Ash Ketchum with his faithful Pikachu on his shoulder, was on his way to the next gym, hoping to earn another badge & get closer to his dream of becoming a Pokemon master.
Suddenly, a mysterious figure emerges from the shadows, challenging Ash to a battle. Eyes ablaze with competitive spirit, Ash eagerly accepts, “I’m Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and I accept your challenge!”
"Pikachu, I choose you!"
Pikachu then jumped off his shoulder, ready to fight.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
[NARRATOR: Intelligence: Average normally, Extraordinary Genius in battle (While ordinarily a 10-year-old boy, Ash has shown his ingenuity in battles time and time again, creating complex strategies [such as having Pikachu stand on the ground with Iron Tail and move rapidly to generate shock waves from its sheer velocity to mitigate Bea's Hawlucha's Sky Attack] on the fly and admitting to having done no prior planning. His battle intelligence is such that a complex supercomputer exploded upon attempting to comprehend his battle data, having failed to do so). One of Ash's other abilities is that he can learn new things really fast as he picks it up right away, although there have been times that he needed to practice first before figuring it out. Also, during battle, Ash can come up with strategies easily as he would use the environment to his advantages or find a flaw in his opponent's strategies.]
Ash's battling tactics skill is versatility and unpredictability, while Ash can use type advantages against his opponents, he can turn a disadvantage into a comeback and overpower opponents by combining moves using his own moves in conjunction with the environment around him. Like having his Charizard melt the battlefield during his battle against Gary's Blastoise to trap it and creating the Counter Shield to counter Fantina's Ghost Pokémon. Ash can also turn his opponents own moves against themselves turning them into his own move like using Gladion's Lycanroc Counter to fuel his own Lycanroc's Counter or using Iris's Haxorus Dragon Pulse turning it into Dragonite's Draco Meteor. Ash also uses this skill when it comes to leadership, having people and Pokémon work together to protect each other, and overcome the problem
His connection with Pokémon is so great that he even sometimes displays the ability to share a connection with Mythical or Legendary Pokémon, such as Diancie or Mewtwo. This is because of Ash's compassion and his strong will power to protect them; instances of it were shown when Azelf chose to connect with Ash in the Diamond & Pearl series, Battle Dimension and Galactic Battles, and when Victini linked up with him in the movie Black/White Victini and Zekrom/Reshiram.
When Ash has a connection with Mythical or Legendary Pokémon, he can feel their pain, sense if they have been captured, and see their thoughts or memories. On the other side of the link, the Pokémon can appear to Ash in his dreams to ask him for help, show him impending danger, or as a way of asking him to do something for them, as shown with Azelf, Victini, Solgaleo, and Lunala. Ash has also shown the ability to hear what Legendary Pokémon are saying, shown with Solgaleo, Lunala, and Lugia. And any legendary or mythical pokemon he’s met in the series can come to his aide/battle alongside him if he needs it.