"Misty calls, Sharpedo."

The pokémon that appeared in the water looked like a large, blue shark with black eyes, with fins on all sides, and large, powerful jaws.

" Thunderbolt ! "

" Stop him with Hydro pump!"

A powerful, pin-pointed jet of water slammed into Clefairy, the mere momentum of it pushing the fairy pokémon backwards, disrupting the very momentum of energy he needed to perform an adequate thunderbolt .

Sharpedo however, wasn't done yet.

"Use night slash!"

" Attack with brick break ."

The two attacks slammed into each other, though night slash, which had a higher critical hit value, made a deep gash into Clefairy, causing the fairy pokémon to groan in slight pain.

" Use gravity on the water ."

Clefairy's eyes glowed a powerful blue, as the entire water column rose like a giant tide, much to Misty's chagrin.

"Throw it down onto Sharpedo!"

"Swim over and use another night slash on Clefairy!"

"Meteor Mash!" Austin exclaimed while revealing one of the moves that Clefairy had learned in the previous battles but didn't show it.

The two attacks slammed into each other, with Sharpedo sent flying back to the pool, while Clefairy groaned in pain as that night slash was a critical hit.

Austin held out his pokeball. "Clefairy, return!"

"And Ash Ketchum returns his Clefairy, Does he have any other pokémon to counter Misty's Sharpedo?"

"I choose you, Pidgeot!"

With a screech, Pidgeot soared up into the air, staring at the shark-pokémon still in the water.

"Pidgeot, use gust!" Austin commanded.

The avian began to beat her wings faster, creating an extremely powerful gust, causing severe turbulence in the water body.

"It won't work, Ash." Misty yelled from the other end. "Sharpedo's swim easily in turbulent seas. A little gust of wind isn't even comparable."

Is that so? Thank you for the information. Austin thought inwardly.

"Pidgeot, use twister."

An entire column of water rose from the water platform, forming a tornado, as it sucked Sharpedo into it. However, Sharpedo being who it was, was quickly able to manoeuvre through the raging sea storm.

"Use Ariel wing on Sharpedo!" Austin called out.

"Dive into the twister."

Just as Misty stated, Sharpedo quickly vanished into the twister, away from Pidgeotto, turning Pidgeot's own attack into an impenetrable defence.

Damn.

"Release the twister and use air slash!"

The twister dissipated, as Sharpedo found himself back in the pool, easily dodging attacks from the avian.

"We have dillydallied long enough. Finish this, Sharpedo. Use ice-beam!"

Sharpedo widened its jaws further, launching a powerful ice-beam towards Pidgeot.

" Aerial Wing into the Ice beam ."

Austin's command caused Misty's eyes to widen as Pidgeot disappeared , before appearing directly on top of the shark-pokémon with the ice covered steel wing directly impacting Sharpedo.

Due to the ice beam weakening the steel wing , even with the momentum of aerial ace the damage wasn't that much.

Austin clicked his tongue before he decided to switch out Pidgeot ," U-turn ."

Austin's shout was heard loud and clear as Pidgeot shot out like a canon ball with bug type energy swirling around it.

The speed of the U-turn was so fast that everyone only saw a flash of green before Pidgeot switched out with Clefairy.

" Sharpedo is unable to battle. Pidgeot is the winner."

Misty scowled. "Looks like you have gotten stronger Ketchum then try my oldest pokémon." She plucked another pokeball and threw it into the pool. "Misty calls, Kingdra!"

The pokémon that turned corporeal from the red light resembled a large, blue dragon with two horns above its head, two vestigial flippers at the back and a yellow underbelly, at least from what was visible above the water.

"A Kingdra?" Austin whispered while his thoughts shifted to the Horsea that misty caught in the anime.

Is that Horsea out there or had misty caught it before she started to travel with them ?

Shaking his head out of his thoughts, Austin looked at Clefairy who was visibly damaged.

Austin took out his pokeball to switch out Clefairy but Clefairy refused to switch out.

Austin's gaze met Clefairy's gaze and without any words Clefairy's message was given to Austin.

I am not weak ! I will battle.

Austin had a bitter taste in his mouth as he wanted to assure his friend that he wasn't weak rather that his trainer was.

' I got to believe in the strength and resilience of my Pokemon and to stop treating them like their glass cannons.'

" Minimize ! " Austin shouted while turning his hat backwards.

" Ice-beam!"

Kingdra gurgled loudly, before it threw out an immensely powerful ice-beam at a moment's notice, which shot past the small Clefairy who was using gravity to move around.

" Kingdra, show them your power!"

Kingdra rose from the water, levitating upwards, into the air as if it was making a statement. Once there, she gurgled out loudly.

" Wish " Austin whispered as with Clefairy's excellent hearing it heard its trainer's command.

" Hydropump ! " Misty exclaimed while annoyed that Austin wasn't pulling out some amazing combo against her.

With Misty's inferiority complex, Austin's actions really were getting to her.

As if she wasn't good enough for his amazing over the top combos.

" Gravity to dodge " Austin whispered as the small Clefairy shot out like a bullet trying to dodge the streams of water from Kingdra.

A few seconds later , Clefairy's body was bathed in light as Wish healed all of the fairy pokémon's damaged health.

Misty's eyes widened as she saw that Clefairy was back at full health.

She thought that Kingdra would one shot the damaged Clefairy but now the situation was different.

She was up against a fully healed fairy type with a dragon type.

Misty looked at Austin who mouthed something she couldn't hear as Clefairy shot an ice beam at the water , freezing the entire water arena.

Ignoring the arena , Misty called out ," Scald ."

In response to the attack , Austin just smiled and snapped his fingers as Clefairy used gravity to through back the scald attack at Kingdra who shot an ice beam at the attack.

But this moment of distraction was capitalized by Clefairy as it launched a focus punch at the ice terrain.

Causing slabs of ice to be launched in the air .

Misty's eyes widened as she recognized Austin's strategy .

" Use Hydropump to launch yourself ! "

Kingdra gurgled in response as she shot up in the air but Misty's read on the situation was wrong as Clefairy's magical leaf hit Kingdra mid air before the slabs of ice bashed it's body.

" Kingdra , Hyper beam ! " Misty couldn't help but grit her teeth as she scolded herself for falling for Ash's trap.

Clefairy was supposed to end the battle with thunderbolt but suddenly something different occurred as a manifestation of a moon formed behind Clefairy , borrowing power from the moon , Clefairy shot an orb of fairy energy at Kingdra who returned with a powerful hyper beam which was even more devestating with Kingdra's sniper ability.

The explosion that occurred literally smashed against the water column, almost evaporating half of it by its sheer temperature. When the smoke receded, two pokémon were floating on the top of the remaining pool. Clefairy and Kingdra, had been rendered unconscious.

"Both Kingdra and Clefairy are unable to battle. Since the Blue Trainer has lost all three pokémon, the winner is- Ash Ketchum!"

Misty felt her knees weaken as she slid down to the floor, before returning her oldest friend back to her pokeball. After a moment of silence, she looked up towards Austin and gave him a soft smile. "That was a good battle, Ash."

"Thanks." Austun returned, his entire body shaken, as he returned Clefairy, " So was that your original team ."

Misty chuckled in response as she didn't respond.

Her knuckleheaded friend really was something else.

His growth in these last few months was so fast that she couldn't help but be jealous.

" Misty "

She looked up to see Austin saying ," You didn't answer my question."

In response , Misty just winked and said ," Who knows ? "