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Chapter 50: Wattson Says Nothing, Just Keeps Using Thunderbolt
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 16:25:06 +0000 UTCAlthough Ludicolo has the Water-type, which should normally be weak to Electric attacks, his secondary Grass-type perfectly covers for this weakness.
With moves like Teeter Dance and Fake Out in his arsenal, he's clearly better suited as a lead Pokémon in this kind of battle compared to Grovyle.
No matter what situation arises, he can handle it flexibly.
As Ludicolo takes the field, the battle officially begins, entering the first turn.
Cynthia doesn't hesitate and immediately chooses Fake Out!
—When in doubt, lead with Fake Out. You can't go wrong.
Why pass up free damage?
Don't underestimate this slap - it doesn't just interrupt the opponent for one turn and deal some damage, it can also break through items like "Focus Sash."
And sometimes, that tiny bit of extra damage makes all the difference between victory and defeat!
As a qualified trainer, every detail in battle must be utilized and considered thoroughly to fight for victory with everything you've got.
But the next moment, as she inputs her command, golden electric sparks suddenly begin dancing across the battlefield beneath both Pokémon's feet, shrouding the entire field in crackling electricity.
A series of system notifications pop up one after another!
[Electric Terrain has risen from the ground!!]
[Electric-type moves have been powered up, and all Pokémon are now protected from falling asleep!!]
[Raichu's "Surge Surfer" ability activated - his Speed has been greatly boosted!]
[Raichu used Fake Out!!]
As Raichu swings his claws, a massive pair of claws formed from purple mist slams hard into Ludicolo, leaving him stunned in place!
[Ludicolo wanted to move, but flinched!]
—The very Pokémon who wanted to use Fake Out to interrupt his opponent ended up getting slapped senseless instead!
Watching the game screen, Cynthia's mind starts racing.
What the heck is Electric Terrain??
If it were weather, she could understand that.
But this so-called "terrain" - she's honestly never heard of it before.
This terrain effect looks somewhat similar to weather conditions, seemingly providing specific boosts for certain types.
But there's another point that's even more important - this Raichu in front of her is definitely not the kind of Raichu she remembers.
This "Surge Surfer" ability is completely unheard of.
So what exactly is going on here?
As Cynthia ponders, the chat is actually sharing her confusion.
[Can someone explain what Electric Terrain is? Damn, how does this old guy come with his own battlefield buff? That's totally cheating!]
[This Raichu looks so weird... and he's actually faster than Ludicolo??]
[Raichu was always fast, genius. Plus, didn't you see his ability doubled his speed?]
[Isn't this kinda like Ludicolo's ability? Is this like an Electric-type version of "Swift Swim"?]
Amid the discussion, Cynthia inputs her command for the second turn.
[Giga Drain]
Fake Out only knocked off some of Ludicolo's HP - no big deal.
The key now is figuring out this Raichu's moveset and how his stats differ from a regular Raichu!
As the second turn begins, the opposing Raichu naturally moves first, intense electricity gathering around his body and forming a powerful current that strikes straight at Ludicolo.
[Raichu used Thunderbolt!!]
[Raichu held "Magnet", boosted the power of his Electric-type move!]
In the crackling light, Ludicolo's HP bar rapidly drops to below half, beginning to flash dangerously yellow.
Immediately after, countless green light particles gather and flash around Ludicolo's body, striking back at Raichu.
This move only dealt about a third of Raichu's HP in damage, and the returning energy barely pulled Ludicolo's HP back above half.
Cynthia immediately makes her judgment and decisively chooses to quit the battle and restart.
The chat is instantly confused.
[Huh? Why'd she stop fighting?]
[That was a quick retreat.]
Taking advantage of the game restart, Cynthia speaks up:
"The goal of the first challenge is mainly to gather intel on the Gym Leader's lead Pokémon."
"From those two turns, we can see this Raichu has excellent Special Attack and Speed."
"At the same time, Ludicolo's Giga Drain didn't deal much damage, which proves one thing - he probably has pretty outstanding Special Defense too."
"But conversely, Physical Defense must be his weaker area, because it's hard for an ordinary Pokémon to excel in all six stats. The more outstanding the performance in certain areas, the weaker they tend to be in others."
Hearing Cynthia's explanation, everyone finally gets it.
