On the same day less than a year ago, two trainers left their native home of Pallet Town and sought out the world.

Gary Oak and Ash Ketchum.

In doing so they had both traveled across vast lands, met interesting people and Pokémon, and battled opponents they held respect towards.

However there were opponents that they held only contempt for.

Ash was currently battling one, an old foe from just before he left named Joshua Martin. The battle was fueled by personal vendettas, and would not be a test of Ash's merit as a trainer.

Gary however, had an opponent who would be a test of his skills. All of what he had known and learned since he left Pallet Town would be needed to defeat him.

For Paul was a powerful trainer, and not an opponent to take lightly.

...

"This Six on Six Pokémon Battle will have the following rules. Both sides are allowed full substitution rules, and the battle will be over when one side has no Pokémon able to continue battling. As none of you registered a fully aquatic species for this battle, the Battle Club will not be providing you a pool and the battle will be conducted on a regular battlefield. Any questions?" the Don George who would referee for the match asked.

Gary did not speak, nor did Paul. They were well aware of the rules, and neither had any interest in requesting any additional ones.

No rule about abuse of Sleep Powder. No rules about specific combinations. Not even a request to leave any Legendary Pokémon they (did not) have at home.

This was a match meant to shut the other up, and Gary would be ensuring that Paul would keep his trap shut once and for all.

"Very well, there are no time limits. Begin!"

"Go, Arcanine!" Gary sent his first Pokéball flying.

"Torterra, stand by for battle!" Paul responded in kind, and soon the field had its first Pokémon in play.

On his side Arcanine, who was snarling at Paul for every slight that had been thrown his way since the Tag Tournament.

The other was Paul's Sinnoh starter, who stared stoically. He could hear in the background the scoreboard ping as the first Pokémon in the match appeared. He could also hear the gathered crowd watching from outside, curious to see what the first move would be.

As for his first move, well he'd apologize to Arcanine for this later...

"Return."

Arcanine had only the time to let out a confused yip before he was back inside his Pokeball. This was followed by a confused murmur from the onlookers as he choose his second Pokémon.

"Go!"

Paul watched his Pidgeot's apperance with an unmoving expression before he made his first command.

"Torterra, use Stone Edge!"

Torterra was surrounded by an orbit of stones, which were promptly fired at Pidgeot like a barrage of missiles.

"Block them with Defog!" The reason he made the switch was promptly used, his first captured Pokémon flapping his wings and releasing a blue tinted wind.

The wind deflected the stones, causing them to spin harmlessly in the air before dropping down on the field below like pieces of hail.

The same fate would befall any Stealth Rock that the powerful Pokémon would try to set up. In fact it would go beyond negation, the interaction of the two moves would turn those Stealth Rocks into his own.

It would be Paul taking the damage, not himself. With that sealed all he'd have to do was blast the thing until it...

His planning was interrupted by Paul returning Torterra and sending out a different Pokémon.

"Jynx, standby for battle!"

A second Pokéball burst open, revealing a purple skinned Pokémon with large lips glaring at them.

"Jynx, a Pokémon known for exotic dances and powerful attacks. It's typing is Ice and Psychic," his Pokédex informed him from his pocket.

In that case there was only one thing to do.

"Pidgeot re..."

"Use Mean Look!" Paul cut him off as his Jynx fired black light from her eyes and struck Pidgeot with it.

The light hit before his Pokéball did, and the return laser petered away ineffectually.

The crowd behind the glass murmured in confusion, unsure of what had just happened.

What had happened was Jynx had locked Pidgeot into this battle until one of them, being Jynx or Pidgeot, was no longer present. Either Paul had to return Jynx, or either Jynx or Pidgeot would have to fall.

Jynx being defeated was the option that Gary was going to go for.

"Use Aerial Ace!" Pidgeot flew towards the Ice-type at fast speeds, white wind billowing behind as the attack came in for damage.

