Vex Vs Three Stooges (2/3)

Vex rose up off the ground and pressed Squirtle's pokeball twice, causing it to shrink as he clipped it back on the belt around his waist. The turtle pokemon had already played his role and the young man felt that he deserved a good rest.

Not only did Squirtle win the round, but he had already set up the field for Vex to take the next one with relative ease.

Vex wasn't an idiot. After seeing his partner get thrashed without much effort, there was no way the next guy was going to underestimate him. In fact, Vex was almost positive that he would send out an even stronger pokemon then Mark had had in an attempt to decrease the chances of him taking an L. However, Vex had set it up so not only did his Pikachu have the advantage, but also so his opponent would be mislead about what he would do.

Grabbing the second pokeball on his belt, Vex pressed the button twice, causing the capsule to expand to normal size. Pushing the button again, the ball opened and a light escaped out, gathering on the ground to form Pikachu, the electric mouse standing at the ready with cheeks sparking.

"Oh, so thats what he's going to do." Caitlin muttered as she watched Vex carefully. "Quite clever even if its pretty obvious."

"Oh, I see." Serena seemed to also have noticed what Caitlin was referring to. "He's going to use the now soaked surroundings to increase the damage Pikachu's [Thundershock] can do."

Brock touched his chin as he gazed towards the field and then at Pikachu. "He must've been planning this from the start. First he used [Water Gun] to launch Squirtle in the air to dodge [Bonemerang] which he could've easily stopped by launching the former move directly at Cubone. By constantly using [Water Gun], both launching and holding it longer then he needed to, he created his own field that would grant him the upper hand in his next fight."

"Thats so smart," Serena said with a smile. "Now he has the upper hand."

"Not if his opponent sees it as well." Caitlin shook her head. "Come on, lets back up a bit. Being next to the water when electricity hits would have a less then desirable outcome."

While Caitlin, Brock, and Serena retreated back, it seemed other people also had the same idea as the circle of people grew bigger. As the blonde elite four member had put it, it was quite easy to see Vex's plan when you were watching from afar and in the interest of not getting caught up in the fight, many onlookers, with Jenny included, took the time to put some more distance between themselves and the Pikachu.

"Oi, Gera, watch out for his electricity." The third companion shouted over to his friend. "He can really do some damage with the wet ground."

Gera, the one who was now facing off against Vex, merely smiled. "Not a problem Onar. He's as good as done. I don't plan on going easy just cause he's a kid."

The man picked off one of the six pokeballs clipped to his belt and threw it. "Lets do this Krokorok!"

The pokeball opened up the moment it impacted the ground. There was a brief flash as the pokemon inside rose up from the light before taking the form of a large crocodile on two legs, his eyes flashing with intelligence. It

"Krokorok. Interesting choice." Caitlin murmured. "Never thought I'd see that pokemon here in Kanto."

"That pokemon looks familiar," Brock said as he gave Krokorok a once over glance. "I think I saw it in a book once, though I don't really know much about it."

"It makes sense for you to be relatively clueless as this pokemon is more commonly found in the Unova region." Caitlin shook her head. "Its a ground type that is exceptionally strong against electric types, almost completely nullifying standard electric attacks. With how weak Pikachu's [Thundershock] currently is, they'll have to find another way to win."

Gera sneered as he stood tall, his feet sloshing in the puddle he was standing in. "Meet Krokorok. He's my weakest and newest Pokemon. This'll be the first time I use him in battle. You should be honored!!"

Vex dug into his pocket and pulled out his pokedex, holding it up to Krokorok. "I like it. Seems pretty strong."

The pokedex, though having been pointed at Krokorok, remained silent, no voice of any sort bothering to tell him the information that he wanted to know. As this had never happened before, the young man was afraid he had broken it and even became a tad worried, at least until Gera was actually kind enough to say something.

"Don't bother kid. The pokedex you have only covers native pokemon." Gera shook his head as he crossed his arms. "This beauty is from a totally different region. Theres no point in using that device."

The youth made a sound with his teeth as he shoved the item back into his pocket. He didn't really need the pokedex to battle, but he liked to know the general data so he could plan for any eventualities that might occur. To put it simply, having even the smallest bit of info was much better than having none at all. As he had only studied pokemon and their respective abilities in the region of Kanto, he had yet to study what other regions had to offer, save for the basic geography and overall customs.

