Ace vs Gary, Again

"Are you ready for this Gary?" I asked as the two of us took our places, after I swapped out the pokemon I had just used to battle Ash for a fresh team.

"Let's go, Ace the waste." Gary said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. Seeing how one-sided my match against Ash was must have made him realize I haven't been idle since we last met. I hadn't even used any of the true powerhouses on my team, aside from Lucario wanting to test Riolu.

"This will be a six on six, with the same rules as the previous battle!" Bill declared, taking his place once again as the officiator.

"Go, Aerodactyl!" Gary declared the second the rules were announced.

"SCREAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

With a screech-like roar, Gary's Aerodactyl appeared before it swiftly flapped its wings to produce a gale in intimidation. I had to admit, it was quite a bit larger and significantly stronger than the last time I saw it.

"Well? Where's your pokemon?" Gary asked as I made no move to grab a pokeball from my belt.

Instead of answering, I just held up three fingers while looking skyward before ticking them off one at a time.

"Three... Two... One..."

"GEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

With the wind whistling and a mighty screech, Pidgeot appeared as a blur from over the open ocean. He circled the arena once to allow everyone to see him in his great alpha glory, before coming to a stop well above where Aerodactyl was, allowing him to look down upon his opponent.

"Oh my Mew! You have an alpha!" Bill exclaimed excitedly as he gazed up at Pidgeot in awe. Though his attention was focused on the match, I could still feel the smugness radiating from Pidgeot at Bill's praise.

'That's right, worship me you peasants!' Is what it seemed like he was thinking.

I rolled my eyes at his attitude, but didn't say anything as I focused my attention on Gary and his Aerodactyl. All four of us sat there as we waited for the start from Bill.

"BEGIN!"

"Aerodactyl-"

"Hurricane." I commanded, cutting off Gary as Pidgeot began to spin around at high speed, whipping up a massive swirling storm that engulfed the entire arena, specifically Aerodactyl.

I looked up at the powerful Hurricane calmly, my only real thoughts being that it honestly felt more like a tornado than a hurricane, and that it was on a completely different scale than the one my Gyarados would use. But then again, all three of my Gyarados were only able to learn it recently, while Pidgeot has been training for years.

Aerodactyl of course was unable to fight against the pull of the cyclone, being sucked within and thrown about like a ragdoll amongst the dust, fog and debris that was likewise being sucked in.

"USE FLAMETHROWER!" Gary yelled over the howling of the wind, which Aerodactyl apparently heard as a single light appeared within the cyclone, before it began to spread throughout the entire thing.

Soon everyone was trying to shield themselves from the radiant light and heat coming from the flaming Hurricane, while I simply closed my eyes while extending my aura and consciousness towards Pidgeot.

Once we were connected, I mentally told him what I wanted him to do, which he gave a jerk of affirmation before I retracted my senses.

I watched from outside as Pidgeot's aura shot upwards to the zenith of the cyclone, where he hovered for a second before diving back down right at Aerodactyl's aura. He then began to rotate like a top as he sliced right through the Hurricane, and his wings began to glow with a metallic sheen as he used the move Steel Wing.

Aerodactyl had no idea what was happening until it was too late.

Pidgeot blasted right by Aerodactyl while catching it on one of his wings, dragging it down with him through the flames and towards the ground. Aerodactyl did struggle to escape, namely by using Bite on Pidgeot's wing, but it was completely futile as they continued their descent before Pidgeot pulled out at the very last second.

*CRASH!*

The sound of an impact echoed over the wind of the Hurricane, which began to die down all of a sudden before the air cleared up. And laying there in a small crater in the middle, was Aerodactyl.

"GEOOOOO!"

Pidgeot released a shrill cry from above, announcing his victory even before Bill could say anything. And all he had to show for Aerodactyl's efforts was a few lightly signed feathers. Even the Bites that Aerodactyl used hadn't even left a mark, as Pidgeot's wings were coated in metallic energy at the time.

And when it was apparent that Aerodactyl wasn't going to get back up, Bill finally announced, "Aerodactyl is unable to battle! Pidgeot wins!"

My bird did a quick victory lap before lightly landing on the ground beside me, his chest puffed out proudly from his victory.

"Like I said, a glorified peacock."

"Pidgeot."

I shook my head at his retort before turning my attention back to the battle, where Gary had already returned Aerodactyl and was reaching for the next pokeball on his belt.

