“Huh? Paul, what are you doing here?”
“Who are you?”
Hands in his pockets, Paul asked ftly, his expression was indifferent.
“What?! Paul, what’s your deal? It’s me, Barry!”
Momentarily stunned, Barry shouted in disbelief.
“No recolle.”
Paul responded casually, as if it were nothing.
“Are you kidding me? We battled before, and now you’re pretending to have amnesia? You should be fined for this!”
Barry’s anger fred instantly.
“Oh, now I remember.”
Paul’s expression shifted slightly as if a realization had dawned on him. “That useless guy.”
“Buzz~”
Standing to the side, Paul’s Electabuzz let out a mog ugh, its gaze filled with disdain as it g Barry and his Prinplup.
The Electrion’s thoughts were clear: Seriously? A fellow Pokémon frhly the same stage of evolutio Prinplup’s trainer mao lose a match they should have won easily. Embarrassing!
Electabuzz’s pt alpable as it scoffed internally: What a disgrace—both trainer and Pokémon. You’re not even worth standing alongside the great Electabuzz.
(￣∠￣)
“Twig~”
Paul’s Turtwig, however, remained polite and kied despite its thoughts. While it also found Barry and Prinplup unimpressive, it refrained from openly showing disdain.
Instead, Turtwig quietly put some distaween itself and the pair, moving closer to Paul, as if it afraid their inpetence might be tagious.
“What?!”
“Prin-plup!”
Barry and Prinplup’s reairrored each other, their wide eyes filled with shock. It was bad enough being dismissed by Paul, but even his Pokémon were looking down on them.
This… this wasn’t right!
“Don’t stray further down the wrong path. Think about your Snorx and Staravia. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a battle to get to.”
Shaking his head, Paul dismissed Barry with an ued remark and walked past him, leaving Barry to silently ponder his words.
Paul’s mention of Snorx and Staravia was his way of pointing out the fws in Barry’s approaot every Pokémon adapt to a sirategy. Training must be tailored to the individual Pokémon.
If Barry still doesn’t get it after such a clear hint, Paul will have no choice but to pletely disregard him iure: Barry? Who? Never heard of him. Keep your distance, useless trainer.
“Hey, how about a battle? You and your Dewott.” Paul asked, turning to a young boy standing nearby.
“Hah-cha~”
At the mention of a battle, the Dewott’s eyes sharpened. It g Paul’s Electabuzz and Turtwig, drawing its twin scalchops from its thighs and assuming a battle-ready stance.
“A battle… Dewott isn’t in the best shape right now. Maybe we should pass.” The boy replied hesitantly, looking at his visibly injured Dewott.
“Hah-cha!”
Dewott turo gre at its trainer, its expression stubborn and displeased.
“I have a Potion and a Berry. Use them, a will be ready in two minutes.”
Paul reached into his pocket and tossed the items—a Berry to Dewott and a Potion to the boy.
“Hah!”
Dewott deftly caught the Berry, swallowing it in one gulp. It then leaped to snatch the Potion, expertly applying it to its injuries.
The boy stood frozen, holding the unused Potion, clearly unsure of how to respond.
“I’m Paul from Veilstoy. What about you?”
Hands still in his pockets, Paul observed the boy and his Pokémon with a calm demeanor.
Under Paul’s intense presehe boy stammered nervously, “I-I’m Winter… Winter Song, from Striaton City in Unova. I’m a rookie trainer, a is my starter Pokémon.”
“Whion will you use against Dewott?” Winter asked, his eyes flickeriween Paul’s Turtwig aabuzz, silently hoping it wouldn’t be the intimidatirion.
“her.”
Paul pulled a Poké Ball from his pocket and tossed it forward.
“Kabuto, prepare for battle!”
The Pokémon that emerged was a Kabuto, its body covered by a dome-shaped, gray-brown shell. It stared at Dewott, its bck body visible beh the shell, adorned with two red eyes and four cwed limbs.
“Hah-cha!”
Dewott, having recovered its strength, tossed the empty Potion aside, brandished its scalchops and adopted a fighting stance.
“Kabuu…”
For a moment, Kabuto hesitated and intimidated by Dewott’s sharp gaze. It took a step back almost as if siderireating altogether.
But sensing Paul’s unwavering gaze from behind, Kabuto steeled itself and locked eyes with Dewott.
“You may attack first.” Paul said.
“Dewott, use Razor Shell!”
“Hah!”
Dewott lunged forward, its scalchops glowing as they transformed into sharp bdes, sshing at Kabuto.
“Harden!”
Kabuto dropped low, its shell gleaming briefly as its defense increased.
The Razor Shell strikes nded with a g-g-g, but Kabuto remained unmoved, tinuing to bolster its defenses with Harden.
The repeated strikes caused Dewott’s arms to tremble from the recoil, while Kabuto appeared unscathed.
“Try Fury Cutter instead!”
Winter adjusted his strategy, knowing Fury Cutter’s power increased with each secutive hit.
As Dewott’s scalchops glowed with a faint green light, Paul’s voice rang out: “Screech!”
Kabuto suddenly rose aed an ear-pierg sound, causi to flind drop one of its scalchops as it covered its ears.
“Screech lowers defense signifitly. Now, Aqua Jet!”
Kabuto enveloped itself in a jet of water and surged forward at blinding speed, striki head-on.
“Dewott, dodge!” Winter shouted, but it was too te.
The force of the Aqua Jet se flying, and before it could recover, Kabuto followed up with Scratch, its cws glowing as it delivered the finishing blow.
Dewott colpsed to the ground, still scious but uo tihe battle.
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