[ Author Note: Guys, my apologies for these short chapters, I have been focusing most of my writing on 100k words for my novel " A Song of Blood and War " in the web novel context. Would appreciate it if you checked it out. ]

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" Chansey, return," Austin exclaimed calmly. "Go, Haunter."

The red light accumulated as Haunter appeared out of an amalgamation of shadows causing gasps to go around the crowd that had formed.

" Chansey went first. Go with the plan." Austin whispered, knowing very well that Haunter's sharp senses would pick up on it, as her eyes glowed brightly.

" Go, Nidoqueen, use crunch !"

Nidoqueen appeared on the battlefield as she let out a cry, accumulating dark energies in her mouth as she went ahead to charge at the grinning Haunter—

Only to stop midway, unable to move. At all.

"What's happening?" Gary cried out.

Austin smirked. "Use psychic curse."

Haunter's claws glowed maliciously as something leaped from her body, making the poison and ground type cry out in agony. The curse had begun its assault.

Gary growled, seeing Nidoqueen completely stuck in her position, and by the looks of it, about to collapse anyway. There was only one thing he could do in this position. Deliver an attack that didn't need him to move.

"Use hyper beam!"

Nidoqueen used up the entirety of his power to release a powerful hyper beam. The energy condensed into his maw, before he released it at the grinning form of the malicious ghost in front of him, striking him head-on.

The hyper beam traveled past Haunter, hitting the ground behind it.

"Normal moves don't work on ghost types, Gary," Austin replied calmly. "Did you forget that? A pity."

The hyper beam had blasted the point of contact apart, inundating the entire area in smoke as Haunter's psychic hold broke and attacked Nidoqueen head-on.

When the smoke had dissipated, an unconscious Nidoqueen stood fallen on the ground.

"Nidoqueen is unable to battle. Haunter is the winner." Jeany proclaimed.

"What?" Gary could not comprehend it.

It had only been two months since he last saw Ash, how did he get so strong? He lifted Nidoqueen's Pokeball, and duly returned him. "All right. You have had your tricks, but no more. Go, Arcanine."

Austin arched an eyebrow.

"What was that trap?" Gary asked, plainly curious. "It wasn't made by Haunter."

Austin smirked. " It's nice to see you're paying attention. But... unfortunately, it is the wrong kind of attention." He raised his voice. "Haunter, deal with the Arcanine."

Haunter's grin deepened, as it slowly levitated itself into the air.

Gary had had enough. "Arcanine, use crunch."

Arcanine let out a woof as he leaped off the ground into the air to bite onto Haunter, only for Haunter to shatter into a dozen different illusions, making Arcanine fall onto the ground. As soon as that happened, the illusory forms surrounded Arcanine.

Gary gnashed his teeth. "Use Burn Up."

Austin arched an eyebrow. He certainly hadn't expected that one. Arcanine hid lit up in blueish flames which began to expand out.

"Sludge bomb!" Austin commanded, as the illusory forms shot out large mounds of thick, poisonous sludge towards Arcanine, who was trapped in the center.

"Use Iron tail to deflect them," Gary ordered as the flaming Arcanine twisted sending a wave of flames out.

Austin had to admit. It was a good counter. Steel-types were immune to poison-type moves, and hence, it was the safest counter to the sludge bomb. However, the poison was simply a distraction. The sludge was the main attack.

As soon as the Arcanine's tail hit the sludge bomb, the flames of burn up caused the sludge bomb to explode covering Arcanine a horrendous sludge that seemed to explode due to the heat.

Arcanine's burn-up was negated in such an effortless manner as Austin grinned. " Dark Pulse."

" What? NO!" Gary yelled, as Haunter, with a cackling grin, sent out a spiraling beam of dark-type energy which hit the sludge, now covering half of Arcanine's shining hide, as well as the ground around him, causing an ignition that exploded with the force of a small bomb. Haunter, thanks to her ghost nature, had simply turned incorporeal, vanishing the other illusory forms, enabling her to remain unaffected by it. The same could not be said for Arcanine.

"Arcanine is unable to battle." Jeany declared. "Haunter is the winner."

"Well done, Haunter." Austin congratulated Haunter and released a cackling laugh.

Austin turned towards Gary while remembering Cynthia's words.

Rule number 3. Victory is paramount in the first battle. It puts the opponent on the defensive, and that's half the battle won, allowing you to play your cards better.

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Gary Oak had never really been one to take defeat easily.

Ever since he had started his journey with his trusted Squirtle, he had made it an ambition of sorts to capture a multitude of pokémon for the first month, and then create teams of out, both in terms of battling and in terms of power. The former was for delayed gratification, something that would aid him in the league, and the latter, to keep on a winning streak against the rookies he met on the road. He had, thanks to the convertible his parents had gifted him, driven to Pewter to challenge Brock, making sure that he had caught a couple of grass pokémon on the way, since those, along with his Squirtle, would be in an advantageous position against Brock and his rock-types.

He had won the battle without any problems.

He had repeated the same process, only this time capturing pokémon with aerial abilities, or psychic ones, though making sure that he had captured some rock types as well since they would be effective against Surge and his electric types. By the time May was over, Gary had already completed a winning streak across six gyms—Pewter, Cerulean, Vermillion, Chrysanthemum, and Celadon.

Being a trainer wasn't an easy thing. That much Gary could agree with. However, what he could not comprehend was how the best of his team, whom he had personally trained over the past few months, were getting their asses wiped by Ashy boy's pokémon.

It was sacrilege.

"I have had enough of you and your hit-and-run tactics, Ashy boy." Gary snarled. "Let's see what you can do against one of my strongest pokemon." He lifted out his next Pokeball and threw it into the ground. "Win for me, Kadabra."