves it normally could not learn. Terrance had never heard of such a technique before, he might very well be its first discoverer.
At present, three moves were already the limit of Togepi’s brain memory, but after evolving twice, this technique held limitless possibilities. It could even potentially use Metronome to master certain techniques exclusive to Legendary Pokémon. From this perspective, the development of Togepi’s brain region was the highest priority. “Mastering legendary moves that should be impossible to learn” was the ultimate goal of this technique. The origin of this technique came from Togepi’s own exploration, which Terrance gradually perfected using the Sketch move of Pokémon like Smeargle as inspiration.
Over the past half year, this technique of Togepi’s had displayed tremendous potential, so Terrance planned to nurture Togepi from this angle in the future.
After obtaining the Protean Ability, Togepi and Froakie split into separate positions, with Froakie in front and Togepi behind. Looking at the still-unresponsive Snorlax and Pikachu, they instantly moved, changing the entire battlefield! As Togepi released flames and Froakie condensed streams of water, a rainbow gradually formed, stretching across the entire field.
The combo move of Water Pledge and Fire Pledge caused the battlefield to enter a Rainbow state.
While in the rainbow state, the chances of additional effects appearing when Togepi and Froakie used moves would greatly increase.
Seeing the skilled coordination between Togepi and Froakie, Ash failed to recognize even a single move and was still completely bewildered. Left with no choice, he gritted his teeth and shouted loudly, “Pikachu, Thunderbolt! Snorlax, Hyper Beam!”
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