Going off of what I knew of Gary, which was quite a bit considering I grew up with him, chances were that he would use the same team as last time to try and one up me. It would make sense considering Gary's pride, and using different or more powerful pokemon would be the same as acknowledging that I was better than him.

So, feeling pretty confident of which pokemon was next since he led with Aerodactyl like last time, I picked my next pokemon as well and threw it out at the same time as Gary.

""GO-""

"Raticate!"

"Snorlax!"

"Wait what!?!"

Gary, Ash, Tracey, and Bill were all dumbfounded by when Snorlax appeared in the arena, even more so when we saw the size difference between him and Raticate. Not to mention the fact that Snorlax even sank several inches into the soft earth just by standing there.

"Snore snore, Snorlax." Snorlax immediately asked while turning his attention towards me, asking for food of course.

"Not yet. I'll feed you after this battle, just like I have been." I told him sternly to show that I wouldn't give in to his appetite. Not only would it help motivate him, but if I fed him now then Snorlax would just go right to sleep while completely ignoring the battle.

"Snorlax!" He declared, stating that he will quickly take down Raticate to get his food.

And then of course, he charged the little rat.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The earth shuddered with every step Snorlax took as he charged at Raticate, determined to earn his dinner as soon as possible.

"Move, Raticate!" Gary commanded urgently, making me smirk since just one hit from Snorlax could easily retire Raticate from this match.

"That thing is big, but slow and stupid! Use Swords Dance to up your strength, and use your speed to stay ahead of it!"

Though Snorlax was still on the hunt for Raticate, it readily obeyed his command since its opponent was so slow. I watched as Raticate's aura surged from one Swords Dance, before it used its speed to dart around Snorlax for an opening.

The funny thing was that, despite there being several, nothing Raticate did was effective due to Snorlax's thick layers of fat. Even Nidoking had a hard time getting his attacks through to him, and he was built like a literal armored tank.

However, enough attacks would eventually either wear Snorlax down, or Raticate would get a lucky hit somewhere. So I guess we should probably put an end to this.

I followed all of Raticate's movements while also feeling its aura out, divining its intentions before telepathically communicating its next move to Snorlax.

"Keep it up Raticate! Don't let it counterattack!" Gary cried out in encouragement.

"Rati-"

"SNORLAX!"

*POW!*

*CRASH!*

A stunned silence descended upon the arena as everyone looked at Raticate, who was just laying there in the dirt while twitching occasionally.

"Snore." Snorlax declared, stating 'that's that', before walking back over to my side and holding his hand out expectantly.

"Yeah yeah, here you go." I said while handing him one of the Pokeblocks, which Snorlax readily swallowed before bloating up noticeably.

"Snorlax!" He suddenly declared, before wrapping his arms around me and giving me a bone-crushing hug that would put even an Ursaring to shame.

"You're....welcome...Snorlax...." I gasped out as the air was forced out of my lungs, before he finally released me and I was allowed to breathe again.

Snorlax then waddled over to the side, and proceeded to roll over onto his back before promptly falling asleep.

"Well, at least he's affectionate...." I said while making sure none of my bones were broken. I'd hate to see what would've happened if Snorlax refused to listen to me like Ash's Spearow had him.

While doing that Gary has returned his Raticate and starting to appear anxious after two of his pokemon were so easily dispatched. And neither of them were pushovers either.

But, if we were following the same lineup as the previous battle, then up next was.....

""GO-!""

"Kadabra!"

"Gastly!"

"Gaaaaaaaastly!" Gastly wailed upon entering the arena, once again stunning everyone with the pokemon I chose.

First an alpha Pidgeot, then a giant Snorlax, and now an alpha Gastly. Just what in Mew's name will I send out next?

They would have to wait to find out though, as everyone was currently struck dumb by Gastly's appearance. Gary however was gritting his teeth in frustration to learn that I had another alpha in my party.

"Kadabra, use Psychic!" Gary hurriedly ordered his pokemon to start the battle.

Unfortunately, night had fallen by this point to give Gastly complete control of the battle.

Even as Kadabra used Psychic on Gastly to try and force it to retire, the cloud of gases easily broke free by using the move Night Shade. Not only did it dispel the psychic type energy entrapping Gastly, but it also caused Kadabra's psychic powers to rebound due to the frightening mirage the attack produced.

That was the downside about psychic powers, that one had to maintain a certain level of emotional calm while keeping their mental state in check. It was also partially why several psychic type pokemon were so attuned to the emotions of people around them, and would even react violently in certain cases.

Taking advantage of Kadabra's state, I immediately ordered, "Gastly, Shadow Ball Barrage."