"Blizzard!" Paul countered as the Jynx's blonde hair began billowing. Along with said billowing came a blast of freezing cold air, which blew Pidgeot back in a roll.

"Awh, Pidgeot!" he cried out as Paul now had the initiative.

"Psywave!" The Jynx formed a blue energy ring between her two hands and threw it at Pidgeot like a projectile.

The attack struck the spiraling Flying-type, knocking Pidgeot to the ground.

"Pidgeot is unable to battle!" Don George declared. In the corner of his eye he saw Pidgeot's image on the scoreboard turn gray.

He gave Pidgeot some thanks as he returned the bird Pokémon, and looked at the Jynx, and the just as icy master of said Jynx.

This was not over yet. He still had five more Pokémon chomping at the bit to wipe that smirk off their faces.

In fact, he had already shown one of them off.

"Go!" He sent Arcanine back out, who barked in eagerness to actually battle this time.

He could almost see Arcanine's face droop when Paul returned Jynx.

"Nidoking, standby for battle!"

Paul choose his third Pokémon, with the Poison/Ground-type Nidoking now glaring down Arcanine.

Would he return again...

No, Paul seemed prepared for it. Would he be prepared for another action instead?

Even if that action reeked like Ash?

"Extreme Speed!" Arcanine barked happily at the chance to use the new move before rushing at Nidoking with immense speed.

Nidoking gasped in pain as the Legendary Pokémon impacted into his chest like the gentleness of a compact car.

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Or something, Gary wasn't sure if that was the best comparison.

Arcanine bounced back from the attack before Nidoking could attempt a counter-attack. His Fire-type almost seemed to be grinning from the feeling of the attack.

"Dragon Rage!" The blue flames erupted out of Arcanine's mouth towards the Poison-type, who glared at the oncoming storm without fear.

"Counter with Bubblebeam!" Paul ordered.

Gary would have assumed he had misheard it if not for the barrage of bubbles the shot forward from Nidoking's mouth. The attack cancelled out the Dragon Rage attack and continued forward towards Arcanine, who jumped to the side to avoid the Water-type attack.

As the bubbles impacted against the wall, Paul's offensive continued.

"Earth Power!"

Arcanine had to hop over the glowing area of ground before it exploded with power, but that turned out to be a mistake.

Because the hop put Arcanine right in the direct line of fire for Bubblebeam, which struck into his Fire-type with powerful sounding pops.

Arcanine whimpered as he was sent back, even as bubbles stuck to Arcanine's feet like weights. Arcanine was not going to be going anywhere with those stuck to his feet.

He'd have to get rid of them.

"Use Flame Wheel to pop the bubbles!" Gary figured that would work, and he was pleased to see that they did. Moments after Arcanine roared and enveloped himself in flames, the bubbles popped. Arcanine even began charging at Nidoking with the attack, which Gary hadn't actually thought about doing.

His concern was the speed problem, not launching another attack. This would still be a good hit when it landed.

"Poison Jab," Paul declared as Nidoking swung his fist at the approaching Arcanine.

The two attacks, one red and the other purple, collided as the two were driven off.

Each were equally matched, and both glared at each other for a moment...before Arcanine stumbled a bit and gained a purple sheen to his fur.

"Arcanine!" Poison Jab had poisoned him!

Paul smirked as he pointed at Arcanine.

"Venoshock!"

He could not let that move hit.

"Extreme Speed!"

Before Nidoking could even let off the hit Arcanine slammed into him, pushing the Poison-type back and onto the ground with a hard thump. From there he'd capitalize on it.

"Now Body Slam!"

Before Paul could get in a final word in edgewise Arcanine dropped down on Nidoking with his full body weight.

Arcanine hopped off the Pokémon with a wince as poison damage occurred, but the job was done.

"Nidoking is unable to battle!" Don George declared as Nidoking's image went gray.

They were now tied.

"Take a good rest." Gary had Arcanine returned. That poison wasn't going anywhere, and it would be best if he held onto Arcanine for a place where a quick defeat was possible for one of Paul's Pokémon.

