" Well, you're certainly taking it easy aren't you, Ashy-Boy?"

Austin turned his head along with everyone else to see Gary with his usual cocky smirk as a Growlithe was next to him.

'Oh right, he was around when the Squirtle Squad was causing trouble.' Austin thought with a shrug.

"What do you want Gary?" Austin asked giving Gary a bored look, secretly smirking as he saw his eye twitch in annoyance.

"Well not that it's any of your business, but I'm just stopping by to buy some supplies before I head to get my fourth badge." Gary said with a smirk. "How many badges do you have Ashy-Boy?"

"Ashy-Boy?" Misty gave Austin a confused look.

"Two." Austin said already knowing what was going on while Bulbasaur was glaring at Gary, seeing the arrogance of this young trainer.

Gary chuckled. "Wow, only two?" He asked as he looked from Austin to his companions. "Oh hey Brock."

"Gary." Brock gave a nod of greeting as he remembered the trainer from the Gym Match. "How's your Squirtle doing?"

"Wartortle is doing great." Gary bragged with a chuckle. "Along with all of my other Pokemon, I must've caught 40 by now, what about you Ashy?"

"Eight" Austin said not really caring causing Gary to chuckle. "So I see your cheerleaders aren't around you, did you lose them?"

"Nah, they're just taking a break and I was bored before seeing you." Gary smirked. "But still only eight Pokemon, are you really that bad of a trainer-?"

"Char!" An ember nearly hit Gary as Charmander got up glaring at him for saying that to Austin while Bulbasaur growled as he stood next to him.

"Hey watch it." Gary said a little annoyed by that as he frowned. "Geez, can't even control your Pokemon Ashy? No wonder you're lagging behind."

"Geez, how do you know him Ash?" Misty was annoyed by his arrogance. "He's very…"

"Detestable." Brock finished for her with his arms crossed.

Yellow gave a nod remembering how he acted on the Nugget Bridge.

"We started our journey on the same day." Austin told her as Gary laughed.

"You mean you started yours late, remember who overslept and missed out on getting the actual starters before making do with your electric rat?" Gary asked in a mocking tone.

'Was he ever this bad during Ash's journey?' Austin thought .

Pikachu glared his cheeks sparking before Austin spoke up. "So what?" He asked giving Gary a glare. "Yes I overslept, but I'm happy I did otherwise I would never have met Pikachu and I would do it over again."

"Psh, that's probably why you're the deadlast of trainers from Pallet." Gary said giving a nonchalant shrug.

"That's not true!" Yellow said to him. "Ash is one of the strongest trainers."

"Oh? You got yourself a little cheerleader?" Gary asked with a smirk as Yellow went red from that. "I thought I recognize her from Cerulean. What did you pay her or something?"

"Yellow is my friend." Austin said giving him a look. "And I don't pay people to say that about me unlike you with your cheerleaders."

That jab caused Gary to frown. "Oh you have a bit more of a backbone than I remember, didn't you use to yell about how you would be a Pokemon Master whenever I dissed you?"

"I decided not to let you get to me." Austin said sweating a bit as Gary was definitely noticing the differences between him and Ash.

' If anyone besides Delia would see that it would be him.' Austin thought as Gary frowned.

"Right, how about I knock you down a peg?" Gary asked pulling a Pokeball out. "Three-On-Three?"

"Chu!" Pikachu clenched a paw while Bulbasaur and Charmander moved out to stand next to him although the latter was nervous.

"You guys sure?" Austin asked as Bulbasaur and Charmander were his newest Pokemon as they gave a nod. "Alright, I accept."

Both of them were in a field near the forest glaring at each other.

"Kick his butt, Ash!" Misty told him as this guy's attitude was grating on her nerves.

Brock kept quiet as he looked between them, he knew how strong Gary was when he battled him with just a Squirtle only.

Chances are, he was a lot stronger with a more balanced team and Austin was going to be using his two newest Pokemon along with Pikachu.

So Austin would be at a major disadvantage in this fight.

"Gary, Gary he's our man, if he can't do it no one can." The cheerleaders that Austin was speaking about were doing what they did as Yellow gave them weird looks.