"Gaaaaaaaastly!"

Wailing in reply, Gastly produced four balls of concentrated shadow all around itself before launching them at the Kadabra.

"Kadabra, Teleport!" Gary urgently commanded it, helping Kadabra to recover from its earlier rebound as it vanished from its previous place to appear somewhere else.

"Again Gastly." I ordered, and Gastly prepared another salvo to fire at it.

For the second time Kadabra used Teleport, seemingly planning to continue moving so that Gastly couldn't land a hit on it, while also preparing for a counter attack. Unfortunately for it, we had already planned for that.

Instead of firing all of the Shadow Balls that it had created, Gastly had only used one to psych Kadabra out while waiting for it to reappear. The second it had, Gastly fired the remaining three at it at once.

"Kadabra!" Gary cried out as all three of the remaining Shadow Balls impacted it, dealing significantly damage so that Kadabra collapsed to the ground.

"Kadabra is unable to battle! Gastly wins!" Bill declared, calling an end to the match.

"Return..." Gary said while returning Kadabra to its pokeball, his aura fluctuating erratically after his third pokemon went down so quickly.

Meanwhile Gastly casually floated back to my side.

"Gaaaaastly?"

"You did really well." I told Gastly, which seemed to please it since this was its first real battle with me.

As I said that I pulled the next pokeball from my belt while mentally going through Gary's roster. If I recall correctly, Gary only had Growlithe, Weepinbell and Wartortle left on his team. I knew he also had Umbreon with him, but I doubt he'd use it for this battle with how new it was.

His decision made, Gary also grabbed his next pokeball before we threw them out at the same time.

""GO-""

"Victreebel!"

"Blastoise!"

"""!!!"""

Yet again I surprised everyone as I sent out my alpha Blastoise, who towered over all of us menacingly. Until he began to do his bully Maguire dance...

"Really...?" I asked exasperatedly, which Blastoise ignored as he continued to dance without a single care. I didn't even know HOW he was managing to pull off that dance with how short and stiff his arms were, yet here he was.

Of course the one most affected by Blastoise appearing was Gary, as he probably compared him to his own starter. No matter how many enhancement drugs he used, a regular Blastoise wouldn't be able to measure up to an alpha in size.

But, we weren't battling his starter just yet...

"Victreebel, use Razor Leaf and follow it up with Vine Whip!" Gary quickly ordered.

"TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

With a screech Victreebel waved its large leafy arms to send a rain of razor-sharp leaves at Blastoise, who merely scoffed at the attack.

"How about a Protect?"

"Blast blast, Blastoise." He readily responded while shaking his head. Not out of disobedience, but because he didn't feel any kind of threat from Victreebel's attack.

And true to his word, all of the leaves simply bounced off of his thick, almost plated, skin and shell.

Same with the Vine Whip, with Blastoise not reacting in the slightest as numerous vines smacked his body before wrapping around his arms, legs and body.

"Good, now knock it off balance!" Gary hurriedly ordered, but I could tell he was unnerved by Blastoise's lack of concern towards his opponent. And sure enough, nothing happened.

"TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Victreebel screamed and strained to pull at Blastoise, but my guy didn't even budge at the efforts of his opponent. If anything, Blastoise looked like he was starting to get bored.

"Go ahead and end this Blastoise."

"Blaaaaaaaaast!"

Moving for the first time since he'd stopped dancing, Blastoise repeated Tyrunt's earlier maneuver as he grabbed the vines wrapped around his body, and pulled.

"!!!"

The next thing Victreebel knew it was flying forwards, while Blastoise raised one of his fists up menacingly. We all watched as ice type energy gathered on his fist, before he mercilessly punched Victreebel to the ground.

The pitcher plant lay there momentarily while covered in frost, before Bill called an end to the battle, with yet another victory for me and my team.

"I can't believe this is the same little Squirtle from back at Pewter..." I heard Tracey utter in disbelief.

"See that Squirtle? That's gonna be you one day!"

"Squirtle!" Ash's Squirtle exclaimed while looking up to my Blastoise with stars in its eyes.

"Blaaast."

Blastoise said as he returned to my side, trying to look cool as he did so with his effortless victory. Sorry buddy, but I'm pretty sure that ship sailed when you did your bully Maguire dance in front of everyone.

With this we were down to the final two pokemon on each side, my mouth unconsciously spreading into a grin as I picked out my next one.

"Go, Parasect!"

*CRASH!*

"SEEEEEEEEECT!"

