Against Wallace

Ponyta knew that it was losing its health at a rapid pace but it was confused on how to handle the situation. This was one of the problems that a trainer would have to face when a Pokemon was very young. Since they didn't have a good amount of battle experience, they could not make instant decisions until their trainer said anything.

"Ponyta, use 'Endure' and then use 'Flame charge' once again.", said Romero.

Ponyta didn't waste anytime and then used those moves. 'Endure' came at the right time as it was losing a lot of health. Using the move also gave it the confidence to attack.

It rushed towards Wartortle with a flaming body. Before, the move 'Skull bash' had not connected, as Wartortle was disturbed. But now, it had enough time to use and execute the move.

As Ponyta came near to strike Wartortle, Wartortle who was already inside its shell erupted with a lot of power and then used the move 'Skull bash' and hit Ponyta on its stomach.

The force of the attack was very high. 'Skull bash' was already a powerful move and it was now over level 40. For a common-rank Pokemon, it was a very powerful move and it flung Ponyta towards the end of the stadium.

Wartortle knew that the battle might not be over, so it used the move 'Water gun' again.

The move was also a hit and finally, Ponyta fainted.

"Ponyta is unable to battle, Axel goes to the next round.", announced the referee.

Axel wanted to take revenge in this battle for what Romero had said to him but seeing such a weak Ponyta, he didn't have the heart to do it. Besides the battle was over so soon.

The battle between common rank Pokemons would not be as interesting as king-rank battles. The battles would be very simple and filled with innocence.

After the battle was over, it was decided that the participants would rest for 2 hours before the start of another round.

Among the 19 trainers, 10 were selected. They were:

Cynthia Dolly Lorelai Lance Krishna Hector Steven Wallace Crasher Susan

Very soon, another person from another region was called to decide the battle matchup, and this time, Axel's battle was in the middle. He was fighting against Wallace this time.

"Oh, that would be interesting. I wonder how he will do against you?", said Lance to the group.

"How good is Wallace?", asked Axel as he was new to all this.

"Well, Wallace is very good. There is a reason why he is always being compared to Steven. Because he is a talented trainer. You should be careful against him.", said Lance.

"I think I will have to be serious when fighting him..", said Axel and stared at Wallace. Funny enough, Wallace was doing the same thing.

###

"Wallace, do you think that you can win against Axel? Please do because I want to rub it in his face.", said Susan.

"Susan, what you Romero, and Garemond did was wrong. The guy had just been kidnapped and his mental state was not in a solid condition. You don't attack man when he is down.", said Wallace.

"So, you think that his mental condition is not normal?", asked Steven as he was clearly interested.

"Yes, even though he is trying to hide it and doing everything to look normal, he is not. I can feel it.", said Wallace.

"Do you think that you can beat his Squirtle?", asked Steven.

"That is hard to say. I cannot fully see its capabilities as Romero could not hold for so long. But I believe that I can win against him."

"That is a good confidence.", said Steven as he patted Wallace's back for support.

###

"Damn it!! I cannot believe that I lost.", said Mia as she was furious about losing against Susan.

The loss of Mia was understandable because her new Pokemon had just reached 3 months old and she had not been able to train it for a long time. So, it was not as good as one would expect.

"Don't worry, at least the battle was interesting.", said Hector trying to calm her down but it seemed to make her even angrier.

The break was for 2 hours and Axel had 2 hours to plan for Wallace.

He knew that Wallace would use Krabby as his Pokemon and he had already seen its stats.

 ---

Pokemon's name: Krabby (Age: 11 months)

Pokemon Nickname: N/A

Pokemon Rank: Common rank

Pokemon Tying: Water

Ability: Hyper cutter (40%)

Hidden Ability: Sheer Force (30%)

Potential: Black (Monstrous)

Health: 1000 /1000 Attack: C+

Agility: D+ Defense: B++

Sp. Atk: B Sp. Def: C+

Moves: Water gun, Mud shot, Metal claw, Razor Shell, Ice beam, Water pulse, Dig, Bubble beam, Slash, Stomp, Amnesia, Ancient power.

