Austin was up extremely early again the day of the Gym Battle with Pikachu on his shoulder, standing outside to watch the sunrise.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous.

Not only would this be the toughest battle yet, he was still unsure on which version of Surge he would be fighting.

If it was the one from the Anime he would be relieved as while that guy was a bit of a dick, he was a good person at heart.

However, if it was the version from the Manga, the Team Rocket Lieutenant, he might be in for a fight of his life.

"Chu?" Pikachu spoke up, his ears twitching much to the duo's surprise before they heard footsteps and turned to see Paul coming out of the Pokemon Center.

"Morning." Austin greeted, looking away as he decided to at least be civil.

Paul didn't say anything, but he did give Austin a bored, unimpressed look.

Austin winced.

Why did he even greet Paul? Oh well might as keep the conversation going. "It's a beautiful morning isn't it?"

… Man that was a horrible attempt.

"What do you want?" Paul asked harshly, not knowing who this was.

"Just being friendly," Austin answered with a shrug. "Well and I'm bored as well considering the Gym doesn't open for another hour."

That caught Paul's attention. "You're challenging Surge?" He asked looking from Austin to the Pikachu on his shoulder. "Are you by any chance using that Pikachu?"

"Yes I am and before you say anything I know about his Raichu," Austin said surprising Pikachu who looked down at Austin before remembering that his trainer did research the Gym's a bit. "What about you?"

"I already beat Surge, anyone can with a competent Pokemon which is more than what I can say for most of the trainers in there." Paul said harshly with a pointed look at the Pokemon Center where various trainers were with injured Pokemon.

Austin frowned, not liking that but he kept it to himself.

He didn't have to from how Paul returned his frown. "You disagree?"

"I find that if the time and effort is put into training, any Pokemon has the ability to be strong." Austin said not really caring what Paul thought.

"Tch, of course you're one of those types." Paul said bitterly.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" Austin asked.

Where did that come from? Why did he ask that?

"Do I even need to explain it?" Paul asked giving Austin a look. "You'll never make it as a trainer like that."

"I made it this far and I only lost twice in all the battles I've had." Austin said not in a bragging tone, but just telling the truth.

"Is that so?" Paul asked still a bit harsh, but a little curious at that piece of info. "How many Pokemon do you have?"

"Up to ten, but counting evolutions fifteen." Austin answered with a shrug. "I might put more time and effort, but I don't catch too many to keep up. You?"

"Twenty." Paul answered, not saying if he kept them all or not.

Austin really didn't want to know the answer to that one.

"I'm Ash by the way," Austin said realizing that they spoke this whole time and Paul didn't know who he was. "Ash Ketchum."

Huh, he seems to be getting used to doing that now.

Paul just grunted, not bothering to give his name.

Okay now Austin felt himself getting annoyed before smirking. "Actually I think I might know who you are, did you happen to fight someone named AJ?"

That caught Paul's attention as he gave Austin another cold look, this one however was one of confusion.

"He mentioned someone with purple hair named Paul before we battled, would that happen to be you?"

By that point, now Pikachu got a pretty good idea of who this was and remembered Scyther's story causing for him to openly glare at Paul.

"What's it to you?" Paul asked now on the cautious side.

"Nothing really, just thinking it might be fun to battle you someday." Austin said with a shrug.

Paul kept silent as he looked at Austin with narrowed eyes before turning around and walking away.

"Three-on-Three." Paul spoke up, surprising both of them as they looked at Paul who stopped. "If you beat Surge we'll battle tomorrow."

With that said, Paul walked off.

Austin blinked, actually not expecting that as he thought that Paul would just blow him off as pathetic.

But now he had a battle planned with him?

'I don't plan to lose .' Austin thought as he knew he would need his three strongest Pokemon to battle Paul.

Any if his original team would work except for Fearow as he would be out of commission for another week from what Prof. Oak told him.

In two days however he could get Fearow back and do some light training that doesn't involve his wings.

So for the battle against Paul he would use Pikachu, Raticate, Butterfree, Pidgeotto, Scyther or Bulbasaur.

That was when Austin winced.

He should let all of them, especially Scyther know so he wouldn't be surprised.

"Ash!" Austin's head perked up at hearing the name and turned to see the others walking out of the Pokemon Center.

"Morning guys." Austin said with a wave as Pikachu was still glaring at where Paul walked off in.

"Uh what's wrong with Pikachu?" Brock asked at seeing that.

Austin paused, contemplating on telling them before deciding it wouldn't hurt. "We met Paul, Scyther's old trainer." He said.

That got some reaction out of them.

"What did he want?" Misty asked a bit frostily.

She wasn't one to like anyone who abandoned their Pokemon.

"He doesn't know I have Scyther and I just wished him a good morning before we got into a debate on which was a better way to raise Pokemon." Austin answered with a shrug. "Then he said if I beat Surge we would have a three-on-three battle tomorrow."

"Ash are you sure about that? Paul isn't someone to take lightly." Brock warned, remembering his battle against the young man.

"I have every confidence that my friends will win." Austin spoke up earning a cry of agreement from Pikachu.

"Just don't get too overconfident." Misty said making Austin twitch.

"Hey."

"Don't worry you'll do great," Yellow had a smile on her face. "Against both him and Surge."

"Heh, thanks Yellow." Austin said as he rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly.

He then paused .

What was with him today?

"Speaking of Surge, you better beat him," Misty had her arms crossed giving him a look. "You already beat both Brock and me, how do you think we'll look if you lose?"

"Do you really want ne to answer that?" Austin asked with a smirk as he sometimes did that to people back home.

He kind of missed that.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Misty had a glare for him doing that causing him to laugh.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on losing."

"No one ever does Ash," Brock reminded him. "Trust me you don't want to underestimate Surge."

Brock knew that Austin was a good trainer, one that would make it to the big leagues if he kept going the route he was. But Surge was a man who sometimes broke a trainers spirit by beating them in battle.

He didn't want to see that happen to Austin.

"Brock, I never underestimate my opponents," Austin looked up at him with a serious look. "No matter who they are."

The team he had worked to the bone this last week to get stronger, even more so when he began to exercise along with them.

Austin knew that they would refuse to lose in any fight.

Just like how he would from this point further.

And if things kept going like from the game, or Manga instead of the Anime, then he couldn't afford to lose.

It took a bit to make it to the Gym as they had to ask for some directions before they found themselves outside of a big building with several lightning bolts on it.

"Chu." Pikachu had a determined look as he wanted to fight Paul after Surge, so he was willing to win no matter what.

Austin smiled and reached up, rubbing Pikachu's cheek causing him to give a soft cry of bliss.

Amazing in how in three months, Pikachu was so comfortable with him compared to how when they first started.

"You have to admit, the guy can make a intimidating Gym." Austin commented looking at the building with how while it looked the same from the show, it had a more intimidating feel to if.

"It is, isn't it?" Yellow asked seeing what he meant.

"You going to back out?" Misty asked with a smirk to show she was joking.

"Nope, we won't get strong if we run away from a challenge," Austin said, Pikachu giving a cry of agreement. "That's why we're going to go in and win."

"Are we ever going to go inside?" Brock asked a bit amused by this.