Paul leveled a even glare at Nidoking's Pokeball after he returned his Pokémon, before sending out Torterra again.

If he was going to try Stealth Rock again, fine. He had other ways of blocking it.

"Go Alakazam!"

His two spoon wielding Psychic-type had not even been on the solid ground of the field for ten seconds before Paul had a command to give out.

"Stealth Rock!" Paul ordered as the little stones began flying from Torterra with the destination of the battlefield in mind.

"Psychic!" Gary called as his Alakazam held out both spoons.

Each and every Stealth Rock in the sky floated in suspended motion. It was enough to get Paul's eyebrow raised.

If only a bit. Gary felt some satisfaction that he'd managed to do something that Paul didn't seem to expect, even if he didn't show it much.

"Attack!" Gary ordered as each and every Stealth Rock aimed their business ends at Torterra, before flying at the Continent Pokémon with the power of Alakazam's psychic powers.

They impacted into Torterra without any problem. He'd keep up the offensive.

"Shadow Ball!" The dark ball formed between Alakazam's spoons before flying at Torterra.

"Seed Bomb!" Paul countered as Torterra spat out the fast-flying seed.

The two attacks cancelled each other out, meaning there was nothing to protect Alakazam from the seeds that were flying in the aftermath of the first seed.

"Teleport!" Gary ordered as Alakazam vanished from sight. The seeds continued past him, distrupting so much air Gary could feel his clothing and hair ruffled, and slammed into the walls of the Battle Club with a crunching sound.

Alakazam reappeared above Torterra, floating right over Torterra's tree.

A perfect angle.

"Shadow Ball!"

Paul snapped his fingers twice. That didn't seem to mean anything as the Shadow Ball was ready to fire.

It might have meant that Torterra's tree was to glow green, before a Leaf Storm erupted from the tree to blow Alakazam into the air.

His Pokémon completely caught off guard by the attack.

"Quickly use-"

"Stone Edge!" Paul cut him off again as the stones began spinning around Torterra. They shot into the air straight up and struck Alakazam.

The blows sent Alakazam into the ceiling of the Battle Club, which made Don George visibly wince.

He didn't even wait for the call to be made before returning Alakazam.

"Alakazam is unable to battle." Don George agreed with his sentiment.

Paul smirked, and a chill went down Gary's spine.

A thought entered his mind, one that was dark and horrifying to contemplate.

Did Paul plan this?

Paul knew he knew that Torterra could use Stealth Rock. It wasn't exactly hidden when they fought Ash and Red.

He knew that he'd want to prevent the move, so every time that Torterra came out he'd send out a Pokémon to counter Stealth Rock.

A Pokémon Paul then proceeded to quickly crush.

"Do select your next Pokémon. While Alakazam are not the toughest of Pokémon, yours will be sufficiently fine until this battle is concluded and you can contact the local Nurse Joy," Don George prompted as he shook himself out of his worries.

This was no time to think. He had to stop overthinking things. Ash proved it was easy to not think too hard about things, he surely could do it too. After all anything Ashy Boy could do , he could obviously do better.

"Go!" Gary sent out of his fourth Pokémon, which floated over the field and gained some confused mutterings from the onlookers.

"Por," declared Porygon, as Paul looked at the thing with some distaste. Clearly he remembered how it had carried them in the Semifinals and did not like remembering it.

He returned Torterra and sent out his own fourth Pokémon.

"Hypno, standby for battle!"

The Psychic-Pokémon stared down Porygon, pendulum in hand.

"Shadow Ball!" Gary quickly ordered as Porygon manifested the super-effective attack and fired it at Hypno.

"You know what to do." Paul told his Hypno, who took the attack without moving.

Gary just stared in surprise at the move, before Porygon seized up and glowed eerily.

"Disable use detected." His Pokédex provided a handy explanation for what had just occurred.

Oh s…

"Now use Psybeam!"

The glowing energy attack struck Porygon, sending it tumbling to the ground.