"Fine. Lets just get this started then." Vex turned to look at Jenny, who had retreated a relatively safe distance away from the trainers. "Just say when Jenny."

Jenny nodded and held out her hand. "Let the battle between Vex Masters and Gera commence. It'll be a one versus one and the battle will end when one side is unable to continue. Start."

(("Pikachu. What are your thoughts on this?")) Vex had a strategy in mind but he wanted to get his partners opinion first. Odds were, this pokemon was a ground type, an element strong against electric types.

(("If the outside of his body is resistant, then why not hit him with as much power as possible. Deliver a built up shock that can bypass resistance.")) Pikachu wiggled his tail a little as he bounced around, waiting for an order. (("We just got to get into a position where I can give him a good shock."))

Vex couldn't help but picture a male with black hair and an orange gi just saying "We can try hitting him reallllllllyyyy hard."

(("Alright, then begin charging up.")) Vex smiled confidently as he waved his hand. "Pikachu, use [Quick Attack]."

"Krokorok, [Bite]."

The white glow, the signal for Pikachu's Quick Attack, surrounded him as he blasted forward, launching straight into battle with his cheeks sparking. The small yellow mouse's primary stat was speed, something that was clearly obvious as, instead attacking Krokorok as others would've thought, he merely ran around. Each time Krokorok would get close to the mouse and attempt to bite him, Pikachu would either evade him or flick water at the crocodiles face using his crooked tail.

(("He's so fast!!")) Gera was a bit surprised by the sheer speed as he watched Pikachu run full circles around Krokorok. He had expected the croc pokemon to at least be keeping up with the mouse as he was already at his second evolution, but this wasn't the case. Once again, just like the Squirtle incident, the pokemon was completely abnormal compared to other pokemon. "What the hell kinda training have they been through?"

"Thats an easy question," Vex smiled as he tapped the side of his head. "They went through my own personal training. A session designed to strengthen what they have while covering for various weaknesses. In this instance, Pikachu has been training to be faster by constantly sparring against someone MUCH faster then himself."

"Pikachu, use [Iron Tail]"

(("With pleasure")) Pikachu skidded across the slippery pavement as he switched course, leaping off the ground. His yellow tail became a shiny grey with a soft glow as he swung his tail towards Krokorok.

"As if. Krokorok, [Crunch]." Gera refused to be treated as if he was a new trainer. He had been doing this for years and, though he wasn't the smartest trainer around, he wasn't about to have his reputation undermined by a rookie. "Bite his tail off if you have to."

(("Shall I continue?")) Pikachu asked quickly as he was in mid tail swing. (("There's still time to change"))

(("Go with plan S. It'll be a great chance to test the theory.")) Vex crossed his arms as Pikachu continued the attack and slashed the tail downwards.

As Vex expected, Krokorok opened his jaw and grabbed onto Pikachu's tail made of iron, putting all his jaw strength into it. It had been such a predictable move which is why Vex had order Pikachu to attack head on. Biting the small mouse's tail would prevent him from moving so there was no Gera would pass up the chance.

"Quick question Gera." Vex said with a smile. "Did you know that the inside of a Pokemon is inherently different from its outside. It wasn't made to take the damage that the outside can take. To put it simply, while the insides might still be resistant, its a lot less effective."

Gera seemed to pause for a bit before it finally clicked. "Krokorok, let him-"

"[Thundershock]"

Pikachu released his [Iron Tail], causing his tail to get crushed in Krokorok's inescapable jaws. Though the pain was no doubt immense, Pikachu stayed calm and focused all the power he had been charging up and released it into the crocodiles mouth. So much electricity filled the croc that a small bubble encircled both Pikachu and Krokorok as the small yellow mouse kept on releasing a continuous stream of pent up static.

(("Aaaaaaaannnndddddd scene.)) Vex nodded his head after ten seconds. (("You can stop now Pikachu."))

With those words, Pikachu quickly cut off his electricity and dropped to the ground after Krokorok opened up his mouth. The small yellow mouse scurried a safe distance away before stopping to take a quick breather. Releasing so much electricity was bound to take a toll, not to mention the pain from having his tail nearly torn apart by Krokorok. It was lucky that the crocodile pokemon wasn't moving, otherwise things would turn for the worst. Vex was took note of the time Pikachu would need to recover after using up almost all of his charged up electricity.