[I see! As expected of a Champion - even playing a game is this professional.]
[You said ordinary Pokémon can't excel in all six stats, but what about that legendary Pokémon lying in the cave earlier? Could it manage that?]
[Don't know if that thing has perfect stats, but I can tell you one thing - once it wakes up, it could punch a hole straight through this Mauville Gym...]
[+1.]
As the audience discusses, the game successfully restarts, and Cynthia begins her challenge against Wattson again.
This time, she doesn't lead with Ludicolo, but sends out Stufful directly against that Raichu.
Since the opponent has outstanding Special Defense but weak Physical Defense, Stufful is obviously a pretty good choice.
Although Grovyle resists Electric-types, his Physical Attack is just too low. In comparison, Cynthia ultimately chose Stufful.
Plus, in this battle, the situation might be reversed from the rival battles - Grovyle, who resists Electric attacks, is actually the key unit whose condition needs to be preserved!
After Stufful enters the field, he naturally takes a Fake Out from Raichu, his HP bar dropping by one-fifth.
Cynthia isn't surprised by this and has him use "Focus Energy" directly.
But when the second turn begins...
Golden electricity surges around Raichu's body, suddenly blasting toward the opposing Stufful!
[Raichu used Thunderbolt!]
[Critical hit!!!]
—Before Stufful can even attack, he gets knocked out by this one move!!
Cynthia: ...
This critical hit mechanic... who came up with this setting?
It feels kinda anti-human, doesn't it?
Reluctantly, Cynthia has to restart the Gym battle once again.
However, the subsequent Gym challenge process remains far from smooth.
To sum it up in one sentence:
[Wattson says nothing, just keeps using Thunderbolt]
That Raichu kept spamming Thunderbolt, and the Manectric that came out next also kept using Thunderbolt!
In her most successful attempt, with only Grovyle left, Cynthia managed to see Wattson's third Pokémon: Magneton.
But then Grovyle got unlucky and was frozen by a "Tri Attack" that triggered the freeze effect...
After multiple failures, Cynthia has realized a serious problem:
Her Gym battle is so difficult, not just because the opponent has one more Pokémon than her, but because of that "Electric Terrain"!
Thunderbolt already has decent power and a chance to paralyze her Pokémon. Combined with the Electric Terrain's power boost, if her team doesn't have a Ground-type Pokémon, the opponent will keep recklessly attacking with Thunderbolt!
But based on her past experience, even if she catches a Ground-type Pokémon, Wattson probably has countermeasures to cover that weakness...
Cynthia can't help but feel a headache coming on.
The chat is also discussing this right now.
[Damn, this Gym is pretty tough - doesn't look easy to beat.]
[For real, this old guy looks all cheerful and friendly, but how does he turn into the Thunder King once battle starts??]
[I think this guy's different from every previous Gym Leader. His Pokémon don't have any strategy or synergy - just pure offense and raw stats...]
[Sometimes brute force breaks all techniques, I guess]
After the sixth battle restart, Cynthia doesn't continue challenging Wattson but walks straight out of the Gym.
After consecutive failures, she feels she needs to take a breather and think through her strategy properly.
Currently, she's got a rough idea of all three of the opponent's Pokémon configurations.
There's the special Raichu holding a Magnet with weak Physical Defense but outstanding in all other stats.
The Manectric is holding a "Sitrus Berry" for HP recovery with still amazing Special Attack.
And a Magneton that knows Steel-type moves with an unknown held item.
Plus one mysterious Pokémon that hasn't appeared yet...
After organizing the available clues, Cynthia plans to explore the nearby area first.
According to the update notes, there are large areas to explore both left and right of Mauville City.
Maybe she can add a new Pokémon to her team to counter Wattson.
Preferably... a Ground-type.
Though Wattson might have countermeasures, having a Ground-type is definitely better than not having one.
At least she won't get hit by Thunderbolt seven or eight turns in a row...
With this thought, Cynthia looks left and right.
The left side seems to have a small town - there should be more places to explore there?
So she heads toward the left side of Mauville City.
But she hasn't taken many steps before stopping in her tracks, raising an eyebrow slightly.
—A blooming garden appears before her eyes.
And in that garden, there's clearly a figure that looks like a little hedgehog.
That seems to be a Pokémon she's never seen before?