 ---

Obviously, Axel had already looked at its stats during its battle. So, he was now planning on how to win against him.

Axel believed that Kingler was a very powerful Pokemon. He had many ways to make Kingler so much strong but he also needed time to do it.

Even though Krabby was inherently good in attack, Wallace wanted it to focus on special attacks. That was a bold move. He could see in its stats and moves description.

Axel could understand the reason for it. Since Krabby is very slow and its agility is very low, Wallace wanted it to be a special attacker.

Axel didn't know how it would turn out in the future, but this was interesting.

Krishna was also not happy as he would have to fight against Steven. He knew that the battle was going to be very hard.

Axel started to eat some delicious food. He had already made some preliminary plan for the battle and he was confident that he would win. So, he was not so worried.

As he was gulping down the food, he saw Flint, the gym leader of the Kanto region.

"Flint, I didn't know that you would come here.", said Axel. Axel was actually happy to meet with Flint. Flint was one of those people that he could trust.

"Yes. Axel make sure that you pull all your punches. This meeting is something that you would want to attend. Many important people are coming today. Even Charles, our champion will attend the meeting.", said Flint.

"Really? What is this all about?"

"Frankly, I don't know the whole picture. Just that a lot of important people are joining in this meeting. By the way, how are you holding up? I heard that you were tortured. That is not a good feeling."

"I am trying to hold up.", said Axel.

"That is good. Axel, after the meeting, why don't we have a separate meeting?", asked Flint.

"Flint, I don't need a shoulder to cry on. I am doing fine."

"Ok but if you need anything, I am here.", said Flint, patted Axel's back, and went on his own way.

Axel's experience for that whole month had been so traumatizing for him that he had sort of blocked those experiences as he wanted to feel normal. This was a subconscious action and everything someone talked about it, he would relive it again which he certainly didn't want to do.

"Sigh, what do I do now?", mumbled Axel to himself.

He knew that he would have to face it in the future. But he didn't want to relive those moments. He tried to block those memories but now he was starting to panic cause he could not block those memories willingly.

Hector immediately saw that Axel was not acting normal, so he went towards Axel and said, "Sir, are you okay? Do you need something?"

"Hector, just take me out of here. I need some quiet time.", said Axel as fast as he could.

Hector nodded his head, carried Axel, and then took him out of the crowd. He then went to the beach where were was no one. There was also a big garden near the beach. Hector put Axel there and waited for further instructions.

Hector was also not stupid. He knew what was happening here. He knew that Axel may not be the same anymore and it would take a lot of time and luck for him to be normal.

Hector just stood there silently waiting for Axel to come back to normal. It took him some minutes but now he was normal.

Axel didn't bother to even look at Hector. He was looking at the raging sea which looked very calm right now.

"Hector, just a personal question. Am I going to be okay?"

"Of course you are sir. Why are you asking such a simple question?"

"Hector, I am asking you to tell you the truth. Not a lie."

"And I am telling you the truth."

"What makes you believe that I will get over that torture and kidnapping?"

"Axel, you seem to think that you are in this alone. I don't know why you think that. Maybe you have been alone for a long time. But you now have a mercenary team with you. Do you really think that we are not angry or sad about what happened to you?

No body said you anything cause all of us want to be normal around you but that doesn't mean that we are also not on the edge.

What I want you to know is that we are on this together. I know that we are very weak right now and we need to do everything to get to that level. I know that we need to wait to get our revenge but we will do it.

I just want you to know that we will take that revenge and destroy those people."

"Thanks, Hector, that helped a lot."

"Anytime."

He suddenly felt that he was not on this alone. He had a team who was worried about him and being a leader, he just could not be so down.

He took a deep breath and got ready to go to the competition. He knew that others had seen Hector taking him here so there must be a lot of rumors floating around but now he didn't care.

"Axel."

"Huh? Yes?"

"Do me a favor and win this competition.", said Hector looking at Axel's eyes.

"Don't worry, that is what I am planning to do."