Dwarfing even Blastoise and Snorlax, Parasect appeared with a roar as it prepared to do battle against its opponent, leaving everyone absolutely stunned.

"Ace..... What in the hell is THAT?!" Bill demanded, not even giving me a chance to answer before I was bombarded with dozens of questions, both verbally and mentally with his intense thoughts.

"BILL!" I ended up shouting to his attention, forcing him to halt his unceasing questions before I continued, "battle now, questions later. Ok?"

"I'll hold you to that!" Bill exclaimed excitedly obviously eager to learn everything there was about my massive Parasect.

With Bill pacified, for the moment, I then turned back towards Gary with a smirk that said, 'your turn'.

His expression turning even uglier, Gary grabbed one of the only two pokeballs he could use left. And there was only one option that I knew he could use, even if he did change his team around.

"Go Arcanine!"

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRC!"

Arcanine roared as soon as it appeared in the arena, which would be enough to intimidate any other opponent, but not I or Parasect. I have to admit though, Arcanine is a truly beautiful and majestic pokemon.

To say nothing of the attention Daisy was giving it while at professor Oak's, I had no doubt Gary was equally dedicated to taking care of his pokemon when they were with him. But we can talk about grooming later...

"Arcanine, Flamethrower!" Gary immediately ordered to kick off the battle.

"Dragon Breath."

Draconic energy and flames clashed in the middle of the arena as both our pokemon obeyed our orders, making both attacks pause briefly before the Flamethrower was quickly overwhelmed by the Dragon Breath.

"Move Arcanine!" Gary warned him, prompting Arcanine to swiftly dodge the incoming attack before it could hit.

"Use your speed to go into a Flame Wheel!"

"Arc!" Arcanine barked in response as it shot towards Parasect as fast as possible, apparently it hasn't learned Extreme Speed yet, before curling its body into a ball as flames appeared all along its fur.

Leaving a trail of flames in his wake, Arcanine turned into a rapidly spinning large wheel of flames that shot at Parasect from the side, before hitting it at full force right on the mushroom, which also dislodged a small cloud of spores.

"Seeeeeeeect..." Parasect groaned from the pain of the flames.

"Get them back with a Slash attack." I commanded, and he did just that as he swung around one of his massive claws at Arcanine.

The downside to using moves like Flame Wheel or Rollout was that it usually took a second for the pokemon to reorient themselves after using it, which cost Arcanine dearly as Parasect delivered a powerful Slash with the tip of his claw.

"Arc!"

"Arcanine!" Gary exclaimed as Arcanine took the hit, before we hurriedly followed it up with another attack.

"Give it another Dragon Breath."

"Seeeeeeeect!" With another groan, Parasect dealt the finishing blow to Arcanine.

"Arcanine is unable to battle! Parasect(?) wins!" Bill declared, ending the fifth match and bringing us to the final round.

"Blastoise, mind giving Parasect a shower?" I asked him as Parasect rejoined us, which Blastoise readily complied as he sprayed him with some water from his cannons.

"Parasect...." He groaned in relief from the burns that Arcanine inflicted on him. Yet another benefit of his Dry Skin ability.

As we saw to Parasect, Gary returned Arcanine and made to grab for his final pokemon. There was no debate on what it would be this time, as Gary would never go through a battle like this without his first and strongest fighter. And naturally, I already knew who I was going to use as well.

"Go Blastoise!"

"Go Charizard!"

"BLAAAAAAAAAST!"

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

The moment they were released the two pokemon eyed one another as their auras intensified. Both of them obviously had a chip on their shoulder about their last match back in Cerulean city, Charizard for losing, and Blastoise for nearly losing against him.

I could hear yet another commotion at the entrance of my Charizard, but I ignored them completely focus on this final match against Gary.

"Blastoise, Hydro Pump!"

"Charizard, use Flame Charge."

Both pokemon leapt into action at the same exact moment, as if they were just waiting for the signal to go.

Blastoise started by firing off a pair of powerful blasts from its cannons at Charizard, strong enough that I didn't doubt they could punch through even steel plates. Charizard however took flight with a speed and dexterity that would have been unthinkable when he first evolved, weaving around the blast of water as milti-colored flames coated his body.

"Shoot it down Blastoise!" Gary ordered urgently, prompting his pokemon to fire off numerous Hydro Pumps in rapid succession.

However, having trained extensively with Pidgeot, Vespiquen and Golbat, Charizard skillfully dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged through every single attack before charging straight at Blastoise.

