How does it go?

I immediately tossed out Bulbasaur, my strongest Pokémon currently. The man in khaki, some kind of researcher I presumed, responded with his own Pokémon. Some type of bug Pokémon named Caterpie exploded onto the scene, and the battle was on.

Bulbasaur and Caterpie were easily matched however, which shocked me. Shouldn't this little worm like Pokémon be struggling? I continued to yell out commands as best as I could, though Bulbasaur was clearly struggling to defend himself. The Caterpie was able to slow him down with silk-like string, a problem that Bulbasaur could not easily contend with.