Surge released an Electabuzz. The Pokémon looked a bit larger than typical specimens and appeared much stronger as well.
Surge looked at Axew and laughed a bit. "Seriously? You have a dragon type as well, and that one is from Unova. Damn, I should have checked your profile once, but with such a long line of trainers, I stopped doing that a while ago."
Surge looked at the dragon and continued, "The last time I saw one of its line was during an incursion from Unova into Kanto during wartime. Although, I saw less of this line and more of that three-headed black dragon launching aerial attacks. Of course, it was Blaine who was doing the heavy lifting back then, with me providing support to him with my regiment. Ah, what the hell, I should probably stop boring you with my war stories and start the fight."
Surge then warned him, "I will warn you not to take this one lightly. I am training it for my main team, and after it evolves—when I finally get the blasted Electirizer from a trade deal Lance has been hacking away at with Sinnoh—this one has the potential to be an ace for my main team. It's the son of my main team Electabuzz, who probably won't survive the evolution due to injuries, since most of his body is now made of Ditto cells. Well, that's my piece of info for you. Now then, let's go!"
Grey took in a lot of information but pushed it to the back of his mind as he had to focus. He called out, "Axew, use Dragon Dance!"
Axew began to dance to build up energy, whereas Surge called for an Ice Punch. Electabuzz zoomed in to land the hit, but Axew barely managed to dodge it. Grey told him to counter with Night Slash, and Axew started hacking at the opponent with the attack from both hands. Electabuzz dodged a lot of it while trying to land another Ice Punch in return. Both Pokémon seemed to be experts at close combat. Suddenly, Surge ordered a Discharge. Grey tried to counter it with Dragon Rage, but the electricity spread in an omnidirectional wave, hitting Axew and injuring it.
Grey realized this might be a tough fight for Axew. His Pokémon relies a lot on fighting close-range, but Electabuzz not only seems to be just as good—if not better due to experience—but it is also a special attacker with quite good speed. This was bad; Axew hadn't faced an opponent like this before. He thought for a bit and realized that stalling wouldn't work here. Axew lacks a good recovery move and has no ground moves to use; while it can learn Bulldoze or Earthquake, Grey hadn't found a TM for them, and learning such moves naturally without a connection to the Pokémon would be very difficult.
Grey decided to abandon the idea of prolonging the match. Axew, with its dragon typing, can tank electric attacks, but not for too long. He decided to hit as hard as possible to finish it with overwhelming force, or at least give Meowth a good start against this opponent.
Grey ordered, "Axew, don't hold back! Go all in and overwhelm it at close range! Go all out!"
Axew gave a toothy grin at that, and Surge had a look of great expectation. He ordered Electabuzz to keep its Ice Punch ready and to use Discharge whenever possible in between.
Axew ran toward Electabuzz, who launched a Discharge to keep him at bay, but Axew dodged it and kept closing the distance. At close range, Electabuzz used another Discharge that hit Axew, but it was more like Axew let it hit just to get close. Right there next to Electabuzz, tanking the electricity, Axew launched a cross Night Slash at its gut, sending Electabuzz reeling backward. However, Electabuzz quickly recovered and launched an Ice Punch at Axew that sent him flying further away. Axew landed on his feet and launched Dragon Rages in bursts on Grey's order. On Surge's order, Electabuzz launched Swift. Both spread moves collided in the air, and the moment the smoke dissipated, a Thunderbolt was fired in Axew's direction. Axew tried to counter it with a cross dual Night Slash. The attacks collided, and Axew barely repelled the Thunderbolt. He looked a bit glad about it until an Ice Punch struck his face, sending him flying. By the time Axew was busy clashing with the Thunderbolt, Electabuzz had crept in with Quick Attack to speed up and land the hit.
Axew got up from the punch while he was very injured, but Electabuzz was also in bad shape though not as bad as Axew. For the first time, Axew faced an enemy he couldn't simply overpower. He looked at Grey and nodded, and Grey understood. He called out for a move: "Rampage Slash!"
This was a custom move Axew had come up with after experimenting for the last few days, but the deal was he could only pull it off once or twice as it puts a lot of strain on the baby dragon. This was that time. Axew concentrated draconic and normal energy around its body, surrounded by energy almost like he went Super Saiyan, and then he charged with speed he hadn't reached before.
Surge ordered a Thunderbolt, which Electabuzz fired, but Axew just went through it despite the pain. Only one thing was in his mind: land this hit. Surge told Electabuzz to land an Ice Punch, and it braced for it. With the speed and power at which Axew was charging, he was almost near the Buzz Pokémon. Then, his tusks glowed blue with Dual Chop energy and his arms glowed black with Night Slash energy. He slammed Electabuzz with all his force at once, while the opponent landed an Ice Punch at his gut.
After the clash, Axew skidded a bit ahead of Electabuzz and then fainted. Electabuzz was looking in very bad shape itself. Grey looked at Axew, then withdrew his Pokémon, thanking it.