*CRASH!*

I saw Blastoise get pushed back by several feet as Charizard's flaming body slammed into its, making me smirk since it knew that thing was built like a tank. I had no doubt about the strength of my own Blastoise, but I also had no doubt that Gary's Blastoise would give him a run for his money with all the training and money Gary put into it, alpha or not.

"Now Blastoise! Shoot it from point blank!" Gary commanded, taking this chance while Charizard wasn't moving.

"BLAST!"

Crying out in confirmation, Blastoise aimed it's cannons yet again right at Charizard's head, before firing a powerful blast of water right at him.

The force alone from the attack was enough to dislodge Charizard and send him backwards, which Blastoise took advantage of as it continued the blast of water to force Charizard to the ground while continously dousing him.

"That's it Blastoise! Keep it up!" Gary exclaimed excitedly, probably happy that one of his pokemon was putting up a proper fight for the first time since our battle began.

I just watched as Charizard was held in place by the continuing torrent of pressurized water, unable to either stand or move while Blastoise kept up the attack. And this continued for the better part of a minute, until Blastoise was seemingly unable to keep the attack going any longer.

For a moment everyone held their breath as they waited to see the state of Charizard after taking such a powerful attack for so long, but what awaited us surprised nearly everyone.

"Char!" Charizard growled as he stood and flared his wings out to make himself look larger, snarling at Blastoise as he did so as if to say 'is that all?'

"No way..." Gary uttered in disbelief.

"Way." I said to him with a smirk.

Though he had taken a fair amount of damage from that attack(he just wasn't showing it), Charizard had been training almost nonstop ever since losing against Blastoise(still Wartortle then). Every single chance he got, he was training his resistance to water.

If there was a lake, ocean or river nearby, he was swimming. If there wasn't, then he would have whatever water type pokmeon I had on me at the moment help by using water type attacks against him for as long as possible.

It truly was amazing how much that one loss impacted Charizard, and motivated him to overcome this weakness. I was tempted to see if we could get him used to taking rock type attacks next.

"Amazing... I've never seen a fire type pokemon take such a powerful and prolonged water type attack with so litte damage..." I heard Tracey utter in awe.

"Indeed. That Charizard doesn't just look special." Bill said in agreement, which actually earned him a dirty look from Charizard. Yeah buddy, I'd be mad too if someone just dismissed all my hard work as just being 'special'. But we can get to that later.

"Charizard, use Flamethrower." I commanded him, getting the battle going once again.

"Shit! Blastoise, Withdraw!" Gary quickly ordered, prompting his Blastoise to suck its arms, legs, tail and head back into it's shell.

Smart move since it would probably take some time for Blastoise to recover from expending all that energy on those Hydro Pumps. But I had no intention to let them recover so easily.

"Charizard, change of plans." I told him as an idea entered my mind, an idea I shared with him via Telepathy.

Cutting off his Flamethrower, Charizard flapped his wings as he flew at Blastoise, who was still huddled within its shell. He then grabbed Blastoise and took off into the air, taking the large turtle with him.

"Did I mention that he's also been training his strength by flying with large rocks and logs?" I asked with a shit-eating grin.

"Damn it... Blastoise, get free NOW!" Gary hurriedly told his starter, obviously desperate for it to get loose before Charizard carried it even higher.

"Now Charizard, Seismic Toss!"

"Char!"

Roaring in affirmation, Charizard flipped around before throwing Blastoise down back at the ground.

"Bastoise, try and use another Hydro Pump at the ground to kill your momentum!" Gary ordered with noticeable urgency in his voice, and I had to admit, it wasn't a bad idea. If Charizard wasn't there.

"Charizard, use Tackle attack."

"Char!"

Charizard dove down as Blastoise fired its twin cannons to try and slow its momentum, only for Charizard to slam into it from behind to drive it downwards even faster. Then, right before they both hit the ground, he pulled out from the dive to soar back up into the air.

*CRASH!*

Blastoise hit the ground, HARD, and lay there in a small crater without moving. Bill waited for a few seconds to see if it would get up, before declaring, "Blastoise is unable to battle! Charizard and Ace win!"

"Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!" Charizard roared while firing off a blast of fire in celebration, both heating and lighting the area up after redeeming his loss in Cerulean.

Gary on the other hand appeared sullen, his expression dark and brooding as he returned Blastoise to its pokeball.

(A.N. and just because I know people are going to try and claim so in the comments, Gary is NOT going to turn evil just because he lost to Ace. He's just never got his ass beat this badly.)