Krokorok didn't look like he would be able to continue as he stood there twitching, struggling to remain on his feet. Vex could only imagine the pain shooting through the poor guy and he took a moment of silence to hope that Gera wouldn't make him keep fighting.

Gera, the very trainer in question, looked pissed off, the same way Mark had looked when he had lost. The fight had barely started when he had made the same mistake of falling for this kids odd way of fighting. The kid utilized different tactics and move adjustments to catch the opponent off guard, completely throwing away any game plan Gera had previously had. He was sure Krokorok could still fight, but he wasn't sure for how long.

"Krokorok, snap out of it!!"

It took a few seconds but the crocodile pokemon shook its head and slammed one foot on the ground, letting out a snarling chomp. His previously black eyes flashed red as he locked eyes on Pikachu.

"Haha!! Its ability activated!!! Now your gonna get it kid." Gera smiled widely as Krokorok snarled again. "Krokoroks ability is Anger Point. Whenever it gets hit by a critical attack, its attack maxes out. Now watch as the table turns. Use [Dark Pulse]."

(("Tch, Pikachu hasn't recovered enough to use [Thundershock again.")) Vex thought as a blast of black energy erupted from Krokoroks palms.

The blast was enormous and looked pretty dangerous from where Vex was standing. If Pikachu or himself took any of that, even a little, things would look hairy and would cost most of the momentum Vex had gotten from the [Thundershock].

(("Use [Quick Attack] to dodge."))

Though still recovering, Pikachu activated the move and just barely managed to dodge the swirling energy. What Vex and Pikachu hadn't seen coming was the second [Dark Pulse] hidden behind the first one as it slammed into Pikachu head on. The blast knocked Pikachu backwards and into the air and Vex caught him before he hit the ground, easily holding him up.

It looked like Pikachu was unable to battle and the winner was Krokorok who, despite looking like he had been okay, had fainted after the second [Dark Pulse]. It seemed that the full power [Thundershock] had done more damage then Vex had thought.

"Pikachu fainted before Krokorok and is unable to battle. The match goes to Gera." Jenny said as she came forward. Even she had been caught up in the sheer tension of the fight despite it having been so short.

"Looks like they still need training," Caitlin muttered. "However, as weak as Pikachu currently is, Vex did very well in finding a way to cover for it."

Brock seemed to understand what Caitlin was saying as he gazed at the crumpled Krokorok. "He let Pikachu charge up the electricity while keeping away from Krokorok with the speed of [Quick Attack]. He may have planned this after figuring out that he couldn't use his initial plan. It appears the intense training he put his pokemon through to increase the time usage of each move was effective."

Serena clenched her fists together as she looked on. "He came up with a countermeasure so fast even as the type advantage was against him. I guess he's a genius."

Caitlin snorted at Serena's words. "Being a genius can only get you so far. He put in so much time into his training and studying in those short two weeks that he was able to catch up from being mire useless than a toddler to something of worth. Call it what you want but he's barely scratched the surface of being a trainer. Though even I have to admit, his theoretical battle knowledge really is amazing. Probably because he lacks the preconceived notions of pokemon that we were all raised on."

"Meaning that he would make decisions on battling that most of us would find laughable." Brock touched his chin. "This actually makes me curious. Perhaps we can learn something from him from time to time."

Back on the field, Vex was putting Pikachu back into the pokeball.

"You did good buddy." Vex said as he tapped the button against the small mouse's head. "I promise you'll eat well tonight. Take a rest until I can get you to a Pokemon Center."

As Pikachu disappeared into the pokeball, Vex shrank the capsule down and reattached it onto his belt, unclipping the third and final pokeball. Vex stared at Onar, the last guy Vex was supposed to fight before losing.

"I have a proposition." Vex double tapped the button on the pokeball. "Best 2 out of 3. One more match. Winner takes all."

"Forget it kid," Gera said with a shake of his head. "We already one. What would be the point of fighting you again?"

"Because the winner will receive a premium date from the lovely Officer Jenny," Vex said, ignoring an immediate complaint from Jenny herself.

Vex threw his pokeball forward, allowing it to smack into the ground. A single flash escaped before coalescing into the shape of a four legged Pokemon.

"Wait, is that..."

"Thats right," Vex said with a smile as the image of a fish grabbing a hook flashed across his mind.

Standing in front of them, as proud as can be with glistening fur, was a dark black Vulpix, a variant of the regular Vulpix.