Seeing The Trio

"Staryu, Use Rapid Spin!"

"Raticate, Sucker Punch!

On the sundeck, a fierce Pokemon battle was taking place. The Pokemon battle had truly become the norm among many people in this world. As long as the trainer's profession still exists, they will never truly disappear.

Everyone was eager to join in on the fun. Hisoka recalled back his Pokemon into their Pokeball. Bringing two rare Pokemon like Kirlia and Weavile into the arena full of people was easy to create a scene and brought attention to himself.

A standard arena stood in the middle of the sundeck. There were two Pokemon occupying it currently. On the left side was a Raticate led by a man in his mid-30s. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a top hat and a cane. He also sported a hook mustache on his face.

His current opponent was an ordinary-looking youngster with a Staryu.

Under each trainer's order, the two Pokemon were battling with each other. Unfortunately for Staryu, it was clearly getting pushed back as the Raticate was slowly gaining advantages. Moreover, the Staryu couldn't play to the full advantage that it could gain if the arena was a water-based field.

As the fight was happening, the Staryu was hit on its back by Raticate's sneak attack. The star-shaped Pokemon let out a cry of pain and fell to the deck. But it quickly stood back up after a couple of seconds. It had suffered a few injuries, but it was not enough to take it out of the fight.

"Raticate! Hyper Fang!"

Before Staryu could fully regain its footing, the man in a black tuxedo quickly gave an order.

Then, Raticate moved toward Staryu at a blinding speed. It opened its mouth wide, showing its shining teeth before biting down on Staryu's core, the red jewel.

Staryu struggled in pain as it tried to escape from Raticate's grasp, but Raticate's bite was too strong. Soon, a small crack visible to the naked eye appeared on its jewel.

After that, Raticate leaped away, releasing its bite from the opponent's body. It did this to avoid being caught in Staryu's last gambit. Many trainers failed to realize that the truly dangerous moment occurred at the last moment. The fight that was supposed to be an easy win suddenly ended in a draw or even a complete turnaround due to their rush to win the match.

And it looked like this Raticate had a lot of experience under its belt. It quietly stared at the opponent, waiting calmly for its trainer's order and not rushing to end the match.

The severely injured Staryu froze in place for a couple of moments before it fell face down to the ground with a loud thud. A few seconds later, a huge red word saying 'VICTORY' appeared on the large screen behind the gentleman's back.

"It's okay, Staryu," the youngster slowly picked up the fainted Staryu with a downcast look. Besides losing the fight, he was also worried about his Pokemon injury. The crack on its red jewel looks quite scary to him.

After excepting the loud cheer from the audience, the gentleman looked at his former opponent and said, "It was a nice battle. But the goddess of victory is on my side today."

The man briefly raised his hat to his opponent.

Suddenly, a beautiful woman in a long maroon dress walked out of the crowd and stood next to the man. Then she lightly caressed the man's chest with her right hand.

"You're are so strong," said the woman admiringly.

"Thank you, madam," the gentleman smiled at his female companion. They both then turned to the crowd, accepting their cheer.

"Hey, don't be too worried about Staryu's injuries. Staryu and Starmie can regenerate the jewel on their body back. You just need to bring it to the Pokemon Center for treatment, and it'll be just fine."

When the youngster was leaving the arena, he was suddenly approached by a young girl with orange hair held in a spiky ponytail.

"Thanks!" the youngster gave a grateful nod at the girl dressed in a yellow tank top and blue denim shorts. Next, the boy quickly ran out of the arena, heading toward the medical bay.

...

A few minutes later, the gentleman looked around the crowd and loudly said, "Alright, does anyone else wants to challenge my Raticate?"

He stroked his mustache while waiting for someone's reply.

"This man's Raticate is really strong!"

"Yeah! Plus, that Racticate has already won three times in a row. There's no one able to win against his Raticate yet."

Hisoka stood among the crowd as everyone talked about the man's Pokemon in hushed voices. The gentleman's Raticate is indeed strong. Rattata's strength will improve by a huge margin after evolving into a Raticate. Moreover, its two signature moves, Hyper Fang and Super Fang were quite powerful. Especially Super Fang, which was one of the rare Normal-type moves able to hit a Ghost-type Pokemon.

"Me! Me! I'm challenging you to a battle!"

Suddenly, a slender preteen wearing a red and white cap rushed out of the crowd. Then, the boy stood on the opposite side of the gentleman and turned his cap backward.

"My Butterfree will be your Raticate's opponent," the boy said confidently.

"Alright."

The gentleman accepted the boy's challenge with a smile. He much preferred an opponent such as the youth standing opposite him.

"Haa! I knew it was going to be Ash again. This guy is always so excited every time he sees a Pokemon battle."

The orange-haired girl who comforted the youngster earlier put her hands on her hips with a helpless expression on her face.

'Ash?'

The name caught Hisoka's attention. After that, he took a closer look at the exuberant kid standing in the arena. No matter how he dressed or looked, he was indeed similar to the Ash in the anime, but the iconic Pikachu was nowhere to be seen.

Looking closely at the crowd, Hisoka found a young man with spiky brown hair and tanned skin. His eyes also appeared to be closed all the time. And sure enough, a Pikachu was standing quietly next to his feet.