"Quickly, use Conversion 2 before he can use another one!" Gary shouted. Porygon, who had put himself back together, shimmered with a dark hue.

Porygon was now a Dark-type.

"Drain Punch!"

Gary felt his blood chill as Hypno charged at Porygon, fist glowing green.

Clearly Paul had remembered Conversion 2 too.

"Tri-Attack!" Gary called as the shimmering triangle was shot at the charging Psychic-type.

It avoided it before slamming the Drain Punch into Porygon.

The resulting shriek of pain sounded like someone was beating up a dial modem while said technological relic screamed in agony.

Even Don George winced. Paul however, did not.

"Again!"

"Quickly Co…" Conversion 2's ordering was silenced by the second Drain Punch, which knocked Porygon down onto the ground.

Porygon floated back up, if awkwardly, while Paul kept up the attack.

"Now Poison Gas!"

Hypno breathed in deeply before exhaling the purple cloud right onto Porygon.

Hypno stepped back away from the cloud as it dissipated, revealing a purple tinted Porygon.

And with that, he had two poisoned Pokémon. Damn it!

The purple-tinted Porygon did have another slight color to it. It was there only briefly, but he did catch it.

"Now end this with Drain…"

"Shadow Ball!"

This time it was Paul who was interrupted, this time by a Shadow Ball firing right into Hypno's face.

The attack knocked the hypnotist back, even as a shimmer around the Pokémon suggested it had just suffered in the special defense category.

Gary followed through on that fact.

"Shadow Balls!"

After an initial moment to wince from poison damage, Porygon began firing the black orbs of darkness one after the other.

They struck into Hypno, pushing the Pokémon back and back until finally one final Shadow Ball knocked it down.

Porygon hovered weakly at this point, before collapsing as well.

"Both Hypno and Porygon are unable to battle!" Don George declared the draw as both of them returned their Pokémon.

"Thanks Porygon. You did a good job." He thanked the artificial Pokémon for its hard work.

Paul just glared at his ball before muttering something faintly about training Disable more.

Gary ignored that to consider what he'd do next.

That made their battle three wins for Paul and two for himself.

Among the Pokémon Paul had left were Torterra and Jynx. Torterra had taken some damage thanks to Alakazam, but it wasn't much. Meanwhile Jynx hadn't taken any damage at all, and had at least one more move he had to be worried about.

The two other Pokémon were unknowns. One of them could be Raichu, but he somehow doubted it.

On his end he still had Arcanine, Blastoise, and Tangrowth, who he had taken over Exeggcute because he did not have a Leaf Stone.

Arcanine had taken a lot of damage and was poisoned, so it would be tough going forward.

However it was not impossible.

He would find a way to get this win.

"Tangrowth, go!"

He threw out his evolved Grass-type, which invoked a response from Paul.

Though only indirectly.

"Tangrowth, it is an evolution of Tangela that evolves with Ancient Power. So, spoilers, it probably knows that move," he heard Paul's Pokédex comment, which was immediately followed by Paul looking irritated.

"Whoever programmed that personality was a twat," his Pokédex added.

Yeah, what sort of cruel jerk even programmed in valley girl?

Paul reached for a new Pokéball and threw it with a comment to standby for battle.

Gary was sure he misheard what had been called, but when the Pokéball released the Pokémon inside it was confirmed to be correct.

He had not misheard Paul at all. It was in fact the very Pokémon he had declared it to be.

As he heard the onlookers wonder aloud about it he pressed Paul on it.

"Didn't take you for a Wondertrader."

Paul rolled his eyes at the accusation.

"Please, like I'd trust any Pokémon that comes out of that mess. It's a service for trading trash for trash. No, this Pokémon I caught myself."

That Pokémon Paul had caught himself glared both him and Tangrowth down, eyes shimmering with malice.

It was the first time he had ever seen this Pokémon, and it would also be the first time he'd ever be beating one.

"Alright Tangrowth, let's go!" Gary declared as the battle continued.