"Ash's other Pokémon are also very strong, so they should be able to hold their own too," Dawn said.
She didn't quite agree with what Gary had said. Since Dawn had watched Ash's Pokémon grow little by little, she didn't think his remaining Pokémon were unqualified to compete with Palmer.
"How could that possibly happen? My dad is invincible. Even if Ash beats me, there's no way he can beat my dad," Barry said. At this point, he was standing firmly on Gary's side, not believing Ash could win.
"What? Didn't you lose to Ash too? Why can't Ash beat Mr. Palmer?" Dawn shot back.
"Why don't we bet on it, then? Let's say one million?" Barry asked.
Dawn: "...!"
The moment Dawn heard the word "bet," she went silent. Her family wasn't as wealthy as Barry's, and she couldn't just pull out a million to gamble like that.
And besides... Dawn was simply being stubborn. Deep down, she also felt Ash's chances of winning weren't very high.
Gary and Brock just smiled, treating it as if the two of them were just being kids.
At this point, the winner's reward match began. Johanna made the introduction: "The winner of the Battle Conference is... Ash, who came from Pallet Town in the Kanto region to challenge the Sinnoh League. Please give him a warm round of applause!"
Ash and Pikachu had already entered the trainer's box, soaking in the applause and encouragement from the crowd.
Johanna continued: "Now, before the battle begins, let's have Mr. Palmer say a few words to everyone."
Standing in the trainer's box, Palmer said, "Ash, take this match seriously and fight me."
"I'll show you my full strength too," Ash responded.
"That's the fighting spirit I like to see."
"Go, Rhyperior."
After receiving Ash's response, Palmer threw out his Poké Ball.
The Poké Ball opened, and a beam of white light landed on the ground.
Bang!
As the white light touched down, the ground cracked under the sheer weight of the Pokémon, and the towering Rhyperior appeared.
[Lv. 72 Rhyperior / Champion]
Seeing Rhyperior's level, Gary knew Ash was completely out of his depth.
Ash's highest-level Pokémon was Pikachu, still sitting at level 66—the same level it had been when it challenged the Battle Frontier before.
Given the earlier matchup, Ash had used Pikachu to secure the win. Even if Pikachu hadn't been hurt in the process, that performance had drained a lot of its stamina.
Although Pikachu was strong, it didn't have much stamina left and wasn't suited for a prolonged battle.
"Whoa... it's so huge!"
"Pika...!"
Ash and Pikachu were both stunned by the sheer size of the towering Rhyperior. They had seen a Rhyperior before, but Palmer's was even bigger than Gary's.
"It's here, it's here! Dad's Rhyperior!" Barry said, visibly excited to see it.
"My Rhyperior is like an iron wall to any Trainer who challenges the Battle Tower... but why don't you experience its power for yourself," Palmer introduced proudly.
Ash stared silently at the massive Rhyperior, thinking hard about how to deal with it. After a few seconds of silence, he made his decision.
"Since that's how it is, I'll send this guy out."
"Grotle, I choose you!"
[Lv. 40 Grotle / Elite]
Just like in the original storyline, Ash sent out Grotle.
Gary looked at the woodland Pokémon and sighed, thinking that Ash was lucky—the Grotle he'd caught had extremely high potential. The only downside was that it simply didn't like evolving. It was already level 40 and still hadn't evolved.
But since it wasn't holding an Everstone, it likely wouldn't take much longer before Grotle could no longer suppress the evolutionary energy building up inside its body.
"Now, the one-on-one match between Palmer and Ash will begin. The challenger will attack first. Let the battle begin."
As soon as the referee finished speaking, the battle between the two sides kicked off.
Ash took the initiative, and Grotle used Energy Ball.
Rhyperior didn't move at all, letting the Energy Ball hit it directly, acting as if nothing had happened.
Seeing this, Gary knew Palmer was being far too careless. Even with Grotle's low level, Grass-type moves dealt four times the damage to Rhyperior. Not to mention, Rhyperior's Special Defense was already low to begin with, and Energy Ball was a special attack.
Palmer was clearly just toying around. He had Rhyperior use Rock Polish to boost its speed, allowing it to dodge Grotle's Razor Leaf, then followed up with a Sandstorm that trapped Grotle inside, constantly battering it with flying gravel.
Rhyperior then used Rock Wrecker, driving Grotle's stamina down to rock bottom. Grotle fought back by using Synthesis to heal its wounds, then broke through the Sandstorm with Razor Leaf.
Seeing Grotle hold up under the assault, Palmer figured it was time to get a bit more serious. He had Rhyperior charge forward with Megahorn to knock Grotle out of the match.
Refusing to give up, Ash had Grotle counter with Energy Ball, but the energy took too long to condense.
Rhyperior arrived first. Its massive horn, glowing with sharp white light, slammed into the Energy Ball. The powerful impact reversed the ball's momentum, sending it flying straight back into Grotle's mouth.
Grotle ended up swallowing the Energy Ball whole. It didn't react right away, and no one knew what kind of strange energy reaction had occurred inside it, but somehow Grotle managed to absorb the energy from within its own body.
The ball's energy was absorbed, triggering an inexplicable, almost magical status.
"Hm? What is this?!"
Gary was genuinely shocked. He had completely forgotten this scene existed, but the move itself really was incredible.
At that moment, the two small trees on Grotle's back began radiating pure grass-type energy, pulsing like breathing. It looked almost like Overgrow had triggered, but not quite.
"This is truly amazing. Could it be that because the Energy Ball exploded inside its mouth, it ended up absorbing all that energy?" Johanna guessed.
"So does that mean you can just... eat an Energy Ball?"
"I never expected that taking a hit like that could lead to such an unexpected result."
"This has got to be some kind of coordination technique. Piplup, you need to study this hard."
Barry, Dawn, and Brock all voiced their own thoughts on what had just happened.
Gary was at a loss for words at Dawn's comment. This wasn't something you could just casually replicate by eating an attack. Grotle succeeding this time was purely an accident.
Because afterward, Ash's Grotle never used this move again, meaning it definitely wasn't something reliable in actual combat. Swallowing an attack like that was an especially dangerous thing to attempt—if it had damaged Grotle at its core, the consequences could have been serious.
"I've been a Frontier Brain for many years, but your strength has genuinely impressed me."
After saying that, Palmer immediately launched his next attack. "Let's finish this. Rock Wrecker!"
"Rhy!"
Rhyperior condensed rock energy between its palms, forming a devastating Rock Wrecker projectile.