"I thought Ash was kidding about the cheerleaders." Yellow said as her Pokemon were out with her.

Unknown to everyone there, the Squirtle Squad was also in the area, using the battle as a distraction to set up another prank for anyone else who walked through this area, although the leader was interested to see this fight, especially since he might watch the Bulbasaur who insulted him get beaten down.

"Last chance to back down before I humiliate you Ashy." Gary taunted as he held a Pokeball, his Growlithe was near him. "Growlithe watch this match and you'll see how strong you can become."

'Must be his newest Pokemon.' Austin thought with a frown as he stood with his three Pokemon out. "Why don't you put your Poke where your mouth is." He returned. "Charmander you're up."

"Char." Charmander walked out, looking determined to win despite how nervous he was.

"Well you found some rare Pokemon I'll give you that." Gary mocked as he was a bit surprised that 'Ash' had two of the three Kanto Starters before he kissed the Pokeball as he threw it, sending a Nidorino out.

Both of them glared at each other before Gary took the initiative. "Horn Attack!"

Nidorino moved quickly causing Charmander to take a step back before Austin called out the order. "Smokescreen!"

Quickly steeling himself, Charmander let out a cloud of dark smoke that covered around him as Nidorino charged through it, missing the Charmander due to lack of visual.

"Now Metallic Dragon Claw!"

Charmander's claws glowed green with a metallic shine as he slashed them across the Nidorino's back, the dragon and steel type combo move negating the poison spikes as the Nidorino landed on his feet, jumping back as he did a Double Kick that Gary called out, sending him rolling back.

Charmander pushed himself up as he winced in pain, that was a lot stronger than the people that Damian fought before he saw Nidorino coming in with another Double Kick.

Seeing Gary's confident smirk, Austin knew that the trainer wasn't taking him seriously as he glared at him.

But that would work for him because Charmander could win if he was careful.

Austin gave a grimace as he wasn't so sure about the plan he just thought of .

"Charmander use Ember."

Gary busted out laughing. "Just an ember? That's one of the weakest fire type moves." He taunted as Charmander gritted his teeth at hearing the word 'weak'.

"Char!" Charmander shot a barrage of embers at the Nidorino who moved through them as the poison Pokemon was getting ready to do another Horn Attack.

"Stay there." Austin ordered as Charmander tensed, fighting the urge to get out of the way as the Nidorino got closer and closer before he reacted. "Use your Metallic Dragon Claw to stop him."

Everyone stared in surprise as Charmander's claws glowed and he braced himself as Nidorino rammed into him causing him to slide back as he was trying to stop the Poison Pokemon before digging his feet into the ground.

Charmander was obviously struggling as the Nidorino was slowing down, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long, but he looked over his shoulder to see Austin who despite giving the order looked worried and he forced himself to keep going.

He wasn't going to lose this battle, he refused to.

"Char." Charmander growled as the metallic dragon claw increased in size .

Austin immediately took out the beeping Pokédex and saw that the unknown ability of the genetic Anomaly of a Charmander was tough claws but something was missing as Austin saw a few question marks lining beside tough claws meaning Charmander had another ability that he hadn't activated yet.

"Now use it ! " Austin ordered as Charmander slashed forward launching nidorino into the sky .

Charmander knew that he could use dragon breath to defeat the nidorino but it wanted to prove that he was a great fire type and that Damien was wrong .

A huge blast of fire was shot at nidorino , causing a small explosion as the Nidorino was blasted back to the ground while Charmander looked more injured from the explosion as he was panting.

"W-What was that?!" Yellow asked worried about Charmander.

"That was a Flame burst ." Brock said recognizing the attack. "A powerful one too."

Gary stared in shock as Nidorino wasn't getting back up so he returned it. "Okay Ashy, so you got lucky." He said although there was no arrogance in his tone, he sounded cautious. "I better stop holding back then-."

A scream caused them to stop as they saw that parts of the flame burst hit some trees and were spreading at an extremely quick pace.

"Oh no." Austin said in shock as they accidentally started a forest fire.