"Begin," shouted Professor Oak.
Damien immediately released his Bulbasaur as Ash called out Charmander.
"Alright you stupid plant. You better win this for me, or you will be in a world of hurt later on," promised Damien. This did nothing good for the poor Bulbasaur, that was already nervous at the prospect of its first battle. In fact, the poor thing began to slightly shake.
Meanwhile, Ash spoke softly to Charmander in a voice so low that nobody else could hear. "Charmander... I know this isn't the way either of us probably envisioned our first battle. I acted a bit rashly accepting this challenge and should never have risked our friendship over this. However, I ask that you put your trust in me friend. Like I said, together we will be unstoppable."
Charmander starred at Ash for a while, before giving the boy a nod and turned towards the Bulbasaur.
Damien made the first move. "Tackle attack and make it snappy!" The grass Pokemon did its best to focus on the task as hand and began to charge at the fire type.
For Ash, things seemed to slow down as he analyzed the situation. Barring any Egg moves, a fresh Bulbasaur only knows tackle and growl. Charmander knows scratch and growl as well. No environmental advantage either given neither Pokemon knew any elemental moves yet. A pretty even match at first glance. But Ash knew better.
"Charmander, when Bulbasaur is about 5 feet away, I want you to dodge with a short precise jump. Wait for my signal... NOW."
The fire type easily jumped out of the way of the tackle as the grass type blew by. As Bulbasaur turned around, Ash made his first move.
"Growl now!" Charmander let out a might growl, intimidating the Bulbasaur and lowering its attack.
"What are you doing! Tackle that fire lizard and don't let it get away," shouted Damien.
Ash couldn't help but be disappointed at the predictable aggressive strategy that Damien was employing, but with Charmander on the line, he stayed focused. "Lets keep it up Charmander. Same strategy as before! Keep your dodges concise, but unpredictable"
The battle continued in the same fashion. Damien ordering an attack, Charmander dodging, and then Charmander growling at the Bulbasuar. This continued for some time until Damien finally lashed out at somebody other than his poor Pokemon.
"Is this a Pokemon battle or not? Fight me kid and stop running away!"
Ash finally let a smirk on his face and looked at Damien. "Be careful what you ask for Damien."
Bulbasaur began another charge, but this time Ash instructed Charmander differently. "Charmander! Let the Bulbasuar get as close as possible... NOW SCRATCH DIRECTLY INTO BULBASAUR'S FACE!"
The Bulbasaur, exhausted from tackling over and over and with little attack power left, was unable to dodger and offered little resistance as the two Pokemon clashed. Charmander's scratch scored a direct hit and flung the poor grass Pokemon back to its stunned trainer.
"Get up plant! GET UP! ARE YOU LISTENING! GET UP!" No matter how much Damien screamed, Bulbasaur was unable to answer the trainer's command, and blissfully fell into a state of unconsciousness.
With a sigh of relief, Professor Oak called the match. "Bulbasaur is unable to battle! Ash and Charmander win!"
Damien still couldn't fathom how that punk beat him. "You must have cheated or something. No way a talentless hack like you could beat me!"
Ash couldn't help but brag a bit as he retorted, "I didn't need to Damien. You made the battle far too easy. You see, we both had two starter Pokemon that seemed to be evenly matched, but if you knew your Pokemon, you would know that a new Charmander still has an advantage over a new Bulbasuar."
Annoyed and angry, Damien asked, "And that is?"
"Speed," Ash replied. "Charmander at its core has a higher base potential for speed. Keeping this in mind, it was easy to have Charmander dodge your attacks and whittle down Bulbasaur's attack power, all the while Bulbasaur tired itself out from all those tackles. Charmander was also able to dodge in short efficient movements, conserving energy. After that, all there was left to do was a quick direct hit and Bulbasaur was out for the count. You lose Damien."
Done with the bully, Ash walked to his Charmander and got down to his level once more on a knee rubbing the Pokemon on the head. "I'm really sorry for putting you in this situation buddy, but I couldn't be more prouder. You were amazing out there Charmander!" The young fire type preened and punched Ash's shoulder in a gentle manner, as if to say, all is forgiven.
Sadly for the duo, Damien was not done yet. Out of his sleeve, another Pokeball emerged and he quickly called it out. "Doduo! Fury attack on that kid and the Charmander now!"
Ash and Charmander could do nothing but turn around as the giant bird charged towards the two of them with a sharp beak and at a speed far greater than Bulbasaur. Professor Oak had no Pokemon on hand and was too far away to offer any aid. It looked like things were about to get ugly.
Just before the attack came, and faster than anyone could see, a yellow blur sprinted out of some nearby bushes in front of Ash and Charmander, and a flash of lightning emerged from its body headed right for the Doduo...
END OF CHAPTER
Fun fact - Just wrote this while the power is out thanks to a Hurricane, but the generator is keeping the internet going and some outlets. Hopefully, I did Ash with a mindset akin to Red in battle some justice. Did you enjoy the battle? Also, enter Pikachu! Why did the little creature choose this moment to step in? Find out next chapter.
To my second reviewer Kenrio - Thanks for the review! I hope you can see now that it was not my intent for Ash to use Charmander as a tool for some grudge. Like I mentioned in the PM, Ash is still a kid and has a bit of a temper that can override rational judgment. Thanks to your feedback though, I did consider it and was able to add some dialogue to this chapter showing Ash trying to rectify his mistakes. Thanks again for the critique!
Be sure to review and tell me what you guys thought of this chapter!