'So this must be Brock, the former Gym Leader of Pewter Gym,' Hisoka rubbed his chin.

Then he turned his head to the orange-haired girl, 'And this must be Misty. The youngest sister of the Sensational Sisters.'

...

Butterfree has the flying advantage. It was difficult for Raticate to land a hit on its opponent.

Typically, Bug-type Pokemon have much weaker physical strength compared to other Pokemon. And if the Raticate managed to reach and bit the Butterfree with its deadly teeth, the battle might be over.

If it was Hisoka fighting, he would let the Butterfree fly into the air and use its powder and spore moves to defeat the Raticate below.

However, Ash, who was just starting his journey, still lacked actual battle experience. He only had a single-track mind, never thinking about his Pokemon advantages and disadvantages.

Ash raised his hand and loudly said, "Butterfree, use Tackle!"

Hearing Ash's command, Hisoka's eyebrows jumped in surprise.

'He isn't planning to let Butterfree fight head to head with the Raticate, right?'

"Raticate, Tackle it down!" The gentleman tapped the deck lightly with his cane.

Raticate jumped high and collided with Butterfree, who was swooping down from mid-air.

Boom!

Boom!

The two Pokemon continuously slammed into each other in mid-air, warming up the crowd as they started to cheer for the Pokemon fighting in the arena.

"Ash's Butterfree may not be able to beat the Raticate," Misty said with some worry.

"No." Brock, who stood next to her, crossed his arms.

"The two of them are evenly matched," he added.

Since Butterfree had a flying advantage, Raticate couldn't utilize its fast speed to hit its opponent at full strength.

"Raticate, use Hyper Fang!" The gentleman gritted his teeth, trying to break the current stalemate.

Although Ash seemed to be a dunderhead, he still knew about the power of Raticate's signature move.

"Butterfree, dive now!" Ash shouted.

'Good choice,' Hisoka praised silently.

It is much easier to avoid the opponent's frontal attack by diving instead of moving sideways.

With a flutter of its wings, Butterfree quickly dived, escaping Raticate's giant teeth easily.

Ash clenched his fists in excitement, "Nice job, Butterfree! Use Stun Spore now!"

Then, it flew over the opponent and flapped its wings, releasing an orange powder at the Raticate.

The color drained on the spectator's face after seeing the orange powder released by the Butterfree. They quickly began to disperse toward the rear leaving the front row empty. Even Hisoka followed the crowd to the back.

Stun Spore is a type of move that can cause paralysis to an opponent. And the pain it caused might be acceptable for a Pokemon, but for humans?

Ho ho!

You can already see why everyone was fleeing from the arena just now.

The paralysis powder fell from the sky and covered almost half of the arena. Raticate had no choice but to brace himself for the coming Stun Spore. Its eyes immediately closed in pain as its legs trembled, becoming paralyzed.

Bug-type Pokemon evolved quickly due to their short life cycle. For example, it usually took only three weeks for a Caterpie to evolve into a Metapod from the day of its birth in an environment with sufficient food. Furthermore, it took only a week for a Metapod to evolve into a Butterfree, completing its two stages of evolution. Their evolutionary time will not usually exceed a month at most.

If it was carefully trained by a trainer, then this evolution time can even be shortened massively.

A month is just enough for a Starter Pokemon to enter adolescence from the baby stage. Moreover, it is still far from completing its first stage of evolution, let alone the final evolution.

And due to the Bug-type Pokemon's rapid growth rate, many new trainers decide to include one or two Bug-type Pokemon in their lineup. Evolution represented a substantial increase in strength. As a result, a unique group has been born among the new trainers specializing in Bug-type Pokemon. They were called bug catchers.

Stun Spore, Poison Powder, and Sleep Powder were part of the powder and spore moves. In Pokemon battles, these three moves were usually used by the bug catchers. Even experienced trainers could be caught in these moves if they weren't careful.

Both the Raticate and its trainer, the gentleman, were caught off guard by Butterfree's attack. Perhaps their previous victories made them a little slack, and now they are in a pickle situation. Once Raticate was entirely paralyzed, there would be no way for it to win this match.

The gentleman tightly clenched his cane. His mustache constantly trembled, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, showing his anxiety. He knew that the match would be over if he didn't do anything soon.

"Alright! Let's end this now! Use Gust Butterfree!" Ash pumped his fist, ready to give his opponent the final blow.

'Yosh! I'm going to win! Woohoo! Yeah!' This was the only thought running through Ash's mind currently.

But, when Butterfree was about to launch its final attack, the gentleman suddenly recalled his Raticate, who was already hunched over in the arena, back to its Pokeball. He then quickly took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his face.

"The match is over. It's a draw!"

After declaring the result despite Butterfree's almost certain victory, he quickly walked into the crowd, followed by his female companions as they disappeared from view.

"What! Obviously, it was my win! So why is it a draw!" Ash grumbled.

It was clear that Butterfly was only one move away from winning the fight, but the gentleman said otherwise and quickly left the arena, giving Ash no chance to refute his decision.

After the game ended abruptly, seeing that there wasn't going to be any more Pokemon battles, the crowd soon left one after another.

Hisoka left with the crowd, deciding not to greet the trio. It wasn't the time for him to meet them yet, and there will be more opportunities in the future. Nonetheless, he was still looking forward to meeting them later, especially Ash.

…

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