Rampage Slash was a last-minute move they had come up with that uses Strength to buff the charge, Dual Chop with the tusks, and Night Slash with the hands, with Dragon Dance very partially shrouding the Pokémon. The problem was that doing all this at once leaves room for a great combo attack, but at this stage, Axew can't use it multiple times, so it was an all-or-nothing move.
That said, Grey released his final Pokémon, Meowth, who landed on the stage. Surge looked at the cat Pokémon, surprised to see it as the final pick.
Surge told Electabuzz to use Thunderbolt, and Grey asked Meowth to use Shadow Ball against the bolt. Meowth fired, but the Thunderbolt overpowered the move and headed straight for him. Meowth managed to avoid it and started using Pay Day at the Buzz Pokémon, who took the hits since they didn't do much damage.
Surge ordered a Quick Attack into Brick Break, which surprised Grey; the amount of versatile moves this Pokémon could use was huge. Electabuzz moved in quickly, but Meowth used his own Quick Attack to narrowly time and avoid the Brick Break, launching a Slash attack at the opponent's face. However, just as he was going to run away to create distance, Electabuzz used Discharge. The omnidirectional blast hit Meowth and stopped him in his tracks. Electabuzz moved in close to fire off a Brick Break. Meowth barely timed a dual slash to block the attack, but the move overpowered the cat Pokémon and sent him flying. Meowth landed hard on the ground but scrambled back up.
Even Grey realized the situation was bad. While Electabuzz was heavily injured, Meowth needed to find an opening to land a clean strike—something this monster wouldn't easily give. To top it off, Electabuzz knew Brick Break, and one or two clean hits from that would defeat Meowth. Honestly, the fact that Meowth was even currently standing was a result of his training with Axew, whose relentless attacking had forced Meowth to figure out how to nimbly dodge.
Both Pokémon looked at each other, and Surge was ready to end it. Suddenly, Meowth started glowing, which shocked all three participants: Surge, Grey, and even Electabuzz.
The glow shifted Meowth's form from a small cat to a sleek, quadruped
creature. After a moment, the light faded to reveal a Persian that looked ready to battle.
Grey was delighted to see Meowth evolve into Persian and wanted to congratulate him, but he realized they were still in the middle of a match. He told Persian they would celebrate the evolution after the fight, but added that it might be more fun if they won this match first. Persian purred in response, ready to beat the Electabuzz.
Surge, having given the cat time to evolve, decided it was time to attack again. He told Electabuzz to charge in with Quick Attack into Brick Break. It lunged forward, but right as it charged, Persian's jewel glowed. He fired a beam made of gems straight at the Buzz Pokémon. Because of its speed and its excitement to end the match, Electabuzz couldn't dodge the attack; it was locked in by its own momentum and was hit dead-on, sending it flying. It got back up but looked much worse for wear. Grey realized the move was Power Gem, but he was surprised at how Persian had even learned it, as it isn't usually learned by its line without a TM. He didn't dwell on it for long, though.
Surge ordered a Thunderbolt, abandoning close range since that beam was too accurate; one more hit would end the fight. The Buzz Pokémon fired the bolt, and Persian countered with Shadow Ball. This time, both attacks cancelled each other out. But out of nowhere, from the dust cloud created by the clash, Persian emerged with Quick Attack. He landed a Night Slash on the opponent. Electabuzz took the hit and tried to retaliate with a Brick Break, but right before it could strike, Persian fired a Shadow Ball directly into its face. Just before the attack could land, Electabuzz fainted in front of Persian, who stood there grinning.
They had won. Grey realized the victory and shouted, "Yes!" as he ran toward Persian to hug him, which the newly evolved Pokémon happily accepted.
Surge withdrew his Pokémon and walked toward Grey, clapping a bit as he approached. "Congratulations, that was a good fight," he said, stretching out his hand for a handshake, which Grey accepted.
Surge then admitted, "To be frank, even if you had lost, I probably would have given you that badge anyway. I have no interest in stopping a talented trainer from taking part in that ship tournament, especially since you might have a very good shot at winning it."
Grey looked at him, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
Surge laughed. "Would you have fought with such ferocity had you known that? No, right? Besides, I deserved a good fight for a change. Although, I would encourage you to come fight me again once you get eight badges for the League. I would love to challenge you with a stronger team then, and by that time, I hope Electabuzz will have grown a lot stronger too."
Grey nodded and agreed to the future rematch. With that settled, Surge handed Grey 40,000 Pokedollars and the TM for Thunderbolt, along with the Thunder Badge and also a ticket to the ss anne . Grey accepted them with grace and finally left the gym.
Back at the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy asked how the battle went. When Grey showed her the Thunder Badge, she was genuinely happy to see someone finally beat Surge after so long. Grey handed over his Pokémon for healing, specifically telling Joy to take extra care of Axew and Exeggcute since they were quite injured. He also asked her to perform a check-up on Persian, as he had just evolved. Joy nodded, taking the Pokéballs to the back.
With the battle over and his team in good hands, Grey proceeded to the waiting area to relax for a bit after such an intense day.
Author's Note: How did u guys like the combo move , again this one wont be recurring that often as it puts a serious strain on the pokemon , how was the end of the chapter and the fight how do u think I handled the evolution , u can comment your thoughts on the comment section